The familiar Shropshire Union Canal & beyond

 We’ve been up & down the beautiful Shropshire Union Canal a few times. This canal was built for speed and the Shroppie Fly boats used to run 24 hours/day with frequent horse changes. Most bridges show the evidence of the ropes.

It’s so lovely seeing the ducklings appearing. Let’s just hope the heron finds enough fish to eat so it leaves the duckies alone!

The canal is fairly straight & features many deep cuttings and high embankments. The literature explains how the navvies encountered lots of land slides in their construction through the sandstone. Last time we went through Woodsheaves Cutting there was evidence of landslides. With this winter’s very heavy rain, there have been slides all the way along, with a couple of huge ones. The North Oxford Canal is closed at the moment due to a massive landslide totally filling the canal, and it’s quite possible the Shroppie could be soon too!

There was a day’s stoppage while a fallen tree was cleared from one of the other cuttings. While we waited, we were kept company by some very friendly mallards!

 

 

 

 

Audlem Flight of 15 locks has a wonderful reward for boaters at the top. The residents in what was the lockkeepers cottage have a shed where they sell home cooked cakes & pies.

The very pretty aqueduct over the A5 has ferns and a railing on its off side. So, Burnt Oak is just over a hundred miles south of this stretch.

Some graffiti under the M54.

We turned right at the end of the Shroppie onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, new territory for us. It’s clear to see how the old canal designers built the canals slightly differently to each other. The locks on this canal have little bridges over the bottom gates, unlike the Shroppie, which is super as I’m not able to step over the gates like John can.

There are circular and horseshoe shaped bi-weirs at the locks, which are gorgeous.

 

Bratch locks used to be a staircase of 3 chambers, but quirkily now separated into 3 locks with extended side-pounds to conserve water. There was an army of volunteer lockkeepers there. Like other staircases, there are correct paddle sequences and gate opening procedures.

 

We moored at Stourton Junction and I spotted new Himalayan balsam growing, so balsam bashing I went.

We had a surprise crew to help us up the 4 Stourton Locks at the beginning of the Stourbridge Canal. Our nephew Jack was in Birmingham visiting his friends, so they drove over.