The Towpath Angler
Our monthly look at the angling scene
Narrow normality resumes as the route turns under Swivel Bridge, then crosses the River Trent on a small aqueduct. At Great Haywood Junction the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal ends where the water meets the Trent & Mersey Canal.
The Staffs & Worcs has become one of the busiest and best in Britain for leisure boating and is part of the popular Stourport Ring. Defying the rules of the urban map, it is outrageously rural for a canal that clings to the edges of the Black Country.
Navigable length: 46 miles
OS Grid refs: SO810710 (Stourport-on-Severn) & SJ995229 (Great Haywood Junction)
EVEN as we near completion of six months of Covid precautions it is still really uncertain as to what the future holds.
Of course the Government and its advisers are, no doubt, continually looking at what further relaxations can be introduced, only to see the periodic occurrence of local outbreaks which presumably cause a general rethink and, as we have seen, the resultant imposition of local lockdowns.
The cause of these outbreaks is possibly different in each case but the pattern would seem to suggest that too many people still openly flout the rules and guidelines; something which really enrages the vast majority of us who abide by the rules.
Sadly this thoughtless behaviour probably goes deeper than the Covid situation and is apparent in other areas of society. down because of the attitude taken by certain towpath users. The only saving grace is that for the past six weeks the canal has been completely unfishable at times due to an explosion of the dreaded azolla weed.
I am pleased to say that after liaising with the Canal & River Trust here in the East Midlands the American weevil, the only known effective treatment for this particular non-native species, was introduced just a week or so ago and already the improvement is obvious.