Market Drayton

Have been unable to write for a while as we have not had access to the internet. Our 3g card would not pick up a signal and it was same with our phones. It is amazing how much we use our Iphone that I feel so lost without the internet. We actually had to have a conversation!

So we left Breewood on Sunday and travelled to Church Eaton. A small village, again a contender for the ‘best village’ competition.. In these villages they have a village notice board with minutes of the last council meeting. I read that in Church Eaton they were “in a quandary” as to repair or replace their notice board, how lovely that this is all the village has to be in a quandary about.

After Church Eaton we travelled for a couple of hours to Norbury Junction. It had rained over night and the air was very fresh. Apart from a boatyard which had a tea room and little shop and a British Waterways information point (with showers and toilet) there was nothing here. We wanted to do some washing however, did not know to use the British Waterways machines a special card is needed and to get this card, you have to purchase it at another town , so we decided to use the service wash at the boatyard at £9.50 per half bin bag. 3 hours later, the washing came back, all nicely folded, it was a pity they could not put it away for us as well. Whilst we waiting for our washing to be done, we went for another little walk into the village of Norbury, only a few houses, a village hall and a bus stop.

The scenery got a tad monotonous after Norbury Junction as it was very wooded and one tree really looks like another tree. The landscaped opened up, however the fields were obscured by hedges and we could not see over them, however, we got glimpse of open fields in the gaps of the hedges . There were some helicopters in the distance and one which kept flying overhead, I did wonder if we were near a helicopter flying school, I have never seen so many. (Picture shows a telegraph pole in a bridge)

We arrived in Goldstone Bridge which is near a village of Cheswardine and took a stroll into the village which was a good ½ an hour walk. The views over the fields were just wonderful and I was kicking myself as I forgot my camera.The village was pretty standard, however, it did have a community shop which was opened up when their village shop closed. We are moored next to a caravan park so we were able to look at the different caravans and wonder if I could live in one of them instead of a boat and if it is even possible, especially in winter. The caravans all seem rather the same and they lack the colour and the uniqueness of narrowboats. I did smile to myself as I was now the “gongoozler”.

Today we arrived in Market Drayton. A “useful stop” is the best way to describe it. The journey here was through woods so not much scenery to look at. The canal was very narrow with no passing places, so we were lucky there was no other boats coming the opposite way. I did wonder what we would do if we saw another boat, but luckily that was not something that we needed to worry about. The canal travels through a deep rock cutting which was made entirely by hand, no machines, pretty impressive (see photo). We were very lucky to get a mooring spot here and we just about managed to squeeze into a gap, if we were a couple of inches bigger we would not have fit.

This afternoon I decided to feed the ducks as bought some duck seed, not very good as it sinks before they could eat it. Some swans came to the boat to also have some food, however, I do not think they were happy with the duck seed as one of the bit my sleeve.`