Mike started on an email quite early and it took a while to complete. Afterwards and having had breakfast, he walked into town on a bright but exceedingly chilly morning.
The town seems largely modern and Mike could see only a few older properties. The first he came across was Wyre Hall, quite a substantial place. Parts of the house date back to the 17th century.
The Old Market Place is now a convenient shopping car park but a former mews is now quite derelict.
The small library was built in MDCCCLVIII (1858) and is still in use - but for how long will kit survive the austerity cuts having lasted this long? (Mike later discovered it started life as the town's police station)
Mike readily found the newspaper which the main reason he came for but was disappointed that The Old Sweet Shoppe would not open for another twenty minutes. Despite this being the secret reason for waking into town, rather than going to the small shop alongside Penkridge Lock, he did not feel waiting that long!
After making coffee we set off, a little later than usual and steadily worked down through a succession of locks, mostly near enough for Christine to walk between.
We disposed of rubbish and emptied the elsan as we waited for the lock to fill in the centre of Penkridge.
At Park Gate Lock we called into Midland Chandlers and although we could not replace our mooring rope that is rather worn (they only had ready made ones that were rather thin and our splicing skills are not really up to making our own) we did replace the mooring spike that was removed by our night visitor three weeks ago.
After Shutt Hill Lock Mike left Christine to steer the boat whilst he walked through Acton Trussell to meet up with her at Acton Bridge. Close to the lock is an entrance to Teddesley Park, which gives its name to several canal features.
Along the way he passed the parish church set slightly apart from the main village.
We have seen the Moat House in full swing on previous occasions - it has a popular canal-side function room but it is only from the road that it is possible to see how it gets its name.
The village looks a very quiet dormitory place, all very well manicured but with few facilities. Presumably people here drive into Penkridge for any shopping. Christine, having driven very slowly, was just arriving as Mike reached the bridge.
We decided to stop for lunch just below Deptmore Lock - this proved easier thought than done as a very strong wind was blowing the boat away from the bank it it unusually took both of us to moor up.
After a good break we set off once more with quite a long level pound around Stafford. We spotted the new base for RCR, every boater's friend at some time or another (or at least those wise enough to take out a subscription!)
It was still a bright and sunny afternoon as we passed alongside the River Penk valley shortly before passing over it on a short aqueduct.
By now some very dark clouds were beginning to loom and we wondered whether we would be soaked as we worked through Tixall Lock. However, the rain mostly passed to one side.
After a brief spell, more storm clouds arrived and as we reached Tixall Wide, very unpleasant sleet/hail came down in some quantity.
The usually popular moorings opposite the famous Tixall Gatehouse were quite empty with only four boats tied up there.
A short time later we arrived at Haywood Junction where we turned northwards along the Trent and Mersey.
As we left the first lock, Hoo Mill, the nasty sleet returned yet again so we quickly sought a suitable overnight mooring - not always so easy on the Trent and Mersey compared with the northern half of the Staffs and Worcs which has an excellent towpath bank for almost all of its length. Fortunately, the wind was blowing us onto the bank this time but Mike still felt almost frozen and wet by the time he crawled inside the comfort of the boat!
11.7 Miles - 8 Locks
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