Overwinter Cruise Week 13

Sunday 21st January - Great Haywood

A day of snow, sleet and rain!








Spent a quiet day on the boat, Toby wasn't interested in going for any walks, and the towpath was one continuous puddle!

Monday 22nd January - Great Haywood to St Thomas' Bridge 101

Today the weather improved and we decided to move the boat a little way along the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal.  We put water on at the boatyard and then turned the boat off the Trent and Mersey Canal and headed for Stafford.

We moored up at St Thomas' Bridge where there is a footpath along the River Sow all the way into Stafford.







Unfortunately the River had flooded and the footpath was under water!









However, we crossed the river on a new bridge and walked along a road into Stafford and had an enjoyable look around the town.



Tuesday 23rd January -  St Thomas' Bridge 101 to Deptmore Lock

Moving on again today, this time to Deptmore Lock where there is a good mooring with excellent WiFi and TV signals.

The flooding made me feel as though we were beside the sea, it was so extensive!

An ingenious way to keep the back doors closed whilst cruising - keeping the cold air and rain out, the warm air in.  A gift from a canal trader.








Once we moored up, we spent an hour cleaning the stern and living area, to get rid of the mud that had silently accumulated over the past two weeks!

Spent a quiet evening on the boat, but another disturbed night with Storm Georgina blowing a gale through the early hours of the morning!

Wednesday 24th January - Deptmore Lock

The morning was very wet and dismal, but later in the afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came out.

We took a walk along the canal to Acton Trussell, through the village and back along the canal.  The village is very attractive with some lovely established houses.

With the M6 literally a stones throw away, the noise is amazing, but I guess if you have lived with it for many years you tend not to notice it.  Not for me though!

Is it too early for ducks to begin pairing up for the mating season? These certainly seem to be choosing their ideal spot!

For some reason it was a huge step up onto the stern of the boat, an enormous relief that I made it without stepping back into the canal!











Thursday 25th January - Deptmore Lock to Penkridge

A short cruise to Penkridge calling in at Bourne Boatbuilders for water, diesel and a visit to Midland Chandlery.

Toby keeping a beady eye out so we don't go the wrong way!

We moored up between Penkridge and Filance Lock ready to go through Filance Lock once it opens after the winter works.

Friday 26th January - Penkridge

We walked up past Filance Lock, the work had been finished but they were waiting on the contractors to come and remove their equipment and reopen the lock.  Probably sometime on Saturday, they thought.  No worries for us as we are staying until Sunday as we are invited to a naming ceremony on Saturday.

Our walk took us along a disused railway line and then along the canal, beautiful weather - blue skies always make me feel so much better!

On the way back through Penkridge we found Penkridge Gaol, built in the early 19th century, the Old Gaol was the village lock-up and stands on Bellbrook. The building was carefully restored by Penkridge Civic Society in the late 1990s and opened as Penkridge Heritage Centre on 31 July 2000.








Saturday 27th January - Penkridge

Today we took a taxi out to Pattingham Village Hall for the naming ceremony for Lindsay and Bob's baby girls, Ffion and Matilda.  A lovely afternoon with a delicious afternoon tea following the ceremony.

This is the end of Week 13, Filance Lock is reopened and we shall continue on our way next week.  A mixed bag as far as weather is concerned, snow, rain and sunshine, and a huge amount of mud.  However, the days are getting longer and there are tentative signs of spring, so all is good!

Map Key   Week 1 - Brown   Week 2 -  Purple   Week 3 - Dark Blue   Week 4 - Light Blue
                   Week 5 - Green    Week 6 - Olive Green   Week 7 - Yellow  Week 8 - Orange  
                   Week 9 - Pink      Week 10 - Dark Pink     Week 11 - Dark Brown  Week 12 - Light Purple                                  Week 13 - Indigo 

Overwinter Cruise - Week 12

Sunday 14th January - Great Haywood

Today we stayed at Great Haywood and did the Bluebell Walk the other way round - along the towpath to Little Haywood, through the Bluebell Wood and back through the Shugborough Estate.  The river was back to normal levels and we were able to follow the path completely without deviating because of flooding.  We walked around the house which is looking a little sad from the outside, but has recently been taken over by the National Trust and there is lots of evidence of work being done on the parkland.

Monday 15th January - Great Haywood

A very wet and dreary day enhanced by beautiful rainbows over the junction.

I walked Toby along the canal towpath and managed to slip over in the mud on the way back - everything in the washing machine including Toby's coat!





Tuesday 16th January - Great Haywood to Handsacre

We have made a move today, as the weather has improved and we fancied a change of scene.  We took the boat to Rugeley and moored up beside the Tesco and did an essentials shop before putting on water at the Ash Tree and then carrying on to Handsacre.  We winded the boat and moored up by the winding hole.  

We treated ourselves to a meal in the Olde Peculiar as it is one of our favourite pubs and very good it was too!  The night was disturbed by heavy rain and hail so didn't sleep very well.

Wednesday 17th January - Handsacre to Wolseley Bridge

We are beginning our journey back to Great Haywood, but in the village of Handsacre 
is a very pleasant looking bungalow for sale with canalside mooring for your boat.  How handy would that be?









We moored up at Wolseley Bridge so we could visit the craft centre and the Wolseley Centre.  I found some lovely chunky wool to make a throw out of and then we walked around the Wolseley Centre, run by the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.  Lovely walks through 26 acres of land beside the River Trent.

We spotted our first snowdrops of the season...

paddled through the splash bridge...














and wobbled along the play trail, clutching my wool!









Another disturbed night with very strong winds that sounded very scary, but fortunately didn't do us any damage, although it did bring trees down across the canal in other areas.

Thursday 18th January - Wolseley Bridge

We are staying another day here, and decided to explore the Wolseley Estate and Cannock Chase.  In the end we opted against Cannock Chase because of the Alabama Rot which affects dogs and has killed several dogs in the last few weeks.







Wolseley Estate was very pleasant, wide open spaces and lovely views especially with the blue skies...

but not the most friendly of places!  Fortunately for us Toby is as good on the lead as he is off it so he enjoyed his walk as much as we did!

A beautiful oak tree standing proud in the middle of the field!










After a hot drink in the local pub we returned to the boat, washed Toby's paws, a precaution against Alabama Rot, and spent the rest of the day quietly on the boat.

Friday 19th January - Wolseley Bridge to Great Haywood

Today we made the short journey, 2 miles and 2 locks, back to Great Haywood.  The farm at Colwich was bringing the cows in, they cross the bridge over the canal but we just missed them.







We were lucky enough to moor up back in our favourite spot with good TV signals and we spent the afternoon exploring the National Trust walks in the area.


Saturday 20th January - Great Haywood 






The weather today has deteriorated, cold and wet sleet and snow.  We decided to go out for a walk and set off along the Staffs and Worc canal as far as Tixall Lock. 














Then we turned right and headed for the village of Tixall.  This obelisk stands at the crossroads and we turned right again and headed for the Gatehouse.

The Gatehouse is all that remains of the 400 year old Tixall Estate.   It is now owned by Landmark Trust and you can rent the property and stay in it, friends of ours have done this and enjoyed a glass of champagne on the rooftop!

When the canal was being built, permission was granted for the canal to pass through the owners land so long as it was made wide enough to look like a lake from the house.  Hence Tixall Wide today!

Ella moored up by the junction, photo taken from the road bridge.










This is the end of our second week back on the boat, mixed weather and not much cruising, but next week we continue back towards Penkridge and explore the whole of the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal.

Map Key   Week 1 - Brown   Week 2 -  Purple   Week 3 - Dark Blue   Week 4 - Light Blue
                   Week 5 - Green    Week 6 - Olive Green   Week 7 - Yellow  Week 8 - Orange  
                   Week 9 - Pink      Week 10 - Dark Pink     Week 11 - Dark Brown  Week 12 - Light Purple

Overwinter Cruise Week 11

Sunday 17th December - Great Haywood

Today we have stayed at Great Haywood as it was still pretty frozen and cold.

Monday 18th December - Great Haywood to Bourne Boatyard, Penkridge







A hazy day with the sun just poking over the hedgerows.









By about mid morning we decided to move the boat down to the boatyard next door to Midland Chandlery.   The canal was defrosted around the junction and we looked forward to a gentle cruise.

The Gatehouse at Tixall Wide could just be made out in the mist, and from then onwards the canal seemed to freeze over again and we were needing to edge our way through a narrow channel cut by previous boats.







We passed a couple of boats, waiting patiently for us to exit the channel so they could proceed towards Great Haywood.  The journey took longer than we anticipated but we eventually arrived at the boatyard and moored up. 

Tuesday 19th December - Penkridge

Sunrise over the boatyard.












Laura and Amy came to collect us mid morning and we left the boat with Wayne and Daniel to work on over the Christmas/New Year period.  

Wednesday 10th January 2018 - Penkridge

Today we returned to Ella for the second part of our Overwinter Cruise.  A little later than we originally intended as I was struck down by a very nasty bout of flu and not fit enough to get out of bed let alone steer a boat!!! 

We spent the time on the boat unpacking and organising the boat for when we set off tomorrow.

Thursday 11th January 2018 - Penkridge to Deptmore Lock

Before we set off we paid a visit to Midland Chandlery next door and bought a few items for the boat - a collapsible bowl to wash Toby's paws and tummy in after a muddy walk - honestly!!

We then put on water and diesel before descending back down the lock and heading towards Great Haywood.






Our original plan of heading through Penkridge has been scuppered as the two locks have been closed for winter works and won't reopen until 26th January.

We made our way through Deptmore Lock and found a wide open stretch of canal just below the lock, a clear TV signal and a very quiet and pleasant mooring for the night.

Friday 12th January 2018 - Deptmore Lock to Great Haywood

Today we are going to Great Haywood.  Dave did the majority of the steering and I stayed below, doing bits and pieces.  

A lovely example of a grey heron strutting through the adjacent field.











We have brought the bread maker onto the boat and I wanted to try it out.  All worked splendidly until it began to bake the bread and it must have tripped the electric sockets as by the time we moored up the sockets were dead.  Dave flipped the trip switch back and all was good and the bread finished off baking in the oven.

We moored up just past the junction at Great Haywood heading towards Rugeley, although it was fairly busy there was just enough space for Ella and we slotted in with no fuss and tied up for the night.

Saturday 13th January 2018 - Great Haywood

A quiet day, with my first lengthy walk since being poorly.  We walked along the canal. into the Shugborough Estate, around the outside of the Mansion and back to the canal over The Essex Bridge.


Map Key   Week 1 - Brown   Week 2 -  Purple   Week 3 - Dark Blue   Week 4 - Light Blue
                   Week 5 - Green    Week 6 - Olive Green   Week 7 - Yellow  Week 8 - Orange  
                   Week 9 - Pink      Week 10 - Dark Pink     Week 11 - Dark Brown