part 3 - The Return - in stages

I felt much more relaxed on leaving Market Drayton, as at least I knew what was in front of me as I retraced my wake. The weather, which at the beginning of my journey would have suited Noah and his ark, had steadily improved and as I left Market Drayton, the sky was blue, the temperature was climbing and all was right with the world.

We skipped up the Tyrley lock flight, without unfortunately pausing to take a photo . The only challenge at these locks was presented by water gushing out at great speed from about 3 feet up the cliff wall as we approached the bottom lock. This had the effect of pushing the boat to the left, spoiling my line to enter the lock. The only way to negotiate the lock entrance was barreling through at speed and hoping I had judged it correctly. Fortunately I managed it with my paintwork intact.

Next we faced the infamous Woodseaves cutting for a second time. I felt more anxious on this return trip as I knew exactly what was coming! This time the fates were not so kind as I met 3 different boats coming towards me, two of whom decided that I would be much better at reversing than they would! On the first occasion I managed to back into what was laughingly called a passing place, which I would describe as a mere niche in the cliff. The second time the boat approached was on a bend and my reversing skills were tested beyond their limit. I had to grab my rope, jump over 5 foot high nettles onto the tow path and stern haul her to the gap. I was unbelievably grateful to the final boat when its skipper waved me forward as he neatly slipped his boat into the undergrowth which concealed a passing place. As the light returned and the canal widened, it felt a bit like escaping from the River Styx!

I moored about a mile on, near absolutely nowhere, for a late lunch. After giving Bonny a well deserved run, my appetite for moving on waned and since we were no longer on a timetable I decided to stay for the rest of the day and explore the countryside. It was a lovely feeling not being under any time pressure. The rest of the day was spent mooching about and sunbathing whilst sipping a cold glass of wine - perfection!

One of my more inspired ideas came in handy the next morning. It had got really hot and Bonny was finding it difficult on the roof, but really didn't want to go below. Before I left I had thought about this and had brought the weighted bottom of my parasol, together with a large golf umbrella - a gift from my golfing brother. I popped the brolly into the parasol base and Bonny had a shady area to lie in. The only downside was that the brolly was just a bit too tall for some of the Lilliputian bridges which meant I needed to remember to whip it out of the base before we reached each bridge. I only forgot once, but that was enough to almost dislodge both the base and Bonny from the roof - my brolly hasn't been the same since.

By this time, we had slowed to an absolute crawl and after only 3 hours cruising I tied up for the day back at Norton Junction to enjoy doing absolutely nothing, bar watching the water world go by!

pictures for part 2 of the cruise

I know it is a little odd posting pictures seperately from the narrative, but I am tending to write when I have nothing to do at work and then wait till I'm home before posting the pics. Anyway, here are a few more...

This is the old wharf of the Cadbury's factory when all the sugar used to be brought in by boat.

This is Mary looking down the Mighty Shelmore Embankment near Norbury Junction. It may not look very mighty, but the next picture shows the view from one side of it...

This is an extraordinary bridge at the entrance to the Grubb Street Cutting. As you can see, it has an old telegraph pole built in under the top span. The bridges on this part of the Shroppie were very impressive - tall and old!

Here is an even taller bridge - so tall that you may not be able to spot it!

I will be writing about my solo return trip soon!

Part 2 of the cruise

We reluctantly left the beautiful mooring by bridge 7 and travelled on through the increasingly remote and beautiful countryside of Staffordshire and Shropshire. A brief stop for water at Wheaton Aston gave Mary her first testing moment as she momentarily lost control of her steering and only missed a moored boat by a cigarette paper (as we used to say in a more free speaking era).

Bonny had by this time well and truly found her sea legs, so to speak. She took her position on the roof right at the bow, rather like a hood ornament. She hardly slept during the day - there were just too many intriguing smells wafting past and occasionally the maddeningly exciting sight of a squirrel leaping from tree to tree, just out of reach, above her head.

So we drifted on at 3 mph, lockless now, at until mid afternoon when we reached Norton Junction, via the Shelmore Embankment. In the Nicholson Guide this is described as 'The Mighty Shelmore Embankment'. Mary and I were just a little cynical about how mighty an embankment can be, imagining some sort of largish ditch by the side of the canal. However we were put in our place as the land fell away on one side and then the other, revealing views reaching to The Wrekin (a large hill near the Welsh Border) on one side and woods on the other that seemed to sink into the ground so that we were level with the treetops. Mighty indeed! Norton Junction proved to be an ideal mooring spot as it was not only very attractive but had a shop, tea room and pub! So tea and ice creams followed by a pub supper was the order for the rest of the day.

The last day of Mary's cruise came all too soon as we left Norton Junction (I had already decided to stop here again on my return journey) for Market Drayton where she had left her car. This leg of the journey really raised our pulses as we entered the innocuous sounding 'Woodseaves Cutting'. This was an amazing engineering feat in the 18th century, where 'navvies' (navigators) cut straight through the middle of a hill for a mile and a half using only hand tools and animals. Obviously they didn't want to do any more than absolutely necessary, so they only cut enough room for one narrowboat - just! The cliff sides of the cutting towered above our heads and we brushed vegetation on both sides of the boat. As we penetrated further the trees met above us and so it felt like navigating a giant green tunnel. We rather expected to see Amazonian creatures swimming below and perhaps Tarzan swinging above! What really brought the sweat to the brow was the possibility of meeting another boat, as there were only occasional passing places dug out of the cliff. However the flow of the universe was merciful on this occasion and we passed unimpeded, both of us as high as kites when we reached the end of the cutting unscathed.

From there it was a straight forward run into Market Drayton via the impossibly picturesque Tyrley flight of locks. Finding a mooring in town was remarkable easy but it was a little harder to say goodbye to my sturdy crew as I walked with Mary through town to her car. It is amazing how fast everybody seems to travel when not on the cut. Even the pedestrians seemed to be moving at top speed and as for the cars, well, I was very pleased to retreat back to paradise after a pit stop at Netto's for essential supplies.

I then had a decision to make. So far the journey had felt like quite hard work as we were working to Mary's timetable and so had to reach first Penkridge and then Market Drayton by certain times. I had passed several places that I would have liked to stop and explore had we had the time. I also found cruising with no locks actually more tiring as I found standing in one place, hanging onto the tiller for hours on end quite a strain. Whereas if there are regular locks, one has a chance to stretch one's legs and use different muscles. So I decided that, rather than continuing on and struggling down the Adderley and Audlem flight of locks - 20 locks in all - only then to turn round and climb them again, I would instead turn at Market Drayton and amble back.

Pictures and Part 3 to follow...

pics of cruise story so far

This is our first mooring near Kings Bromley marina. very isolated with lots of Rhodedendrons.Second pic of King's Bromley mooring - I love being the only boat in sight when I moor, but this was the only time it happened on the whole trip.

This is Tixall wide looking towards the Gatehouse of Shugborough Hall.

This is my first mate with my best mate! You can work out which is which. I think Mary is looking very relaxed considering she hasn't that much experience at steering a narrowboat.

This the point we turned off the Staffs and Worcester and entered the Shropshire Union - very exciting!

More pics after part two! By the way, if you click on the pics they get bigger!

The Great Cruise Part 1

Sorry for the long pause between posts. We have been off on our cruise up the Shropshire Union Canal and then when we reurned, Bonny finally got spayed and is now recovering.

I will be posting photos of our cruise but they will have to wait as I am not on my own computer at present.

We left in the rain on Monday 7th June from our home mooring at Fradley. The first day was only as far as King's Bromley, where we moored among the Rhodedendrons overnight before going into the marina to pump out, diesal and water. There is something immensely satisfying about taking on the liquid you need and getting rid of that which you don't! Tuesday was the only day when it rained without ceasing. So I dripped my way from Kings Bromley to Great Haywood where we moored at Tixall Wide on the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal. This is a beautiful spot where the canal widens into a lake - made in the distant past by the occupants of Shugborough Hall in order to improve their view!

The next day we faced our first challenge - deep locks. The first one was 10'2" and as we approached from the bottom, the gates looked like the very entrance to hell! It's funny how quickly we adjust to things though as, on our return leg, having done many of these locks, I looked at this one and wondered what all the fuss was about - it wasn't that big! It was a hard cruising day this day as I needed to reach Penkridge in order to pick up my friend Mary that evening and there were a fair few locks and miles between Tixall and Penkridge.

By the way, I have learnt a really helpful way of knowing how long a stretch of canal should take to cruise single handed. I count the number of miles and add that to the number of locks and then divide by three and that gives me the number of hours it should take. So, for example, if there are five locks and ten miles between two points, then 5 + 10 = 15 / 3 = 5 hours. It turned out to be remarkably accurate.

Mary had her own journey to make to reach the boat which included dropping her car in Market Drayton and then being on a bus that broke down, followed by another bus that got caught in a mega traffic jam, so she was relieved to finally reach Penkridge and join me in the pub for a late supper!

The next day I set off with human crew! Just as well, as I wanted to get all the way through to Wolverhampton and turn onto the Shropshire Union Canal before stopping for the day, as I much prefer to moor in the countryside than in town. Mary and Bonny did really well as we cruised non stop for six and a half hours, finally stopping between bridges 7 and 8 on the Shroppie. This is a wonderful mooring. A voluntary group - The Shropshire Union Canal Society - go around installing mooring rings in lovely rural locations on this canal, unheard of on our stretch of the Trent and Mersey. So we had a secure mooring in lovely countryside, with fantastic walks for Bonny through ancient woodland and farmland.

To be continued...