Duration: 3/4
TOTAL LOCKS: 12
CRUISING TIME PER DAY: 5 TO 7
TOTAL CRUISING TIME: 18
Maps & Guides for this route: N3, P1, L12 | Click here buy maps
Cast off and head north through the lovely countryside from Kings Orchard Marina. After about an hour and a half, you’ll reach Fradley Junction, where the 200-year-old Swan Inn is canalside, affectionately known as the ‘Mucky Duck’. Turn left here to join the Trent & Mersey Canal.
After going through 3 locks, you’ve got a relaxing 4 hours of lock-free cruising before arriving at Little Haywood and then Great Haywood. If you moor near Haywood Lock you can walk to Shugborough Hall, a Georgian mansion house and walled garden.
Turn left at Great Haywood Junction to join the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal, affectionately known as the ‘Staffie’. After just 15 minutes, you’ll find yourself on ‘Tixall Wide’, an amazing and lovely stretch of water which is more of a lake than a canal. Apparently, when the commercial waterways were being built in the 18th Century, Clifford Thomas (who was the occupier of the nearby Tixall Hall) was extremely unhappy at having what he considered an ugly industrial canal built within sight of his house. To avoid spoiling his view, he insisted the canal builders widened the water to create what looked like a scenic late instead of a canal. The meadow alongside the lake is now a Site of Special Scientific Interest and home to a variety of nesting birds.
Soon after joining the narrower part of the canal again, a small aqueduct carries you over the River Sow, and you then reach the small town of Milford. You can turn your boat round after Milford Bridge, and then perhaps moor up and walk into Milford, where there is a pub and an Indian restaurant to tempt you in.
You are now all set for your return journey to Kings Orchard Marina.
Starting with easy cruising through beautiful countryside before visiting the wonderful City of Birmingham with attractions galore!
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