Much to our surprise, it rained it the night and was still raining this morning. It also turned out that the rain had brought down with a covering of dust, which was on every surface. We knew we had a much shorter day today, so had a more relaxed start. We also started the washing machine before we set off. We got going at a little after 8.30, with Adrian walking up to Stanthorne Lock while I brought the boat. It8s been a while since the sky at this time of day has looked so murky.
The converted stables by the canal at Church Minshull are still for sale, at £795,000. I think the property has been on for a while, so maybe that’s a bit too much.
Minshull Lock had a boat going up and another to come down when we got there. The lock has a nice cottage alongside.
A boat turned up behind us, and the chap on board saw we had a Braidbar boat and said he’d fitted our shower room! Apparently he worked on all the boats built in the Ian Bryceland era. We swapped with boats at Cholmondeston Lock, and then pulled onto the water point. It wasn’t a very fast tap and the tank was fairly low as we haven’t filled up for a few days and had just done washing. We had time to wash the dust off one side of the boat, and have lunch. We then continued to the end of the arm and turned left on the Shroppie, being passed on the way down to Hurleston by a boat going the other way at an incredible speed, and with an enormous wash. At Hurleston Junction we turned right onto the lock landing. A boat had not long come down, so the bottom lock was empty for us.
We haven’t been on the Llangollen since 2010 when we had a share in Debdale, so the journey is going to be like new to us. We don’t think Briar Rose has been up here at all, as it’s not one of the plaques left by the previous owners. We swapped with a boat in the first pound, and with one in the much shorter second pound.
A couple of lock keepers were also on hand, and had been running water down to improve the levels. We got to the top in no time, and moored up just beyond Bridge 1. It’s not the quietest mooring because the road behind us is the A51; but we are meeting up with Bill and Sheila Saner this evening, and they live just us the road so it’s the ideal place. This afternoon, we tried to walk across the fields to the Snugbury’s ice cream place, but found the path no longer exists. It meant we had to brave walking down the A51 instead — but the ice cream was worth it. Adrian had a combination of Snugtella and Honeycomb, mine was raspberry pavlova.
We also walked down to see the farm’s straw creation, which have become something of a landmark round here. This year it’s a giant bee.
Even though the sun on,y came out this afternoon, it’s still been swelteringly hot again.
11 miles, 7 locks. (145 miles, 99 locks)
4 comments:
Hi Adam, I am fascinated by how much you use your washing machine. You must be well and truly 'schooner rigged' one pair of pants and a T shirt to your name! We go over a fortnight before we have to do any washing and we always take far too many clothes! I wish we were away at the moment as just coming to Heritage Open Days and I will be more than busy. Tony and Helen.
Hi Tony, we tend to do washing every three days because that’s all that will fit on the airer to dry! Otherwise it all piles up.
I remember walking down the middle of the A51 for about half a mile with no traffic whatsoever. It was during the first lockdown when we moored on the 48 hour visitor moorings at the bottom of Hurleston for about 3 months! Snugbury's was closed :-( When some of the restrictions were lifted and Snugbury's re-opened there were queues of cars waiting on the road to get in, so much so that the police had to be called to manage the traffic!
Pip says well done on keeping up the chilled medication intake! Every bit goes towards healing her broken toe :-)
Mick
NB Oleanna
Mick, always happy to help with Pip’s recovery — especially after the lack of chilled medication at Malkin’s Bank yesterday. Hope she’s on the mend.
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