Tixall Wides Meeting

A cool start to Wednesday as we moved off our Stone mooring around 9:30 heading towards Great Haywood Junction. The sun was nice and warm when it was out but a beanie and jacket were the order of the day. It was a pleasant cruise, only four locks to do and in early spring there is plenty to see. The Canadian Geese seem to have bred very well this season we passed quite a few large broods.

We queued at three of the four locks today, I thought this was unusual so early in the season but it has been great weather to be boating. Colwich Lock was the last lock of the day, from there it was tick-over most of the way with the large number of moored boats. We cruised into the junction and turned off the Trent and Mersey Canal onto the Staffs and Worcs still moving at tick-over as we passed yet more moored boats, arriving at Tixall Wides, a ten minute cruise from the junction. The canal widens considerably here at Tixall and the bird life is abundant. I couldn't get a photo but there were three Heron busily scanning the water from a tree at the edge, looking for their next meal.

Canadian friends Silvie and Michael from NB Chartwell greeted us as we arrived, over the winter break we had organised to meet here as we plan to cruise down to Gloucester together.

Thursday was going to be a rest day because of rain but the reports changed overnight so it became a shopping and sightseeing day in Stafford. Only a short cruise from our mooring we came across Tixall Gatehouse, a 16th-century building and is all that remains of Tixall Hall which was demolished in 1927. The gatehouse is a Grade I listed building and was used as a prison for Mary, Queen of Scots for two weeks in 1586. 

After again queuing at both the locks prior to Stafford we moored both the boats on new CRT  moorings just after St Thomas Bridge (101) and trekked the mile into town. The first shop we came across was a large ASDA supermarket so it was a quick grocery shop for some essentials and a bite to eat in the cafe before heading further into town.

The Elizabethan townhouse in the centre of Stafford, built in 1594, is very impressive.

We visited the local Collegiate Church of St Mary in the centre of Stafford to view the ornate 12th century font, much older than the church itself. A couple of hours wandering the centre of Stafford and it was unanimous, we took a cab back to the canal side pub, the Radford Bank Inn for a pint.

Michael and I were sent up the tow path to pick up the boats, cruising back to the pub to pick-up the ladies at the Radford Bridge and moving on for another half hour to a rural mooring just before the village of Acton Trussell.