We like Stone, it’s an interesting town with a lot of history, especially for the canal. This is true Brindley country, where James Brindley met to discuss the building a canal to link the River Mersey to the River Trent, thus providing an infinitely more practical and profitable way to transport goods. Particularly the raw products needed for the potteries and a much safer way to transport the finished pottery both throughout the country (ie London) and around the world.
Seen from Star Lock
Despite its blue plaque, the Star Inn predates the canal by some 200 years and is more famous for its entry in the Guinness book of Records for having the most levels of flooring in a public house. Which although I can’t confirm accuracy of that claim, I can confirm that carrying 2 pints of beer across the original flagstones doesn’t lead to good photographic evidence. The Star has many other notable claims to fame, but the story I like is the one that happened during the opening ceremony of Star Lock. Someone had bright idea to fire a cannon to mark the event….. subsequently the lock required a bit of a rebuilt to repair the damage.
We were too early in the day to enlist the merry helpers with opening the gates
Of course The Star of Stone isnt the only pub in town. The quality of the water, (from the river trent, not the canal) and the presence of an Augustine Monastery, ensured that Stone’s reputation was also for good beer, both the big breweries have gone now, but Joule’s Ales still makes use of the canalside building for its micro brewery.
If this is a micro brewery, id like to see the size of their pints
Stone’s name is derived from the Anglo Saxon word “stan” meaning stone or rock. There are several stones that Stone could be named after, including a nearby prehistoric megalith, a roman stone bridge or mile stone, but the most appealing is from the cairn of stone placed over the graves of princes Ruffin and Wulfad by their mother, after their father, king Wulfhere murdered them for converting to Christianity in AD665. this particular tale is now known to be inaccurate. King Wulfhere himself had already converted to Christianity so who knows what his sons had done to deserve their fate. The town still proudly displays the tale on two artistic railings at the entrance to the high street.
Sadly it isn’t only kings and princes that fall foul of being murdered. Colin Dexter, who wrote the Inspector Morse stories highlighted the sad fate of a young woman called Christina Collins. In 1839, she was travelling as a passenger on a Pickfords barge when she complained to the Stone lock keepers about the lewd behaviour of the crew and that she feared for her safety. Her concerns were dismissed but that night she was viciously raped and murdered, her body was weighted down with an iron chain and thrown overboard. After a lengthy trial the crew were found guilty and 2 were hung and one was transported. Last time we travelled through Stone in May 2025, Christina was so overgrown with weeds I couldnt see her, but she’s been tidied up and although I doubt she’s looking her best at least shes presentable.
I think perhaps its time to move on, it seems Stone isnt such a safe place after all.
ps apologies for our disappearance from BlogLand last week, we were subjected to some unexpected site maintenance, we think its all sorted now.
What a difference a few hours make when the light changes. This is actually just over a week ago when we all thought summer had arrived. We had moored at a favourite spot of ours at Burston. It was peaceful and calming, (apart from the Canada guessed
I’m usually up at the crack of dawn to make the most of the sunrise, (and a cuppa). Only the view had disappeared
I’d like to pretend I watched the mist clear over the next hour, but I didnt, I snuggled back under the warm duvet. However the next day the world had turned pink.
And I remained mesmerised as the colours changed over the next hour
The day was going to be another good one.
Im not the only one who enjoys early mornings
Of course I couldn’t ignore the sunset, although that was looking the other way.
Burston is a pretty little hamlet, a half hour circular stroll takes you over the bridge and up to the village pond where the swans stand guard
Upper Burston Bridge
And more daffodils
Burston Daffodils
Now the good thing about the clocks springing forward is I get another week or two of seeing the sunrise at a reasonable hour, but I’m off the boat this weekend returning the car to our daughter so no 7am photos today. Unfortunately it also means I missed meeting Adrian and Adam on their new boat Kingley Vale yesterday.
Come on CRT, this is RUBBISH and that’s the polite way of saying it. I am fed up with not being able to dispose of my rubbish in a civilised manner. This is the bin facility site at Stone Visitor Moorings (westbridge park). Seeing overflowing bins like this is a regular occurrence. It’s not rocket science, its inadequate provision. We need either more bins or more frequent collection- preferably both. Don’t blame boaters for fly tipping. If there isn’t enough space in the bin what are we going to do with our rubbish- the bin is going to get overfilled. We live on boats, we don’t have a back yard to store our rubbish, we dont have cars to drive to a local council tip- not that we’d be allowed to use them, cause they tend to be for local residents only.
I walked over a mile from the Whitebridge lane moorings (other end of Stone) to dispose of my rubbish today, and over another mile back to my boat. I am angry, very angry. The next facilities on our route north are 9 miles from here. And as a continual cruiser, I cruise gently and slowly, it will take me several days to get there. I choose to make compromises over my lifestyle but I pay an increased licence fee to help cover the “increased strain” we put on the system. It’s not unreasonable to ask for adequate facilities.
I have contacted CRT and I urge all boaters to do the same, every time we see something like this.
POST SCRIPT.
I think it only fair that I share this timely response from CRT. Recieved the same morning that I sent in my complaint.
Good morning Cheryl,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
I have just spoken to the local Area Operations Manager who said that contractors were scheduled to have emptied this yesterday.
He will contact them to query why it wasn’t collected on due day; and he is sending his team to check it out and clear some of the rubbish so the refuse site can be used.
Kind regards,
Andy Foxall
Customer Support Administrator
And I would hereby urge all boaters to take the time to not only send in photos of such a mess, but also to act fairly and not abuse our facilities by dumping, inappropriate rubbish such as cushions, wood, bits of DIY etc. Campaign to have facilities to take larger items provided.
How can the weather go from being rubbish to perfect in a blink of an eye? I can’t answer that one, but it wont stop the big grin on our faces to be cruising in the sunshine.
Although we’ve still had a few misty frosty mornings.
We made it up to Fradley Junction at the beginning of the week
and turned left onto the Trent and Mersey Canal. Time to flex those lock muscles that have been atrophying for the past 4 months.
Not sure if we’ll make it all the way to Preston Brook, but we are heading towards Northwich so maybe we’ll sneak in a trip to lovely Lymm whilst we are up there .
We can’t go too far each day because Eric has to saddle up to fetch the car. Then find somewhere safe to leave it, where it doesn’t cause any inconvenience to the locals.
Stocked up with groceries at Rugeley in time for a day two relaxing at Great Haywood, taking in a wander around the estate at Shrugborough Hall. The daffs are at their finest.
Although wa are watching our steps around the imfamous two bodied swan gracing the River Trent
After three months in a marina, on Thursday Eric woke up to what felt like hurricane winds. He decided there was no way he was reversing out with several boats within bashing distance and begged an extra night on the pontoon. I, on the other hand, was still snug and safe in the house. But escape he did, on Friday he joined the multitude of other boats waiting both for the barricades at BoneHill to be lifted and for the fuel boat to make it through for the first time since the winter closures blocked her way in December. By 4pm we had a full tank, thankyou Kat, £136pl expected to rise to £169 in the next fortnight. And most of the boats had moved on through the now open bridge. On Saturday I said my goodbyes at home, defrosted the car and set off at 6am to make it back in time for breakfast. What a glorious sight, even if it was with a sense of deja vu. Firecrest was moored on the same spot where we were grounded in last summers drought.
Peel Wharf, Fazeley
But breakfast would have to wait. I’d barely unpacked the car before we cast off the mooring ropes, so desperate to get cruising again. We cheered as we went through Bone Hill Bridge, which had been closed for culvert repairs (for which we are truly grateful)
And I am now back in my happy place, sitting on the roof, with my knitting in my hand and Eric at the helm. Its still chilly so I doubt we’ll be cruising for more than an hour or two a day until the sun warms us up. But right now we are heading north, back up to the Paint Shed for a bit of tweaking after last year’s repaint.
Today is Mother’s day. We shall be enjoying some special memories of both our mums and our children. We hopeits a good day for you too.
At the end of November we, packed up and waved goodbye to Firecrest. Headed home to the security of firm foundations that bricks and mortar provide. We relished spending time visiting friends and family, pavements that weren’t muddy, cupboards that didnt need checking for mildew, and a dishwasher, yet every time the sun shone, (which admittedly hasn’t been very often) a sense of restlessness and the muttered refrain, “its a good day to cruise” could be heard. Being home is indeed a mixed blessing, I value the space and security more than Eric. I have more friends that I like to meet up with for girly giggles, cake and coffee. Eric enjoys being able to pick up his DIY tools from their convenient shelf in the garage without having to unpack storage boxes to find the right one on the boat. But we miss the peaceful simplicity of life afloat. Admittedly Eric is still running his own design business, so during the winter months he has plenty to keep him occupied, whereas I miss the opportunities to be outside exploring, and simply soaking up the ambience of the canals. We have just under 2 weeks left of marina life. Eric is now back on board making Firecrest shipshape and I am taking final advantage of being able to use our car to travel further afield visiting family. 3 months, a whole quarter of a year, doesn’t half fly past quickly these days. I’m not going to promise how often I’ll post our progress but hopefully this year won’t be as fraught with closures as 2025. We are looking forward to moving again in just a few weeks.
Keeping occupied in the club house But you can’t ignore a loose screwJust some of the people and places we have enjoyed over winter
What a year. We normally cruise between 600 to 700 miles a year. I don’t think we’ll make 200 this year. After scraping the bottom over the summer, and CRT advising us to find a safe place and stay put, we joined the queue to get through Glascote locks so we wouldn’t be trapped without facilities, we settled down at Fazeley Junction for August and Septemer. We ended up there until the Grand Union, Oxford and Coventry canals reopened on October 10th.
With Glascote locks only being open between 10am and 2pm long queues formed each day. We were number 10 to go through and I suspect there were another 10 boats behind us
Yet we still didn’t know where to go, because the grand reopening notice was accompanied with a caveat……it might only be for 2 weeks to allow boaters to return to their marinas before the planned winter closures begin. And despite some heavy rain in parts of the country, the resevoirs feeding the Coventry and the Grand Union were still chronically short of water.
This chart is taken from CRT’s website, showing the water levels in the resevoirs supplying the canals. As you can see there’s still a significant shortfall
Usually during the late summer we start to talk about where we will be for Christmas. The winter maintenance plans have been published and we have time to cruise leisurely towards a region which will provided us with what we need -that’s enough distance to both cruise and moor whilst maintaining the 14 day mooring rule, and with easy access to services if we were to get frozen in. We’d tentatively talked about Milton Keynes for this winter. However, we’re cautious cruisers; we’ve opted for an easy lifestyle that doesn’t revolve around deadlines and restrictions, or for that matter cruising for long days in the rain just to reach a destination. The path towards Bedfordshire was not going to be plain sailing. The number of emergency closures and planned restrictions this year has sucked the joy out of cruising. It’s been hard work and frustrating.
This is a screen shot of the closed sections of the canals taken at the end of August. We are slap bang in the middle
Not knowing if or when or where we would be able to cruise helped us make the decision to put Firecrest into a marina from December. So for the next few weeks we are mooching around south Staffordshire bidding our time until all those cruising uncertainties no longer concern us. Ironically, this week CRT published another notice saying they wouldn’t be reinstating the closures on the Coventry and Grand Union, so we could potentially, with more room to roam, have remained on the cut over winter. But with the decision made – and the deposit paid, we are now enjoying one month of gentle meandering.
Somewhere around Armitage
All that said, it wasn’t an awful summer. We made the best of what we had. And really, choosing to moor at Fazeley Junction for the duration of Lockdown 25 was a good move. Eric went out at 9am every day to measure the water levels.
We would expect the water to be lapping the water mark on the black boarding
And in true Eric style, he produced a graph showing the daily changes in water levels from the day we moored up on 21st August till restrictions being lifted on 10th October. We left on the 11th. With the Coventry canal closures actually starting on the 26th and the Fradley closures between 2nd September to17th September.
This is our records of the speed with which the water dropped and rose once the fradley locks were closed. And although levels are cruisable they are still on the low side.
It was scary and unnerving. Our biggest fear was that with the boat resting on the bottom, it would tilt over making it horrible to live on board. And for us in particular, there wouldnt be sufficient water in the skin tanks to cool the generator, meaning we couldn’t keep the batteries topped up. We were able to avoid this by pushing the boat away from the shallow edge, but being on a boat that doesnt bob and rock just doesnt feel right. Others werent quite so lucky and several boats were having to use their planks to get on and off their boats or had just abandoned them altogether.
Eric was trying to shift debris on the bottom to gain us a precious inch. He didn’t succeed
Unwelcome as it was, as far as Fazeley goes it’s an almost perfect mooring to be stuck at. We were in full sun so the solar panels were able to do their best, and Kat and Teddy on the fuel boat made it down to top up the tank one last time before they also got stuck.
We are eternally grateful to the fortitude of fuel boat crews, yes we might provide their livelihood, but they provide our boats lifeblood in diesel
We overlooked Peel Wharf and enjoyed getting to know some of the local residents as well as the stranded boaters. We were within walking distance of a choice of shops, buses and train services. It was close enough to the water point to barrel roll a few days worth of cups of tea
Not such a bad view – for either of us
We even photo bombed a drone shot of a house that was being put on the market.
Who wouldn’t want to buy a house with a boat like ours moored outside
And of course guess what happened the day the drought restrictions actually started. Biblical rain that even Noah would have run from.
Drought… what drought
Once CRT had made the very overdue decision to also close the locks at Fradley junction the water levels started to rise almost as dramatically as they had fallen. But all the boaters were in agreement, we did not want navigation reopening until CRT could guarantee the levels wouldn’t fall again, leaving us stranded in a place without facilities. In fact we were so sceptical that the resevoirs would fill up, we started planning our Christmas party incase the restrictions weren’t lifted this year. Despite there being plenty to keep us amused around Fazeley and Tamworth, by October the canal water levels were more or less cruisable, mooring up might have been difficult in some places and going through bridgeholes is always a risky business because they naturally silt up and are shallower than the main cruising channel. And as soon as CRT lifted the restrictions on the Coventry canal we knew we would have to start complying with the 14 day maximum mooring rule again. Our itchy feet got the better of us- or rather, as one of my less delicate family members said, it was our itchy bottom that made us move. We made it all the way to Hopwas for our first night away.
Mysterious canals
And then we meandered along to wind just beyond Rugeley
Brindley bank winding hole, north Rugeley
Right now we’re now mooching around this area throughout November making the most of some gorgeous autumnal weather, and trying not to groan when it rains, because believe me, as continual cruisers we need the rain and we need it to rain heavily every night from now until spring if we stand any chance of filling up those resevoirs. Im going on record now to say we suspect there will be similar water level restrictions imposed next summer. In the mean time let’s enjoy autumn
….. we were asked when we finally got the bus into Lichfield. No we hadn’t, but our interest was piqued. What could be so special that a stranger on a bus asks us that. We would find this table in Lichfield Cathedral, so off we set to find out what all the fuss is about. And I have to say I am now quite happy to ask you the same question because the table is quite magnificent.
The table is known as The Table for the Nation, and came about through the discovery of a truly impressive piece of Bog Oak. Its creation was overseen by The Fenland Black Oak Project team
The table in Lichfield Cathedral
5000 years ago there was an oak forest in the Norfolk Fens. But unlike today’s oak trees, that grow to roughly 20m tall, these oak trees were giants, and grew to 50m tall. ( Firecrest is 18.3m long).
At the time this particular tree fell, the rising sea levels on the East Anglian lowlands were creating stagnant anaerobic lagoons. The lack of organic life and soluble iron deposits all helped to preserve the wood and turn it black. Over millenia it became buried in the peaty bogs, until in 2012, during routine cultivation it was exposed. Fenland farmers are well aware of how rare and valuable Bog Oak is so they had the presence of mind to call in the experts. And so the Jubilee Oak (named in honour of the late Queen’s diamond jubilee ) began a new journey.
What was particularly amazing about this piece of oak is it’s length, 13.2m long. It was undamaged, it was straight and there was no insect or fungal damage. It is incredibly rare, probably unique and a plan was made to preserve it for the nation.
The story of the of how this piece of wood became The Table for the Nation, is told so well on their website that I am not going to attempt to reproduce it. It’s a short easy read and I strongly recommend you take a look.
In 2022, after 10 years of skilled craftsmanship, borrowing a mobile sawmill from Canada, developing new innovative techniques, and a lot of love and care, this magnificent table was unveiled in Ely Cathedral
The craftsmen managed to keep the 13m length, and echoing the period when the acorn became an oak, they incorporated a bronze understructure and a wheeled folding mechanism that allowed the table to be moved by just two people.
The size of the table means it requires an equally impressive sized venue, and if you have such space you can apply to host the table. Useful for family dinner parties
The table is currently on display in Lichfield Cathedral for 10 months. One of the lovely things about this table is that the public are at liberty to touch and stroke it unlike many precious artifacts, although one of the guides nearly had a heart attack when I little boy bored of her explanations decided to race his toy tractor along it. Lichfield Cathedral itself is a beautiful building.
Both inside and out
And just for good measure, here’s Firecrest’s table
As the reports kept flooding in with dire warnings about water shortages, hosepipe bans and the summer of ’76, we cruised on with uncertainty. Our plan had been to cruise down the Coventry canal towards Rugby, probably taking in detours onto the Ashby and into Coventry, before deciding whether to go down the Grand Union aiming to overwinter around Leighton Buzzard, or whether to head up the Soar through Leicester and back onto the T&M for the winter months. We’d always planned for a meandering slow summer but this is boat life, we hadn’t anticipated quite such a slow stroll.
Fradley Junction onto the Coventry Canal
At the beginning of July, we left the Trent and Mersey Canal and turned onto the Coventry canal. We’d been invited to the Friday social at the Lichfield Cruising club, so that’s where we made our first stop.
Moored opposite the Lichfield Cruising Club
Sue made us very welcome, but guess what, it rained so the BBQ was eaten inside. We were keen to explore Lichfield, but its about 2.5 miles walk in from the club at Huddlesford Junction. With no nearby bus route, we cruised on towards Whittington and it’s bus stop, but we we found it was too shallow to get in close to the bank. Ok we didnt try very hard not realising this could become the norm. On another mile and we found ourselves a beautiful mooring just beyond the village, with some nice trees to shade us from the next heatwave.
Hadmore Farm Bridge
At this point, I was quite happy not cruising because during July there are 2 major sporting events that will have me breaking my “no daytime tv” rule. Wimbledon and the TdF. No not Tour de France, but the Tour de Fleece, an online spinning extravaganza, where yarnies like me get their spinning wheels out and aim to complete various challenges of spinning skills, whilst spinning every day during the official TdF. It’s all a bit of fun on social media, but there’s nothing I like better than getting my wheel out onto the towpath and spinning in the fresh air. Or better still getting my little electric wheel out to spin whilst we are cruising
A bit of self indulgence, spinning whilst we cruise
We stayed put for a few days, watching the entertainment – competative boating- who was going to win the race to get through the bridge, and who was going to come off worst…. us…. the green boat reversed into us when he realised 3 boats dont fit.
Its not rocket science, two of you need to give way
Unfortunately it was still quite a walk to the bus stop from Hadmore farm bridge, which meant we still hadn’t been able to get into Lichfield easily. But the little Co-op in Willington kept our fridge full until we moved onto Hopwas.
A little more self indulgence at Hopwas
A perfect mooring for towpath spinning, it has to be flat and wide enough to allow the walkers and their inquisitive dogs to pass by, or stand and chat, and with some shade. Of course spinning outside means I don’t get to watch the cycling on TV at the same time, but if I’m honest I’m not really a cycling addict. The downside of Hopwas is that it doesn’t have a village shop, but it does have a good bus service into both Lichfield and Tamworth that we took advantage of.
Lichfield Cathedral- worth exploring
By now, mid July, the email alerts from CRT really were starting to pour in about closed locks and restrictions, including the Atherstone flight which was our planned route. Eric had a lot of work on(- why does contract work always happen in the summer instead of the winter when there’s nothing better to do) and I had my spinning, so we decided that even though we were still allowed to cruise, the writing was on the wall, worse was to come, so we would do our bit to help conserve our valuable water resource and not do any more locks until the situation improved. We’d heard good things about the mooring on the Birmingham and Fazeley canal near the Kingsbury water park, so that’s where we headed next. What a view.
Alrewas has a real community atmosphere. And had it not been for enduring the second heatwave we would have taken advantage of joining in a few more communal activities. We’d enjoyed the Open Gardens on Saturday and Sunday. We quite fancied trying our hands at bowling on Monday but gave that a miss, especially as our friends on NB Peru cruised past and were able to stop for a glass of something cold. But the local walking group that meets on Tuesday mornings promised to be finished in time for a pub lunch so off we set to meet the group. I’d emailed the leader in advance so they were expecting us. What the website didn’t tell us is that the group is subdivided – the striders and the strollers, thankfully the striders had sensibly set off early to beat the heat so we weren’t faced with the embarrassment of wimping out of doing the full 6 miles. The group had decided to show us, the newbies their pride and joy, the National Memorial Arboretum, roughly a 3 mile round trip and with the advantage of lots of shady trees. We walked and talked and shared stories. And as promised finished off with lunch at the Crown. which I’m happy to say, was a very good lunch.
I decided to go back to the Arboretum the day after for some personal contemplation. It’s a large site that is constantly evolving with new memorials being added all the time.
I did wonder what the stick man was commemorating, but he was there to add appeal for the youngsters, as he tries to find his family hiding in amonst the trees. I’m sure the kiddies love it but I thought there was enough awe and wonder in many of the military memorials to keep everyone interested
49 th west riding division
Not all the memorials are regimental. Many acknowledge civilian and political efforts to create peace,
But many are so poignant that they stop you in your tracks when you think about the tragedy of war. And what it makes leaders do to their own people.
I stood a while at this garden Memorial, not because it was the most impactful, but because Eric’s family, served in the GPO during WWII
The GPO memorial
And this Memorial made me smile, as I never imagined I’d be crossing the Suez canal
The Suez Canal memorial
Were those Egyptian pyramids across the water, oh no, it was more gravel extraction that is happening all around this area. And once this pit is exhausted I believe the lake will become part of the NMA site.
Alrewas gravel pits
There were many many more sculptures, plaques and gardens on site, recognising selfless acts of service or suffering not aligned with the armed forces. I’d say this is a place everyone should visit at least once, it packs a punch where youre least expecting it, and it made a lasting impression on us. Back in 2018 I wrote 3 blog posts about the NMA which has a bit more information. but for today I shall leave you with this image.
