A lazy day to Market Drayton.

Had a day against the bank yesterday. Got a bit more done on the left cabin side, easier now I’ve got that old polisher going. But it’s still going to take time. I would have done some more today, but the towpath has switched sides for a bit so I have had to make do with giving the right side a wash instead.
Quite a few boats on the move, though most seem to be going south at the moment.

I had a walk around Audlem, a pleasant village with good amenities and an impressive church.

St James' Church, AudlemThe sandstone building dates from the late 13th and early 14th centuries, and is Grade 1 listed.

Inspection Launch Lady Hatherton built in 1898
We had a family of moorhens in the reeds opposite, and they regularly came across for something to eat. The chicks, even though they were well grown and capable of feeding themselves, still preferred mum to provide.

Typical teenager…..We had the 2 top locks of the Audlem flight to climb just around the corner, so waited for a boat coming down so they were ready for us.

Audlem Top Lock

Then we had a very pleasant, gentle cruise to the next group of locks at Adderley.

Adderley Bottom Lock, No 5.
We weren’t as lucky on this flight as we were at Audlem the other day. We arrived directly behind another boat and there were none coming down, so each chamber had to be emptied before we could use it.
Still, it wasn’t too much of a hardship and we were at the top in an hour.

Two boats arrived to go down just as we arrived, so they would have had an easy run down.
We picked up a dozen fresh free range eggs from the smallholding alongside the lock. On the Audlem locks we bought a punnet of fresh gooseberries the same way, just an honesty box to put your money in. They were good in a crumble.

After leaving Adderley we had an enjoyable 3 mile trip to Market Drayton, arriving at just after noon.

Cruising towards Market Drayton

We filled and emptied the tanks as required and then found a spot on the 2 day moorings by Bridge 62, before I toddled off into town to fill up the larder.

Moored near Bridge 62.
It’s pretty busy here, both on and off the water, but we’re only stopping the one night.

Steve on NB Just Heaven came across my scribblings yesterday and left a comment on a post from February last year. A photo I took shows their boat on the canal near Kinver. I dug it out but unfortunately I’d the camera set on low res so can’t enlarge and crop the photo how I'd like.
Might get another chance on this trip, Steve.
However, they've just been down onto the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, which is where we're bound, so their blog is a useful source of info for us.

Locks 7, miles 5

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