Wightwick Manor and the Bratch Locks.

Saturday 30th June, 2018 at Wombourne.
Wightwick Manor is an Arts and Crafts house belonging to the Mander family, built in 1887 and then extended in 1893. It was gifted to the National Trust in 1936, but the Mander family still retain a private apartment in the house.

We are especially fond of it because of its connection with the pre-Raphaelites and the brilliant collection of their paintings, including many works by the Rossetti family. The house is also closely connected with Wm. Morris and contains many examples of his designs and fabrics. The Manders were a liberal thinking benevolent family, who supported the campaign for womens' suffrage. It was one of the first houses to be equiped with electricity and it had three bathrooms, one of them for the use of the staff!
The house itself is absolutely lovely inside; many original paintings by pre-Raphaelites as well as other contemporary artists and lots of wall hangings by Wm. Morris.
The gardens too are a joy. We greatly admired this magnificent copper beach planted by Queen Mary on July 30th 1930, when she was Duchess of York.

On the walkway up to the house, there is a wild flower meadow with a lovely display of poppies.

We couldn't resist a visit to the second hand bookshop, yeilding to temptation and purchasing only one book. A little lunch in the tea room in the stables, followed by a Magnum each, saw us happily on our way. M, wisely declined a visit to the gift shop, well aware of the lure of the Wm. Morris items!
We set off again early afternoon, in the hottest part of the day. Awbridge lock is a very handsome structure with its ballustrading.

Great caution was exercised as we passed the two cricket matches on the ground beside the canal; last time we came this way, two cricket balls came hurtling right over the boat. Two sixes in one over! We quickly moved on, fearing for our glass windows.

 

Bratch locks are very impressive, three locks in very quick succession, with less than ten feet between one lock and the next. They are beautifully maintained and, thankfully, always manned by C&RT volunteers as their safe operation is far from simple.

We loved this name!

Tonight, we moored up in Wombourne close to the very large Sainsbury supermarket. Tomorrow, M has to go home for a few days, so R will carry on solo towards Kidderminster.
Today: 5 miles, 7 locks and 2.8 hours.
Trip: 54 miles, 31 locks and 26.5 hours.

A Chorus of "Aye Aye Cap'n" and a Feline Shopper?

Friday 29th June 2018 at Wightwick Manor.
A lovely morning again and this weather is forecast to last for a while.

We'd intended to get an early start before it got too hot but, having walked back to the Round House to say goodbye to Eileen and Karen, we fell into conversation with them again and ended up setting off much later than planned. Karen, very kindly, walked back to MM with us to wave us off.
At first there was a pleasant breeze and M decided to walk on the towpath for a while as this is the "summit pound" with no locks for 10 miles.
It was lovely to see two groups of youngsters on an "Outward Bound" type of course or summer camp, who were clearly having a great time in canoes and kayaks. As MM approached, they pulled into the bank and then, much to our amusement, chorused "Aye, aye Cap'n" in perfect unison as R passed by.

There was lots of interest for M in the hedgerows including this gall on the wild roses, known as "Robin's Pincushion Gall" (yes, really!) or, more formally, as "Bedeguar Gall";

This beautiful Rose Bay Willow Herb, which is in profusion right now;

And, Colombine clinging to the brickwork of a bridge as MM sailed past.

Eventually, the sun became too hot and M abandonned the towpath for the relative breeze cruising on MM.
Approaching Autherley Junction, the canal is cut through solid rock and narrows down to one boat's width for half a mile with occasional passing places. It's certainly a baptism of fire for new hirers straight out of the hire base at Autherley! We were lucky as there was no one coming in the other direction and we sailed straight through.

We moored up briefly at the Junction and dropped in to see our friends Peter and Annie, who run the Napton Narrowboats hire base there. It was from Peter at Napton's that we hired our first narrowboat together, nb "Emma". Afterwards, M needed a "few bits", so we walked up to the large supermarket close by, where we discovered not "Puss in Boots" but "Puss in Morrisons"!

Apparently the cat is a regular visitor but always leaves without a fuss when asked to do so.
Just past Autherley Junction (between the Staffs & Worcs and the Shropshire Union canals), comes Aldersley Junction (between the Staffs & Worcs and the Birmingham canal).

Going up the Birmingham canal is the Wolverhampton flight of 21 locks, which we have not yet done as, last time we tried, the flight was closed due to a collapsed lock wall. Today, we are going south rather than into Birmingham, so we carried on down the Staffs & Worcs to Wightwick manor, which we will visit tomorrow.
Today: 11 miles, 3 locks and 4.9 hours.
Trip: 49 miles, 24 locks and 23.7 hours.

Two Magna (each), a Beautiful Garden and a Lover of the Bard.

Thursday 28th June 2018 at Gailey
Awoke to another lovely morning with the hotel staff cleaning up after the night before., although the Prom goers had been very well behaved (if a tad exuberant!).

Set off about 9:00am and almost immediately passed under the M6 motorway (horrid thing!).

 

However, rural tranquility was soon restored: it's hard to believe that this was just yards past the motorway. What a contrast!

At the next lock, no less than seven C&RT chaps were hard at work, installing a fence to prevent the careless and unwary (ie: bloomin' stupid) falling down from the bank.

 As the canal was opened in 1772, people have survived for 246 years without needing a fence - proving, once again, that the illiterate boat people were a lot brighter than the current products of our wonderful education system.
There were mutterings from the foreman about "bloody stupid fences being needed - when routine maintenance gets neglected".
Happiness is a Magnum on a hot day! At Penkridge lock, there is a little shop a few yards from the canal and M ran to it as the lock was filling to grab a Magnum each. Bliss!

We like this all action windmill. As the wind blew, the man chopped wood.

M was, as ever, tempted to follow this path as it led off into the distance.

R bringing MM into Rodbaston lock next to the M6. M hoped to spot some 'Eddies' as they passed but was sadly disappointed.

We moored for the day at Gailey at one of our special places; we moored here on our very first night together on a narrow boat on nb "Emma" in 2010.

We walked back to the Round House next to Gailey lock, the last remaining one of its kind in the country. The ground floor is a shop run by two ladies, Eileen and her daughter Karen; both are delightful. They live above the shop in the Round House. The bridge on the right carries what was once Watling Street.

Karen has created an incredible garden outside entirely from plants in pots as the soil underneath is contaminated.

We sat and chatted for a long time with Karen while consuming another Magnum. Karen very kindly showed M all around her beautiful garden and we then discovered that she is very keen on Shakespeare and spent even longer talking about the Bard and Elizabethan times.
A delightful end to a lovely day.
Today: 6 miles 10 locks and 4.2 hours.
Trip: 38 miles, 21 locks and 18.8 hours.

Roses, Leaf Cutter Bees and a School Prom.

Wednesday 27th June 2018 at Acton Trussell.
At Weston Lock, the first lock of the day, we passed nb "Daphne", a truly beautiful former working boat built in the 1930s at Braunston and registered in Daventry.

M admired these lovely old fashioned roses beside the lock.

A brief stop at Great Haywood to take on water while M went to shop for fresh produce in the farm shop. Great Haywood is the junction of the Trent & Mersey Canal with the Staffs & Worcs Canal and we turned off the Trent & Mersey on to the Staffs & Worcs under one of the most photographed bridges on the system.

The first lock on the Staffs & Worcs is Tixall Lock and it appears that a family of leaf cutter bees had taken up residence in the lock beam. Note the new C&RT circular logo (bottom left of the notice), which has come in for a huge amount of criticism (justifiably in our opinion). "A new brand of nonsense" is how it was described by one leading authority. R was so incensed by the waste of money that he wrote a pithy letter to Canal Boat Magazine.

A classic "turnover" bridge, where the towpath changes sides and the shape of the bridge allowed the horses to change sides without the towrope having to be detatched. M was exasperated by this because we need to wash down the "port" side of the boat and now the towpath will be back on the "starboard" side when we moor up. "Bother" said M!

We always admire this imaginative garden complete with tree house and train. R's grandson Lucas would love this!

The wheat and barley in many fields look almost ready for harvest. It almost looks like August or September rather than June!

We moored up at Acton Trussell for the evening opposite a very smart hotel/restaurant in the cool shade of some tall trees.

The hotel was hosting what turned out to be a school "Proms" evening. All of the students were very smartly dressed and some of the girls' dresses were quite spectacular - much to R's delight!

Today: 11 miles, 4 locks and 4.7 hours.
Trip: 32 miles, 11 locks and 14.6 hours.

At Last We Are On Our Way Again!

Sunday 24th to Tuesday 26th June 2018 from Aston Marina to Weston.
Drove up to the Marina from home on Sunday expecting the traffic to be light as everyone would be watching England play football. Unfortunately it seems that everyone had the same idea, so the traffic was awful!
On Monday morning, we drove to the huge M&S in Stoke-on-Trent and bought all sorts of provisions for MM. In the evening, our friends Mel and Peter arrived in the car park in a large camper van on their way back from a trip to the Lake District. They stayed in the car park overnight and on Tuesday morning we all had breakfast together in No.26, the Marina's restaurant. What a joy it was to be able to sit outside on the terrace in the sunshine!
Finally, we set off from the Marina on the dot of midday to start our delayed summer cruise. The sun continued to shine and there was a welcome breeze as we passed under the Marina bridge.

Sandon Lock is the first and last lock of the season if we travel south, as we are doing this year. So, it is now a familiar friend.

We moored up at our special mooring alongside the garden of Jubilee Cottage, the lovely home of our friends Bridgett and Peter.

They came on board for a cup of tea in the afternoon.  In the evening, we had supper together. M provided the food and they provided the beautiful garden setting as we sat and watched the sun go down.

As ever, it was a super evening with them. Their garden is a wonder and M took this picture of the rose arbour framing their house perfectly. Peter is a brilliant artist and M thought that he might like to paint this view.

We had done one short trip earlier in June down to Great Haywood and back, so in 2018 we had already done 16 miles, 6 locks and 7.9 hours.
Today: 5 miles, 1 lock and 2.0 hours.
2018 to date: 21 miles, 7 locks and 9.9 hours.