Monday 23rd August
We were just getting ready to leave this morning when Ben (the welder) passed us again. Soon we were passing the long stretch of moorings at Shebdon and tried to remember where our friends Jane and Gordon used to have their mooring.
After that was Knighton Wharf which used to produce Cadbury’s chocolate crumb and now has Knighton Foods Limited behind the original works which I believe still produces Marvel powdered milk as part of the Premier Foods Group.
Who remembers ‘Marvel’ coming onto the market?
Marvel skimmed milk powder was first produced in 1964 at the then Cadbury Milk Crumb factory at Knighton in Staffordshire. It came at a time when not everyone had access to refrigeration, and rising milk production meant production surpluses needed to be used up for economic reasons. These were the days before long life UHT cartons.
Today’s journey involved passing lots of moored boats with occasional views over open countryside towards The Wrekin in the distance (see top picture).
There were embankments and narrow cuttings, Woodseaves Cutting has suffered several landslips and care was needed when passing oncoming boats.
Three hours travelling brought us to the top of Tyrley [say Turley] Locks at midday, just as the volunteers went off to lunch, but they did set one lock for us and I walked ahead and set the next lock while Joy was descending. These locks have strong ‘by-washes’ (a kind of overflow) which tended to push the boat off line but with firm application of engine power and Joy’s muscles being exercised on the tiller we managed OK.
Once moored up just outside the town we had lunch and later I biked down to get some shopping at Asda and visit the post office.
Tuesday 24th August
We spent the day at the same place with another visit to town to collect another Amazon delivery of some phone charging leads and found Morrisons on the way back. Meanwhile Joy did her jigsaw and in the afternoon we watched a film on Britbox, Croupier a 1998 film starring Clive Owen as “a cash-strapped writer with an unsettlingly cool demeanour in this stylish thriller. When he takes a job as a croupier in a casino, the after-hours temptations begin to lure him in.”
Wednesday 25th August
Today we went, as my mother used to say ‘There and back to see how far it is’.
First we filled up with water, just through the bridge and then took a slow journey up to the ‘Winding Hole’ [Turning Point] at the top of Adderley Locks.
We spotted narrowboat Davro along the way, we often see them in our travels but there was no sign of the owners or their five dogs.
It took us just over an hour each way and we found a different 48 hour mooring near a path into town.
Joy’s Samsung tablet had been showing signs of old age so we decided to replace it. I took a trip to Argos and picked one up, unfortunately Joy found the buttons very difficult to see, so I commenced the mammoth task of updating the old one. There were several times when I thought I had ‘bricked’ it i.e. made it unusable and I finally gave up well after midnight.
Thursday 26th August
This morning I snuck out of bed before Joy was awake and Hallelujah I got her tablet working again with the appropriately named Resurrection Remix custom ROM.
Back on the bike again to visit Argos and they kindly gave a refund on the new one as it hadn’t been set up.
Phew! Just in time for Joy to use it for her on-line art class this afternoon.