Otherton - Penkridge

 Today's Canal - Staffs and Worcs

This morning was very grey and overcast, not too chilly with a few glimpses of sun, but it did remain dry. 

We still had and half miles of the summit pound to complete, including passing through Hatherton Junction.

In the line of moored boats just before Calf Heath we spotted this one - of course, Kernow is the popular name for Cornwall, until recently our 'home' county. Whilst it sported a Cornish Flag on its ensign staff. However, it also says that it comes from Tipton (in the Black Country)

Hatherton Junction is one end of the former Hatherton Canal that connected from here through to the Wyrley and Essington Canal near to the Cannock Extension Canal. It is paet of the the aim of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust to re-open both and create several new cruising routes. The trust benefits greatly from the publicity that David Suchet gives. The canal, a branch of the Staffs and Worcs, opened in 1863 and primarily carried coal from the very valuable mines around Great Wyrley. By the post war period when there was a rush to close many canals, the Hatherton Canal suffered from the effects of the mining especially some extensive open cast workings.

A large waste to energy plant operated by Veolia was opened about five years ago on the old industrial site at Four Ashes. It first comes into view well before Hatherton Junction but it is some while later that we actually passed close by. It processes 340,000 tonnes of household waste each year - it is initially burnt to producer heat and thus electricity whilst valuable metals are later recovered from the ash.

Both sides of the canal at Four Ashes have been a chemical site for a long time. At one stage it belonged to Shell but now, after several takeovers, it is party of the US Schenectady International company. The eastern side of the site has now been decontaminated and several large industrial units have been built, with more on the way. One houses a factory making car parts.

We continued to Gailey where we paused above the lock to carry out a full service - the last time was in the basin at Stourbridge before we left on Friday morning.

When we had finished we descended the lock (it is all downhill from here to the Trent!) to moor for lunch just below. As we tied up rain arrived and it was very wet - in fact this lasted all afternoon until after we stopped for the night.

We eventually made a move even if we knew we would be soaked! The first lock was Brick Kiln Lock and our photo shows how hard it was raining.

We had to work through four locks before we could expect a mooring not immediately alongside he motorway. We were doing reasonably well until the last - we were well aware of how slippery everywhere was (not go mention muddy) and as he stepped off the boat as we came into the lock he reminded himself to be careful. Nevertheless, is feet slipped under him and he ended up flat on the lockside but with his legs in the water up to his knees! Fortunately he was able to roll himself safely clear of the edge before continuing with the lock operation.

Shortly after, just outside Otherton Boat Haven, we found a mooring marked on our maps that was as far away from the motorway as we were going to get for some distance. In any event, Penkridge is just around the corner and we may need to do a top-up shop there in the morning. After we tied up, we could not light the fire quickly enough and put on the radiators and Mike was rather keen to change into some dry clothes!

6.6 Miles - 5 Locks