Grindley Brook

We had moored near Wrenbury as we had seen on the 'A Church Near You' web site that they were holding a family service at 10:30. As we walked across the field to the churchyard we could hear the bells calling people to church! We were warmly welcomed and the service was led by the Reader - there were three small children who proudly showed off some actions that they had learned at the playgroup.

The village holds an annual Scarecrow Weekend - the main activities were last weekend and there were lots of visitors but the entries into the competition - about 20 - are still kept on display for the following week.

Off again and we continued through lift bridges and locks, all at intervals along the way. The main Wrenbury lift bridge is a busy road and a bopat coming the other way warned us not to allow more than three boats through at a time - the last 'lift' had delayed the local traffic more than some of them thought fair and war almost broke out!

The canal was busier by now and queues built up at several locks - especially after a longer pound which gives opportunities for boats to set off as well as coming up through the locks. Most of the delays were less than half an hour and one of them gave us a chance to have our lunch!

By the middle of the afternoon we arrived at Grindley Brook. After rising up through the three separate locks we came to the bottom of the staircase - quite a traffic jam, made worse because the boats down had moored out of sequence. A lock keeper is on duty for the staircase, ensuring that there is a faqir allocation of traffic in each direction. Some Australians on a hire boat were having difficulty in understanding the expression 'three up and three down'. At the top we stopped for water etc.

The afternoon was bright and sunny, and pleasantly warm. By the time we reached Whitchurch we decided to call it a day, just after the short arm into the town. A lovely evening!