Cruise 2016 # 5

Tuesday 28^th June to Tuesday 26^th July

 Wednesday 29^th June

 We are having some pretty awful weather lately, cold enough in the morning to put the heating on, but not cold enough to light the fire during the day. Besides which, before we light the fire, we need to clean the chimney. And that’s best done when, as now and into Market Drayton today, we’re moored up with the port side against the towpath. Hopefully we’ll get that done today or tomorrow.

 But first, and as soon as we get to Market Drayton, we need to visit the local quack for some of my pills. Being diabetic invariably means damaged nerves in the feet, and they can play up quite a bit, especially at night. So, I have pills to ease the discomfort. Trouble is, I seem to have run a wee bit low on those and we won’t be contacting the surgery in Crick until the end of July. This will be three months’ supply of all medication. They’re good like that.

 The dark red side panels on Shiralee are looking pretty tatty and both sides really do need a paint job. The problem we have is that, neither of us has the foggiest idea as to how best to go about it. Employing a professional would be too expensive and besides, we’ve managed to repaint the plain old green roof and such. However, the red panels have lots of writing on them and, getting around the writing, not to mention the Shiralee figure, would be rather difficult.

 Ah well, these things are sent to try us, or so my mum would have said.

 At the moment – 07.10 on Wednesday morning – the weather is dry and calm. Hopefully it will stay that way for our run down the five locks and three miles to Market Drayton.

 Monday 4^th July

 Today would have been my old Oxford friend, John Barefoot’s birthday, who passed away a few years ago. Very sadly missed and a lovely man.

 We’ve been at Audlem for the weekend and, although we’ve had some rain, it didn’t spoil our visit to The Shroppie Fly yesterday lunchtime, nor did it spoil our tennis watching on TV. That’s only the 4^th time in Wimbledon’s history that the middle Sunday has been used for catch-up due to bad weather.

Today we’ll be moving on to somewhere out in the sticks and will enjoy a relaxing day and more tennis.

 Wednesday 6^th July        

 On Monday morning we left Audlem at about 8.30 and, after passing through the four remaining locks, carried on for another couple of miles to Cool Pilate, a very straight stretch of the Shroppie, with 48 hour moorings and picnic benches with BBQ stands alongside them, all supplied by the Shropshire Union Canal Society. Many thanks for that.

 Spending just one day there, because we’re on a time schedule for meeting Alan and Chris, we then headed off for Nantwich on Monday morning. With heavy cloud above, along with a strong headwind, we fully expected a thorough soaking, but we arrive at Nantwich after just one and a half hour, two locks and four miles later, none the worse for wear.

 After the obligatory coffee, we then took a walk into town for a few odds and sods, such as T-shirts for me and new jeans for Wifey, all bought at M&Co, where Nantwich is one of the few places on our travels that they have a store. After returning to the boat, we then settled in for more tennis.

 Today we’ll be walking into town again, but this time for proper shopping. Having put ourselves back on our Bikers diet, we need to stock up on enough stuff to see us through to Middlewich.

 Thursday 7^th July

 Off to the Middlewich branch today. Shopping again yesterday in Nantwich, bought new duds. Spent too much and now we have to discard useless duds.

 Friday 8^th July

 Moved on to Venetian Marina yesterday and spent the night just above the lock. Walked down to the marina chandlery, but couldn’t see anything we wanted, apart from an ice cream each, with some for the pooch. He likes just about anything we like, but he can’t have everything we like. Tough.

 Today we moved along for five miles and stopped just after bridge 17, where all we can hear are the birds twittering and passing boats. Semi-finals day for the fellas, so we’ll be watching all that. I’m hoping for a Federer/Murray final, but the other two semi-finalists are pretty good, so we might have another upset today.

 Sunday 10^th July

 Friday was great, all peace and quiet and lots of tennis on TV.

 Saturday was not so good. Lots of rain on our 1½ hour, 3 miles and 1 lock to Middlewich. We were soaked through by the time we moored up. And, it didn’t end there. It continued raining, on and off, for most of the day.

 On top of that, when we arrived at Middlewich, we had to pass under almost all the bridges, and just managed to find a spot, before having to go down the next lock. Phew! That was close.

 We have the pleasure of Carole and Bob’s company today. They’re on their way back to Glasgow and are taking a detour to be with us, which is much appreciated, as we’ll get a pub lunch for a change.

 Monday 11^th July

 A great day yesterday. Carole and Bob took a detour to us, from their route to Carlisle. After walking over to The King’s Lock pub and finding it wasn’t doing food, we took the car and drove up to The Big Lock pub instead. Really good food and a very pleasant chat, filled with lots of laughs and gossip. Smashing stuff!!

 Today, what with this awful rain, I have my doubts as to whether we’ll be going anywhere this morning. Maybe later in the day, if it brightens up.

 Tuesday 12^th July

 Well, we didn’t bother moving yesterday. Instead we stayed for a third night at Middlewich.

 We left there early this morning; about 7.45 am and, with six miles and six locks to do before reaching Wheelock, we expected a journey of three hours plus. Of course, we were not surprised to find it raining as soon as we set off. Then there were the holiday boaters in front of us, which all added an extra half hour to the trip. All in all, not a bad run and we didn’t get too wet. Hopefully the weather will be kinder to us tomorrow, because if, as I suspect, we are unable to moor up at Hassell Green, we’ll have to go on to Rode Heath, which is four miles and 14 locks away; about four hours away.

 Monday 18^th July

 At last, we’ve had some good weather. Yesterday was bright and warm and enabled us to sit outside The Red Bull pub at lunchtime. The rest of the day became pretty humid and allowed us to throw open all the doors and windows and the, after lunch, we sat back and watched some Davis Cup tennis. A very pleasant day indeed.

 This morning we have to move the boat up a couple of locks, then pay a visit to the local Lloyd’s Pharmacy, followed by Tesco shopping. And then, depending upon whether we get all the medication we ordered, we’ll either turn around and go back the way we came, or continue up another lock and cruise along the Macclesfield canal until the rest of our medication. Don’t ask, this has become something of a nightmare, but we’ll get there eventually.

 Wednesday 20^th July

 Much like the rest of the UK, we’ve had some pretty hot weather over the past couple of days. Yesterday morning, after spending just one night a couple of locks up from the services at Red Bull Basin, we went up another lock and turned around in order to retrace our route. We are now a few locks further down, where we spent last night in really uncomfortable conditions. Looking out of my window this morning; it’s now 6.45 am; I can see the clouds building up and, if the forecasters are right, we’ll be cooling down pretty soon, with the help of a few splashes of rain.

 About three years ago, whilst cruising the Llangollen canal, we got talking to a young boater by the name of Andy. He was in the process of painting his boat and just cruising up and down that canal. During our initial conversation, he mentioned that he had run out of coal, so, while he was out shopping, we bagged some of ours up and left it on the front of his boat. We’ve been sort of passing acquaintances ever since.

 We, that nice young man passed us while we were moored at Red Bull Basin and is now just a few boats in front of us. He intends moving along from here on Thursday, but we haven’t decided what we’re doing yet. However, if we leave today, I have no doubt we’ll meet up with him later. If we leave tomorrow, we probably won’t, because Andy doesn’t let the grass grow under his feet and tends to cruise for much longer than we do. Still, since he’s heading back to the Llangollen, we may see him again later.

 Incidentally, after discovering that some, if not, all of my usual blog readers have not been receiving them, I have now delved into the dark dungeons of Blogspot and set that problem to rights. If you have missed out and want a copy of those listed so far, please email me and I’ll attach them by return. They’ll give you some bedtime reading and, I hope, help you to nod off.

 Friday 22^nd July

 Yesterday we had the company of our friend Andy, who helped us down the six locks to Hassel Green.

 Today we’ll pass through the 10 locks and two miles back to Wheelock.

 Tuesday 26^th July

 Blooming heck, the time has flashed by again and I’ve neglected this blog, again. Sorry folks, I’ll do today’s one and post.

 After spending the weekend at Middlewich and spending an hour outside the King’s Lock pub, we did a final shop on Monday morning, before heading for Aqueduct Marina, which we didn’t get to because of the following, heavy clouds.

 Carole and Bob? You wouldn’t have been happy in that pub, honest!

 Anyway, while heading for the aforementioned marina, and noticing those nasty clouds, we pulled in sooner than intended, so as to avoid a soaking. Sometime afterwards a boat, named Just Billie, passed us and moored in front. The couple on that boat were none other than Roger and Wendy, who we last saw at Kegworth Lock back in 2007, our first year of cruising.

 It was Roger who, after spotting our boat gradually rising in ever rising water, came across and suggested we back up and into the lock. Which we did and remained stuck there for 10 days. Had we not stopped here yesterday, we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to say ‘hello’ and thank them for their timely rescue and the ‘garden party’ that followed. It’s a small world indeed.

 Now, after almost a month, I’ll get this blog posted.

 Cheers to one and all.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.