Brewood to Bridge 8 (Shropshire Union Canal)

Thursday 11^th and Friday 12^th June

Our Takeaway Breakfast

Yesterday (Thursday) we stayed put in Brewood and had a takeaway breakfast from the local pub, The Bridge Inn, a full English in a box with fried bread for a fiver, it was really good and set us up for the day nicely.  We went for a walk in the afternoon in between the showers and then just chilled out.

Passing Dell

Coming to a Bridge

Lovely Views of Brewood from the Canal

Our new Ship Mate!

Today we are on the move but had to go up to the bakery before we left to get our order. They do afternoon tea to take away so we had ordered one each for this afternoon, they weren’t quite ready when we got there as they are made up fresh so we waited a few minutes. Gemma who runs the Baker’s is great and very friendly so we had a nice chat with her and they have a little mascot who they lend to people to take on their travels with them and return when you are back in Brewood, so we have a new ship mate called Gemma Panda and she is going to travel with us this Summer and share all our adventures!  Apparently she likes a drink, so I shall have to watch her with all our gin!

Harry & Louis watching the Ducks

Lovely Avenue Bridge

We left Brewood mid-morning and set off along the canal. We passed Dell on NB Dodger who was moored just down from us and who is heading back to the G&S and carried on along the canal.

Helicopter \Hovering Overhead

There are lovely views of Brewood church from the canal.  We passed the mooring where Harry and Louis live and they were on the front of the boats watching a family of ducks, we waved to them as we went past as we won’t see them again until we are back up this way September time.

Gemma Pandas is after my gin!!

We went under a few bridges, Bridge 10 which is the lovely balustraded bridge and then we were approaching the moorings by Bridge 8.  There was a helicopter hovering near the canal near some pylons, it said national grid on the side of the helicopter so it looked liked they were checking the pylons.

Afternoon Tea

There was quite a few boats moored here but there was a space for us.  We tied up and Kev washed the roof as where we had been moored in Brewood, it was under trees and the roof was covered in bird poop, the worse we have seen and I cleaned up inside.

This afternoon we had our afternoon tea and really good it was too.  Gemma Panda helped us eat it!

We are staying here now for the weekend and moving on next week when we will finally get to go on another canal so looking forward to that.

Moored at Bridge 8

Wheaton Aston to Brewood (Shropshire Union Canal)

Wednesday 10^th June

At Turner's Garage

Freshly Painted Bridge Hole

We are on the move again today and it was a dry day as we set off from our mooring.

We stopped at Turner's garage to get diesel, it’s very cheap here.  We then went under the bridge and stopped at the services.

Coal Boat Loading Up

Coming to the lock

We filled up with water, got rid of rubbish and emptied the loos then it was time to chug on.

In the lock

Leaving Wheaton Aston Behind

There is one lock here at Wheaton Aston and a boat had just come down so it was all ready for us.  I walked up the towpath to the lock and opened the gates and Kev brought the boat in.  I shut the gates and filled the lock.  We were soon up the lock, Kev took the boat out, I shut the gates and we we were on our way.

Bridge up ahead

Lovely Reflections

We chugged on for a few miles, under a few bridges and then came to Stratton Aqueduct which is very overgrown at the moment as there has been no grass cutting during the lockdown but hopefully it will all be tidied up soon.

Passing Mum and Babies

Overgrown Stretton Aqueduct

We were then approaching Brewood, we went past the long line of moored boats and under the bridge and moored up in the visitor moorings.

In the afternoon, we had a walk up to the village and went to the butcher and the Spar. 

Tree Curtain

Long Line of Moored Boats

We are staying here tonight and also tomorrow as the pub on the bridge near where we are moored called The Bridge Inn is doing takeaway breakfasts so we are going to try one tomorrow morning and then on Friday after we have picked up our afternoon tea from the Baker’s we will move on.

Moored at Brewood

High Onn (Bridge 25) to Wheaton Aston

Tuesday 9^th June

Leaving High Onn

Off We Go

We are finally able to start our Summer trip.  We have been moored at High Inn the last couple of nights, but this morning we set off from our mooring.

Long Straight Canal

Coming to a Bridge

We are going to Wheaton Aston, the canal is still pretty quiet and we only passed a couple of boats. It was a dry day but not much sunshine as we chugged along.

Tree Canopy

Buttercups on the side of the canal

After a couple of miles we came into Wheaton Aston and moored in the visitor moorings before Turner's garage as we want to fill up with diesel when we leave, its very cheap from here 64p a litre at the moment.

There are a couple of shops in the village, so we walked up to the Spar to get a few things.  We then came back and had some lunch.

Ducks leading the way

This afternoon, we will walk up to the corner shop to get an ice-cream as the sun has come out and it’s turned into a nice warm day.

We are staying here tonight then moving on to Brewood tomorrow after we have visited Turners garage and filled up with water at the services as it is forecast to be another dry day and as you know we don’t boat in the rain so let’s hope the forecast is correct!

Moored at Wheaton Aston

Starting to Cruise Slowly

Brewood

Half a Moon

Coming into Brewood

Avenue Bridge

From 1st June, liveaboards and continuous cruisers like us are allowed to freely move around the canals, so we moved on from our spot at Bridge 8 where we spent 40+ nights and went back to up Brewood where we had a couple of nights and we got the bus to Wolverhampton to do a big shop.  Kev went to Aldi while I did a couple of other shops.  Shopping is still very stressful and I think even more now as people don't seem to adhere to the social distancing and just walk around anywhere.  We were glad to get back to the boat!  We only do a big shop about once a month so we will have time to recover from this expedition before we have to go again!

Lovely Reflections

Moorhen feeding her chicks

Harry and Louis waiting for biscuits!

My Scampi

Kev's Faggots

We then headed on up the canal to Wheaton Aston which is a village with a couple of shops and the pub there, The Hartley Arms were doing takeaway at the weekends so on the Friday night I had scampi, chips and peas and Kev had homemade faggots, peas, chips and gravy, it was really good.

Lone Mallard

Saturday was a very rainy day so we stayed put but Sunday was better and so we moved between the showers up to High Onn, a couple of miles up the canal from Wheaton Aston, we turned around as this is as far as we are going this way and then moored up.

Turnover Bridge

High Onn Wharf

We are staying here until tomorrow and then we will start our Summer trip properly going all the way back down the Shropshire Union canal and onto the Staffordshire and Worcester canal and going up to Great Haywood and then onto the Trent and Mersey canal (not all in the same day though!!)

Peacock Butterfly

Pheasant social distancing from us!

It will be nice to get going again and see new places, although we will be social distancing as much as we can, it is a lot easier on the canals as you can just moor on your own in rural places.

The photos are just some I have taken over the last week or so while we made our way from Bridge 8 up to High Onn.   The pheasant came past us when we were sitting on a log and he was very good, he kept 2 metres away from us,he was out for his daily exercise!  The two dogs are Harry and Louis, they live in Brewood and always visit us when they are out for their walk if we are moored in Brewood, they know we have biscuits!!

Moored at High Onn