Wandering in the rain

Bankside breakfast for a nuthatch courtesy of Tug Harry's diner

Tug Harry's mobile bird feeding service did brisk business this morning. Every day after we moor up Mrs B hangs out her nut feeder, fat ball and mini bird table (an old plastic flower pot saucer) on the nearest hedgerow.
It's amazing how quickly the local birds find them but this morning in our quiet country mooring above Gailey we quickly had a crowd, among them some long tailed tits and a pair of exquisite (and rare) nuthatches.
But after watching them scoffing nuts for an hour, we were getting restless. It might be tipping with rain but it was time to move on. Understandably virtually no-one else was. Only Jacko on coal boat Roach passed us, his fully laden boat sitting low and handsome in the water.

Loaded coal boat Roach passing us by

From Gailey the canal follows a clasic Brindley summit route, squirming and wriggling to follow the natural contour of the land. It's scrubby, non-descript country; former heathland that is relatively worthless for agriculture. These sorts of land, as we've often seen, become homes to stabling and pastures, oddball bungalows owned by collectors of ageing vehicles and farmware and the occasional industry, too toxic or anti-social to be located anywhere else.
And so it is at Calf Heath where the canal runs past a massive chemical plant ('no mooring or stopping even if the alarm sounds') followed shortly by the bulky buildings and enormous chimneys of an incinerator. Or Energy Recovery Facility as its owners Veolia call it.
The canal wriggles its way through three sides of an erratic square from here, at one point passing the junction with the old Hatherton Canal, now part of a marina but potentially part of the restored Lichfield and Hatherton Canal which one day will provide a route across the top of Birmingham and a new cruising ring. One day. For now, motorists can spot the aqueduct bridge across the M6 Toll just waiting for canals to meet it either side.
After its shallow start the S&W is now deep and wide – save at one spot where we briefly ran aground. Ironically this was at the mis-named Deepmore Bridge.
We finally pulled up by the Fox & Anchor pub at Cross Green, once a boatsman's boozer called the Anchor and now a smart dine and drink country hostelry.

Stepping back in time

The handsome St Michaels and All Angels church at Penkridge

Anyone who has been following 'Wolf Hall' on BBC will be aware that the political shenanigans in Tudor England made today's politics look like a kindergarten squabble.
At Penkridge we came upon one of the beneficiaries of the in-fighting in the shape of the elaborate tombs of Sir Edward Littleton and various of his family. Littleton was a bit of a nouveau riche character in the eyes of the aristocratic gentry of the day but he was a canny operator with friends in high places who leased or bought lands, often using the courts to pursue his claims. Over the years he amassed many thousands of agricultural acres around what are now Brewood, Penkridge and Cannock where the family's second huge stately home, Teddesley Hall was built in the 1700s.
Ironically, what were in Tudor times wealthy agricultural lands were to become yet more valuable when the Industrial Revolution arrived and coal was discovered there. Coal from the big Littleton Colliery was shipped by narrowboats down the canal to Stourport power station. The large colliery basin is now obliterated by the M6 and recent improvement work on the motorway has removed the last traces of the short arm that linked to the main S&W

Magnificent in scale and delicate in detail, a Littleton tomb

The Church of St Michael in Penkridge where the Littletons lie was a collegiate church, one step down from a cathedral and Littleton leased many of the lands it owned when the Reformation took ownership away from the churches. Littleton had the church itself remodelled into its present impressive perpendicular style too.

Every hair on Littleton's beard has been perfectly delineated

See the detail in Lady Littleton's dress and the fine carving around the tomb

The tombs, three of them, are stunning for the size, their magnificence and the sheer detail of the alabaster carvings. There is one either side of the chancel but the finest is at the end: a double-height affair with son and wife above and father and wife below. Every detail, from the hairs of his beard to the look on the face of the dog at his feet remains perfect.
Forget the main road that slices along one edge of it and the village (for it's scarcely a town) of Penkridge seems like a step back in time with its narrow, timber frame building lined main street, butchers with chain fly-curtain in the doorway and – more than anything else – the twice weekly market.

Rather a contrast: chickens await their buyers at the livestock auction

This is as close as a proper old fashioned market as you're likely to find these days. Not one of those with a handful of stalls pushing cheap clothes, fall-apart tools and phone unlocking services, no the Penkridge market is huge and sprawling. You can buy everything from a ball of wool to a live duck.
Yes, a live duck. The covered market was holding its livestock auction - and we could hear the rival cockerels crowing half across the marketplace. Ducks, chickens, bantams, pheasants, geese: they were all there in their cages. Not a pleasant sight, perhaps, for those of us who buy our meat in supermarkets but that's farming life.
All that was lacking in the market were small stalls selling random old toot – but there was plenty of that in the sale at the auction rooms next door. No chairs for us, though, so we moved on and I never got to see what Item 407 'A quantity of offensive items' actually was.

Rodbaston Lock where two centuries of transport are within touching distance

Back on the canal we climbed the last of the locks, passing within yards of the M6 on the way, to reach to the summit level at Gailey where we are stopped tonight.

Off the main road and into a country lane

Harry winds through the rural Staff & Worcs

The Trent&Mersey is what you might call a main road among canals; wide, deep (apart from a few black spots) and running right up through the country. By contrast, the Staffs & Worcs which we turned onto at Great Haywood junction is a country B-road, twisting and winding a much shorter route around the countryside of the two counties that give it its name, never that far from greater Birmingham but largely rural. It's narrow, often shallow - too shallow in places - and can't be rushed.
It took us much of the day to weave our way along its route as it follows the sinuous river valleys past Stafford and beyond. On the way it rewarded us with some delightful scenery but some frustrating times too.
The first stretch past the famous Tixall wide and along the valley of the River Sow is stunning. The morning was bright and brilliantly sunny: it could have been midsummer apart from the chilly breeze. But too soon we were reminded of the silty shallowness of so much of the canal as we trickled slowly along, churning silt and leaf mulch as we went. The bridges are narrower than on the T&M, too, and a couple of times we were dragged close to the side of an arch by the thick silt. Anxious moments as I whipped the chimney off before the bridge did it for me!
There's no town to speak of on this part of the canal – Stafford is nearby but from the nearest bridge it is still over a mile away. Nor is it a busy canal - at least not today - we saw just three moving craft in the whole day.

The dredging team at Great Haywood

And the results: offside re-edged and infilled with dredged material

Apart, that is, from the dredging team on the Trent & Mersey. Back at Great Haywood they have been re-edging a long stretch of the eaten away offside and infilling the gaps with material dredged out from the canal. Full and empty dumb barges pushed by their powerful little tugs had passed us while we were moored there. Dredging is not as easy as it once was; the dredged out material is classed as 'contaminated' so it can't be dumped just anywhere - the easiest solution is to do what's been done here, build a new semi-permanent edge along the canal as you dredges and dump the waste behind it. That's not quick. The work's been going on for 16 weeks now here and probably done half a mile of canal bed. And there's more to come, below Colwich Lock. Harry could certainly feel the extra depth beneath us as we passed along the newly stretch patch. Hopefully the S&W will be on the list soon. Boy, does it need it.

Evidence of more work: neatly trimmed hedge on the S&W

But quiet country lane of the waterways the canal may be, the busy contrast of modern life is never far away. The streamlined Virgin Pendelino trains run close to the canal in some of its early miles but much worse is the roar of the M6 which shadows it for several miles. Occupants of the amusingly named village of Acton Trussell must feel they are living next to a bellowing Premier League football crowd such is the 24 hour a day traffic roar.
Tonight we are moored at the little market town of Penkridge and thankfully hidden from its noise, though we still haven't shaken off its presence on the canal. It's market day at Penkridge tomorrow and there's an auction sale too. Maybe we'll find some badly needed armchairs for the boat.

Worrying about water

Leaving the Coventry and heading round onto the Trent & Mersey at Fradley

We headed west out of the Coventry Canal onto the Trent & Mersey this morning, through a still-quiet Fradley Junction, despite it being first day of school half terms.
We locked up through Middle and Shade House locks and cruised the half mile up to the idyllically set Woodend Lock where a C&RT volunteer was waiting for us. Quite a surprise, given how the quiet the canal is.
But then it turned out that the quieter the better, as far as he was concerned. He wasn't there to help boats through, rather to measure water leakage through the lock. He measured the drop in level over an hour with the lock full and the increase over an hour with it empty. Fortunately, we didn't come along after 59 minutes. In fact he had just finished his measurements.
The data he collects gets sent up to C&RT who use it to help assess whether a lock is showing too much leakage. And, more importantly, whether it can be sorted in a short stoppage. For leakages are starting to get a bit more significant. Because the winter has been so lacking in rainfall C&RT is already starting to get worried about water supply shortages in the summer. Hence an increase in the amount of data being collected.
The isolated, rural charm of Woodend lock and cottage was due to be destroyed by an HS2 route that was going to cleave straight across the canal here. However the route has been revised after protests and the unique lock setting has been saved. Or has it? It seems that, though the line will be further away, a massive marshalling yard is still planned to be within sight of the spot. Argh!

A last look at Lichfield

Lichfield Cathedral with its three spires

We are finally headed away from Lichfield - and pleased to be. No offence to the town but we've been circling the block for a couple of months now and it's time to move on.
But even though we've spent a lot of time here – and I mean a lot; we did up Harry and worked on our previous boat, Star, for many weeks at Streethay Wharf – despite all that time we only visited the city's museum on our final visit. And discovered what a fascinating little city it is.
Lichfield was at the centre of things in English history since Roman times: just south of the present city was a major Roman town at the junction of two main Roman roads – Icknield Street and Watling Street. When they left, today's city slowly evolved nearby. It was virtually destroyed by the Vikings, then rebuilt with a new three-spired Gothic cathedral replacing the old Saxon one.

Market Square with statue of Samuel Johnson who was born in the city

Five hundred years later it was a significant stronghold fought over in the Civil War, being captured and re-captured by both sides. But the city reached its zenith in the 18th century. It was the home of Samuel Johnson and of Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin, a physician, philosopher, scientist and one of the leading figures in the Lunar Society, a group of industrialists and intellectuals many of whom were at the heart of the coming industrial revolution and the canals. Actor and theatre manager David Garrick also lived in Lichfield at the same time, as did the poet Anna Seward.
Modern times have in some ways passed it by: the old coaching roads that used to run through it are now the M6 and A38 trunk roads and the West Coast Mainline railway roars past a couple of miles away.
Even the canal remains frustrating distant: the nearest mooring demands a walk up a muddy hill to reach the road and a 20 minute trek into town. Take a tip from one who's tried every route: the simplest way is to moor in nearby Whittington (an amiable village with pubs, Co-op and P.O.) and get a bus which comes every half an hour.
One day, there may be another way. The Lichfield & Hatherton Canal is being restored and will run from Huddlesford Junction through to Lichfield and beyond. Indeed, as a tempting view of what things will be like, a section in Lichfield is now in water, and very impressive it looks too.

Boats are the only things missing - the restored L&H in Lichfield

Tamworth's Enigma Code hero

Magnificent memorial among the 70s ugliness of Tamworth

Few boaters venture further into Tamworth than the huge out of town Ventura retail park that borders the canal.
And, having been into the town centre, they're not missing a lot. Poor old Tamworth is one of those towns that were probably once attractive, elegant even, but suffered badly from 1970s brutalisation with ugly, cheapjack shopping precincts and their ghastly architecture. Then, of course, along came Tamowrth's massive out-of-town developments of huge superstores, cinema, Snowdome and the like, leaving the centre to implode into a place only visited by those unfortunate enough not to be able to run a car.
But standing in the market square, surrounded by cheap shops and take-aways is a magnificent memorial – and an unlikely looking one of intertwined anchors and chains. Turns out it is in memory of Tamworth born Colin Grazier who was awarded a posthumous George Cross in 1942. His actions, which cost him his life at the age of only 22, played a significant part in the unravelling of the German Enigma Code.

Colin Grazier whose heroism helped crack the Enigma Code

And, just as so much about the work done to break Germany's wartime code, what he did remained secret for over 30 years after the war ended.
Grazier was an able seaman on board HMS Petard which led a depth charge attack on a German U-boat, eventually forcing it to the surface. The submarine crew were taken on board but scuttled their vessel before leaving.
Petard's captain asked for volunteers to swim across to the sinking U-boat to retrieve what code books and documents they could. Grazier together with Lt Fasson and a third man, Tommy Brown, swam across and Grazier and Fasson went into the sub, passing material out to Brown. Sadly, the submarine lurched and suddenly sank, giving the two inside no chance of escape.
 However they had managed to pass out two code books which were sent to Bletchley Park and provided priceless information to the team of code breakers there.
Grazier and Fasson received the George Cross and Brown (a civilian crew member) the George Medal. Apparently Grazier and Fasson were actually recommended for VCs but the Admiralty, thinking that this might attract the attention of German Intelligence, changed it the GC, an honour normally given to civilians.

Ice breaking – and tooth breaking

Ice breaking our way from Alrewas

The ice which had been threatening us for a couple of days at Alrewas seemed to have eased; it was a lovely sunny morning so we decided to set off. Besides we had pressing encounters - with the boaters' euphemistically entitled "facilities' at Fradley (think toilets) and, in my case with the dentist in Lichfield. I had bitten on something hard in my morning Fruit 'n Fibre and snapped an elderly crowned tooth clean off at the gum line. It didn't hurt but something unfortunately still had to be done.
So lured by the sun and an ice free canal we set off...only to find half an inch and more of solid ice across the cut as soon as we were out of the village and into the exposed countryside. Harry has plenty of 'grunt' to crunch through ice but we were thinking of our recently applied hull blacking and took things very steadily. In fact at the next lock we stopped for a leisurely lunch hoping the sun would melt the ice a bit more.
Lucky we did because another boat happened along and did some ice cracking for us all the way to Fradley. Here, as we turned off onto the Coventry Canal, the ice was definitely thinner and the passage had been crunched by one or two boats so we kept going. And, fearing another overnight freeze-up, going still further.
The sun had set by the time we reached Streethay but the near-full moon was a vivid light in the clear evening sky with the bright dot of Jupiter alongside it. Next day it was an easy stroll to the bus stop and into Lichfield for shopping and the dentist – who decreed the tooth irreparably broken and yanked it out on the spot.

The frozen canal at Streethay Wharf

After a weekend break to London we will be heading back to Fradley where hopefully Middle Lock will have re-opened and we can start this year's cruising in earnest.