Bridge 80 to Coole Pilate Visitor Moorings - Shropshire Union Canal

Friday 15^th May

We are finally moving on today leaving Audlem behind us just for a week though!  We have enjoyed being in and around Audlem, meeting up with Jane, Malcolm and Harry, seeing Sheila and Tony and Brock, visiting the local hostilery and cafe and getting our new fridge but will be nice to chug on a bit to pastures new.

                                                                                              

We were very pleased to see the sun shining and it was quite warm as we set off along the canal.

We passed a couple of boats, but the canal was pretty quiet.

                                

We went under a couple of bridges and through narrow gaps where a bridge used to be and then we were approaching Coole Pilate visitor moorings.  There were a couple of boats there but plenty of space and room for us, this is a popular mooring, so I expect it will fill up later.

We moored up in a nice spot near one of the picnic tables that are provided.

                                                    

In the afternoon, we sat outside in the lovely sunshine.  We saw a hire boat coming along and it was none other than the Hairy Biker or I should say the Hairy Boater! Dave Myers with his family.  We knew he was on a boating holiday doing the four counties ring and heading our way but thought knowing our luck we would miss him, but we were lucky for once.

I took a few photos as they went by and we had a quick chat, he was very friendly, I told him I had made his Cornish Pasty recipe and the pastry was fab, smiling he said thank you very much Madam!

                                              

It was nice to see him and it made my day as I like watching him and Si King on the TV.

We just chilled out for the rest of the afternoon.  There was a swan further down the canal, and he took off and flew right past our boat, they are so majestic and usually they are overhead so nice to see him fly so close to us.

We are staying here tonight and tomorrow, then on Sunday we will move on and hopefully the weather will be kind to us and stay dry, fingers crossed.

Trading at Floating Market and staying around Audlem - Shropshire Union Canal

Monday 10th May

We had two sunny days for the market and lots of people came down to see us and we did okay, we made a few sales and got a few orders so that was good. There was 10 trading boats selling everything from leather goods, fairy houses, glassware to cheese and pizza.  The market was cancelled on Bank Holiday Monday due to the bad weather. 

                                           

                                                      

We then decided to stay moored here for the week and went out with Jane a couple of times, had lunch at the pub and just generally chilled out and Kev got to work on his orders.  Where we are moored it overlooks a field with a couple of ponds in and there lots of geese, ducks, a couple of swans, a cormorant and even a couple of oyster catchers, I did manage to get a few photos.

                                             

                                      

       

We then needed to go in the marina and use their services so we decided we would go in there on Sunday and stay the night so we could meet the people picking up orders all in one place and also meet Jane and Malcolm at the cafe for breakfast.

                                                                      

On Friday night our fridge decided to pack up, it is 13 years old and they don’t last for ever but as we need a 12volt one, we can’t just pop to Curry’s!  The marina have always been very helpful so we walked up there to see if we could have one delivered there.  They were really friendly and we soon got the one we had chosen all ordered, it will probably take a few days so we will have to manage for a bit.

On Sunday we went into the marina and got all moored up.  We met Jane and Malcolm at the cafe and Kev met his two customers in the car park, he was a bit like Del Boy wheeling and dealing!!

                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                      We had a breakfast roll in the cafe and then Jane and Malcolm came back to the boat coming to our rescue yet again, they are stars and not sure how we would manage without them as they were going to take our old fridge to the recycling centre at Whitchurch which is nearby.  Luckily it fitted through our hatch window so Kev and Malcolm got the fridge out and off they went to the tip.  Jane and I stayed on the boat.

In the afternoon Kev met another customer in the car park again, what a wheeler dealer he is!

                                                          

Monday - we are off out the marina and back down to the moorings at the bottom of locks where we have been moored for the past week to wait for the delivery of our fridge then we will go back into the marina to pick it up and finally then head to Nantwich.

We untied and reversed out of our space, it was very windy but we got out the marina okay and headed back down to the moorings, we turned around so we would be facing the right way to go back to the marina then moored back in the lovely spot we came out of yesterday.

We will stay here now until we get a call to say our fridge is here, hopefully that will happen in the next couple of days then we can be on our way.

Tuesday 11th May

We got a phone call this morning to say our fridge had arrived so we untied and went back up the marina to get it.  It was not too heavy so I helped Kev get into the boat and it fitted into the place where the other one was.  We only ordered it on Saturday so really good service and the marina were so friendly and helpful.

We went to the office and said thanks to them, then went to the cafe for a coffee, good job they have a marquee as it started to rain quite heavily.  We shared a table socially distanced of course with a nice couple who live in a nearby village and had a nice chat with them.

We then went back to the boat, untied and headed back out the marina, turned left went under Bridge 80 and moored up in some nice moorings just past the bridge.

We will stay here for a couple of nights and tomorrow we will meet Jane in the village as she kindly let us store some of our food in her fridge and freezer so we will pick that up and then on Thursday move a mile or so up the canal to Coole Pilate where there are some nice rural moorings and have a couple of nights there before finally heading on to Nantwich.

Below Lock 11 to Below Audlem Locks - Shropshire Union Canal

 Friday 30th April

We have had a nice few days moored below lock 11 and the weather has been kind.  We have been out and about walking, catching a bus to Nantwich and going to Market Drayton for the market with our friend Jane.

                                       

                                               

Today we are moving down four locks to take our place ready for the floating market this weekend.

We set off from our mooring to lock no. 12 and it was a lovely sunny morning. The lock was empty so I filled it up and opened the gate and Kev came in with the boat.  We were soon down the lock so I opened the gates and Kev went out, under the bridge and onto the services which are next to the Shroppie Fly pub.  We moored up and filled up with water and got rid of our rubbish.

When we were done, I went and set lock 13 for us.  These locks are not very deep so we were soon onto lock 14.  Unfortunately all the locks were against us today so I had to fill this one as well before I could open the gate and Kev could bring the boat in.

                                

                                      

We didn’t take long to go down the lock and then we were on to our last lock and the bottom lock in this flight of 15 locks.

There was two Canal and River Trust people doing some work at this lock so one of them helped with the gates. 

                                                                                  

Most of the other traders were already in their places, so we chugged past them to our spot, no. 8 of 10 boats. We moored up okay and we have a lovely open spot overlooking Moss Hall and a little pond and the infant River Weaver.

We will be staying here until next Tuesday or Wednesday then we will move on towards Nantwich.  The market is on tomorrow, Sunday and Monday so fingers crossed the sun will shine so we get lots of people come to see us and hopefully make lots of sales.

Audlem Top to Below Lock 11 - Shropshire Union Canal

 Friday 23^rd April

We had a lovely few days where we were moored. We walked up to the stall at the top of the locks a couple of times for an ice cream and walked into the village and met Jane and Harry.  We were going to go to the cafe for coffee and cake but it was closed so we had to go to the pub instead, well what else could we do!  We all had pizzas and they were delicious. We sat out in the sunshine a few times and chatted to passers by and even sold a couple of things.

                     

     

Today we are off down nine locks.  We had a message last night to say that the flight would be closed from 7am to 12 noon to repair a broken paddle on the bottom lock, but as we aren’t going all the way down this didn’t really affect us. 

As we were getting ready to leave, a chap from the Canal and River Trust went past to the lock so I walked down to check with him it was okay to go down.  He said the repair was all done, they had started early and took them a couple hours, they must have been up with the lark as he said it was fixed by 7am!  He then said he had to go back down the flight to his van and had to check the water levels on the way so he would come down with us and help with the locks, our lucky day I think.

                                                    

The CRT chaps name was Terry from Bury and really friendly.  We set the top lock and opened the gate and Kev brought the boat in.  Kev usually gets off and shuts the gate and opens the offside paddle but Terry did it all.  It was a bit like a Benny Hill sketch as when Kev had gone out of the lock, me and Terry shut the gates and Terry came across.  By the time I had stepped down onto the towpath Terry was halfway to the next lock so I was like a little dog running to catch him up, by the time I got to the next lock he had done most of it!  Kev said it looked very funny and he wished he had videoed it!

                                    

                                                                  

      It was an enjoyable trip down the locks and we had a good chat to Terry on the way.  We flew down the locks due to him and we left the boat following us way behind.

It was a glorious sunny warm morning, perfect for doing lots of locks.

After about an hour we were at lock 11, our last lock for today and was soon mooring up between locks 11 and 12.  We then said bye to Terry and thanked him very much.  He said he enjoyed it, much better than being in the office.

                                                                                  

                                                                                                             

We had lunch then in the afternoon, we walked up to see our friends Sheila, Tony and Brock and had a lovely afternoon sat in their garden chatting, drinking tea and eating cake and the we had a couple of cheeky gins and very nice they were too!

We are staying here now for a while as for the May Bank holiday we are attending the floating market at the bottom of the locks so we will stay in this spot as it is nice and sunny and do some trading over the weekend and then make our way next week down the locks to the moorings where the market is being held.