Woodend Lock

Last night we were alone on the mooring with just a slight concern about security, although everything was quiet.  As we set off this morning we saw that it would have been better to have gone on just round the corner after the Tame River aqueduct.   Must remember that for next time.   Our choice of mooring was motivated by the expectation of finding the visitor moorings at Fazeley packed, but to our surprise there was plenty of room.  On the way to Hopwas we saw a lot of housing construction going on and the Industrial Estate has also expanded.  From Fazeley through to Fradley there are big vegetation issues:one bridge on bend almost totally obscured until almost there, and some short reed beds now occupying more than half of the canal making then single line workings.   I reckon that saplings possibly grow between 2 and 3 feet a year searching for the light which is, of course, over the canal.   Fortunately little traffic to become an issue until after Huddlesford Jct.   However we made good headway until Fradley when we joined mayhem.  We were told that we were 5th in a queue, but the thing is, there is nowhere to queue.  The queue was for the pair of uphill locks but the canal up to those locks is given over to permanent moorings, so we were all milling around in the junction itself and the downhill lock was blocked by another boat in the same queue.  A strong crosswind did not help.  All taken in good humour and helpfulness.   So we completed our assigned cruise, but no chance of getting a little more ahead.  We are now on the Trent and Mersey Canal, a bit of a misnomer in some way because any link to the Mersey is now a bit obscure since the 6 locks at Runcorn down onto the Manchester Ship Canal and there to the Mersey were incorporated  into a road scheme. Woodend is a pretty little lock, the last for quite some distance until near to Great Haywood which we hope to pass tomorrow.