I'm afraid I find this lock-free section fairly uninteresting, particularly the two long straights across the Whixall Moss reserve. We made very steady progress, so decided to pop up the Whitchurch Arm for a lunch stop. The arm isn't very long, and we winded and moored near the junction end.
Leaving the arm, there's no right turn towards Grindley Brook, so I took the boat along to the winding hole, while Adrian stood by to lift the bridge. We arrived at the top of the Grindley Brook locks at 2pm, and had to wait for three boats to come up. Once we were going down, progress was quick, and there was another boat following us down. At the bottom of the staircase, there were three boats waiting, and there were boats at each of the three individual locks.
While I waited at the bottom lock, Adrian went to the nearby petrol station to get some coal, and my sister and family arrived for another visit. They had a ride down the lock and through the railway bridge (which is almost long enough to be a tunnel), which little Rachel was very excited by. We moored up at the visitor moorings, and had a couple of hours family time, during which Rachel fed the ducks, waved at boats, and said "door" for the first time.
Once the family had gone, we decided to do another hour, and went down three more locks, mooring for the night on the Shropshire Union Canal Society moorings just above Marbury locks. We're all on our own -- a first for this holiday.
16 miles, 9 locks. (118 miles, 75 locks)
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2 comments:
Uh, your web-ring pop-up is obscuring your most excellent text - is that a problem with my settings or with yours?
Enjoying the trip account, especially the Monty - sounds idyllic.
Sue, Indigo Dream
Sue, I know nothing about a webring pop-up -- I've certainly never seen it!
The Monty was idyllic. We're very pleased we made the time for the trip.
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