Descent

Our journey continued through rural Shropshire and the canal remains at a constant level by the use of increasingly spectacular embankments and cuttings.  Shelmore Embankment is nearly a mile long and in places stands 59 feet above the land to the west.   Through Woodseaves Cutting the steep sides tower above us along it's 1.5 mile length.  We are reminded of the challenges of creating these cuttings when we passed a landslip which obstructed the canal earlier in the year.   There is still some debris in the canal but the remaining channel is wide enough for boat traffic.   

Deep cuttings require tall bridges but High Bridge is unusual.  It was built with a bracing arch  which has since made a convenient site for a telegraph pole.   

High Bridge but Bess is more interested in the canal-side.

By Tuesday we've sailed 24 miles along the Shropshire Union and have only come down 2 locks.  This week it's payback time. 

After descending 33 feet through the 5 Tyrley Locks we moored up at Market Drayton ready for market day on Wednesday.  Market Drayton is a picturesque town with some old timbered buildings which replaced the original buildings destroyed by fire in 1651.  Sadly many of the shops in the town stood empty but the market was impressive, stalls lined the wide streets and open spaces selling a variety of goods.

During our travels I've been trying to identify the birds we see.   Easily identifiable but unexpected were a pair of mandarin ducks who came for bread with the mallards at Market Drayton.  

Our next descent was 31 feet through 5 locks at Adderley with a good mooring at the bottom.  We stopped overnight because the first of 15 locks in the Audlem flight is just a mile further on. 

The 15 locks lower the canal by 93 feet and are separated by short stretches of canal called pounds.  These allow us to pass boats coming up and reduces the amount of work.  The gates are left open for the approaching boat and the boaters help each other to wind up the paddles to empty or fill the locks.  We were lucky, the locks were busy as we descended and as well as having some assistance there is time for a chat with the other boaters. 

Audlem village visitor moorings start after lock 11 and so we moored up for a day and then stayed another.  We called in at the canal-side pub, the Shroppie Fly.  A flyboat was the horse drawn canal equivalent of express delivery.  The bar in the pub is a replica of the front half of a flyboat, complete with a fender.  

Moored up at Audlem - the pound between locks 10 and 11 is in the foreground.   Brent III's wheelhouse is an unusual sight on this canal.  

This morning we came down through the remaining 4 Audlem Locks and continued on to the visitor moorings at Coole Lane Bridge.  This week we've descended 157 feet through 25 locks.

Our journey from Gnosall to Coole Lane Bridge.