We had only a short hop planned for today, so there was time forAdrian to give me a haircut this morning. We set off in rather misty, murky conditions at about 8.45. There had been quite a few boats up the branch, as its hire boat changeover day. A private boat came past as we set off, having been up to the marina for a pumpout before the hire boats started arriving. They did the lift bridge, but I was already walking down to do the next one along the mainline, so I could also get a shot of Adrian coming round the junction.
A single hander was in front of us, so was grateful for the next bridge being lifted for him, and someone had also arrived from the other direction, so I jumped on as we came through the bridge and they would close it.
The next section crosses the mosses, but then it’s into farmland and woodlands. At the next lift bridge, a boat in front stopped to lift in and a single hander was there saying she’d waited an hour for another boat to come through. So four boats went through and somehow we were now in the lead. We’ve noticed that many boaters up here want to stay longer than the 2 days permitted on all the SUCS moorings, so moor just off the end of them. There is a reason they stop a bit before bridges though, as this boat demonstrates.
At the next lift bridge, it was our turn to lift it while all the others went past us. The next one is now permanently open. The first single hander moored up on the outskirts of Whitchurch, but even so, three boats getting round all the hire boats at Whitchurch Marina meant someone coming the other way had a bit of a wait.
The other two boats were going through the next lift bridge towards Grindley Brook, but we turned into the Whitchurch Arm.
We turned around in the winding hole and moored up on the straight section where it’s a bit more open.
This afternoon we walked into Whitchurch for lunch with my sister and family, who live about 40 minutes drive away. We went to The Black Bear in the High Street, where the food was really good. We all walked back to the boat afterwards, and my nieces Rachel and Emily had a go at winding the lift bridge over the mainline at the end of the arm, to see how difficult it was. We had tea, and watched as a couple of hire boats came along the arm, turned around, and moored up. It was lovely to see the family and spend some time together.
6 miles, 0 locks. (238 miles, 134 locks)
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