Weston Arm to Queens Head - Montgomery Canal

Graham Palmer Lock

In Graham Palmer Lock

Perry Aqueduct

Wild Montgomery Canal

Passing just one boat

The sun was shining and it was already warm as we set off mid-morning from our mooring.  We went under a bridge then came to Graham Palmer lock which is a stop lock and not very deep.  It didn’t take long to get through here and on we went.

We next came to Perry Aqueduct and over we went and along the canal.  This next section is dead straight.  The canal banks are quite overgrown as a lot of this canal is areas of special scientific interest as a lot of rare flora and fauna grow here. 

Lovely wild flowers

Going under the railway bridge

The canal is very quiet and we only met one boat, but there was room to pass although we did scrap along the side a bit.

Rednal Arm

Small Pond

We then passed the old Rednal Arm or Bone Works Arm leading to Rednal Basin.  There used to be a bone factory there where cattle bones were transported to the factory by train, the railway runs near here and the bones were boiled and stripped of fat and tissue.  This was then loaded into boats to go to the soap factory at Port Sunlight on the Wirral.

There is a path through here!!

We chugged along another straight section of canal and then came to Queen's Head where we moored up.

Water Boatman

Dragonfly

Duck swimming around

In the afternoon we went for a walk along the towpath to Weston locks where there is Aston Nature Reserve.  There is a path from the top lock into the reserve so off we went.  The path was okay at first and then it got rather overgrown and the grass and brambles were as tall as us.  We kept thinking that Dr. Livingstone was going to pop out from the the undergrowth!  

Another one skimming the surface

We then came to a clearing where there was a pond and a bench so we sat there awhile, it was so lovely and peaceful and there was lots of water boatmen on the surface of the pond.  We then carried on and came back to where we had started.

Wall Brown Butterfly

Red Admiral

Mile Marker dedicated to Graham Palmer

We then carried on down the towpath to the second path and went back in the reserve where there was two big lakes.  There was lots of dragonflies and butterflies flying around.  We met a couple of people walking their dog and they said it was a dead end so we walked to the end of the second lake then walked back.

We walked back up the towpath and before we went back to the boat we called in at the Queen’s Head pub for a drink as it was such a glorious sunny warm afternoon.  It was a very nice pub and very busy, the food also looked good, but we resisted today.

We then made our way back to the boat.  We are staying here tonight then going to the end of the navigation tomorrow at Maesbury, about 3 miles away as although the canal runs for many more miles after Maesbury, at present it is only navigable to there.

Moored at Queens Head

Panoramic View of the Lake in the Nature Reserve