Friday & Saturday Gnosall to Market Drayton - 13 miles, 8 hours, 5 locks

Friday

Left Knosall and travelled through Norbury junction.  Found a couple of lovely walks and nice cycle paths near here.

There are a number of very narrow stretches on the Shropshire Union, especially in some of the more rocky stretches.  It still amazes me to think that it has all been built by hand, you can see the sheer rock on the bottom of these two photos.

Whilst there are very few locks on this stretch of the canal, the countryside around it is far from flat, and the canal switches from going under tall bridges, to travelling over the roads on numerous aqueducts.

We moored just outside a pretty little village called Cheswardine.

We drove into Market Drayton, as we needed to get a couple of masks for a masquerade ball on Saturday - we were successful.

Saturday

We set off early as there was a long stretch of very narrow canal, which was only wide enough for one boat with passing places.  We were lucky as we didn't pass anyone so got through without incident.

We went through a very unusual bridge.

We then headed through a flight of 5 locks.

As we headed towards the last lock a hot balloon went overhead, another thing on must list of things to do.

We moored in Market Drayton.  It was 6.25 miles back to van, so I decided to run back and Rod cycled back with me.

We then got ready for Nic's 40th Birthday Masquarde ball.  We had a fantastic evening.

The birthday girl and Annita.

Sarah teaches Terry how to strut his stuff!

Guess who?

A great night was had by all.

(EH 320.9)

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)

Saturday & Sunday - Hatherton to Nr Brewood - 9 miles, 1 lock, 4 hours

Saturday

We had to be up early as we needed to drive back to Hinckley as the hire company wanted to swap out the van.  Whilst this was a pain in the preverbial, it was worth it, as we are now in a brand new VW Transporter.  It was not an easy job as anyone that has seen the inside of the van will appreciate!! But we unloaded most of the stuff at the storage place then swapped the van and reloaded.

When we got back Rod and George continued the theme of gathering wood, not sure George actually helped that much!!

But the had fun.

Sunday

Whatever happened to Sunday being a day of rest? (I know our life is one long rest!).  We need to be up early again, for two reasons 1.  Mike was meeting us at 11:00 on his way to London for the NFL

2.  We were approaching a really narrow section of canal, which is only wide enough for one boat, with passing places, so we wanted to get through before it got too busy.  So we set off at 7:30.

We were really lucky we passed nothing on the narrow stretch.

We the arrived at the junction of the Staff &Worc with the Shropshire Union.  So we are now on the Shroppie heading for Chester.

We met Mike at about 11:30 then had a lovely walk in the afternoon, poor little George is knackered again!!  The main purpose of the walk was to go to the shop, according to the Co-op website the nearest one was at Covan, once we got there we decided we may as well carry on and get the van - when we drove back we discovered there was a Co-op in Brewood -they need to work on their search engine on their store locator!!

Managed to cook my first roast dinner, which for those of you that have seen me cook a roast is no mean feat, as usually the kitchen looks like a bomb has gone off!  It's amazing how tody you can be when you have to:-)

(EH 309)

Penkridge to Hatherton - 7 locks, 6 miles, 4.5 hours

What a beautiful morning, for late September this weather really is amazing.

Set off this morning at about 8:30.  

The third lock we came through was Otherton, as I got off the boat to do the lock, I made the under statement of the day, "need to put George on his lead there is a busy road by the lock" - busy it was the M6, if you look to the right of the picture between the trees you can just see the road sign!!

The last lock of the day was at Gailey which is where the A5 crosses the canal.  The wharf has an old mill.

Picture from inside the lock.

Whilst this stretch of canal is never far from the motorway or the railway it is never the less very pretty.

And the locks are close enough together to be able to walk between them.

Our mooring spot for tonight is in the middle of nowhere, so no pubs to visit, but Strictly is on tonight so it'll be a bottle of wine in front of the telly.

(EH 305.3)

Thursday - Buckingham Palace

Took a day trip to London today to go to Buckingham Palace with the girls to view the Coronation Exhibition.  Rod had to work so he and George went to Cirencester.

All this chilling is great but you kind of loose any sense of urgency or needing to be some where at a set time, this resulted in me having to run through Penkridge in my heeled boots when I suddenly realised that the clock on the boat might be a few minutes slow and I was going to miss my train - not really a pretty sight at 7:45 in the morning!!! I made it by the skin of my teeth :-)

Had a lovely day the sun shone yet again and there were good size crowds outside the palace.

Whilst I was waiting for the others to arrive was lucky to see the household cavalry ride past.

It took us about 2 hours to go through the exhibition and the state rooms, we then had tea and cake in the palace gardens.

Thanks to Carol for organising, a great day out.

Tixall to Penkridge, 9 miles, 4 locks, 4.5hours

What a beautiful day, you won't believe we were almost at the end of September.

We were aiming to get to Penkridge as Rod is working Wednesday and Thursday and I need to get into London on Thursday as meeting some friends and going to Buckingham Palace.

As we cruised along we came across the second sunken boat we have seen on the Staff & Worc, but this one was slightly different in that as we got closer we were pretty sure it was a Caraboat, we first came across one of these on our very first canal holiday and at the time thought it was an Ice Cream van!! They are a strange contraption that can be towed on the road as a caravan on be used on water - those days are definitely over for this one! 

Not long after this we crossed under the M6.

The bridge immediately before - just a slight contrast.

We arrived in Penkridge and found a nice spot to moor.  The moorings run along the back of some houses and we picked the spot because it was particularly well kept, not long afterwards a gentlemen came out of his back gate, he got chatting with Rod (I am convinced Michael Appleyard has been giving him chatting lessons!), it transpired he was an ex-miner and was 78 years old, I hope I am that fit if I make it to his age.  He very kindly gave us some runner beans out of his garden, which we will be having for tea tonight.  He also advised the the best pub in Penkridge was The Star.  He was a true gent.

I have decided that both Rod and George have a pub addiction!!  We went for a walk round the village and at every pub George tried to take us in and on the way back Rod decided we should stop at the Star, two pints later we came back for tea - apparently we are supporting local businesses :-)

(EH 301.6)

North East to Armitage to Tixall - 11.5 miles, 2 locks, 6 hours

The end of the week in the North East saw us take a trip into Newcastle, I haven't been into Newcastle City centre since I was about 12 years old (along time ago!).  Had a lovely wander along the Quayside, was great to see the Tyne Bridge set up for the Great North Run.

On Friday we did a 8.5 mile walk round Morpeth, this took us along the river and into the town, at the end of which the dogs were totally knackered, they weren't the only ones!!

When we left Soutter Point on Saturday morning we went to an amazing fish mongers that Mike and I had spotted on the way to the match the previous Saturday.  So I was really brave and cooked both Scallops and Seabass for the first time ever, though I say so myself they both came out ok.

Sunday morning we set off with a plan to stop at Armitage where we had arranged to meet up with Marie and Antony.  We had a lovely afternoon/evening, was great to catch up. The weather was absolutely amazing especially for the end of September.

We set off this morning with the aim of getting just past Hayward Junction and onto the Stafforshire & Worcester canal.

The weather wasn't quite as had been forecast it was damp and drizzling, later in the day Rod bumped into a guy who advised that his six year old had informed him this morning that "the weather man tells lies!" She is not wrong.

As we travelled on we went over a couple of Aqueducts, the one below at Brindley Bank and the second over the River Trent.

We also passed a couple of impressive country homes, the first Bishton Hall, which is now a school.

We then travelled alongside the beautiful and impressive Shugborough Hall.

We were soon at Hayward Junction, where we took the left turn under the bridge onto the Staf & Worc canal.

Shortly afterwards we moored up for the day, and were treated to a great view of a hot air balloon going overhead.

Rod did his usual end of day checks, engine oil, grease the stearn tube and the dreaded weed hatch, he thought we had caught something today on the prop as By The Way was running a bit slow, and low and behold the following was wrapped around the prop - yuck!!

(EH 297.2)