Onwards and Upwards

So Wednesday morning arrived and were greeted by a frozen canal, very strange as the sun was beating down and it was really warm inside the boat. We had no alternative other than to wait until it metled. The thaw was helped by a couple of passing  boats and a team from BBC Midlands TV in canoes. They were doing the third day of the Peaky Pentathalon for Sport Relief.

We got underway just after lunch, although it was sunny there was still a chilly wind but it was a lovely cruise along the edge of  Cannock Chase. We crossed over the Trent followed soon after by the river Sow, at this point the larger of the two. 

Tixall Wide

Tixall Gatehouse

River Sow

Between the two rivers we passed through the Tixall Wide overlooked by the Gatehouse of the long demolished Tixall Hall. One reason given for the width of the canal here is that the land owner would only agree to the canal as long as it looked like a lake. 

Tixall Lock

We soon arrived at the moorings for Stafford, having passed through the only lock of the day. We were keen to explore the town as it was somewhere we haven't been before. The town centre lies approximately 1.5 miles to the northwest of the canal and it wasn't long before we arrived, walking along the busy A34. The town is surprisingly small for a county town, it has a mixture of old local shops as well as the usual chains. There did not seem a great deal to see there and the centre was noticeably quiet for a Wednesday afternoon.

We returned to the boat,  retracing our steps, passing the huge GE Alstrom factory, they make huge generating sets here and there are some incredibly large examples in the yard outside.
The next morning we got under way, heading for our next stop at Penkridge,  a trip of 5 miles and 5 locks, this is a lovely part of the canal and spring was bursting out all around, the daffodils finally daring to bloom. The canal was fairly busy and we noted just how many more boats are now on the move. Just before our destination the canal passes beneath the busy M6, the northbound traffic not moving any faster than we were!
Penkridge is a delightful little town,  retaining it's old world charm as well as providing all the facilities a boater may wish for. There is a good selection of pubs too,  we visited The Boat, along side the canal. The weather was similar to the day before, plenty of sunshine but a cool breeze.

Penkridge High Street

Friday saw us moving along to the village of Coven, a short trip of a few miles and no locks, as the lock at Penkridge had brought us to the summit of the Staffs and Worcs canal. The moorings at Coven are right outside the famous Anchor pub, now known as the Fox and Anchor. This is an old boaters pub but has been enlarged with a large restaurant to the rear. The pub is dog friendly and it being Friday we thought we would give it a try. The beer was good with a choice of Black Sheep, Pedigree and a few other local craft beers. The menu also looked tempting, however, not sampled on this occasion.
The following morning we awoke to a rather dull and soggy scene, we had heavy rain through the night and this was forecast to carry on thoughout the day,  fortunately it stopped early morning so we set off to explore the village. Sadly there was little to see here, it was yet another dormitory village with just a few shops and lots of housing built in that typical 60/70's style. We found the whole place slightly depressing, not helped by the gloomy weather. The only highlight was the small Farm Shop selling a reasonable range of local produce.
On our return to the boat we decided to move onto the moorings just below Aldersley Junction, and the start of the climb onto the Birmingham Canals Network (BCN). 

The Narrows just before Autherley Junction

We awoke to lovely warm sunshine on Sunday morning, we had arranged to call into Oxley Marine before setting off, to get an engine hose replaced, they were really helpful and soon had the repairs done, we took on fuel and coal here too.
A few hundred yards along brought us to the junction,  a very tight turn and straight into the first lock of the 21. We quickly passed through the first couple of locks travelling alongside Dunstall Park racecourse, the pound between the third and fourth lock was really low and we just managed to scrape our way through to the next, helped by the fact that a boat was coming down the flight bringing water with it.

 We continued on our way passing the boat coming down the flight,  this was a working boat on its way to the gathering at Ellesmere Port. A couple of locks later we passed a Butty, being manually towed through the locks before being reunited with its tug at the bottom.
We pressed on through the locks using our routine of Lucia preparing  the lock ahead whilst I closed up behind. Luckily all the locks were in our favour so we didn't have to empty any before proceeding. As we arrived at the last eight locks we started to run out of water, the pound above was three foot down so progress was impossible. I walked up the locks, letting water through until  balancing the deficit across a number of the pounds above. We struggled along having to clear the prop of plastic bags, rope etc a couple of times, finally reachng the top after around 4.5 hours toil.
The moorings at the top are a fine place to moor after a hard days work, and only a short walk to the centre of Wolverhampton. Following dinner we had a walk into town,  this was the first day of British summer time so it was nice to be able to walk in the evening daylight.
Wolverhampton was a real suprise, I had assumed that it would have been badly damaged during the war and rebuilt in  hideous 50s and 60s architecture, this was not the case at all. Many of its old buildings have been retained and  much of the modern building seemed to be carefully arranged to fit in.
There are plenty of old pubs around too. Our stop was only brief (these moorings are only 24 hrs), and next morning we were soon underway to our next stop in the centre of Birmingham.

Views of Wolverhampton

Thwarted Plans

Wednesday 7th March
We arrived at Alvecote on a fine early spring afternoon, mooring opposite the marina and its pub/clubhouse, The Samuel Barlow, named after the famous canal carrying company who were based in Tamworth. We had a walk to the Alvecote Priory an 11th C  Benedictine Priory, we had visited the site a couple of years before however during that visit we were met by a very overgrown area preventing access to the ruins. Thankfully, this time the whole site had been tidied up so we were able to explore to our hearts content.

Alvecote Priory

The following morning was cool and  dry and we made our way up to Hopwas, we had passed the village on our way down and I had it on my list of somewhere to stop and explore.
Again, like many of the villages in this area, it has become a dormitory for the local large town, in this case, Tamworth. It has its unique charm particularly around the canal and is a pleasant overnight stop.
On Friday we moved onto Fradley, it was still cold with quite a stiff breeze making the trip a little more difficult, the sun did make an occasional appearance and provided some welcome spring warmth.
We stopped over at Fradley for a couple of nights so I could spend Saturday watching the 6 nations rugby, a disappointing second defeat for England at the hands of the French.
We decided to move on to Great Haywood on Sunday and had a pleasant trip up through Armitage and a stop at the large Tescos in Rugeley to restock. We pressed on to the to the moorings at Great Haywood below the lock, overlooking the river Trent and the impressive Shrugborough Hall and gardens. The trip up here from Rugeley is really pleasant, passing along side Cannock Chase on one side and quaint Trent valley villages on the other. A particular favourite is the stretch through Bishton, Colwich and Wolesley with halls and gardens on either side.
Heavy rain was forecast for Monday and we had arranged to stay put for the day, we did move the boat up the the large marina to have some of the work done at Barton checked over, we returned to the moorings, this time above the lock. The rain teemed down all day and the only mooring spot available was right over a culvert, the water passing a few feet below the canal was rapidly rising and gurgling, this made me nervous as it was typical of the sort of thing that could easily cause a breach so we moved again a little further up. All plans to visit the village were put on hold as the rain continued all day, turning the towpath into ankle deep, liquid mud.

Salt Bridge

Behind the trees is a rare inland salt marsh

Thankfully the rain eased a little overnight so we got underway to Stone, our next planned stop. By this time the forecasters were predicting a second beast from the east so we decided to press on reaching Stone by early afternoon, we passed through the locks in the town to moor at the five day moorings above.
These moorings are really pleasant with the town centre 15 mins walk away, they are also near enough the services so that also helped.
The town of Stone was a pleasant surprise, with a large Morrisons as well as the usual range of shops, there is a laundrette  in the town but it is a fair way from the canal, fortunately the dry cleaners next to the bottom lock is part of the same business, thankfully they were happy to take the washing by car for us, returning the next day for us to collect, great service.
We frequented a local cafe, Stone Baked, a great place, very dog friendly, with an extensive range of pies,cakes etc including my new favorite, Staffordshire Oatcakes. If you visit Stone this place is well worth a visit.

We also called at the local butchers, down a small alley behind the cafe, this is a must call when in the town, the staff cannot do enough for you, they offered to vacuum pack all the meat for us, as we don't have a freezer on board, this is a useful way of increasing the shelf life of the meat.
I left the boat on Friday to join the rugby Old Farts on tour in York, Lucia remained on board and was joined by Vicky who got the train up from Bristol.
The cold weather arrived Friday evening with snow on Saturday and Sunday, the train journey back to Stone was ok but very busy with people being re-routed due to the weather.
I was grateful to note that although it was very cold the canal had not frozen and the following morning we were able to get underway to continue our journey.
We had news that we may have to call back to Leeds in May to sort out a few things with the house, so we discussed our plans as to where to go next, originally we had planned to go over to Chester and the Llangollen Canals, however, due to a large breach on the Middlewich branch, (our shortcut back home if required) we have had to rethink, we decided to turn around and go back to explore the northern section of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal and then onto Birmingham. Should we need to get to Leeds, trains are readily available from this part of the world.
 Tuesday brought a lovely start to the day with bright sunshine, it clouded over as the day progressed but the trip down to Great Haywood was very pleasant. There was still snow evident on the hillsides making some of the fields look like the back of a Friesian cow, with large patches of white around.
We arrived at the moorings in time to go and explore Shrugborough Park and the ancient packhorse bridge over the Trent as well as the village.

Essex packhorse bridge

Another view across the bridge

I'm the queen of the castle!

During our journey down I noticed a light coloured bird swoop across the bow of the boat, it settled in a tree on the canal bank and as we passed we realised it was a Barn Owl, the first I have ever seen in the wild! We also saw a couple of Herons busily nest building at the top of a tree close to the canal.
With spring lambs in the field and the passing of the Spring Equinox, dare we think spring may have arrived at last? Judging by the number of  boats passing through, a lot of our fellow boaters seem to think so, we even had our first lock queue of the year.
Tomorrow (Wednesday),  we set off down the Staff and Worcs canal and hope to call at Stafford and Penkridge on our way down.

Weston Hall

I'm watching Ewe!

The Black Sheep of the family

 

What about me?

Coventry and Atherstone

Thursday 22nd February 2018
Following a surprisingly peaceful night in Coventry we awoke to a cold but dry day, we had looked round the town the previous day so, with the Beast from the East now looming large on the horizon, we decided to make our way up to Atherstone. It was bitterly cold but I was well wrapped up so all was ok. Lucia was nursing a cold and stayed down below by the stove and kept herself warm, occasionally passing through a hot drink to keep me warm. 

James Brindley in the Coventry Basin

Moored in Coventry Basin

We arrived at the stretch where all the rubbish surrounds the canal and, passing through a rubbish strewn bridge, I noticed a large rat swimming across the canal, just shows what all this rubbish can attract. It's a great shame as this is only one mile of the five into town, the rest being fine.
We continued along intending to take on fuel at Starline boats in Nuneaton, however they had all their hire boats moored up and  breasted together with boats moored opposite, leaving very little room to squeeze through, so I decided to press on. Passing under another rubbish strewn bridge I saw another rat pass the stern. I never seen this before until today.
It was with relief that we reached the open countryside again and pulled up at Springwood Haven for fuel and water, they also had a well stocked chandlery.
A couple of miles or so further on brought us to Atherstone where we intend to sit out the cold spell.
The weather became progressively colder as the days passed by, and the canal began to freeze over night. The days however were sunny and the warmth from the sun cleared the ice, for the first few days, so we were able to move the boat down to fill with water.
On Sunday we walked down to the Kings Head just below lock 5 , this pub doesn't look much from the outside, inside however is a different story, newly decorated, it is very welcoming and the staff could not do enough to help. We ordered our meals and were really impressed, the food was delicious and plentiful and was very reasonably priced, it was so good and so filling, we had to resist the temptation of a range of great looking sweets. They also  have a good range of well kept beers.
By Tuesday the "Beast" had arrived and the temperature started to plummet, with frequent snow showers, however the sun kept the snow at bay. We decided to walk around the countryside above the town, progress was made easier due to the ground being frozen. Scruff had a little adventure, running down a farm track, she ran onto a frozen puddle, her hind legs shot out behind her and she slid across the puddle on her belly, looking bemused she tried to stand up displaying a good impression of Bamby on Ice in the process.

On the way up to Purley Park

Purley Woods

We continued up to the ridge near Purley Park affording us tremendous views across the valley towards Stoke Golding and the Ashby Canal, as well as a view of the impressively, large quarry sitting in a fold of the surrounding hills. A pair of Buzzards hovered over the fields close by calling to each other with their distinctive cry.

View across to Stoke Golding and the Ashby

We made our way back down to  the canal and through the town to return to the comforting warmth of the boat, soon after dusk the temperature dropped rapidly and, with a clear sky,  the moon cast an earie light across the frozen water.
Wednesday brought a light covering of snow so far, this area seems to have escaped the chaos that seems to be happening in other parts of the country.

Saturday 3rd March

Well the big freeze has well and truly taken a grip, the canal was completely frozen, frotunately the facilities were still operational, Wednesday night was the worst spell, with really strong icy winds winds, sleep was broken by the sound of the boat slowly being enclosed by the ice with strange creaking and cracking sounds, the boat was being buffeted by the wind but as the ice took a hold the boat eventually stopped moving, the following morning the boat was in the firm grip of the ice.

Frozen In

This  remained the situation for the next 24 hours but Friday brought a slight thaw around the boat, however the snow then arrived with 3 inches or so by the following morning. Our stock of coal was beginning to dwindle so I rang a local merchant Rothen & Co who kindly agreed to deliver 3 bags to the nearest bridge. We are keeping our eye on the water tank as we have not been able to fill up since last Sunday, we are supplementing our supply with bottled water to preserve our stocks. 

it looks as though Monday will be the earliest possible day to move so fingers crossed.

The thaw starts

Well Monday has arrived and the ice, although thawing, is still too thick to move, we walked down the locks and it was even thicker so we have to stay put for the time being.

We walked back to Atherstone around the back of the town, passing the incredibly huge HQ of Aldi along with its enormous distribution warehouse.
Tuesday morning and the ice appeared to be still too thick however the unfrozen areas had increased significantly, later in the morning a couple of boats came by, pushing and breaking the ice ahead of them, these were followed by a couple more along with one passing us in the other direction, this left the ice nicely broken up so all bodes well for a departure Wednesday morning.
Sure enough the morning brought a clear canal with just a few lumps of ice around, so we prepared ourselves and moved on down to the services just above the locks. It took  a little while to fill the water tank but we were soon underway making progress down the eleven locks of the Atherstone flight.

Filling with water at last

We caught up with NB Desiree, a single handed boat ahead of us on the flight, this meant, of course, that we had to reset each lock as we arrived.

The first of eleven!

The day was lovely, sunny and spring like, making the journey to Alvecote, just south of Tamworth, a fine days cruising, passing willows in bud and the fields showing the first signs of green shoots.

Our plan is to make our way to Stone, we will stop there for a few days whilst I go to York for a couple of days, from there our intention was to go on up to Stoke and onto the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals, to make up for our aborted trip last September. News arrived that the Marple Flight problem has caused further delays and will not reopen until early May.
We have had to re-think our plans one more time, we now will turn round at Stone and head back to Great Heywood where we will head south west on the Staffs and Worcs canal down to the junction with the Shropshire Union. Here we will head north to Chester and the Llangolan Canal. Our trip up the Lancaster and Peak Forest Canals will have to wait for another day.

Aldi HQ