Audlem walkabout

We left our mooring at bridge 66 this morning having waited to the end of a delightful shower of heavy drizzle – real wet rain!  The rest of our day has looked threatening but has remained dry and quite sunny this afternoon.

We had a good run down the five locks in the Adderley flight, with a couple of boats coming up which made life much easier.

The approach to the first lock is neat and tidy with a very well  kept property bordering the winding hole on the left.

Once we were out of the Adderley flight there was just enough time for Doug to do the vacuuming and make James a cup of coffee before we got to the top of the Audlem flight of 15 locks. We planned to go through the first 2 locks and moor up for the day.  So by noon we’d done just that and we’re now moored up for the day with the washing dried and put away. 

This afternoon we went walkabout – down the lock flight………

………..passing this lovely original barrel roofed maintenance building at lock 10.

This is lock 11 with its fierce spill weir outlet, which pushes your boat into the wall opposite – a bit of a challenge, especially when you’re going into the lock.  Luckily we will be coming out of the lock tomorrow so it shouldn’t be too bad.

Leaving the canal environment and walking into Audlem you come across the church dominating the centre of the village.

There are some nice little corners if you’re nosey!

Some police station! (as was)

From the village we walked down the private road towards Moss Hall and then took the public footpath over the fields, coming out at the bottom lock on the canal.  At this lock there’s http://www.georges-pork-poultry.co.uk/ selling fresh vegetables (grown on the spot!) and many different meat products.  We bought some freshly picked broad beans and black French beans which, having just had them for dinner tonight, were delicious. While we were there……………….

………….nb ‘Ecky Thump’, who we’ve been leap-frogging for the last couple of days, arrived. Our final leg of our walkabout was to get up the lock flight and back “home” but on the way, to slake our thirst, we stopped at the “Shroppie Fly”.

We took this pic.of the “Shroppie Fly” to show how quiet the canal is at the moment.  This was at 4:30 this afternoon! Plenty of mooring space….