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?