Market Day in Market Drayton.

Wednesday 24th June, 2015 at Adderley.
Last night, we were so ahead of ourselves that we caught up our diary right up to date - but later, M took this photo of the still evening on the water - and we had to include it. Beautiful!

Awoke to a beautiful sunny morning. We had no milk, no fruit juice, in fact, not much of anything! So a shopping trip was in order! We walked into Market Drayton and had an excellent breakfast in the Buttercross Tea Room.

Wednesday is market day in Market Drayton so the town was busy. The market extended for the length of the pedestrian area in the middle of the town and, as with any good market, you could buy almost anything. R bought some fishing line (to hang a crystal in MM's window) and M bought some sewing cotton.

Then we braved Morrisons, not this time for a "few bits" but "rather a lot of bits!"
As we walked back along the towpath, we were delighted to see nb "Wanderin' Bark" and the "Jam Butty" belonging to Helen and Andy, who sell their wonderful jams, marmalades and cordials from the two narrowboats. We naturally assumed that they were there for the "Floating Market" in Market Drayton this weekend; however, there appeated to be no one aboard.

Soon after, R, while on his way to the rubbish bins, was horrified to see that "Wandering' Bark" was preparing to leave. It transpired that Helen and Andy were not aboard but that two gentlemen were taking the boats back to their permanent moorings for them. R enquired if there was any chance of buying some marmalade and, although the two chaps were very helpful, they couldn't find any - so R left very disappointed.
M was inconsolable - but insisted that R went to take a photo of "Wanderin Bark" for the blog, which he did, rather reluctantly.
What a good thing that he did!  The gentlemen had found some marmalade and we were able to acquire six jars of their "Sloe Whisky Seville Marmalade".  Paddington would have been delighted and Guy was pretty pleased too (as were we!).

Our mooring was reserved for the "Floating Market" from today, so we set off north after lunch. The sky had clouded over a bit but it was lovely cruising through rural countryside.
At the top of the Adderley flight of five locks, there was an excellent stall selling a huge variety of home produced goods including cakes, tarts, eggs, meat, bread and even home made butter and cheese (which you don't see often). As with most of these stalls, there is an "honesty box" - M bought home-made scones, a rhubarb tart and a pork pie.

The flight of locks is an attractive one and not difficult, so we were soon down the five and moored up for the day at the bottom in a pretty spot opposite a large field with calves and their mothers. It was lovely to see the young calves playing together and bounding about in much the same way as young lambs do.
This area is famed for its dairy herds and milk production, hence the large number of butter references such as Market Drayton's "Buttercross" and Nantwich's "Buttermarket".

It was touching to see the cows grooming and being so affectionate with the little calves.

As we were moored a few hundred yards below the bottom lock, we noticed that after a boat had gone up through the lock (leaving it full), the gates leaked so badly that the lock emptied in about 45 minutes! So much for C&RT's guideline for boaters to save water!
Once again, we were treated to a wonderful sunset. It is a real treat to be able to see to the horizon.

Today: 3 miles, 5 locks and 4.5 hours.
Trip: 59 miles, 27 locks and 32.5 hours.