Fradley Junction to Alrewas (Trent & Mersey Canal)

Fradley Church

Fradley Church

Yesterday (Thursday) we stayed at Fradley Junction and walked along the towpath and up into Fradley village, there is not that much there, a post office/shop and a lovely little church.  We had a look around the church but unfortunately it was locked so we couldn’t go inside.

In Keepers Lock

And Out He Comes

In another lock

Today, we are on the move just  a couple of miles down the canal to the village of Alrewas.  We went over to the water point first to get water and get rid of rubbish and then we set off to the lock.  There was a boat in front of us so we had to wait a bit, he was a single hander so we gave him a hand and then filled the lock and Kev brought the boat in and down we went.  I walked to the next lock as it wasn’t very far and helped the single hander again then a boat came up and then it was our turn.

Swan on a nest

We chugged on along the canal and it was another lovely warm sunny day although not as warm as yesterday.

After a bit we came to the next lock which was not very deep so it didn’t take long to go through there and on we went to the last lock for today, Bagnall Lock.  There was some CRT workers there doing something to the lock paddles so they did the lock for me which was good and so I walked on down the towpath.

And round he goes

Kev came out of the lock and turned around in the winding hole and we reversed back into the visitor moorings.

In Bagnall Lock

We had lunch then went out for a walk up into the village and stopped off at the Butchers, they also sell bread and fruit and vegetables.  We got a few things then walked on to the Co-op and got some salad stuff and then took it back to the boat.

Alrewas Church

Coming out Bagnall Lock

We then walked up to the Church which is mainly 13^th-C and 14^th-C construction, notable for the old leper window, which is now filled by modern stained glass.  There was a multi-cache in the church yard, what we had to do was find some answers to some questions which would give us the coordinates to the cache.  We soon found the answers, punched in the coordinates into the GPS on our phone and headed off to find the cache.  It was on a public footpath near a stream and we found it okay.

We then walked to Alrewas lock which is the start of the river section and sat on a bench there and watched a few boats go through the lock.  We chatted to a nice lady walking her dogs who lives in the village and then headed back to the boat.

We are staying here tonight and also tomorrow then heading back up the canal on Sunday.

Moored at Alrewas