First thing after breakfast I was out and washing off the Feratan that I had put on the sanded bit of the st'bd side I had done previously. As soon as it was rubbed clean and dry I was slapping on the primer. It was so warm that I managed to get a second coat on too. Whilst I was doing this a gentleman came up to me and asked if there was a rally here at Bratch this weekend. I had seen a poster in a boat window about a rally, but I didn't know when it was (Bank Holiday weekend it seems). This chap lived next door to the moorings and it seems that the gates had been lifted off and dumped next to the gateway. The lock had been left intact! He was worried that it may have been travellers, but we hadn't heard anything. Later the Police were there. I got some other bits done and was ready for off about 11:00. A boat had just started up the flight so Helen went over to ask the keepers if we could follow them up. The answer was yes and we set off up the locks.
There were quite a few older people at the locks having a constitutional but no ice cream van! It is a very photogenic flight.
They may look like a staircase, but they aren't. Here in the bottom lock the red paddles above let the water out of the middle lock into the side pound. The blue paddles let the water into the bottom lock from the side pound and the middle lock
Here we are in the middle lock and the same is true. The Octagonal toll house is always interesting, be it at Stewpony, Smethick Locks or disappeared from the toll bars on the rest of the BCN.
Wightwick Manor just peaks out from among the trees, and is well worth a visit, but not time today
We passed the Jam Butty once again. The last time was at Whittington. Whilst I was waiting for Helen to ready Compton two gentlemen passed and said you are stopping in a very important spot. I guessed they were referring to the fact that theCompton Lock was the first built on the Staffs. and Worcs. Cana, and not only that but the first narrow lock ever constructed by James Brindley, the engineer in charge. We went on to have a nice chat about canals etc.
I love this bridge, and it looks so good in the sun. It is an old GWR bridge that was built for the old Wombourne branch railway, but now acts as a cycle and pedestrian way.
The trees make a lovely break break from the sun as they give that dappled shade. The water was quite clear and it was nice to watch the small fish scud about in the sun. The Mobil sign makes a basin that is/was used by the Girlguides of the area.
We approached Aldersley Junction with the Wolverhampton 21 heading off to the right. The remains of a stables at tow path level and a further three storeys of rooms of a lodging house for boaters and their families can be seen at the junction. The toll house and lock keepers house are no longer there to the extreme right of this photo.
This junction was so very busy that in it hey day boats could be waiting up to three days to ascend the flight as the traffic in both directions was so heavy.
Very soon you are at Autherley Junction. The water here is crystal clear as it is constantly been replenished from the large water treatment works by the junction. Where the water streams out of the works, almost opposite Oxley Marine, there was a short arm that served the waterworks with coal, sand etc. I think that these iconic finger post on the canal should be regularly painted up as they must figure on everybody's photos that travel this way.
These poplar trees are extremely tall and mask the playing field of the local high school. I think they would cause havoc if they came down in a gale. The area is quite flat so they must do a great job of cutting the wind down in the winter. I could have done with a bit of a breeze today.
Not the best photo but it is supposed to show one of the 'passing places' in the 'Pendeford Rockin' where the width of the cutting is down to one boat width. The rock was too hard for the technology and so the minimum delay was caused to completion by reducing the width but creating the odd place to pass.
I reckon that studies would find that the cutting has its own micro climate, and I wouldn't be surprised if they found some species of plants and animals that exist nowhere else, as it always appears other worldly, no matter the time of year, to me.
This has been a grand day. The weather has been hot, like being on holiday in Greece. Languid is the world, everybody and everything seems to be going at half speed. The heat lays heavy on the land, sound is subdued, and limbs seem heavy, but not in a bad way. It makes me feel that to relax and soak it up is the only thing to do. We moored up before the Anchor Inn, and after getting a change of clothes we were off. Nice pub but once again they only had Doom Bar on so quickly lost interest. The pub used to be called the Fox and Anchor, but interestingly in 1890's it was the Anchor, so where did the fox come in? The length of car park after the pub is where the Cross Green wharf was.
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