Albrighton Hunt at Wheaton Aston

Saturday 6th - Saturday 13th February 2010
Saturday 13th - We left Wheaton Aston yesterday and cruised just a short distance to our current mooring after bridge 15 - not a bad mooring although we prefer to be on chains to piling - there's a ledge about 2' under the water which is typical on the Shroppie that makes the boat 'bang' against it when you step on and off or worse if a boat passes. The TV and Internet signals are good though.


We've just heard that our Grand-daughter Lucy's foot operation has gone well this morning and she is recovering before going home. She'll have to do lots of physio this coming week and should be back at school after half-term; she'll have her left foot done in approximately 6 weeks. - well done Luce! We shall stay in this area (between Brewood and Coven) next week in case in can help in any way.

On Tuesday 9th whilst taking on water we could hear dogs barking and I mentioned that there must be a kennels close by although we'd not heard them before today - then we saw them ...
... the Albrighton Hunt crossing the bridge to the Hartley Arms pub car park

We used to live in Albrighton many moons ago, but this was the first time we'd seen the hunt

it was a colourful and noisy sight!

and off they set down the farm track on the opposite side of the canal

taken whilst standing on the top of Rock n Roll

Once we'd got a full tank and returned to our mooring space we took Molly for a walk along the towpath to see how the contractors were progressing on the embankment

you can see from this picture how the lightweight plastic piling is held to the pile driver against the metal template whilst it's driven into the ground

they've made some progress since we came this way last Sunday, but I think it will take a while, in fact according to BW notices, the Shroppie will not reopen before 26th March

the plastic piling is fastened to the driver until it's gone a short distance into the towpath and then removed

a spirit level ensures that it goes in at the correct angle

we continued our walk and saw the Hunt again in a distant field

although they appeared to have lost their quarry!

When we got back to R'n'R we reversed through the bridge for diesel from the garage (only 56.9p as opposed to the 75p that we paid at Great Haywood) - these young daffodils were the first I'd seen - you can just see one flower bud - spring is coming??

Sunday 7th - Upped sticks and moved on ....

over Stretton Aquaduct

where the A5 was very quiet

and eventually moored at Wheaton Aston just before bridge 19 opposite the Hartley Arms

to stretch our legs after such an arduous (not) journey we walked up the towpath to see how the repairs to the embankment were being done - these pontoons were enormous!

the left half of the canal had been infilled up to about 3" from the top ...

... and at the other end of the site the right hand side was the same to allow the water to keep flowing and presumably prevent flooding.

an impressive piece of machinery!

two bundles of plastic pilings at least 20' long ready for use to fix the embankment

Saturday 6th - early start this morning and it's rather foggy.

We're on our way into Brewood to moor by the Bridge Inn

Still misty as we approach Avenue Bridge

Wow - a kingfisher sitting still!

I know the picute is a little 'fuzzy' as I took it as we cruised past - but I'm still pleased with it.

Once we were safely moored our son Mark collected us to take us shopping and then back to his house for the day - great!