The Route March

 A cute cockerel

It was a cool and grey view across the marina when we woke this morning. We decided to do some housekeeping and set about cleaning the boat. The good thing about a small boat is that this only takes about an hour, and so we were ready to head off to the IWA festival by mid morning. We had decided to walk since the festival site was only a couple of miles along the towpath, and there would be lots of boats to see en-route. The towpath is on the opposite side of the canal to the marina, so we had to head in the wrong direction initially, to get to the road, leading to the nearest bridge. As we headed towards the bridge over the canal, we spotted the bird above, sitting on the knee of a guy on a bench in his garden. This bird was so tame, that they take it on holiday and have even taken it for walks along the beach! On reaching the canal, we found it strangely quiet with no people or boats in sight. We struck out heading east, enjoying some lovely countryside albeit accompanied by the drone of the nearby A38 traffic. After a while we were surprised that we still hadn't seen any boats moored since we knew they were moored 2 deep for about a kilometer either side of the site. To cut a long story short, we did finally reach the site, but only after walking for about 5 miles! Somehow we had both mis-calculated the distance!

 Boats festooned with bunting

When we did reach the moored boats, the festival mood was much in evidence with bunting covering the boats and most of the houses along the bank. People from the houses had set up stalls selling cakes and BBQ food and there were lots of people wandering about.

 Going nowhere fast

The moored boats reduced the canal to a narrow channel only wide enough for a single boat. Marshalls were controlling the flow of boats in each direction but even so, it was very slow going for anyone trying to get through the town.

 A viking settlement

Once into the festival we headed for the food court, bought coffee and danish and then sat down and recovered from our unexpected hike. We made contact with Rosemary and Jim who we met in Leicester and knew were at the festival. We met up and exchanged stories and they told us about their adventure on the Trent, becoming grounded on a mud bank and waiting 9 hours for the tide to change and refloat them. Scary stuff. There were all manner of stalls and sideshows including a complete viking settlement and terrier racing.

Brewery shire horses

After watching a parade of fine shire horses from the nearby breweries we then set off back to the marina - in a taxi! Tomorrow Hoodman is due - will we see him?.....

A 2 day bumper edition!

Wednesday

 It's harvest time here

We left the shallow mooring near Acton Trussell and headed North. Another lovely sunny morning with beautiful english countryside stretching in all directions.

 Distant views towards Cannock Chase

We skirted Baswich, with views of Stafford only a couple of miles away. We could see Cannock Chase in the distance, and as the day wore on we would almost circumnavigate it.

 Racing a goods train

You are never far from a railway on the canals, and today was no exception with the main London to Carlisle line very close to us quite often.

 The upper River Trent from an aqueduct

We were re-aquainted with the River Trent, crossing it on an aqueduct in beautiful countyside.

 Happy cows

 Tixall Hall

 Tixall Wide

As we neared the end of the Staffs and Worcester Canal, we came to Tixall Wide. So named because this piece of canal is more like a lake which is about half a mile long. Tixall Hall above, has fabulous views across lawns down to this 'lake'.

 Great Haywood Junction

Just before the junction with the Trent and Mersey Canal, there are two aqueducts and a bridge. The aqueducts are just wide enough for a narrowboat, and require careful navigation to avoid scrapes. We passed through the first in textbook style, but then I had a bit of an abberation. I completely forgot we were about to enter the second aqueduct which is only a few yards after the first. An almighty thump followed, and Banjo lurched violently sending waves down the canal rocking other boats. We had struck the low concrete edge of the second aqueduct - embarassing but no major damage!

 Back on the Trent and Mersey

This little dog on the left in the picture above loves boats and tried several times to jump aboard. Now we were on the Trent and Mersey, the volume of boats increased dramaticaly with everyone heading for the annual IWA Festival in Burton on Trent. Around 500 boats are expected and virtually everyone we spoke to was heading that way, apart from those fleeing in the other direction!

 A cute Alpaca!

 Another incredibly narrow rock cutting

 We meet Ken and Iris again

As we approaced Fradely, we noticed narrowboat Alice Mary moored in a secluded wooded area. This is Iris and Ken's boat, who we left in Silsden some weeks ago. We stopped and enjoyed a catch up and a cup of tea - really good to see them again.

 Happy campers

We pressed on, endeavouring to get as close to Burton on Trent as we could, to maximise the chance of getting a mooring in a nearby marina. We met this family with their kayaq earlier in the day, they passed us when we were with Ken and Iris. They were setting up camp for the night, with a tent for the two boys, a bivouac for Mum, and (according to her), under the boat for Dad!

Thursday

 A Misty morning

We set an alarm for 06:00, to ensure we got underway before the traffic built up too much. Even so, a few boats passed us before we got underway at 07:00.

 We're off and it's only 07:00

 Early sunshine and into the first lock

We reached Fradeley Junction and already joined a small queue - it looked like being a slow trip today.

 The much photographed Fradley Junction

 The entrance to the Coventry Canal

The junction is between the Trent & Mersey Canal and the Coventry Canal. We headed on up the T&M towards Burton on Trent, but we will turn around and return here on Sunday to join the Coventry and head south.

 A wee bridge hole into the lock

 It may be early but we are still in a queue for the locks

 Briefly, we are onto the River Trent

It was interesting to be back on the Trent - the last time we saw it, we were turning into Keadby Lock, fighting the tiday current. Here, it was a different matter with the river being relatively small and slow flowing.

A diving lesson

We made it to the marina and secured a visitor mooring with electricity and water - a real treat to have limitless supplies of power and hot water! The marina is an enourmous concern with pub, restaurants, and a number of shops. We decided to walk into the nearby village of Barton-Under-Needlewood to get a paper and milk, and on the way passed several lakes. On this one, we spotted this mum and baby duck. As we watched, the mother dived and dissappeared, and almost immediately, the baby did the same. This was repeated several times, and looked very much like a lesson!

 The centre of Barton-Under-Needlewood

Tonight's mooring in Barton Turn Marina

Tomorrow, we are going to walk the couple of miles to the IWA festival - didn't plan to go to this, but we are so close, we decided that it would be a shame to miss it. We are also expecting a visit from Hoodman on Saturday, to complete the fitting of Banjo's hood - we wait with baited breath......

Another night without internet coverage

Alas we can only get a very weak signal and cannot upload any pictures tonight. We will aim to upload new material when we have a decent signal again tomorrow.

Goodbye SU, hello S&W

 A Traditional working boat

We awoke to bright sunshine - again! We were a bit late but set ourself an ambitious target, to reach Penkridge by nightfall. Saw this trad boat early on, selling rope fenders.

 An amourous bull

We passed very close to a bunch of cows standing right by a narrow spot on the canal. This bull was making overtures to those around him - we moved on rapidly - at 4mph.

Autherley Junction 

 We reached the end of the Shropshire Union Canal at the stop lock at Autherley Junction. This lock is only a few inches deep and was apparently insisted upon by the owners of the Staffs and Worcester canal to avoid their water being 'stolen'. We were helped through the locks by a couple of enterprising boys and then turned nort, towards Stafford.

 One cute dog in a boat

 An incredibly narrow length of canal

 Now on the Staffs and Worcester canal, we encountered this section of canal. Only about 8 feet wide and about a mile long - a real challenge to stop scraping along the rocks! There are a couple of passing places, but we were fortunate and didn't meet any oncoming traffic.

Today's heron picture! 

Strange lock architecture

Deep lock with high cill 

 Most of the locks on this canal are over 8 foot deep and all seem to have very high cills (the bit below the gate in the above pic, which you need to keep clear of when descending).

 Tight squeeze up these steps

 To speed up our progress down through these locks, I have taken to stopping in the exit and nipping up the steps to shut the gate, which avoids Angela having to leap over the gap or walk round via the distand gate. This particular set of steps required a crawl up at the top since there was virtually no headroom between the steps and the adjacent bridge.

Canoists near tonight's moorings

We made it to Penkridge as planned, but decided to press on a bit, and are now moored near Acton Trussell just south of Stafford. We had to move the boat a bit as it turned out we had some kind of obstruction amidships! Banjo adopted a list and strange noises were coming from underneath. After a lot of heaving about we managed to drag ourselves clear and move along the bank a bit - all ship shape now.

Miles and miles but only 1 lock

The Wrekin

Bright sunshine AGAIN this morning! We moved off fairly early with the aim of reaching a point a few miles north of Wolverhampton by nightfall. Fairly soon we could see the Wrekin in the distance across rural Shropshire countryside.

Tradidtional narrowboats at an old wharf

 Monkeys for Luis!

We passed this moored boat with its windows full of PG Tips monkeys, which should be a treat for Luis.

 The beautiful Shropshire Union Canal

Rope cuts on the side of a bridge

You see these marks all over the canal network, but they are particularly clear on this canal where metal protectors have been fitted to the bridges. The ropes between a horse on the towpath and the barge it was pulling, would rub against the bridge as the horse walked around the bridge, leaving deep grooves in the stone or metal.

 An intriguing bridge

 A cute white duck

 We meet NB Chance again

We met up with James and Doug on Chance in Market Harborough many weeks ago. Today, we saw James and friends as we passed through Gnosall on the other side of the country. After a chat, as the two boats drifted precariously between the lines of moored boats, we went off in opposite directions again.

 Gnosall

We stopped in Gnosall for lunch and to get some more bread - Angela had thrown all of ours into the canal! We walked some distance to a local store where we paid an exhobitant amount for a loaf, destined to go down the throats of the various waterfowl we will meet over the next 24 hours!

 A tunnel hewn from solid rock

 A cutting that was once part of the tunnel above, before it collapsed!

 A turnover bridge

Another brief lesson... This is a turnover bridge, which was constructed so that a horse towing a barge could cross the river when the towpatch switched sides, without having to unhitch from the barge - simple but clever eh?

 Another heron

 Watling Street from an aqueduct

 The aqueduct over Watling Street

 An elaborate bridge in the middle of nowhere

Tonights tranquil mooring

We reached Brewood, our target for the day, and headed on to find moorings in the country. The banks of this canal are frequently extremely shallow making mooring impossible in many places. After a couple of attempts resulting in grounding, we managed to get alongside the bank and moor up in this quiet spot. Tomorrow we will reach the end of the Shropshire Union Canal - a bit sad as this has been one of the most picturesque and well maintained canals we have come across.