Blog moved

Because of the problems with using this Google provided service I have moved the blog to www.nbdensie.blog.com.

See you there!!

Apologies

Apologies for the absence of a blog. Blogspot is still messed up.

5 hours to Stone

Long horned cattle

First job in the morning was to pop round to the Great Haywood Farm Shop. We always stop here when we are passing through as they sell good pies, bread, local cheese, and many other delights. Also visited the chandlery at Anglo Welsh. Its mainly a hire boat centre but it as they are an Isuzu dealer its useful for bits and pieces. This time we needed spare fanbelts as we have had both replaced in the past year.

On the move again by 10:15. Today the weather was a great improvement on yesterday, blue skies although somewhat cool and breezy. Our journey took us up the Trent valley through isolated but attractive countryside to Weston on Trent (the one in Staffs) where we stopped for lunch. Just a quick stop as we knew that it would take us about 3 hours to get to our planned mooring at Stone.

After Weston the views and rural landscape continued much the same. The main railway runs alongside the canal for much of the stretch as does the A51, both taking advantage of the gentle rising slope of the Trent valley. Neither spoilt the overall quiet of this pleasant canal. We eventually reached Stone on time at 16:00.

Sorry about the state of this blog page. Google have messed up the facility to publish a blog.

Setting off on our summer trip

After 6 weeks at home we are out again. Our plan is to head north up the Trent & Mersey Canal and take the Anderton Boat Lift down to the River Weaver where we will spend a few days. After then - who knows?

We left our marina at 9:15, passed through Armitage (where Armitage-Shanks comes from!) and Rugeley. The weather turned for the worse with heavy rain and strong wind. So we stopped a couple of hours for lunch, setting off again when the weather cleared at 2:00. We have moored up at Great Heywood junction.

Fradley Junction - nearly home

Wood Anemones in Hopwas Woods

On the canal through the woods

Our last full day on this trip, and so the last blog entry until we set off again around mid May.

Reasonable weather for what was one of our longer travelling days this trip. Set off at 10 stopped for lunch at Huddlesford Junction and then on to moor at Fradley Junction where the Coventry Canal joins the Trent & Mersey. A total of just over 8 miles. Parts of this stretch are attractive, particularly as the canal goes by Hopwas Woods.

We will be eating in the Swan tonight with friends.

Tomorrow its a short journey to our marina and so we should be back home by the afternoon. And then there's the lawn to mow....

A short cruise to Hopwas

The morning looked pretty grim to start off. Heavy mist and generally chilly and damp. At about 10:30 it improved greatly and it has now turned into a very pleasant day.

We left our mooring near Fazeley Junction at 10:45, filled up with water at the nearby BW facilities which also, unusually, have recycle bins for paper, bottles etc. Then westwards in inceasingly warm sunshine along what is temporarily the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal for a couple of miles to our next moorings at the small village of Hopwas, where we had stayed on the outward journey.

After lunch, we had a short walk to post my latest Open University assignment and then strolled through Hopwas woods which looked wonderful carpeted in wood anemones. There were a very large number of bluebell leaves showing so the woods should look spectacular in a few weeks time. Hopwas woods are also used as an army firing range, but today there were no red flags to be seen.

Then back to the boat via the Tame Otter pub where we enjoyed a quick half pint.

Tamworth and Fazeley Junction

Alvecote Priory near Tamworth

Renovated old working boats at Alvecote

We now feel very much on our way home. There is less of interest from here on, and is part of the canal system we know very well so the Blog entry is rather limited.

We did remember to reset our clocks but that did not prevent a late breakfast this morning. The weather was rather cold so we didnt start moving until nearly 11am. We had lunch in Polesworth and after a 90min break set off again. After going down the 2 Glascote locks we have moored just before Fazeley Junction on the outskirts of Tamworth.