Thursday 14 May 2009

Destination Churnet Valley Railway

3 Locks, 6½ Miles. Now moored above bridge 84 Trent & Mersey Canal.


The mansion in the village of Tixall as seen from Tixall Wide.

Our little sojourn at Great Haywood was at an end as all our planned chores had now been completed and it was time to go. The weather forecast for the day wasn’t brilliant and we had a few heavy showers of rain during breakfast but we took the plunge and cast off.

First stop along the way was Anglo Welsh for diesel and a pump out. While I tended to these chores Dot visited the farm shop for fresh vegetables and another of their delicious cheese loaves (they dis-appear fast around here). When it came to extricate ourselves from Anglo Welsh’s yard that wasn’t so easy as the wind kept blowing us back. Only thing for it was for Dot to drive straight ahead so I could get off the bow onto the opposite towpath and bow haul the boat around to line it up with the bridge hole when we could get underway again.

The trip up to our present moorings was pretty uneventful with just a few boats on the move which luckily we met at the locks saving time and energy. From where we are now moored it is approx 20 miles and 20 locks to Froghall and the railway but with bad weather looming for the next few days we may miss this week-ends steam loco scheduled services so we will probably catch the following Saturdays services.

1613 locks, 3444 miles, 59 Tunnels, 45 swing bridges and 39 lift bridges since Nov 2006

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