On the Curly Wyrley

Today's journey along the Wyrley & Essington Canal proved to be far more pleasant than I expected. I had reservations about such an urban waterway but it was remarkably free of rubbish, the inevitable empty beer cans and drinks bottles but only one traffic cone and no supermarket trolleys! The canal twists and turns, at times doubling back on itself, the distance by canal is double the "as the crow flies" distance.

Apart from one stretch near the M6 the water remained incredibly clear, we cruised along watching the fish among the reeds and waterlilies. There was a mix of scenery from housing and industry to woodland and farmland. The names of some of the bridges bear witness to the area's industrial past, we passed under Brick Kiln Bridge, Goscote Works Bridge, Pelsall Works Bridge and York's Foundry Bridge. There are several small basins and disused arms off the main line of the canal, all of which served the the local industry.

We bypassed the Cannock Extension Canal as we wanted to reach Anglesey Basin for an overnight mooring and we had made a rather late start. Our plan was for Mandy, Tony and the kids to join us tomorrow and visit Chasewater Country Park but unfortunately they have a problem with their car so the visit is off.

We could carry on our journey over the weekend but as it will take us through a large amount of suburban Birmingham I think we will leave it until Monday. We might go back and explore the Cannock Extension or we might just be lazy!

Today's journey 15.6 miles

So far this year we have travelled 662.3 miles, 534 locks, 49 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 26 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 1864 miles 1620 locks, 105 swing bridges, 61 lift bridges and 66 tunnels