Day 43 of the End to End was highly sociable. It was the second day on The Shroppie (the nick name for the Shropshire Union Canal) and also involved Bob moving Bambo to another campsite, so I was walking on my own for the day, or so I thought.
The whole day had been sponsored by the Everingham family from Leeds, and they were certainly with me in Spirit, with encouraging texts. So was Gwen in Sheffield, who has broken her arm but still manages to send texts.
It was a grey morning at bridge 69 at Adderley. Immediately after the bridge were the first locks of the day, not too surprisingly named the Adderley Locks. I made good single minded progress for a couple of miles. The tree lined banks of the canal made a glorious canopy. Then my first distraction was a little ice cream ‘honesty’ fridge by the canal side. It was very well stocked with local ice cream in various flavours and it seemed churlish not to sample some. So I selected Raspberry sorbet and left my money and took my little tub to a picnic table at the next lock to consume it in the calm and quiet surroundings.
I carried on to Audlem described as ‘an award winning Cheshire village’. It was a hub of activity as a local wedding was causing a ding dong and had managed to block the High Street. I got a sandwich in the Co op. Before getting back on the canal path I was distracted by the Audlem Mill craft shop, the most frustrating aspect of which was the self imposed restrictions on what I could carry with me.
I thought I’d best press on but no sooner had lock 15 come into view than there was another distraction. Audlem has 15 locks, each one making an important contribution to bridging the height between the Shropshire plain and the Cheshire plain. There was a water bus stop at lock 15. Another walker explained it to me: it’s a local voluntary community water bus which runs from the Marina. The staff are all volunteers (he was one but on a day off) and it raises money for the RNLI. It was due in the next couple of minutes.
It seemed only right to give it a try, and so I hopped aboard and we chugged slowly down to the Marina. On the way I heard all about it and how more volunteer crew members were sought (blog readers take note).
At the Marina I was dropped off at the community cafe where I sample the Mango sorbet ice cream before taking the path to rejoin the canal at bridge 80 (Bob later worked out that I’d only missed 0.3 miles and so with calculated errors being what they are we agreed to disregard that).
Concerned I was falling a bit behind my schedule I pressed on. A canal boat caught me up and we had a boat to shore conversation for a while
Me: How fast are you going?
Boat: About as fast as you.
Me: Yes, but how fast is that?
Boat: I don’t know. I don’t have any way of telling.
Me: I thought perhaps there was a speed limit.
Boat: There is. It’s 4 miles an hour but I never go as fast as that.
Then another walker caught me up and we talked for a while as we walked. When we got to his moored canal boat we parted company near Holt Green Lock. It was his first boat trip without his wife who died a year ago this week. He thought he’d find the locks difficult but folks continually offered to help.
I was almost on the final mile or so, just around Nantwich. I admired Telford’s aqueduct and walked under the bridge to the yard of the Nantwich Marina where I’d left the car. It had been a very good walk. Not far along the road to the campsite a giant rabbit in a field announced the Snugglberry ice cream farm. It would have been churlish not to stop for my third ice cream of the day.
For the unexpected encounters:
The refreshment providers,
The craft shop proprietors,
The community volunteers,
The bell ringers and cafe servers,
For the lost, the bereaved and the lonely,
For families on days out,
And for all who offer support and encouragement,
We give thanks.
For today, God grant us a quiet night and a peaceful end.
JAL 18.05.2019
Day 43 of the End to End, Apperley Locks to Nantwich marina on The Shroppie.