Surprised by Stafford and on to Shugborough

It may have been because it was after opening hours, but the town centre of Stafford was surprisingly pleasant.  Of course there were the obligatory scantily clad girls roaming the streets with their milk bottle white legs (and other bits!) on show, but we're sort of getting used to that now!  Once again there were a number of pubs, and all appeared to be thriving - maybe it's because Stafford is a university town and it must be coming up to time for a break for students?

 

 Looking along the High Street at dusk

Majestic black and white building settled cosily amongst the new - reportedly England's largest timber framed town house, now a museum

 Good old British telephone and letter boxes adorn the town square

A charming stroll alongside the River Sow and gardens - part of Victoria Park, a 13 acre Edwardian riverside park with an open-air paddling pool, bowling green, bird cages, greenhouse and two play areas

 

 

 

Previously a windmill but lost it's sail many years ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 4.2 mile round trip plus a walk around the town, must've had an effect on me because I didn't wake up until after 10 Wednesday morning!  I can't recall getting up so late for a long time; consequently we had yet another lazy day ...

We continued along the remainder of the Staffs and Worcs canal, which didn't disappoint; such a delightful journey and the sun even peeked out periodically to brighten the day.

Six goslings a swimming ...

A couple of glorious bridge and boat shots

 

And a few little residences along the way

We met the gentleman in this boat when moored on the Macclesfield canal last year so had a quick catch up - beautiful boat

 

Almost at the end of the Staffs and Worcs canal

 Moorings at Tixall wide - a swan seems to have mistakenly nested right by the towpath!

  The waterlillies are just flowering            Tixall Gatehouse

We moored for lunch (at 1530hrs!) at Tixall wide, where the owners of Tixall Hall (now sadly demolished) insisted that the canal be widened so that it didn't look like a canal - in the late 18th century of course it was a busy industrial route so wouldn't have been as pleasant as it is nowadays!  Unfortunately only the Gatehouse remains of the hall, though that in itself is pretty impressive. 

Tixall wide - designed to resemble a lake rather than a common canal!

 

It's also supposedly one of the best places to see kingfishers (of which Barry has yet to get a photo for me), but they must've all been hiding today.  It's a very picturesque spot apart from a poor sunken boat - we hope the owner has been informed and is planning a way of retrieving his prized possession and it's contents. 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving just past Great Haywood Junction, we moored for the night ready for our day out to Shugborough on Thursday - Barry will be in his element photographing the Hall, park and of course checking out some of Lord Lichfield's work.  As it's a National Trust property we should have free admission.

Great Haywood junction

The cobble stones over the canal bridge

 A stitched shot of the junction with the much photographed bridge

 

This little cafe seems the only part of Great Haywood that touches the canal

We took the opportunity to walk a mile or so along the Staffordshire Way in the evening, getting our first glimpses of the Hall to wet our appetite for Thursday's visit.

You can't beat the British countryside - even on a chilly, grey 'summer' evening

Wow!  Who would live in a house like this?  Lord Lichfield of course!

The Tower of the Winds - previously a dairy and gambling den!

The Essex Bridge - from Shugborough Park to the village of Great Haywood - has to be one of the most beautiful bridges ever

England's longest packhorse bridge - only wide enough to get a horse or pedestrian across

 

The weather really hasn't been to kind to us so far, not that it's a big deal, but we're beginning to wonder if there will be a summer in England this year??

Persisting in Penkridge

The rain persisted for much of the day, but we managed a stroll into Penkridge for a mooch about.  This is obviously a rather well-to-do area, despite all the English flags flying!  Sorry folks, but I find it rather tedious that the only time the English are in the least patriotic is when they're playing football in the World Cup - once they lose (which let's face it is inevitable!) half of England subsequently returns to a sullen mood.  Maybe I just don't understand the intricacies of it, having never seen the attraction of watching 22 men kicking a ball around a field knowing they are paid obscene amounts of money for such incredible (?) feats. 

I expect we'll try and watch 'The All Whites' playing somewhere along the way though, but won't be too downhearted when they lose - New Zealand was just chuffed to get through in the first place!  We'll wait until 2011 when we can win the rugby world cup - yeah right!

 

'The Boat' pub right by the canal - all ready for Sunday kickoff - aaargh!

 

Just a short walk into the village

 Not the greatest of weather today ...

but still some adorable sights to be seen

The gaol and stocks - unfortunately only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays! 

There's a definite air of affluence around the town, even the schoolchildren we saw were well behaved and courteous - and a surprising number of pubs which all seem to be thriving, which is amazing considering the population of Penkridge is less than 8,000.

 

The River Penk which is named after the town, not the other way round

 

 

 

   Penkridge basin and winding hole - the inhabitants of the nearest boat were a couple of Kiwis from Paeroa and Thames, here on holiday

   Lots of runners on the towpaths - dodging the doggy-do in some places!

As the rain cleared, we decided we'd move the five miles up to explore Stafford next, on our way to Shugborough Hall.  After our journeys through industrial Birmingham and Wolverhampton, it's refreshing to be back in the English countryside once more and the Staffs and Worcs canal meanders through some wonderful scenery.

  Under the very busy and noisy M6 north

Doesn't take long before the motorway fades away and we're back amongst the lush green foliage

Teddesley Boat Company and 'Lady Hatherton' 1898 moored beside

 

 

 

 

   Park Gate Lock

 

They're just sooo cute!

 

Some old boat woman!

 

Park Gate Lock cottage complete with dovecote

 

There's no shortage of canal side cottages along this stretch ...

 

Deptmore Lock and cottage - just a shame that this one was sadly neglected and derelict - what a waste :-( 

 

 

 

 

It's good to be chilling with the ducks and birds again

   Coming through Stafford Boat Club

 

A view into the marina

 

 

A very well maintained old working boat

 

 

 

 

 And back with the stunning swans and cygnets

 Just short of Radford Bridge where we moored for the night

I wasn't sure what was in Stafford, having never been there previously, so we had a two mile walk into town to explore in the evening to check it out ...

A literary delight

I managed to find some bacon, eggs and left-over potatoes to fry for a brunch this morning, so despite having no bread and hardly any milk we still ate a hearty meal to commence the day.  We were amazed not to wake up until 20 past 9, so just took our time as we hadn't much on today's agenda.

The entrance to the now disused Hetherton Canal - under the bridge is Calf Heath Marina, with Misty's pub on the right

Barry went for a short walk before breakfast and found this idyllic fishing lake complete with boat

This would have been full of water at one stage surrounded by the stone wall - it must've been a very special place in it's prime

We re-visited the round house at Gailey lock, but this time we weren't so frugal!  We took delight in sitting down in the bookshop on the first floor and skim read a few books before deciding which ones we'd spend our precious cash on - there's so many it was a struggle to contain ourselves!  The great thing about the shop, apart from the array of books, is the chairs available to sit and read in order to choose from the eclectic collection at a leisurely pace.  I found one that had interested me yesterday but I wasn't sure if the writing would be to my taste; having read the first three pages I was hooked.  It's called 'Kiwi Afloat', by a woman from Auckland who travelled on Britain's canals during the 70's and 80's before she returned to New Zealand in 1990.  She apparently self published and marketed her book - you can discover more on the canal shop uk website.  I'll let you know whether it's worth purchasing when I've read it in a few days or weeks.

Sandra immersed in her soon to be purchased book!

We got talking to the cheery lady who owns the shop and she informed us that she'd bought the building over 20 years ago.  It was originally built as a toll house in order for the toll keeper to see all angles of the canal and ensure that boats didn't slip through without paying, especially those carrying coal as they were charged extra.  When they bought the place it was derelict, but they've lovingly restored it and now live on the top floor.  What a wonderful place to reside.

Another shot of Gailey lock and toll house from Sunday's trip

This boat was called 'Yorkshire Rose' and had written on the side - "You can take the Lass out of Yorkshire but you can't take the Yorkshire out of the Lass" - wonder where they're from?

We meandered casually to Penkridge, arriving just before 1700hrs - we'd only managed about 5 miles and 7 locks, pathetic really!  Of course being on the canals should be the fastest way to go slowly - so we had a festina lente day (make haste slowly), such a luxury in this crazy 21st century of busyness.

Luckily the Co-op was still open and we stocked up on much needed provisions.

Today we've woken to persistent rain that appears to have set in for the day so it's unlikely we'll be moving far - but Penkridge seems like an interesting place so we'll be off to find out ...