THE BIG SUMMER CRUISE--September 22nd--28th


Monday, 22nd September
Our wonderful summer cruise is drawing to a close.
The days are growing shorter, and the heat has gone out of the sun.
We have the fire going all the time now, and are very cosy.
Today it rained all morning and into the afternoon.
At least we have the luxury of not having to move if the weather is inclement.
But we're almost out of water, and so will have to make a dash for it
if it doesn't stop soon.
Fortunately, it did give up, and we went on about a mile to Grindley Brook and filled up.



A Beautiful Autumn Sky on the Llangollen Canal

We carried on through quite a few more locks, and moored up where we'd
picked the damsons a few weeks ago when Cherry was on board with us.
We ate at the Swan Inn again, and had an excellent meal. The portions were huge!

Tuesday, 23rd September
Although it rained in the night, by the time we were ready to set off, it had stopped.
We're on our way back along the same stretch that we came out on,
so there's not an awful lot of new things to tell you.
We met a dredger working in the canal,
and had to wait about twenty minutes until it moved to let us pass.

Then on, on again, to Hurleston Junction, where the Llangollen canal joins the Shropshire Union.
Here we turned right and southwards.
We went through Nantwich, past the bushes where we picked the sloes--
the sloe gin is already tasting delicious--
and moored at a place with a most interesting name--Coole Pilate!
Here there was a picnic area, and loads of space, and so we took all of the plant tubs
off the roof and planted them up with winter pansies.
We sawed up some wood we'd collected along the towpath--we're scavengers now!

Trev teases me, because I won't have anything on the roof of the boat, except the basics.
That is: the gangplank, boathook, barge pole, lifebelt, mop and plant pots.
I'm determined not to load it up with bags of coal, piles of wood,
rusty bikes and stray dogs!
So we can't carry much wood or coal at a time
only what will fit in to the lockers or scuttle.

This was a lovely quiet mooring, and we gathered our strength
for the locks which lie ahead tomorrow.

Wednesday, 24th September
We were up and away early today, ready to tackle the Audlem Flight of locks
--fifteen--and the Adderley Flight--five.
It was quite an arduous day, and took about four and a half hours.



"The Shroppie Fly" A canal pub on the Audlem Flight, on the Shropshire Union

We arrived at Market Drayton and moored up.
On the way through the locks, we'd met a couple who were living on their narrowboat.
They were called Jo and John, and Jo had been brought up in Warwick,
so we had quite a bit to chat about.
When we got to Market Drayton, they came in after us and moored up nearby.

Trev decided to give me a treat today!
He had found a tea shop serving cream teas, with proper clotted cream.
It's in an old warehouse on the canal, and is like an Aladdin's cave,
it has so much to sell, and there was a railway line
going all the way round at ceiling height, with large scale trains on it.
We had a delicious tea, and managed to tear ourselves away
without buying any of the gifts.

Thursday, 25th September
We walked in to Market Drayton to have a look around and to shop.
It's quite a small town, with a number of shops, but nothing special.
We had coffee at the Tudor House Hotel.
That was good value, because there were free refills!

Then it was back to the boat, and we were about to start off, when Jo & John came by.
We ended up chatting for about two hours, and so were rather late setting off!
We enjoyed their company, and hope to see them again when we get back to Braunston.

Eventually, in mid-afternoon, we set off.
We did the five Tyrley Locks in company with a very drunken man!
I don't know how he managed to stay out of the canal, he was reeling as he walked.
And, when he steered his boat, he was up the bank and banging in to the lock gates!
We kept a respectful distance behind him, though I had to talk to him at the locks.
His breath reeked of alcohol. He told me he'd got a "shucken" dinner cooking!

We let him get ahead, there was a narrow cutting for about a mile.
Then he decided to "moor".
Though that's a rather generous description of his methods.
He aimed at the bank, despite the fact that there was a fisherman there
with a keep net in the water! He hit the keep net and ripped it. The fisherman seemed to take it quite well!
I said to another fisherman that the man seemed well oiled,
to which he replied that the boater was well known on this stretch of the canal!
So we carried on a few miles, to ensure we were well away!
We moored up on our own, in the country.

Friday, 26th August
We were up and off by 9.00 a.m., quite a record for me!



NORBURY JUNCTION. On the left is the old arm which used to go to Newtown.
Plans are afoot to try to reopen it eventually.

We had quite a long way to go today, as we wanted to get to a special garage
which sells the cheapest fuel on the canal.
It's called Turner's of Wheaton Aston, and sells red diesel @ 23p per litre.
Usually we pay around 30p per litre.
We've been letting the tank run low deliberately to take full benefit of this bargain,
and, after a long day, we arrived there with an almost empty tank.
Our tank holds 240 litres, and we put in 225!
Now we have plenty of fuel again ready to do loads more cruising,
at a bargain price!



An unusual two storeyed bridge on the Shropshire Union.

We went on to Brewood and moored in a rather gloomy cutting.
We shall stay here for two nights, as Trev's cousin and husband
live nearby and will come to see us on Sunday.
In the evening we ate at The Admiral Rodney. It was an excellent meal,
the cook was Italian, and there were lots of Italian dishes on offer.

Saturday, 27th September
Today was a lovely sunny day.
We walked in to Brewood village, it's a pretty little place,
with quite a few good, individual shops.
We found an excellent butchers, and also a rather eccentric hairdressers!
It was run by an elderly Hungarian couple, and the man sat at a desk
by the door, watching everyone in and out, and taking the money.
His wife wrote out all the bills and swept the floor a lot!
However, my hair was cut and blow dried to my satisfaction,
and cost half of what it had cost the last time I had it cost in Bidford-on-Avon.
And, if you can remember that far back, I couldn't strike up a conversation
with the hairdresser in Bidford, but at this one, I had the entire life
history of the woman who cut my hair, it was far more entertaining!

In the afternoon I polished the brasses on the roof of the boat,
and blacked the sides of the boat where they get scratched
as we moor up or go through locks.
As I was doing this I noticed the dog from the boat next door
was wandering along the towpath,
and she decided to leave me a large present right by our boat.
I walked along to his owner and asked her if she knew the dog had made a mess.
"Oh that's fine," she said, "I'll send the dog along to clear it up!
Lulu" she called, "Go and clear up your mess please!"
"Thanks very much," I said, "that's great!" and walked away.
I won't tell you what I would like to have said or done!
In the evening, we had a Chinese take away, but it was't much to write home about.

Sunday, 28th September.
Today Trev's relations came to spend the day with us.
We set off for a cruise and the day was going really well.
It was a beautiful Autumn day and the scenery was lovely.
We did about three miles and then there were some fishermen along the bank.
They were set out in a very orderly fashion, each the same distance apart.
Trev drove very slowly, the way we understood we should,
and we moved over to the far bank to be out of the way.
We got scowls and black looks.
We carried on, but there were hundreds of them!
They stretched for more than two miles.
Apparently it was a BIG competition, and the language began to get abusive!
In fact, it was getting obscene.
In the end I called to one of them and asked him what he wanted us to do.
I pointed out that we'd moved as far over as we could
and were going as slowly as we could, what else could we do?
"You should keep in the middle," he said.
"In the middle?" I said. "I thought we should be on the far side out of your way."
"Yes, in the middle. That way we can just lift our rods, and you can go underneath."
(They have such long rods, they could have fished in the field
on the opposite side of the bank.)
"Right," I said. "Thanks for telling us."
So we continued to run the gauntlet of all of the fisherman,
Ann and I wishing we were anywhere but here,
Trev and Graham on the back getting progressively more lubricated
with Banks's Best Bitter, and becoming a liability.
And all the fishermen had to lift their rods to let us through!
Trev told me afterwards that the way the anglers had to keep
raising and lowering their rods reminded him of the way
that all the cranes along the Thames
dipped their jibs as Winston Churchill's coffin was taken downstream!
The awful thing was, we were only going down to a winding hole
and then we were going to turn round and come back again..........

"What time do you finish your competition?" I asked hopefully
of one of the more pleasant looking anglers.
"4.o'clock."
So, we went on and stopped for lunch after the last competitor.
Fortunately, we weren't in a hurry, and even the men in our party agreed
that maybe it would be a better idea to wait until 4.00 p.m. to start the return journey!
So we had a delicious Sunday roast meal, and toddled back
just as they were all packing away.
Phew--that was our second experience of being in the midst of a fishing competition.
They really do seem to get quite resentful of boats going by.

We took our relations back to their car, and then set off
down the canal over the same ground again.
We moored up and had a very quiet evening.

Tomorrow we set off to do the "Wolverhampton 21".
This is the flight up to Wolverhampton and eventually in to B'ham.
I'm not looking forward to it at all, one hears reports of vandalism,
boats being attacked, boarded and things thrown off the roof.
Apparently, one elderly couple even had their engine key stolen
and thrown in to the canal.
The first thing we have to do is to buy a handcuff key.
This is to open the special devices which have been fixed to the locks
to prevent the local wildlife opening the locks and letting all of the water out.
BW euphemistically call them "Water Conservation Keys"!
Now, if anything goes wrong on this part of the trip, it's all Trev's fault!
I didn't want to go through these wild and woolly uncharted regions!
But he knew best!
Mind you, it's home territory for him, he was brought up in Bilston.
So, if there are no further postings on this website, please send out search parties.
And do ensure that they have an English/Black Country Dictionary with them!
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