Monday & Tuesday - Nr Brewood to Gnosall, 9 miles, 1 lock, 4 hours

After two early starts we treated ourselves to the luxury of a late start.

We also decided that we needed to swap out our shorts and summer clothes for the winter woollies :-((.  We did keep one pair of shorts out each, just in case!!

We set off with the aim of getting to Church Eaton.  One of the first bridges we passed through was very regal, you could imagine the old horse drawn carriages of the gentry crossing (think I have been watching too much Downton Abbey!).

As we travelled the canal crosses the A5 on an aqueduct. By The Way looks pretty cool floating across thus major trunk road.

There was only one lock but it was one of those locks that just would not fully fill, too much of a leak at the other end, luckily a couple of guys from the boat waiting to come up where helping and with 3 of us pushing on the gate we finally got it open - I would never have been able to do it on my own.

We moored up in a really secluded spot, just on the edge of a wood, beyond Church Eaton and took a trip into Newport to restock.  There seems to be a real shortage of Koppenburg Strawberry & Lime, neither Waitrose or the offie had any!!!  It was almost dark by the time we got back and the nocturnal wildlife from the woods was in full swing - some very eerie noises.

Tuesday

Rodney went to Cannock mountain biking, I am not sure my shoulder is really ready for that yet so I took the chance to meet Nic in Cannock.  Rod really enjoyed the bike ride, he completed the Monkey Trail in just over 2 hours, with just one minor war wound.  I had a lovely time catching up with Nic in Costa.  

I had parked in Morrisons, so I popped in and finally managed to get some Koppenburg :-).

When we got back we needed to move on, as the internet signal was very poor (hence no post yesterday) as Rod is on the tech line tomorrow.  So we cruised about 30 mins to Gnosall.  We now have excellent internet but no tv signal too many trees.

I did manage to persuade Rod that it was cold enough to light the fire and it is 1/10.

George was very pleased.

 

The wood burning is the findings from the other day.  It is now very warm, we may need those shorts sooner than we thought!

(EH 312.9)