Onward to Gailey.

It was a bit chilly last night, down to single figures, but this morning started bright and sunny, conditions which lasted through the day. We untied the ropes at around 10, discarding jumpers early on as the temperature steadily rose.

This canal was one of James Brindley’s, completed in 1772, and used the then-accepted technique of following fixed levels as much as possible, only building locks when absolutely necessary. Because of this construction method the navigation winds around the landscape avoiding changes in elevation and making a more scenic route than the fast but somewhat characterless Shropshire Union.

Blind bends and bridges keep the steerers attention…



For a time the railways and the canal worked in co-operation, hence the small transhipment wharf where the two forms of transport run side-by-side.

The railway bridge at Slade Heath Wharf carries scars from boat tow-ropes, also indicating that the canal was still commercially active after the railways came.

Near Calf Heath the canal covers three sides of a square to stay on the level around Saredon Brook, and it’s here that the junction with the Hatherton Branch was made, forging a link with the northern edge of the Birmingham Canal Navigations.  
The branch was built to bring coal down from the Great Wyrley coal mines, initially opened in 1841, then extended to link up with the Cannock Extension Canal in 1863. Coal traffic kept it open and in profit until 1949, but was ultimately the cause of it’s closure as open cast mining destroyed a lot of the eastern end.


The Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust was formed in 1989 with the aim of re-opening not just the Hatherton Branch but also the link to the Coventry Canal via the Lichfield Canal. If (when, be positive…) restored a new cruising ring and shortcut across to the Coventry Canal would be established.

A long straight takes the canal alongside the large chemical works at Four Ashes, with towpath signs insisting that boats should not moor or even stop in the vicinity. As if you’d want to…
Then a couple more wiggles straighten out down to Gailey.

We wanted to fill with water and drop rubbish and recycling so stopped short of the lock. It was busy, a steady stream of boats coming up behind us to descend the lock, with odd ones wanting to come up.

With chores dealt with we dropped down ourselves, toyed with the idea of pushing on a bit further but decided to moor below the lock for the rest of the day.







Mooring here has brought back memories of when we were here with Chas and Anne on Moore2Life and George and Carol on Rock’n’Roll, way back in the winter of 2010 and 2011.

We were stuck here for nearly four weeks, with trips up the lock every couple of days to break the ice and fill with diesel, meet grocery deliveries and fill water tanks. Chas is sadly no longer with us, and both the other boats have since gone to new owners.

Locks 1, miles 5