Friday 25 October 2013

Smitten with the Shroppie

Audlem Lock to Overwater Marina : 1 miles, 4 locks
To date : 885 miles, 613 locks 

We had an enjoyable last evening with Anthony and Leanne.  Fish pie for dinner and then a game of cards.  Good fun.

I had booked an Ocado delivery at the car park of the Bridge Inn for this morning so we decided to go down one more lock as there was a mooring right beside the car park.  It's a lovely mooring down there with trees overhanging.  It would be nice and shady on a hot day.

Anthony and Leanne came to say goodbye before heading off to return their hire car at Dudley.  Then they'd take the train to London for their last night in a hotel at Heathrow.  We had a last coffee with them and they cleaned up their shoes.... they only brought one pair each with them and they were decidedly muddy after walking the towpaths.  It felt a bit strange saying "See you in 7 months" but that's how it is.  At least we know it's less time until we see them again than it was from when we left Australia to now.  That's been 13 months.

After waving them off we waited for the Ocado truck.  We've been given a free delivery pass for 3 months so we'll make the most of that.  No delivery charges whatsoever for 3 months.  After lunch we headed off once again to tackle the last 3 locks.  The moorings just got prettier and prettier until the 14 day moorings below lock 13 had just stunning views.  We're just loving the Shroppie!

Our goal for the day was Overwater Marina which is not much past the bottom lock.  I don't know why it is but every single time we go into a marina the wind will pick up as we reach there.  Today was no different.  As we turned the bend and could see the marina entrance it was windy.  As we went through the narrow entrance it was windier!  As instructed we pulled in to the services mooring and I went to the office to confirm which pontoon we should moor on.  We were happy to find it was one right in front of the entrance.  Today the wind was in our favour as Mick had turned the boat and moored on the inside of their services bay.  All we had to do was reverse out from the services and let the wind push the boat across until we were in line with our mooring.  It did... fast!!  We were also lucky to not have a boat sharing the water between the two pontoons where we were to go.  It was a piece of cake to jump off and let the wind push the bow round to the perfect position.  We settled in for a couple of nights R&R. 


















3 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh how jealous am I? I used to live in the area as my best friend lived in Crewe too. I have had many a happy eveing at the Shroppie fly and the lovely lady in the craft shop really saved my friend Sharons life once when we were on a grotty hire boat as the electric failed and she recharged a pump my friend had to use to keep her alive. Sadly my firend died in May but I do go back occassionally. I have done that canal many times, and it really is beautiful. I love the cottage just past the Shroppie fly lock on the non towpath side.

Anonymous said...

Hi sorry to ask such a personal question but will you be selling parisien star next year. If so do you have a figure in mind I suspect she will be out of our budget £50000 as she is a high spec boat. We intend to do the same as yourselves next year and have recently been reading you blog.

Elly and Mick said...

Hi Carol,
Sorry to hear you lost a good friend, but it's nice Audlem holds good memories for you. It truly is a lovely place.
Elly