Log of the cruise of Osprey
14th -27th May 1999 Crew: A S Trollope & S P Goodsell
To view pictures in larger format please click on them.

Friday

Sunshine & showers

Otherton Boat Haven to bridge 80 at Weston

15¾ miles

9 locks

6^{h 20m}

By just after 1pm we were turning Osprey round to head of in the direction of Great Haywood to begin our cruise which was planned to include the Four counties ring and the Llangollen canal as well as as much of the Montgomery canal as we found open. Apart from a few showers the afternoon went well, and we found ourselves ahead of our target moorings by the time we decided to moor up for the night. The highlight of the day was Tixall Wide. The landowner at the time the canal was built wanted it to look like a lake rather than a canal as it passed his property and so the canal here is around 70 yards wide. Its scale is dwarfed only by the size of the gatehouse - what must the main building be like? There is a large kingfisher population here, unfortunately we did not see any this time.

The picture is of Tixall Wide. The nearest boat is Oasis Too, another boat managed by OwnerShips

Saturday

Dry, sunny spells

Bridge 80 to Harecastle tunnel (southern portal)

15 miles

16 locks

8^{h 15m}

As we ascended the Stone flight we passed an Anglo Welsh hire boat with a crew of 6 ladies of shall we say mature age out on their first canal cruise - they were planning to complete the four counties ring in a week, and said they were having the time of their lives! The approach to Stoke -on - Trent was marked by the remains of many potteries, the main supplier of trade in the canals hey-day in this area. Once past the built up area we could tell we were approaching Harecastle as the water changed to the characteristic rust colour caused by the presence of  ironstone .

The pictures are of two bottle kilns near lock 37 in Stoke and Osprey at Harecastle tunnel.

Sunday

Overcast

Harecastle to below Crows Nest lock No.67

10¾ miles

27 locks

6^{h 25m}

During the afternoon we caught up with "Mischief" and so could have ended up waiting for locks even with them still being paired, but the true spirit of the canals was abroad today and the crew of "Mischief" always either set the other lock for us, or pulled a paddle as they left the lock if there was only the one -  we had a chat with them when we both stopped at Wheelock for water, they were owner-boaters and the crew was three generations of the family. Their plans were to cruise to where they ended and then leave the boat until they next got a chance to use her, they sounded like this would be at least every weekend, with many weeks also during the year. The afternoon also saw us go through Thurlwood lock, this is now single, the metal lock which used to accompany it is long gone. I think when I used it in 1986 it was due to be scrapped. It had been constructed from steel as the ground here was prone to subsidence and the original masonry lock had kept moving. In the end it did for the steel lock too. The picture on the right is of Halls Locks

Monday

Chill wind & overcast

Lock 67 to Church Bridge 23

21¾ miles

17 locks

10^{h 50m}

The trip to Barbridge junction is an uneventful one until the junction is reached. This is another of those tight, blind turns, where less haste equates to more speed, as you avoid a collision with any traffic approaching , and also avoid ramming the far bank. Something which judging by the number of  lumps out of the bank, not everybody achieves. The Pub here is to be recommended.

The rest of our day was to be filled with various mishaps, luckily to others rather than to us. The  first occurred at the bottom of the Hurlston flight. Any wind here can catch the most experienced of boater out as they try and maneuver, but luckily for us we witnessed the undoing of "Derek's Dream" and so were prepared for it. He on the other hand, approached the lock in a correct fashion only to be caught by the wind, and even with the help of his bow thruster, he still ended up missing the mouth of the lock by several feet and had to take two more shots to get in. We were soon up the flight however and on our way to Llangollen. (picture right view from the top lock at Hurlston)

Our path was not to be trouble free! A hire boat was coming toward us, and had drifted across to the wrong side of the cut, we slowed to accommodate what started as a maneuver to avoid us as he put his helm hard over, and his bows veered to the correct side of the canal. We could see his look of relief at this change to one of horror as he realised that at the same time his stern was heading in the opposite direction. He became frozen, as if a rabbit caught in a headlamp, and it was not until his bow was on one bank and his stern the other that he came back to life. It was his first day out on a boat, and while he knew tiller left meant bow right, he had not been told that the boat has a pivot point and this maneuver will also send the stern right! Still collision was avoided, he was apologetic, and we remembered our first faltering attempts at steering.

Tuesday

Cloudy start sunny later

Bridge 23 to Rhoswiel bridge 18

27 miles

12 locks

11^{h 30m}

Anyway we arrived at the flight just as traffic was beginning to build for the day. The bottom lock is approached through a railway bridge, and my advice is to check before proceeding through, there is very limited space to wait for the locks once through, and as usual the bridge is on the skew and therefore blind. When we reached the staircase we only had to wait for three boats to come down, and then we were third in line to go up . While this was going on the lock keeper was in attendance, but he then had a call to go elsewhere and having spoken to those waiting went off leaving us to our own devices. As we came out of the middle lock the chap who was first in line waiting to go down (the flight is 3 up 3 down at busy times) confirmed it would be his turn to go once we were clear, and asked what he should do. We explained several times that he should ensure the middle and bottom locks were empty before  he started his way down, and that he could empty them now as we were in the top one. He didn't seem to grasp this at all - least of all the danger of flooding if he neglected to do this. As we left the top lock we saw him start to try and empty the top lock into a still full middle lock, and this with his boat still tied up outside the lock anyway. We shouted to him and the boat next in line, and they set off to put him straight (or try to) It turned out so we heard from a boat that followed us up that he had been stopped from causing a problem by the skin of the teeth, and quick thinking from a gongoozler who knew of the danger and dropped the paddle. 

The next pound is punctuated by lift bridges, the one shown here is Morris lift bridge 45 as you approach the Prees branch which has a very useful marina with food shop (basics) at the end, and is also a pretty diversion if time allows. If you look closely at the photo you will see the deck is actually at water height. The road crossing it is also surprisingly busy, we have yet to come this way without holding up at least one vehicle.

Wednesday

Sunny

Bridge 18 to Llangollen, wind & moor past water points

9¾  miles

No locks

4^{h 20m}

The day ended with us mooring early in Llangollen and exploring the town which contains much for the tourist including a steam railway and a Dalek museum. It is worth allowing yourself at least a half day to visit some of the attractions.

The pictures are: Top left Chirk aqueduct Top right Pontcysyllte aqueduct Bottom left a view through bridge 39 Bottom right the concrete trough between bridge 41 & 42

Thursday

Sunny

Llangollen to Queens Head

20 miles

7 locks

7^{h 45m}

There is a sanitary station in the Weston branch just before bridge 71. We had an uneventful journey to the present limit of navigation at Queens Head, where we had fun winding due to the wind and someone mooring opposite the winding hole, plus a fair amount of sludge making it impossible to use the pole to any good effect. Once moored we explored the Aston locks which are ready for use once the problems further down are sorted.

The Queens Head pub & restaurant comes highly recommended, but booking is advisable if there are more than a couple of you as it is a very popular eatery for road traffic even  if the water bourn visitors are still few and far between at present. The picture is of the memorial stone for Graham Palmer founder of the Waterways Recovery Group which is by the new lock which Nicholsons misses out in even the latest edition (see the Nicholsons update service)

Friday

Overcast & showers

Queens Head to above Poveys lock

20¾ miles

11 locks

8^{h 45m}

Visited Ellesmere for shopping, the town is a really traditional market town with a host of delightful shops well worth a visit. It is worth taking the detour into the basin rather than mooring on the main line as there are plenty of moorings up there - no water point though this, is at the junction.

The Meres are quite spectacular, and if you have the time worth exploring. Grindley Brook was navigated without any holdups or mishaps, and we moored Poveys Lock for the night.

The picture is of Osprey leaving the second lock of the Frankton flight.

Saturday

Sunny

Poveys lock to The Shroppie Fly bridge 78

19¼ miles

18 locks

9^{h 10m}

The passage thorough Wrenbury Lift bridge was to prove eventful. The yard is now an Alvechurch base, and being a Saturday, was full with boats, as was the towpath. Any one who has been this way knows that the turn here is quite severe, and on this occasion the wind was in the right direction to blow boats trying to manouver through the bridge hole onto the waiting bows of the boats moored in the yard. Indeed it was only by the skin of our teeth we managed to get through without bashing into any/all of them. Speaking to other boaters, it is not an unusual occurrence for there to be problems. A letter to both Alvechurch and BW commenting on the difficulties only elicited the response that all boats moored at the yard were allowed to be there, and apart from Alvechurch offering to help negotiate the bridge if asked, no solution was forthcoming. I would suggest that anyone who gets there on a day when the wind is in an unhelpful direction takes this offer up!  

Our arrival at the Shroppie Fly was greeted by a sign saying the canal was blocked at Norbury, and boats were to wait here for instructions.
(pictures are of Willeymoor lock and the Shroppie Fly)

Sunday

Broken cloud & windy

Shroppie Fly to Bottom of Tyrley locks

7¼ miles

17 locks

4^{h 25m}

In the end I must say I lost patience along with two other boats and decided to take the advice which best suited me. To proceed to Tyrley locks and wait there if water levels in the pound above had not been corrected. so 11am saw us on our way. We were finally halted at the bottom of the Tyrley flight at 4.30 where we moored first in the queue for the reopening which was now planned for 8.30 on Monday.

(the picture is of us moored below Tyrley flight in the cutting - not recommended if you want to watch TV)

Monday

Broken cloud, sunny late p.m.

Tyrley locks to Bridge 3

25¼ miles

6 locks

9^h

The day was one of bridges - two are pictured here High Bridge at the southern end of Grub street cutting with its famous telegraph pole in the center and Avenue Bridge  at Brewood which is one of those decorative bridges so often insisted upon by the local land owner as part of the price of the canal crossing his land. In this case it leads to Chillington Hall.

We eventually moored opposite Wolverhampton Boat club for the night.

Tuesday

Broken cloud

Bridge 3 to Boundary Staffordshire & Worcestershire

17 miles

23 locks

8^{h 50m}

Tuesday saw us cruise literally to the boundary of the two counties where the society had recently erected a marker (pictured in quiz 6) between bridges 27 & 26. 

Things which stood out to me included the rounded ends of the balance beams, the circular weirs at the locks (picture left) and the very different attempts at lock design to anywhere else. An example is pictured right of the Botterham staircase locks with the bridge over the lower chamber. There are many others where Brindley used all his imagination and guile in the early days of canal construction. The canal society is to be congratulated on its recent efforts in tidying up this canal and making it a real pleasure to cruise.  

Wednesday

Sunny

Boundary stone to Lea Lane winding hole & back to above Bratch locks

15 miles

18 locks

7^{h 45m}

The shops in Cookley (best reached by mooring south of the tunnel) were a treat of the village variety and stocked just about anything you could wish for.  

Kinver is another village worthy of note both for its looks, nestled below the 500ft high Kinver edge and its shops, although these are mostly a good 15 minutes walk from the canal

Stewponey lock (top right) is interesting both for its name and the horse tunnel under the road. The name is said to come from a black country corruption of the "Estepona" inn  which a soldier who returned from the wars with a Spanish wife opened. The shops which are mentioned in most guide books have now gone.

The picture above left shows how the canal in places cuts right into the hillside forming sandstone cliffs as it hugs the contours.

Saving perhaps the best to last the picture bottom right is of Bratch locks. Originally built as a staircase they were soon adapted to form three locks separated by only a few yards. Care is needed in the operation of these as it is all to easy to wast water and indeed flood the towpath. Together with the circular booth, these locks are both unmistakable and unique on the waterways, and any delay you may experience here in busy periods is well worth it.

The Whole of this canal is definitely worth a visit and we were disappointed we did not have time to visit the historic basins where it joins the Severn. However the natural beauty, the sometimes unique and always unusual canal architecture, and the intriguing names (Bumble hole and Dimmingsdale locks must rate as my favourites) made the voyage one to remember.

Thursday

Sunny

Bratch to Otherton Marina

16½ miles

11 locks

7^{h 45m}

Before this as you can see in the picture left, we had to negotiate the narrowest cutting I have ever met between bridges 67 & 68, where for half a mile you dread the sight of an oncoming boat. Luckily there are a couple of passing places cut into the rock   

All in all a lovely cruise with a huge variety of both natural and canal scenery which I would recommend to anyone. We did not hurry along the cut, but while from the cruising point of view it was a leisurely event, a third week would have meant more time to explore off the boat at the many delightful villages we passed through.

TOTALS FOR THE WHOLE CRUISE

225¼ miles

183 locks

104^{h 45m}