Sunday 10 June 2012

We have decided to go for a curry.

What a week that has been, apart from the weather which we  have all shared, T-mobile's internet signal seemed to have disappeared, even from places where there is normally a good signal. Could it be the weather,does the rain wash all those little digits away? Or perhaps the wind whisks them off? Who knows.
We set off from Penkridge on Wednesday heading west. At Rodbaston Lock we came across this intriguing bit of B.W. engineering.

Careful examination and much head scratching led us to the conclusion that

it was designed to hold the four loose bricks on the lock entrance in place. Wouldn't a smidging of cement have been easier as well as more aesthetically pleasing?

At Gailey it is compulsory to take a photo' of the round house.
We stopped at Long Moll's Bridge (Still haven't found out who Long Moll was.) and stayed there on Thursday just watching the horizontal rain. We had to put the central heating on it was that cold, in June, unheard of.
 Our eldest had expressed a desire to spend a day with us on Saturday so on Friday we moved on to Cross Green. Wind, rain, normally we would have sat it out but we needed to be a bit nearer civilization. Had a great day on Saturday with Cairstine, Noah and Jonah, she treated us to lunch in The Fox and Anchor, can't be bad.
We set off early this morning and as we came through the rocking towards Cut End we had a thought.

(For those not in the know a rocking is a cutting, normally a narrow one.)
Mmm, we thought, Brewood (Pronounced Brood) isn't far down the Shroppie and at Brewood is located The Curry Inn, best curry house on the cut.
So as we arrived at the junction

we hung a swift right under the bridge,

through the stop lock, originally put there to make sure that one canal didn't pinch the water from the other and as a place where the load carried on the boat could be ascertained and the correct toll calculated

by the canal company toll keeper in the rather attractive toll house, and we headed up the Shropshire Union Canal.
We stopped at our favourite moorings on this stretch, between bridges 7&8 and Jill cooked up a splendid breakfast. The temptation was too great and here we have stayed.

If you look out across the fields you can see, in the distance, Cannock Chase and from behind it rises the cloud from the cooling towers of Rugely's power station, way over on the Trent And Mersey. Another piece of useless information brought to you by Narrow Boat Armadillo.

Watch this space.............

4 comments:

Sue said...

Maybe the men forgot to fetch the concrete? ;)

Geoff and Mags said...

It might be to prevent folk walking across the "dangerous" tail bridge until they can fix some aesthetically pleasing and historically accurate handrails....

ditchcrawler said...

I think Geoff is right, not sure about the last few words, I didn't see a smilie.

Graham and Jill Findlay said...

A handrail was our first thought and we carefully considered the 'elf and safety aspect but the structure just doesn't work as a handrail, there are gaps either side and even B.W. have managed simpler temporary rails elsewhere. Of course the wonders of B.W. passeth all understanding.