Friday 10th August 2007
Brewood - Adderley Wharf Bridge (24¾ miles, 6 locks)
Jen and I got up early and we set off towards Weaton Aston, crossing Stretton Aqueduct in the early morning sunshine. A short time later I spotted what I thought at first was an otter, but it appears that they are unlikely to be seen during daylight so it was probably a mink. There is a considerable wild population of North American mink which were set free from breeding farms by animal rights activists and are now a serious threat to the indigenous wild life. How many more poor defenceless small furry animals must die through the actions of these animal rights fundamentalists....?
At Weaton Aston, I gave in to the protests about the smell from our toilet, and used the BW pump-out facilities, even though our poo tank was only three-quarters full. We moored a few yards further on and then had breakfast sitting at a picnic table by the towpath. Lucy and Rosemary emerged from their slumbers. Robert had been up for sometime already and had helped with the lock.
By the time we reached Gnosall, there were plenty of boats on the move, all coming in the opposite direction and all trying to pass us in the narrow stretches where the trees are really overgrown on the non-towpath side. Jen and Lucy decided to walk for a while and got off with Tim and Tess, reaching Norton Junction 2¼ miles later. We filled the water tank and then reversed back to a free mooring space before having lunch at the café. Nice food spoilt by the people smoking on a table upwind of us. I suppose we should be grateful of the smoking ban indoors, but hope it is only a matter of time before it is banned in all public places.
The next few hours was lock-free, passing under the famous High Bridge with its old telegraph pole, not obvious against the dark background of trees in my photograph.
Approaching the old Cadbury Wharf, we told Lucy, Robert and Rosemary to try and guess from the aroma what goods were transported there, but on this occasion the wind was in the wrong direction and the smell from the sewage works nearby was overpowering. Then it was through the eerie gloom of Woodseaves Cutting, before reaching Tyrley Locks.
After the second lock of the flight, Tess found a gap in the hedge and disappeared into a corn field which she raced around at high speed for at least fifteen minutes before emerging exhausted.
I had fun trying to manoeuvre the boat as a group of first-timers on a Challenger hire-boat emerged from the lock and attempted to pass me on the wrong side. They were also clueless about how to operate the lock so I assume other boaters had done all the work for them on the previous two locks. Either Challenger didn't explain the basics to them or they were too thick to understand. Judging by the foul-mouthed language they used when communicating with each other, I tend to think it was the latter.
We stopped briefly at Market Drayton where Jen walked up to the supermarket for a few supplies. We no longer need to buy bread since we keep a Panasonic bread maker on the boat. Just throw in the ingredients and two hours later out pops a beautiful loaf with that fabulous fresh-baked aroma thrown in for free.
We had originally intended to moor half-way between Market Drayton and Adderley Locks but had problems finding a stretch that was deep enough to get in close to the towpath. In the end we stopped just before Adderley Wharf Bridge after rather a long day's travelling.
We hear plenty of stories of boats racing along trying to complete cruises round the Four Counties, Avon or Warwickshire Rings in a week, and we have certainly experienced boats passing us a high speed when we are moored. However, I prefer to cruise at between 2½ and 3 miles per hour and always slow to tick-over about 150 yards before reaching moored boats, even if this means getting up early or cruising late. It is easy to blame the hire-boats, but in my experience, there are more private boats that make no attempt to slow down. They say that they are not creating much of a wave, but that is not the problem. When a boat is moving, several tons of water get displaced at the front and several tons are being sucked back into the hole left behind the boat. It is this suction effect on moored boats that drags their mooring pins out of the ground, especially when the ground is soft after several months of rain. Here endeth today's lesson...