Narrowboat Maid of the Mist Blog - January 2010

We hope you enjoy reading about our travels around the British Inland Waterways

Having spent Christmas 2009 in and around Chester (we have family near Wrexham) we started our journey on route to London.

1st - Shropshire Union - Nantwich. The weather is cold and we need food supplies. There is a Sainsbury in Nantwich which can be reached by catching the 34 to the bus station and then the Sainsbury shuttle from there.

The bus stop into town is down the ramp from the aqueduct across the road and outside the Malbank College.

Nantwich is a small but busy town. There is a small market held there on a Saturdays.

2nd to 5th - The weather was forecasted to freeze within the next couple of days so we took the chance and made it ok to the Shroppie Fly on the Audlem Flight, that night the temperature dropped to minus 5 and we woke to a layer of ice across the canal. We were frozen in there for a couple of days.

6th to20th - On the 6th the canal was starting to defrost around us and we spoke to a passing boater who had travelled from Market Drayton that day, so believing they had broken the ice we decided to go for it. And we made it. But not without some difficulty. Market Drayton was much colder. We were frozen in there until the 20th.

Knowing we were going to be there for a while, I took the opportunity to get myself some new specs (broke the arm on my old ones). Got a good deal at SpecSavers there.

Morrisons is the only food supermarket there and is only a short walk from the bus terminal.

The bus into town is the 164/64 to Shrewsbury which can be picked up opposite the Talbot Inn off bridge number 62. Coming back it is the 164/64 to Hanley.

Having been frozen in Market Drayton for so long, we missed our opportunity to get through Wheaton Aston before the works commenced on the embankment there. We were going this way to pick up some boat spares from Gailey. This meant we had to turn around and go back up the Audlem Flight and take the Middlewich arm to the Trent and Mersey and then turn onto the Staffs and Worcester at Great Heywood to get to Gailey.

21st - Audlem

22nd and 23rd - Nantwich

Middlewich Arm

24th and 25th - Middlewich

Trent & Mersey Canal

27th - Church Lawton

28th - Redbull Wharf

29th to 31st - Festival Park, Stoke on Trent. We needed to moor here for a while and get the train to Wrexham to visit my mum. She is not too well at the moment and is very frail. We like to visit her as often as possible, and especially when we can leave the boat moored securely. Continued in February ....

Author: Jean Beven

Nantwich Aqueduct

Shroppie Fly Audlem Locks

Ornate signage

Stoke Bottle Kiln