Cheshire, eventually: Day 12

The first confirmation that the tree blocking the canal had been cleared came from a boat which came past just before 8pm last night.  This morning boats started coming past at around 6am, trying to make up for lost time.  We set off at about 8.15, heading initially only for Brewood, where Keith Wilson was coming to fit the new cratch cover.  We got there in about 45 minutes, and found plenty of mooring space.  We had enough time to go to the Co-op for some food shopping.  The village is really nice; just up from the canal is a house with a lovely garden, and plants for sale.

In the centre of the village is Speedwell Castle.

Keith arrived at 10, and set to work.

It took about an hour and a half to fit the new cratch cover, but at least the moorings there are in a cutting so we avoided the worst of the day’s heat.  When we set off again, the first significant feature was the Stratton Aqueduct over the A5.

The Shroppie alternates between cuttings, which were really nice today — dappled sunshine and relatively cool — and long straight embankments.

We had lunch on the move, did the one lock of the day at Wheaton Aston, and then topped up the water tank (we’d begun some washing before setting off from Brewood).  Then we went to Turner’s for diesel, and for those interested in such things the price was 86.9p, which is significantly more than the 81p we paid at Shobnall.

Cowley Tunnel is the only one on the Shroppie and is hewn out of the rock.  

On the other side, we said hello to our friends Sharon and John and their new-to-them boat.  Further along is another interesting garden, and it seems the house is for sale if you fancy taking it on.

It turned out Sharon and John were heading to Norbury Junction to turn around.  We had moored at Norbury, and when they arrived we suggested a drink.  The pub is shut on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we got the chairs out on the towpath and had G&Ts and crisps and a good catch up.  A big plus was that they took our old engine oil to add to a future tip run — for which we are very grateful.

12 miles, 1 lock.  (88 miles, 108 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 11

While we were having breakfast this morning, a stoppage notice came through saying there was a tree blocking the canal at Brewood.  We decided we’d set off anyway, so Adrian went to open the stop lock at the junction, while I brought the boat round.

The lock theoretically takes the level down by four inches; today it seemed more like two.  I always have trouble even telling which side it’s level with.  We went a hundred yards to the water point, and got the washing machine going with the bedding; we’re hoping that with it being so warm at the moment, everything will dry fairly easily.  We then carried on to the moorings between Bridges 7 and 8, which are some of those provided by the Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS).  We were all moored up by 10am!

I decided to walk up and have a look at the tree to see how bad it was.  It took a good half an hour to get there, and it was quite a big willow which had cracked and fallen over from the towpath side.

One boat was already there, struggling to get anywhere near the bank, and a few more have gone past since.  As I walked back, I thought I’d have a closer look at some of the bridges.  Bridge 10 carries what the Pearson guide book calls the ‘carriageway to Chillington Hall’, which explains why it has such elaborate balustrades.  The overgrown footpath I found going over it was something of a disappointment!

After lunch, we washed the towpath side of the boat, which badly needed doing.  It’s been very warm, but cloudy rather than sunny today.  Just before 3pm an update to the stoppage notice came through, to say contractors would arrive at Brewood between 5 and 6pm, and the navigation should be open by the end of the day.  That meant we wouldn’t be going on today, and we were glad we’d stopped in a nice spot, rather than having to moor in the deep cuttings between here and the stoppage.

3 miles, 1 lock.  (76 miles, 107 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 10

I was awake early for some reason this morning, and eventually I got up and walked up to seemingly the only shop in Tipton which has a full range of newspapers (we’d done a recce yesterday).  I bought the only copy of The Guardian they had, because I’d been told The Water Road would be featured in the best podcasts of the week section.  It’s a very nice review, but you can always rely on The Grauniad to mis-spell something, and in this case it was the title.

Hopefully they’ll get it right when it goes online on Monday.  We ended up setting off at about ten to eight; I pushed the boat as far out into the channel to try to avoid all the weeds, but still managed to get some round the prop.  A quick blast of reverse got most of it off though.  We made our way back to Factory Junction, where the old buildings are some sort of community centre.  The locks we came up yesterday are beyond the bridge on the right, we were going round to the left.

It’s funny how you don’t seem to see coots in the countryside  but urban areas are full of them.  They build their nests so they’re floating free, so they must occasionally wake up and find they’ve drifted overnight.  One just through the junction had built on a floating piece of wood.

Coseley Tunnel was the first major feature of the day.  The portal this end not only has very dangly brambles, but also some impressive steps up to the road above.

After the tunnel the weed was much less.  Even around Deepfields Junction, where we’ve got stuck in the past, was pretty clear.  And for lots of the stretch the water is clear enough to see hundreds of fish, as well as the weeds and the plastic bags.  As we approached Wolverhampton, the was an odd obstruction, but there was nothing to say what the problem was.

We got to the top of the locks in a much better time than I’d feared, thanks to the weed being much less bad than it could have been.  Since leaving Stourport on Tuesday, we’ve climbed just over 425 feet; now we were about to start going back down again.  We went into the top lock at a minute to 10.

The first couple of locks just needed a top up, the third was empty, but after that they were all pretty much full.  And in the main part of the flight they’re close enough together that I could go ahead and get the gate open.  We met two boats coming up, which also helped.

Our luck ran out at lock 15, because after that they all needed filling — and it was becoming increasingly hot too.

The lower part of the flight passes close to Wolverhampton Race Course, and there was a Motorfest event on, from which we could hear the rather excitable PA person describing all sorts of jumps and tricks.  We were quite relieved to get to the bottom few locks, which are more shady (and Motorfest was on a lunch break).

We completed the 21 locks in exactly three hours, which we thought was pretty good going.  Having to turn the final third of the locks really slowed us down.

We carried on to Autherley Junction and moored up, it was 1.15pm.  Fortunately there’s a bit of shade here, and there’s also a nice breeze.  It’s always good being near a junction for entertainment value.  So far we’ve had someone being very confused by a hire boat coming out of the junction backwards.  We’ve also walked round to the hire base for an ice cream.

8 miles, 21 locks.  (73 miles, 106 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 9

It seemed pretty chilly when we set off this morning at about 8.15.  Just through the bridge ahead of where we moored is the Merry Hill Waterfront development.

After about half an hour we reached Blowers Green Lock, which is a deep one at 12ft.

Above the lock is a junction.  Straight ahead are the locks up to Park Head and the Dudley Canal, which isn’t open to powered boats; the Dudley Canal Trust runs electric trip boats from the other end.  We were turning sharp right, moving from the Dudley No 1 Canal to the Dudley No 2.  We were thinking of stopping for water here, but the tap is out of order.

Along this canal there are rather nice mile markers (actually they come every half a mile) in the shape of the Cobb’s Engine, and there are different information signs too.

There’s a lovely iron bridge over the end of what used to be the Two Locks Line.  If it was still functional, it would have allowed us to cut the corner off.

It came as a bit of a surprise to see a boat coming the other way, particularly as it was in a slightly narrower section which used to be a tunnel.  There’s a high bridge over it, which has spawned one of those names that always seems a bit mangled.

We reached Windmill End, where there were a few boats moored.  A boat was on the water point here, so we didn’t stop.  The junctions here all have nice bridges, but there’s not really a view of the Cobb’s Engine House, because of the trees.

Netherton Tunnel is over 3000 yards long, and takes over half an hour to get through.

I amused myself in the tunnel by trying to take a photo up the air shafts.  Once I’d worked out how to stop the phone doing the nighttime thing where it wants you to stay still for three seconds, the results were better.  I’m quite pleased with this one.

After the tunnel we went under the aqueduct which carries the Old Main Line, then at Dudley Port Junction turned left onto the New Main Line.  This is looking back, so we came from under the right hand bridge.

All the Factory Locks were in our favour, so we made light work of them

At the top, a boat had arrived to go down, but was so close to the lock we couldn’t get out until they’d reversed a bit.  It’s also very weedy, and we seemed to have very little forward propulsion.  That combined with the other boat being in the way meant the turn left towards Tipton seemed like hard work.  The weeds and the water lilies have grown a lot since we were here a few weeks ago.  We needed to stop to clear the prop, so we thought we’d combine that with a visit to the water point by the park — but there was a boat moored there, and the hosepipe wouldn’t reach.  We set off again with a clear prop, only for a boat to be coming through the next bridge.  After we’d gone through we turned around at Tipton Junction and retraced our steps, mooring at our usual spot outside the health centre.  The other boat here was also moored there last time we were here in May, and was also here (although in a slightly different place) in 2023.

This afternoon it’s been sunny but windy.  I’ve spent the time editing a couple of podcasts.  As we’re in Tipton, we’re treating ourselves to another visit to Mad O’Rourke’s; hopefully they’ll have some Peaky Blinders, which they were out of last time.

10 miles, 4 locks.  (65 miles, 85 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 8

There was some rain before we got up, but the forecast wet start to the day didn’t materialise.  We had a lot of locks to do today, so wanted to set off in good time.  At about 7.45 a boat which had come down the locks late yesterday afternoon and moored just above the bottom lock, came down — so I said he could leave the gates open, and we untied, crossed the junction, and went into the chamber.

The scene at the junction was very different last evening, when we were entertained by the Stourbridge Arm Canoe Club playing polo there.  They had a goal hanging on the bridge and one across the lock, and they certainly took no prisoners.

Back to today, and the middle part of the flight is very pretty, with old warehouses and sympathetically designed new build flats, the Red House Cone, Dadford’s Shed, and the old pub which is now a house.  There are also great views across the valley.

Locks 10 and 9 are very close together, like a mini-Bratch, with no proper pound between them.  The water is held in a big lake behind the lock cottage.

Until lock 8, all the locks had been empty which was great, but after that they were all full, so a little more work.  I guess this was where the downhill boat crossed with an uphill boat yesterday.

When we got to the penultimate lock, there was a man there from a boat waiting to come down.  The pound between the top two locks had been empty when he arrived, and he’d been running water down.  Fortunately there was now enough water for the two boats to pass.

We rose up the top lock, and the whole flight of 16 had taken 2 hours 20 minutes, which we thought was pretty good.  We then set off on the two miles of so of the Dudley Canal to the bottom of the Delph Flight.

When we got to the Delph, all the locks were in our favour, with no other boats in sight.  There wasn’t as excess of water around though, so the waterfall-style by-washes weren’t really running.

While each lock filled, I was going up to the next one to open the gates.  Then at one lock, something happened that we’ve never experienced before: a fisherman closed the towpath side gate so he could step across to the other side!  I had to go and re-open it, at the same time asking him what on earth he thought he was doing.  A bit further up, there was an egret fishing, and a family with a little girl watched us come up a lock.  Three locks from the top, three volunteer lock keepers emerged from their little building to lend a hand.  The eight locks took an hour.  We carried on and moored on the embankment overlooking the Merry Hill shopping centre.

We went for lunch in the M&S Cafe, then did a top up food shop there as well.  We’re sure there used to be a Sainsbury’s here, but it’s not here now.  (Research reveals it closed at the end of 2016, and was where Next now is).  We also bought some new kitchen knives in the ProCook shop, as ours were well beyond their best.  Two of them didn’t fit our block though, so we took them back and in the end decided to buy a new block as well.  Even though we were refunding the original purchase, we could still use the 15 per cent off voucher that came with it, so it was a win all round.

Back at the boat, I did an oil change on the engine, as was 249 hours since the last one.  Coincidentally, I also did an oil change on these moorings in 2021.

5 miles, 24 locks.  (55 miles, 81 locks)