The Repaint Cruise - Summer 2026

 Monday 20th July - Brewood to Gnosall

This week will see us arriving at Overwater Marina and leaving Ella there for her transformation.  So we are enjoying a gentle, stress free cruise along the Shropshire Union Canal.

This is just outside Brewood, we used to moor here many years ago and this Christmas tree was only tiny.  It’s great to see it doing so well, even producing fir cones at the top of the tree.

These are non-residential moorings at Little Onn, they look quite new, and not being used at the moment.  We were quite interested in a mooring here when we lived in Market Drayton.

Cowley Tunnel as you come into Gnosall Heath, only short with a towpath on the side, once through the tunnel we moored up and walked up to the Navigation Inn where we met friends Anne and Steve who drove over from Perton.

The tunnel is quite beautiful, the unlined rock makes for some lovely patterns.  It was originally planned (by Telford) that it would be much longer, but conditions meant that it was more cost effective for most of this length to be a cutting, with just this final stretch actually being bored through the rock.

7.75 miles, 1 lock, 3hrs 42mins 

Tuesday 21st July - Gnosall to Norbury Junction

A short hop today to moor at Norbury Junction as it is a favourite of ours.  

We passed this little yacht moored up as we approached Norbury, I have never seen a yacht under sail on a canal but there’s always a fist time!

After our lunch we did our favourite walk back along the canal, under the canal and back down the other side.  This is the road bridge going under the canal, bends at each end so traffic is blind so lots of horns being used.

The BIFoR FACE (Birmingham Institute for Forest Research Free Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment) facility, located in a Staffordshire woodland, is one of the world’s largest climate change experiments.  Since 2016, it has been simulating the predicted 2050 atmosphere by pumping carbon dioxide (CO₂) around mature oak trees.  A fascinating project.  

Our return route took us past the Junction cafe and a welcome pot of tea and a slice of carrot cake.  We watched the day hire boats that had passed during the day return and moor up at the end of their day’s cruising.

2.5 miles, 0 locks, 1 tunnel, 1hr 6mins

Wednesday 22nd July - Norbury Junction to Market Drayton

As we prepared the boat for moving onto Market Drayton I spotted this heron sitting between the permanent moored boats clearly watching for his next catch.

A good cruise wth Dave doing most of the driving whilst I cleaned through the boat.  It was good to see Tyrley Wharf looking so neat and tidy with the same boat moored in front of the house.

Beautifully looked after tubs and hanging baskets outside one of the houses looking much neater than the last time we were here.

Leaving a lock coming through Tyrley locks, the bottom of the five locks is cut directly into and through the red sandstone bedrock. The approach to the lock is lined with tall mature trees so is gloomy and damp except when the sun manages to shine across in the afternoons.  Much of the canal is narrow and shallow through here.

Sid’s Place is adorned with a flowery hat and a fishing rod today, we have seen him in various different guises, but this one is quite pretty!

After we had moored up we walked into Market Drayton looking for a bakery but with no luck.  Most of the shops were already closed for the day at 3.30 and there were many empty shops, but we did call into The Red Lion where I had a glass of of my favourite craft lager, Green Monkey, straight from the barrel suspended from the roof!

11.25 miles, 5 locks, 4hrs 54mins

Thursday 23rd July - Market Drayton to Cox Bank

After a pleasant evening moored at Market Drayton we began to make our way through the town.  This is Talbot Wharf, where there used to be a thriving boatyard and chandlery, but today it looks very quiet and unloved.  When we lived here 11 years ago, we walked down to this wharf one Christmas evening with a very young Toby to see Father Christmas set out on his boat.

When we were looking for a property we viewed one of the apartments in this renovated mill, it wasn’t quite what we wanted at the time, but it was a fascinating place.

Outside of the town stands the remains of the bridge carrying The North Staffordshire Railway as it crossed the canal.  Whilst the NSR was a relatively small railway company it became affectionately known as “The Knotty”, due to the adoption of the Staffordshire Knot as its logo on both its rolling stock and staff uniforms. The headquarters for the company were founded at Stoke, in the heart of the smoky Potteries, with the NSR network spreading across North Staffordshire into the more scenic areas such as the valley of the River Churnet.

Betton Cutting near Market Drayton has always had a dark reputation among boating people, legend has it that a shrieking spectre has been seen and heard and older boating folk avoid stopping whilst travelling through here.

Five locks at Adderley, quite close together and very easy to work.  A short hop then to the top of the Audlem Locks.

At lock no 1 on the Audlem flight is a farm which has a table, fridge and freezer stacked full of edible goodies!  I discovered Cheshire Farm Ice cream, quite delicious especially the Honeycomb Ice cream.  We moored up for the night after lock 2 at Cox Bank and went for a walk down the locks into Audlem past all the heritage boats that had already arrived for the weekend.

5 miles, 7 locks, 3hrs 12mins

Friday 24th July - Cox Bank

Today we spent the day at Cox Bank watching the heritage boats arriving and descending the locks into Audlem.  This weekend is the Festival of Transport and heritage Boats Gathering.  Audlem is very busy with all the boats so we decided a mooring at the top of the locks would be much quieter.

Saturday 25th July - Cox Bank to Overwater Marina

Today we begin the final day of this cruise taking us down the locks, through Audlem and out to Overwater Marina.  This is looking back up the locks towards Cox Bank.  The pounds between the locks are reasonable to walk and we made good progress.  We were joined by 2 volunteer Lock keepers who helped us down the locks.  On our way we passed two other boats going up the locks, but otherwise it was pretty quiet.

Coming down lock 12, under the bridge and we start to see the heritage boats moored up.  All mooring from here has been allocated to the Gathering which will be fascinating to cruise through.

Our 2 volunteer lock keepers, Derek and Kevin, were brilliant today, very much appreciated their help.  Derek usually works the locks at Grindley Brook but as the locks are closed due to the breach on the Llangollen canal he has moved to help out at Audlem instead.

Audlem Mill is now closed, it used to be a lovely canal shop and craft centre.  It is supposed to be re-opening as a community space but not at the moment.  The top floor has been turned into holiday accommodation as an Airbnb.

Passing through the heritage boats moored alongside the MIll and the Shroppie Fly, threading my way through boats double breasted with just inches to spare.

Once through the locks we cruised on until Overwater Marina, moored on the service pontoon and checked in.  We were directed to a vacant mooring on Erodium and once we were tied up went back to the Cafe for some lunch.  This is the sign for Andy Russell who is going to do the work on Ella.  She is going to be hand painted all over by Andy, at Bourne’s she was spray painted and the sign writing was hand painted by Andy.

1.75 miles, 13 locks, 2hrs 54mins

Sunday 26th July - Overwater Marina

A leisurely day preparing the boat and visiting Audlem to watch the vintage car parade.  Unfortunately it was very windy, cold and rainy, but it was fun to see all the vintage cars, lorries and tractors.

On Monday, we leave the boat and return to Ventnor Marina by taxi, train and taxi to collect our own car and drive back to Worcester.  The repaint begins on 3rd August, lasts for 4 weeks and we shall return at the beginning of September to collect Ella in her shiny new livery and cruise her back to her new mooring at Nelson’s Wharf.