Due to me falling asleep after dinner on Monday and no internet connection on Tuesday I have been unable to update before now so here are three for the price of one –
Monday 11th October
Today we travelled 8 miles and 6 locks from Burland to Audlem. We stopped at Hurleston for water before we did the locks and found our two remaining hose connectors do indeed not fit the tap! We managed to get the hose attatched after a fashion, we’ll get a proper connector at Norbury Junction we hope.
There was no one on Hurleston locks so we were quickly down them and back on to the Shroppie. We didn’t experience the same hold ups we had at Hack Green locks when we were there with Peter and Tim which was a good thing too! On arrival at Audlem we moored on the aqueduct again, we didn’t plan to do the 15 locks until Tuesday.
Of course we had to take George to the Shroppie Fly, walking to the pub is the only exercise he gets (and Ken!) When we were settled I went off into town to post our tax returns (yawn) and get a few supplies at the Coop. Who should I meet in there but the couple who live in Bedingfield Crescent and who we saw last year on the Coventry Canal when we were doing the Leicester Ring. They have two narrowboat holidays every year so we are bound to see them again.
When I returned to the pub I was astounded to see George sitting quite calmly right beside an alsatian! Apparently he had had a growl to start with but then settled down – amazing! Also joining Ken and George were Cathy and Mick. Then ‘Halesworth Couple’ (who are actually from Yorkshire) turned up as well so we all had a couple of beers and a chat.
We finally returned to the boat just in time to shower, change and go back to the Shroppie Fly for dinner! I was angling for another Shroppie Fly burger to set me up for the 15 locks the next day. While we were there this time we met Bob Hope (really) who runs a tearoom called The Inglenook in Nantwich and his dog – Stan, who looked like one of those old fashioned teddies! He was very educational on the subject of tea, then regaled us with descriptions of the items on his tearoom menu. They sounded delicious and it was almost worth making a detour back to Nantwich so we could go there! I will certainly look it up next time!
After my Shroppie Fly burger and a couple of glasses of wine I fell asleep as soon as we got home!
Tuesday 12th October
Today we travelled only 3 miles but 15 locks from Audlem to Adderley. Everyone was going up, like us, so we had to set all the locks. It took nearly 3 hours to get up the locks by which time, as I have a bad cold at the moment, I was fed up! When we got to Adderley (where there are a further 5 locks) the sun was out and it was a lovely afternoon so we stopped below the locks. I spent the rest of the day lazing around blowing my nose ( have used nearly a whole kitchen roll) and sneezing, aah. I lost my sense of taste and although dinner was obviously lovely I couldn’t taste a thing, aaargh nightmare!
Wednesday 13th October
Today we have travelled another 3 and a half miles and 5 locks to Market Drayton. All the locks were set for us and we didn’t see another boat so we breezed through them. At the top lock we bought eggs, from the happy free range chickens running around there and some lovely, home made iced buns, yum!
When we got to Market Drayton we went to, no not the pub, but to Morrison’s for a bit of a top up as there aren’t any serious shops for a while. There was disaster when, crossing the road the sack barrow bumped down the kerb and one of the wheels fell off! We were only about a third of the way back so we then had to carry the shopping, cursing the fact that we had bought so much, the rest of the way back to the boat! We weighed the bags when we got back, just out of interest and mine weighed a pound more than Ken’s (37lbs) although he did have a heavy rucksack and a broken barrow to carry as well!
After this we had to go to the pub for a pint of Snecklifter and a sit down! Fortunately my sense of taste has come back! I now have a horrible hacking cough though.
Tomorrow we are off to Norbury Junction for diesel, gas, coal and a hose connector with any luck.
