Cruising on the Shropshire Union
To avoid the queues that build up at Grindley Brook we set off early to reach there by 7:30. There was no one about, the lockie hadn’t come on duty yet, so we went through unimpeded. A fairly uneventful run down to Hurleston. Except when Heddi had stern words with a hireboat crew who untied
A long cold day today.we left at 7:00 expecting the locks to be in our favour but, we discovered later, another boat had left at 6:15, so we had to turn almost every one. They were a couple of upcoming boats but other than that they were a against us. Breakfast was taken after we
Woke up to a totally blue sky – and slightly warmer than yesterday. It is 15 years since we have been on this part of the Shroppie and I couldn’t remember it at all! A short stop in Market Drayton for some shopping then off again. We stopped earlyish at some very pleasant moorings between
Another early start down the rest of the ’21’. We didn’t see another boat until we were approaching Autherley junction, then we were in a queue. First for the temporary stoppage round some dredging, then for the junction itself. A stop at Wheaton Aston for fuel (47.9 p/l cheapest on the network?) then on to
A little bit of drizzle on and off today, but otherwise not a bad day, though very windy. The deep cuttings along this part of the Shroppie are quite interesting, but otherwise it’s fairly boring, particularly for the steerer as it’s just long straight sections with only the one lock at Wheaton Aston to break
We have moved today, but we’re back where we started. A pumpout and shopping needed today so an early start down Tyrley locks and into Market Drayton. We had intended to use one of the boatyards for the pumpout, but found a BW DIY machine so used that instead. Anyway the boatyard wasnt open when
Weather fairly cool and cloudy today, with periods of rain getting heavier as the day went on. We were going to have a pumpout at Wheaton Aston but the BW DIY machine was out of action (as was the toilet block) because of a sewerage system problem. We topped up with fuel at Turner’s garage
Another rather wet, cold & grey day, where’s the summer gone? The weather did clear a little in the evening and we decided to have a barbecue as this may be the only chance this week. During yesterday and today we have had several re-occurrances of the fuel starvation problem. I decided to take out
When we got to Wheaton Aston lock the wind was blowing very hard across the canal at right angles. There was a queue of four boats in front of us. They were all have great difiiculty getting into the lock in the wind. The technique used by most was to have someone on the towpath
We stopped for water by the old Water Travel base near the stop lock. It was getting cold and the wind was picking up so we decided to stop for the night on the mooring by bridge 4. The are rings here but it’s difficult to moor up as there is an underwater ledge. Had