Last Day and Back to Aston Marina.

Thursday 5th October 2023 in Aston Marina.

 It seems to be traditional that, each year, it rains on the very last day of cruising back to Aston, and today was no exception. At least it was only gentle rain! This very fancy bridge was made to serve the needs of the aristocratic local Sandon Estate (not that the posh folk would have been able to see the fancy brickwork as they drove over in their horse-drawn carriages!). Very pretty artistry, nonetheless.

Although the sky looks quite good and a watery sun did try to shine through, the gentle rain continued all day. 

This is MM coming into Sandon Lock, the last lock on our summer cruise. M (the resident photographer, failed to take a better photograph, on account of chatting to two Americans on a hire boat following us. One was from Idaho and one from Arizona, and they were loving our little canals and colourful, eccentric narrowboats!).

M took this photograph because the scene resembled a Constable painting; all it needs is a haywain.

This is the penultimate bridge before we reach Aston. We love it and have always called it the "Sheep Bridge", can't think why!

Finally turning into Aston Marina. Every year, this is a happy/sad moment.

It was on the 5th June that we set off in the spring and it is the 5th October that we have returned to the marina.

What a fabulous four months it has been. Despite it being our shortest summer cruise, we managed to pack a lot into the time. The highlight has undoubtedly got to be the passage into, and staying in, Liverpool; an absolutely magic nine days. Next year, we are planning to go back to Liverpool with our friends Harley and Shelley who sadly could not make it this year. We miss them and we wish them well for the Australian summer.

Tomorrow, we shall take the train(s) back home. We will be back with the car later in the month to prepare MM for the winter. So, until next year then...

Today: 5 miles, 1 lock and 2.0 hours.

Trip: 318 miles, 137 locks and 170.4 hours.

MM Since Launch: 5,538 miles, 3,361 locks and 3,641.2 hours.

A Day Off and then on to Weston

 Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th October 2023 at Weston-upon-Trent.

On Tuesday, we decided to take a day off as we are not in a hurry to get back to our marina. The day started well with a beautiful sunrise.

Breakfast in the Canalside Café wth Mel and Peter was the first order of the day!

During the day, we did a few jobs on MM but then went back to the Canaside Café for tea and cakes in the afternoon (actually, M had a bowl of their excellent chips!). We both smiled at this notice as we have a similar, if smaller, one at home just inside the front door.

This "Sir Choc-A-Lot" cake looked really delicious but we (i.e. Robin!) managed to resist the temptation and we  just had coffee (R) and green tea (M).

On Wednesday morning, R backed MM through the bridge to fill up with water before we departed. The local farm, and farm shop, grow thousands of pumpkins. This is just one field of them and they advertise "pick your own" and even "ghostly night-time Pick Your Own" in the dark.

This large and attractive garden always intrigues as it is very well cared for and stocked with many specimen trees, but there is absolutely no sign of a house anywhere nearby.

Having moored up outside the house of our friends Peter and Bridgett, we were visited by two of the local natives, peering in our windows, clearly hopeful of swan food.

This is always a lovely mooring although the sycamore tree above did shed an awful lot of seeds on MM's roof.

 In the evening, we joined Peter and Bridgett for dinner. Bridgett produced a wonderfully warming casserole on what was a cold, wet evening, and this, accompanied by an excellent red wine, was a wonderful way to spend time with them, catching up since we were last together in the spring.

Today: 3 miles, 2 locks and 2.6 hours.

Trip: 313 miles, 136 locks and 168.4 hours.

Mel and Peter at the Canalside Café

 Monday 2nd October 2023 in Great Haywood.

After all the rain yesterday afternoon and evening, this morning started bright and clear and was forecast to remain so all day. Our friends Mel and Peter, who live not far from our marina, had said that they would be walking their dog along on the towpath in our direction, so we started off towards Great Haywood junction.

Every so often on the canals you come across a "turnover" bridge, where the towpath changes from one side to the other. These special bridges are designed so that, in the days of horse drawn boats,  the horse could walk over the bridge without the tow rope being unclipped, therefore the bridge is designed so that the path goes over the bridge and then under it.

This is a particularly well preserved example with the curved path to allow the horse back under the bridge. So clever yet so simple.

This is a famous "Brindley" aqueduct that carries the canal over the River Sow as both river and canal head towards Great Haywood.

The last lock before Great Haywood is Tixall Lock, just 4ft 6in deep but the gates seemed to be disproportionally heavy for such a small lock. We had hoped that Mel and Peter might be here to help us through but there was no sign of them. "Where were you when we needed you?" we asked them when we met up!

It is very rare nowadays to see signposts that still quote distances in Furlongs. Just 1 Mile and 3 Furlongs to go.

Tixall Wide is - wide!! It always looks as if you are cruising across a lake, which was exactly the intention of the landowner who would only agree to the canal being built across his land if it were made to look like an ornamental lake.

Finally, as we approached Great Haywood, we met up with Mel and Peter and their dog "Inca" (out of shot). Had they been lurking under that bridge all along, we wondered?!

At Great Haywood, we cruised under the famous bridge and turned north on to the Trent & Mersey Canal.

After we moored up MM with Mel and Peter, we walked to the Canalside Café for a coffee and found that the farm shop was alreadyin full swing for Hallowe'en. They grow a lot of pumpkins and even advertise a ghostly "Pick your own Pumpkins" at night!

The plan is to stay here tomorrow and take a day off but as MM is moored opposite the Café the temptation for breakfast and the occasional coffee and cake may be irresistible.

Today: 3 miles, 1 lock and 1.8 hours.

Trip: 310 miles, 134 locks and 165.8 hours.

Andy, Michelle and Ralph Visit.

 Sunday 1st October 2023 in Milford.

A beautiful early morning for the first day of October. Can it really be October already?!

We left early as we had arranged to meet our friends Andy and Michelle who live locally in Baswich. They walked back towards us, so we picked them up, along with their very cute border terrier, "Ralph", and moored up just past the Staffordshire Link for a coffee and catch up.

Ralph seemed quite happy to be on board and was very well behaved. He was very interested in everything that was going on.

It was great to spend some time with Andy and Michelle, and we discussed the idea of getting together the three "lads", Andy, Scott and Adrian, who all grew up together and went to school in Daventry. It is so rare to get all of them in one place.

As they left, we walked with them to their car and then we went on to the local Co-op for a "few bits".

We had moored just beside the Staffordshire Link, a renovation project to restore the original canal link into the centre of Stafford. Great progress has been made recently in restoring the basin that will eventually connect to the main canal and link to the lock that will carry the canal down on to the River Penk. The river will then need to be dredged to carry boats into the centre of the town. Even such a short length of restoration (less than two miles) is incredibly complicated and expensive.

Returning to MM, we decided to move on a bit further. This turned out to be a mistake as the heavens opened and it began to pour with rain. This line of fishermen, huddled under their umbrellas, illustrates how wet it was. Despite the awful weather, they all waved cheerily to us as we passed by.

Eventually sanity prevailed and we moored up in the first available open space that was not under trees. It turned out to be very shallow and MM ended up at least 18 inches from the edge, but at least we could go inside and get dry. As we moored up, the Pride Train sailed past on the railway line, very colourful! We see it fairly regularly up here.

Today: 4 miles, 1 lock and 2.3 hours.

Trip: 307 miles, 133 locks and 164.0 hours.

Jasper's in Penkridge.

 Saturday 30th September 2023 at Acton Trussell.

The last day of September and a beautiful sunrise.

Quite a few locks to do today but this is one of our favourites. Rodbaston Lock, in the foreground, is a pretty lock but is right next to the M6, just yards away. The truck in the background is doing 60mph down the motorway. We always look out for this lock when we are driving north on the M6 as you can see it clearly as you whizz past; M always says she just can't get her head round the two different lifestyles - the gentle narrowboating one at 3mph and the "rush and tear" one of the motorways.

At the lock, we came to the aid of an American couple who were having problems opening the bottom gates. They were so pleased to see us, as they said they had been waiting twenty minutes for a helping hand to come along!  The lady hadn't understood how the paddles worked and so hadn't been able to open the bottom gates! They were part of a flotilla of four boats doing the Four Counties Ring. All four couples had done boating together in America, mainly on big rivers like the Mississippi, and decided to come to England to try our "slightly smaller" canals (bit of a difference!). They loved the fact that they could do the locks themselves without needing staff to do it for them. As we continued, we met the other three boats in the flotilla and they all seemed to be enjoying the experience.

This was a very upmarket tree house complete with spiral staircase. A child's dream and possibly a parent's nightmare?

At Penkridge, we moored up so that M could walk in to town for a "few bits". This is Jasper's, an incredibly popular bakery. It s a real experience to shop there!  The queue outside snaked down the pavement; M was number sixteen.  Then when she finally gained entrance, she found there were at least ten customers packed inside the tiny shop. Business is so brisk that the counter, which was only about eight feet long, was staffed by six servers, all working flat out. M bought lemon cake, flapjacks, muffins and a pastie. When she went to pay she was alarmed to find that they don't take cards! She just managed to scrape up enough cash, including her precious "trolley pound coin" to pay. Afterwards, at the Co-op, she had to ask for "cash back", as did the lady in front of her, who had also been to Jasper's and had been cleaned out of cash too!

As we left Penkridge, we were greeted by this very enthusiastic character who waved to us chreerfully  as we passed.

Just past Acton Trussell, we moored up for the night.

Today:6 miles, 9 locks and 3.8 hours.

Trip: 303 miles, 132 locks and 161.7 hours.

Gailey, the Round House and a Day Off.

 Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September 2023 at Gailey.

On Thursday morning, we waved goodbye to Jenni, Will, Ed and Rufford as they headed back towards Norbury Junction. It has been truly lovely to spend time with them.

We stayed on at the junction for a while, catching up with our friends Peter and Annie, who run the Napton's hire base at the junction and from whom we rented our very first narrowboat nb "Emma" 13 years ago.

Opposite the junction is a large park with a magnifient willow tree, this is one our many routes to Morrison's as M had decided she needs a few more bits! R doesn't grumble, as he knows he gets well fed as a result!

Back at MM, we set off towards Gailey. For about a mile the canal here is very narrow, only just wide enough for one boat to pass through. It's very daunting for any novice hirers who have just set off from Napton's back at Autherley; they must have their fingers crossed that they don't meet a boat coming the other way!

The reason this stretch is so narrow is that it's cut through a solid rock section and it was only made this wide because cutting through the rock was so difficult and time-consuming.

Further up we came across a large group of children in canoes. As we passed, they all shouted in unison "Aye Aye Cap'n" when prompted by their instructors. It looked like they were having great fun.

It must have been school nature day as we then came across this large group of children with their teachers who all waved enthusiastically as we passed.

Soon after, we arrived on the outskirts of Gailey and moored up in the exact spot where we spent our first ever night on n.b "Emma" 13 years ago. It was here where we woke up that first morning on the canals to see the mist rising from the water and were hooked from that moment on.  This time, however, we were moored under oak trees and acorns rained down on us all night.

We awoke to a clear morning. While our first morning on Emma  had been misty and magical, the view this morning was just as beautiful in the sunshine.

After breakfast, we moved up to Gailey lock and its famous Round House. We have visited it many times and met the lady and her daughter who run the shop and live in the tower above. The shop had been closed when we came this way last year. so we were pleased to see that the shop was open and still run by the daughter, Karen. Sadly her elderly mother, Eileen, died last year. Karen was so very pleased to see us and remembered us. She was quite emotional and said that the shop had been closed for three years due to Covid and her mother's illness but now she was very happy that it was open again. We promised to come by and see her again next year.

Just below Gailey lock we moored up again as we have both got a bit of a head cold and were not feeling brilliant, so we decided to take a day off and spent much of the day sleeping. The weather was glorious and M dried a machine load of washing on the line.

Just after 7:00pm the full moon rose over the horizon. A beautiful sight.

Two Days: 9 miles, 1 lock and 1.1 hours.

Trip: 297 miles, 123 locks and 157.9 hours.

Wightwick Manor

 Wednesday 27th September 2023 at Autherley Junction

Wightwick Manor is just a few hundred yards from our mooring so, at 10:00am, the five of us set off to visit the house. The Mander family made its fortune producing and selling varnishes and paints all round the world.

 

In 1878, the family bought the Wightwick Manor estate complete with a late 16th century house, which is now the shop.

Mrs Mander took one look at the house and decided that it was far too small and dark inside!  So Mr Mander had a new manor house built next to it in the mediaeval style.

This photograph was taken from the internet as the house is currently covered in scaffolding due to a three year restoration and preservation project. The original house is the three bays on the left; just six years later the size of the house was doubled as the Mander family rose in society and needed to entertain. The first room that you enter is the ladies' lounge from the original house, it is a delightful room full of light. It even has a secret window from where Mrs Mander could look out for unwanted visitors! It even has a hidden staircase so that she could escape upstairs to avoid any unwanted guest.

 Much of the house was decorated by William Morris and attracted many of the Pre-Raphaelite "brotherhood" of the day. The Manders collected and acquired many Pre-Raphaelite paintings, one of which is an original Millais; apparently he was a regular visitor to the house. The new extension featured a massive great hall in the mediaeval style complete with a minstrels' gallery.

Having taken our fill of exquisite paintings and beautifully furnished rooms (and bacon butties in the tearoom!), we returned to the boats. On the way, we passed a large ivy bush that was covered in bees and Red Admiral butterflies.

We set off back to Autherley Junction with the two boats, once more passing the junction with the Wolverhampton flight on the way.

The two boats moored up together just outside Autherley Junction for the night.

Tomorrow, Jenni, Will, Ed and Rufford will head north back up the Shropshire Union Canal while we, on MM, will continue on up the Staffs & Worcs towards Great Haywood.

Today: 4 miles, 2 locks and 1.5 hours.

Trip: 288 miles, 122 locks and 153.9 hours.