We left our very peaceful mooring this morning about 8:30 and were soon passing close to Coven and the ‘Fox and Anchor’ pub which featured so strongly in our walk yesterday! After that we passed under the thunderous M54 which marks the boundary between Staffordshire and the West Midlands. The next stretch of canal brings interest in the form of “Pendeford Rockin”, the old boatman’s name for a very narrow 1/2 mile cutting through solid sandstone.
It’s very narrow and Doug ran on ahead to warn other boats that we were coming through. It always seems that we’re going up hill on this section!
Our first view of the Shropshire Union Canal (the Shroppie) as we go through bridge 1 and enter the stop lock at Autherley Junction.
This end of the Shroppie is generally quite wide with long straight stretches and comparatively narrow bridge holes. The rule is, that for two boats approaching a bridge from opposite directions, the boat nearest has the “bridge ‘ole” .
It wasn’t long before we arrived at our intended mooring – just short of bridge 8. We quietly crept up and surprised Bruce and Sheila on nb ‘Sanity Again’ who we knew would be moored there and who we’ve been trailing for the last few days. We had a good catch up chat with them during which we had a few sharp showers. After lunch we walked into nearby Brewood (pronounced Brood) – a 3 mile round trip.
Can’t resist taking a photo of this very ornate building in the centre of Brewood. We then had a pint in the Bridge Inn and met some hire boaters who came from Plymouth.
On our walk back to ‘Chance’ we noticed that the canal environment is not just enjoyed by humans!
We’ve been invited to join Bruce and Sheila for a drink this evening onboard ‘Sanity Again’.
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