Coming full circle

Well, February was much the same as January - cold, wet and windy. No frozen canals to deal with, but lots of rain which turned the towpaths into a muddy quagmire. Such are the joys of boating!

We finally tore ourselves away from Brewood and headed over the Stretton Aqueduct across the busy A5 (Watling Street). On the way we passed nb Phyllis May (of Narrowdog to Carcasonne fame, if any of you have read it) outside a boatyard, sadly not looking like she was going on any adventures soon... At Wheaton Aston we moored near the winding hole, the wide area found every so often on canals to

allow boats to wind (or turn around) - the name allegedly coming from when the bargees of horse-drawn vessels would use the wind to help them turn. Unusually, boats are able to moor along the towpath at this point, plus there were boats moored on the opposite bank as well, which meant there was always a good bit of gongoozling to be had as boaters tried to turn around with limited space! Apart from someone doing some rather haphazard reversing we managed to avoid getting bumped, although the rather over-zealous wash from one boat's prop did get into our diesel heater exhaust which led to some rather 'gurgly' (but luckily only temporary) issues.

We ended up staying over a week, during which we helped a new boater try to start a very old engine, took part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, snaffled several tins of unopened boat paint discarded by the bins and discovered a disused WW2 airfield by the canal. It was built in 1941 for foreign (mostly American) pilots and after the war became a Polish resettlement camp. I also walked almost every inch of nearby footpaths, although most were impossibly muddy and some even impassable. In the end I resorted to just walking around the village. I've since taken to not leaving the boat without wearing waterproof trousers to avoid being covered in mud!

Whilst working one morning I heard the lovely sound of an old boat engine - it was Richard and Ruth Chamberlain on fuelboat Lindsay. Richard's was the first fuelboat we ever bought supplies from - back in November 2021 when we were at Nantwich - so it was lovely to see him again (now with his 'bionic' hip replacement!) and to meet Ruth too. Later that day we set off, stopping en route at Turners Garage for diesel. It's famous on the waterways for being the cheapest diesel around - and the friendly owner even knew from his records that Jasmine had filled up there in the past (with her previous owners!).

We went through the incredible 81-yard long Cowley Tunnel (unlined so all the work done to

carve it out can be seen), and arrived in Gnosall. The canal is really the best feature of the village, with two pubs right on the waterway, although it does have a nice abandoned railway walk and a wetland area called The Acres. In fact the name Gnosall means 'low-lying land along the river'. We moved from our first mooring as there seemed to be a 'gathering' happening along the towpath and the following day we saw the charred remains of a large bonfire near the tunnel entrance... We'd heard that there was a regular open mic at the Navigation Inn so, on a very wet and windy night, we headed over there and had a wonderful evening, playing some songs and listening to the other musicians, plus a good old sing-song too. Our friends Dennis and Mieke were also moored nearby and they came along too, which was lovely. Much fun was had by all, although I have to confess to having a bit of a sore head the next day...

Then it was on to Norbury Junction, where the Shrewsbury canal once headed off to the west. We had a muddy walk to the famous High Bridge with it's telegraph pole, and then to Loynton Moss, a reedbed fen, stopping off at the chandlers on the way back to get a new water pump to replace our slightly leaky one. It was also the place for extremely vocal owls! We were near the Birmingham Institute of Forestry Research (BIFoR) site where they have a Free-Air Carbon Enrichment (FACE) facility which is studying how forests will respond to future increases in atmospheric CO2 by delivering extra CO2 to patches of existing woodland. It all felt quite futuristic and slightly scary. More info can be found here: The Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR).

We also bumped into Malcolm on nb Westmorland who we'd last seen in Cosgrove back in June last year, so we joined him for a beer at the Junction Inn. Continuing on, with lovely views of the Wrekin, a cone-shaped hill in Shropshire, we spent a few nights moored on Shebdon Embankment, tossed a few pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and then continued on to Goldstone Wharf where we saw

the most incredible murmeration of starlings as the sun set. As the pub had kindly let us park our car there we decided we ought to pop in for a drink and ended up chatting to a lovely couple of boaters while we were there.

Rob's mum was poorly in hospital so we headed up to see her for a few days. On our

return, Rob cruised through Woodseaves Cutting (avoiding the landslip) whilst I drove the car to Tyrley Wharf and then we descended the five Tyrley locks together. We were slightly nervous, having heard about the fierce by-washes below a couple of them,

but we managed the journey without a problem and moored up in Market Drayton. Unfortunately a battery warning light had come on during our cruise, which Rob investigated with some advice from the 12 Volt Boating Group on Facebook and managed to fix (or so we thought...).

Whilst Rob was back up visiting his mum, I explored the market town, making sure I bought some of the gingerbread it's famous for (and very nice it is too). Unfortunately at 1am one morning the high-pitched wine of the battery problem returned, meaning I needed to get out of my warm bed, don waterproof trousers and jacket and head outside to lift the back deck board to turn the isolator switch off.

I was a bit weary the next day, not surprisingly... (PS - it's now sorted!)

Market Drayton was a handy place for my friend Toni to visit. She arrived armed with cheese and wine and we had a lovely time catching up and enjoying my famous mushroom and

chestnut bourgignon before she headed off the following morning. Then it was my turn to do a solo cruise, this time to Adderley, while Rob drove the car up, saving time and a long slog along a very wet and muddy towpath. We dropped down

the five locks at Adderley, stayed the night in a beautiful rural spot, (see porthole pic) then got up early to head down the first 11 locks of the Audlem flight. Sadly the little kiosk at the top lock which is famed for its home-made cakes was empty, however a couple of boats came up the flight which made our work a little easier and I treated myself at the bottom with a rum hot chocolate and a bit of Billington's gingerbread!

We were looking forward to exploring Audlem again, having come full circle since we last visited in November 2021. Where does the time go?!

Before I go, a few people have asked if they can contribute towards these blogs, so I've now set up a page on Ko-fi where - if you so wish - you can buy me a virtual coffee!

Just head to: https://ko-fi.com/travelswithjasmine

The Shropshire Union heading north from Market Drayton