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.

Market Drayton to Adderley below Locks (Shropshire Union Canal)

 

Thursday 15^th April 

We are finally on the move today after spending the last five and a half months in Market Drayton due to lockdowns and restrictions.  It is a lovely friendly town and we have made some good friends, Sue, Steve and Monty the Westie, Ray, Iris and Bella the Jack Russell, John, Irene and Lacy the Staffy and Penny and Sally the Lurcher, it was sad saying goodbye but we will all keep in touch and we will be back in Market Drayton at the end of May so we will look forward to seeing everyone again then. We feel quite sad leaving today as we have got used to being here and having Lacey, Monty and Bella turn up everyday for treats and have started to feel like locals, also we have got used to having the shops nearby so could go down for anything we needed and now we will have to start planning again to get to shops, etc., but we are looking forward to going to pastures new now we are allowed to move again.

  

      

We untied and went across to the boatyard, Talbot Wharf to get diesel.  Tim and Lisa who run the boatyard have been so friendly and helpful and we would definitely recommend them if you need anything boat related. We had a nice chat to them and also Geoff who moors there.  We then said our goodbyes and headed off under the bridge leaving our lockdown spot behind us. 

                                            

We were soon going under the A53 and leaving Market Drayton behind us.  The sun was shining as we chugged along passing a long line of moored boats and going under a few bridges.

     

There was a heron on the towpath and everytime we got close, he flew in front of us I think he was guiding us probably as we haven’t moved for so long he thought we might need him to show us the way!

We passed a couple of boats coming the other way but the canal was much quieter than we thought it would be. 

We then came to turnover bridge which takes the towpath from one side to the other.       

We went on then we were approaching Adderley locks.  There are five locks in this flight.

                      

            

The gate was open so we went straight into the lock. Kev got off and shut the gates, we then went to the bottom gates and opened the paddles to empty the lock.  There was a boat coming up the next lock so we left he gates open for them.

We were soon through the next lock and onto number three.  There was a chap walking his dog so he helped with a couple of the gates so that was nice of him.

                                                                                                                       

As a boat had come up, all the locks were set for us so that made life easy.

We went through locks 3 and 4 and then we were at lock 5, we were soon through there and while I closed the gates Kev chugged on to the moorings below the locks.  There was only two boats there so plenty of room for us.

We moored up and then had some lunch. We enjoyed our cruise today, it was lovely moving along again and doing some locks and especially nice as the sun was shining.

 We are now going to stay here for a few days then at the beginning of next week we will move on to Audlem.

 

Adderley Below Locks to Market Drayton - Shropshire Union Canal

 

Saturday 31^st October to Sunday 1^st November

Saturday we stayed put and didn’t do much as the weather was not too good, lots of wind and rain.  There was a full moon and I managed to get a few pictures through the trees.

Sunday – when we got up the wind had dropped a bit and although it was overcast it was dry so we untied and set off from our mooring.

  

  

We have the five Adderley locks to go up and as the bottom lock was not far from where we were moored, I walked down to the lock to get it ready.

The lock was empty so I opened the gates and Kev came in.  We timed it right for once as a few minutes later a boat came behind us, usually it’s us following a boat up the locks but today it’s the other way around.  The lady from that boat came up to the lock and said she would go and set the next one for us, not sure why she wanted to do 

that perhaps they were in a hurry and wanted to make us go faster but we didn’t argue.

We were soon up the lock so I opened the gate and out we went and onto the next one where the lady had opened the gates for us so Kev went straight in.  We have a little system on these narrow locks in that I get both gates open then Kev brings the boat into the lock and steps off the boat and up the steps onto the offside and takes a rope with him and pulls the boat into the lock, then he shuts one gate and I shut the other, it saves me having to go from one side to the other.

  

    

I then opened the paddles and the lock filled up, they aren’t very deep locks so they don’t take long to fill.  We were then onto the third lock. 

We were lucky as all the locks were empty today so in our favour.  We got through this lock then onto the fourth one and then we were heading to the top lock.

    

A boat had just arrived at the top lock waiting to come down and the lady came down to the lock.  Kev had just pulled the boat into the lock and we shut the gates and I saw that she was going to open the paddle.  I called to her to wait a minute until Kev had stopped the boat going forward as if she opened the paddles fully then the boat would surge forward and smash into the top gate.  She obviously didn’t like me saying as she muttered something and wasn’t very friendly after that but it’s our boat and if it had surged forward things inside could have fallen and broke.

I tried to chat to her but she wasn’t very forthcoming, still never mind you can’t win them all!

We left the gates open for them and went on our way.

    We went under a few bridges and in a few open spots the wind was quite strong and it rocked the boat a bit. We carried on along the canal and after a few miles we were approaching Market Drayton, we went past a long line of moored boats and under a couple more bridges and stopped at the services.

There are two moorings just past the services but they are usually always full but today we were really surprised to see one was empty so we took that space which is great as it means we don’t have to move the boat to get water or carry it along the towpath, our hose will reach the tap from this space.

In the afternoon we walked up to the Lidl and B&M to get a few things and both were quiet.

We are now going to stay here in Market Drayton for the month lockdown as we have boat services and the town is about a 15 minute walk away with three supermarkets and other shops like Wilko and Savers so it should be fine.

This will be our last blog for now although I may do one every now and again during the Winter if we are able to move around again. It has been a strange year for all of us and it was going to be our first year of proper trading doing several markets and festivals but Covid put paid to that. 

We did manage to do some trading during the Summer when things opened back up and it went really well and we are selling a few things online so hopefully next year things will start to get back to normal and we can experience trading at some organised events, fingers crossed. Kev will be busy over the Winter making stock and we will try and do some trading during the lockdown and hopefully make a few pennies!

This year since the first lockdown we have only managed 139 miles and 96 locks and travelled through three counties, Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire.  We spent the first lockdown near the small village of Brewood in Staffordshire which worked out well.

We were booked to have Harry the Jack Russell to stay for two weeks in September but only got him for a few days as Jane and Malcolm's holiday abroad was cancelled and they only managed a few days away in Cornwall but we did get to spend several weeks in and around Audlem and got to spend time with our Audlem family so that was great.

Thank you to you all for reading our blog, take care and keep safe and let’s hope that next year we can all get back to some kind of normal.

Sheila & Kev