From (almost) Ellesmere Port to (almost) Birmingham - Shropshire Union Canal
The title is a quote from a song from the Idle Women show about the volunteer boat women on the waterways in WWII. You may remember that I followed the Idle Women tour a bit for my first few weeks on tour and I saw the show three times. This song was in my head a lot as I visited Ellesmere Port. The Shropshire Union Canal runs from Ellesmere Port on the south side of the Mersey to Wolverhampton, very close to Birmingham. I did not actually boat it all the way as going to Ellesmere Port would have meant a detour of several days there and back. But I did visit the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port by train. I joined the Shropshire Union ("Shroppie") at Barbridge Junction, 24 miles south of Ellesmere Port and then boated the Shroppie all the way south to Autherley junction, where it ends near Wolverhampton. When I asked people before, which one is their favourite canal, quite a lot of people said the Shroppie. I have to say that this is not the case for me. The