Tranquil travelling - Staffs&Worcs to Great Haywood Junction

This post covers the stretch from the previously mentioned junction of the Staffs & Worcs with the Wolverhampton Branch (Aldersely Junction) to Great Haywood Junction where the Staffs & Worcs meets the Trent & Mersey Canal. It was a relatively uneventful stretch in boating terms with beautiful scenery and quite relaxing. The canal often runs in wooded cuttings, which are relatively cool in this hot weather. Having a competent crew on board for a while gave me the opportunity to sit in the bow (under the parasol!) and let the world glide by without much engine noise. Plus there were no locks on a very long stretch. Bliss! Especially in heat like this.

Letting the world glide by ...

... in the shade

Reflections

The only excitement in canal terms was a very narrow cutting, not much wider than the boat, like a single-lane road with passing places. Of course we met about four boats and had to manoeuvre carefully around everybody.

A very narrow bit

Passing place on the narrow bit

Here are some pictures to give you an impression of this lovely stretch:

Turnover bridge

Lots of bridges

Geese community

Aqueduct

Looking down from the aqueduct

The aqueduct from the river below

The "Broad Water", a stretch of canal that is almost a lake

Broad Water

No idea whose house this is but it has a good view

Approaching Great Haywood junction

We are going to "The Potteries"

Last but not least an update on the garden

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Leicester to Shardlow - river navigation!

Image
As I mentioned in my last post, in Leicester the canal joins the river Soar. The Soar then heads north and joins the Trent near Nottingham. I was advised not to stop anywhere after the city centre until I got to Birstall, a village to the north of Leicester.  It was another hot day and at the lock in Birstall, there was another - this time larger - group of kids playing in and around the lock. They were a little bit more unruly than the previous lot. It was like herding cats keeping them from climbing all over the lock gates, getting in my way and even jumping on the boat (one did manage it at the end). Onlookers on the bridge were amused by all this, but I was quite stressed.  Fortunately the visitor moorings just after the lock were very nice. They are located right where the river joins again after having gone over a weir.  Birstall - lock to the right, weir to the left Unfortunately, my time on the Soar coincided with quite a lot of rain and I got a taster of what the...
Read more

Very mixed weather and lots of solo locking - Tring to Stoke Bruerne

Image
After Sabine left me, my single-handing started in earnest. First of all it started with a day off as it rained most of the day. In the afternoon as the rain cleared, I cycled up to the Ashridge Estate. A hill that was quite challenging for a flatlander from London. But I was rewarded with the most amazing bluebell carpets. Ashridge Estate. The canal is somewhere behind the white building centre-left. So the next day I pushed on. I was aiming to catch up with the Idle Women tour again in Stoke Bruerne on the weekend. The first feature of the day was the Marsworth locks, six in a row. I was lucky to be able to share the locks with a local boater, who also had a few tips for me. Mid-lock flight we were also joined by two lock volunteers, who did everything for us. Just sit back, relax and occasionally potter on to the next lock. Amazing! First time on this trip sharing a lock I did another 8 locks on the day and all of these sadly on my own. It was very pretty though ...
Read more

River valley on the way to the potteries - Trent & Mersey Canal

Image
At Great Haywood Junction we joined the Trent & Mersey Canal. The Staffs & Worcs and the Trent & Mersey have quite different characters. The Staffs & Worcs is often framed by woods and runs in cool shady cuttings, which was very nice in this hot weather. The Trent & Mersey on the other hand runs through the Trent river valley in this area, which means wide views over the valley and its water meadows, a very peaceful scenery. River valley with wildlife White geese (or ducks?) for a change Water meadows Part of this journey was going through the little town of Stone with its eight locks. The locks were OK, but deep and they had very narrow bridges over them. My mild bridge anxiety was back. Unnecessarily as they were all high enough. And fortunately the width of narrowboats is standardised. Bridge at lock entrance Locking in Stone with an audience Stone lock with turnover bridge Canalside brewery in Stone We had a ...
Read more