Cheese

Friday 15^th October; Brewood to Norbury Junction visitor moorings

We woke late to the happy sounds of schoolchildren in the playground echoing in the trees way above us.  We could see it was a sunny day, though it was still very shady down on the moorings.   Meg enjoyed her breakfast of chicken and potato before we all went up to the bakery for bread and some tasty snacks for lunch.  This is the obligatory photo back up the road towards Speedwell Castle, which I took yesterday – the school lollipop person was looking after the stragglers going home from school. We were far too late for him this morning!  The building is supposed to have been named for the winner of a horserace, and built with the proceeds of the successful bet.  Must have been quite long odds.

It was after 10 by the time we toddled off into the sunshine.  The shady bits were still very chilly but it was a lovely morning.  There wasn’t much boat traffic but the A5 was very busy where it runs under Stretton Aqueduct.  From a distance the pillars looked like people huddling beside the railings.  The low sun picked out the decorative details.

The lock at Wheaton Aston was against us but we were soon through.  I closed up then buzzed down to see if there was room to moor, which there was, but it took a long time for Dave to arrive – a 70-footer was doing his best to turn in the winding hole but the bow kept getting caught by the wind.  Eventually we were moored up and had a relaxed lunch in the sunshine, after which we disposed of the rubbish and then called in at That’s D’riculous, the Cheese Boat, and bought some Black Bob extra mature cheddar.  That’s now in the back of the fridge at home, where it will keep fresh in its wax coating for ages.

The sun stayed out as we cruised, though the shady bits got progressively chillier as the afternoon wore on.  It looked as though the vegetation work going on at the moment is concentrating on trees that might fall during the winter – a couple of boaters were selecting logs where the work had been finished, and the men were still busy further on.

I hope these beautiful arching trees will escape the cull and not fall down either this winter!

As I write this it is nearly Halloween, but even in mid-October boats and houses were already being decorated spookily.  Why is this?  Carved pumpkins are fun (though it was a swede when I was a child), but now it’s all fake cobwebs (which trap birds when they are draped over bushes) and plastic bats and skeletons.  It must be down to commercial considerations that we are encouraged to spend money on plastic tat that will break and be discarded?  And it seems to start earlier every year …..  Grumble grumble.....  However most of the skeletons along the canal network seem to be rather more substantial fixtures and I find them amusing, especially when they are fishing or have a witty message with them!

A witch and not a skeleton, but it is still one of my favourites.

By the time were in the cuttings on the approach to Gnosall we had our woolly hats on and I soon added a warm fleece and gloves as it was so cold – and it wasn’t even 4 o’clock.  Today was the first time we had got something round the prop, but correctly guessing it was only going to be leaves, Dave dropped into neutral for a while, and had to do that on several occasions before we moored for the night.

Cowley tunnel, north portal

Many hirers from Norton Junction stop at Gnosall on their last night, which is fine if you don’t mind getting up at 6 to return the boat before 9.  Well we did, so we opted for another hour in bed and went on to the visitor moorings at Norbury Junction.  By 5 we were inside and lighting the fire, for a cosy evening in – and starting the packing.

10½ miles, 1 lock, lots of leaves and kingfishers