Stafford Monday 28 July 2014

Last night we went for a walk at about 9 pm and noticed a mooring space above the lock and before the junction so we wandered back and moved Harnser up. This meant we wouldn’t be in the queues today.

We spent the morning on the boat waiting for my youngest Grandson to arrive. we he tuned up we all went for lunch at the old Lock Cottage where we sat outside by the weir and watched the boats locked up and down. The food was very good and after eating and saying goodbye to his mum and big brother we set off north along the Trent and Mersey for a few hundred yards before turning left onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal.

Here at the bridge a elderly lady was standing looking back at Tixal Wide so I expected to meat a boat, but there wasn’t one. Diana spoke to her and she asked in an American accent if we would lookout for a large red boat, as she had told her husband she was walking ahead but he was a bit forgetful. Just after crossing Tixal Wide I was hailed by an American on a Viking Narrowboat and asked if I had seen an old lady as he had lost his mother. They had been walking the bank looking for her thinking she may had fallen in. They had even contacted the police who were searching for her. After we set his mind at rest he sent his son off to find her. At Tixal Lock the police had just arrived so we told them where to find the boat and that we had seen the lady.

We stopped briefly on the Sow Aqueduct so that George could take a look  before passing this sunk boat, it looks as if it may have been a Caracruiser.

Shortly after this there is a nice example of a turnover or roving bridge where the horses could change from one side of the canal to the other without untying the towrope, again we stopped for a closer look and explaining how it all worked.

We carried on to moor opposite the Stafford Boat Club as I remembered the towpath was wider here and we were planning a BBQ.

George spent a bit of time writing in his Canal and River Explorers book what he had seen today, I picked this up from CaRT at the AWCC rally the other week.