Stately stress

We had a leisurely start as Wightwick Manor didn't open until 11am so after motoring a little closer to Bridge 56, we breakfasted and set off for the very short walk to the house of the Mander family of paint/varnish fame. The house is relatively new, but built in a period style, and inside is just as it was about 100 years ago.

Outside in the garden are a lovely range of flowers, and although the roses were going over, there were still some gorgeous examples to be found.

A couple of nice ponds added charm to the garden:
After the long and interesting tour of the house and gardens we set off north again on the canal. Not far up, we tried to stop to look at some shops and the engine all but stopped each time I tried to reverse to stop the boat. It was fairly obvious that we'd got something around the prop, so once we'd drifted close enough to the bank to jump off with a rope, I was able to pull the boat in and investigate the weedhatch.

At first I thought it was a bit of sacking, but the more I pulled, the less sack-like it looked. It turned out to be a substantial carpet, which having been immersed for some time, was fairly disgusting, and extremely heavy. The only way I could get it out, once I'd freed it from the propeller, was a foot or so at a time - I couldn't possibly lift the whole thing, even if I could have got my arms around it.

Rather than leave it in the canal to be picked up by someone else's prop or on the bank to get thrown back in, we had little option but to take it with us to dispose of at the refuse disposal at Autherley Junction. Even that wasn't easy, dragging it like some great dead anaconda across the towpath - but such is narrowboating, a little rough with the smooth.

Back on the Shropshire Union Canal after Autherley, there was this interesting set of seven bridges in close succession:

The profile of this canal is such that mooring is often difficult, or only possible if you have a good long gangplank and don't mind being 2 or 3 feet out from the bank. We were lucky and found a space just long enough for us at Brewood, so here we are for the night in another peaceful location: