Weston to Great Haywood - Trent & Mersey Canal

 

Thursday 27^th August

We are moving on to Great Haywood this morning, it gets very busy there so we wanted to get there late morning and hopefully there would be a few spaces.

                                                 

 We set off from our mooring along the canal.  We soon came to Weston lock.  There was a boat in front of us so we moored up behind them.

A boat was coming up so once they were through, the boat in front of us went in.  There was nothing coming up so we filled the lock up for us. Once we were down the lock, Kev went out and I shut the gates.

                                                     

We then went on our way, it was a lovely sunny warm morning.  We went under a couple of bridges and then was approaching Hoo Mill lock.

This one was empty as well so we had to fill it up.  Kev brought the boat in and closed the gate. We then opened the paddles and emptied the lock.  There was a boat waiting to come up so we went out leaving the gates open for them.

                                                     

  We chugged on and went past Great Haywood marina and then was approaching Great Haywood junction.  Kev dropped me off and I walked down to see if there were any spaces just past the junction and there was a couple, so I signalled to Kev and he came down with the boat.

                                                      

There was a space just down from the junction so I waited there for Kev.  A little dog jumped out of a boat moored next to the empty space and came to me looking pleased to see me, I then realised it was Peanut, our friend Bill’s dog and the space we were going into was in front of his boat, I hadn’t recognised it!  Bill then came out.

We moored up and sat outside with Bill and Peanut and had a cup of coffee and warm fruit cake that I had made on our way down.  It was nice to see Bill and to catch up as we haven’t seen him for a while and also lovely to see Peanut, he is a lovely little dog and remembered us and came straight on our boat for treats!

                                              

In the evening I made Spaghetti Bolognese and we shared it with Bill, it was nice to all have tea together and a few drinks.

We are staying here for the weekend to do some trading as it is Bank Holiday so hopefully there will be a few people around and we will get a few sales.

                                                  

Bill and Peanut left Friday morning, we waved them goodbye.  Bill is making his way back to the Gloucester & Sharpness canal where he moors for the Winter, but I am sure our paths will cross again next year when he is out on his travels again.

 

Sandon to Weston - Trent & Mersey Canal

Tuesday 24^th August

We are on the move today just a short distance to Weston.

                                                   

    We left our mooring and set off along the canal.  We soon came to Sandon lock. The lock was empty so I had to fill it up first, then open the gate.

Once through there, we went on our way again.

                                              

We chugged on going under a few bridges, then was passing Salt and went under the lovely bridge there.

                                                

We went on a bit further and then was approaching Weston where there was lots of ducks, geese and a family of swans.

                       

We moored up in the visitor moorings.

In the afternoon we went for a walk up to the pub, The Woolpack and had a drink.  By the canal there is a row of cottages and one of them has free range chickens and a little stall selling the eggs, so we got some and another cottage was selling tomatoes so we had some of them as well.

                                                      

On Wednesday we went to the Stafford County Show, the bus from Weston goes right to the show ground.

We had a great day out, lots to see.  We watched the scurry racing in the main ring and also the motorcycle stunt team who were amazing and so fearless.

                                                              

                                                                                                      

There were lots of trade stalls and food and craft tents and we even had water buffalo milk ice cream which was really nice but tasted different from ordinary ice cream.  It was very busy but as it’s such a big show you didn’t feel like you were on top of each other, there was plenty of space.

                                              

                                                                                                         

We really enjoyed the show and would definitely go again.

Stone to Sandon - Trent & Mersey Canal

Monday 23^rd August

We had a nice weekend in Stone, Saturday the weather was not good but we did venture down into the town.  Sunday evening we met up with Jane, Malcolm, Sue and Brian and had a lovely evening at The Wayfarer pub eating and drinking and chatting.

Today we are leaving Stone behind us and off back down the canal.

                                                   

    

The sun was shining as we set off from our mooring. We have 5 locks to do today and about 4 miles.

The first lock was just along from where we were moored, so I walked to the lock and had to fill it up, then I opened the gate.

                                                      

Once down this lock we were on to the next one and there was a chap there letting water through the lock.  He was from the boat yard below this lock and said they had a deep drafted boat going into their dry dock and so needed more water to do that.  We were quite pleased we were going down as he had taken quite a lot of water from the pound between the two locks and the boats moored in that pound were on quite a lean!

                                          

He helped me with the gate then walked back to the boat yard. We got through the lock okay and stopped at the services below the lock to get water.

Once the tank was full and we had emptied the loo and got rid of our rubbish we chugged on past the old Joules Brewery and the new Joules pub, The Wharf and then we were at the next lock. 

                                         

                                                                                 

This one was against us as well so I filled up the lock and Kev brought the boat in and down he went.  Once he was out, I shut the gates and Kev went on and moored up before the next lock as we needed to get a bit of shopping before we left Stone.

We walked up to the town, had some breakfast in Morrisons and got some supplies then walked over to M&S to get a few more things then back to the boat.

                                          

There were a few boats coming up the lock so we untied and moved to near the lock so that when the next boat came up we were ready to go in.  Although there were a few boats waiting to come up only one lady came up to help so she did one gate and I did the other.

We were soon on our way leaving Stone behind us.

                                                   

We went on along the canal passing lots of canalside properties and under a few bridges and then we were approaching Aston lock where there is a tiny house by the side of the lock, I always wonder who lives in a house like this!!

There was a boat going down in front of us and a couple waiting to come up and then another boat turned up behind us and again no one seemed keen to help anyone so when it was our turn, we did the lock on our own.

                                                   

We went out of the lock leaving the gates open for the next boat to come in and went on our way past Aston Marina which is huge and has a separate entrance and exit.

It was a beautiful sunny warm day, just right for a chug.

                                              

We went under a few more bridges, then came to Bridge 85 and moored up in a lovely sunny open spot opposite fields where we moored on the way up.

                                                                                    

We are staying here tonight then tomorrow morning we are moving on a bit further to the small village of Weston