Market Drayton to Christleton

Market Drayton to Chistleton

Thursday 21st May 2009

We arrived here yesterday, which just happened to be Market day. Naturally Wifey had to go shopping. Well, actually she really did because we were getting pretty low on victuals. As usual she took her shopping trolley but, knowing she had a huge amount to get, and that we were going to stay for two nights, I told her not to take a shopping bag too. But, as I suspected, she came back with a full trolley load and a plastic carrier bag full as well.

This morning, as she’d already planned, she again went into town for the rest of the shopping, and again she took the trolley. This time however, she not only came back with a trolley full, she also managed to find enough to fill another two plastic carrier bags. Lord only knows where she finds room for it all when she stows it away.

On our way here from Goldstone yesterday we had to come through Woodseaves Cutting, which is about a mile or so long and quite narrow in places. It can be pretty dim and dark going through, not least because of the high banks of trees on both sides. Being a quite narrow stretch it can also be tricky passing other boats too.

Interestingly, reading from the Nicholson’s Guide, this cutting was cut by hand and the dark brown rock from which it was cut is plain to see. Those workers didn’t have the benefit of mechanical cutting tools either. It was all done with whatever was to hand at the time. One bridge in particular was obviously built with huge blocks of this rock.

At the end of the cutting of course is the top of Tyrley Locks, of which there are five. When we left Goldstone there were already two boats in front of us, so we knew we wouldn’t be going through very quickly. Unfortunately we also had to contend with holiday boats coming up from Market Drayton, which was bound to add to our waiting time.

Much like the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, the locks at Tyrley also have very fast running side channels. When going down the locks these don’t present too much of a problem, because it’s only necessary to leave the lock a bit faster than usual in order to avoid being swept to one side. Coming up, on the other hand, can be a bit nerve-wracking, to say the least. If you try entering the lock too fast to avoid the problem, you end up decelerating very hard so as to avoid bashing into the opposite end. If you approach too slowly however, you find the sharp end of the boat being pushed to one side, and you miss the entrance altogether. Holidaymakers, unfortunately, don’t always have the benefit of practice. Fun to watch mind!

The town of Market Drayton received its charter in the 13th century, but was destroyed by fire in 1651. The rebuilding of the town still used the black and white timber framing as before, the finest example being the Tudor House Hotel in the market square. The parish church of St. Mary, which overlooks the Tern valley, dates from the 12th century.

The town also lays claim to being the home of gingerbread and there are two bakeries producing it. One of them still produces the original Billingtons recipe, which was sold at a weekly market in Buttercross. Unfortunately the link to gingerbread appears to be a little suspect., but is based on the towns connection with Clive of India, who returned from the east with a vast collection of spices, one of which may have been ginger. Ah well, perhaps we’ll never know.

Tomorrow, if we don’ get any more rain like we had today, there’s a good chance we’ll go on to Adderley, which will involve going through another five locks. Indeed, if we’re up to it, we might also take in the first two locks at Audlum, of which there are 15.

Sunday 24th May 2009

As you can see, despite all the extra time on my hands during my long awaited retirement, I’m becoming somewhat lazy. What else could account for the fact that I’m not updating this blog on a daily basis?

Anyway, on Friday we left Market Drayton on Friday morning and, after passing through five locks, arrived at Adderley. It only took us a couple of hours to cover the four miles and so, after the usual cuppa, we settled in for a day of well earned rest, which statement was made with tongue firmly in cheek.

The village of Adderley is quite a longinsh walk and, since there are no shops to speak, nor pubs as far as we can tell, it’s simply a case of lazing around for the rest of the day.

Now, on Saturday, since there are no pubs at the aforementioned village, we set our sights on getting to Audlum for the weekend. Little did we know that their ninth annual festival would take place this weekend. But that really wouldn’t have given us much cause for concern, had we been able to find decent moorings. Anyway, having travelled through 11 locks over the two miles, we pulled in and tied up. It wasn’t the ideal spot, being between two locks as it was, but we tried to make the best of it. Unfortunately the pound between locks 11 and 12 is quite short and, it being a busy boating day, we did tend to get knocked about a bit by passing boats.

So, after an hour or so of this, along with the fact that we were practically sitting on a ledge, which caused the boat to tilt a bit, we decided to move on. At first we decided to try mooring by the two pubs just a couple more locks down but, on arriving there, we thought it might just get a little busy and noisy over the weekend. The only thing for it, much to my dismay, was to give up all thoughts of a Sunday drink, and leave Audlum to it’s own devices and find some secluded spot further along the canal. We finally settled on a nice spot by bridge 82 and, with the weather promising to be the best so far this year, we might even stay for Monday as well and catch up on the beer sometime later.

Now, let me tell you all about the fun we had going through the locks on our way to Audlum. All 15 locks are pretty close together and we fully expected to meet other boaters coming the other way. Being so close to Wales we also expected to coma across holiday boats from Anglo-Welsh. We were not disappointed and came across one such between locks nine and ten. Wifey will dispute this, which is not an uncommon occurrence, and will tell you we were between locks eight and nine. However, I distinctly remember being surprised at only having one more lock to go through before mooring up.

Back to the tale of woe for Anglo-Welsh couple. All these closely knitted locks have one thing in common, and that is the mini-weir at the top, which allows water to pass by the lock and keep the pounds at a reasonable level. Without this they would either overflow their banks, or become too shallow for boats to move. For some reason best known to himself, the gentleman steering the Anglo-Welsh boat out of lock 10, had steered it into the side of the pound and become firmly wedged.

At first we tried tying their boat to ours in an attempt to tow him off, but all to no avail. No matter whether I pushed or pulled we made no difference to his predicament. Obviously we needed more manpower, which came in the form of other boaters, who were waiting to pass through the locks. Finally, after unhitching our boat and piling people on the stern deck of theirs, we succeeded in pulling their boat off the bank. Hopefully that nice gentleman has learned his lesson and will stay firmly in the middle of the pound when travelling between locks. Nuff said!

So, here we are at Bridge 82, and here we will most probably stay tomorrow as well. If the weather is fine it will give me an opportunity to carry out and oil and filter change on the engine.

Bank Holiday 25th May 2009

Well, after much discussion this morning, and it being a very bright and sunny day, we decided to move on to Nantwich. I was going to tackle the simple task of an oil and filter change but, since I didn’t have a spare container into which to drain the engine oil, we’ve decide to wait a while. If I can find an old, plastic oil can I will do the job. If not, then I’ll get the nearest boatyard to do the job.

So, after the said discussion we left about nine o’clock. With only two locks to go down you could be excused if you thought we’d do the four mile run in no time. In fact, as it’s a Bank Holiday, there are more than enough other boaters around to slow us down. Arriving at the first lock we found we were third in line. This means waiting for the first boat to go through, waiting for the next to enter from below, filling the lock, letting them out and waiting for the next boat to enter at the top. The same is true of the second lock and so the four miles took over two hours.

Anyway, here we are at Nantwich, but just for the night. Tomorrow morning Wifey will walk into town – we actually took a bus in last time we were here – do a bit of shopping, then we’ll make for Barbridge, which is about three miles away. Whilst we’re there we will take advantage of the culinary delights of a pub we were last in 15 years ago. That was when we hired a boat after Sheila finished her stint in Northern Ireland and we did the Llangollen Canal. It was such a dry summer that year that we didn’t even get as far as the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct because the canal was too shallow to allow passage. Hopefully there’ll be a little more water about this year.

Wednesday 27th May 2009

Hi from Just above Beeston Stone Lock on the Shroppie. We’re now in new territory for us because, although we’ve travelled the Shroppie before, we’ve not been this end between Barbridge Junction and Chester.

Yesterday we stayed at Nantwich because the weather was not that good, very strong winds and some rain. But, since the moorings there are limited to 48 hours and the fact that we were in need of a pump-out, we made tracks for the Anglo-Welsh hire boat yard at Bunbury. After that it was simply a matter of finding suitable moorings, and here we are.

Now, tomorrow we’re going on through this lock and another two to Bates Mill Bridge, where there’s a pub called The Shady Oak. From there we’ll have a direct line of sight to the remains of Beeston Castle. This was built in 1337 by the Earl of Chester – no doubt charging it to expenses, ho, ho. Situated as it is on the top of a steep hill the castle can be seen from 30 miles away. Now that is a dominating position.

Friday 29th May 2009

Hello and welcome from Christleton on the Shroppie. We’re now just a short distance from Chester proper, which we’ll pass through on Sunday, once again flouting our own rules on weekend travel. However, there’s a good reason for this, we simply do not like to travel through big towns or cities on Saturdays. Sunday mornings are not too bad because the little horrors who sometimes make boaters lives a misery are usually still safely ensconced within their own four walls. Besides which, if we don’t stay her for tomorrow, it will be my last opportunity for a weekend drink before we head back this way from Ellesmere Port, because there are no canal-side pubs between here and there, except in Chester, and we don’t wish to stay overnight in that town.

Yesterday we stayed at Bates Mill Bridge and savoured the delights of The Shady Oak. A very nice pub indeed, but with ideas above its station, with rather posh and overpriced food, and the beer’s not too cheap either at £3.05p a pint. Anyway, apart from the idyllic setting and the lovely weather, there’s not much to report about the area. No shops or post office, just the pub and, what appeared to be a working mill set to one side of the bridge.

We left there at about 08.20 this morning and, with no locks to worry about, arrived at bridge 119 at Waverton about 10 o/clock so that Wifey could collect our mail from the local Post Office. After which she strolled off to the local shop for a few bits and pieces. And that’s about it for this blog.

Cheers for now from

Dave, Sheila and Rusty