I made a big mistake on
Wednesday morning. Before we started
cruising Buddy and I walked to Whittington to pick up some salad and fruit. As
it was such a lovely morning I wore sandals which is normal when wearing shorts
unless we are going for a serious hike.
Anyway I forgot about the storms on Tuesday afternoon and after walking
a mile along the towpath my feet were caked in mud.
When we got back we set
off for Kings Bromley – it was still early and I thought it would be best to
travel before it got too hot. After a
few miles we approached the junction with the Trent & Mersey canal at
Fradley. This is one of our favourite
canals and we feel quite at home here.
The name of the canal also makes me feel like we are no longer in the South or
Midlands.
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| Fradley junction with the pub dead ahead |
We turned left at the junction; right leads down to the
Trent and then onto Nottingham. Apparently this junction
(and the pub) are the most photographed places on the canal system. I must admit that whenever we have been here
it has always been busy with gongoozlers and boats whatever the time of
year. Today was no exception.
When I took the picture
above we were actually stopped as I had to close a swing footbridge behind me.
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| Swing footbridge at the junction |
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| Plenty of people drinking outside The Swan which, like most pubs of this name, is known as the Mucky Duck. By the way it was only 11.30. |
There are five locks at
the junction but three of them are to the right of the junction so I only had
to go up two of them. I still had to
queue though at the first one.
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| Waiting to go into Fradley Middle lock |
There is a house by
Shadehouse lock, the top lock, which has been for sale for five years. Apart from being too expensive for the area it
is right opposite the current route of HS2.
The original route was going to cross this canal in four places in this
area but has now been realigned following protests.
 |
Approaching Shadehouse lock with the
house for sale on its right
|
I had forgotten that the
locks in this part of the Trent & Mersey are not suitable for single
handers in that you can’t step off the boat with a rope when going into the
lock from the bottom. They all have an
iron or brick bridge over the entrance so would get you in rather a
tangle. The Stratford canal has similar
bridges but they were built with a gap in the middle so that ropes could pass
through. Mind you, most are pretty
narrow or have closed up now so are not really used.
 |
Approaching Wood End lock
|
There are mileposts all along
the Trent & Mersey – 92 miles from (the famous inland port of) Shardlow to
Preston Brook in the north. The canal is
actually 1 ½ longer as it runs from Shardlow to meet the River Trent at its
eastern end. I say ‘famous inland port
of’ as neither Karen or I can say Shardlow on its own. It really was a very busy and prosperous
inland port in its day and the road sign announcing the village has the
strapline, ‘Famous inland port’.
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| One of the mileposts |
It was such a warm evening
that I sat outside until Karen came home soon after 8. Buddy was desperate to go in the boat to
sleep but will not stay in if I am outside.
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| Here he is making the point that he wants us to go in – he was also whining |
A bit later on he started
to disturb my reading to get me inside – by the way we wouldn’t normally read
the Guardian but it was the only broadsheet left in the shop last Saturday.
We now only have 54 miles and
55 locks to do before picking up the new boat.
We also have a big weekend coming up – we are taking a lot of stuff up
to the new boat by car on Friday and need to get to Kidsgrove (on the Cheshire border)
by Sunday evening to keep to our schedule.
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