Trentham to Westport Lake

Woke up to rain yet again. How much more rain can there be? As it is Sunday, we decided to have a lie in and then dawdled over breakfast. We finally set of at 9.20 to Trentham Lock.

We got through the locks at Stoke quite quickly. The first one was in our favour, then we discovered we were following another boat up, so all the rest were against us and we had to empty them all. We had to wait at the top lock for a boat coming down. It rained on and off during the morning, but it held off while we did the locks.

We moored at Westport Lake at 12.40 and decided that we would stay for the rest of the day.

The weather was pleasant this afternoon. Liz sat outside cross stitching for a couple of hours and the sun actually came out briefly! We had a walk round the lake and treated ourselves to "99" ice cream cornets - after all, we are on holiday.

There were swans, coots and geese on the lake. It seems to be a popular place for families out for a walk.

8 miles. 6 locks.

Tixall Wide to Trentham (Saturday 6 Sept)

We didn't have an Internet signal last night so I couldn't update the blog.

We woke up to yet more rain thumping on the roof. It had rained heavily all night. The sky was a blanket of grey and the rain didn't look as if it was likely to stop any time soon. We decided we might as well move on regardless, so we set off at 7.30.

We moored at Stone at 11.45, just below Star Lock and walked into the town. There were market stalls all along the main shopping street. It looked like a farmer's market as they were selling meat, home made cakes, pies, bread, jam, real ale and wine. The rain has stopped at last!

Set off again 1.25. Through Stone locks without any problems. At Meaford locks we caught up with a boat that had passed us as we were mooring up. They had been waiting at the lock for an hour. Apparently someone had hit the lock gate so hard that it had come off it's hinge. Luckily BW had just finished fixing it when we got there, so we didn't have to wait too long. There were a lot of boats queueing to come down though. The boat that caused the problem just carried on, after telling another boater that this had happened to him before!

We moored for the night opposite Wedgwood at just after 4.00. WE had a thunder storm during the evening, but at least the afternoon stayed dry for us.

14 miles. 12 locks.

Acton Trussell to Tixall Wide

Woke up to the rain hammering on the roof this morning. Looked outside and judging by the heavy dark clouds, the rain looks set for the day. We decided to wait and see whether the rain would ease off before moving. By 9.00 it was just drizzling, so we decided to set off. We were not bothered if we didn't get very far and decided that if the weather didn't improve we would moor at Tixall. Although the rain stopped briefly, it came back heavier than ever along with a strong wind. By the time we reached Tixall, we decided to call it a draw. We thought we could always move on later if the weather improved. We couldn't actually moor on the wides as it was full, so we moored just before them in a quiet spot.

A heron followed us for a while. I tried to get a photo of it in flight, but only managed a couple of blurred ones.

As we passed Stafford Boat Club, we saw this - a lock to nowhere.

The weather didn't improve, in fact it got worse! So we stoked up the fire and settled down to a quiet afternoon, Liz reading and cross stitching, Carl listening to the radio.

Lets hope it's better tomorrow.

6.75 miles. 2 locks.

Brewood to Acton Trussell

After all the rain yesterday, the morning was lovely and fresh. There was weak sunshine, but there was a lot of cloud cover. Turned onto the Staffs and Worcester Canal, heading towards Great Haywood. This is a pretty canal. Very narrow in places, winding through the countryside following the contours of the land. Quite different from the long straight stretches of the Shropshire Union. Typically, the first boat we met on this canal was at the narrowest point. They had to reverse to let us past.

The rain didn't wait until we moored today. It started about 11.00 and rained heavily until we moored at Acton Trussell at 2.15. We were soaked and cold. Luckily the fire was still alight from yesterday, so as soon as we moored we changed into dry clothes and opened the fire up. It was soon roaring and dried us out quickly.

The rain stopped not long after we moored and the sun actually came out late afternoon so we could sit out on the towpath for a while.

We were lucky with the locks again, only waiting for one of them.

We saw about six herons in a field today. This is the first time we've seen so many together. They are normally on their own. More of the leaves are changing colour. It's not like previous years when we've cruised in September and had the end of the summer, rather than the beginning of autumn.

15 miles. 11 locks

Norbury Junction to just beyond Brewood.

It is Grandma Peta's birthday today. She would have been 86. It's over a year now since she died, but we still miss her a lot.

It was another beautiful morning. Sunshine, blue skies and hardly a cloud in sight. The sky was very red with the sunrise, so we didn't expect the good weather to last. We were right. As soon as we moored up, the rain started. We have only managed to sit out on the towpath once so far. The wind was strong and quite cool. The sun is warm when the wind drops, but that's not very often.

It was very quiet for the first half of the morning. We hardly met any boats until we reached Wheaton Aston. The diesel at the garage here is only 66.9p a litre. We reached the lock just as another boat was coming out, so we were straight in and out again very quickly.

The kingfishers are still playing hide and seek, but I've stopped trying to photograph them. We saw a heron today, only the second one so far which is unusual.

We stopped at Brewood for some shopping and then carried on to the 48 hour moorings just past bridge 8 about 12.30. Thanks to the Shropshire Union Canal Society, there are lovely moorings, with rings, all along this canal. There has been a steady stream of boats passing this afternoon. These moorings were almost empty when we got her, but by 3.30 there were not many spaces left.

We are sitting here in the pouring rain, but at least we have an excellent Three signal - it's alternating between 3G and HDSPA.

10.5 miles. 1 lock.

Adderley to Norwood Junction (Tuesday 2 Sept)

Another glorious morning. Plenty of sunshine and blue sky. There are a few grey clouds about, but most of them are behind us. We set off at 7:10 and were through the five Adderley locks by 7:50. There was no one else about.

We were aiming for the coal yard just before Market Drayton. Their diesel has always been reasonable in the past and they didn’t disappoint us this time. It was 69.9p a litre, compared with at least 80p on the Trent and Mersey. We filled up – it took 178.5 litres. Then we stopped off in Market Drayton to do a spot of shopping. Market Drayton is a pretty town with many of the old buildings surviving. We always seem to miss the famous market, which is on Wednesdays.

Tyrley locks were busy with a boat coming down in each lock as we went up. This makes the flight easier as there is no hanging around. Both boats come out of the locks at the same time and cross in the pounds. Very useful on this flight as the pounds are shallow at the edge and it is easy to get stuck. Carl had to help a boat that was grounded just above the first lock as he had pulled in to wait for us to come up and he was stuck fast. Carl had to push the boat away from the side with the pole. We met an impatient boater at the top lock, they couldn’t wait for a few minutes while we came out of the lock below and they turned the lock against us, so we had to wait in the middle of the pound while they filled the lock and came down. They didn’t gain anything though because there was a boat in front of them already in the pound. All they did was waste a lock full of water.

We thought the bye washes on the Audlem flight were strong, but Tyrley’s bye washes were positively fierce. It took a great effort to get past them and into the locks without being forced into the side. We did very well; we didn’t bash the boat at all!

Woodeaves cutting is a magical place. Steep rock sides, trees growing out of them at strange angles, their branches meeting overhead in places, the sun filtering through. The canal is so narrow here that boats almost touch each other as they pass.

The kingfishers were playing with us again. We saw several of them along the stretch between Market Drayton and Norbury Junction. They sat still just long enough to get the camera ready and then took off just as the zoom and focus were right. I missed the shot every time. They are definitely camera shy.

We arrived at Norbury Junction at 3:10. We found a mooring in the sunshine and thought we would enjoy a lovely evening sitting on the towpath. Wrong! Just as we were about to get the chairs out the rain started along with thunder and lightening. It looks like it will be sunshine and showers for the rest of the evening.

At least there is a reasonable signal here for the Three dongle so I was able to post yesterday’s entry.

17 miles. 10 locks

Hurleston to Adderley (Monday 1 Sept)

Pulled the mooring pins at 7:10. Although the weather forecast was for rain to day, it was actuallly a beautiful morning. We had plenty of sunshine and there was blue sky. A bit different from yesterday’s grey skies. We filled up with water at Nantwich and then headed off towards Audlem.

The swallows are not showing any signs of getting ready to leave yet. There are still plenty of them. There were rabbits in the fields and big flocks of geese grazing. The hawthorns are laden with berrries. We saw a kingfisher, but it was too fast for a photo. We always seem to see kingfishers along the Shropshire Union.

Just through the two locks at Hack Green there is a sign that reads “Secret Nuclear Bunker 200 yards”. Not a very well kept secret!

Audlem Mill

We got to Audlem Locks just after 10:00. We had sunshine almost to the top and then the rain started two locks away from the top. There were quite a lot of boats coming down.

Several of them had been at the IWA festival over the Bank Holiday. Some people just don’t bother to check whether anything is coming up before they fill locks. It seems as if they can’t be bothered to walk down and look under bridges. We had locks turned against us couple of times on the way up. Still, we made good time as there were more boats coming down than going up, so most of the locks were either in our favour or had a boat in coming down. We didn’t have to wait too long for any of them.

We were just coming out of the second lock from the top when the engine died.
The fuel filter had clogged yet again. Luckily we bought two new ones at Venetian. Twenty minutes later the
filter was changed and we were on our way again, through the last lock. People are very friendly. The crews from two different boats offered help when they saw we had broken down. Luckily Carl is a dab hand at changing the filter now, so we didn’t need any help. We stopped for an hour for lunch at the top of the flight.

We carried on for half an hour and moored at the bottom of Adderley Locks at 2.25. The rain was quite heavy for a while, then the sun tried to come out.

No signal for the Three dongle here.

11 miles. 17 locks.