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.