Lichfield here we come

Wednesday and the forecast is for rain all day. Not an exciting prospect. However, we decided that a trip to Lichfield might be a good idea. I'll let you know how we get on later.

So, we're now at Hopwas and, as some of you have gathered, slowly making our way back to base.

Our last blog stop was at Rugeley, so we'll pick up from there.

Monday saw a leisurely start after a quick visit to Aldi and a nearby garage for some petrol. Golden rule, if there's a garage near the canal, top up the petrol. If you remember, diesel isn't a problem but garages are scarce and the reserve generator needs petrol.

A photo of the mooring, a quiet location right opposite a cemetery.

Just before passing Hawkesyard Hall, picture below, we passed Scrooge on the canalside. He's moved since we last came through, he used to be further up in this line of moorings.

Hawkesyard Hall, now a wedding venue, conference centre, etc.

Ahead is a very narrow section of the canal under a road bridge. It's not a tunnel, just looks like one. The advice is to put a crewmember ashore to walk to the far end of the section to stop boats coming through while you make your transit. I think I've only ever known one boat to actually do that. Anyway, we carried on through and, guess what, boat coming the other way.

Not just one boat but three. They hadn't sent a crewmember ahead either but they backed up and let us through.

This is a factory that always makes me smile. It's the Armitage toilet factory. Their yard is full of toilets. I did take a picture but nowadays they are all shrink wrapped and it's not so obvious what they are.

Yet another swathe of country being sacrificed to HS2.

Anyway, stopped Monday night just before Fradley Junction, away from all the gongoozlers and business of the junction itself.

Tuesday and we turned right at the junction onto the Coventry canal. Just looking back at the Mucky Duck, sorry, The Swan.

Very fortunate to have volunteers helping out with the locks and the swing bridge. It saves us a lot of time.

On the Coventry, the bridges have names not numbers.

And here we are moored at Hopwas.

Had a walk around the old village and this is St Chad's Church. We attended evening worship on one of our previous visits here.

Looking along the canal towards our boat and then, in the evening, a visit to the Tame Otter for supper.

Cod loin for the captain.

Lasagne for me.

Well, gotta stoke up if we're going to Lichfield tomorrow.

Great Haywood to Rugeley

Saturday saw us travelling a relatively short distance to Great Haywood. Why was this? Well, the forecast was for very strong winds Saturday afternoon and we wanted to be securely moored before then.

We managed to find a good spot just after the lock and took the opportunity to walk back to a new (to us) farm shop where we had lunch and bought some fresh vegetables and bread.

Back to the boat and batten down the hatches while the wind blew around us. Didn't last long and not too many branches down.

Sunday and we went to St Stephen's church for morning worship and, would you believe it, another baptism. Thoroughly enjoyed being there and stayed on for coffee and communion service after.

We then set off in the sunshine and motored along to Rugeley.

Finished off the day with a roast lamb supper and rhubarb and apple crumble.

Should sleep well tonight.

Stone and beyond

Where did we leave you last? Ah yes, Westport Lake Park.

We set off from there and approached the top lock at Stoke-on-Trent.

Needing to top up with water and empty the loo, plus get rid of rubbish, we turned left on to the Caldon Canal, tied up, sorted everything out and then reversed back to the Trent & Mersey Canal. Not an easy manoeuvre as narrowboats aren't designed to go backwards. But still, we did it. What's more, we joined the queue for the lock at the same point we would have joined it if we hadn't gone off for the water.

At last, our turn next.

Another view of an old pottery kiln.

And further along the canal another reminder of times past.

We had a slow old day what with hire boats and others waiting for the locks to empty and fill. Just past Trentham lock is the Wedgwood factory which we visited some years ago.

Stopped at Barlaston and had supper at the Plume of Feathers, a pub owned by Neil Morrissey.

The food was excellent and these are just the starters.

I forgot to photo the mains, we just dived straight in.

But here are the puddings.

The next day, on to Stone. Stopped at the chandlery to pick up the spare part for the generator.

Moored up and had a walk around the town. Stone was the birthplace for the canal and every opportunity is taken to promote the fact.

A welcome plaque, much of which was made by local school children.

In the churchyard two memorial benches, one for the 1st World War.

The other for the centenary 1918-2018.

What's today? Friday you say - the day of the gales and flooding, you say.

Well we had a lovely sunny morning and pootled along until about 1:30 when we stopped for lunch near Hixon.

We found a very nice 48 hour mooring complete with mooring rings and information board - see below.

Five minutes after stopping the heavens opened for five minutes and then stopped again. This continued on and off for the next half hour.

Lunch was toasted sandwiches. Aha, you say, the spare part for the generator worked, you say. Well, yes and no. Yes insofar as I replaced the old capacitor but the generator still wouldn't produce any power. I then crawled about under the back of the boat and found a button with the legend 'push to reset'. I pushed, it reset and hence, toasted sandwiches for lunch. Grrrrr. If I'd done that before, we could have had toasted sandwiches every day.

Ah well, the joys of boating.

And lastly a view of the boat and the area that we have been going through.

Have decided to stop where we are now and weather the storm, if any.

Quiz time

Don't worry, this is a rhetorical quiz and answers will be given.

Question 1. Why the bar on the end of the lock beam? It looks like the support bar in an accessible toilet. Perhaps it's to help less able folk to open the lock gate.

Nope, it's there to stop you from falling down onto the path below.

Q 2. How about this? Maybe a gauge so that only people of the correct height and girth can get through. Nope. I think it's to stop bikes being ridden straight through. The equivalent of speed humps on the road. Anyway, most people just walk round the outside.

Sorry, end of the quiz. We have arrived back at the junction with the Macclesfield canal.

There's even a signpost in case you don't know where to go.

And now we're back at Harecastle tunnel queueing while we wait for boats to come through from the other end.

And, here they come.

5 minutes before we got to the tunnel the heavens opened and we got soaked. We could see the rain storm coming towards us but it was moving so fast that by the time we got out the wet weather gear it was all over.

Stopped for the night at Westport Lake Park and had a good walk round before supper.

Staying put

Sunday and we met up with Gail and Mathew to share in worship at their church and lunch after. After 3 years apart, Brigid and Gail had a lot of catching up to get through. Mathew and I shared a time of quiet reflection together while the girls put the world to rights.

We had an excellent lunch and afterwards went to the farm shop in Wheelock.

A picture from yesterday of the Sandbach crosses. We walked into Sandbach and had a good look round the market and local shops. Plenty of independent shops in the centre of town and quite a few eateries.

Here’s a picture from Friday of Laurie waving to the vehicles stuck in a traffic jam on the M6. He also waves at the trains as they thunder past.

It was surprising how many drivers and passengers waved back, especially the coaches.

A fine evening on the canal looking one way

and then the other.

And a glorious sunset to round it all off. 

That's the way to do it

What is this golden orb I espy? Yes, you've guessed it, sun!

We left you yesterday in the knowledge that we had started on 'heartbreak hill' and had stopped for the night. There are 12 locks in the space of 2 miles and each lock drops you down by 8 to 10 feet.

Of course, just as we decided to set off, boats started to come through. Still, we got in the queue and off we set.

At about the 3rd lock we had the help of one of the C&RT volunteers. Always welcome helpers like these.

You can see the 'enough blue to make a sailor's trousers' in the sky above.

Just passing the Red Bull facility and a cheery wave from one of the volunteers who, earlier, had been checking up on a lone Swan without a mate. They don't just open and close lock gates, they really do keep an eye on the whole of the waterway.

We took it in turns to work the locks today (Thursday). With some there were boats coming the other way and, mostly, their crew would give us a helping hand. Some others just stood and watched until it was their turn to work the lock.

Some lovely views along this stretch but, even though we've been this way before, we don't remember much about it.

Looking back at an old logbook we found a comment 'much more beautiful than we remember'. We're writing exactly the same again!

Just as we cleared the last of the locks the heavens opened and we paused under some trees until the worst had passed.

Stopped at Rode Heath and had a late lunch in the Broughton Arms. Decided to stop here for the night.

Friday, sunny again and time to tackle a further 14 locks as we make our way to Wheelock. Phew! Surprisingly hot again and in the afternoon we had a little walk around the village.

We found this mill stream nearby and, of course...

The old mill.

The path then took us back to the canal alongside the stream and it got wetter and muddier the further we went. Another walker then told us that cows were blocking the way so we struggled through more mud and nettles until we collapsed on the boat for a reviving cuppa. Might have been better to brave the cows, who knows.

Stopping here tomorrow and will probably pop round Sandbach, may even get some painting done. Watch this space.