Bartimaeus

When we first walked in to Whitchurch after the shops had shut it looked rather uninteresting.  The extremely friendly welcome and enjoyable tapas (and beer) in the pub improved my opinion a little.  The following day it seemed like another village.  The narrow main street was busy with people walking and occasional vehicles.  Many of the shops were small local businesses, and almost everyone was chatty and friendly.

When we returned to the refill shop, we were treated like old friends.  The awkward job of putting liquids in to bottles was taken out of our hands too.  If the canal still came a little nearer the centre of town we wouldn’t have had the pleasant walk through the woods back to the boat.

This morning I went to the nearby discount supermarket (other supermarkets were available) to make sure we had enough milk, and then we set off again.

“You can always wind at a junction” is a good general rule when planning a route.  The Whitchurch Arm is an exception!  The layout of the canal is such that you can only enter or exit from the west.  That was one reason that I had reversed in when we arrived from the east.  (The rule is not completely broken because there is a winding hole only 200 metres along the canal.)

There were no locks on the section of canal we were on today.  There were a number of lift bridges however, each requiring one of us to hop off and wind open and then closed.  Clare did most of them today while I did most of the driving.  I handed driving over to her just before we saw the only boat we met all day.  The only bridge I opened was sitting so low in the canal that it dripped (on Clare) when open – none of the others had dripped.

The occasional stone bridges on this canal seem very solidly built.  I noticed one with a tunnel built in to it as a housing for the stop planks.  There were none in there today – I hope there are other plans for deploying them.

The bright weather continues, but there is a cold wind.  I’ve persisted with wearing shorts, but needed a fleece while driving.  More signs of spring are appearing though – today we saw our first ducklings of the year.

We moored up at some convenient rings just before the Prees Arm.  I wasn’t sure if the arm was navigable, so we went to explore on foot.  It turns out that it has good moorings along it and is navigable as far as Whixall Marina where boats can be hired as well as moored.  The marina cafe was about to close when we arrived, but they were happy to sell us ice cream.

Beyond the marina the canal is clearly long disused.  A pair of swans have taken advantage of the quiet water and set up home.

We walked further along the towpath of the disused section of canal.  It was very tranquil, the only sound being bird song and the bleating of sheep in the fields on either side.  The fields seemed crowded with sheep, but there were no lambs – yet!  I suspect the fields seem crowded because the ewes have been brought close to the farm for lambing.

We found further evidence that the canal here is not in use.  A farm track had been diverted from the elegant stone bridge on to what appeared to be a crude infill.  Presumably it could be dug out again if anybody had the inclination.

We walked back in the sunshine, having established that this area deserves a little more exploration.  Just before we got back to the boat I noticed a collection of road signs inside somebody’s barn.  This was the work of an enthusiast – not a casual collection on the way home from the pub.