Canal Conundrums and Chemical Questions.

 We moored up ans went for a walk into Coven to stretch our legs and came back with a bag of chips to have with our tea. There was even some left for tomorrow's too.

We spotted this oak tree on our walk. I estimated it to be about 15' girth. I think the rule is roughly the girth of the tree at chest height in inches is the age in years. In this case that would be about 175 years. It is amazing that this tree has been here since Victoria was on the throne and Gladstone was the Primeminister.

I thought this maybe a wharf of old between a road and rail bridge at Slade Heath, but it doesn't seem to have been connected with the canal.

A little further on on the towpath was the concrete edge which had had some vertical steel girders at one time, but had been cropped off. It is right near  the railway once again so wondered if it was a rail/canal transfer place. However it looks like it was connected with the construction of the waterworks just the other side of the railway in the early 1960's. I think it may have been too late for coal to have been delivered but it could have brought construction equipment and materials.

I saw this stone next to a spill weir and I thought that it must have been where an old paddle had been for draining the pound but I noticed that it was angled where I would have expected it to be flat. I then thought I saw writing on it and then assumed it must be a mile post. That then made me realise that I had seen no mile posts on the canal at all! I then looked on old maps and can see none marked on them. Why would that be?

The canal winds across the plain and was many trees, but with gaps for views further afield.

We were soon at Hatherton Junction where the old Hatherton Branch joined the canal. This is due for restoration by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal Society. It would take you to the Cannock Extension Canal near to Pelsall Junction. It is then a short trip round a section of the Wyrley and Essington Canal to Brownhills where it would continue to Huddlesford Junction once restored. That would really increase the traffic round the top of Birmingham and maybe open up the Walsall and other BCN canals.

I thought we were on the Lancaster Canal for a short while as there were warning signs telling you not to stop under any circumstances. This is actually more draconian than the nuclear site on the Lancaster that I seem to remember tells you to move when you hear the siren. The chemical works seems to have originated after the WWI, the early 1920's, with a little factory. The site is now owned by SI Group which is short for Schenectady International. This is a business that was started in the town of the same name in New York State in 1906 making varnishes. Howard Wright was employed by the General Electric Co in the town to experiment which materials would make good insulation materials. This was in 1895 at the start of the electrical age and one of his contemporaries was Thomas Edison. When the boom for products came the in-house insulating varnish unit couldn't cope, so GE proposed that Wright set up a company to supply the varnish. Their products are now used for detergents, fuel and lubricant additives, polymers, resins, fragrances, thermoplastics, antioxidants and fire retardants.

The complex of buildings by Gailey Lock make a very pleasing scene, and with the wharf, chocka with hire boats today is also contemporary with the canal. Helen looks as tanned as the voluntary lock keeper, and he had been on holiday to Turkey.

The Rong House was a toll Clerks office, but this does not explain why round? There used to be a nice little 'canalalia' shop in the ground floor but this is now closed.

This railway bridge marks the area where there was a basin at the end of a tramway from the Cannock and Huntington Colliery. The pit was started in 1877 with 2 shafts, but when they got to 400' they started to flood and were abandoned. Lord Hatherton tried again in 1897. This time they managed the problem leaving No.1 shaft flooded, and managed to add a third shaft. They went through all the levels of coal on Cannock Chase seams and at the highest employed 2000 men. The railway bridge was added as a siding took over from the canal. The pit closed in 1993.

Here we are preparing a foam bath for 'Holderness'. The foam originates when the water has a dissolved organic compounds. This then reduces the surface tension of the water,and when this mix is subjected to aeration bubbles form. It can be natural of man made via pollution. Natural foam has an earthy or fishy smell and is off white becoming brownish. Man made pollution is usually fragrant or perfume like. This lot smelled like new washing.

As we approached Penkridge we came up to the Cross Keys that was still adorned with the M&B signage. I thought that this was from the old brewery that produced such beers as Brew 10 and Brew 11. Thankfully the standard of beer has moved on since then and Mitchell and Butlers have pulled out of brewing, but now they own over 1700 pubs, and this one must be one of them.

We got a heavy shower just as we were coming into the town, and decided to moor up before the first lock. After tea and cake, the rain cleared and we went to stretch our legs to see if the wool shop was open. It wasn't so we came back and put the aerial up for the TV tonight.