St. Lawrence Church and a Hungry Horse.

Saturday 24th September, 2016 at Autherley Junction.
Another sunny morning.

We decided to walk into Gnosall village, as we have many fond memories of happy times spent here with our dear friends Annie and Paddy. They lived for many years in Brook House before moving to the Forest of Dean. It is a handsome house with a beautiful garden and we would have loved to buy it from them but unfortunately it's just a bit too far from the children and grandchildren.

Paddy used to ring the bells in St. Lawrence's Church, which is a magnificent example of Norman architecture.

The church was hosting a harvest festival and craft exhibition and we spent a happy hour looking around and talking to some of the volunteers on duty. R was particularly interested in the history of the town and got talking to Bob Johnson, the local historian, who had lots of information about Brook House - much of it furnished by Paddy. Everyone we spoke to remembered Annie and Paddy and asked to be remembered to them.

Back at the canal, we were being watched from above. R wandered over and made a new friend, who spent his whole time trying to grab the shopping bags out of R's hands. He was clearly a hungry opportunist!

We left Gnosall just after midday and almost immediately came to Cowley Tunnel. This is another testament to the incredible achievements of the navvies who build the canals. The tunnel is unlined and just hewn out of solid rock.
It used to be a lot longer but, soon after it was completed, it was found that the rock forming the roof at the north end was fractured and unstable so the roof of that part was removed.

Bridge 10, "Avenue Bridge", is a particularly handsome bridge and an example of the many bridges designed to placate local landowners and persuade then to allow the canal to pass through their land. In this case, the avenue over the ornate bridge led to Chillington Hall, home to the Giffard family for over eight hundred years.

The Shropshire Union Canal was one of the later canals, completed in 1835 after ten years of work. Unlike the earlier canals, its engineer, Thomas Telford, didn't follow the contours but built in straight lines with deep cuttings and high embankments. The embankments proved particularly difficult as they kept subsiding; however, the views from them now are often spectacular. From them, it is even possible to see the Wrekin, some fifteen miles away.
During the course of the day, the wind gradually got stronger and stronger. It was buffeting us in our faces all afternoon making the going quite hard.
It was a relief to tie up at Autherley Junction in time to say a quick hello to Peter, who runs the hire boat centre there and from whom we hired our first ever narrowboat together. He was just leaving, but we promised to catch up in the morning.
Despite the wind, there were traces of a pretty sunset.

Today: 13 miles, 1 lock and 4.7 hours.
Trip: 447 miles, 308 locks and 308.4 hours.