Last night there wasn't a light in sight, other than the moon. There was a farm house quite close but we could just see the roof. We got away in a cool'ish wind.
Adderley Locks were just around the corner and we caught up with a boat and followed them up with a couple coming down.
The girls waiting for the lock to fill and taking the weight off as they do it.
This is another nice bridge that is a turnover one too. That is it takes the towpath from one side to the other. It is quite as graceful as those on the Macclesfield Canal but pretty nice non the less.
We had decided to stop for a Sunday lunch in Market Drayton. I found the mooring details pretty tricky to read from a moving boat and nearly as much once we had tied up! As we came down the length of mooring it looked like there was no mooring as it was reserved for fishing. However it seems that the angling club with the rights to fishing between Bridges 61 and 69 can not fish opposite the Market Drayton moorings between April and September. (This is the top blue sign on the right hand picture). On the left it says that only overnight moorings are allowed, other than on Tuesday and Wednesday! At the bottom of the right hand post it actually says no mooring between 10am and 4pm.! What is all this madness about? And surely somebody could come up with a better way of getting the message across, even if it is a waste of time as we moored there at 1230 on a Sunday along with about 5 other boats.
The old warehouse has been turned into flats and they look pretty nice too.
We walked to the Red Lion in Drayton that is also the brewery . This can be seen behind the pub. The Sunday dinner was very nice indeed, as was the pint of pale ale I had
There were boats waiting at the water point so we tickled along to the bottom of the Tyrley Locks and found that there were two ahead of us. There were numerous coming down too, and one volunteer trying to help any single handers.
At the top of the locks we stopped and topped up with water and dropped off some recycling before continuing onwards. Tyrley Wharf was looking nice with all the baskets.
At the winding hole just past the locks the owner of the property has strung his boat across the winding hole at some inconvenience to himself. I seem to remember reading about this and it seems that the winding hole 'belongs to the property so he can do this. I think everybody going past should make sure they have a bucket of soil and as they pass chuck it into the hole buy the boat and he can have his winding hole. If it is his winding hole, and nobody else can use it, then he would have to dredge it it seems to me. How mean spirited when there is even alongside mooring on his property too.
As it was gone 17:00 when we came to Woodsheaves we didn't meet any other boast. The sign at the start of the cutting warned of just about anything that could happen other than the Boggart leaping out at you. Needless to say we escaped with nothing befalling us.
At the far end the sun came out and the dappling on the sandstone cliff and ferns was very pleasing. It isn't quite the same on a dull cod wet day.
By the moorings at Little Soudley is the best view of The Wrekin to the west. It would be a great canal that took you round it, as the countryside around here is lovely.
It was getting late and I was getting a little bored so we called it a day before we got to Shebdon or the Anchor so found a spot out of the wind but with no trees for the sun, and tied up for the night. Another day done, another pint of Joules Pale and a Sunday lunch under my belt. All set for another week of boating now.
