Caldon Canal - Deptmore to Stone

22nd July 2007
Deptmore to Stone
Staffs & Worcester and Trent & Mersey

15 Miles
10 Locks
9 Hours

After passing Deptmore Lock we passed over a causeway which appeared to divide two parts of a huge lake.


The swollen Penk now stretched from one side of the valley to the other, covering the entire flood plain and was nearly on a level with the canal. The Sow valley was little better, with flood waters reaching the top of the aqueduct arch. A couple of feet more and the waters would have overtopped the banks. Brindley made a good job of the aqueduct - the pressure on the structure must have been immense.

We had a steady run up the unspectacular section Trent and Mersey to Stone, mooring just below bridge 96 at the top of the flight. We noticed Phyllis May moored up in the basin above the Star, all encrusted with salt and recently returned from her American exploits on the Intracoastal Waterway. We went looking for the Rising Sun, but never found it. Instead we walked back to the Star, which failed to live up to its promise with crumples and sticky menus putting us off their food.

We then wandered into the market square and ended up in Wetherspoons which, whilst lacking in atmosphere, did deliver exactly what we expected. During our meal we kept seeing ariel photos of the flooded Severn and Avon - the exact place we have been planning to visit! We made the right decision to head for the Caldon.

Caldon Canal - Calf Heath to Deptmore

21st July 2007
Calf Heath to Deptmore
Staffs and Worcester Canal

9 Miles
10 Locks
6 Hours


Index of posts in this series:
1. - Calf Heath to Deptmore - this post
2. - Deptmore to Stone
3. - Stone to Stockton Brook
4. - Stockton Brook to Frogall
5. - Frogall to Aston Lock
6. - Aston Lock to Penkridge
7. - Penkridge to Calf Heath

With both Tilly and Jeff off on a camp, Belle and I had an unprecedented six days to ourselves. The plan had been to take WB down the Severn, possibly as far at the Gloucester and Sharpness before returning up the Avon and leaving her just short of Stratford for a couple of weeks, returning her to Calf Heath later on. As we drove round Birmingham to drop off one car the terrible state of the tributary rivers became apparent. It was clear that the Severn would be impassable for some time, so we devised plan B which involved the Caldon Canal, which was about as far from a river as it was possible to get. The flooding turned out to be the worst in 30 years with Tewkesbury and Gloucester submerged.

The first day was therefore somewhat delayed and we set off at lunch time, making our way through Penkridge where we got our first glimpse of the Penk Valley. The Penk is usually no more than an overgrown stream in summer but it has amazingly transformed itself into a mile wide sheet of water flowing over a metre deep. We got as far as bridge 94 near Deptmore Lock, just short of Stafford Boat Club. The rain finally paused allowing the Captian 30 mins of fishing before the evening meal. The fish were in fine form and he pulled 10 good sized specimens out of the water in quick succession. The mooring is fairly remote but the south westerly breeze carried a fairly constant drone from a nearby main road.

Four Counties Ring

30th June 2007
Four Counties Ring - Clockwise
Whateley's wanderings

109 Miles
94 Locks
6 Days

Martin and Adam celebrated Adam's end of school with a boat trip round the Four Counties Ring. It should have been a nice trip but the summer of 2007 happened to them in the form of torrential rain - it was the week Sheffield flooded and nearly trapped the Captain in his car.

The pair were delayed on the Middlewich Branch when a landslide including a tree blocked their path. Notwithstanding this delay, they still managed the ring in six days. This pair are fast!

Mr Truth's lads week away

16th to 23rd June 2007
Black Country Ring clockwise, plus extras
Staffs & Worcs, Trent and Mersey, Coventry, Birmingham & Fazely and the BCN

132 Miles
113 Locks
7 Days

Mr Truth is a core and founding member of the "boat boys" and has a great enthusiasm for organising weeks or weekends away. Sometimes its fishing, sometimes boating and sometimes even riding bikes from one end of the country to the other.

Mr Truth organised this trip with a relay of crew members, whit himself being the only constant factor. He had good weather till he attempted to make a one day return journey from Kidderminster under a constant torrential downpour. After 12 hours of rain even his enthusiasm for boating started to fade. He, and two very energetic crew members attempted a record descent of the Titford flight, managing 23 mins top to bottom (the two of us managed 29 mins a month or so earlier). Is this a record?

Diversions included a trip to Tardebigge Top Lock and Kidderminster, having passed out of the BCN via The Delph.

On his return I heard the first murmurings of discontent about the smell in the loo. More about that in later posts.

Grub Street and back

9th to 11th June 2007
Calf Heath to Grub Street
Shropshire Union

Day one - to Fox and Anchor at Coven

2 Miles

0 Locks

My mother, Matilda, was over for the weekend so a boat trip was in order. The problem was Jeff - he has a youth group trip planned to Waterworld in Stoke, so our departure was much delayed.

In the event Matilda, Tilly and I drove over the Calf Heath after lunch and I set about painting on one side of the cream coach lines. It was a sweltering day so whilst I sweated in the sun, Matilda and Tilly wandered off to find some shade.

In late afternoon I returned to Sutton to pick up Jeff and returned to Wand'ring Bark with just enough time to trundle down to the Fox and Anchor and a drink in the cool of the evening.

Day 2 - Coven to Grub Street and back to Gnosall

26 Miles

2 Locks

We made the very familiar run to Gnosall on a glorious summer day, mooring at the Navigation Inn at Gnosall, where we met up with Belle and shared a pub meal in the garden to the rear. With Tilly and Jeff whisked off back to school, and lots of light left in the sky, Matilda took little encouragement to cast off and take a trip through Norbury into Grub Street cutting. Time was short so we winded in the hole mid way down the final stretch of cutting and returned to Gnosall for the night.

Day 3 - Gnosall to Calf Heath

18 Miles

2 Locks

A routine return trip to Calf Heath, filling up with diesel at Wheaton Aston as we passed by.