The Four Counties Ring

In my last blog, I know Bob it was over two weeks ago, we were just turning on to the Staffs and Worcester Canal to do the Four Counties Ring. And, here I sit, just outside Stoke-on-Trent having effectively completed the Ring with no blogs in between.

Even after four years of canal boating it's still difficult to slow right down, I think we still did the circuit too fast, even with most of our stops at least 48 hours and shortening our travel days. We collected a few pics along the way, trying not to duplicate too many from our 2014 circuit. We had stopped at Penkridge over night and Gailey is just down the canal, it is hard to pass the roundhouse at Gailey without a picture.

By lunch time we had turned off the Staffs and Worcester and on to the Shropshire Union Canal (SUC). Lots of long straight stretches on the SUC and high arched bridges.

Coming into our mooring at Gnosall Heath we passed through Cowley Tunnel. Cowley Tunnel was interesting as it was carved out of solid rock with do brick lining required.

Our mooring at Gnossal Heath.

Another of the high arched bridges on the 'Shroppie', this one with an old, unused telegraph pole in the centre.

We passed the old warehouse of Premier Foods, old but relatively new in canal terms, opened in 1911 for the loading and unloading of  grain and stores, you can see the verandah projecting well into the canal.

There were several lock gates along the SUC to stop the progress of boats, I would assume for some sort of tolling.

Saturday morning and we were cruising at tick-over for quite a distance, fisherman every ten metres for what estimate to be two kilometres, there were a lot of them!

Just like the tunnel above there were several stretches along the SUC that were cut out of solid rock. It was a little tricky at times, these stretches weren't terribly wide so oncoming boats had to wait for passing points.

We were looking forward to getting to Audlem, last time we were here there were several farm shops and Audlem didn't disappoint. As we waited at the top lock for our turn we came across the first of two farm shops where we picked up a blackberry pie and some cornish pasties. This farm shop was at lock three of the fifteen lock Audlem Flight where we picked up some ice cream and shortbread biscuits, both home made.

Another nice mooring on the Shropshire Union, this time at Audlem.

And The Shroppie Fly pub at Audlem; headed here for a pint after a long locking day.

After a night in Audlem we moored in Nantwich, locked up the boat and headed off to Liverpool for a few days to see friends who were moored at Salthouse Dock for a week. Our highlight, after spending time with our friends, was taking the Magical Mystery Tour. We didn't get a chance to do this last year when we spent a week in Liverpool.

After Nantwich our next major stop was Middlewich, it was a four day stop. We spent two days on the visitor moorings before moving down to Kings Lock Chandlery to have a 12 volt line installed for a new refrigerator. Despite the fridge being 12 metres from the batteries Mick had the line in without too much difficulty and Friday our new fridge was delivered.

Today (Sunday) we cruised from Wheelock, after a two day stay, to Rode Heath, a fourteen lock day. Many of the locks today were duplicated, speeding up the locking process.

Cruising From Trent Lock on the Trent and Mersey

We arrived back at Trent Lock after our quick sojourn on the Erewash Canal. Just after we arrived I received a phone call from one of my workmates, he was in the UK and staying nearby so instead of heading off straightaway tomorrow it was lunch at the Steamboat Inn instead. After lunch we took the short cruise to Sawley, mooring across from the marina on our second attempt. Our first attempt was abandoned when one of the more classy boaters you meet was trying to catch his dinner and complained bitterly that tying our boat to the moorings here would ruin his fishing. Our discussion was taking place over the top of the noise from his huge generator powering his boat electrics, I was only too pleased to move down a few boats and moor. We couldn't hear the generator inside our boat but it was still going when I locked up the boat at 11pm.

Overnighting in Sawley, we headed south-east down the Trent and Mersey Canal, this is the first time we have cruised this part of the canal. The countryside was unremarkable as we cruised south until we got near to Willington where it seemed to change, I'm not really sure how it just seemed different for some reason. We were doing double locks for quite a while until they stopped abruptly at Burton Upon Trent. Not sure why but I'm sure if I delved deeper there would be a reason.

On our way to Alrewas we met a fellow Australian over in the UK for the summer.

We spent the next night in Alrewas, our tour of this village went via the village butcher where we picked up some beautiful cornish pasties and pork sausages.

We moved on to Fradley Junction on Friday, only a very short cruise, less than an hour. Back on familiar waters we have cruised time and again, it seems you need to go through Fradley Junction to get to so many places. We took an extra day at Fradley although it turned out to be very busy over the weekend. I managed some more coats on the painting jobs with the extra time and we made several visits to the Canalside Cafe.

What was suppose to be a another short hop of a couple of hours cruising to Rugeley turned out to be the canal version of peak hour to get through the Fradley locks, we started at number six in the queue. Sometimes it can be difficult to get a mooring at Rugeley, it is hugely popular with boaters. The older boaters tell me it is the 'Tesco (supermarket) factor' being 100 metres from the moorings, it was never a problem mooring when there was only Morrison's. Another forty-eight hour stay at Rugeley with a chance to do some more painting and get another quote for some upgrades to Serafina.

We arrived in Great Haywood just after lunch and moored just below Haywood Lock. A few hours later a CRT work boat moored behind us with a couple of lock arms as cargo. My conversation with the two volunteers delivering the work boat was that first thing tomorrow Haywood Lock would be closed for three or four hours for maintenance. I quickly untied the ropes as Rachael set the lock and we now sat on a mooring above Haywood Lock ready for an easy get away tomorrow. Turned out to be a good decision, by the time we left, just after 9am, there were already half a dozen boats waiting at the top of the lock and several more at the bottom.

We cruised just past the junction to fill with water, reversed once full and headed off the Trent and Mersey canal and on to the Staffs and Worcester, all this under a very overcast sky. This will be the second time we have cruised this portion of the S & W Canal this season as it is the fourth time we have been through Great Haywood and several times mooring at Rugeley and Fradley Junction.

The soccerball count is now at 40.

Off the River Soar to the Erewash Canal

We were pelted with rain overnight in Leicester, we pulled away from our mooring with the skies overcast. After a couple of locks we got to Lock 10 where the River Wreake meets the canal, there was a considerable rise in the water level here. The cruising was safe, the river hadn't broken its banks, but the River Level Indicators at the next few locks showed a much higher water level before things finally went back to normal.We passed very few moving boats over the next few days as we crossed the junction of the Rivers Trent and Soar and Erewash Canal mooring at Trent Lock for Saturday lunch at the Tea Rooms.

After lunch we headed off along the Erewash, first opened in 1779. The going was a little slower than usual with most of the locks having vandal proof locks on all the lock gear, so it was out with the handcuff key. Not to mention that all the locks were against us, well every lock except one.

 

We initially thought we would spend the night at Long Eaton however, the moorings were next to a busy main road, we continued on. We arrived at Gallows Inn moorings 15 minutes after it started pouring rain. We seem to be getting regular heavy downpours overnight but the days have been great for cruising, this day right up until around 4pm. The Erewash is a lovely canal, nice and deep too but I must admit I did think we would pass through some quaint villages along the way but that was not the case.

On Sunday we cruised the two hours to Langley Mill in bright sunshine before winding and heading back towards Trent Lock. We didn't quite beat a heavy thunderstorm, I managed to sit under a railway bridge for 10 minutes waiting for it to pass. I was sure there wouldn't be any boats wanting to pass, we only met one moving boat in our whole time on the Erewash.

While we were on the Erewash I did notice the re-purposing of one of the mill chimneys as a telecommunications tower.

 

When the Erewash Canal was first established mills like these were bustling with commerce and looking forward to a new faster way of getting their bulk goods further afield.

The soccerball count jumped considerably while we were on the Erewash, it now stands at 38.

The Grand Union, Braunston to Leicester

We have been short of data and wifi coverage just recently so it is another delayed post.

Heavy rain and a delivery from Amazon delayed our departure from Rugby by an additional day. However the retail parks are nice and close, around five minutes walk, so it was only a case of grabbing our umbrellas and making the short trip when the rain eased a little. Just after 4pm we received a text telling us the parcel had been delivered to the Amazon mailbox in the retail park so we picked up our parcel and headed back to the boat.

On Wednesday we headed off to Braunston, the sun beaming down once again after all the heavy rain the day before. The new marina just out of Braunston has progressed to the point where there are quite a few boats moored there.

Coming into Braunston, just near the 14 day moorings, was a reminder to keep our boat safety checks up to date.

We managed to grab one of the few remaining moorings in Braunston, once again just across from the Boat House Inn. It was just after lunch when we moored so there was plenty of time to visit Midland Chandlers to pick up a few bits and pieces. It was just an overnight stay heading off up the Braunston locks on Thursday morning. A rather busy day as we negotiated the Braunston (2042 yds) and Crick (1528 yds) tunnels, both two-way, I got a decent whack from an on coming, canal hogging boat in the Braunston Tunnel.

In between the two tunnels was Watford Locks, notorious for long waits due to the 4 rise staircase in the middle of the seven locks. Last year we waited four hours to go down! We arrived at the bottom lock, reported to the lock keeper at the second bottom lock who said go straight in. It's all in the timing! We finished the day at Crick, moored across from ABNB Boats where I see Waiouru, Tom and Jan's boat, waiting for a new owner.

Friday was another long cruising day in perfect weather. We passed another new marina being built in North Kilworth where it's always difficult to get passed the moored boats at the wharf, the build was well advanced with jetties already erected.

We finished a longish cruising day mooring at the top of Foxton Locks with plenty of time to have a look around. Across from our mooring was the fork in the canal, heading to the right once took you to the Inclined Plane built 1900 to speed the passage up and down the hill.

The canal arm to the inclined plane.

The top of the inclined plane.

Looking down the hill.

Picture of the working inclined plain with one of the two caissons moving down the hill, a 12 minute journey for two boats as opposed to the 1¼ hours.

We had a visitor while we were exploring the inclined plane, Foxton is a great place to have a drone!

It was important to get away reasonably early on Saturday as the Foxton Locks area attracts lots of visitors, many wanting to be right in the thick of the action (getting in the way) but the weather was patchy so we delayed for an hour to get past the misty rain before setting off. The light rain slowed but didn't stop the visitors.

It took us around 1½ hours to complete the locks after stopping in the middle to wait for three boats coming up to pass. After passing through Saddington Tunnel (881 yds) and completing five more double locks we finished the day on a rural mooring. It wasn't a particularly early finish to the day but it did give me a chance to delve down into the weed hatch and remove a ladies blouse and some chord from the propeller that we picked up at the last bridge.

Sunday was another beautiful summer's day and we were up early for our journey to Kilby Bridge, a good stop for our run into Leicester on Monday. Passed this extravagant teepee arrangement on our way to Kilby Bridge, while we were doing the lock we found out it was a wedding venue.

The water levels in some of the pounds were well down and so it was rather slow progress at times. We arrived at Kilby Bridge just before one o'clock and headed straight for the Navigation Inn for lunch and a cold pint of cider. We received a call over lunch that we were going to have a visitor on Tuesday afternoon for a few days so we decided to stay put for extra day. It gave us a chance to remove a couple of rust spots on the roof of Serafina and treat them with a rust remover where we couldn't completely get the rust out. I also managed to put several coats of clear gloss on the wood work in the engine room. Another beautiful day so, with the work done for now we sat outside until just after 9pm waiting for our visitor to arrive.

It turned out to be very fortuitous having an extra set of hands to work the twelve locks as we headed down to Leicester on another beautiful day. Once again several of the pounds were very low. A discussion with a CRT employee along the way mentioned the possibility of closing the navigation if there wasn't decent rain soon. However, once on to the River Soar the water level increased and so did our speed, Serafina enjoying the increase in water depth.We picked up the last mooring at the Castle Gardens moorings in Leicester, right in town and nice and secure too.

Having toured Leicester late in the season last year we were able to show our visitor around the key sights. I haven't posted any pics here as there were plenty posted in the blog last year.

The soccerball count has now moved to 29.

Fradley, Fazeley and on to Rugby

It's Monday evening as we sit, moored at Rugby for the second evening having just witnessed a short burst of rain, the first in over a week. The days have been terrific, plenty of sun with the last hint of rain last Friday week when we dropped off our visitor; could she have been the culprit?

After completing the paint jobs in Fradley Junction, they were the cream coloured paint jobs, we headed off to Fazeley Junction, the junction of the the Coventry and Birmingham and Fazeley Canals. A nice four hour lockless cruise finishing with filling the water tank at Fazeley before mooring up. I didn't need my BW key, it seems a regular thing now to leave water points open, with the more regular resultant vandalism requiring a pair of pliers to operate the tap.

Rachael designated Fazeley Junction a green paint zone so it was time to paint the stern hatch and the swan neck. In the time between coats we negotiated the bus system and headed into Tamworth, around 6 kilometres away, with a population nearing 80,000. Tamworth, a large market town, has a good sized town centre with all the usual high street shops but more interesting for me was St Editha's Church and the castle.

Tamworth Town Hall with statue of Sir Robert Peel

St Editha's Church sits where there has been a church building since the 7th century, the tower dating back to the 14th century, one of the oldest parts of the current building.

Several stunning glass windows...

And something different with guilt sections on the ceiling and additioanally, guilt bosses.

And the castle opened in 1070 and added and changed since then but mostly it has been a home for the powerful families of the area.

Inside the castle walls

The view from the castle over the park beside the River Tame.

We completed our green paint tasks at Fazeley, which were the aft hatch and the swan neck, over three days and have cruised on stopping again at Polesworth, Hartshill and Rugby, all of which we visited around three weeks ago. Tomorrow we will head off to Braunston and a little further on turn on to the Grand Union Leicester Line to head to the top of the Trent and Mersey Canal.

The soccerball count now sits at 24. It was 25 but a floating bicycle helmet deceived me until I was right next to it.