Narrowboat Serafina: Finally! Up the Audlem Locks

We pushed off from Nantwich heading for new water. We had gone to the base of the Audlem Locks and returned several times while we waited to pick up our crew members and also once during their visit. We weren't prepared to go any further than the base of Lock 1 at Audlem, once you commit to completing the first lock you are committing to all fifteen, one after the other and less than one hundred metres between each lock. There is also an additional five at Adderley to complete before you can turn around. Thursday was a big day; our biggest! Rachael and I completed twenty-two locks for the day. Rachael spent most of the time on the windlass while I was mainly on the tiller. We did swap a few times but several of the locks were quite difficult with a cross current right at the lock entry gate. Serafina was pushed into the side of the lock on several occasions. We came inside to find cupboard doors open and bits and pieces over the floor. The day was made much more pleasant having met a nice couple at the Adderley locks from NB Ferndale. I passed their boat while moving into the lock and thinking how strange it was to have a narrow boat out of Melbourne painted on its side. Rachael was up on the lock having an in-depth conversation with a couple who, as I moved into the lock, yelled 'G'day!' instead of the very proper 'Hello'. We chatted for a little while but there was a queue to use the lock, I had held it up as long as I could.

Market Drayton, our overnight mooring, is one of our favourite places having visited there on several occasions while waiting for contracts and maintenance to be finalised while purchasing Serafina. We had found a Weatherspoon's Pub there and Rachael had already booked in for breakfast, they serve a very good Eggs Benedict! Unfortunately, it wasn't market day so we were straight back to the boat after breakfast and off.

Friday was a scorcher by English standards and I must admit when we moored at Norbury Junction we were straight up to the Junction Inn for a pint or two. Norbury Junction is a quaint place to moor having retained its name even though no longer a junction.

The sailing from Norbury was generally uneventful with the countryside mostly flat. Just after leaving Norbury on Saturday we must have stumbled across every member of the local angling club out to catch a fish. There was a line of pole fishermen of around 400 to 500 metres, spaced at 20 metre intervals. Each fisherman seemed to have the latest, shiny fishing gear and of course their carbon fibre pole that reached over 20 metres. The wildlife continued to be amazing along the canal, I grabbed a quick snap of a heron searching for fish. Herons are a regular on the canal along with the swans with their signets and plenty of ducks with their ducklings. I didn't tell Rachael until we were moored up but there was also a huge rat scurrying off into the hedge at the last lock going into Penkridge.

I must admit sailing through suburbia is different to being out in the countryside, I started to get that 'closed-in' feeling while going through Wolverhampton, and we really just went around the side of it. We turned on to the Staffs and Worcs Canal and immediately passed through some very narrow cuttings as we started to move out of the suburbs. Our lunch stop was at Gailey where we filled the water tank and had some lunch at the same time, it's a big water tank! There are CRT Services at Gailey so it was a chance to ditch the garbage as well and not to mention taking a look at the wares in the Roundhouse Canal Shop, originally a Toll Clerk's office. Our overnight stop was Penkridge where we arrived in the late afternoon but with plenty of time to take a walk into the village centre to stretch our legs and pick up some milk and fresh bread.