That's plastic.....

......Oh no it's not, more on that later.

Yesterday was a case of batten down the hatches and stay put, my mooring at Shebdon was on the top of an embankment twice the height of the nearby farmhouses and the wind coming across the fields below meant no travel possible and it rained on and off all day.

This morning I cast off around 10am, I had a fairly long day ahead to reach my intended destination.

Passing Premier foods small wharf, Cadbury used to own this bringing milk from the local farms for processing.

Crossing open fields with distant views of The Wrekin, in East Shropshire.

On past the village of Little Soudley.

To Goldstone Wharf where the Wharf Tavern sits but does not seem to want boats mooring while the tiller men slake their thirsts.

And then into Woodseaves cutting, running for about a mile and a half, this caused Telford problems while building the canal and is in places almost 100 feet deep, bits of sandstone still dislodge themselves and cause problems to boaters as the canal is narrow enough through here without finding a great slab of sandstone sticking out of the water, of course half way through this cutting the only other boat I saw on the move today appeared, that is him in the far distance in the first picture, but he was a real gent and not only did he slow to a stop but he hopped off his boat to hold it against the bank to allow me to pass, as the rocks below and along the water’s edge were all on my side.

This bridge gives you a perspective of the height through here.

Stopping at Tyrley Grange services to do the usual fill and empty, there was a Canal and River Trust workboat with a lock gate on board ready to be fitted into one of the Tyrley locks, there are 5 in the flight, during the closure programme commencing 4^th Jan.