Wolverhampton

It was 1030 before we set off as I had to pick up a click and collect from Argos which is less that 5 minutes away in Sainsbury’s, the only problem was 100 people queueing to get into Sainsbury’s to do their shopping. That sorted we reversed back over the aqueduct to the junction to wind and carry on along the Wyrley and Essington,  I was not surprised that I picked up a good blade full doing this as the stern was often out of the channel, part of the debris that I removed was about 2 mts of reinforced lay-flat 50mm hose, I am glad I didn’t have to cut it. We had another couple of weedhatch stops during the day to remove polly and weed, I also had weed with sticks in and polly catching to the rudder stock above and below the blade. This canal and the Daw End Branch are defiantly some of the prettiest that we have done, today the weed was much easier but more rubbish around Wednesfield. The moorings at the Wednesfield shopping complex looked quite inviting. We actually met two boats today, both hire boats, the first on the Wyrley and Essington the other on the BCN Main Line. We saw some interesting bridges, the first someone had drawn a map under it, it makes a change from the normal graffiti, this was Stoke’s bridge.

A little further on was Devils Elbow bridge which is quite a high arched structure. Last but least was a stainless Steel arch, no really a bridge at all as its just ornamental unless it houses pipes or cables, but the whole ting is angled so you can see your reflection as you pass under it, its more noticeable when traveling the other way, but if you look closely you can see the reflection of the towing path and canal.

We passed quite a few fishermen and I was requested to stir it up a bit, the water is so clear you can see the fish, we even saw a 30cm Koi swimming around.
When we reached Horseley Fields Junction we turned right, firstly to visit the services but the tap was so slow we didn’t bother filling up, but also to moor for the night opposite Broad Street Basin.

Today’s Journey 10.3 miles in 4.75 hoursMap courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/