Live Boating

 Sunday 30^th April

Gledrid to Whixall Moss

Quite a quiet day. The weather was grey and drizzly most of the time though not quite as cold as some of the previous days. We did the two New Marton Locks – no more locks today.and no lift bridges. We had lunch at Ellesmere and took the opportunity to pop to Tesco for a few supplies.

There was a lot of work being done on the towpath and the canal edge in this area.

By late afternoon, the weather had cheered up and by the time we moored up at Whixall the clouds were clearing. We had our evening meal a little early and then went for a walk in the evening sunshine. A little way along a local road we found a bird hide overlooking one of the local meres. We hadn’t brought our binoculars so we didn’t stay long in the hide.

Bird Hide

Mere in the evening sun

Once we were back at the boat, I decided to return to the hide, this time with the binoculars. I saw swallows, a lapwing, a sandpiper (I think), wagtails, and shelduck (plus the usual Canada geese and mallards). As I walked back to the boat, I could hear a thrush singing. It had been there an hour earlier when we first went out. He was certainly claiming that tree as his territory.

Today’s miles and locks – 16.50 miles    2 locks      

Total miles and locks – 191.50 miles 100 locks

 

Monday 1^st May

Whixall Moss to Marbury

Another grey start to the day, but we only had a little rain and again we had a lovely sunny evening.

The thrush was still singing in his tree as we set off soon after 8.00.

More activity for us today, with 5 lift bridges in the first couple of hours. We stopped to take on water at the top of the Grindley Brook Locks, and then there was a bit of a delay because boats were coming up. But with the help of the two volunteer lockkeepers on duty today, we were through the staircase in reasonable time and then the other three locks of the Grindley Brook flight were set in our favour so were quickly done. Lunch followed and then we just did three more locks (Povey, Willey Moor and Quoisley) before deciding we had done enough, and mooring up near Marbury.

Only photo today is some ducklings and their mum.

Our walk in the late afternoon took us up into the village of Marbury, a small village with some old houses, a pub, a church and judging by the notices in the church porch, a number of active community groups.

Today’s miles and locks – 9.75 miles    9 locks      

Total miles and locks – 201.25 miles  109 locks