Our Path Ahead Blocked Yet Again!

 Sunday 23rd June 2024 at Norbury Junction.

The journey back to MM was basically the same as our journey home on Thursday but in reverse, i.e. we drove the car back up to Aston Marina and then took a taxi from Aston to Norbury.

In the three days that we've been away, our long overdue summer has arrived - at last! Hooray!! The wharf café was predictably busy on a sunny Sunday afternoon. It's such a pretty spot and draws visitors from miles away.

But where was MM? There was no sign of her! Norbury was once a real junction between the Shropshire Union Canal and the Newport Branch that went down to Shrewsbury. Sadly only the first 100 yards of the Newport Branch survives and MM was moored in that short bit of the branch. R went off to retrieve her and, after considerable manoeuvering to get past other boats moored in the arm, cruised through the wharf to a mooring just north of the wharf as we have decided to stay here tonight.

As a reward, we went back to the café for a Magnum each.

It was at this point that we discovered that one of the locks at Hack Green is being closed tomorrow at 9:00am for 10 days. It was scheduled for repair next winter but its condition has deteriorated so much that the C&RT is going to have to fix it now, right in the middle of the season. 

This is the third time this year that our progress has been curtailed by emergency repairs to broken locks. C&RT funding restrictions are causing clear problems.

This has really upset our plans as we had booked MM into Anderton Marina from 10th July for two weeks to go home and then on to Yorkshire and the Lakes, coming back on 24th July in plenty of time to reach Liverpool by August 10th. Hack Green Locks are before Nantwich and so we will have to find an alternative mooring for MM and work out how to get to Liverpool on time.

We discussed a few options and finally decided to sleep on it and deal with it in the morning.

M is delighted as it warm enough for salads at last!