Will we find a mooring?

Wednesday, 04 November 2009 20:00

Moorings can be at a premium in Penkridge

So we set off a little earlier in glorious sunshine towards our next lock.

Looking back at our mooring

However we had to negotiate Radford Bridge first. It has been radically narrowed "temporarily" and awaits a final remodelling during the stoppages this month.

Radford Bridge narrowing

and this is why

We passed Stafford Boat Club which always impresses me with its smartness, both the clubhouse and the boats, not to mention the landscaping! We were now right out in the countryside with the River Penk and its wide flood plain on the towpath side.

A sharp bend at Hazlestrine brought us to Deptmore Lock

The cottage here is now deserted, the old open tug gone and it all looks rather sad. The old lady who used to live here has either moved to be cared for or has died.

Acton Trussell is next and the M6 sweeps in from the north west, joining the canal and then crossing it later, only to sweep away again just before Penkridge.

The village can trace its roots back to Roman times and even to the Stone-Age by dint of a flake of flint maybe brought here in the Mesolithic Age (10,000 to 4,000 BC). Remains of a Roman Villa were found in the 1980s, near to the village church which stands a little way outside the village.

The Church of St James, Acton Trussell

I love the meaning of Acton Trussell - "The Farmstead by the Oaks belonging to the Trussell Family" - it just trips poetically off the tongue! The Moat House Hotel is thought to occupy the site of the Trussell families' Manor House.

For some reason I find the next two locks memorable - maybe because the first, Shutt Hill Lock (41), is approached under a tunnel-like Bridge of the same name. The second, Park Gate Lock, is the home of Midland Chandlers and Teddesley Hire Boats. Whatever the reason, the canal between them is very pretty and has a road and the River Penk as close as it is possible for them to be!

Approaching Park Gate Lock

In Park Gate Lock with the hire company's boats above

Longford Lock (39) was our last lock of the day. Here we met a boat (one of a number on the move today) and they assured us there was room to moor at Penkridge.

We planned to moor below Penkridge Lock, but there is piling work just before the bridge and lock so we could not moor right outside The Boat pub as planned. We have a Tesco delivery tomorrow so the delivery man will have to walk a little way down the towpath from the pub car park.

Staffs and Worcs Canal, Radford Bridge to Penkridge - 2 hours 32 minutes, 5.27 miles, 4 locks