Penkridge in this weather? Maybe not today!

Friday 13^th October; Tixall Wide to St Thomas Bridge, Baswich

It rained all night.  Not fiercely enough to frighten the dog, but it was still heavy.  I’m not keen on ’improved’ towpaths in general, but was very grateful for this one when I took Meg out – just a bit of grit on my soles instead of mud.  But according to last night’s forecast, there was only a 50% chance of rain this morning, so as it cleared a bit we prepared to set off.

We really should have checked again this morning before we left!  I’d put my full wet weathers on as I didn’t want to get wet clothes as I worked Tixall lock, and it was just as well – it started to drizzle as we cast off (oh well, we thought, this would be the 50%), but it didn’t really stop. 

On the top balance beam

One of the ground paddles is out of action, but the top gate leaks so badly that you barely notice the lack.  The rain wasn’t so bad we couldn’t drink a cup of tea as we cruised, but Meg soon disappeared inside to her nice dry bed.  Then it got heavier.  At least, we thought, it’s not far to Baswich where we wanted to stop to look at the progress on the link to Stafford.  No, not far but it’s not nice cruising in a downpour.  The rain lessened a bit after a while, so I could snap this boater’s garden as we reached the edge of the mobile home park.

A fan of the monarchy

We tied up at St Thomas bridge and I went off to the Co-op straight away.  There is a pavement to walk on, but the road is busy and exhaust fumes hung in the wet air.  We didn’t realise there was a shop here until we checked on Google – it’s not mentioned in Nicholson’s.  It’s small, not a lot bigger than a good corner shop.  But I got what we needed.  I hadn’t been back long when it started to rain really heavily.  It eased up a little bit after lunch, so as Meg needed a walk we went to look at the works on the Stafford Riverway link.  You can’t see much from the towpath.

RCR HQ is on the industrial estate on the offside

But Dave had noticed a footpath leading off the towpath as we came through the bridge, so back we went, over the stile and crossed the field to get closer to the work.  From 1816, Stafford town centre was served by the Stafford Branch Canal and River Sow Navigation, but this fell out of use in the 1920s.  Restoration has been in progress for a few years now to rebuild the link for community benefit.  It will be called the Stafford Riverway Link.  It originally consisted of a short section of canal from the Staffs & Worcester leading via a basin and a lock down into the River Sow.  The river course from there was straightened and made navigable for another 1½ miles to the terminus near Green Bridge in Stafford.  The basin walls have now been reconstructed along with the entrance to the future lock – Waterway Routes shows the positions of both the original and the future locks.

 

The basin reconstructed

The new lock's entrance

 

 

I think the lock will be called Finney’s lock, but as you can see I wasn’t careful enough with the photo to get the whole name.  We then walked back across the field towards the road, where another path – or rather a long bridge - leads from the road across to the far side of the flood plain, which was certainly performing its function today!

 

We think this shows the course of the river Sow swinging round from the right – it’s hard to tell as it’s broken its banks.  We wondered if the red and white pole was a depth marker – but no, it’s the indicator for the route of the gas pipe!  There was another behind us on the other side of the footpath bridge, so maybe the pipe’s route is what influenced the siting of the new lock and channel, which is different from the original route.  The bridge is known as the Two Waters Way, and is a shared use path for pedestrians and cyclists linking Baswich with the housing estate we could see from the canal.  The two waters are the rivers Sow and Penk – their confluence is about 100 metres east of the bridge, apparently having been re-routed at some point in the past.

 

The rain had been fairly light as we had our walk, but it pelted down once more after we got back to the boat.  We had a cup of tea, and decided to stay put as the rain wasn’t due to let up till 5.  And I was getting cold by now, so we lit the fire.  There was a little flurry of boats after 5, including a share boat based at Great Haywood – we wondered if they were doing the Four Counties ring in a week as we used to do!  There was even a glimpse of sun for Dave as he walked Meg again a bit later, and a patch of blue sky above the boat.  But it’s getting colder.

 

2½ miles, 1 lock, a lot of rain and just 1½ hours cruising time.