Retirement with No Problem

Knighton to Gnosall, Shropshire Union Canal, 7 miles 0 locks

I wasn’t looking forward to pulling the pins this morning, the weather looked horrid, and as always seems to happen to us, the wind was going to be in our faces from the south west.  On our way to Knighton it was in the north!

I thought I would give Vic some practice on the tiller with the back canopy up, so grabbed my walking stick much to Lucy and Meg’s delight, and set off along the towpath.  I stopped every now and then to collect some wood, and Vic came close to help put it on the roof.. in fact we had quiet a lot by the time we got to the Cadbury Wharf.  The smell of chocolate today was sooooo yummy from the factory.. ‘Tis chocolate powder.  I rushed by to be upwind of it!

Happy to walk the Shebdon Embankment, I stopped to chat to the contractors who are putting in the huge pilings on the offside at the moment.. they were telling me that the piling bit should be finished by the end of November, but they still had quite a bit to do.  Some of the pilings were 12 meters tall which they could not knock further into the ground.. probably hit stone.  That is why a lot of them are sticking a long way out.  Other pilings are only 6 meters, they seem to have gone in just fine.  They were saying that the 6 meter ones were put in so that badgers could tunnel under… hey my brain sort of refused to compute that.. think they were having me about!

I caught up with No Problem again, but had no desire to board until the line of mile and quarter boats was passed, and it wasn’t until The Anchor at Old Lea that we all clambered on.

I am sorry there are no photos today.. I did click away with the camera, but failed to realise that I had not replaced the SD Card after taking the photos off it last night… doh!

The bread I had made before pulling the pins this morning had just finished baking, and we cruised to Norbury Junction to moor for a lunch of tomato soup which I made yesterday, and very tasty tomato and parmesan bread.

Onward then to fill up with diesel.. but under the bridge I saw “Diesel 54.9p Ltr”…. Oh No!! Up by 5p since we went the other way just a few days ago.  So we didn’t bother this time.. Will phone Turners at Wheaton Aston tomorrow to see how much theirs is.

We stopped short of Gnosall to saw up the wood we collected today.. enough for a week or so, well pleased with that, then moored at Gnosall just after 4pm, a bit late, but gave me half hour to take Lucy and Meg along the Way for the Millenium footpath before the light faded.