On the move

We seem to have covered a lot of ground since the last blog although on a fine day (!!) we can still see the same hills that we could see last Sunday albeit from a different direction.

Saturday saw us arrive at Gt Haywood on the Trent and Mersey in a torrential downpour but we found a good mooring and decided to stay there for the Sunday and have lunch at the Clifford Arms in the village. We wandered around the grounds of Shugborough Hall in the morning but didn't go into the formal gardens as the entry charge of £15 each seemed a bit steep. A bit of shopping in the local shop which had a good deli section and a restful afternoon with some sunshine after a good lunch.

Monday we turned left onto the Staff and Worchester canal and decided to have a couple of long days so that we could get to the Shropshire Canal and turn north again. We spent the night at Penkridge and had a wander round this very pleasant town before setting off the following morning aiming to make it to the Shroppie which we did although we almost missed the turning assuming in our minds eye that it would be a very busy junction with lots of activity but it turned out to be very quiet although after we moored just up on the Shropshire we discovered a huge housing estate hidden behind the trees; its apparently built on the old Wolverhampton aerodrome.

Having had a couple of fairly full days Wednesday saw us travel under 3 miles to some lovely moorings with a great view all the way back to Cannock Chase and the centre of Wolverhampton. It was a gorgeous day and for the first time in four weeks of travel we could actually get the chairs out and sit on the towpath to enjoy the sun (it had been too hot in the early days and too wet and cold since) We were moored with a number of other boats, a couple with cats on board which was a little bit scary but we managed to avoid a scrap with the two girls claiming scalps.

Thursday saw us move on starting off in monsoon type conditions with the rain bouncing off the Cut. By the time we got to Brewood (pronounced Brood) the rain had eased and we wandered into the village for some supplies and a look round. Really pleasant place, was a town as it had been granted a market but as that ceased a couple of hundred years ago its now termed a village but has a good range of shops and we spent an interesting 15 minutes chatting to the butcher whose family have run the shop since 1946.

We then called at a boatyard for a pumpout and then on to a garage for diesel. Yes, a garage, its set right on the edge of the canal at a bridge and serves both motorists and boats. The thing I'm (David) likely to remember about this was thats its the nearest I've come to falling in. Due to the weather I was in full waterproofs including trousers and when we had called into the boatyard for the pumpout I'd undone the waterproof trousers to get to my wallet to pay but hadn't refastened them properly so when I went to step off the boat at the garage across a two foot gap to the jetty I found my ability to stretch my legs was somewhat hampered by the waterproof trousers being round my knees! Lucklily I did just manage to get across the gap but I can assure you  it made a very pleasant diversion for the first mate!

Friday - another day another deluge and to think that a month ago before we started our biggest worry was that the canals would not have enough water in them.

 We had planned to move on about 12 miles today but in the end found a lovely quiet mooring just after the old Cadbury wharf and decided to stop there for the night. Moored up. lit the fire and spent the afternoon watching the racing from Royal Ascot, then took the dogs for a walk to find that the evening was actually a lot warmer and drier than the start of the day. Tomorrow we plan to move on through 5 locks to Market Drayton which is apparently a rather atractive town. Depending on the moorings we night stay there till Monday.

Herons usually fly off before the boat gets to them but this one didn't and we had a long discussion as to whether it was real as it didn't move at all. I assume it was concentrating on a fish it could see

Shugborough Hall

A hitchhiker

Tixall Wide it is part of the Staff and Worc canal but the local landowner insisted that it be disguised as it went through his land

Lock on the Staff and Worc

Top lock on the Staffs and Worc looking towards Cannock Chase

First nights mooring on the Shroppie

Still looking at Cannock Chase

Wooded cutting near Brewood

Ornamental bridge near Brewood leading to Chillington Hall

"Speedwell Castle" in Brewood - built in the 18thC by an apothocary reportedly after winning a large sum on a horse named Speedwell

Our first glimpse of the Wrekin

An interesting bridge with a telegraph pole embedded

Cadbury's Wharf still in use up to 1967