The Catastrophe of the Missing Pork Pies!

 Saturday 6th August 2022 in Market Drayton.

Another beautiful early morning with sunshine forecast all day. The only traffic across the bridge was tractors!

Yesterday, the canal was very busy so, this morning, we decided to start early to beat the rush. R moved MM up to the lock mooring and set the lock but no boats came up behind us. By 8:30 we were leaving the first lock.

Quite a few boats did pass us going the other way, which meant that we had a "good road", except that twice, as we were going through a lock with the next empty lock set for us, people coming the other way filled the next lock, as a result of which they wasted water and we ended up having to wait for them. One group of cheerful youngsters did just this and clearly had no idea what they were doing - but they were having fun, which is what really counts! We work on the principle that today's hirers, however incompetent, can be the next generation of boat owners.

M has been looking forward all week to reachig the farm shop at the top of Adderley locks - M says they make the very best pork pies in the entire Universe, made by the farmer's wife. M has been waiting six years impatiently to buy another pork pie (or two - or ten).

Catastrophe! The farm shop is closed! When we passed this way in 2016 the farm shop was flourishing, selling not only pork pies but also the farm's own butter, cheese, bacon and other meats. They even had a stall next to the lock. All gone. On the notice outside the farm the word "shop" has been taped over. So sad! Disconsolately, M trudged back to MM.

The overgrown towpath here is typical of the "Shroppie". We quite like it this way, it is very natural and there are no speeding cyclists.

We soon approached the outskirts of Market Drayton, an historic market town, and moored up next to the footpath which leads into town.

As we entered Market Drayton, we passed nb "Shopshire Lass" on the private moorings. She belongs to Terry Robertson who, in October 2009, was our instructor on our three day Helmsman's Course. For us it was a baptism of fire (or actually of ice) as it didn't go over freezing for the three days we spent on the Shropshire Lass. Terry was a brilliant teacher and we've never forgotten the comprehensive and very practical training he gave us. It is a couple of  years since we have heard from him, so we hope he is well.

To try to compensate for the disappointment over the pork pies, R treated M to a proper breakfast in the "Buttercross" restaurant. It has changed hands since we were here in 2016 but has mantained its standards and the friendliness of its staff. Excellent food and great coffee!

The restaurant is opposite the "Buttercross" after which it is named. There has been a "Market House" here since the 1750s. This one was constructed in 1824 to "shelter farmers' wives as they sold their produce". The bell on top was used to signal that trading might begin.

In 2016, we seriously looked at the possibility of buying one of the three storey town houses in the middle of this row beside the canal. If it hadn't been for the incompetence of the local estate agent, who failed to tell us that she had been unable to arrange a viewing until after we arrived having driven four hours to get here, who knows what might have happened... We could have been living here with MM moored on the pontoon right under our window.

Nonetheless, we had a lovely mooring on the opposite bank and spent a quiet afternoon and evening.

Today: 4 miles, 5 locks and 2.0 hours.

Trip: 335 miles,217 locks and 182.8 hours.