Day 14 - Market Drayton to Audlem

A day of locks - there are 5 at Adderley and then 15 more at Audlem and we planned to stop somewhere in the middle of the Audlem flight if we could find a mooring, then finish the flight the following day before staying at Overwater Marina for a couple of days.

At Adderley, there is a farm shop kiosk by the last lock selling bacon, sausages, black pudding and pork pies, all home made or cured and packed neatly into cold packs.  There were also apple pies, carrots, free range eggs and various jams and preserves, all priced and with an honesty box to put the money in. Boaters we met there said it was the best bacon and black pudding they'd ever had, so we stocked up.  It did turn out to be wonderfully tasty stuff.

Farm kiosk with honesty box, Adderley locks

11 locks into the Audlem flight, after the Adderley 5 locks we felt completely exhausted and found a spot to moor up by Audlem village (not for nothing are these flights collectively known as 'Heartbreak Hill').  The so-called 'Shroppie Shelf' is a concrete ledge projecting out from the bank in most places on the Shropshire Union even in some authorised mooring places and Blue Adeline must have a deeper draught than some, because it rubs her undersides in a nasty way when moored up and the go-kart tyres we'd brought just weren't wide enough to offer protection.  However, we moored up late enough for most boats to have passed and planned to be off tomorrow early to avoid too much damage.  

Both Adderley and Audlem locks are single narrow locks, which look deceptively straightforward but often have powerful bywashes.  Go slow out of the bottom gates and the bywash effect has longer to force the boat sideways; go faster and there's the risk of hitting the bank with a thwack or even going aground where the bywash has eroded the bank on the towpath side.  We did both.

Leaving a lock at Audlem

Audlem village is very attractive, close to the canal and including the famous pub the 'Shroppie Fly' which refers to the working boats which with 4 crew and the horse, used to work 24 hours up and down the canal carrying perishable goods (therefore needing to 'fly').

The Shroppie Fly

Next door is Audlem Mill Shop which sells an amazing variety of needlecraft supplies, kits and handmade goods plus an excellent range of canal related books.  There's also a pretty lock cottage.