The Four Counties Odyssey

Away on the Cut again. Part one, the time before we cast off.

Thoughts about this voyage were planted like seeds in our minds at the end of our jaunt to Lincoln last year, with notions of travelling from our base in Burton up to Llangollen and back, a ‘round’ trip likely to take about three months.

Spitfire catching the evening sun.

Things started going awry when we heard that the bank of the canal at Whitchurch had given way, the breach causing a huge amount of damage to the canal and considerable distress for the poor boat owners whose vessels were in the immediate vicinity, some disappearing into the void. Luckily no-one was hurt and all boats were eventually retrieved as far as I’m aware.

There are so many lovely old canal bridges, this one adjacent to the yard.

It even has it’s own vertical garden.

Anyway, the upshot of this calamity was that the arm that would have taken us to our proposed destination was completely closed off. Time for a rethink.

Seen better days. Rusty sections of old boats gradually decaying, sitting in the yard.

When the time came, we had five weeks to play with*, so navigating the Four Counties Ring seemed an achievable goal. For us, the nearest and most sensible point to join the ring was Great Haywood Junction in Staffordshire. The subsequent route took us through the West Midlands, Shropshire, then Cheshire and back to Great Haywood.

In the yard, there was even an unloved Beetle, slowly turning to dust.

During our first few days onboard we stayed at the boatyard where we’d been having some work done to the boat, waiting for Viv (Irene’s Mum) and her Husband Graham to travel from the Marina in their boat and join us.

Together, waiting.

This gave us good opportunity to get settled in before setting off in our journey, something that helped make life a little easier for when we were underway. Here are a few images from those first few days.

Storm brewing.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with Percy. He coped very well with it all.

*(Another challenge we have with these extended excursions is finding enough folks suitably interested in house/pet sitting for us.)

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Thank you for rejoining me, here, after a slightly prolonged absence. I hope you’ve enjoyed this first selection from our trip. If you have, perhaps you might consider making a contribution to our collective future and help plant a tree. All proceeds go to:

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