Despite the warning that a passer-by gave us yesterday that today's foreast was for rain, it remained warm, bright and sunny all day, once the early cloud had cleared.
Before long we arrived at the first of the two lift bridges before the junction with the Whitchurch Arm.
We stopped at Whitchurch Marina to fill with fuel - we must be doing better as this is the first re-fuelling this trip and we were not dangerously low.
The Whitchurch Arm is not very long - it once ran right into the town but much is now under housing estates. However, it is a quiet place to moor with a winding hole near the end. There is room for perhaps 8 or 9 boats on the visitor moorings. It ends rather abruptly.
We set off to walk into town - it is not really convenient for shopping and we would not really want to be doing a major shop here (even though the shops are very interesting and varied). We walked in using the Canal and Country trail which is mostly through woodland, close to the original canal line but just a little away. We were intrigued by seeing a grass cutter with a remote control machine - copes with banks where new rules mean that ride on mowers or even hand held strimmers are not permitted. The operator was quite happy to chat about it and claims that he can get through a lot more grass than before.
We emerged just before the parish church and the start of the High Street.
Although many of the buildings are old, not all have elegant modern uses! This car showroom dates from the mid to late 15th century.
We enquired about the location of a supermarket (Tesco seems the only one) but were sent on a wild goose chase completely the wrong way out of town. However it did give us a chance to see some more of the old buildings, including The Old Cottage and the former Congregational Chapel.
After re-tracing our steps we went through a narrow arcade of shops and were delighted to find one that specialises in making pork pie. The business - and the recipe - have been in the family for a long time. The wooden moulds used to shape the crusts belonged to the current owner's father.
We were told that regretfully they only had the large size left today - so sad that we just had to buy one! Part of it went well at lunch time.
As we left the town centre we took time to visit the church. Although there has been a church on this site for a very long time, the present building was built in the Georgian style and once had a gallery on three sides. Only the West End gallery now remains.
The East window had become very fragile and needs £65,000 reapirs. Whilst they are being done the window has been filled by art work done by a local school as part of a special project.
A modern sculpture is fixed to one of the main pillars.
At the back of the church there is a memorial with a link to the Battle of Trafalgar.
Leaving the church we walked back to the boat but this time followed the somewhat shorter but less interesting road route. Time for lunch - including a piece of that pork pie.
Once setting off it was not far to the Grindley Brook locks. We needed first to use the water point. With all four in action the pressure as not great so it took a while to fill up. When we moved down to the top lock there was only one boat waiting ahead of us and we completed the six locks in about three quarters of an hour. (But we had a good team!)
It was a beautiful evening and so we continued through another three locks before find a quiet spot to moor for the night.
After our evening meal, Mike and Alice went for a walk along the towpath and saw four particular things: the sun just going down below the horizon, red sky, so hopefully another good day tomorrow, daisies closing up their flowers for the night and ripples on the still water from bubbles coming up from the mud.
5.9 Miles - 9 Locks
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