It was lovely having Karen
commute home on Monday evening – hopefully she has seen the last of the Leamington
B&B’s now. It was raining hard when
she left for work on Tuesday morning but had stopped by nine so Buddy and I set
off for another jaunt. He has now established
his seating position on the new boat.
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Buddy seems quite
comfortable on the new deck and can still keep a look out even though there is
not so much space for him
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As we are currently
locking down until we get to Fazeley (near Birmingham), Buddy has to stay on
the boat as he cannot climb down the lock ladders like I do. I know I could leave him at the top when I
climb down and take the boat out but I couldn’t trust him not to run around
with other dogs. I suppose I could tie
him up but that doesn’t seem fair either.
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Buddy looking after the
boat as it goes down in the lock - for some reason he sits in the centre rather than on the side which he does when we are cruising - quite sensible really
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We cruised another 14
miles today down four locks including going through Rugeley and a few miles out
the other side. A lot of sections look more like a river than a canal but I don’t
think it really comes across in this photograph.
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I’m still surprised how many
views are still summer-like; normally the leaves would be quite autumnal
now. No doubt that will all change when
we get our first frost.
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Just before we stopped for
lunch we went through Great Haywood where the Staffordshire and Worcestershire (Staffs
& Worcs) canal branches off south.
This canal was completed in 1772 and stretches for 46 miles all the way
to the River Severn at Stourport – an important link for towns like Manchester
down to Gloucester and Bristol. We
travelled the Staffs & Worcs in February and March 2015. See these links for our accounts: Goodbye Trent & Mersey - February 2015 and The southern end of the Staffs & Worcs - March 2015
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A rather pretty bridge
marking the northern end of the Staffs & Worcs where it meets the Trent
& Mersey
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After Great Haywood we
went down Colwich lock which was the last of the day. I have probably said before that this is my
favourite lock on the canal system.
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Colwich lock
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After a break for lunch we
set off on a lock free cruise for the final nine miles until we moored near
Kings Bromley. We were here on 14th
September when we were taking the old boat up to Northwich to trade her in. I remember that on that occasion we were
sitting outside when Karen came home from work.
Not so now as, not only is it too dark, it is quite chilly in the evenings
- how things change in a month.
Just before Rugeley we
passed an egg honesty box positioned just for boaters but alas there were no
eggs!
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No eggs for sale
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With the weather the way
it seems set we should easily get back down to Leamington area by the end of
the weekend at the rate we are going.
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