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.

The Old Stables  alongside lock no 1 has  its own information board.

 Further along after the lock flight I saw this chap and thought I’d snap a picture.

as I got closer I noticed the Kingfisher and assumed it was plastic, I took another snap zooming in a bit and realised it was real

but before I could get another it took off and dived in, coming up with a small fish, he was far too quick for me to get another shot in.

I have moored at Market Drayton as I am in need of supplies but will probably move on tomorrow just to get away from the town for Christmas day.

Tonights Mooring

Total today: 8 miles : 5 Locks

Not like Gnu.....

.... it’s Gnosall, pronounced No-zull.

I moved away from Wheaton Aston on Friday, another stretch of lock free canal ahead and as you travel along you can see just how much work went into altering the landscape in forming the embankments and cuttings to keep the canal level and eliminate the need for locks.

Open meadows and farmland with straight sections of canal passing through them until you reach this house just before High Onn

it made me think what it would be like snow covered, you wander outside slip on the snow and then slide/roll down the stepped garden and land in the canal, what fun.

Passing Lord Talbot’s Wharf

It would seem there is an ‘R’ Us for just about everything these days.

From embankment to cutting the journey continues

This project needs some effort and a new licence, it expired two months ago.

until you reach Cowley Tunnel

Still can't get my flash to work in tunnels.

 a short one at just 81 yards, it is unlined and the only tunnel on the Shropshire canal, the view as you leave the tunnel gives a nice sense of the work put in to complete it.

Shortly after the tunnel I arrived at the Gnosall visitor moorings stopping and mooring between bridges 34 and 35 which also puts me between two pubs, The Boat at bridge 34 and The Navigation at bridge 35.

The Boat

The Navigation

On Saturday I took a walk in Gnosall itself to get some provisions and have a look around, another beautiful church St. Lawrence’s

I liked this rather lovely old property.

And of course another pub

There are four pubs in the immediate area but a chap I spoke to at my moorings told me there used to be twelve, that would have made an admirable pub crawl.

Having stayed Saturday and watched the final of Strictly Come Dancing I set off yesterday and continued passing through more embankments and cuttings passing this Stop Gate, which appeared as if it could be put to use if necessary, effectively closing the canal if there were a breach somewhere close.

Into Norbury Junction.

It is no longer a junction as such, with the Newport Canal branch no longer navigable, but the initial section is being used for linear moorings.

Branch now just used for moorings

Passing through more beautiful countryside.

And then beneath bridge 39, I have seen many pictures of this unusual bridge with its stumpy, no longer in use, telephone pole built in the gap, on various blogs over the years and it seemed odd to suddenly find it facing me.

The weather took a turn for the worse as I passed bridge 43 with the wind building and rain coming down, it was so windy crossing the open area here I had to struggle a bit to keep the boat heading forward and away from the moored craft.

I decided to call it a day as I reached Shebdon and found a nice fairly quiet section of mooring to spend a night or two.

Last nights mooring.

Total Travel : 12 miles 

So it’s Year 2 for me.

Before posting my 12 months on post last night I had a nightmare with the laptop and thought it would be necessary to buy a new one, but I resolved it in the end, I am posting the details in case it helps anyone else.

It’s a Lenovo G500 and it was frozen on the Splash Screen (black background with’ Lenovo’), thats the initial screen before it boots up. I looked at the Lenovo forums and the ‘experts’ views, they all said roughly the same thing, unplug everything, do a powerflee (press and hold the power button for 30 secs 3 or 4 times) then reboot pressing the fn key and f2 (some said f9, some f10), if that didn’t work take it to a service centre, it didn’t work. I looked at 20 or so pages and tried their soloution several times. In the end on a non-Lenovo site someone mentioned removing the hard drive and see what happens, so I did, it said ‘media not found’, I ignored that and tried a reboot pressing fn and f2 to get into the Bios, that worked, hurrah, pressed fn and f9 to reset the Bios, pressed fn and f10 to save, shut down, refixed hard drive, all working, 1st boot up took about 15mins though, but as a bonus it is now booting quicker than before, so I must have somehow got a corrupted Bios.

Ok so back to boating matters, I woke the morning with a spring in my step, amazed I was into year two, the weather was dry so at 10am I cast off, what a lovely day, dull but not cold, no wind, no rain and it’s mid December!

I cruised until 2:30pm mooring at Wheaton Aston on the Shropshire Union canal, I did not see any other boats moving at all, I took loads of pictures but here are some of the better ones!

Leaving my mooring behind and passing the Fox and Anchor which looked a very nice pub with a nice resturant, I should imagine it gets very busy especially in the summer, there was mooring all along the front and plenty of outside seating.

Just another unique boat

I next ran into a small fishing contest with only 5 anglers, they said because Otherton lock had been closed it had been very quiet and were a bit miffed to hear the lock was now open, but they all spoke and were friendly.

I then passed benath the M54 for the 1st time today.

Shortly after the motorway appear the narrows known as Pendeford Rockin' evidently it was what the old boatmen called it, and it is where Brindley's navvies hit a solid belt of sandstone, so they kept it narrow with a couple of passing places, like you would find on a single track road.

The view on approach, it's about 1/2 mile and you can't see the end
which is why you need passing places.

One of the passing places

Passing beneath a road bridge you can see the solid stone clearly.

Almost out!

Having safely negotiated that the next thing was Autherley Junction, the turn into the 'Shroppie' cuts back a bit so it takes a bit of boat control to get round and I was happy to do it without incident.

Immediately after the Junction bridge is a 'stop lock', you find these locks at changes of waterways, generally quite shallow, this one was just 6 inches, the idea is to protect the different canals water supplies, as I am going down the 'Shroppie' it prevents that from stealing all the water from the Staffs and Worcs canal.

Entering the stop lock, ahead are all the Napton Narrowboats hire boats.

Bridge 3 another good example of a 'turnover bridge', this allowed the horses to change sides where the towpath changed without untying the boat.

Passing Wolverhampton Boat club and below the footbridge was a now dilapidated gate intended to close the canal if necessary.

I just liked the name

I have looped around now so pass beneath the M54 again.

Avenue Bridge (10) was lovely, it leads to Chillington Hall and the owner would have made the canal owners erect a bridge he thought befitting of his estate if they wanted to pass through his land. My pictures don't do it justice, it swept around majestically with ornate balustrading atop.

Approaching

And looking back.

Next came Brewood with it's church spire standing out, it was very busy, probably because of the popular pub nearby, the Bridge Inn, so I didn't stop here.

Another couple of very different but interesting boats.

I bet the owner is more friendly than the flag suggests.

The owner said this dinky one was about to get a facelift.

The Stretton Aqueduct passing over the A5 which covers about 180miles from London to Holyhead, I wonder how many times I have past over or under this road.

Okay so yesterday I mentioned Kingfishers, this one teased me flitting ahead of the boat every time I got close, not the best picture I grant you, but after 5 attempts it's the best I was able to get!

My second and last lock of the day Wheaton Aston Lock, 7ft deep.

I was then happy to see Sue and Vic's boat (N.b. No Problem ) no sign of them but hopefully I will bump into them, Sue's blog is probably the most informative blog I've seen, the effort she has put into it with links and information is amazing, take a look, just click on the No Problem link in the brackets.

No Problem.

 Tonights mooring.







Wow a long post, but it was a long cruise, by my standards.

Totals today 10.5 miles : 2 locks

12 months on

I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain

I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end

I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend

But I always thought that I’d see you again.

{James Taylor}
But I prefer Willie Nelson singing it !

I have just realised it’s been a year since I set off on this voyage of discovery, so a double post today.

I have enjoyed it all, the good, the bad and the indifferent.

Meeting new people, sometimes very briefly, sometimes to become friends albeit only occasionally seeing each other again.

I have been impressed by the sense of belonging to a welcoming community and I no longer judge people by their appearance, people I would have walked past in the street without a word I now find the time to at least say hello to and often far more. I have been surprised at the willingness of most people to help others, whether just giving advice or more practical help.

Obviously theft occurs here on the canal in the same way it does anywhere else, I have been lucky so far, only losing a couple of bags of smokeless fuel, but just last week I heard about three boats broken into fairly close to where I am now, I think it happens more to the residential boats that are left unattended for long periods but not only them, earlier in the year I was told of a boat broken into when the owners went shopping, but it is no worse than elsewhere in general.

It’s been a steep learning curve and I’m still learning, I doubt I will ever consider myself a fully fledged ‘boater’ but I do think I am far more able now and far less nervous of what may lie ahead.

I have made some improvements to Quinquireme although there is still much to do, that will never change, living on a narrowboat is an ongoing project.

I have seen some beautiful countryside, visited some lovely towns and villages, passed through hundred of locks and bridges and seen some of the best of what nature offers with kingfishers and huge fish outside my windows.

At times I have been very cold and wet on deck, and very warm and cosy in the cabin, I have sat in the sunshine and watched the world pass by as I sip a cold beer, I have walked miles both for pleasure and sometimes out of necessity, I have yet to ask myself “what the hell are you doing living this way”.

It’s difficult to think of anything that I don’t like about the lifestyle, the major thing is missing my family, but when I can and do visit, it makes those moments more special, I have been blessed this year with the birth of my first grandchild Hazel and the wedding of my son Adam to Natalie which I was able to attend.

Here is a partial map of the network showing what I've covered this first year in yellow, starting on the Basingstoke canal at Odiham and finishing where I am today at Coven on the Staffordshire and Worcester canal.

So I move into year two with the same approach as I did for year one, go where it takes you, take your time, enjoy it, be careful, smile when it’s good, try to smile when it’s not so good.