Written May 1, 2023, at Audlem on the Shropshire Union Canal.

It’s May Day here in the UK, and a “bank holiday”. There will be two more this month, the traditional one at the end of the month, and one next Monday to celebrate the coronation of Charles III. While it’s not a holiday for us we are hopeful that it will be an easy and relaxing day on the canal. 6 miles and six locks separate us from our destination, Nantwich. It should be a 3 hour cruise unless we share the fate of Gilligan and “The Minnow”.

“Easy and relaxing“ was not the case yesterday. It took us nearly 6 hours to travel 6 miles. One of those miles featured 11 of the 16 locks we navigated. Those 11 locks are arranged in a virtual staircase.

The cold and rain had returned, transforming the canal path into mud. Christine again chose to operate the locks rather than tackle navigating the boat into, out of, and between them. During the 1 mile staircase of locks she accumulated over 12,000 steps, plus a significant upper body workout at the gates and winches. For the day she opened and closed the often “stubborn” winches 132 times, plus she opened and closed 48 massive lock gates, each weighing over 3,500 pounds.

Yesterday’s destination, the town of Audlem, was our reward. It is a beautifully restored canal town situated between locks 11 and 15.

It being a Sunday, the “Shroppie Fly” pub served a delicious traditional “Sunday Roast” with all of the trimmings. Christine opted for lasagna and cheesy garlic bread.

“Fly” on the canal refers to the former practice of staging tow-horses along the route so that the canal boats could periodically put fresh horses in tow and proceed day and night non-stop with perishable cargo. This was much like the Pony Express of the American West, just at canal speed.

Our plan this morning is to enjoy a cooked breakfast onboard, fill our water tank, and find a laundromat along the way to Nantwich. We look to spend two days there, one of those as a day-trip by train to the ancient town of Chester. We are about 15 cruising miles from our final destination in Middlewich where we will return Fjord Empress early Monday morning. At this point we may have the luxury of time on our side to “smell the roses”.

Peace Everyone. Pete.

PS. In 2019 we visited both Nantwich and Chester. I wrote posts then that included pictures and “dug deep“ into the history of those communities. It is probable that I will republish those posts as a part of this journey.

Written April 29, 2023, at Market Drayton on the Shropshire Union Canal.

Before I address the title to this post I wish to pay tribute to the six days that we have enjoyed on the canal with our Kansas City neighbors, Mary and Charlie Murphy. It was a delightful time with improving weather and a remarkable variety of experiences along the canal.

We do not wish to rush the conclusion of this adventure, but we really look forward to a future evening of sharing in Kansas City with Wendy and Pat, Charlie and Mary, and perhaps some English ale.

Today I felt like the biblical camel trying to pass through the eye of a needle. After dropping Charlie and Mary off at a canal bridge for their bus connection in Gnosall Heath we proceeded two miles with hopes of securing a much needed “pump out“ of our “black-water” tank at Norbury Junction. At a narrow curve in the canal we hit an unexpected shallow and briefly ran aground. Christine and I jointly polled the bow back into deeper water and were free in about 10 minutes, but not before we had provided entertainment to passing pedestrians on the towpath.

We had been warned that there was a festival at Norbury Junction. We had not been warned that the canal would be choked with moored canal boats, often “double parked“and leaving barely enough room for our craft to proceed. I “threaded that needle“ for nearly 2 miles.

Fortunately, the marina wharf was open and available to us. For £25 we emptied our “black-water“ tank. That should be the last time the unpleasant task is needed before we reach our final destination in Middlewich.

Along the canal we enjoyed views of a variety of wildlife. Favorable lighting enhanced the opportunity to capture images.

There were also other sights worth sharing.

There were other moments when we “threaded the needle“, including navigating “cuttings“ which are very narrow valleys cut for the canal. Under the best of conditions two boats can pass with perhaps a foot of free play on each shore and a foot between the vessels. Today was not the best of conditions.

We had barely 6 inches to work with on the occasions that we passed narrowboats In the course of nearly 4 miles of “narrows”.

I’ve grown accustomed to passing through single width bridge arches but this was taken to another level where the bridges were located in the “narrows“.

In spite of the frequent moments of “excitement“ Christine and I managed 14 miles made good and five locks. We are ahead of schedule and will use the luxury of that banked time to linger in some of the ancient canal-side villages.

One such hamlet is Market Drayton where we are moored tonight. We enjoyed an excellent dinner in the Joule’s Brewery (brewing excellent ales since the 1500s), and sauntered through town which features a pub that dates to 1653, two years after the village was decimated by fire.

Tomorrow will be short on miles but long on locks. In a stretch of the waterway not 4 miles long we will “climb” 20 locks.

Peace Everyone. Pete

Written April 28, 2023, near Brewood, England, on the Shropshire Union Canal.

I thought that for a change that I might post just pictures, roughly in chronological order, of our day on the canal.

To give some context: Yesterday (Thursday) dawned cold and overcast with a lingering threat of rain throughout the 5 1/2 hours we were underway.

It was a long day, but not as long as Wednesday when we managed seven straight hours of cruising. These two long days were intentional for two reasons, one to achieve evening destinations where there would be good services (aka pubs!), and also to end this week at a location convenient for Charlie and Mary‘s departure and transport onto Chester and then home.

We continue making progress on the Four Counties Canal Ring which actually consists of 5 separate, but connected, canals.

Our 109 mile route covers the Trent & Mersey, the Stafford & Worcestershire, and the Shropshire Union.

I begin writing this piece at 6 AM while my narrowboat mates slept on. Charlie is now up and at the table with me. Hot water for coffee has started, the stove taking the chill off of the cabin. It has been a joy traveling with these two dear friends.

Charlie and Mary depart tomorrow morning.

The best visits always end tinged with sadness. As with Pat and Wendy‘s exit, this will be a sad moment for me and Christine.

Peace Everyone. Pete

Written April 26, 2023, on the Stafford and Worcestershire Canal near Stafford, England.

For the last two days we have enjoyed the favor of (mostly) dry weather. The sun occasionally peeks through the clouds, and when it does it brings immediate warmth to those navigating the canal. The clear weather has brought colder temperatures. Nighttime temps have dipped below freezing. Last week we were in an industrial and semi-urban area with occasional glimpses of farm and field. This week the vistas have reversed. Towns are now separated by expanses of green pastures populated with grazing livestock.

The views that we enjoy are often surreal. There are occasional glimpses of magnificent manor houses that predate the canal by decades, if not centuries.

Yesterday, we opted for a relatively short cruising day so that we could walk for 45 minutes each way into the old market town of Stafford. It was a jarring experience as the quiet of the canal was immediately replaced by the thunder of speeding vehicles on the busy raodway we trekked beside.

The hike was worth it.

Stafford is an ancient market town that is believed to date to the 8th century CE. It is clear that Stafford has seen better days, but seems to now be discovering its potential as a tourist destination.

In addition to an excellent pub lunch we took in two marvelous sites, the Ancient High House and The Collegiate Church of St. Mary.

The Ancient High House dates to 1595 and is the largest timber framed building in England.

Over the centuries it has seen a number of different uses. It underwent renovation in the 1980s, returning it (as much as possible) to its original configuration.Today it is a museum with a number of rooms recreating scenes that would have been familiar during various eras of the building’s history.

The Collegiate Church of Saint Mary dates to the 1100s.

A “collegiate church” is secondary in importance only to a Cathedral. The building was originally separated into two parts, the current nave was a parish church while the other end, separated by a wall, was reserved to the college.

At the time of Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries (around 1540) the collegiate portion was abandoned to the elements. The parish church remained in service to the needs of the community. Fortunately, the “bones” of the Collegiate Church were sound enough for later restoration. There is no longer a physical divider between the two portions of the church.

We continue today on our slow journey along the 110 mile-long Four Counties Canal Ring. At times physically challenging, our speed across country is usually that of a brisk walk. We find that people are friendlier, and tourists are fewer (or entirely absent) than in the typical visitor meccas. On the canals one cannot help but “smell the roses“ and contemplate the good fortune of being in “real England“.

Peace Everyone. Pete

Written April 24, 2023, at Great Haywood, England.

Our Kansas City neighbors, Mary and Charlie Murphy, arrived yesterday afternoon to our open arms.

At the same time we were relieved to learn that Pat and Wendy had arrived safely home in Kansas City.

Both couples had been brutalized by 24 hours of travel, much in cramped airline seats. The Murphys were beat but took decidedly different approaches to resolving their fatigue. Charlie took a nap while Mary was determined to hike the countryside. Christine remained at the boat with Charlie and I joined Mary on what turned into a muddy 4+ mile slog through farm fields and along soaked canal paths. Luckily, rain held off until we were dining at the marina restaurant. During dinner the rain came in a deluge. Again, luck prevailed. The skies broke for our return to Fjord Empress.

For a few minutes we were treated to the spectacle of a remarkable rainbow in one direction and an equally remarkable sunset in the other.

We departed the marina early this morning, resuming our journey south on the Trent and Mersey Canal. There was no shortage of scenery.

What was lacking were locks. Unlike the last week, today featured only three locks, not the double digit numbers encountered during Pat and Wendy‘s tenure.

This still provided an opportunity for Charlie and Mary to develop “lock sense“, while the long uninterrupted passages gave Charlie a significant chance to learn navigation at the tiller, even “hazarding“ the challenges of entering and exiting a lock.

Our progress was such that we even had the luxury of stopping at a canal-side pub for lunch before soldiering on to Great Haywood for the evening.

We moored too early for dinner. A short walk down the canal brought us to the National Trust managed property of the historic Shugborough Estate.

This massive parklike expanse was owned by the Bishops of Lichfield prior to the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII around 1540. It passed through several hands until purchased in 1624 by William Anson. He and his subsequent heirs developed the estate into a huge farming operation that was state of the art for its time. The mansion and most of the buildings and grounds seen today were the work of the famed architect, Samual Wyatt at the start of the 19th century.

We walked only a small portion of the estate which covers thousands of acres. I regret we did not have time to take in the interior of the huge mansion. We did, however, see a number of the classic structures which were built to mimic those of Greek and Roman antiquity.

Tomorrow morning, continuing on the “Four Counties Ring” route we take a hard right turn off of the Trent & Mersey Canal onto the Staffs & Worcs Canal. Adapting the words of legendary New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra to this journey, “When you come to a fork in the canal, take it”.

Peace Everyone. Pete