November Cruise - Day Two

The forecast of rain turned out to be rubbish. True, there was rain overnight and strong winds, but the day was far better than expected. As it was Sunday and we were on holiday, we had a fry up for breakfast, then set off at 8.45. It soon began to drizzle, then rain. But by the time we reached the Adderley Locks an hour later it had stopped and the cloud was breaking up. We did the five locks in 50 minutes. We crossed into Cheshire and met our first moving boat of the day just before we arrived at the top of the Audlem Locks. The sun was out, and working the locks meant I had to reduce my five layers of clothing to three, ditch my scarf, and change my fleece hat for my Tilley.

Most of the locks were in our favour, so we did the first twelve locks in an hour and 45 minutes. It's a very pleasant flight, which reminded us in many ways of the Stockton Flight on the Grand Union. They're both down through cuttings, and have a similar feel. We moored up at the water point outside the Shroppie Fly, and had lunch while the tank filled.


We then walked the boat back on to the (empty) visitor moorings, had a walk round the town and visited Audlem Mill. We set off again just before 2pm, and completed the final three locks. A boat had just come up, so they were largely full. We passed a massive new marina and moored up at 3pm at Coole Pilate, a lovely spot made even better by the sunshine. Even though we have full Vodafone signal on our phones, there's no 3 internet! Roasted a chicken on board, followed by home made apple crumble.


9 miles, 20 locks. (20, 25)