Calf Heath to Gailey

26th July 2008
Calf Heath to Gailey Day 1
Staffs and Worcester

3 Miles
2 Locks
1 Hour


Index of posts in this series:
1. - Calf Heath to Gailey - this post
2. - Gailey to Rugely
3. - Rugely to Bradley Green
4. - Bradley Green to Rugby
5. - Rugby to Bascote
6. - Bascote to Yarningale
7. - Yarningale to Stratford



Whilst this was the first day of the summer trip, it barely qualifies for a log entry.

By way of an introduction, this is a record of a one way trip from Calf Heath, near Cannock, to Stratford upon Avon via Nuneaton, Braunston and Hatton. Our time was limited to six days of travel, after which Wand'ring Bark would be picked up by our regular relief crew, Martin and Adam, who would complete the home leg via the Avon and Severn.

Since the last log entry WB has had its name painted on by Jim McCormack:


We spent most of the day at Tilly's school open day, having dispatched Jeff to camp for the week. The event was "very English" with all the sideshows and stalls one would expect from a village fete under a clear blue sky. The big bonus of the event was a performance by the Performing Arts Group. One usually approached such events with fear and trembling but this turned out to be something quite exceptional. Tilly is a recent, but very enthusiastic, member of the group who have discovered her talent for singing. Her music teacher has coached her intensively for several weeks and she performed in seven items, sometimes alone, sometimes as half a duet and sometimes as part of a group. The results were quite breathtaking and she was described as having "the voice of an angel". We are biased but we had to agree....





We made it to Wand'ring Bark at 5.00pm with the temperature in the high 20's, and moved the boat down the first two of the Gailey flight to a spot we use regularly, a place where the canal veers away from the noise of A5 but hasn't quite reached the M6, resulting in a quiet and tranquil mooring.