Byebye Shroppie 5th- 6th May

Festival complete, our voyage continues. Our future base is at Nuneaton, so we are unlikely to return to these waters any time soon. It was a beautiful morning, of course, with the bank holiday over.

From Norbury we cruised to Gnosall to top up our water tank.

From there down to Brewood for some shopping and an overnight stop.

 The South Shroppie is dead straight, striding over embankment and through cuttings with barely a need to move the tiller. And fairly quiet, not many boats on the move.

Those we did meet, inevitably,  were at bridge holes. The right of way belongs to whoever is nearest, so there is always this weird dance 80 yards apart, as each boat tries to work out who hangs back and who pushes through.

The day was sunny but cold, so we pushed on through, looking forward to soup, hot showers, and a siesta to warm us up.

By early afternoon we were almost there

And then through the stop lock and onto the Stafford and Worcester canal.

Turning right to skirt Wolverhampton in the direction of Stourport. 

Beyond this bridge, out of  view to the right, is the junction with the BCN Main Line, which rises up 21 locks to Wolverhampton. The extra baby bridge hole is for the horses.

But our way is still south, through the quiet green bypass. We dropped down Compton lock (still only 3 miles from the city centre)

Round the corner and a beautiful quiet mooring opposite some allotments.

That'll do nicely!