On to Gnosall Heath with a silent G

This morning we broke our mooring and set of to " Nosall" with no locks to operate today, the canal it's self is mostly open with views across the fields but it does venture through a couple of steep cutting, where one wonders about how hard the navvies had to work to dig out the canal when it was been built, in one of these tree lined cutting we stopped and gathered some free wood, which we can use in the future when it gets colder, and moored up in Gnosall Heath for the night, put our Sunday dinner on and had a lazy Sunday afternoon.

See ya

No movement today

Today we decided to stay put in Wheaton Aston as tonight we are going to meet our friends for something to eat and a drink. The weather was fine to day a little bit cloudy but the temperature has definitely dropped.we had a walk around Wheaton Aston to visit the shops for a few provisions, it's a pretty village again, though no thatched houses here, as in 1777 there was a great fire which devastated the village,and since then,even though they produced the best wheat in the area hence the name of the villages another roof was never thatched.

In the evening we met up again with Mike,Kim and Nathan in "the Hartley arms " and had a great meal, drink and a chat. The meal at this establishment was particular good and again I would definitely recommend stopping here in this pleasant pub.

Our friends went of home and we went back to the boat and bed, see ya

 

Leaving "The Brood"

Today the weather is stinking, its pouring down with rain its a shock after the last few weeks of lovey sunshine weather, but we must break our mooring as we were only  permitted to stay in Brewood for 48 hrs but we also desperate  for a pump out.

We only moved on to the next village Wheaton Aston which fortunately had a pump out station, which was Canal and River Trust self pump out station which was a first for us but posed no problems.

We then moored up and baton down the hatches to sit out the rain, which stopped  in the early evening. We decided not to go out tonight so it a telly night and early to bed.

Wheaton Aston  is also one of the few places in the country where the very pretty but very rare Snake’s Head Fritillary, known locally as Folfallarum, grows wild with the village also being the most northerly place it grows. When the plant grew prolifically, it became an annual event for the villagers to pick the flowers on the first Sunday in May. Now the flower grows undisturbed in Mottey Meadows which is in the care of English Nature.

Not moving

Today we decided to stay in Brewood and give the inside of the boat a clean, which we did , then did a bit of shopping in the village, then went back to the boat to make the most of the sun, as tomorrow rain is predicted :(

Just our luck , the waste tank is full , so crossed legs for us tonight.

Up the Shroppie

Woke up  to a beautiful day on the canal, started talking to our neighbours who had moored up by us last night, when I realised  that I knew the woman as she was a barmaid from the  Cardiff Blues club who was up here. For a weeks holiday, so  we had a good natter before we both went our separate way on our own journeys.

We carried on up river with the sound of Banjos plucking in the air dee,dee,dee,deeeee  it looked like Deliverance country 😃

Only joking , we caried on to Adersley junction the entrance to Birmingham Canal, and then onto Autherley junction which was our turn off point for the Shropshire Union Canal, we went through lock one and stopped to take on water and get rid of some rubbish, we set off and noticed this heron sitting inboard this narrowboat

We carried on up the Shroppie on our way to Brewood which will be our mooring point for tonight, the locals call it "Brood", the canal now is much wider than the Staffordshire and Worcesteshire, and seems more airy and open with views across the fields. We went under this very ornamental bridge which was built because the local landowner from Chillington Hall would only permit the trade route to cross his land if it was suitably disguised.

We moored up at Brewood  which is a pretty village , we had a wander around and of course a quick shandy before going back to the boat for a sit it he sun and a read.

About 5. 30 Mike,Kim and their son Nathan turned up , it was great to see them all as its been a long time since we saw all of  them together. we showed them around the boat and then went to the Bridge pub to have something to eat, which if you are ever up this way I would recommend. 

We had a few hours chatting and they had to go home as it was a school night, hopefully we will see them on Friday or Saturday again.

See ya

The Bratch

Hi, we left our mooring this morning and went through one lock  which Denise shows off below

It's actually called Bumblehole lock, we then went onwards to the Bratch which is a flight of locks which on looking at them look curiously illogical with an impossibly short pound between the bottom and top gate, but its secret is the hidden side ponds behind the hedges and the culverts which connect to the locks.

We then carried on the canal twisting and turning through steep  wooded sides, and then open fields and on to little villages with well kept gardens .

 We then passed Whightwick pronounced Wittick   and on to Compton where we met up with Mike an old friend who we met on a Mexico holiday years ago, he stayed for coffee and a chat and we hope to see him tomorrow with his wife and boy. 

 We were going to move on but we noticed a chippie on the road near to where we moored so we stayed the night, and had fish N chips we ate  to many chips again......

 

One of those days

Today we left our mooring, and had a small little cruise up to a village which has now become a suburb  called Wombourne and moored up outside of a pub called the Round Oak , though we didn't use it although tempted.

We moored early because our washing machine isn't working, firstly the water was just pouring from the soap dispenser draw, so after dragging out the washing machine from it home in a cupboard, I checked the sump to make sure no coins or the likes were jammed in it, which their wasn't , but found the culprit which was the washing powder had formed solid in the inlet pipe, sorted this ,but it looks like the PCB had got wet and is now not working , hopefully it will dry up, and start working finger crossed.

So tomorrow we hope to travel a little bit further, we were contacted by one of our old friends Mike and Kim who live up this way so hopefully will meet up for a coffee in the next few days.