Back up the valley

Over the last couple of days we’ve headed slowly back up to Great Haywood. It’s a bit cooler but still fine, with showers generally being civilised and confining themselves to out of cruising hours.

Taft Bridge and the pig farm moorings.

We’d got off at around half-nine, hoping to beat the Rugeley exodus to Colwich Lock, and it worked out tolerably well, with only one boat ahead of us waiting to go up.
There were boats on the way down too, having left Great Haywood.

Pretty through Little Haywood.


We pulled in for the rest of the day opposite Shugborough Hall, rather than going up to the main moorings.

Shugborough Hall over the fields


We had some heavy showers later in the afternoon and they came and went overnight, but it had dried up by the time we set off yesterday. We didn’t intend to go far, but we needed to fill the water tank and get rid of refuse so we moved up to Haywood Lock, once again timing it well with just having to wait for one up and one down.

Then we cruised past the surprisingly quiet Great Haywood moorings, and got slotted in on the end of the service wharf.

At noon we were tied up through the bridge opposite the Canalside Cafe attached to the farm shop.


We had lunch then decided to shove on a bit, people sitting on the cafe’s terrace seemed to be very interested in staring through our windows, and pulled in again just shy of Great Haywood Marina’s entrance. Another wet late afternoon and showers overnight have left the air fresher again, but it’s a pleasant morning. We’re waiting for a phone call now before we move on up towards Stone…

Locks 1, miles 4½

A bit manic in Rugeley

On Saturday we pulled pins and left Great Haywood, heading out to moor out in the sticks. We didn’t get too far, mooring opposite the “pig farm” just past Taft Bridge.

A dull morning as we leave Great Haywood.
You can just see Shugborough Hall across the meadows.

Amazingly, no-one waiting at Colwich Lock.
There’s usually a morning queue here, as everyone leaves Great Haywood around the same time. We had six boats in front of us once…

Wolseley Bridge, crossing the Trent.

We stayed put yesterday, I wanted to get the brackets for the life-ring painted, and the Silverstone Grand Prix was on in the afternoon. And what a race that was! Best one of the season so far, and with live coverage too.
Since Liberty Media took a controlling interest in Formula 1 from Bernie Eccleston, TV rights to broadcast the race meetings have had a shake-up, and this year the only free to view event is Silverstone, the rest covered only by highlights shows.

This morning we unhooked from the piling and set off to Rugeley. We’ve not had the chance for a good grocery shop for a while, and the cupboards are looking a little bare.

The beautiful Trent valley, with Cannock Chase rising in the distance.

Over the Trent just before Rugeley.

We just dropped lucky on the very busy moorings around Bridge 66, able to get tied up close to the bridge and close to Tesco. A couple of trips for groceries, then a pause for lunch and we were on the move again, past the long line of moored boats to the very shallow winding hole just before bridge 65.

We turned around and headed back, almost making it through the gauntlet but meeting three boats coming through Bridge 66.
A chap tied up where we’d just left took our centre rope and held us breasted up while they all came through.

And that was about the most interesting bit of the trip. Heading back out of town we crossed the aqueduct again and moored on the offside moorings just beyond. It’s a pleasant sunny spot here.

Someone’s going to be disappointed when they come to tie up later today…
Back to Great Haywood tomorrow.

Our plan for this year was to head south, using the Coventry and Oxford Canals to join the Thames at Oxford. But Meg’s condition three weeks ago was causing us concern, so we’ve decided to stay in the Midlands near where we have vets that we know and trust.
Meg has improved again now, in fact she’s doing quite well but it’s too late to head down, especially as we intend to be near Loughborough by the middle of September for a family gathering. So we’ll be pottering for a bit. Seem to be doing a lot of that lately…

Locks 1, miles 6¾

Avoiding the showers as we head just around the corner

We had rain again overnight, but it was dry although blowy this morning as we set off from The Wide to great Haywood Junction.

The almost obligatory picture of Tixall Gatehouse.

The last bridge to negotiate (before the one at the junction) is Bridge 102, aka Swivel Bridge.
Did it replace a swing bridge at some point, I wonder?

Over the Trent Aqueduct just before the junction.
The Trent and Mersey Canal follows the Trent valley from Shardlow to Stoke, with a few deviations as the river meanders. But you’re never far away from the river. It rises not far to the north-east of the Five Towns, on Biddulph Moor.

Emerging onto the Trent and Mersey Canal we turned left to the services wharf, luckily being able to get into the one gap available.

Regular visitors to the junction will know how busy it can be here…

Filled with water and with rubbish and recycling dealt with, we reversed to the junction, turned around and headed towards Haywood Lock.

Looking back to the junction
Like I said, it can be busy...

There were no spaces above the lock on the 48 hour moorings so we dropped down, under the old carriage bridge and pulled in.

Haywood Lock



The crossing took the carriage road from the church to Shugborough Hall across the canal, then the Trent. But the river bridge has been demolished, so there’s no longer any direct vehicular link between the village and the estate. The only way across the river here is by the 16th century packhorse bridge, know as Essex Bridge after the Elizabethan nobleman who had it constructed, the Earl of Essex.

Although there were odd showers through the day we managed to avoid all but the shortest. Tomorrow we’ll move on a short way towards Rugeley.

Locks 1, miles 1¼

Another good day.

We had a drop of rain overnight, and a sprinkle later this morning, but apart from that it’s been fine and warm.

We got off a little earlier than is customary, on the move by soon after half-nine.

Around the corner is the Stafford Boat Club headquarters and moorings, and it looks like they’re playing host to the Autotrail Owners Club this week.

Pleasant but a little overgrown…


We passed the moorings at Radford Bridge, the closest you can moor to Stafford, then had a bit of hanging back to do as boats going in opposite directions met at Meadow Bridge.

The canal swings around in an arc to the east around the rising ground of Weeping Cross and Baswich, and on the curve is where the Stafford Branch or River Sow Navigation left the main Staffs and Worcs.
Constructed as a private project funded by Lord Stafford it dropped down from here to the River Sow, which was made navigable into the town where the navigation terminated at a basin and wharf. Opened in 1816 it served the town until the 1920s when it fell into disuse.


A project to re-open the waterway, under the name Stafford Riverway Link, will see a slight change to the canal link to the river, but the river will still take the navigation into the centre of Stafford. it’ll be handy if it comes off.

Heading east now, the canal runs between the river valley on the left and the railway on the right, with ahead the bulk of Cannock Chase on the horizon.

The towpath changes sides at Milford Bridge, then the canal follows a dogleg to cross over the Sow on a substantial stone aqueduct.

A couple of bends and another bridge saw us coming up to the pretty Tixall Lock, joining the end of a short queue. We expected there to be one; we’d allowed a hire boat past earlier and expected to catch up here.
It actually wasn’t as long as it appeared, the boat at the front had a gearbox problem so we were able to pass him. And the young woman off the boat was acting as amateur lock keeper while the men were messing with spanners and WD40.

Just 20 minutes after leaving the lock we were tied up, just short of the wide bit of Tixall Wide, after a very pleasant day.

The disabled boat came past a little later, so they must have made some sort of fix. They were only going to Great Haywood Marina so should be OK.

Tomorrow we’ll brave the inevitable congestion around Great Haywood Junction, fill with water then head down Haywood Lock to moor across the fields from Shugborough Hall.

Locks 1, miles 5.

Odd Jobs, a good day’s cruise and a technological catastrophe!

We dropped down Penkridge Lock on Saturday evening, having got fed up with folk walking past the windows. The awkward situation when we arrived on Friday put us off staying for longer than necessary as well.

So we left it until there was no-one about, cruised to the lock and filled with water before descending.


Below the lock was moored a couple who make fenders, I can’t remember the name of the boat though. Anyway, I pulled alongside and bought a new bow vee button. Our old one is pretty battered after nearly 13 years…

Then we motored on out of the village, mooring a couple of hundred yards short of Longton Lock.

On Sunday morning we had a phone call from George and Carol, wanting to know where we were, the result of which was that we had an unexpected visit from them as they were passing, heading back down to the Thames and Still Rockin’.
We had a pleasant couple of hours catching up before they had to head off south. But we should be seeing them again next week, looking forward to that.

Sunday afternoon and Monday morning I got the old bow fender off and the paintwork underneath repaired. I had to cut off three or four of the rusty shackles, but luckily I keep several spares in my bits box.


That done I made some brackets to mount the life ring on the swan’s neck, rather than have it up against the cratch board where it’s been for a year or two.
I knew that scrap aluminium would come in for something… Just got to get some paint on, now.

Yesterday we set off northward, with four locks to drop down before mooring near the Stafford Boat Club moorings. It was a fine day, mainly overcast but with short sunny periods. Quite pleasant for cruising, not too hot.

Dropping down Longton Lock…

…and bedding in the new fender!


The locks come about 20  minutes apart for a start, Park Gate Lock, after passing under the M6 and leaving it off to the west, is just after the Bourne Boatbuilders yard.

Coming out for a spot of work.

We met a boat coming up at each of the last three locks. After Shutt Hill the canal passes alongside the dormitory village of Acton Trussle, with the parish church sitting in splendid isolation to the south.

In the summer the villages of Bednall and Acton Trussle host a hoard of visiting scarecrows, displayed to raise money for charity and part of their presentation for the best Kept Village award.





There are lots more up in the village…

Leaving the village behind we passed the stretch of piling we often use, turned the corner and arrived at Deptford Lock just in time to take advantage of a boat leaving. And with three more waiting below I was able to get back aboard after lifting a paddle to drain the chamber.

We pulled in on the straight below the lock, a pleasantly quite mooring.

I dumped my pictures off the camera onto the laptop, then shut it down to get some dinner sorted out. On restarting it I didn’t have a keyboard, after an hour of fannying about I got that working again but now had lost my USB ports.
It’s taken me most of last night and today, but I’ve got everything working again, requiring a full reset and installation of Windows, replacing the corrupted registry entries and all the drivers.
I’m working on a basic configuration at the moment, just enough software installed to be able to write and securely upload the blog. I’ll get on with the rest as and when the need arises. It’s a lot faster though, without all the clutter…

Locks 5, miles 6¾  

A day of two halves…

Unlike the last couple of days that took an hour or two to warm up after a chilly night, today was hot at 8 o’clock!

We left it till 10 to get going. expecting to meet boats coming up the five locks between Gailey and Penkridge, and we did, at two of them anyway.

The first one today, Brick Kiln Lock, and already we’re queueing!

Mags waiting for me to fill Rodbaston Lock.

We met a boat at Rodbaston Lock so I was able to leave the bottom gates open, then there’s the half-mile straight alongside the M6 to Otherton Lock.

Two-thirds of the way along the canal passes under Littleton Colliery Railway Bridge.
The colliery was over to the east, and the bridge carried a branch line servicing the site. It was the last deep mine on the Cannock Chase coalfield, the main shaft sinking to a depth of 1,622 feet and producing around 1,000,000 tons of coal a year. In it’s heyday it employed 1,900 miners, but in 1993 it went the way of the rest of the industry, closing with a loss of 800 jobs.

Otherton Lock marked the end of the straight, and the start of a fishing match. And what a match it was!
The long line of anglers stretched from below the lock, past Otherton Boat Haven, and to Cross Keys bridge, 83a. They’ve got to stop here, surely?
But no, the match continued, up to Filance Lock, then along the towpath opposite Tom’s Moorings. Apparently they’re still all along the towpath to Longford Lock!
I don’t have a problem which anglers, everyone to their own, but it’s a bit beyond the pale when they occupy a half-mile of posted, popular moorings.

There was a Seyella-sized space between the stern of one boat and one chap’s tackle, so, much to his dismay, I pulled in there. Then followed a slightly heated discussion regarding rights. I did point out to him that the sign he’d set up next to states “48 Hour Visitor Moorings”, with no mention of fishing, But he replied that the club had got permission from CRT to hold the competition, and these were the waters they’d got permits for.
Anyway, I retired inside for a brew, leaving him muttering about how much he pays to fish the canal and how I’d spoiled his day. I checked the relevant bit of CRT’s website – https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/enjoy-the-waterways/fishing/places-to-fish/waterway-wanderers-scheme and it states

• No fishing between boats on permanent moorings or at visitor moorings where signed
• Where visitor moorings are not signed as to whether fishing is permitted, it's is assumed, during the boating season, that mooring boats have priority, at other times access is on a first come first served basis.

Well, these are signed visitor moorings, and we’re certainly in the boating season!
I called up CRT to get some clarity on the situation, and am waiting to hear from Carl, the Fisheries Manager.
Meanwhile they’ll all be packing up at 4 o’clock, we’ll be staying overnight and maybe tomorrow too before heading out of the village.

Mags hasn’t been too well this afternoon, I think she’s had too much sun. I’m heading up to the market here tomorrow to see if I can find her one of those floppy straw sun-hats.

Locks 5, miles 2½, irate anglers 1.