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| Chasewater Reservoir |
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| Chasewater Reservoir |
We were going to stay put today but there was a lot of
comings and goings last evening in the parking place near where we were moored
and in the top car park which made us feel uneasy, too close for comfort so we
decided to move on this morning. We
walked up to the reservoir for a bit then headed back up the canal to Catshill
Junction this time avoiding the bank of silt and onto the main Wyrley and
Essington Canal.
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| At Catshill Junction |
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| Brownhills |
After a short while we came to Brownhills where there is a
shopping area with an Aldi, Wilko, Tesco to name a few so we moored there. We went up into the shops and got some
supplies then back to the boat had some lunch and then we moved down to the services for water, to
get rid of rubbish etc.
When we had done all that, we chugged on along the
canal. It was really hot today and
humid, perhaps we will get some thunder later.
We wound our way along the canal as this canal follows the contours of
the land it is very winky wonky but really nice even if it is shallow in
places.
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| Wyrley & Essington Canal |
After a couple of miles, we were at Pelsall Common and we
moored just past The Fingerpost pub right on the common. It is a lovely spot.
When we had moored up, Kev said he had seen some cloth
wrapped around the front of the boat, so he got the boat hook to get it off and
would you believe it, it was a whole duvet cover! It took some getting out of the water as it
was really heavy and we were just lucky that it had caught on the front and not
made its way back to the propeller!
A short way from where we are moored is Pelsall Junction and
this is the junction with the Cannock Extension canal. We are going to walk down there tomorrow.
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| Pelsall Common |
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| Duvet cover pulled from front of boat! |
Originally rough grazing, much of the common was consumed by
a great ironworks between 1832 and 1888, which employed people from Pelsall
village. Eventually iron prices fell,
and the company went into liquidation, with the works being demolished in the
late 1920s. A large machine known as
‘the cracker’, was used to break up the mounds of foundry waste, and this gave
the common its lock nickname ‘the cracker’.
This machine was disposed of shortly after World War II.
Pelsall Common covers 137 acres, 92 of which, north of the
canal, are designated as a local nature reserve.
We are going to stay here tomorrow as it is so nice here and
explore around the area, then head off on Friday. We had a few claps of thunder and a few drops
of rain early evening, but then it went over and it has turned into a sunny
evening and thankfully not so hot!
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| Moored at Pelsall Common |
I've just read your last post out to John and he says he remembers 'riding shotgun', on the bit of the curly-wurly that goes round Sneyd junction, standing on the bows with the boathook, pushing debris out of the way … including a sofa!
ReplyDeletethanks for that we will bear that in mind tomorrow when we do that bit, we have been told by another boater that were are several shopping trollies in the water around that area, something to look forward to!!
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