Welsh waters: Day 5

After all the rain yesterday, today was totally different as we woke to bright sunshine.  We got some washing going after breakfast, and set off a bit before 9.

The first three locks are all individual ones.  We never seem to pass the pub at Willey Moor Lock when it’s open.

This lock also has one of the worst by-washes, and the single hander coming down had to reverse back in and have another go at leaving with a bit more power on, to avoid being pushed into the side of us.  The approach to the Grindley Brook Locks is through an old railway tunnel, which makes for very poor visibility, but spectacular brickwork.

There was a hire boat of Swedes coming down the bottom lock, and I held well back as it’s another lock that’s difficult to leave because of the by-wash.  However, they decided to stop to pick up crew, with all sorts of ropes being deployed, which meant there wasn’t a route for me to get into the lock, and they then had a struggle to get going again.  We were following two Andersen hire boats up, but there were also some boats coming down.  At the middle of the three individual locks, we swapped with a boat and the volunteer lock keeper complimented me on my entry — although as the boat ahead had ended up almost the pound as he tried to get in, maybe the competition was a bit low.

We were able to go straight up the triple staircase, staffed by very chatty lock keepers, one of whom also volunteers at Bosley and Audlem.

At the top, we stopped on one of the many water points to fill the tank, and who should come down the towpath but Barry from Areandare.  We had a good old catch up and it was really nice to see him.  When we were ready to set off again, we found ourselves right behind the two Andersen boats, who were themselves behind a Whittington hire boat which had turned around above the lock, and seemed to be going very slowly — so it was a bit of a procession to Whitchurch.  We’d decided that if there was a space on the moorings before the lift bridge we’d take it, but the two Andersen boats both stopped there.  But there was room down the arm, and the Whittington boat still had the bridge up, so we went through, turned around, and came into the arm.  It has filled up since we arrived.

After lunch we walked into Whitchurch, which is about 20 minutes away, largely following the route of the arm which used to go much further, but now comes to an abrupt end.

There’s an impressive church and lots of cafes and pubs.  We came back through Jubilee Park, which has a bandstand.

Since we got back, the sound of a steam whistle has been echoing round.  There’s a boat called Tixall moored out on the main line, which is steam powered.  I did a boat test on the boat the previous owners bought next — which was an electric powered one.

I’ve put out an extra edition of the podcast today, a special about the water shortages and canal closures.  I’m also testing a new link, which detects whether you’re on an Apple or Android device (or on a web browser) and automatically sends you to the right place to listen.  It saves publishing separate links for Apple, Spotify, etc.  If you want to give it a go, it’s here.

5 miles 9 locks. (21 miles 19 locks)