Great Haywood/River Sow loop 13th June 2020
Our first club post lockdown social distance paddle.
We all met up at The Canal side Farm Shop Carpark at 9.30am. A very nice Farm shop /Garden centre /café set-up big car park directly onto the canal – bonus it has free parking at the moment.
After a social distancing photo and a pre-brief by Neil Smith including are new coronavirus guidelines, we split into two groups. 4 kayaks to lead and 3 kayaks and the ladies from Team Smith in a canoe, first group leading out and 5 minutes after, the second group followed.
We headed west on the Trent and Mersey Canal, under the bridge a few yards then right and north at the connection with the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal. We passed a small marina and over the River Trent aqueduct, a nice peaceful paddle up the canal without too many barges or fisherman. Our first portage was around the lock just outside Tixall which gave everyone a chance for a stretch and as it was getting warm an adjust of kit, carrying on we then crossed to River Sow. The canal then ran parallel with the rail track for a good while until we reached our get out to portage to the River Sow and our Lunch stop. Where I think they are are starting to build a new lock gate just north of Weeping Cross.
After a well earned lunch, still staying in our groups, we got onto the River Penk which was not much more than a ditch for a few yards then joined the River Sow. You could now see how high some of the flooding had got earlier in the year!
The first group got busy sawing a few branches to clear the route. There was a nice steady flow on the river south. It became quite narrow in places with a nice mix of paddling, some nice scenery of farmland and woods plus most of the swans in Stafford. We headed under the canal aqueduct where we had crossed earlier. We were then at the back of the Shugborough Estate where we spotted a pair of deer close to the water in a copice of woods. As we turned the corner to meet the River Trent under the arched bridge it was very shallow with a few kids playing in the water.
We made our last portage with wet feet because of the shallow water, over past the lock to the Trent and Mersey canal for the last short stretch. This was where we had our only swimmer of the day and he was very unlucky – just court him out, no issues self-rescue under the watchful eyes of the trip leaders.
A short paddle north past the Oatcake Barge took us back to the car park. In total 10 miles, a leisurely 5 hours-ish, a good test for a few of us with new kit. Well done to the 2 chaps in play boats – must have been hard work for them.
Thank you to Neil Smith for organising and leading with Paul and Simon.
Michael Sparrow