When we had moored at Tixall Wide (I’ve been missing the last ‘L’ from Tixall) the heavend opened and a torrent of rain, thunder and lightning battered us for a few hours. Luckily, we had just moored up before it started – so how lucky was that. It had been grey and overcast most of the day, but after the rain it did cheer up a little bit and the evening turned out to be very pleasant.

We stayed the next day, and again in the evening after lots of rain during the day, it came out wonderfully sunny in the evening. Later, as the air cooled with the open, clear sky we got some mist forming near the ground. That coupled with the sunset was stunning. Of course, you’re just going to get the feeble efforts of my phone’s camera (which is then processed to reduce its size) – but it will have to do! You’ll still get the idea I hope.

Well, you know how they say all the best laid plans etc. We decided that we probably had a bit more time on our hands than we first thought as the solicitors who are currently ballsing up Dee’s move need more time to really screw it up. We first thought we’d go down the T&M and then turn right into Tixal Wide, then turn around there and head down into Great Haywood and then turn again and head back. Instead we stayed at Great Haywood for a couple of days, just before the lock. We then thought we’d sail down to Rugeley (pronounced like the stuff women spade onto their faces to look embarrassed all the time) and then onto to Handsacre where we can turn around and come back to great Haywood for the services, and then go down to Tixal wide. Rather then then turning around there, we will carry on down the Staffy and turn around after the services in Penkridge. This will take us well into next week and gives us a chance to explore Penkridge a bit more. So the new map is below with the stops we will make 🛑️ shown and the orange shows the second part of the sail on the Staffy.

Of course, we have been to all these places at least once now, so I will not bother doing a page for each, but will like to the relevant pages from the previous times we visited them. I’ll add the links soon! Right now, we are in Tixal Wide having gone to Rugeley and Handsacre and then returned to Great Haywood and filled with water and pumped out the toilet!

Now that Damara is all set in storage, we have some time to kill and what better way to do that than sail along the cut and find a few pubs to test! So, here we go! It’s the 11th August and we don’t expect to have to return to Dee’s until around the 28th, so that’s plenty of time to put a few miles on the clock and soak up some of the lovely weather. Well, on the weather front, it looks like wall to wall rain, with the odd break for a thunderstorm! Still, I am water proof and quite like navigating in the rain – so we’ll be fine!

• Weston Upon Trent
• Tixal Wide
• Little Haywood

We are a bit unsure where exactly we will be going, but it will be around this area. We are definitely going to go to Tixal Wide and turn around there and hopefully moor for a day or two, and we do want to go south a bit further than great Haywood, so we’ll see what happens when we get there.

On My birthday, we drove down to Damara’s place and prepared to move all her stuff from her flat into storage. We collected the van on Friday and then, on one of the hottest days of the year we spent the day humping sofa’s and beds down 2 flights of stairs! It was hard work 😥️ So the next thing we need to do is get the solicotors to finally exchange contracts and then complete so Dee can move into her new place and we can move all her stuff from storage into her flat! It should not be so bad next time as there are no stairs involved.

So that’s the Middlewich Branch, Shropshire Union and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canals done! We are back on the Trent and Mersey with a short jaunt back to Stone and Aston Marina. Its been a wonder ful trip and a real tonic after lockdown and it makes us all the more keen to get out and about as much as we can. Winter is not too far away now, so hopefully when we get back from moving Dee (and all that is up in the air at the moment) we can set off again down the coventry, and maybe even meet up with some friends whilst we’re at it!

Sadly, after Penkridge we are really on the last stretch of the Staffy. We will make a couple of stops and then we will be turning onto the Trent and Mersey canal and back to Stone to leave the boat at help Dee move flats. So short and sweet summarises this canal, and we will definitely try to sail it’s entire length next year or the year after.

After Penkridge we will stop over in Acton Trussel and then we will stop over in Tixel Wide, which is part of the canal made to look like a lake, to appease the land owner.

• Penkridge
• Acton Trussel
• Tixel Wide

As we sailed along the twisty Staffy we got to Otherton Boat Haven and stopped for a pump out – and this lovely girl was there looking after the office! Onwards to Penkridge for the weekend.

Hello Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal. Lets see how it compares. One thing for sure is that its a lot more twisty than the Shroppy which is the straightest canal I’ve ever seen!

As we started to cruise the Staffy we noticed that, despite being on the outskirts of Wolverhampton and right in the middle of a housing estate the canal was still very green and pleasant.

We made good progress, so much so we caught up with Steve and Caroline and overtook them when Steve managed to run aground after waiting ages for loads of boats to come past. They plan to go all the way up to just before the first lock, whereas we are going to stop just after the canal goes under the motorway at a place called cross green. There are rumours of a pub in the vicinity. Details of our stops below.

• Cross Green
• Just past Gailey top lock

Here are the last few places before we left the Shropshire Union and joined the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal.

• Wheaton Aston
• Brewood
• Autherley Junction

So that was the shroppy or Shropshire Union. All I can say was is is lovely, picturesque and really pleasant canal to sail down. I think so far, its my favourite.

On the 18th July we split up from Steve and Caroline and sailed off to Newbury and the much needed pumpout! It was not far from where we moored and as usual, the canal was stunning. On the sail down we went through a cutting in the rocks which was dug by hand using nothing more than a pick axe! Really impressive.

Its not long now until we reach the end of the Shropshire Union and Join the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal.