Wending to Wales: Day 23

Yesterday, the forecast for today was dire, with heavy rain and strong winds; by this morning it had improved — and in fact it hasn’t been as bad even as that.  We were up and about quite early, so as it wasn’t raining set off at 7.45, completing the final two locks in the Audlem flight.

It’s then not far to the five locks at Adderley, when all but the top one was full.  In Betton Woods, at least three kingfishers kept darting along the side of the boat.  When we got to Market Drayton, we stopped on the water point to fill up, and get some washing on.  We tend to start the machine while on a water point, because we have to use the TravelPower and the wash part of the cycle, when the water is being heated, needs about 1600 revs on the engine, and we never do that while travelling.

The ‘slipping belts’ noise which started the other day has been there to a greater or lesser degree ever since, in spite of the RCR man tightening things up, and the belts being cleaned of grease and having talcum powder put on them (thank you to the commenter who suggested that).  Anyway, once the tank was full, we set off for the Tyrley Locks.  We had a little wait as a boat was going up ahead, and as the washing had finished, Adrian turned off the engine to switch everything back over again.  The problem was that the engine didn’t want to start again for the first few tries.  But when it did start, the noise was gone!  We’ve checked everything, and it’s all working ok — so we are a bit mystified.

But back to the locks, which were quite busy with people up and down.  The character at the bottom that’s made out of a tree stump seems to get more elaborate each time we pass, and the bywashes are just as fierce as ever.

For some reason we often seemed to end up in the same pound at the boat ahead, so as they went up the penultimate lock, I went and set the top one for them; very kindly they returned the favour after they were up.

It had rained as we did the locks, which made the Woodseaves Cutting look even more lush and green than usual.

After that, the Shroppie consists of many miles of moored boats, which seem to take an interminable time to pass.  Each time you think you’re at the end of them, there’s another stretch.  At least you get nice views of the Wrekin.

At Grub Street Cutting, it’s compulsory to take a photo of the bridge with the telegraph pole.

We slipped through Norbury Junction and carried on for another hour or so to Gnosall, mooring up just before 5pm.  It’s been a long day,  wry blustery at times, but not really rainy at all.  Looking back on the blog, this is a normal day over this stretch — this is the fourth time we’ve done Coxbank to Gnosall in a day.

19 miles, 12 locks.  (280 miles, 180 locks)