Yesterday was a cracking day, wall to wall sunshine and the boat was so warm that after dinner was cooked we turned the stove off, big mistake as this morning was yuck, cold, misty damp.
I went out ready to set off and untied the front rope when I noticed the boat behind was also untying so I let him go first. As he was leaving a boat came down from Woodend Lock so the lock should have been with him. We gave him a couple of minutes and followed up, past the section cleared for HS2, you can see what a mucky day it is. For some reason trees have also been felled to the north east of the line.
When we approached the boat that left before us was still waiting as a small cruiser was in the lock going up. I dropped Diana of and she went to the lock to lend the single hander a bit of help. As he left the lock he handed her a pen and said thanks for the help. It wasn’t until she was back on Harnser that she really looked at it. What a lovely thought.
We met a surprising number of boats in the course of the mooring, all well wrapped up against the cold.
Passing Kings Bromley Marina we saw this notice on their sign board. I can’t workout what’s happening to red diesel, some people cant get it and the price is ridicules for those that can.
We had a clean run through Armitage Tunnel with no other boats on the move, I rather like the the figurehead on nb. Oddin
We carried on through Rugeley without stopping, just before you the aqueduct across the River Trent there use to be a notice board giving information about the bloody steps, but today there are just two posts, maybe it will be replaced by a new blue CRT on with lots of wrong spellings. Once past the Rugeley Bypass we passed a field with sheep and lambs, only the second we have seen this year. One of the ewes had a pair of black lambs with her.
Our target for tonight was Wolseley Bridge and by now the sun was forcing its way through and we moored at the fist spot we came to, which was just as well as there are 4 boats moored the other side of the bridge. As soon as we moored up I fired the Dickinson stove up again both to cook dinner and keep us warm tonight.
By 5pm we could sit on the front deck in the sunshine, no coats chatting to Bob who had wandered down with his dog for a chat. He was one of the boats moored the other side of the Bridge.
Todays Journey
10 miles, 1 lock in 4½ hours
The Google map of the entire journey to date can be seen at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=17mjw4LFpTYhyPS1NB_mGzeZAr913Rivl&usp=sharing
You can also see our planned itinerary at https://canalplan.uk/journey/16879_cp
2 comments:
I've often wondered about the area around Woodend, so I've had a look around. They are building an HS2 junction just south of the right-angle bend (which is the work going on there now). The Western line from this will link into the West Coast mainline as part of Phase 1 just South of Handsacre - presumably so the journey to Manchester, etc, can be speeded up by a couple of minutes while they are building Phase 2.
From the new junction near Fradley, a Phase 2 line will cross the canal via an embankment and viaduct (where the tress have already been cleared both sides of the canal) and will pass east of Rugeley to cross the T&M just north of Great Haywood. This line will head towards Crewe, but apparently will pass under Crewe Station without stopping, although it will also link into the West Coast Mainline so 'compliant' mainline trains can get to Crewe station.
HS2 actually splits at Woodend with the main line carrying off north and a branch cutting off to the west to join the West Coast Main Line near Handsacre. The "also felled" trees make way for this connecting line. Did you also notice the hundreds of new plantings each side of this cleared area?
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