Cox Bank to Adderley (Bottom of Locks) (Shropshire Union Canal)

Coming into Lock No. 2

We are on the move again today just a couple of miles and we have two locks to do, the last two locks in the Audlem flight of 15 locks.

Coming under the Bridge

In Audlem Top Lock

There was no sun today but it was dry as we set off from our mooring to the first lock.  There was a boat in front of us, so we waited for them to go out of the lock and as there was not boat coming the other way, I emptied it and then Kev brought the boat in.

These locks are not very deep, so they don’t take long to fill and soon we were up the lock.  I left Kev to close the gate and I walked to the next one which is very close.  The boat in front of us were just going out the lock and again no boat was coming the other way, so I emptied the lock and Kev came in and up we went.  By this lock is a stall selling home-made cakes, we didn’t buy any today as we had some yesterday.

Cake Stall at the Top Lock

We went on along the canal which is very quiet, we only met one boat.  There was a heron on the towpath which kept flying off as we got close and then landing on the towpath again a little further up, they are always lovely to see on the canal.

Grey Morning Today

We went under a couple of bridges and then moored in the visitor moorings below Adderley locks.

Heron on the Towpath

And Off He Goes!

At the top of the Adderley five locks is a farm which sells produce and in the Summer time they have a stall on the lock. There wasn’t anything there, so we walked into the farm yard and the lady came out and said she had a few things in the freezer so we went to see what she had.

We bought some sausages, chicken breasts, a lovely joint of pork and a tray of eggs, well we asked for a dozen which were £2 but as she had a lot of eggs, she said we could have a whole tray for £2.50, well we couldn’t turn that down!

As we were walking back down the locks to the boat, it started raining but not very heavy, but when we got back to the boat it got quite heavy and rained most of the afternoon.

We are staying here tonight then off to Market Drayton tomorrow a few miles away.