Adderley to Audlem Top (between locks 2 and 3) - Shropshire Union

 Monday 19^th April

We had a lovely few days at Adderley and the weather was really nice so we sat outside a lot.  On Sunday we went to our friends house for lunch and sat outside in their garden, we had a lovely afternoon eating, drinking and catching up.

     

Today we are on the move just a mile or so which will bring us to the top of the Audlem flight.  We are just going down locks 1 and 2 and mooring before lock 3, it is a really lovely mooring spot.

The sun was shining and it was a glorious morning as we set off from our mooring.  We chugged along going under a few bridges and then came to a wooded section.  We went on along there and then was approaching the top lock of the Audlem flight.

                                      

  There was a boat in front of us so we had to wait for them to go down the lock.  At the top lock there is a house which sells home made cakes and cream teas and sometimes loaves of bread.  Yesterday when we walked by there we chatted to the lady there and she said she would make us a loaf of bread and we could pick it up when we were passing tomorrow morning.

                                           

              

We picked up a cream tea and saw the lady but she had forgotten to make our bread, we said not to worry but she said she would make us some this morning and asked where we would be moored.  We said below the next lock and she said she would drop it down to us later, how kind was that.  

           

                                                             

                                   

We filled the lock and opened the gates and Kev took the boat in.  We were soon down the lock and on to the next one.

There was a boat coming up the next lock so once they were up and out of the lock, in we went.  We shut the gate and opened the paddles to empty the lock.  Once empty, I opened the gates and Kev went out of the lock and chugged onto the moorings while I shut the gates and walked down to where we were going to moor.

There was only a couple of boats there so plenty of room for us and we got our favourite spot near a bench with a nice view over the fields.

                                                

                                      

We moored up, had lunch then in the afternoon we had a walk down the locks.  We went in The Mill craft shop and got an ice cream and sat in the lovely warm sunshine by the canal.

We then walked back up the locks to the boat.  There were only a couple of boats going up the locks, the canal still seems very quiet, we thought it might be busier now boating has resumed again but we aren’t complaining as it’s always nicer when it’s quieter.

The lady from the house at the top of the locks had brought our bread and left it in the back.  There was two Focaccia loaves, one white and one brown, how nice was that and I can say they both tasted lovely because of course we had to try them straight away.

                                     

                                     

We then had our scones, jam and cream we bought from the stall at the top lock this morning and that was delicious as well.

Later on in the afternoon, our friend Jane and little Harry walked up to see us so we all had a cup of tea together and a nice chat.  We will see Jane later in the week when we venture into the village.

We are staying here now for a few days then on Friday will go down a few more locks and moor up a bit closer to the village.