A bit of extra boating

10th & 11th February

The plan being to go to Audlem for Sunday night, I'd set the heating to come on at 7, and by 8.30 we were away. It was a very misty morning, and for the first half hour we ran with the tunnel light and navigation lights on. It was a classically fine morning of late winter or early spring, and superb boating weather once the mist had lifted.

By 10.15 we were at Hack Green, home of the Secret Nuclear Bunker, and a little later we passed Madasa-soles (no comment) at Coole Pilate moorings. One of the great things about the Shroppie is the number of mooring places (in this case complete with picnic tables and barbeque stands) funded by the Shropshire Union Canal Society.

After a short wait for a Challenger boat to finish winding below lock 15, we worked up 15 and 14 and tied on some very quiet visitor moorings by 12.30. What a good day's boating we thought, all of four locks and all, little knowing what was in store...

After a leisurely lunch, we strolled back down to the moorings below the bottom lock, as Braidbar 96, Leonard, was tied there. We thought there might be someone aboard, but there was no sign of it, although the presence of a couple of pairs of boots drying on the roof suggested that they hadn't gone far away.

As we headed back, the guy on the boat next to Leonard, Director's Cut, whom we know slightly, popped his head out to warn us that with lock 15 stopped tomorrow, BW would lock the entire flight, as there was nowhere to wind once on the way down. This meant that we needed to be up the other 13 locks by the end of the day.

Since it was still a beautiful day, we weren't desperately upset, and soon had Sanity pulled forward onto the water point to top up the tank before going on. There was a boat moored for the winter just by the water point, and they told us that there was a good chance that BW would lock Adderley flight as well, as there's nowhere to wind between the two flights.

It was now 2.30, and we had 18 locks to do to be sure of being clear of the stoppage's effects. Although a bit of a challenge, it's nice to be able to demonstrate that we can do some serious boating on occasion, and indeed we weren't found wanting.

The locks were busy with gongoozlers, it being a sunny Sunday, which always adds to the fun. By 4.15 we were out of Audlem flight, and had time for a quick cup of tea before Adderley hove into view at 4.30. Just on 5.30 we came out of Adderley top and moored on the visitor moorings beyond the winding hole. We'd done 22 locks between 8.30 and 5.30, with two hours for lunch.

I admit that we were a bit tired, but there was a great sense of achievement. It's in these situations that I'm glad of my habit of freezing spare portions of meals. We were able to have beef stew with mashed potato and peas without too much preparation time, which was just as well. A quiet evening followed.

This morning we had a relaxed start, feeling rather stiff – what it's going to be like tomorrow when the DOMS* sets in, I don't know. After breakfast (at about 10 o'clock) I strolled down to the top lock – it wasn't locked. Heigh ho – better to have done too much than not enough – if we'd stopped below Adderley, neither of us would have slept well last night.

As may be imagined, it's been a quiet day today. Some necessary financial things have been done on the net, and after lunch we took a walk to Adderley village, just for the exercise to stay awake, really. There's nothing there these days, except a Post Office that opens only occasionally, and is rumoured to stock some supplies, but it was all shut up this afternoon.

Still, it was a nice walk in the sun, and stopped us from seizing up altogether after yesterday's locks.

*DOMS = Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness