We had our
first frost of the autumn on Monday morning and it promised to be yet another
sunny day even though it was a bit misty.
These sheep
woke us up crashing through the undergrowth and baaing.
Just before
stopping for milk at Gnosall we went through Cowley tunnel. The tunnel is unusual in that it is left with
the rough hewn rock rather than the normal brick lining associated with tunnels bored through softer
rocks.
The skies
were a beautiful blue as we approached Norbury junction.
The junction
was where the Shrewsbury and Newport canal joined the Shropshire Union after
climbing a long flight of locks. All
that is left of the canal is this length used for moorings and at the far end
is a dry dock converted from the top lock of the disused flight. Fortunately plans are afoot to restore the original 25 miles.
As mentioned
yesterday this canal is a series of embankments and cuttings. Many of the cuttings had almost sheer rock face sides - amazing to think they were dug out without mechanisation.
This means that where roads cross in cuttings
the bridges tend to be higher than on other canals.
This
particular bridge is really odd as it has a stumpy old telegraph pole in the middle.
Lock gates
are often used in bridge holes on this canal rather than stanking planks.
At Knighton
we passed an old chocolate factory and its wharf. The sign
indicates that the wharf was used between 1911 and 1961 to collect locally
produced milk and ship the chocolate crumb, produced in the factory, down to
Cadbury at Bourneville which we passed last Friday going into Birmingham.
Just before
Market Drayton we went down the five lock Tyrley flight. Karen was walking down to set the fourth lock
and saw the pair of kingfishers at the top of this page. Amazingly they were still there when I went
past on the boat. I lost count of the number of kingfishers we saw during the day.
We were warned about
rocky protrusions in the last pound so stuck to the centre of the channel.
After
arriving in Market Drayton we had a quick supermarket shop and then settled in
for the evening as was getting cold again.
These are the
five locks we went down today.
No comments:
Post a Comment