Southern Shropie (SUC) and Staffs and Worcester Canals to Cross Green

Leaving Tyrley we spotted this little boat in the permanent moorings, I guess around 15ft long X 4ft wide, it would be interesting to see how she handles!

There are quite a few narrow sections on the SUC, usually in deep cuttings where the canal has been carved out of the solid rock.

Once you break out of the cuttings it's back into farmland, mainly crops in this area.

Corn

Stacking them high!

 Passing the Premier Foods Wharf again with a close-up of the sign on the overhanging verandah.

Another of the tall bridges on the Shropie, this one with a disused telegraph pole in the centre.

We moored at Norbury Junction for the night, it had only been another 2 hour (or so) cruise, we finished just after lunch after a relatively late start. Plenty of moorings at this time but they did fill up as the afternoon drifted on.

Norbury Junction

Took a shot from the junction bridge of the old Newport Branch (now disused). You can see there is a covered dock built over the canal in the distance.

After picking up fuel in Norbury Junction we headed off to Gnosall Heath, another short run of a couple of hours. No problems with moorings here either although there is always plenty of good moorings to be had most of the time anyway. Time for a stroll into Gnosall to find a tea room which, strangely enough, was closed on a Wednesday, so we picked up a few things from the supermarket and it was back to the boat.

A little further on and an overnight stop at Wheaton Aston in heavily wooded moorings. First time we have stopped here so we went for a wander and Wheaton Aston seems a very quiet place with a pub and an off licence, a Co-op Supermarket but that's about it. All this on a very long High Street. Nearly back at the canal we passed this lovely Tudor style home in great condition.

Didn't need fuel here but diesel was under 70p domestic, but we did need water, there are three water points here, all seemed very fast filling.

First time we had stopped at Brewood for a few years as well so it was off to have a look around with a short five minute walk into the square to find a lovely little town centre. Speedwell Castle was the first thing that caught our eye when we got to the town centre, built in the eighteenth century apparently from the winnings off a race horse.

 

There are a few bistros and other assorted shops that kept Rachael's interest for an hour or so. I was particularly interested in the butcher where we bought some great local pork sausages, quiche and I haven't tried the pasties yet. We needed to pick up some extra groceries for our visitor due in a few days. We are starting to see more and more rain and overnight here it poured but the next morning was fine again for our three hour cruise to The Anchor Inn where we would meet our visitor for a few days stay on the boat. 

This is the last leg of our trip on the Shropshire Union Canal. We cruised away from Brewood in bright sunshine but it soon became overcast. We made our way passed the Wolverhampton Boat Club with its old crane out the front and passed through the stop gate. Less than half an hour and we were going through the stop lock at Autherley Junction after climbing across a hire boat moored on the lock landing by the owners (there's a hire boat depot here).

We turned right on to the Staffs and Worcester Canal and all was going well until the last half

hour of our cruise when the heavens opened. After a few minutes a nice wide road bridge came up where I stopped until the rain had passed. We managed to finish our days cruising mooring up 50m from the front door of The Anchor Inn.

We had a few days stay in the moorings here where we ate too much and were chauffeured across to Stafford for a shopping day and a full day at Shugborough Estate (read more about the estate here) near Great Haywood.

The Anchor Inn, Cross Green

The Anchor is a lovely pub inside, typically English, the food was pretty good. It was a Sunday of the Bank Holiday Weekend so we made a dinner booking and when we got there at 6pm it was humming, lucky we did. It turned out to be a great weekend despite the inclement weather but at least we're getting more rain now and Serafina gets a regular wash, which leaves me to do a touch up here and there instead of the whole boat.

Cruising the Shroppie - Heading Back the Way We Came (Tattenhall to Tyrley)

It's not too long before the luxury of marina life is substituted for the feeling of being crammed in! It was back out on to 'the cut' and heading south, back the way we came. We headed for a mooring just under Beeston Castle, where we had stayed overnight on the way down, not a long cruise from the marina, about 2 hours.

Screenshot taken from Open Canal Map

I'm trying out an application I found; Open Canal Map. This is a screenshot from my mobile phone giving you a better idea of the area around the mooring. Hope it helps!

The remains of Beeston Castle

This time we moored above the locks to take advantage of the picnic tables, time to give the cratch cover a good clean and a spray with a waterproofing agent.







We saw this fellow along the way, unusually he was up for a few shots, normally herons fly ahead a few hundred metres every time you get close. They do this a few times and then seem to circle back to their original hunting spot.

After a night in nice moorings we continued on through picturesque Tilstone Lock where we picked up a locking partner to halve the workload. We continued on together through the two chambered Bunbury Staircase Lock, stopping briefly a little further on at Calveley moorings to avoid a passing heavy shower. We finished the day by cruising on to Barbridge Junction where there were plenty of moorings available. We're well into the summer school break now and moorings here would normally be tight but again the Middlewich Breach seems to have turned many boaters away.

Nantwich is less than an hour on and there too we had little problem finding moorings near the marina for the second time on this cruise. We took the chance to stock the refrigerator and cupboards and then cruised on passed goose heaven, or so it seemed, to moorings halfway to Audlem just doing the two narrow locks at Hack Green.

'Goose Heaven'

Our moorings just after Bridge 84, SUC

As is now the 'norm' the 15 lock Audlem Flight had very few boats moving either way so we had plenty of time to snap some photos of us doing some lock work with Serafina.

Rachael bringing Serafina into a lock on the Audlem Flight

Entry and exit to some of the locks on the Audlem Flight and the Adderley Flight further on can be a little challenging at times. Some of the by-wash channels point directly across the lock entrance necessitating steering into the wash. (see below)

The prize at the Audlem top lock, a market stall with plenty of goodies.











We stopped in Market Drayton again for a few days and took the opportunity to take the bus into Shrewsbury. We had stopped here in a hotel once before but Rachael longed for a larger shopping centre.(smile) There's a beautiful big market hall in the market square that was worth a photo, built in 1596 replacing the previous market hall built in the 1260s.

When we headed off from Market Drayton we had planned to go a little further than the moorings at the Tyrley top lock. However, after an American hire boat team managed to empty a couple of the pounds between the locks on the five lock Tyrley Flight, restoring the equilibrium necessitated a wait and the subsequent queuing. We started at boat five in the queue and when we went into the lock we left four boats still back in the queue.

Queuing at Tyrley Bottom Lock

We started a water fill at the services at the top lock and found another very slow tap. The fellow from the permanent mooring here was filling a couple of 25 litre containers said it was beautiful spring water but terribly slow. We gave it half an hour before mooring up with less than half a tank of water. Apart from the CRT Services and some beautiful old buildings (see this earlier blog) there is nothing here at Tyrley, just peace and quiet, making for good sleep.

A Scotish Interlude

We left our mooring in front of the marina around 9am and 200m along the canal entered Tattenhall Marina. I had already called ahead to make sure there would be a mooring in the marina available for us. I had also picked up a hire car and left it in the marina (with their permission) the evening before. Once we had tied up and paid the mooring fee we were off to the Chester Station to drop off our friends who were heading to London then on to Scotland for five days.

Tattenhall Marina

Scotland

Heading along the M6 Motorway we have passed the exit to Lockerbie many times and said we must go there one day, well we finally took a look. Our second day in Scotland we buzzed down the M6, about a one hour drive, we went along the main street looking for the memorial to the people that lost their lives in the terrorist bombing. The memorial sits in a large area set aside in the beautifully kept  town cemetery.

Particularly interesting is a small museum in the front corner of the cemetery, run by locals and free entry. The museum gives a good insight into the bombing and the aftermath. Afterwards it was lunch and a stroll on the high street before heading home.

We filled another day with a visit to Linlithgow Palace, principle residence of the monarchs of Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries and of note because it is the birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots on 8 December 1542, to King James V and his French second wife, Mary of Guise. A building here dates back to the 12th century.

The Front Door

The Court Yard

Fountain close-up

Part of the Royal Apartments now

Artist's impression of the Royal Apartments

View across the palace to St Michaels Church

The Great Hall now

Artist's impression of the Great Hall

The kitchen fireplace

View of the inland loch surrounding the palace

St Michael's Church in the forecourt of the palace

We had booked Serafina into the marina for a week and had left her connected to shore power to charge the batteries and keep the refrigerator running. We don't do a lot of long cruising days these days so it was good to get back and see the batteries finally get to float level. The batteries normally get to around 90 - 95% because it would take several more hours of cruising to get to 100% (float). We returned mid-afternoon on the sixth day and straight away made the most of the marina facilities by doing a couple of loads of washing and then filling the water tank afterwards. It was good not having to run the engine for a couple of days to heat water, charge batteries or run large appliances, just for a change.

Chester

Chester is our ultimate destination on the Shropshire Union Canal (SUC), there's a couple more hours cruising to Ellesmere Port if you have never done that part of the canal before. We cruised down to Ellesmere Port in 2014 checking out the museum and the port itself and that will do us.

Why do I mention this? Well we made sure we moored before the winding hole near Bridge 123E but not in the 48 hour moorings, they're near the pub and can get a little rowdy, a few customers ended up in the canal the first night we were in Chester. We found a nice mooring just a little further back near Bridge 123C where we had the shade of a nice willow tree for the afternoons.

All our plans to pick up visitors had fallen into place and this was no exception. We arrived the day before our friends were due to arrive by train so that meant a trip into town to have a look around before we became the guides. Here are some of the photos over our three day stay.

Probably one of the most photographed parts of Chester is the Eastgate Clock erected in Victorian times atop the city walls, the walls originally erected by the Romans.

Further on down the mall are the Rows, two tiered medieval buildings containing many up market shops on the verandah while we found several nice cafes downstairs.

Another street shot this time with Chester Cathedral in the background

The Church of St John the Baptist, the oldest church in Chester and the ruins around about it, apparently the site of christian worship for over 1300 years.

The Roman Amphitheatre, the largest of its kind in Britain.

A stroll through the Roman Gardens containing Roman artifacts collected from the local area.

Remains of Roman bathing halls

We strolled from here along the wall and the River Dee (not sure where those photos went) and around to Chester Castle (National Trust). Lots of steps to get up and into the castle but not a terrible lot to see.

The oldest part of the castle is Agricola Tower, built in the 12th century.

We walked most of the 2 miles of city wall enjoying the small coffee and wine bars built into the wall as we strolled along. We departed the wall next to the canal near Frodsham Street, one of the main streets of Chester.

It's not often we get to large shopping centres so Rachael made the most of our stay before winding and heading off back up the locks. Of course our traveling day was overcast and as expected, when we got to our first lock the heavens opened. Lucky I was on the boat waiting under a bridge, Rachael had volunteered to do this lock! Five locks and a few hours later we were moored outside of Tattenhall Marina in the 48hr moorings, tomorrow we will leave Serafina in the marina as we head off for a break.