Here, There and Everywhere
A canal side stroll with The Beatles.
A canal side stroll with The Beatles.
It’s been a hard day’s night since I last ventured to my favourite local spots along the waterways to a forgotten century here in the heartbeat of central England and so today, I rectified matters, or at least I tried to. Two of my four destinations as I criss-crossed the Shropshire/Cheshire and Staffordshire borders were partly closed due to out of season repairs and renovations but no matter, with the aid of John, Paul, George and Ringo and some past and very present images, I’ll paint a pretty collection of pictures for you, and across this universe of ours.
After hibernating for much of the winter I decided to break the shackles and escape from my mental health voices of doom and return to where these nagging voices are nearly always drowned out, nature, and a life that time has forgotten. I originally commenced my blog here as a means of transcribing and trying to make sense of the howls of my particular black dog but I seem to have veered from the towpath so to speak. Only I haven’t, not really. My mental health struggles seep into every varied piece of my writings here, whether it be my fictional hero character “The Father”, my film reviews, my pieces of introspective existential angst or even the demise of my once glorious football team. It’s all there, and especially so my ramblings beside the waterways or the numerous castles and historical ruins I visited in that glorious English summer of 2022.
I often accompany my travelling and rambling pictures with a song or selection of lyrics from the music I listened to and so after listening to three Beatles albums today (Revolver, A Hard Day’s Night and Magical Mystery Tour), I’ve settled on the song “Here, There and Everywhere” if for no other reason than it’s goddamn beautiful.
Past and present and across the universe, I hope you enjoy this pictorial stroll along the canal side with The Beatles.
“To lead a better life
I need my love to be here
Here
Making each day of the year
Changing my life with a wave of her hand
Nobody can deny that there’s something there”
AUDLEM MILL
I first stumbled over the small Cheshire village of Audlem (population 1,991 as at the 2011 census) during my odyssey to walk the entirety of the Shropshire Union Canal and as soon I saw this tiny hamlet that is utterly dominated by the imposing Parish Church of Saint James The Great Audlem and the fifteen canal locks that pepper the canal “cut” running through the village, I was smitten. So much so I ventured back on numerous day trips or whenever I was nearby, even introducing my son on a couple of occasions to the old fashioned delights this village has in abundance.
“Audlem has a range of shops that attract many visitors as well as catering for its local residents. Audlem Mill, which sits on Audlem Wharf, as well as being a fine canal shop, has just had major success in the British Craft Awards for Stitch Retailer of the Year in the North West, making it one of the best needlework shops in Britain”.
https://www.visitcheshire.com/explore/audlem-p34581
“There
Running my hands through her hair
Both of us thinking how good it can be
Someone is speaking, but she doesn’t know he’s there
I want here everywhere
And if she beside me I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her”
GRINDLEY BROOK
As with Audlem above I stumbled upon the “Staircase” Locks of Grindley Brook for the first time last summer, returning many times and as often as I was local and near the area. Together with my odyssey to walk the entirety of the Shropshire Union Canal I got myself tangled up in walking the entirety of the Llangollen Canal too and so it was, on an incredibly sunny Sunday morning canal walk from nearby Whitchurch, that I first encountered this engineering feat from a different century and I was smitten once more.
Sadly the staircase and adjoining stretches of canal either side are currently closed for repairs and renovations so I took a couple of pictures for posterity and moved on. I’ve posted these below, together with a raft of images from my many visits last summer.
“Whitchurch and Grindley Brook, on the Llangollen canal, are surrounded by great walking country. The area is also part of the Llwybr Maelor Way and South Cheshire Way.
It takes around 30 minutes to walk from Whitchurch to Grindley Brook (or the other way). When you want a break there are plenty of places to stop and watch boats and wildlife. Perfect!”.
https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/places-to-visit/whitchurch-and-grindley-brook#history
“The Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal passes through the village, and it is here that the canal descends to the Cheshire Plain. Three locks rise in a staircase near the village, and there are three other locks as the canal passes through the village.
The village is the starting point for four long distance footpaths: the Maelor, Shropshire and South Cheshire Way and the Sandstone Trail and several others run through the village, including the Marches Way”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindley_Brook
“Everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes, and hoping I’m always there
I want her everywhere
And if she’s beside me I know I need never care
But to love her is to need her”
NORBURY JUNCTION
I first visited and encountered the enchanting beauty that is Norbury Junction nearly two decades ago and during a highly memorable Christmas holiday with my extended family. Just twenty minutes and a handful of miles away in the car, I have often returned to this picturesque time capsule to another century and last summer alone I visited on four or five occasions to either sit and relax for an hour in the sunshine or to embark on my canal walks south toward Gnosall (see below) and eventually Wolverhampton, or north west to Audlem (see above) and eventually the beguiling beauty that is Nantwich.
I simply can’t recommend this piece of English and engineering history highly enough!
“Norbury Junction is a canal junction which lies about 1 mile to the SE of Norbury, It opened in 1835,and the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal still runs through it. There is a pub, a boatyard, Tearoom, and a maintenance depot”.
https://www.enjoystaffordshire.com/things-to-do/norbury-junction-p751491
“Founded in 2005 at the already established location of Norbury Junction, Staffordshire, Norbury Wharf Limited has developed a successful marina and boatyard offering hundreds of people a year an experience not to be forgotten on our fantastic canal network.
Located on the beautiful Shropshire Union Canal at the Junction of the now disused canal to Newport, Shropshire and beyond, this is an ideal cruising base for the famous Four Counties Ring, with convenient access to the Black Country ring, Llangollen canal and its famous Pontcysyllte aqueduct and the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal with its terminus at Stourport”.
https://www.norburywharfltd.co.uk/
“Everywhere
Knowing that love is to share
Each one believing that love never dies
Watching her eyes and hoping I’m always there
I will be there
And everywhere
Here, there and everywhere”
GNOSALL
I first encountered the quaint and beautiful village of Gnosall (population 4,736 as at the 2011 census) during my exploration of the surrounding Shropshire and Staffordshire border towns and villages five or six years ago and, as with Audlem and Norbury Junction yes you’ve guessed it, I was immediately smitten. I walked to, from and around Gnosall multiple times last summer and the genuine beauty is, like Norbury Junction, it’s a perfect canal side stroll for the lazy rambler as well as a prime spot to take in the sunshine on a beautiful summer’s day. Located just 3 miles along the Shropshire Union Canal from Norbury Junction, Gnosall makes for another perfect canal side walk to and from Norbury Junction as well as a small stroll in and of itself with it’s third of a mile stretch of canal bookended by two pubs and as many beautiful memories as you wish to conjure.
“The village was mentioned in the Domesday Book, in which it was named Geneshale. It is listed there as having a population of 12 households. According to research presented online by the University of Nottingham, the name Gnosall derives from a combination of the Old Welsh Genou meaning ‘mouth’ and the Mercian word halh meaning ‘a nook of land’ or ‘a small valley’ or ‘dry ground in marsh.’ The Gnosall Parish Council also believes that Gnosall derives from both Genou and halh, however believes that halh actually stands for ‘low-lying land by a river’ and states that Gnosall translates to a ‘narrow valley that suddenly opens out into a wider one’. That same site also states that there are at least 27 different spellings of the name, the oldest surviving record being for Geneshale in the Domesday Book of 1086, and that it is only by chance that Gnosall is the current spelling. The Stafford to Shrewsbury railway line once ran through the village. Gnosall’s railway station opened on 1 June 1849 and closed on 6 August 1966. The line was built by the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company, which also managed the Shropshire Union Canal which runs through the village. A footpath, the Way for the Millennium, now follows its route”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnosall
Thanks for reading. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this pictorial peek into a uniquely British time capsule from another century. If so, here are three examples of my rambling adventures beside the canals, rivers and seas of England and Wales last summer. Many more can be found within my “UK Travels” archival list:
My love affair with Ironbridge, then and now
Part 2: Tantrums and Tiaras over Tapas!medium.com
Shakespeare in the Stratford Sunshine — Part 5
“Messing about on the river” (Avon)medium.com
An old man needed to see the sea
So he treated himself to the finest coastline Wales has to offer.medium.com