To brood or not to brood

A silly title I know but you'll find out the reason later. 

Set off in sunshine but, as you can see, quite a lot of cloud about. A bit of a slow journey at first as we went past 16 or 17 fishermen - we kept losing count there were so many. 

And then past the zoo! No quite, but many gardens have giraffes or monkeys in them. It's almost unfashionable not to have one.

Then some spectacular graffiti on the M54 bridge. There was even more but I thought that one picture was enough.

And here we are in the middle of what is described as The Narrows. There's a couple of passing places in the middle and we managed to be in one just at the right time.

Yes, that's how narrow it is.

Only room for one or two boats at a time.

Right, final decision time. Straight on and down to Worcester or head north towards Chester? 

Decision made, we're going to Chester instead. Anyway, the sky's bluer that way.

Past Wolverhampton Boat Club .

And then full steam ahead through this luxurious winding hole.

The clouds are building up but, so far, we've managed to avoid the rain. We can see it falling all around us but not on us.

Now this is what I remember about the Shropie, the ornate bridges.

There she is, Brewood, pronounced Brood. Which is logical really, Brew and Ood, put together makes Brood. Many folk pronounce it Bree Wood. The name comes from the Celtic Bre, meaning hill, therefore wood on the hill. Still pronounced Brood though.

This is School Bridge just before Brewood. The canal builders put iron corner pieces on all the bridges to protect the stonework from wear caused by the barge towing ropes. The horse would go through the bridge and then pull the boat along and the rope would rub on the edge. You can see how much the ironwork has been worn away so imagine what would have happened to the stone without that protection.

We had a look at the church, a first time for us even though we have stopped in the village before.

Some lovely houses in Brewood and some lovely people as well.

We found our way to Lazy Days Café and popped in for lunch.

Sandwich and panini, tea and coffee - wonderful. 

We also revisited the bakers and butchers, still as good as they were 7 years ago.

And you can't visit Brewood without taking a photo of Speedwell Castle, erected around 1740 by an apothecary who supposedly won handsomely on a horse named Speedwell. 

Moving on after lunch we cross Stretton Aqueduct.

And, would you believe it, it takes us over the A5 again! We can't get away from that road.

Wheaton Aston Lock, the first in 8 miles. We had help with the lock so I was able to stay on the boat.

Stopped briefly at the services to get rid of rubbish and recycling, empty the loo and fill up with water.

After that, a little way further to the visitor moorings for the night.

Rounded off the day with supper of pan fried salmon, cauliflower cheese and potatoes.