We had stopped at Wheaton Aston on the way through for diesel, but with it being a saturday, they shut at 2pm. We came through the lock before at about 1.30, moored up for 2 and went for a walk to remind ourselves where the pump was. By the time we managed to get the boats up to the bridge and onto the fueling point, a bloke came out and told us that they’d now shut. We were gutted, but mostly a bit angry as they didn’t put a sign up stating this fact or anything displaying their opening times. With that, we moved on a couple of hundred feet onto the visitors moorings waiting for the ladies to return from their short shopping trip. A quick check of our Nicholson’s confirmed that Norbury sold fuel and with chatting at the lock as you do, found the prices to be fair. We managed to fill the tank right up, and also our jerry can which is normally stored under the counter. Alan also filled his tank and a jerry can. I have this thing with chandleries, where I must at least have a quick look… most of you will know that’s fatal as I had spotted a tall liner, which we needed for the stove in the back cabin. At the moment we’ve only got a cheap Midland Chandlers 28″ chimney and every time I’ve lit it since we had it installed I’ve needed to stuff it with tissues to stop the tar running down the side of the boat. The liner is about an 1/8 inch lower than the top of the actual chimney and will do the job nicely. It’s a very snug fit.

Cracking on, we stopped for a quick pint at the Anchor at High Offley. I’ve stopped there before a couple of times but Alan and Brenda off Annie May hadn’t so it gave them a chance to have a look around. Unfortunately (for us) the old dear who runs the pub no longer has to go up and down the stairs into the cellar filling the jug, which holds only 3 pints up. It is now on tap but it still tastes very nice and is also a strong beer.

Off we then went on to our stopping place for the night, Market Drayton. We had previously decided that we wanted to have a meal out, so off we went with the rather longer than I remember walk. Now, I’ve been told numerous times in the past that I shouldn’t jump at the first pub offering meals that we see, but we did this time and were very happy with the results. Not only was it friendly, it was clean and at a reasonable price too. The landlord, who serves us himself personally couldn’t do enough for us. Back to the boats later on where a spot of fishing was done, and later on we spent an hour or two on the bank having a drink and chatting away.

The run from Coven to Autherley was a quite one although after slowing down to pass a bridge, I knocked the speed up to normal cruising speeds - if you could call it that - a shallow canal and a deep boat don’t go well together - out of the bushes on the offside somewhere I heard an elderly voice informing me that the speed limit is 4mph and that I should slow down to 2mph when passing fishermen. Well I always make a point of slowing down at each blind bend and bridge hole and for every moored boat and fisherman, that is, if I can see them. I finally saw the rod poking out of a bush with the miserable sod on the end. “Have a nice day” I said to him, which he replied “I hope it rains on you”. Grinning to myself I said “I hope you fall in!” and with the angry look on his face, laughed to myself as I rounded the bend. There was a short queue at Autherley stop lock, where we met Worsley CC on what I suppose was their holiday cruise. After a quick chat we were through the lock, now on the Shroppie, and winding our way to Gnosall, our overnight mooring.

After some tea and a bit of fishing we walked up to the pub on the bridge, just north of the moorings. The name escapes me now but even though we didn’t eat there, I could thoroughly recommend it. The landlord and his better half made us feel very welcome and were friendly, although the downside is that the beer was very expensive. £7.70 for 2 Bombadier’s and a pint of Carling! In the corner of the bar, sat an elderly bloke who enquired as to whether we were “off the boats” - most likely hearing my conversion about BW with Alan earlier. I confirmed that we were and then went on to tell me that he had been a lock keeper in the canals working days for 8 years and that his dad, and granddad were the same before him. We had a chat about Ellesmere Port and the current state of the waterways including him telling me some stories about the old boaters in the carrying days, one rejoicing in the name of Chocolate Charlie, so called due to the fact he was on the chocolate crumb run south to Bourneville, frequently used half of his load as beer money on the trip which he managed two of in a fortnight, being single handed, and the couple before him on the same boat, Mendip, only managed 3 trips a fornight! The name Chocolate Charlie came up in conversation after chatting about some of the boats on display. I mentioned Mendip, and when this bloke (I didn’t catch his name unfortunately) told me that he knew the steerer, appeared shocked when I asked him if it was Charlie Atkins that he knew.

Back to the boat, not too late but late enough as the ground had started to move, damn thing.

This morning we set off at the usual time of around 9am, making short work of the locks leading up to and through Penkridge and Gailey. We stopped at around dinner time for a walk around Penkridge but unusually for us, not a pint!

We got going again in the rain but it soon cleared up giving us the job of struggling with our wet gear through the locks. We finally made the visitors moorings at Coven at about 8.30. Even with that midday break it was still a long day, and still no pub!