Rode Heath

With cold weather on it's way we wanted to be a bit closer to civilisation so it was yet again a short cruise, this time through Thurlwood Lower Lock and Thurlwood Top Lock to moor at Rode Heath visitor moorings. Pretty rows of terraced cottages stood alongside the locks. They were adjoined by a more recently developed housing estate of brick built semis. On the towpath side we passed a muddy collection of small paddocks with equally muddy ponies pulling at a round of hay. These led on to some rag tag allotments and finally to the slopes of Rode Heath Rise. Formerly a salt works, this area has been turned into grassland and opened to the public. It was certainly a popular asset judging by the number of dog walkers we encountered.

The Broughton Arms was only a 4 minute walk away along the towpath and over the small, arched, brick pedestrian bridge. We had lunch there on the first day but were not impressed. We knew from the last time we had visited not to expect much but even so, we came away disappointed. The Broughton is a Marstons pub and signs advertised 10% off drinks if you ordered via the QR code at your table. This was a faff and required a code that wasn't displayed. Will ordered a veggie burger and Vicky the soup, with a side of corn on the cob. The person we ordered from told us she didn't think they'd got any plant based butter so when the food arrived with butter we needed to check it was vegan. Vicky was excited to see the jaffa cake slice was vegan but disappointed that the this version was just served without ice cream whilst being charged at the same price. It took ages to arrive and our empty plates were still on the table when it did... with ice cream. Once again we needed to check whether this was vegan and were told that 'as the kitchen doesn't have any vegan ice cream, it wouldn't be'. Full stop. No offer of replacement or refund. Vicky was feeling quite unwell by this point so Will ate the ice cream and she had the cake. We left poor online reviews and resolved to avoid eating at Marstons pubs in the future. We've never been impressed by their food but this wasn't acceptable.Read more