Day 13 - Gnosall to Market Drayton

We got off early, planning to stop at Norbury Junction, where the branch from Newport used to meet the Shropshire Union, to fill up - water, diesel, breakfast - and throw out - rubbish, Elsan.  It turned out to be a disappointment, rather tawdry and disorganised so after a quick bite to eat at the cafe and a wait for the water point we went on.  The next section is particularly beautiful, through deep and densely wooded cuttings filled with dog roses, wild honeysuckle and the scent of elderflowers alternating with views over open countryside.

Dog roses and rolling countryside

The Kathleen Mary, with interesting cabin and gold-leaf figurehead!

At Newport Road Bridge is a former chocolate factory, alas no longer producing, but once sending chocolate via canal to Bournville.  Outside are moored two venerable working boats.

The old chocolate factory, with an ex-working boat

We saw a kingfisher sitting completely still on a branch, about 10' from the boat and level with the deck.  The next day, we saw another, also sitting perfectly still.  Normally they fly rapidly off as soon as anything approaches; they are obviously very used to boats here.

A few miles farther was the 1-mile long Woodseaves cutting, which the guide says is "very narrow, there is not always room to pass another craft".  The "not always" was alarming… what would happen if we met another craft at one of those places!  However, a couple who'd come through the other way assured us that we'd be able to see oncoming boats and there were regular passing places.  It IS definitely narrow, with the towpath on our left and the red rock face often coming right down to the water on our right.  It's also a lovely place, cool and green with bridges towering above.

It's narrow!  Woodseaves Cutting

We saw two boats coming the other way and with enough of a view, were able to find slightly wider places to stop while they passed.

Careful steering

Soon after leaving Woodseaves are the five locks at Tyrley, again cut into the rock and with fierce bywashes flowing into the small pounds between each lock.  At number 2, we saw a man winding something and assumed another boat was coming up but he turned out to be fishing for windlasses with a huge magnet on a string so he could sell them for £4 each.

Emerging from the last lock at Tyrley

Day 12 - Wheaton Aston to Gnosall

Lock keeping - the Wheaton Aston goose

Emerging from the short but impressive Cowley Tunnel

After mooring for the night at Gnosall, we heard a boat go past late in the evening and looking out saw narrowboat Wand'ring Bark towing The Jam Butty.  They're owned by a couple who make jams and pickles from the hedgerow fruits they find along the canal side and sell them at canal festivals, fairs and farm shops.

Day 11 - Autherley Junction to Wheaton Aston

The day started with drama, as Jan joined another crew to save 6 tiny ducklings from being crushed in the stop lock.  Then Blue Adeline started northwards on the 'Shroppie', which has an immediately evident character of its own - wider, straighter and generally grander than earlier canals, thanks to Thomas Telford who opened this section in 1830 to connect Liverpool and Birmingham.  The day was alternately chilly and sunny as has been the case for most of the journey.

Avenue Bridge no. 10, locally known as 'Fancy Bridge'

Nearly teatime for the Tilley girl

The attractive village of Brewood, pronounced 'brewed', was next, for a walk and lunch.  It has a deli with all kinds of interesting food, a couple of pubs, cafes and a proper hardware shop, selling a variety of items including a tiny brush for cleaning out teapot spouts which Jan bought (tea being a boaters' essential nutrient).

Hardware shop, Brewood

Brewood village centre

At Brewood Wharf, a short way north of the village Countrywide Cruisers have an Elsan point and other facilities so for payment of a small fee we were able at last to empty the cassettes

On a straight stretch, a solitary narrowboat was moored on the right, which we started to pass at our customary polite tickover speed.  A man appeared and yelled "Go aaaahn!  Open 'er up, rock the boat! I'm sick to death of socialist Guardian readers!".  Jan grinned and said "That's us" and he roared back "Teachers, are you teachers?"

A bit further on, the canal crosses the A5 Watling Street on a little aqueduct with curious pepperpot towers.

And passes through many cuttings with banks of enormous oaks and other trees, sometimes meeting overhead.

We planned to find a spot just before the village of Wheaton Aston to moor for the night.  Seeing a boat moored up we went in just ahead, but as we did the sound of a wobbly recorder and the pungent scent of patchouli filled the cut. Reeling from sudden flashbacks to loon pants, Indian thong sandals and Vashti Bunyan ballads we hurriedly moved a bit further on.

Day 10 - to Autherley Junction

Our last day on the Staffs and Worcs, before turning onto the Shropshire Union at Autherley Junction.  Walked into the village of Coven for coffee and a teacake at the cafe and shopping at the Co-op, then back on the boat and onto the final section to Autherley, marked on the guide as a "very narrow cutting" known as Pendeford Rockin - a bit like the rural roads in Scotland, except the passing places here are cut into the rock face.  Fortunately we didn't need to test the width, with no boats oncoming.

Pendeford Rockin

A sharp right turn under a bridge and into a 'stop lock' of only 6" fall with a tollkeeper's cottage, to slow up boats long enough so the canal company could collect their fee. This  took us onto the Shropshire Union and an overnight mooring at Napton Narrowboats - unfortunately no Elsan disposal (despite what the guide says) at the junction so we had to drink sparingly...it does get a bit edge of seat when both toilet cassettes are nearly full. Denis has decided it is finally time to fund installation of a pump-out loo… result!

Day 9 - Penkridge to Moat House Bridge No. 74

Continuing on the southwards section of the Four Counties Ring towards Wolverhampton, we set off from our overnight mooring outside Penkridge to tackle the two locks in Penkridge and four more in quick succession.  Some of the lock entrances are difficult to gauge, particularly if they have a powerful bywash, a channel diverting water around the lock to control water levels, coming in from the left. We worked out a solution: steer at a 45 degree angle to the lock entrance until the last minute, then smartly bring the tiller over to the left and straighten up to go into the lock.

Oh no, we can't look… stuck on the corner again

The bridges here can be tricky too, some angled in such a way to trap a 55' boat in the subsequent left-handed curve - Jan got caught once and had to reverse to get around the bend.  Another bridge was angled left and so low that Denis had to crouch down to avoid being hit on the head. All good practice, though!

Working a gate paddle

Brick Kiln Lock

Waiting to ascend Gailey Top Lock, another boat emerged from the lock gates and stopped under the bridge for what seemed like ages - then an anguished shriek was heard "Tony, I need you here and I need you now!".  The unfortunate Tony scuttled down the slope to join the boat, probably wishing he were miles away.

Gailey is pretty with its old canal buildings, including a spectacular tollkeeper's watchtower.

Day 8 - Weeping Cross to Penkridge

The village of Acton Trussell welcomes careful boaters

A mile or two further on, the canal runs under the M6 motorway

The approach to Longford lock, showing the narrow lock entrance on the left under the bridge and the steps up to the lock gate machinery alongside on the right

Day 7 - Little Haywood to Weeping Cross

Soon after setting off from Colwich Lock, we stopped again for a short walk to Great Haywood village and a look at Essex Bridge, the rather gothic and impressive footbridge over the River Sow to Shugborough Park.

Essex Bridge

Then, at last, we started on the Four Counties Ring properly, with a tight left-handed turn through the steeply cobbled bridge 109 onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal!

Bridge 109 - view from the north side

Denis - another tough day on the canals

This new canal almost immediately opened into an expanse of water called Tixall Wide - as the guide says "an amazing and delightful stretch of water, more resembling a lake than a canal" and known for its kingfishers.  To the south were views of the densely wooded Cannock Chase, altogether a magical place.  It was very windy and gusty, though and steering was difficult at times so we were pleased to find an overnight mooring at Stafford Boat Club, in the suburb of Stafford known as Weeping Cross.

Day 6 - Handsacre to Little Heywood

Soon after setting off from Handsacre, the canal runs high above the road with a view of two pubs, Spode Cottage and the Plum Pudding.  A notice advises that crew must go ahead to stop oncoming boats, since the next section is very narrow - this is the former Armitage Tunnel which had its roof removed in the 1970s.  Steering is tricky since the tunnel obviously wasn't quite straight.

In the former Armitage Tunnel

Rugeley was the next stop, the birthplace of Henry Palmer, known as 'The Rugeley Poisoner' and a town with an ambivalent attitude to visitors.  Enticing canal side mooring rings there were, but when we attempted to use them we went aground and had to use two poles and plenty of reverse throttle to get off again.  A passing steerer wryly remarked that it happens all the time.  Once in town, we could find no working public loos, although in the town's favour we had a generous lunch at The Rose Cafe and found a decent laundrette on Lion Street.

The Old Chancel, Rugeley

Our overnight mooring was just above Colwich Lock, associated with another Victorian crime the 1839 murder of Christina Collins on a canal boat, a story later fictionalised by Colin Dexter.  

Blue Adeline at Colwich Lock

Day 5 - Alrewas to Handsacre

Set off 9.30am for Fradley Junction, delayed by half an hour with a borrowed magnet fishing unsuccessfully for a dropped mooring hook.  CRT volunteers helped considerately and slowly with the paddles with the first 3 locks at Fradley so we were through in time for a late breakfast at the holiday park tea room.  The CRT volunteer at the fourth lock raised paddles smartly without asking, requiring throttle to avoid ramming the top gate.  Her supervisor said only "she's wanting her sandwiches, she's a thug at the moment".

Lovely woodland outside Fradley, then the spell was broken when an oncoming steerer commented about some "characters" at Wood End Lock,  A hire boat emerged from the lock with two young men balanced precariously on the bow and Blue Adeline entered to find another boatful waiting to come down and two of the crew manning the bottom gates.  One seemed more or less comatose but the other impatiently and aggressively urged us to hurry because "I want to get to the pub".  A face-off followed, Denis exuding silent menace and the impatient one fell quiet only for an onlooker on the bridge to pipe up with "you're wasting water, you know!" and we suddenly realised we'd been so distracted we'd all failed to notice one of the bottom paddles was still open and the boat hadn't risen an inch!

Woods outside Fradley

We moored for the night at Handsacre before bridge 59 and Jan set off to find the nearest shop, according to Nicholson guide '500 yards south of the bridge'.  Eventually, after directions in the friendliest fashion from three Handsacre residents and lots of "me ducks" the shop was located and a sausage stew dinner was enjoyed before an early night.

Day 4 - Barton Turn to Alrewas

Denis went down with a virus overnight, so Jan did some more solo practice through Wychnor and Alrewas Locks and the river section before Alrewas village, one of the most beautiful parts of the journey so far.  Direction arrows point left and right as the route winds through water meadows, alongside weirs and squeezes through a very narrow bridge section alongside a curving bank where on a 55' boat the steerer has to take care to avoid scraping the bow or stern going through.  Alrewas Lock on its stone banks appears like an island rising out of the meadows, the entry to the very pretty Alrewas village.

Bridge at Alrewas by the watermeadows

Denis recovered sufficiently for a walk to the village centre and the butchers (for sausages), the Co-op and the George and Dragon for lunch.  In the early evening, we walked back by the lock and along the river to the bridge and sat on a bench under the hill by Wychnor church for a while in the late sunshine.

Many boaters recommend the butcher's shop at Alrewas

Day 3 - Willington to Barton Turn

We set off on in bright sunshine from Willington marina at 10am, negotiating the very tight turn onto the canal, admiring the marina's newly planted wildflower meadow and encountering the first narrow locks of our journey in Burton on Trent. As is often the case, the canal passes through a place without seeming to, so although Branston Lock is only just southwest of the centre of Burton, it is picturesquely rural.

Branston Lock top gate

Jan working the gate

We found some shade for lunch by the towpath at Branston Water Park and enjoyed watching two cats let out from their respective boats for a stroll and roll on the grass.  The canal then runs alongside the A38 Ryknild Way and a railway line for several noisy miles; fortunately we found a mooring for the night just south of Barton Turn Lock, with a thick hedge providing some sound insulation.

Days 1 and 2 - Willington

Heavy rain all day, so I moored up in Willington Marina - Denis arrived at 5 and we stayed Sunday too, as the weather was still wet.  Buskers performed on the new bandstand, brave souls given the conditions and some very accomplished.  Fingers crossed for better weather!  The marina is now looking well established - the many trees and shrubs have filled out and softened the landscaping - and is well run and friendly, good value for £11 per night.

New complex at Willington Marina, with the bandstand to the left

Stenson Lock

Newly sign written, courtesy of Robert Naghi

Moored at Stenson for bacon butty, with Mercury behind

Sawley to Great Heywood and the Four Counties Ring

I've done some solo training since our trip last year, so aimed to do the first section solo from Sawley on Blue Adeline before joining Denis in Burton upon Trent. I was feeling nervous but capable, probably not a bad state to be in and a big change from how inadequate I felt four years ago, when even going to the fuel jetty on my own seemed impossible.

Since then, as well as the Leicester Ring I've done numerous river and canal days both training with and crewing for Ray Cullis of Trent Boathandling - my mentor and the person who above all helped me gain the confidence to steer well.  I also trained with Mick Gavigan of Planet Narrowboats to learn his simple and elegant methods for solo boating.  I've learned a huge amount.  As they say in books, the mistakes are mine alone!  

The 6 double locks at the start of the Trent and Mersey Canal are, to my inexperienced eye, fairly challenging, increasing in depth as they do from the shallow (Shardlow is 4'5") to the whopping Stenson, at 12'4" the second deepest on the T&M.  Also, the last 4 locks, Aston, Weston, Swarkestone and Stenson have bridges over the canal immediately by the bottom lock gates which makes it necessary to climb the ladders to work the locks rather than walk the boat in.  I don't like climbing lock ladders much, but choosing the side of the lock with the ladder at the most accessible from the stern means I can climb up from there rather than the roof.  

Derwent Mouth and Shardlow locks are both fairly easy to manage: steer slowly in, stop the engine and jump off with the centre line and windlass, hand the line over the gate machinery and gently bring the boat to a halt and secure the line; open the ground paddle on the opposite side (contrary to most double locks) half way until the water covers the cill, open whichever gate paddle will keep the bow in, all the time watching the boat and adjusting the rope if needed.  All very slow and careful and the boat hardly moves to and fro at all.  

At Aston, I choose my side to enter the lock and another boat came in with me.  I climbed out and tied up, then got so distracted as the water rose that the line got crossed and jammed, fortunately quickly released when the paddles were closed by my companions and the bottom ones opened slightly. Very easily done and a salutary lesson in what can happen when concentration lapses.  My fellow steerer said that he'd done the same and his boat had tipped to an alarming angle before being released.

At the approach to Weston lock, there's a new ramp leaving only enough room for one boat to moor to the bollards, which means a rather awkward tethering to the handrail supports.  I stayed on the boat this time at the suggestion of my companions, but they opened the ground paddles fully straight away and we steerers had to reverse furiously to stop the boats hitting the top of the lock.  Exhausted by my efforts as a newbie soloist I moored for the night at a favourite stop just above Weston.  Setting off at 8 next morning would get me to Swarkestone in time to ascend it by myself and in peace.

This is a beautiful section of canal, where the banks are tree-lined and in the early morning, full of birdsong and tiny newly hatched ducklings and moorhens in scurrying flotillas, jays, a buzzard and the evening before, a pair of kingfishers.  The morning was fine and clear, with the forecast of rain and thunderstorms later and I could feel the change of air coming up from the south as the boat chugged westwards.

Swarkestone was as I'd hoped completely deserted, apart from a cyclist leaning over the bridge parapet as I steered into the lock and climbed the ladder.  Fortunately, he helped me with the (very heavy and stiff) lower gates as I'd have had difficulty closing them on my own.  I secured the boat, opened the opposite ground paddle half way and then fully, let the water reach the cill and then opened the opposite gate paddle a few notches, keeping an eye the whole time on the boat and rope.  Apart from gently rising, she was steady as a rock.

I'm very pleased with the new windlass, which is a type I haven't tried before - a 4-holed steel one, very light and the extra length helps with stiff paddles.  

Another very attractive stretch of canal past Ragley and then Stenson, with the wonderful sight of four CRT volunteer lock keepers on the bridge waving me in and letting down a rope to pick up my centre line.  As the sole boat, I asked them to open opposite side ground and gate paddles only, to keep the bow steady and they obliged, so Blue Adeline enjoyed a stately progress in that normally very fierce lock and then I enjoyed a bacon butty in the lock side cafe.  Coincidentally, Mick Gavigan's boat Mercury was moored just above Stenson and we were able to catch up and have a good boaty chat.