Thursday 23rd July; Shugborough to Aston marina
It was cool when we set off at about 9, but that didn’t last long. There was a short wait at Haywood Lock as a day-boat came down, and a boat waiting for the lock as we left. It was quite busy boat-wise – several green hire boats from Stone had gone past us yesterday evening, looking as though they were travelling together, and a couple went by earlier this morning travelling back towards Stone. We snaffled a space just past the junction for a quick visit to the canalside shop before we went on to Hoo Mill lock, where there was a queue. Hoo Mill lock has been on restricted opening hours since 16th June, with the paddles locked from 6 pm to 9 am to 'allow CRT to closely monitor water levels and ensure none went over the weir by running water through the lock as necessary'. The bywash culvert was damaged and out of use until repairs have been completed.
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| The bywash sandbagged |
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| Chain ready for this evening |
I spoke to a guy working on the repairs, and he thought they were ‘nearly done’ though it didn’t look like that to me. The repairs will include the road surface and the downstream headwall, and the restriction end date isn’t till 14th August.
t was hard to see exactly what was going on
Weston Lock was next. That’s in a ropey condition too, unlike its namesake down towards Shardlow.
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| The top gate is falling apart at both ends |
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| Yet it's not on the winter stoppage list |
We made a lunch stop at the Salt moorings, and got to the marina at about 4. We checked in before the office closed, then went for a walk to refresh our memories of the way to the towpath for Dave to get to Stone station in the morning. We paused on our way past the restaurant for an ice-cream and sat on a shady bench overlooking the marina to enjoy it.
Salt bridge
8½ miles, 2 locks
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