The Short Journey to Norbury Junction.

Wednesday 19th June 2024 at Norbury Junction.

Early in the morning we looked out of the window to see a clear blue sky and sunshine. At last!  Hooray! M ventured out to photograph our mooring and found that it was actually quite warm! Could it be that summer has finally arrived?

We shared our breakfast with a family of moorhens. They are such good parents because if you give them food they immediately pass it on to their young. We found that they were very fond of cornflakes even though they were a bit past their best.

Norbury Junction was only an hour away and, on arriving there, we found an excellent mooring just outside the basin. Tomorrow, we are booked into the basin for three nights as we have to go home until Sunday.

Norbury used to be the junction between the Shropshire Union Canal and the Shrewsbury & Newport Canal, which ran 24 miles down through 25 locks into Shrewsbury. Sadly only the first hundred yards still exists and is used for mooring boats. The rest was abandonned in 1944 and sold off by British Waterways in 1960. Yet another loss of what would have been a lovely waterway. This photo was taken from the bridge over the junction.

A nearby notice gives a bit of history and says that there is a restoration group but progress is very slow. As always, shortage of funds is a huge problem.

We visited the excellent café and had coffee, cake (R) and a plate of chips (M). We also went to see Nicky in the marina office to check how and when we should bring MM into the basin tomorrow. She has been very helpful in finding us a space at short notice.

Our lunch was accompanied by a large group of hungry and very vocal ducks, who were sadly disappointed with our response. However, when this little family arrived, we did share some chips with them, much to their delight.

Leter in the afternoon we returned for an ice cream to celebrate the fact that the weather was still lovely and that it hadn't rained on us all day.

Returning to MM, we found Guy looking forlornly out the window, wondering where his ice cream was.

Tomorrow morning we will have breakfast in the café, bring MM into the basin and, hopefully, our taxi will arrive at mid-day to drive us the 12 miles back to Aston, where our car is parked. Nearly two weeks cruising and we are still only 12 miles away! That's the English waterways for you!

All being equal we will be back on Sunday.

Today: 3 miles, 0 locks and 1.0 hours.

Trip: 54 miles,35 locks and 30.3 hours.