Lovely Audlem

Nantwich to Audlem : 6 miles, 4 locks
To date : 1121 miles, 795 locks

If Nantwich is our favourite town on the canals then Audlem must surely be our favourite village.

When I got up early this morning the weather forecast had changed a little and was now showing a few dry hours from about 7am until 11am.  I went and nudged Mick awake and he agreed we should go for it.  We were showered and dressed and finished with breakfast at 7.30am.  With a few chores to do it was closer to 8.30 by the time we headed off.

We had only a brief spell of light rain on our journey, I got to work all the locks, and we were moored up before 11am among the locks at Audlem.  We have a lovely view from this mooring and a cafe boat just in front.  We enjoyed a browse in the Audlem Mill crafty shop and then a wander through the village before lunch.

The clouds were beginning to look a little ominous so we sat down to a game of cards in the afternoon. There was quite a bit of activity with boats moving in both directions.  We saw a boat pass that we had looked at while we were moored at Droitwich Spa Marina for a couple of nights.... nb Blue on Blue.  Not long after, two pairs of legs appeared at the side hatch with smiling faces leaning down to peer in.  They introduced themselves as Mike and Ethel, blog readers.   They had left a comment on the blog some time ago offering useful advice on mooring in Birmingham and were now the proud owners of Blue on Blue.  We compared notes on how difficult is to to find the right boat when you aren't living in England.  They bought their boat while living in Germany and had one sold from under their noses after flying out here for the weekend to look at it.  We're glad they've found one they are happy with now and there haven't been too many hiccups. We chatted for a while through the side hatch doors while the clouds grew darker.  Hope you didn't get caught in the rain, Mike and Ethel.  Thanks so much for mooring up and coming back to say hello.

Barry and Carol had decided to follow us to Audlem but much later in the day.  No sooner had Mike and Ethel headed off to continue their journey to Nantwich when I got the text message saying nb Winton's Folly was passing Overwater Marina.  That was Mick's cue to go down and help them with the locks.  He is going to really miss lock duties when we go home.  He just loves helping other boaters.  He would work them all while we cruise if I let him but I enjoy doing them too.

We had a coal boat come by today in Audlem.  I particularly like the old sign writing on this one.  As he began chugging past us the folk on the cafe boat called out for coal so he backed up to make his sale.  We just love seeing these boats on the canal.  Shame we don't need coal!