Just rambling….

I mentioned yesterday, under a poor photograph of High Bridge, that I sometimes get the settings on the camera wrong. It’s to do with the automatic focus more than anything else; it has a “multi auto focus” which picks up several focus points, or a fixed, central focus point. Unfortunately the single point setting is not available on “Smart Auto” and the camera sometimes selects a different focus point than I would!

So today I decided to try various scenes at different settings to see which works best for me. I discovered that manually set to Landscape, with multi auto focus, works well on scenes with a lot of detail…..

Norbury Wharf this morning
But tends to overexpose high contrast scenes……

High bridge this afternoon
At least it’s in focus!

Better results in the same situation are obtained using Smart Auto.

Same picture, camera set at Smart Auto

Finally a long distance shot, set on Landscape, single point of focus with zoom….

The Wrekin, all of 13 miles away!
I expected the foreground to be out of focus, especially as you can see the “Wrekin Beacon” on the top, but it ain’t.

So there you have it, or not as the case may be. Different settings for different conditions. Maybe I‘ll just leave the thing on Smart Auto after all….

About The Wrekin… it stands in splendid isolation above the Shropshire plain just the other side of Telford. Rising to 1335 feet it’s the highest point in the county.
Legend has it that a Welsh giant by the name of Gwendol Wrekin ap Shenkin ap Mynyddmawr (we’ll just call him Gwen) had had a disagreement with the burghers of Shrewsbury. By way of getting his own back he decided to dam the River Severn and flood the town. So Gwen set off with a giant-sized shovelful of earth intending to do just that, but met a cobbler on the road. The cobbler, carrying a large sack of worn-out shoes, got talking to Gwen, and discovered what the disgruntled giant’s intentions were. “It’s a long way yet, you know”, said the cobbler, “look how many pairs of shoes I’ve worn out coming this far!” Gwen decided that maybe it wasn’t worth the effort after all, and dumped his shovelful where he was. It’s since been known as The Wrekin.

We put the Christmas decorations up this afternoon, with a CD of carols on to get us in the mood. Bah, Humbug!

We’ll be toddling back to Gnosall tomorrow, the mail should be waiting for us by now. We’ll catch up with NBs Rock’n’Roll and Moore2Life later in the week.

It’s been cold, but we’ve seen no ice on the water yet, unlike some of the other boating bloggers. Famous Last Words!


Locks 0, miles 0

Going nowhere fast… or slow!

We’ve had a steady few days since I last posted. On Friday we all took a bus into Stafford, to get a few last minute Christmas gifts and to have a look around.

St Mary’s, Stafford
It was a bright but cold day, so Mags and I wimped out and took a taxi back to Gnossal rather than wait for the bus when we’d got what we wanted.

Saturday we just chilled, that being an accurate description of Friday night/Saturday morning. Meg and I had a fine walk over the frosty fields then returned via the canal towpath.

Quarry Lane leads to…..
…..a quarry at the top of Cowley Tunnel.
I guess that’s where a lot of the stone for the bridges in the village came from.

Frosty fields just starting to return to green as the sun clears the trees…


Meg loves rolling in the frost… or snow… or wet grass… In fact she just loves rolling!
Luckily for both of us she generally avoids the cow pats!

Back onto the towpath, under Bridge 32, the way the builders laid the stone blocks to compensate for the bridge being askew over the canal always fascinates me…

Bridge 32

We followed the long cutting to Cowley Tunnel, and I managed to get some shots inside.

Looking north at where the stone lining gives way to rough-cut rock


Faults in the rock structure led to the tunnel being shorter than intended.
Out in daylight, straight cut walls to the cutting….

….And more evidence of quarrying on the offside.
A splash of colour near Boat Inn Bridge

Yesterday I dipped the water tank in the morning and found we were well down, so we moved from our spot near the Boat Inn, filled the tank then pulled in again just before the disused railway bridge. Then we had Chas and Ann round for lunch, and very convivial it was too. Roast beef and Yorkshires, with apple crumble to follow. Thanks Mags! George and Carol missed out; they’d gone to son Mark’s for the day.

Today dawned bright and sunny after another sharp frost, but grey clouds rolled in soon after we set off for Norbury Junction, and we even had a short shower.

Leaving Gnosall, under the railway bridge.

Here come those clouds…

Just before Norbury the canal passes over Shelmore Embankment, just over a mile in length and up to 60 feet high.

Onto Shelmore Embankment.
The stop gate protects the navigation in case of a breach. There’s one at either end of the embankment.

This structure and others like it enabled the canal to maintain a straight and level course, improving traffic speed considerably over the old contour canal. An incredible achievement, they were also a big problem as the sides often slipped during construction. Shelmore was the last to be completed and indeed the final stretch of the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal. It took 5½ years to build.

Cruising over Shelmore


At the other end of the embankment is Norbury Junction, very busy with boats at any time of the year.

Norbury Junction and Norbury Wharf

We pulled in to empty the loos and dispose of the rubbish, then waited while another boat was filling with diesel on the wharf. Meanwhile NB Rock’n’Roll came past and pulled across to have the loo tank pumped out, so we had to wait for them to get out of the way as well before we could fill the fuel tank. At 77.9p per litre it’s worth waiting, though.

Rock’n’Roll being depooped.

Early in the afternoon the clouds mostly cleared, so it’s been quite pleasant. A bit of a breeze has blown up now, though.

We’d turned around in the basin before filling with diesel and reversing to moor just past Norbury Bridge. We’ve got to go back to Gnosall to pick up some more mail from the Post Office, but that won’t be till Wednesday.

We took the pooches for a circular walk, getting back at around 4 o’clock before it got dark.

Ann, George and Carol, me, two Mollys and Meg set off towards Manor Farm.
Hi-ho, Hi-ho. 

The moated platform which used to support the 14c Norbury Manor
The Manor was demolished in the 19c.

We rejoined the canal at High Bridge, the much photographed structure with a telegraph pole on web in the middle.

High Bridge
Sorry, slightly out of focus. Every so often I get the settings wrong on the new camera...

Locks 0, miles 2¼

I’m glad we’re not in Scotland….

It’s blowy down here, but they’ve got 100 mph gales up there! Certainly not boating weather.
It was difficult enough getting unstuck this morning, the wind was almost broadside on from the other side of the canal.

George gets going…

Chas had already gone, we followed on a few minutes later. There was no point travelling in convoy, when we got to Gnosall the plan was to fill with water before mooring, so we’d only be queuing for the tap.

NB Pheasey has an unusual but elegant schooner stern
High Onn Wharf is just the other side of High Onn Bridge. Private moorings and a winding hole occupy what must have been a busy little dock, judging by the large warehouse.

High Onn
We’re going sideways again….

The towpath swaps sides over Turnover Bridge No 26.

Bridge 26
These bridges were designed so that horse drawn boats didn’t have to drop the tow line when swapping sides. The horse would have followed the towpath under the bridge on the left, then up the ramp, over the bridge and back down on the right.

And the grammar still hasn’t been corrected…

We had another sideways moment just before Castle Cutting….
….Then had a welcome respite in the cutting itself.

Cowley Tunnel sits just before Gnosall. At only 81 yards long it it’s not worth putting the light on for. It was supposed to be a lot longer, but the loose nature of the rock wouldn’t support the roof safely. So now there’s a long cutting on the approach from the south.

Cowley Cutting

Ferns and mosses adorn the damp cutting walls

The southern portal is a conventional brick arch, but the northern end is rock cut and unlined. The rock must have been more solid here!

North portal, Cowley Tunnel

Coming out of the tunnel George got hold of me on the phone. The moorings beyond the water point were full, so M2L and R’n’R were filling up then reversing to moor this side of Gnosall Bridge. I didn’t want to have to back up too far in the wind, so we pulled in just past Boat Inn Bridge.
We’ll pick up water on the way out of the village, maybe Sunday. Or else leave it till we get to Norbury. It’s only 2½ miles further on.

Locks 0, miles 3

Short term plans…..

Well, we’re all together again, tied up at Little Onn Bridge. We were going to move on yesterday, but a chance encounter with a couple of felled trees took priority.

NB Rock’n’Roll caught us up on Monday afternoon after receiving their Tesco order at Wheaton Aston. Then yesterday NB Moore2Life arrived, now fully crewed with Ann back from seeing the family. Both Chas and Molly were pleased to see her.

Anyway, we were going to head off yesterday, alone, to be at Market Drayton for the weekend market. But when I was returning after a walk with Meg I spotted these trees about 400 yards behind us, up on the embankment. Never one to pass up on opportunity for free fuel, I walked back with my old bushman saw and cut several sizeable logs. These I left above the towpath, then came back and reversed the boat to pick them up, George giving me a hand to lift the heavy lengths onto the roof.

I was part way through slicing them into rounds with the chainsaw when M2L arrived, so I broke for lunch then finished off afterwards.

It was well worth the effort, at this point I’d already split a load to store in the cratch. This lot was destined for storage on the roof.

By the time I’d got finished it wasn’t worth going anywhere, and anyway we’d an invite for drinkies with Chas and Ann. So, over a glass or two, we decided that we’d hang around this section of the Shroppie till after Christmas, then head north and onto the Llangollen Canal. So we’ll be mooching up and down, maybe up to Nantwich and back, waiting for the icy weather to descend on us. It looks like we’re going to get a taster this coming weekend. Tomorrow we’re going all the way to Gnosall (2 miles!), then into Stafford by bus on Friday. After that we’ll see what happens…

With no particular hurry to get anywhere I took the opportunity to get my head down in the engine ‘ole today, giving the “donk” a fresh dose of oil, new filters, and even changed the oil in the gearbox.

Nice pink “red” diesel out of the fuel filter.
No sign of the dreaded “Diesel Bug”. I’ve used an additive called Fuel Set since we set out on our journeys, and, touch wood, we’ve kept out of trouble so far.
I adjusted the stern gland, oiled and greased all the linkages, checked the alternator belts for wear and correct tension and repaired a wobbly support under the back step. A good job done. I shouldn’t have to do any more than basic checks now until the next oil change in March.

Locks 0, miles 0

Cuttings, embankments and amiable anglers.

By the first half of the 19c most of the long distance water routes had been established. Construction was still progressing, but this was mainly confined to arms and branches linking to the main routes, rather than extensive new projects. Investment had, to a degree, dried up as the good financial returns from the original canal schemes started to dwindle, and entrepreneurs started to look elsewhere for ways of making money. There was a new-fangled transport system slowly appearing, the revolutionary railway.

Early in the century several collieries were using steam trains locally, and it was only a matter of time before someone had the bright idea of long distance haulage by rail. George Stephenson built Locomotion No1 to run on the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and it was an immediate success.

Picture courtesy Wikimedia Commons

On it’s inaugural run on 27th September 1825, it pulled 33 wagons carrying a mixed load of coal, flour and passengers the 26 miles at up to 12 mph. The writing was on the wall; the death knell had sounded for commercial waterborne freight. By 1850 6000 miles of track had been laid in England, often linking destinations in direct competition to the established canal routes. The boats couldn’t compete and for many canals carrying swiftly declined. There were some co-operative enterprises, railway companies bought up some canal routes to operate them in tandem with rail. And some routes were never going to be replaced by railways.

Some large canal projects were still in the future, notably the Manchester Ship Canal and the South Yorkshire Navigations, but for the narrow canals that enabled the Industrial Revolution to get started the end was in sight.

There were, however, some people who could still see a future in canal carrying, and a proposal was made to build a new waterway to link up Birmingham with the north. From the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal to the old Chester Canal at Nantwich, the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal would use the latest construction techniques to build a straight, fast water route for goods to and from Birmingham and the north. Out was the winding contour canal like the Staffs and Worcs, in was a straight route, with embankments and cuttings, and the necessary locks grouped together in flights as far as was practical to speed up traffic. An act to build the canal was passed in 1825, and construction finally finished in 1834.
It could have been a railway, but support for the, at the time, untried transport system was reluctant. The investors must have been crying in their beer with hindsight, but without that decision we would have been deprived of a great canal network, The Shropshire Union Canal.

Our little convoy has broken up for a few days. Chas took Moore2Life on almost to Wheaton Aston yesterday afternoon, leaving us and NB Rock’n’Roll at Brewood. We moved on today, leaving George and Carol to meet son Mark.

It was another bright start which rapidly went downhill, blue skies turned white then grey, and by 3 o’clock it was chucking it down. But we were tied up by then.

Just through the first bridge we encountered a fishing match, the first of three today. Often the anglers resent the intrusion of boats, but they were friendly and chatty.

Fishing match near Brewood
There was almost of mile of them, from Bridge 15 right up to Stretton Aqueduct.

Stretton Aqueduct over the A5

That way is Gailey wharf, all of 3 miles away. It’s quicker by road….
There were some more fishermen lurking in Lapley Cutting, but these were generally pleasant too.

Lapley Cutting

This chap wasn’t very communicative, but at least he didn’t clear off like most of his family are wont to do!

We arrived at the top of Wheaton Aston Lock, giving Chas a toot on the horn as we came past. He wanted to go down the lock, so we sent him down first….

M2L in Wheaton Aston Lock
….Then we followed. 

We both pulled onto the services, then, tanks topped up and emptied as required, we pushed on, leaving Chas to moor opposite Turners Garage. Ann is due back tomorrow afternoon, and she’ll meet him here.

We gave NB Go For It a shout as we came past. Another blogger, we’ve been seeing them a lot recently as they’re heading the same way as us.

NB Go For It

Santa comes early to Wheaton Aston…..

Two miles on, across one of the high straight embankments, we slowed down for yet another batch of anglers in Rye Hill Cutting, then pulled in just before Little Onn Bridge. We’ll stay here for a couple of days, to reassemble the convoy.

High embankment…..
….Long straight

Locks 1, miles 5