Brewood to Bridge 8 - Shropshire Union Canal

 

Thursday 1^st July

We had a couple of nice days in Brewood.  There is a great bakery there run by Gemma and she makes a superb fruit loaf with cherries and cinnamon, we ordered one yesterday to pick up this morning so we trotted up to the village to collect it and say bye to Gemma.  All the cakes, bread etc from here are excellent and it’s well worth a visit.

                                                

We are on the move today just two miles to some lovely moorings near Bridge 8, now fondly known to us as our lockdown spot as that is where we spent the first lockdown with just two other boats and all the birds singing in the brushes and trees around there, it is such a lovely place to moor but I expect it will be busier this time as it is very popular.

We set off from Brewood along the canal with lovely views of the church, under a bridge and on we went leaving Brewood behind. 

                                                        

                                                                                               

We went under a couple of bridges then came to the lovely balustraded Avenue bridge.  This single arch stone bridge was built in 1830 and designed by Thomas Telford.  It was built as an accommodation bridge for nearby Chillington Hall and carried a drive for carriages, it was one of the main approaches to the hall.  It no longer gives access to the hall and now is just a public footpath.  It is a beautiful bridge and we always love seeing it.

                                                    

We went under Avenue bridge and on along the canal, under a few more bridges then came to the moorings near Bridge 8.  There were a few boats there but plenty of room for us and we were lucky as the grass on these moorings and most of the towpath along here has not been cut for some time and is very tall, but obviously a previous boater had moored here and cut the grass down so that saved us having to do it and gave us a nice tidy place to moor.

                                                    

                                                                                           

We are staying here for a few days now then we will move on and will be going onto another canal, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire, the first different one in 10 months.  We love the Shroppie but it will be nice to visit different places again.