Fiona & Jim a Narrowboat adventure

09/09/2026

Shout out to our newest followers! Excited to have you onboard and also everyone else who follows us a big thank you! Unfortunately Facebook will only let me add 50 of you so cannot name you all, Spike Ken Wall, Frank Pocock, Stan Harding, Sal Ranatza, Joe Kelly, Italo Utenti, HelenandNeil Martin, Sally Cresswell, Dick Bateman, Linda Richardson, Gwen Durnin, Steve Oikon Balkin, Cecilia Lewis, John Muckle, Tony Ward, Alfred Millar, Lee Derbyshire, Gerwyn Brooks, Hennie Ruiters, Paul H J Moore, Brian Morriss, Steve Sharman, Dan Maius Manolescu, Brian Banton, Robert Page, Alan Rowe, Michael Bailey, Eric Burden, Andre Flament, Reniar Trebuh, Linda Hori, Do Sa Lee, Linda Edwards, Malcolm Pass, Kyle Todd, Gail Hunter, Fabio Minuano, Roger Adams, Penelope Gough, Brian Foot, Alan Harrison, Lisa Booth, Michael Warren, Jürgen Jahn, Chris B Ackerman, Arthur Wafer, Jill Burrows, Phillip Bunce, Susarie Labuschagne Coetzee, Dawn Robinson

06/09/2026

06/09/2026

Lock 33 on staffs and Worcester canal.

The lock beam is in a bad state. The beam is rotten and has a big crack through the middle of the beam.
You can see by the metal frame that is attached to try and stop the beam from breaking that it has been deteriorating slowly for a long time.

It has a lot of movement in the beam.

I guess it's only a matter of time before the beam breaks and the lock will be closed for another temporary repair

06/09/2026

Taking Narrowboat Taiga into the lock that the lock gate beam was fixed a few days ago

05/09/2026

Going through the narrows on the Staff's and Worcester canal . Cutting was dug through sandstone by James Brindleys navies between 1766 -1771, officially opened 1772

04/09/2026

Boggs lock number 34, on the staffs and Worcester canal was closed to navigation due to the broken beam on 31st August.
Yesterday a temporary repair was made and navigation can once again be made through the lock.
This lock gate was originally replaced in 2006.

03/09/2026

Cruising along through Brewood we noticed Bridge 10 at Brewood is different to the others 🤔 constructed with solid stone with nice balustrades .
Apparently It was built as the formal entrance to the Chillington Hall estate.
It dates back to 1830 and is Grade 2 listed
It was built by Thomas Telford
The bridge carried the main avenue/drive to Chillington Hall, the seat of the Giffard family. In other words, anyone arriving at the Hall by carriage would pass over this bridge. The canal therefore had to cross what was effectively the estate's principal approach, rather than an ordinary farm track.
This is particularly significant because canal companies often had to negotiate with landowners for permission to cut through their estates.�
In exchange land owners would specify what bridges would look like .

03/09/2026

Cowley tunnel on the Shropshire Union Canal near Gnosall.

Built by Thomas Telford and opened in 1835.

The tunnel is 81 yards (74 meters) long but was originally planned to be 690 yards (630 meters) long. Unstable sandstone rock forced workers to stop tunneling after 81 yards. They dug out the rest of the hill from above, creating the deep, steep-sided Cowley Cutting.