Sunday 2 August 2020

Out and about

Out and about
August 2020

Who would have thought that our boating season would have started in July!

After a test run to Pelsall Common and back, we finally embarked on our 2020 travels last week.

Great Haywood Junction

The lack of boat movements on the Wyrley and Essington have resulted in some rather weedy conditions along its 25 mile length, but overall the passage to Wolverhampton took about the same time as normal and most of the submerged issues were addressed with some reverse gear rather than trips down the weed hatch.


Our summer 2020 will not involve any far ranging travel and so far we have pottered our way to Great Haywood, where the Staffs and Worcs Canal meets the Trent and Mersey and have paused for the weekend for spot of towpath trading.

The easing of lockdown has seen a massive surge of activity on the canals, with huge numbers of private boats out on the move and every hire boat away from their bases. It's my hope that the pent up demand for UK based holidays will see the hire fleets booked solid through till the end of October and that this will be enough to compensate for the losses they incurred so far.

All this canal activity served us well and we were delighted to see so many customers stop and purchase our preserves, especially so many passing boaters who saw us moored at the junction bridge, stopped and came back for their jammy treats.

We will be making a slow passage to the Athestone area and if you want to know exactly where we are our location will be on the Wild Side Website.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Andy,

Please post your travelling intent so those who may wish to purchase from the Jam Butty will have an idea which part of the system you are on, my friends and I have done plenty of canal walking during the period of lockdown and usually make purchases from boat vendors. Thank you.

Andy Tidy said...

Adam - we are not travelling far this year. This Weekend (August bank holiday) we are near the church in Alrewas followed by a weekend back at Fradley Junction and the next weekend at Great Haywood. Then it’s back into the BCN to have the bottom blacked.