Taft Bridge Monday 4 January 2016

Well yesterday evening was much better than the the day and we went to bed under a star filed sky.

This morning we woke to a much better day we had 6½mm of rain yesterday. Setting off at 10 am we were somewhat surprised how the River Sow had risen over the past week.A Kingfisher sat watching us from a barb wire fence beside the canal, I took one shot of him hoping that he would stay as we passed, but it wasn’t to be and he flitted off just after the bows of the boat were level with him.

The River Sow links looks a lot closer today than it has for some time, I do wonder what the effects of floods will be if the link goes ahead.

The expanse of water at Tixal Wide is about the same both sides of the tow path. After leaving the wide at bridge 108 where they are sinking a large bore hole beside the canal they were hard at work pumping concrete slurry down, if they intend tunnelling under the canal I wonder how long it will be before they hit the water the other side. Just before the Trent Aqueduct there is a large house standing back from the canal, in front of the house last week was a large expanse of grass, today there is a large pond.

A clear run out of the junction at Gt Haywood and then sharp right on the Trent and Mersey Canal, Haywood lock was with us  and we were soon passing Shugborough Hall, another property that now has a lake in the front garden whether they want it or not. The River Trent is the water in the foreground. We carried on in the nice weather, we had had some slight drizzle but nothing to bother about. Just before Colwich lock we met a boat, I expected it to be a full length ex working boat but it was quite short and painted in Willow Wren livery. Below Colwich the level of the river and the canal are approximately the same but there is still some way for the river to rise before it tops the towpath and effects navigation. It was a tossup whether we stopped at Wolseley Bridge or carry on a bit, as it was fine we decided to push on and top up with diesel at Taft Bridge.
When we passed here on our way out there was a boat undercover in the field, its now been re-launched and is looking splendid in its new paint work and it looks as if fitting  out work is going on. We stopped opposite it and filed up with diesel as its the cheapest in the area and then only went a couple of hundred yards before mooring on the towpath for the night at 2 pm. This gives us a nice run back to the marina in the morning.

Today’s Journey 

10 miles, 4 locks, 1 Junction and 2 canals in 4 hours.