Up Adderley Locks to Market Drayton

We had a fine trip up the 5 locks at Adderley this morning. Not much sun, a little breezy but no rain.

We timed it badly though. An early boat had come down earlier, passing us at around 7am, so all the locks would have been empty ready for the first boat up. Unfortunately it wasn’t us. A boat moored in front just pipped us to pole position, so we had all the locks to turn as we went up.

They are close enough together though for me to trot up to the next one and start it emptying before going back to let Mags out of the lock she was coming up. We actually caught up with the preceding boat, even though they had all the locks in their favour!

Coming up Adderley Locks


Out of the top lock, and a boat has finally arrived to go down.
He’ll have an easy run down now.

It was three miles to Market Drayton, passing through the rolling farmland typical of Shropshire.

On the right hand, to the west, runs a dismantled railway line, visible as the line of trees in the above picture. The Nantwich and Market Drayton Railway began life as a single-track branch line, opened in 1863. The route was soon adopted by the Great Western Railway and the permanent way was doubled. It was an important goods route, with up to twenty trains a day in each direction carrying mainly manufactured goods from the Midlands. Passenger service ceased in 1963, and freight in 1967. The lines were lifted in 1970.
There’s a preservation/ restoration society campaigning for the restoration of the line between Market Drayton and Cox Bank at the top end of Audlem Locks. Unfortunately the southern terminus, Market Drayton Station, now lies partly under Morrison’s supermarket. Click here for details…

There are several spots along the Shroppie that are reputed to be haunted… Betton Wood is one of them.
No spectres or ghostly apparitions to be seen today.

A line of permanent moorings on the offside under a dramatic sky

We’d arranged with Richard and Ruth to pick up diesel and solid fuel from Mountbatten and pulled in alongside where they are moored near Bridge 64.
 
Ruth is busy tarting up the paintwork on the butty Jellicoe.

We could have bought diesel cheaper at Norbury or Wheaton Aston, but this lovely couple has kept us and the other boaters on the Llangollen well supplied through the winter, in some pretty poor conditions. They deserve our support.
We’ll not see them again until next winter, I guess.

We pulled in a little further along, just shy of Bridge 63. In the morning a bit of perishable shopping, a top up of the water tank just through the bridge, and we’ll be off to Tyrley and the last flight of locks. Then we’ve 25 miles with only 2 locks to deal with to Autherley Junction.

Locks 5, miles 3½