The forecast was for a rather warm day and indeed it was. However, the hoped for sunshine did not arrive until around 4 pm as we arrived at thew top of the two locks above Fradley Junction. nevertheless, a very pleasant day for cruising.
We were just a little later than usual in setting off, partly as Mike had still to prepare something to say on Sunday morning!
Only four locks today, the first came quite soon at Colwich. This and the next two have an unusual feature: the balance beams were designed to be much shorter than elsewhere. Here the consequent loss of leverage and balance (the weight of the beams counteracts that of the gate itself) is compensated by attaching weights but these cannot have been original. At the next two the beams are cranked.
All this is hard to explain as the adjacent bridges seem to be original (they have the ironwork on top of the coping stones where top ropes have worn grooves) so why were they built too close to the locks for full length balance beams? A mystery which hopefully someone out there will answer!
We speculated as to whether this barn close to the church in the village of Colwich might once have been a Tithe barn.
Any questions about whether the power station at Rugeley had gone the same way as that at Meaford were soon answered when the characteristic plumes of water vapour from the huge cooling towers could be seen long before any sign of the structures themselves.
The Trent gradually increases in size - the proximity to so many power stations is testament to how much water flows down it - and now requires more significant bridges. This is Wolseley Bridge.
Through trees we could just see Bishton Hall, according to Nicholsons now a school. According to Google it is also an upmarket wedding venue as well as home to a prep school.
Just before Brindley Bank, the canal crosses over the Trent on a squat aqueduct.
An information board nearby references a story to be followed up . . .
We knew that Bridge 66 was the best place for shops in Rugeley - we have never been to the town before. There are plenty of visitor moorings although the first spot we tried was too shallow!
The town centre was only a few minutes walk from the canal - a new Tesco store is about to open on the opposite side of the bridge. There was a small outdoor market as well as an indoor one. Both they and the shops were a bit lack lustre and, alas, we made most of purchases at Morrisons.
The power station looms over the town but a line of out-of-scale conifers hides the site from the canal. As far as we could make out, quite a lot of the land once used by the power station has now been re-developed as a light industrial estate.
Spode House, together with an adjoining priory, was once home to the eponymous pottery family. It now seems to be open to the public as well as also being a wedding and conference venue.
Armitage Tunnel was long ago opened out and just leaves a long narrow section - boats need to take care than no-one is already in the narrows before entering it. A more recent bridge carries the A513 overhead and, for a short distance, it almost feels as if the tunnel has returned!
Most of the run from here to Fradley is very pretty and trees crowd in on both sides. The disadvantage is that they have been long neglected and the overhanging branches - especially the weeping willows - can make navigation much more difficult and, at times, hazardous.
Guess what this factory at Armitage makes!
Here, at Wood End Lock, is another of the cranked (and cramped) set of bottom gate balance beams.
As we neared Fradley the sun came out and there were bright blue patches in the sky. This sign reveals an interesting feature of the canal that we would otherwise have completely missed. It says, "The Trent and Mersey Canal Company dug this open channel to carry water from above Middle Lock to Fradley Pool. this stopped 'their' water from going into the Coventry Canal" Water has always been a precious commodity and we should not lose sight of that and take it for granted.
At the junction we planned to take on water. Despite it being given in Nicholsons, a water point by the pub is not for public use but luckily there was a 'proper' one just around the corner at the start of the Coventry Canal. The main service block is one lock down along the Trent and Mersey at the former Maintenance Yard so it was a bit of a carry for elsan and rubbish disposal.
We did not want to moor on the immediate visitor moorings (not a lot of space, crowded and not possibility of a satellite signal) so we carried on but it took a little while, through the village of Fradley itself, before we found a satisfactory mooring spot where there was enough depth of water beside the bank.
13.1 miles - 4 locks
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