Bridge 7 To Gnosall, 1 Lock. Then Onto Shebdon Embankment.

O so slow progress!

The Shroppie might not be the place to be at this time of year.

The whole canal is more or less covered by trees and they are snowing their leaves onto the water at a phenomenal rate. These leaves then make a bee line for the propeller and leading edge of the rudder causing the prop to clog and makes the boat practically unsteerable.

This can be every two to three minutes in the really bad areas and the only way to clear them is to stop and run astern or shake the rudder vigorously.

It really is three steps forward and one step back at the moment!

Arriving at Gnosall on Monday afternoon we had had enough and this place looked very inviting, no Internet connection though and the TV reception was a bit dodgy but.....so what!
Tuesday started with the rain trying to drill it's way through the roof, neither of us was feeling all that heroic so we decided to stay put for the day.

Today (Wed) was a different kettle of fish, bright and sunny with a fresh coldish wind.

The Shroppie is more or less a roman road of a canal, dead straight.
This was achieved by cutting through the hills and using the spoil to create embankments over the valleys.
Traveling along here is unique in that one minute you are out in open countryside on top of an embankment with it's sweeping views, the next minute you are chugging through the tree lined enclosure of a steep sided cutting.

Here's one more picture of "that" telegraph pole in the not so imaginatively named "High Bridge".

And here's another one.

 

 

Well, we are here on the Shebdon embankment for the night and plan "A" for tomorrow is to move along to Market Drayton with it's selection of shops, banks and more importantly a doctors.

 

 

 

Until next time....................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.