Monday 19th August; Aston Marina to near Brassworks Bridge
At least it didn’t rain on the drive up from Devon, but traffic was heavy and the drive was tedious and tiring. I had plenty of time to compose a photo of the deserted Tame Valley Aqueduct as we crawled towards it.
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| No queues on the Tame Valley canal |
The only boat we have ever seen on this aqueduct is our own – Chuffed, back in 2016 when we spent much of our summer cruising time on the ‘backwaters’ of the BCN. Following the devastating chemical spill into the Walsall canal, the lock flights on the ‘backwaters’ were all closed until the spillage could be contained, meaning the lesser-visited parts such as the Tame Valley canal were even quieter. As I write, it’s only the Walsall flight that is closed; CRT says “The Walsall Canal remains closed to navigation north of the junction at Ocker Hill and to the junction with the Wyrley and Essington Canal. Navigation barriers, stop planks and dams have been installed in the Walsall Canal as part of the containment measures for the pollution and will remain for the time being”. I wonder who will end up paying for the clean-up? CRT already has an appeal going.
We didn’t leave the marina till about 5. The strong wind made leaving our berth a
little tricky but the canal itself was sheltered. Aston lock took a while to ascend –
there is a lot of leakage from the bottom gates. I wonder if it is on the winter works programme?
Although we were told there was mooring available in Stone, we preferred to stay out of town – we found Stone rather noisy when we came through last month.
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| Not far from Brassworks Bridge |
1 mile, 1 lock
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