We had visitors on Saturday afternoon, friends Carol and Ellie came over from Shardlow for am hour or two. It’s been a while since we’ve seen them so we had a bit of catching up to do.
Another hard frost last night, but the sun was obscured behind hazy cloud this morning, so we didn’t feel the benefit.
Leaving the Branston Water Park moorings
It’s been quiet on here; there were a couple more boats last night, but that’s been about it. We’ve seen a handful of boats passing each day we’ve been tied up.
Ten minutes up the cut was our first lock of the day, Tattenhill.
The house alongside does B&B.
Bridge 36 is a bit of an oddity. The canal crosses over here, so you’d expect it to be a turnover or roving bridge to accommodate boat horse ropes. But it’s not…
There’s no towpath running through the arch either, and no obvious evidence of there ever having been one. It could have been rebuilt since the demise of horse-drawn boats, but the brickwork and copings look similar to those of Bridge 37, and that’s got to be an original. There’s no clue in what it carries. Earlier maps show a track crossing here, running from the A38 to Gorse Hall, a house that has since been destroyed by sand and gravel extraction. Any ideas?
Barton Lock came and went, it’s very noisy along here with the A38m dual-carriageway running alongside. It’s pretty straight too, paralleling the road based on the Roman Ryknild Street.
This canoeist was on a mission
I’d rather meet a canoe than a row-boat. At least he’s facing the direction of travel!
Wychnor Lock takes the canal up onto a short river section. The area to the north and west of Alrewas is a maze of pools and rivulets as the Trent loses it’s way in the low-lying land. While surveying the route, Brindley chose to use one of these streams for the navigation, joining it at Wychnor Lock.
We actually only use the main river channel for a hundred yards or so, from where it comes in under a long footbridge below Alrewas lock…
…to where it drops over an equally long weir.
Alrewas Lock takes the navigation back up onto the artificial cut and into the village.
There was plenty of space above the lock so we pulled in there. We’ll fill with water in the morning before setting off Fradley.
Locks 4, miles 5.
No comments:
Post a Comment