Shiralee Cruise 2011 #11

Thursday 16th June.

Yesterday was not a bad day at all, having left the marina at about 9.30 we moored at the bottom of the Audlem flight of 15 locks at about 10 am, having already decided to stay there for the night.

The Shropshire Union Canal is well known for mooring difficulties. For some reason best known to themselves, the builders of this canal left a rocky ledge jutting out below the water line. This means that, when mooring up anywhere other than designated mooring sections, which have rings set into the ground, the boat sticks out several inches from the towpath.

In itself this does not pose a problem. What does become annoying is that fenders are useless here, unless they are long enough to push down to below the ledge, thus cushioning the effects of passing boats. It also means that, for every passing boat, more paint is scratched off the boat below the water line, not to mention the banging and bumping that the boat is subjected to throughout the day. A real pain in the butt.

When we were at Pillings Lock we were given a couple of old Go-Kart tyres, which we have rigged up for just this purpose. Useless! The ideal solution would have been to have the wheels in the tyres. That way we could lay them flat on the water, which would push the boat away from the bank. But we would then have to walk the plank every time we wanted to leave the boat. Anyway, we finally managed to minimise the problem with fenders and tyres, so that it was just bearable.

For lunch we decided to try the Shroppie Fly, a canal-side pub just past the third lock up. There are three pubs in the small town of Audlem in Cheshire that we know of, the one mentioned, The Boat which is just a few yards further on and sitting beside the High Street and the Lord Combermere, which lies in the middle of town. This is the one we used last time we passed through here.

The ’Fly’ is usually fairly busy and seems to attract far more customers than the others, though I’m not sure why that should be. It’s probably because of the history of the pub, which is something I’ll look into and report on soon. Anyway, noticing that The Boat was somewhat less than a hive of activity, and much preferring a pub with some hustle and bustle, we opted for the ‘Fly’ and were very glad we did.

The meals served here are of excellent quality, hot and freshly cooked. Although, £3.25 for a pint of Guinness was rather expensive, the food more than made up for it.

I almost forget to mention the stunning view from our moorings, absolutely amazing. Going downhill from the towpath the nearby field runs down to a huge lake, which has a tree packed island in the middle. You could liken the area around the lake to that of a crater, because the fields around it slope away upwards on all sides. To the left and beyond the lake is another stand of trees, with more trees and bushes on the horizon-line. To set it all off there are also sheep, with accompanying lambs, along with quite a few geese. All in all the finest example of an English rural setting you would be hard pressed to beat.

The Shroppie Fly.

The Shroppie Fly is situated on the banks of the Shropshire Union Canal in the pituresque village of Audlem, South Cheshire.

The building has a history that goes back to the construction of the Shropshire Union Canal itself. It was originally constructed as a canal warehouse and performed that function until its closure in 1970.

Not long after this, the building was purchased privately and underwent an extensive conversion exercise. By 1974 the old warehouse had been transformed into a pub and the ‘Shroppie Fly’ was born.

The name originates from a type of canal boat. ‘Fly’ boats were the express craft of the waterways, running around the clock delivering the most important as well as perishable goods. The ‘Shroppie Fly’ boat represented the finest example of wooden narrow boat construction with ‘Shroppie Fly’ boatmen being the elite in their field.

The current owners are Kate and Andy Griffiths. Since taking over the Shroppie in February 2004, they have been investing a lot of time, money and effort into making improvements both front of house and behind the scenes. Hopefully, this ongoing effort has benefits for both staff and customers alike.

Kate is an Audlem girl born and bred. She is more than qualified for this role having enjoyed pub work since the age of eleven, covering all aspects of the job from pot washing to restaurant management. Her job – to keep an eye on the Landlord!

Andy originates from the village of Hodnet. He has lived mostly around the Nantwich & Crewe area and moved to Audlem in 2001. Having spent 30 years in the IT business, he thought it was time for a change! His job – to keep an eye on the beer!

The centre piece of the pub is the bar which is incorporated in an original ‘Shroppie Fly’ boat salvaged from the Shropshire Union canal near Birmingham

End of short history of The Shroppie Fly.

It is now almost 06.30 and, as expected, the rain has started to fall, so unless it stops, we’ll be staying here another night at least. Still, it’s early yet and could clear up later, in which case we’ll make some headway up the locks. The fact that most of the 15 locks are pretty close together, with no room for mooring in between, makes it advisable to climb them in fine weather, because it ain’t much fun operating locks in the poring rain, so we don’t. Holiday boaters don’t have much choice, but we’re retired, with stacks of time on our hands, and can please ourselves. So there!!

Friday 17th June and we will be off to Adderley this morning and we’ll make an early start. Late yesterday afternoon we had the pleasure of seeing one of the Museum Boats moor up in front of us. This consists of two boats, the second being a ‘butty’, which is towed by the first.

Since we are only on 24 hour moorings, having moved up the canal yesterday morning, stopping only because we were following two other boats up the locks – a most tiresome business – we must move on today and, not wishing to be stuck behind the Museum Boat, I asked what time they planned on leaving this morning. We’ll be leaving about 07.30, since they won’t go until after 08.00.

Friday (Cont.)
Left the Shroppie Fly moorings at 0700 to ensure we didn’t have to follow the museum boats. We had 12 locks to go through and just 2 ½ miles to Adderley where we intended to stop for the rest of the day and night.

Just as we were getting ready to go, another boat across the canal from us was also preparing to do so. Not wishing to be stuck behind them either, we hurried along and beat them to the first lock. We needn’t have worried though, because there were five of them on board and did their best to help us along, which is why it only took 2 ½ hours to complete the trip. Imagine that, moored up for the day by 09.30.

We could have continued on through the next five locks but, with the wind increasing in strength, we decided to call it a day. Besides which we want to be at Market Drayton for the weekend and moor up near a pub called The Talbot, which must be quite good as we have used it twice in the past.

Saturday 18th June and, despite what the weather people told us last night, the day has dawned bright and calm, no rain as yet. Of course, it’s early yet and there is still plenty of time for this situation to change for the worst.

We’re off to Market Drayton this morning, where we will have something of a trudge into town for shopping. Fortunately they have a Morrison’s there, something of a blessing these days. Hopefully the Internet will be easier to access from there; this place has it either perfect or no service at all, so we must be on the fringes of the nearest mast. While it is great being moored in the sticks, where the views can be quite stunning and the days are peaceful, it does have its disadvantages.

I will report again from Market Drayton.

Later…….

Arrived at Market Drayton about 10 am and moored up just before bridge 63. We then took walk into town; after the obligatory cuppa; and walked into a monsoon. Honest Injun, would I kid you? Initially I intended wearing just my short denim jacket but, with a slight drizzle in the air, opted for my, so called, waterproof. By the time we reached the shops – and we were a long way yet from Morrison’s – the heavens had opened up and, despite the umbrella, we were both looking pretty much like drowned rats. The fact that the general populace of Market Drayton looked much the same, really didn’t make us feel any better.

From information gleaned from the ‘You Are Here’ sign by the side of the canal, the town was granted Market status by King Billy III about 750 years ago and there still exists a market to this day.

From the high street shops is still quite a walk to Morrison’s and, by the time we reached there, after waiting for the torrents of stair-rods to slow down, we might just as well have left the jackets behind and swam.

This is one of those days where we wished we had left the shopping until tomorrow and, wouldn’t you know it, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining just as we got back to the boat.

On to another subject, this time to do with a wee problem I have with the laptop.

I recently purchased some stuff online which contained links to a site that had informational videos on it. Now, having to watch videos online can be something of a trial when travelling and using a dongle, simply because, if the signal is weak the videos tend to break up. However, although the videos are as clear as a bell and I have a strong signal, the sound is very low and I can’t figure out why.

I’ve carried out a full diagnostic check, using the tools that came with the computer, and all seems to be well. I have also followed links from emails that have come to me from various friends and family, and they are all perfectly fine.

Having carried out all the checks I could, I then referred the problem to the person I purchased the info from, who tells me he has had no problems of this nature from other customers, so the problem must be with my signal.

Now, to give the man his due, when I first approached him to buy the info I did tell him that problems can arise when using a dongle to watch online videos and he assured me that, should I have any problems of any kind whatsoever, he would put the videos onto a DVD, which he is now in the process of doing. So, I really can’t fault his after sales service.

But, this doesn’t solve this particular problem. Any ideas you technophobes? I’m stumped, but I do believe the problem lies with the site at which the videos are stored, rather than my laptop.

Prior to bringing this blog up to date, and well after our soaking and a snack at lunchtime, we took another walk, this time to a local pub called The Talbot, one that we have used twice before on our visits to Market Drayton. Having reminded ourselves as to the look of the place, we now feel it is safe to stay for the weekend and enjoy a drink there tomorrow.

With that pleasant thought in mind and, since I do have a strong connection here, I will now endeavour to post this blog.

Cheers for now.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.