We began today by walking into the village to visit the butcher, the chemist and the Co-Op. At the butcher we found several items for a mixed grill alternative to the menu plan for a gammon steak (which remains in the freezer)! At the Co-Op we also found the items we felt we needed to keep us going until Saturday when we should have the car and can call at the much larger selection of shops in Nantwich, including a rather more extensive supermarket.
When we returned to the boat we reversed all of one boat length to the nearby water point and filled up - Christine had taken the time to process a load of washing earlier so the level was lower than we had anticipated. It will be a couple of days before we can take on any more.
Eventually we were ready to start down the remaining two locks but just then a boat appeared in the lock above. Since we were in no great hurry today we let them continue - in fact Mike walked down with them and after seeing them through he prepared the lock for ourselves.
Christine spotted that the lock was almost ready so cast off and brought the boat down at just the right moment.
Lock 15, the bottom lock, has long been known for a carefully tended vegetable garden alongside, presumably at one time the province of a lock keeper. Alas, for perhaps only a short time, the patch has been allowed to become overgrown.
When we were in the village we saw on a public noticeboard reference to a local organisation called ADAPT (Audlem and District Acting Positively for Transition) Amongst other activities they particularly promote productive gardening in ways that reduce our impact on the environment. One or two beds in this garen are now being tended (one had clearly been watered either yesterday or this morning) so hopefully they will be able gradually to rescue the rest of the space.
Shortly after leaving the Audlem flight behind us we passed the entrance to Overwater Marina - we have had brief stays here with Take Five and we are booked in for a few days next week when we have a quick trip back home and before taking the boat to Swanley Bridge for its repaint.
We saw a splendid patch of cowslips (the first this Spring?) - alas we were also trying to negotiate a former bridge hole so the photo took second fiddle!
Well, we made it through the narrow gap without incident, even if the photo did not do justice to the flowers!
We continued - dead straight so we could see our target mooring almost half an hour ahead! - before tying up in time for a not too late lunch (we did sustain ourselves before setting off with a Co-Op custard doughnut. A friend of ours in Wadebridge who used to work in a Co-Op introduced us to this delicacy during lockdown!
We are now in the area that has for some years been the focus of the Shropshire Union Canal Society volunteers who have created and care for a number of excellent moorings
3.1 Miles - 2 Locks
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