Birmingham to Market Drayton 1st-4th August

 The 1^st August saw us leaving Birmingham for Wolverhampton. Weather was overcast and dry.

Leaving the centre of Birmingham on the morning of the 1st

Turning right from the New to the Old Main Line

This part of the journey is not pretty as much of the canal side is derelict and needs a cash injection for redevelopment.  For non-boaters the meeting of the canal and a motorway might seem strange, but in reality is not unusual.

M5 Motorway crossing the canal near Oldbury

We moored for the night in Wolverhampton just short of the locks next to the British Waterways (now the Canal & River Trust) Canal office, formally a  Fellows, Morton & Clayton warehouse. Opposite our mooring is the imposing Chubb & Son’s Lock & Safe Company.

 Leaving the centre of Wolverhampton - This is the Top Lock of 21.

Next day saw us going down the 21 locks from Wolverhampton to Aldersley Junction, where we turned right onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal. Within 10 minutes we had turned left at Autherley Junction onto the Shropshire Union Canal,  which will eventually take us to Chester & Ellesmere Port.

Flo on her 22 lock of the day - on some locks Flo opens & closes 3 gates per lock

We chugged a further 5 miles to Brewood, (pronounced Brood), moored and had lunch.  The heavy rain stopped, the sun came out and as the mooring was too shallow decided to move another 5 miles and moor at Little Onn Bridge. A good mooring out in the country that was suffering with an overpowing smell of farmyard manure, so windows and doors needed to remain closed.

  

The next morning, Friday, we were not sorry to leave the smell of the local countryside for the 13 miles to Goldstone Wharf, stopping at Gnosall Heath (pro No-zull) for provisions and Norbury Wharf for a replacement gas bottle. Passing by:

                               Stretton Aqueduct over the A5 to London         Cowley Tunnel dug out of solid rock

                                         The Boat Inn - Gnosall Heath                                    Norbury Wharf

       

High Bridge unusual double arched bridge supporting a small telegraph pole on the lower arch & the former Cadbury's Wharf  opened in 1911 to process milk, cocoa and sugar which was then transported by boat to Birmingham as a sort of raw chocolate.

Goldstone Wharf proved an excellent stop – the Wharf Tavern provided our evening meal.

Saturday 4^th saw us move to Market Drayton through the Woodseave Cutting and Tyrley Locks. 

 Woodseaves a prodigious cutting that is extremely narrow in places and is cut out of solid rock.  The high banks and tall trees keep out the sun and the undergrowth seems to resemble a tropical rain forest.  So narrow that the speed limit is reduced to 2mph.

Tyrler Wharf and top lock - the building date from 1837

Tyrler Locks - a flight of 5 lock hewn out of solid rock

Market Drayton was a bit of a surprise, totally destroyed by fire in 1651 and the birth place of Robert Clive, later known as “Clive of India”.  Excellent moorings a good sized wharf, a  large basin,  sizeable warehouse and an adjoining cornmill.

Some of the mooring at Market Drayton

We rested today, Sunday, as the forecast was for heavy rain. Tomorrow we aim for Audlem - 16 locks & 6 miles.  See you in a few days.

A New Journey

Well, as you all know the weather has changed from the miserable rain we’ve been experiencing since April to what seems like a normal summer.  Resulting in Flo & I deciding the time is right for us to get Bacchus out for a trip up to Ellesmere Port via Birmingham and Chester.

We left Crick on Tuesday 24^th going through the Watford flight, Braunston and mooring at bridge 103 near Flecknoe for a BBQ.  Wednesday continued to be dry and hot and saw us turning right at Napton Junction and moving down the Stockton Locks. We were feeling the heat by lock 11  and  the Blue Lias was a welcome sight, liquid refreshments were called for before attacking the remaining locks and finally mooring at Long Itchington close to the Two Boats. On the recommendation of passing jogger dinner was at the Buck & Bell located on the village green. Excellent meal.

 The Blue Lias - first boat is Bacchus 

Stockton Locks 

Two Boat

Straight forward chugg to Radford Semele, mooring around lunch time. We were here in 2010 and the village church was covered in scaffolding and tarpaulin and under repair after an arsonist had set it on fire, the scaffolding and tarp are still there.  The heat of the day had dropped around 4ish so we continued our journey to the edge of  Warwick mooring close to the Cape of Good Hope, and being in a good position to climb the 21 locks of the Hatton flight next day.

The Hatton flight was far easier than we expected.  Very few other boats were around and the two trust volunteers on duty helped us up through the top 15 locks resulting in a really good time of just over 3 hours for the flight. We only met 3 other boats going down, but lots of gongoozlers. Moving up the flight we saw buzzards, grey wagtails and a vole scuttling between a pair of locks.  Chugged to Rowington and moored for the night. Watched the Olympic opening ceremony, we both thought it was better than we expected.

Half way up the Hatton flight 

 View from Rowington mooring

Left the Grand Union at Kingswood Junction,  joined the Stratford Canal and chugged up the Lapworth flight, another flight of over 20 locks, decided not to moor for the evening but to continue to Birmingham and stay for 3 days. The weather broke on Sunday, hot weather disappeared and we are now back to rain. 

 King's Norton stop lock

Birmingham University clock tower

First of August tomorrow – leaving Birmingham for Wolverhampton and then proceeding onto the Shropshire Canal the day after

Braunston Historic Boats Rally 23/24 June

Moored about a mile short of  Braunston on our return journey to Crick as the Historic Boats Rally was in progress.  Walked in and had a great day.

Through Braunston on Sunday, we were back in Crick Tuesday morning.

We aim to depart Crick around the 10th July for Birmingham, Shroppie, Chester and Ellesmere Port. This assumes that the long term forecast improves considerably, another month like June would not be enjoyable.  Return route not yet decided.

Back on Board

It's been over a year since our last entry.  There are numerous reasons why, but the main ones are lack of boat travel due to the horrendous weather we have suffered over the last few months and personal issues that have kept us landside.
Middle of May was our first trip on Bacchus.  A quick trip through Foxton locks and into Market Harborough tested Bacchus after 6 months of being idle.  She ran really well.  We travelled both ways through the locks without seeing another boat.  If you visit MH we would recommend visiting the town museum, it's only small but the Hallaton treasure exhibit is excellent.

Crick Boat Show, down the Oxford & up the Ashby.
Despite the weather Crick Boat Show seems to have been a success.  We spent 4 days on board moored in the marina during the Show with visits from family and friends, leaving on the evening of the last day to chugg down to Oxford.

Crick Marina during the Boat Show 4th June

The plan was to travel down to Oxford, stopping at bridge 113 to visit the Butcher's Arms in Priors Hardwick, then to continue through Banbury and spend a few days in Oxford. Well it never quite worked out like that as it rained nearly every day down to Banbury and we became concerned that the Cherwell might be in flood and decided to call it a day.  We were on a tight schedule and needed to be back in Crick by first week of July and did not want to get stuck the wrong side of the river. That meant a new plan - return to Braunston and then up the Ashby.  The weather didn't seem to improve on the return journey either and we never did make the Butcher's Arms, so I still owe Flo a lunch there.

Claydon Top Lock 12 June - note the blue string used to open/close the gate

Ashby Canal
The bloody weather still continued to haunt us, more wet days than dry; but we still had our first BBQ off the boat, were lucky enough to see a steam engine on the Battle Railway Line at Market Bosworth, have a really pleasant evening stroll around Shenton and met Brian & Irene O'Neill, a lovely couple from Auckland, NZ, who summer in England on their nb Rangitoto.

Market Bosworth Station

Flo, Irene & Brian