Before we left Wheaton Aston, we crossed over to the other side of the canal where Turner's garage is situated. Here we filled up with diesel. We try to make sure we're fairly low on diesel whenever we pass Turner's as their diesel is some of the cheapest on the system. We filled up with diesel at 39.3p per litre and bought some coal, and then we were off.

It's half term this week and there are quite a few boats out, a lot more than we've been seeing over the last few weeks. We passed a man on the back of a boat and asked him where he'd come from today. "Gonsull," he said. There is a place called Gnosall on the Shroppie, pronounced No-sull, but now it is known to us as Gonsull!

We passed Norbury Junction where the old Newport branch used to go. Now it is just a short arm for moored boats. We had wonderful views of the Wrekin, which we could see for miles as we went along. We passed the old Cadbury Wharf, from where barges used to carry chocolate to Bournville in Birmingham. Eventually we moored up at Goldstone Wharf, having done fifteen miles.

The next day, we went through the five Tyrley locks and Market Drayton and on through open countryside to the five Adderley locks. We moored up at the bottom of the locks, ready to 'do' the fifteen locks of the Audlem flight in the morning.

In the morning we and our clothes and boots had dried out and we set off for Nantwich, where we moored on the embankment above the town. Trev rode in to town to shop. His new bike has proved to be so useful for riding between the locks and for shopping. Nantwich town centre is quite a distance from the canal and it was so much quicker on the bike.

The next day we went on to Hurleston Junction, where we turned left on to the Llangollen Canal. At last we were nearing our winter goal! We knew now that we would make it for the winter before all of the winter stoppages begin on November 6th. For some reason, I never get on very well with the four Hurleston Locks, and today was no exception! The first problem I had was getting the boat round the right angle at the junction. It's sharp and first I had to go through a narrow bridge, so I couldn't make my turn until I was through the bridge. I gave it plenty of throttle, and pushed the tiller far out to the right, but I still ended up on the opposite bank! I eventually got the boat in to some sort of position and was trying to get it over to the bank to wait for the lock to be ready, when the people in the lock let all the water out and the force of it threw me all over the place!

It didn't get any better........ I was at quite the wrong angle to go in to the lock and bashed my way in. Then I went in to the second lock, but I could see a boat coming down out of the third lock. The space between the locks (known as the pound) is very short and I could foresee problems, so I swopped places with Trev. I did the lock paddles whilst he sorted out the problems! As I went up to the third lock, there was a Middlewich hire boat coming out. If they continued to come out, we wouldn't be able to get out of the second lock to let them in to it.

"Please could you wait and let us out of the lock first?" I asked--quite nicely, I thought! I'm not a confrontational person......

"No, you wait for us," said the 'nice' lady on the hire boat.

"Well, we're seventy feet long, and we've still got twenty feet of it in the lock," I said.

"Well, you go back," she said. "Why should I go back? What do you know about it? Why are you telling me what to do"

"Well, I've been boating for three and a half years and I have got some idea," I said.

Meanwhile, Trev is sitting in the lock, wondering what's going on. Eventually the man from the boat came back and told her she would have to go back to let us out!

"I don't see why I should,`" she said.

But eventually she did, and kept on moaning at me as she did it! It takes all sorts......

At the Hurleston Locks, we met Linda, whom we had seen the last twice we'd been on the the Llangollen. She has been a summer lock keeper at the Hurleston Locks and her job was just coming to an end. It was nice to see someone we knew and it felt rather like coming home. We continued for about a mile and moored up in one of our favourite mooring places. All the way along the Shropshire Union and Llangollen Canals, there are some excellent moorings provided by the Shropshire Union Canal Society, a voluntary organisation which does much excellent work to enhance the canals. Obviously the locals were delighted to see us back, as there was a wonderful firework display later in the evening, which must have been put on especially for us!

We stayed here a couple of nights, though there was no more firework displays! We finally decided that it was time to discard the flowers on the roof. They have drawn some appreciative comments. We put them in the hedge and put the flower boxes away for the winter. Last winter I put pansies in the boxes, but they only flowered for the first month and then turned in to pathetic shrivelled up affairs and looked awful, so this year I'm not going to bother. We cleaned the top of the boat and polished the brasses and the boat looked very shipshape and Bristol fashion!

The next day we set off along our very favourite canal with light hearts. I, in particular, felt at last I was on familiar ground and am delighted that we now have five months here. At Swanley, we saw the very smart new marina, which has been built, opened and filled since we were here in March. It looks a lovely spot to moor, and has excellent facilities. Apparently there is a national shortage of mooring. This is not a problem for us, as we are what is known as Continuous Cruisers, i.e. we don't have a home mooring and travel all of the time. The longest we are allowed to stay anywhere is fourteen days, but this isn't an issue, as we would run out of water after about four days any way, and would need to move to refill the water tank. The vast majority of boaters abide by this rule, whatever we think about it, but there is a tiny minority who don't follow the rule and stay in the same place for much longer than the fourteen days. This causes ill feeling amongst those who are 'doing it right', but fortunately BW is now addressing the problem and catching up with these transgressors. However, if you happen to own a field which borders the canal, just get planning permission for it to be turned in to a marina, and you'll be a millionaire in no time!

We moored tonight near Wrenbury Lift Bridge, an electrically operated bridge with traffic lights to stop the traffic. Most of the drivers who have to wait as we go though are OK, and I always give them a wave and say 'Thank you' as they go on their way.

We travelled on up the canal, passing through Baddeley Locks, Quoisley and Povey's locks and eventually arrived at Grindley Brook Locks. Here there are four locks, followed by three locks in a staircase--that is where the top gate of the first lock is the bottom lock of the next and so on. There was a very cheerful lock keeper on duty who helped us through and we were soon at the top. We moved on to moor at the junction with the Whitchurch Arm.

But when we arrived, we saw there was a tent in the adjacent field and felt rather unsure as to what was going on. So we moved on and moored a little further ahead. In the morning I met a woman walking her dog, and she told me that there was a family living in the tent. They had been evicted from their house and had nowhere to go. How sad. I can't imagine what it must be like to be in such a dreadful situation. There was a severe frost last night and they must have been so cold. I wonder what will happen to them.

We walked in to Whitchurch to shop and bought so much from Tesco that we had to get the bus back to the boat! The area of Whitchurch where the canal passes through is called Chemistry! Isn't that a strange name?

Then on again, through three lift bridges to moor at Platt Lane, which is the name of an area not a road--well it might be a road too. I don't know! There's a nice pub here, The Waggoners and we went for a bar snack. There have been some very heavy frosts over the last few nights, but the days have been absoutely glorious, clear blue skies and warm warm sunshine. It's been almost shirt sleeve weather. When the weather is so glorious, it's hard to imagine that winter will soon be here.

We carried on past the end of the Prees Branch, at the end of which is Whixall Marina, where we've received such excellent hospitality from Graham and his family, who run the marina. We moored eventually at Hampton Bank, close to where the badgers--allegedly!--caused the collapse of the bank a couple of years ago.

We moved on to Ellesmere where we moored at the junction with the Ellesmere Arm. We stayed here a couple of nights, and, as it was Trev's birthday, went for a meal at The Black Lion, an old coaching pub in the town centre. We shopped, as we needed to lay in stores for the next week. We're making a diversion down the Montgomery Canal and there are no shops down there.

Then we moved on to Frankton Junction, which is where the Montgomery Canal starts, on its way down to Newtown. Sadly this canal fell in to disrepair, and was abandoned for years. But a most enterprising group of volunteers decided that it should be restored and have worked hard for years towards this end. At the moment, there are seven miles in water, from Frankton down to Gronwen, and it is a real delight. The number of boats allowed is limited by an annual quota of three thousand boat passages per year. There is a set of four locks at the junction, and these are only open for a short time each day. One has to book a passage through forty-eight hours in advance, and then the lock keeper comes and lets the boats through. He only allows those boats through which have booked in advance, it's no good turning up and hoping to be allowed down. So, here we are, waiting for our turn. Come back in a week or so, and I'll tell you how we got on!

Autumn/Winter, 2006/7

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