Shropshire Union Canal

After travelling 5 days on the trot we'd been looking forward to staying several nights at Middlewich, but it was a 2 day mooring and the weather tomorrow looked dire. We therefore decided to do a short hop on past the next lock so we didn't need to move on in the rain and wind. We 'd had enough of getting drenched. Will and Abby took the boat while Vicky walked with the dogs. The spot we found was more rural and relaxing, with flat fields, old oak trees and hawthorn hedges. We picked the ripe red haws while waiting for the lock to fill and Will later made them in to ketchup. There seems to be a real glut of them this year so we were happy to make use of them.

A few hours after we arrived, a boat of a very similar green moored ahead of us. It turned out to be Morning Star with Paul, Antony and their old dog Dexter. We'd never met them but follow their You Tube channel; Narrowboat Life Unlocked. Their boat is the same age as Rainboat and won second in show at Crick Boatshow. It is all electric propulsion, cooking, heating and power with 2000v of solar panels.

We didn't see much of Antony but got chatting to Paul several times as he was out and about with Dexter. He's really friendly and an amazing artist. We'd admired his pastel drawings of wildlife and pets online and treated ourselves to a signed A4 print of a Tawny Owl.

Taking advantage of a morning of sunshine we walked back to Middlewich. We didn't see much of the town as we spent all our time in the Angling Superstore (Will's treat) and Middlewich DIY Centre (Vicky's treat). They were both great shops for getting what we needed as well as some things we told ourselves we needed 🤣

Upon leaving our moorings a bird with a large wingspan swooped over the canal ahead of us. We couldn't believe it when we saw it was a Tawny Owl! Paul's print must have brought us luck!Read more