10th – 12th May – Weekend away in Cheshire

 10th – 12th May – Weekend away in Cheshire

Originally this trip would have involved staying overnight on the Sunday to come back on the Monday, but due to keeping an eye on my annual leave, the day I had in mind for the Monday got shifted for that BLS tour on the Friday the week before.  A 2-night stay in my usual shared house in Crewe with several ideas of what I could do, although like with many trips it would depend on the weather.

10th May – Onwards to Crewe… via Birmingham.

The trip began with the 17:59 service from Grateley formed of 159001 which lost around 15 minutes at Overton due to signalling issues in the Basingstoke area, thankfully it made it through Basingstoke and made up some of the time with a storming run to Waterloo.  I headed towards the underground jumping onto a Northern line set formed of 51706 & 51546 with those dreaded words “being held here a couple minutes to regulate service levels”, not what I wanted to hear as I needed to catch the 19:56 Birmingham train due to cancellations on the services via the Trent Valley.

It was one of those days where with the benefit of hindsight I should have attempted the tight connection at Andover considering the 17:37 service was running a couple of minutes late when I checked before finishing work which would have given me a bit more time in London, maybe even making the 18:46 train to Crewe which was delayed by 30 minutes due to earlier delays on the WCML, but hey-ho.  Anyhow this hot Northern line service took me to Euston where eventually I escaped the maze of passageways (and what felt like hundreds of slow-moving passengers), arriving at the main concourse just as the 19:56 service was getting announced as it was late arriving from Northampton.

Into the large crowd of passengers heading towards the train with the platform screens shouting out “platform closing” causing even more of a rush, I managed to walk fast towards the front of the train formed of 350262 & 350264 and into the former 1st class area of 262 which made things a bit more bearable on this pair of 3+2 seated units.  The train was quite slow departing Euston, only really getting up to speed after Wembley, losing some more time between Cheddington & Leighton Buzzard where it crossed from the fasts to the slows so by the time it reached Northampton it was around 18 minutes late.  Thankfully Northampton did have a 15 dwell, so the delay was cut back to 5 minutes, time it never made back up on the slow run into Birmingham New Street, where I transferred to platform 4 to board 350106 on a Crewe terminator, busy at the rear but quiet at the front.

Nothing much happened along the way to Crewe via Wolverhampton, arriving at Crewe early (as I think this train is booked to run along the slow lines between Stafford & Crewe and it used the fast lines).  I arrived a few minutes ahead of the Highland Sleeper making for an interesting photo (sadly I didn’t see anything of the Northern Lights).  Good thing I didn’t wait round for the 21:46 service for Crewe as that lost 30 minutes south of Milton Keynes and looked like ran nonstop from Rugby to Crewe, replacement taxis would have been busy for the stations between Rugby & Stafford considering 3 trains in a row were cancelled.

92028 at Crewe

I made my way to the shared house, sorted out my rucksack and was thankful I didn’t have an early pre-6am alarm clock this time round as I was aiming for the 08:10 TfW service towards South Wales.  A bit of a stressful journey compared to usual, just shows how faster the Crewe trains are compared to the Birmingham trains.

11th May – Shropshire Union Canal towards Gnosall & Nantwich

The idea for today was to return to the Shropshire Union Canal (the former Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal) to walk from the town of Market Drayton towards Gnosall where there was a handy bus route on the Stafford – Telford service (this canal took a bit of planning to take into account points in which to break walks owing to the highly rural nature).  After Gnosall I did have a couple of rough plans to walk an old canal in Newport (Staffordshire) or an old railway line in the south of Shrewsbury as both were along the bus route.

Anyhow the day began with the 08:10 service towards Carmarthen formed of winner 197122, where I took a seat in the future ‘Standard Plus’ section of the train (or whatever TfW is going to be branding it) which in all fairness was quite decent in terms of seating.  Not the fastest of trips to Shrewsbury (even though it was nonstop) as it slowed for what I presume were level crossings along the way.  I alighted at Shrewsbury, swung via the toilets at the station and once outside went via Tesco Express to grab lunch before making my way to the bus station which was reasonable enough although not somewhere I would want to be on a super warm day as I suspect it would get hot in the enclosed sections.

Shrewsbury Bus Station

The next Arriva run 2 hourly route 64 service (Shrewsbury – Market Drayton – Hanley) rolled in a few minutes late with bus 3694 (an Optare Versa) departing late as it headed away from Shrewsbury town centre going via Harlescott then following the A53 via several Shropshire villages, detouring from the main road to serve Hodnet and the MOD accommodation at Buntingdale before reaching the small bus station area in Market Drayton, alongside the next bus towards Shrewsbury plus a town route bus run by Lakeside Coaches.  I decided to alight from the bus in the town centre to make my way towards the canal near Talbot Wharf turning south to begin my walk.

The canal soon turned rural (in terms of fields and woodland) with the towpath being quite variable in surface (from tarmac to dried mud & grass), the worse section was in the Tyrley cutting simply because it hadn't had a chance for the sun to hit it (due to thick woodland).  I climbed the Tyrley lock flight which was quite busy with boats using them and continued south passing underneath bridge 58 which was quite tall.  My walk came to a stop when I hit a major landslip in a cutting, and after doing a short spot of bending around a branch spotted a couple more slips further round the bend decided that I could go no further south.  Seems it's not just the railway which has suffered from the wet winter.  Annoyingly it was in an area with no alternative, so I did a U-turn to head back towards Market Drayton with plan B forming.

Landslip on Shropshire Union Canal towpath between Tyrley & Woodseaves

Plan B involved walking north towards Nantwich, ironically something I did have planned for the Monday before having to cut my stay back.  Back via the swampy area near Tyrley Locks and towards Market Drayton, passing the wharf (and a couple of lovely old buildings) and onto a section of canal which had a “learn to fish” event on.  I was back into countryside, mix of woodland & open fields with birds singing away, pausing to have my lunch on a handy bench in the shade for it was like someone had turned up the heating as the sun was quite warm.

The towpath flipped sides (canal on the left-hand side as I walked north) meaning shade was a bit more limited compared to earlier, however it did mean the patches of mud had vanished.  I continued north as the canal skirted round Adderley carrying on passing into Cheshire and reached the 15 lock flight dropping the canal into the Cheshire Plain.  After Audlem my walked continued, passing the remains of a railway bridge which once carried the Nantwich - Market Drayton line.  The countryside was beautiful as it was peaceful, and it was good to see the canal was being used by boaters.  I reached the outskirts of Nantwich going underneath the Crewe - Shrewsbury railway line where the rural grass path turned more solid, and I ended the walk near Marsh Lane meeting up with my coverage of the canal further north.

Shropshire Union Canal in the Audlem area

The hot weather had taken its toll on my water supply as I had managed to get through 2 and a half litres of liquid and was in need for more as I made my way towards the large Morrisons near Nantwich station to grab something cold (picked up a carton of apple juice which didn't make it out of the car park).  After Morrisons I headed towards the little bus station in Nantwich where I had just missed a Stagecoach service for Crewe with the next option being a D&G when I noticed the less frequent route 39 service to Crewe run by Mikro Coaches which goes on a more scenic route via villages to the south (Wybunbury, Shavington) with a former Morebus Wright Eclipse (HF54 HHJ) doing the lightly loaded service.

This bus took me to the recently opened bus station in Crewe (although I had no experience with the previous bus station in which to make a comparison), and with time in hand I made my way towards the railway station, swinging via the accommodation to swap the second carton of juice with my bottle of pop I put in the fridge in the morning (so was nice and cold).  At Crewe station it was onto winner 197116 to Shrewsbury making a connection onto a late running Loco hauled set with DVT 82230 leading and 67022 pushing for the trip back to Crewe, crossing off coverage of the Crewe – Shrewsbury line for 67+Mk4 coverage (one regret is not doing a 67+Mk4 to Holyhead when they ran during the day).

67022 at Crewe Railway Station

Anyhow it felt strange ending the day at half seven as I headed back to the house, swinging via a takeaway for a cheeseburger meal deal box (as a treat) and relaxed for the rest of the night after a much-needed shower.  I suspect the blockade to the towpath won’t be a quick fix due to the location so that section of the Shropshire Union will go back onto the back burner until the Canal & River Trust website lists it as fixed, at the same time I noticed another towpath closure listed on the website near the Wolverhampton end of the canal so that section will need to wait as well.  

Anyhow an enjoyable walk in the sunshine, even if a bit unplanned, topped off with a random bus route in the Crewe area.

12th May – Trent & Mersey Canal from Fradley to Burton

I had a few ideas in my head for this Sunday, some of them got scrapped due to the Northampton loop being closed, one got scrapped due to a towpath being closed.  With one eye on the weather forecast potentially turning wet in the afternoon I decided on filling in a gap on the Trent & Mersey Canal from Fradley Junction towards Burton on Trent, linking up with the two walks I did a couple of weeks previously (meaning the remaining gaps can be done with trains rather than buses).

I checked out of the shared house, heading towards Crewe station via the Tesco Express at the garage for some breakfast items plus something for lunch before going to platform 12 awaiting the first southbound LNR service to roll in from the sidings to the south of the station, unlike 2 weeks ago this was only a 8 coach set rather than a 12 coach, and sadly it was 350236 leading 350242, all the luxurious 3+2 seating with no tables nor sockets outside the former 1st class areas, which is where I ended up on 350236 for the run to Lichfield Trent Valley, walking to the bus stop for the next Diamond route 12E service for Burton formed of an Scania Irizar (30990) which unlike 2 weeks ago also had passengers on it!

Rear of Diamond Bus 30990 (YN64 FWU) in Fradley on a route 12E

This bus took me to Fradley village, alighting near the canal bridge where my walk began, walking along Hay End Lane to join the Coventry canal at Gorse Lane, to carry on to Fradley Junction where it meets the Trent & Mersey Canal.  This time I turned right (rather than left) passing Fradley Pool Nature Reserve and a busy looking café.  The first section was along a solid towpath leading to Alrewas before the towpath turned more rural as the canal joined with the river Trent to the north of Alrewas.

The canal split from the river a short distance later carrying on towards Wychnor Bridge where the canal started to run alongside the busy A38 dual carriageway along a section which wasn't the nicest due to being quite narrow with the danger of nettles and thorn bushes lying in wait.  I continued along the canal, trying my best to drown out the traffic noise reaching Barton Marina where a short distance later the canal did move away from the main road towards Branston Water Park on the outskirts of Burton on Trent where the rural towpath changed to the recently upgraded gravel towpath.  Personally, I prefer the rural grass compared to gravel due to my boots seemingly having magnets inside which attract stones

Trent & Mersey Canal between Alrewas & Wychnor

I carried on (after pausing for lunch) heading towards the Shobnall Leisure complex which is where I reached a couple of weeks previously as it was close (to a point) to the station.  I departed from the canal towpath in what felt like hotter weather than the day before (and more humid), passing the railway station and heading to a nearby large Sainsburys for both extra food and a cold carton of juice.  I had the option to walking back to the railway station for a XC 170 or waiting round for the next X12 bus to Lichfield.  I decided to head back to the railway station for the air conditioned 170108 to Tamworth (busy but I got a seat at the front).  At Tamworth I hung around for the next southbound LNR service because the connections are rubbish, this turned out to be another pair of 350/2s with 350252 leading 350244.  Amazingly I got a seat in the former 1st class area of 350244 to give my phone a charge and to allow me to watch some videos.  Alrewas is somewhere on my list to return to, to visit the National Memorial Arboretum.

Nothing unusual happened along the way south, other than losing a couple of minutes between Nuneaton & Rugby due to getting put onto the fast line with a slow running freight service.  Arrival in Euston was a couple of minutes late as a result, nothing too major compared to other services.  As I had 75 minutes to reach Waterloo for the 18:45 service to Salisbury and the sun was shining I decided to head to Waterloo on foot (saves paying out for the underground).  At Waterloo it was onto 158888 leading 159006 on a 5-coach formation with nothing out of the ordinary happening along the way to Grateley, where I had a short walk home.  An enjoyable (other than the section of narrow towpath close to the A38) walk along the Trent & Mersey Canal, leaving Willington to Shardlow [and the river Trent towards Long Eaton], Stone to Rugeley and the short section between Lostock Gralam & Elworth (for Sandbach station).  Hopefully something I can do this year to ‘clear’ another canal for walking.

158888 at London Waterloo

Anyhow I spent the rest of Sunday relaxing as my body was a bit tired due to the heat, more photos can be found on my Flickr account, thanks for reading.  Back to a couple weeks of day trips including another double headed Branch Line Society Railtour over the bank holiday weekend.  Now spring is here the canals have opened up a bit more as I wouldn’t have wanted to walk either canal in the winter months where the towpaths could have been muddy in places.   Anyhow I leave you with a photo of some Goslings:

Goslings along the Trent & Mersey Canal in Burton Upon Trent