Monday 17th October

Well I think we have more or less finished with the cuttings – thank goodness!! Lapley Wood seemed to go on for ages – in fact I think that when they got to this part of the canal they ran out of names as that is the only on today that was named! We stopped in Brewood (pronounced Brood) and wandered into town. We came across a lovely shop, Coopers, who had excellent vegetables, delicatessen, interesting jars and prepacked meat but it looks really good. I can thoroughly recommend it. After lunch we moved down the canal to just south of Chillington Wharf where we stopped for the night. We came across a couple of interesting bridges/aqueducts today. The first was the Stretton Aqueduct over the A5 which was built in 1832. It must be very strange for drivers going 60 mph down the A5 to look up and see a narrowboat slowly crossing above them! The second was the ornate Avenue Bridge which carried the driveway to Chillington Hall. This type of ornate bridge was constructed for powerful landowners who would only grant permission for a canal to cross their land if such a structure was built for them. Chillington Hall has been owned by the Giffard family since the 12th Century. I suggested to Richard that he change his name to Giffard (or even Giffard-Hall) – much posher!!