No zull

 

After a good nights sleep on Sunday night we pulled pins at 09.30 0n Monday morning and came upon the biggest fall out we have ever seen on our travels.

Just after bridge 8 on the Shropshire Union canal it goes very narrow and the boat in front of us entered the bridge ole and as it always happens there was a boat coming the other way. The approaching boat had a lady skipper and she absolutely flipped at the boat in front of us for entering the narrows while she was in them. He flipped back at her and all hell broke loose. The language they used was worse than mine , so that tells you how bad it was.

                     Carolyn thought it was funny, but she did go onto the bow to make sure no other boats were in the narrows as we entered them.

Bridge 10 is a very ornate balustrade bridge. When the canals were built rich landowners demanded that if the canals were going to cross their land they wanted only the best looking bridges that could be built.

                                                The bridge also comes in very handy as somewhere to shelter when its raining.

After an hour of cruising we arrived in Brewood and after mooring we headed off in to the village to pick up a few supplies. It has everything you need from a Spar shop ,Co-op,  Bakers , Butchers and several pubs.

               No visit to a Town or village is complete without a visit to the local church and an opportunity for Carolyn to search for my final resting place.

                                                                                            Our mooring in a cutting for the night at Brewood.

                             On Tuesday we pulled pins at 08.30 and passed what has to be the smallest narrow boat we have ever seen.

                                                                             Some more good boat names.

This is how we expected the Shroppie to be except for having the worse towpaths we have ever seen. Carolyn usually likes to walk Molly and Hamish for an hour or two but there was no chance of that along here.

                                                                    One of the many cuttings on The Shroppie.

                                                                          The narrow approach to Cowley Tunnel

                                                       And entering the Tunnel which is carved out of solid rock.

                              From the northern portal,  Cowley Tunnel is only 81 yards long but there is something very special about passing through it.

                                                            We picked up this mooring at 13.30 on the far side of Gnosall (pronounced No zull)

The afternoon was spent cleaning the roof on Inca. After a winter of burning coal and wood it was in a bit of a state, but after a few hours of hard scrubbing it cleaned up a treat. We rounded off the day with a walk along the the disused Stafford-Shrewsbury railway line.

                                                        Happy Days