So this morning I'm leaving the Shropshire Union Canal.
I've turned around and I'm now heading back down to Autherley Junction back onto the
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Why am I doing this? Well I've decided I
can't really do the fit out and especially the painting of the boat on my own. So
I'm going to head back to Nottingham where I used to live, I've got a good
network of friends there, that are all willing to help me and I just need to
get on with finalising the fitting out, finalising the electrics inside because
it's quite tough living out of boxes for what, four months and tripping over
everything and not, not living in a nice environment and of course I need to
paint, paint out Alice's exterior. So that's the plan and it'll take me around about
a week to get back to Nottingham. I'd only travelled about two and a half
miles up the Shroppy to just north of the M54 motorway and the beautiful
countryside meant it certainly wasn't a wasted trip. I returned to Autherley
Junction and turned left back onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal,
where before long I needed to concentrate. In the Collins book it says
'very narrow cutting', I would tend to agree with that! This
section was only wide enough for one boat at a time. However like on country
roads, there were periodic lay-bys where oncoming craft could wait for you to
pass. Luckily today though, I met nothing traveling south. So that was a bit
embarrassing, I moored up, I used my centre-line, which to be fair
has been fraying a bit and I have got a new one ready, but I used my centre-line to
moor up, I use a chain, which chains against the railings on the side
of the canal and I went inside and had some lunch. Whilst busily eating my lunch
and replying to comments from all of you guys on YouTube, a boat went past, a bit of
clanging which is fine, I just thought it was the
chain against the side of the boat, another boat went past, a bit more
clanging but I carried on working and then about 10 minutes later, two people
sort of figures I could see, I couldn't see who but I could see sort of two
figures, right next to the boat stopped on their bikes and sort of looking and I
was like 'what are they looking at'. I came outside and the boat, the centre-line had
snapped and the boat was gently drifting right out into the middle of the canal,
which is a little bit embarrassing. So I threw one of my other lines over to them
and they very kindly pulled me in and I, I used a different rope and moored up
again but that just shows if you've got a fraying rope, to look after it and cut
it out and get rid of that bit, so I've got two centre-lines, one each side and
both of them have been fraying because I didn't have the anchor points on the
side of the boat on the roof, in fact I've only got one, so when the boat goes
back and forth it rubs against the side, which has made it fray a little bit so,
thank goodness it is on a lovely peaceful canal,
with no one really round, rather than on a river and a weir or something horrible,
but lesson learnt, I need to change my centre-lines. I wanted to take my time
traveling along the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal,
navigating north it quickly exits the densely populated suburbs of
Wolverhampton and winds back and forth through beautiful countryside and small
villages. In a long wide turn, it heads east and meets the Trent & Mersey Canal at
Great Haywood.
I've only got a couple of locks today, it's quite warm, so I'm taking my time.
At Tixall Lock it became positively busy! Just walking the boat down, there's no
point getting back on board, when you've only got to move 30, 40 foot. But the
first boats gone in, one has come up and now I'll moor up on a bollard here, ready
to go down. I expect there's another one waiting to come up, so it's one in, one
out today. On the last stretch of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal
is an area called The Broad Water. The canal opens into a large, almost lake
and the towpath is lined with moored boats taking advantage of the view. As I
got closer to the junction on the Trent & Mersey Canal at Great Haywood, the
wind really started to pick up, the last thing you want, when there were lots of
moored boats and watching eyes! I need to turn right after the junction.
So I got through Great Haywood okay. Turning the corner, the wind was coming off the
field so I used that to my advantage, because luckily it was pushing in, in the
right direction, so I didn't really need to do much steering. If I was turning
left out Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, I
think it would have been a bit different but, I'm now on the Trent & Mersey and
I'm going to find somewhere to moor up and have some lunch I think. I've had a
number of requests for me to set up a Patreon account. I'm pleased to say it's
now live and I've included a number of rewards including stickers, postcards and
bonus material. I've included a link to Patreon in the description below. And
this video is dedicated to Kitty Oskin from California, who is already a
top-level patron. Thank you so much Kitty! Next time I make the final journey to
Derbyshire, travel down through Fradley Junction Locks and battle with some
pretty gusty winds. Click the Subscribe button if you want to follow what Molly
and I are up to and if you like this video, click the Thumbs Up. Until next
time, see you later.