Wood End Bridge and Lock
Fradley Wood Length
The Swan at Fradley Junction
The Trent and Mersey Canal, Staffordshire
A bright sunny day, very much a change from recent days and not one to be wasted, so it was off to Fradley Junction for a walk along the Trent and Mersey Canal.
Now Fradley Junction (named as the spot where the Coventry Canal joins the T&M) is normally a hive of activity. Boats and people everywhere, boats passing through or just passing time at the canal side Swan Inn. At its busiest as hectic as any motorway junction.
But I had overlooked the fact that this length of canal was closed for a ‘winter stoppage’ – vital repairs to one of the locks at Fradley. So no traffic on the waterway….the only boats are those on permanent mooring or who had chosen to stay put for awhile.
So it was indeed strange yet enjoyable to have the mornings walk all to ourselves.
Canals are evocative locations……today was just so quiet and ghostly, yet charming and beautiful….but even on a busy day in the 21st century it is hard to capture the importance of this once busy highway. Originally horse drawn barges, later steam powered, then diesel engines on a seemingly endless convoy moving goods across the country. A major part of our industrial heritage yet still today an important way of life for many, a recreation place for boaters and for me and Buster just a great place to stretch the legs.
17th February
(C) 2017
DAVID OAKES - IMAGES. 