Day 7 Saturday, 27 September

Fradley Junction to Pasturefields Saltmarsh

Today we have continued our journey north along the T&M canal.  Having had a reasonably easy start to the day & only set off at 10:30 with our first place we passed through being Fradley Junction.

If you've not ever sat on the side of the canal to watch the boats then I would suggest somewhere like Fradley Junction would be a great place to spend some time on a sunny day!  To start with it's very pretty with a pub right on the junction where you could sit with your favourite tipple & watch the boats; most people on boats have the hang of it but there's always a few who get it wrong & they're the ones to watch!

Fradley Junction & The Swan pub

From Fradley we climbed up through 3 locks which raise the canal by almost 20 feet & the surrounding area is mainly woodland & countryside, but the canal was built for industry & shortly we reached Armitage.

Armitage factory towers over the canal

 Armitage is well known for sanitary ware & there were stacks & stacks of toilets waiting to sent to bathroom shops

A pallet of loos!

After the factories the canal passes through the former site of the Armitage tunnel; subsidence caused by coal mining meant that it was necessary to open out the tunnel so the canal could have a concrete lining as previously it had been cut through the rock & now there is only room along this stretch for a single boat.

Former site of the Armitage tunnel 

After a quick stop at the new Tesco's at Rugeley the canal again passes back into the countryside & past Shugborough Hall; former home of the Bishops of Lichfield which is now open to the public & run by the National Trust

 Shugborough Hall

A short distance from Shugborough Hall, the canal passes through Haywood Locks which is only 4'2" & onto Haywood Junction where the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal meets the Trent & Mersey Canal.

Haywood Junction

At the tail of many locks, small bridges were provided to avoid the need to cross the lock over the bottom gates. These ranged from brick bridges to 1960s flat decks built in concrete. The picture below shows a split bridge, constructed from metal in two halves to allow the towrope from a horse through the centre of the arch.  

Split Bridge at Hoo Mill Lock on the T&M Canal

Our plan for this evening was to get to Western to meet up with a couple who used to own a share in Eos, but we didn't quite get there!  We are moored at Pasturefields Saltmarsh which is an area of inland saltmarsh where salt tolerant plants thrive....as it was almost dark when we arrived I have no idea what's out there!  Hopefully we'll catch up with our friends tomorrow.

Wildlife we've seen today

Today we've boated for 8 hours through 6 locks