Easter break over

We really enjoyed our break back at home and managed to get a lot of family time so it was with mixed emotions that we came back to the boat on Sunday.  Catherine was going back to university in Nottingham so we shared a lift with her.  As soon as we hit the M6 the sun disappeared and the rest of the day was cloudy and rainy.

After Catherine left us we went for a walk in the rain and found some rope swings; Buddy couldn’t work out how we were moving about in the air.  Karen believes rope swings aren’t real unless they swing across water.

On Monday morning we popped in Brewood for the last time, did a few chores, like cutting some wild garlic leaves for one of our meals in the week.

We set off in half sunshine.

Our flowers survived the break and our first grape hyacinths had come out.

As we left Brewood we passed this miniature narrow boat.  It was difficult to get a picture with the right perspective to show how small it really was.

The Shropshire Union canal is really rural between Wolverhampton and Chester so it is easy to find nice remote and quiet spots to moor up for the evening.  The only town it passes through on the way is Market Drayton where we are planning on meeting up with Dave and Barbara who are heading South for the summer.  It was noticeable that there were a lot of boats on the move compared with before Easter.

The arch on this bridge at Wheaton Aston is oddly shaped.

Our only lock of the day was Wheaton Aston lock and we got into a lot of difficulty getting into it as the wind kept catching us.

We moored in the only free spot on the Wheaton Aston visitor moorings for an afternoon cup of tea and cake…

… and then picked up some fresh eggs at this farm.

This lane is called Dirty Lane – a popular name round here as there was another Dirty Lane at Brewood.  Karen took the chance to show off my new haircut.

The sign in the window of one boat made us laugh.

We passed over the A5 on this aqueduct.

 

We moored near a place called Little Onn opposite these sheep.  The lighter evenings are so noticeable now – this picture was taken at 8.30 and would have been brighter if it wasn’t cloudy.  We thought we would be woken up by the sheep but surprisingly they didn’t start bleating until eight in the morning.

 Just as we were drawing the curtains a boat went past - it was called Adonis Blue which is a British butterfly and found on chalk downland like our Chalkhill Blue.