Yummy scones at Audlem

Monday 29^th April; Market Drayton to Moss Hall aqueduct below the Audlem flight

It’s a lovely quiet spot to moor at this end of Market Drayton, though it’s popular with dog walkers. Straight after breakfast I started boiling up the bones from last night’s chicken for stock, so that we could dispose of the remains at the facilities not far away.  I prefer to pay a bit more for a free-range or ‘room to roam’ chicken as they are a different breed from the cheap broiler chickens which have been bred to grow so quickly that their bones can’t support them, which I think is poor animal welfare.  The more expensive option has a lot more flavour too.  I cut enough meat off the carcase for two more main meals (each) and, at least 2 rounds of chicken sandwiches.  We trundled up to the water-point for a top-up and the messy rubbish could be disposed of.  No recycling here, sadly.  It was after 10 by the time we left, in overcast weather and a very cold wind, even though it was now from the south.

It was sheltered in the woodland and almost warm

Dave walked Jess for a bit before we got to Adderley top lock, where a boat was going down.

Striding out

I went to close the offside gate for the boat in front, Sapphire.  They had only had their boat for three weeks, having made the bold decision to continuously cruise after one holiday on the Chesterfield ten years ago!  They knew what they were doing, but were still getting up to speed so they were pleased to have some help.  The top gates have gate paddles as well as ground paddles, but they project quite a long way over the footboard so after one crossing where I only just avoided getting oil on my waterproof I didn’t bother to use the offside paddle at all. 

The extra time needed to fill the locks didn’t matter as we were so close behind Sapphire and kept catching up.  They pulled in for lunch below the locks, so we carried on, and stopped at Coxbank, an excellent mooring spot below the top two Audlem locks.  The presence of a volunteer at the top lock meant I had plenty of time to buy a pork pie, two scones and some flapjack at the top lock.  This pound is quite open, and once we got going again Bonjour was getting pushed around by the strengthening wind.

From the third lock it was more sheltered, with the locks close enough for locking ahead and our downhill system to be deployed.  Most locks had drained a bit, but were never less than half full so we made reasonably good progress.  There were plenty of dogs for Jess to play with, including one who knew we were close by an excellent field for playing chase.  It took the two owners a little while to get them back from their fun!  The volunteers had not made a reappearance, so we assumed they had come for the morning especially to help the Chamberlain fuel boat and butty up the flight this morning - we swapped the top 2 locks with them.  We met two other boats in the lower part of the flight.  The bywash at lock 12 is legendary.

Fierce bywash above the narrow bridge hole

A pole has been placed opposite the bywash to help boats avoid getting stuck below the lock.

No-one was drinking outside the Shroppie Fly, it was far too cold and windy to sit outside.  We decided to finish the flight today, although there was mooring space between each of the bottom 3 locks.

Bee or fly?

The rings below the last lock were all occupied, or with git gaps, but we were able to moor on pins just beyond, with no bumping on the shelf.  Three swans flew over and round to land in the lake below the embankment.

After a cold and tiring descent we deserved a little something with a hot cup of tea.

Last mouthful of two delicious scones

We were in plenty of time to wander up to the Shroppie Fly for a beer, disposing of recycling on the way.  We had already established the pub is dog-friendly throughout.

The famous bar

It was very warm and comfortable, and we were tempted to eat there, but I thought I might fall asleep into my pie so we ate on the boat.  Jessie behaved herself – it’s the first time we have taken her into a pub, maybe even the first time in her life.  We lit the fire as the cold wind got even stronger, rocking the boat.  Then it started raining, so we were glad we hadn’t stayed at the pub to eat.

20 locks, 6½ cold windy miles