Hopwas to Great Haywood

Again, we set off about 9 am.

The Coventry Canal winded its way onwards towards Fradley Junction and we made average progress.  It would have been quicker had a boat not pulled out on us at Whittington.

We passed Huddlesford Junction and the Lichfield Branch of the Wyrley and Essington Canal.  This branch is currently un-navigable but is being restored by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust.  I'd passed the other end of the branch during a trip back in 2002.

Another boat pulled away in front of us and were quite slow along the section through Streethay Wharf.  We could see it was a bunch of guys wearing bright blue woolley hats which made us think 'stag party'.

We stopped briefly at Bridge 90 to check the weed hatch and then pressed on towards Fradley Junction.  I knew that traffic at Fradley could be heavy and feared the worse.

A boat was just to pull off the water point and waved us through, opening the swing bridge for us as well.  As we got to the junction, a boat was just coming up the lock from the Trent direction but had to wait for us to turn on the Trent and Mersey Canal meaning we found ourselves at the front of the queue for the locks.

We met a couple of boats coming down and with help from the crew of the other boats behind us we managed to whizz through the locks putting us on a good footing to reach Great Haywood in good time.

In our last trip on the Trent and Mersey Canal we'd turned around at the winding hole at Handsacre at about 3 pm and made it back to Great Heywood for a good time.  Using this past knowledge I knew that as long as we passed Handsacre by 3 pm we would be on track to reach Great Haywood a day earlier than planned.  Ok, there was nothing to stop us carrying on later but it would be nice to stop before dusk.

We caught the 'stag party' boat up at Woodend Lock but by the time the lock was reset they were quite far ahead and we eventually passed them moored up.  Their back deck was covered in beer cans but they were enjoying themselves.

A few minutes later we passed the winding hole at Handsacre and were well short of 3 pm so knew that we'd be in Great Haywood that evening.

We passed the Armitage Shanks factory in Armitage and soon after I let Becky off the boat for Armitage Tunnel.  This is a single-track tunnel which is on a slight bend so it is a good idea to let crew off to walk ahead to check the tunnel is clear.  In fact it isn't really a tunnel anymore, the roof was removed in 1971 due to subsidence.

We passed through Rugely and headed out into the country again.  Just past Brindley Bank Aqueduct we met, coming the other way, the hire boat 'Empire' we had hired 18 months before.

We passed through Colwich Lock and were on the home straight and moored in view of Shugborough Hall just before 5 pm.

Joanna came and ate with us on the boat before we headed out to the Clifford Arms for a few drinks in the evening.