Walsall Canal and Anglesey Wharf

Spent the night after the cricket moored at Walsall Basin in the middle of the town of Walsall and then spent the 10th and 11th June cruising the Walsall Canal.

Boats moored in the Walsall Basin.

We only went 5 miles the first day as it took over 3 hours to get up the 8 Walsall locks due to trouble with the locks filling and all the rubbish and debris in the canal and locks and getting 9 boats through them.  We also were only able to go 2 mph instead of 4 mph due to the condition of the canal and a lot of boats had to stop several times to clear their propellers.

Rubbish in the Walsall Canal including a shopping trolley.

View of the countryside from the canal.  This land was once a coal mine.

We moored the night of the 10th at Pelsall Green on the canal.  Although the weather looked fine, the wind was bitterly cold and we tried sitting outside but gave up as it was so cold.

Boats moored at Pelsall Wood for the night of 10th June.

Next day, the 11th continued along the canal earlier in the morning.  The canal was wider and much cleaner along this stretch with no locks and the water a lot clearer and more wildlife.

Cattle grazing along the side of the canal.

We reached our destination, Anglesey Wharf at about midday, 5 miles, with no locks.  The weather was fine and warm, about 20 degrees.  This wharf is as far as you can go in this part of the canal system and is adjacent to the Chasewater Resevoir from which the canal system is topped up with water as it needs it.  This reservoir is used for recreation, boating and canoeing, swimming and yachting, wind surfing and wake boarding using a cable tow system.  We watched this for a short time, an easier way to learn how to water ski or wake boarding than behind a boat !!

Martin and Sue at Anglesey Wharf awaiting the other boats.  We put up the NZ flag on the back of the boat, it caused some discussion !!

Chasewater resevoir and cable tow wake boarding.

We had a lazy afternoon, I packed for an early start the next morning to travel down to Milton Keynes to meet Debbie and Tessa. 



I walked up to Chasewater Reservoir to have a look at it, about the size of 3 Lake Camps at Lake Clearwater.





"Pimms time" on the banks of the Anglesey Wharf

The weather improved and I actually got sunburnt during the afternoon and we had "Pimms time" on the banks of the canal in summer weather.

Martin and Sue and the other boats were continuing on to Longwood for a Boat Festival over the weekend and then taking the boat up another 25 miles going north to Stroke-on-Trent where I was to meet them again on the 20th June.