Coole Pilate to Hurleston Junction - Shropshire Union Canal

 Sunday 16^th May

We are on the move today and the sun was shining and it was dry which was nice to see after the heavy downpours we had yesterday.

We decided to leave quite early, well it was for us and so just after 8.30am we untied and set off along the canal.

             

We went under a couple of bridges and met a couple of boats but the canal was quite quiet.  As a hire boat was coming towards us, a swan came flying right past them and us.

We soon came to Hack Green locks, there are just two in this flight.  The top lock was full so I was able to open the gate and let Kev in. We were soon down the lock and Kev said a boat was coming up the second lock, so I left the gates open for them and walked to the next lock.

                                                     

                                                                                                          

There was a boat waiting to come up and about four people from that boat came up to the lock so I asked them if I could get on as they were going to work the lock and they said yes so I did.  We were soon down the lock and they opened the gates and we went out and on our way again.

                                   

                                                                 

We chugged on and then was approaching Nantwich aqueduct, we went over there, past several moored boats and stopped at the services.

We filled up our water tank and got rid of rubbish.  In one of the skips, there was a fold up table in really good condition and from a quick look, it seemed a bolt was missing holding the top together and easily fixable so that went on the roof! Not sure why you would throw away a perfectly good table and not just get a bolt and mend it, but I suppose we live in a throw away society and it’s in our favour as we now have a handy table.  Hopefully Kev can fix it, you can never have too many fold up small tables.

                  

                                  

We then went on our way, on along the canal which is very quiet, not many boats moving.

We went under several bridges then we were at Hurleston Reservoir where we moored up just before the bridge and the junction with the Llangollen canal.

          

In the afternoon as the sun was still shining and it was quite warm, we walked up the locks at the start of the Llangollen canal to Bridge 1 and walked off the canal to the road and along there to Snugburys Ice-cream farm.

                                       

Ii was very busy with lots of cars and people.  We saw a long line of cars and then realised it was a drive thru for ice cream, we hoped they would have a queue for walkers as well otherwise we would have to pretend we were in a car and get in the drive thru queue, that would have been fun!  Fortunately the shop they usually sell the ice cream was open so we joined that queue.

They were only letting in one in, one out but it didn’t take long and soon we were sat on a bench in the sunshine enjoying our ice creams, I had sea salt caramel and raspberry ripple and Kev had mint choc chip and rum and raisin, well we had to have two scoops, can’t go there and just have one, it’s too good.

                             

                                        

We then walked back along the road to the canal and sat on a bench by the locks watching boats go through.  In the distance we could see a large satellite dish, which we haven’t seen from there before. We thought it might be Jodrell Bank Observatory at Macclesfield, but wasn’t sure so we asked the volunteer lock keeper and he confirmed it was.  We said we had looked across there many times but never seen it before and he said that it’s not often you can see it like today as it depends what angle the satellite dish is at.

We walked on down the locks and back to the boat.

We are staying here tonight then heading on to Calveley in the morning so fingers crossed the sun is shining again and we don’t get wet!

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.