Pull the bloody rope in Lisa

An early start this morning, 7am.  We crept out as near to silently as we could.  David had moved the car forward this am already.  We had an outing on the cards.

I made a mental note that at Grindley not to moor at the top if you can help it.  We like many other Boaters get to the top of the locks, think phew lets just get moored up then.  But its mostly under trees.  The setting reminds me of the moorings at Gailey, we always keep going there and get out into the open a mile or two beyond.

Another bunch of lift bridges to do today.  The first was a freebie in that a lady had raised it already and somehow we were in front of her boat, not sure how that happened but I said I'll do the next one for her but they were just about to put their hire boat back into Whitchurch.

I did the next one which had awkwardly high turning mechanism at almost my shoulder height.  A dog walker who waited for me to lower the bridge but whom lived on a boat there said no more lift bridges for 45 mins.  So time for a coffee beforehand.

The wind was constantly building up as we jollied along, at the last bridge to be done it had taken a boat across the canal right at the bridge, so there was some faffing about till he had unblocked the bridge, giving David and myself time to "Arrive" at the bridge and kindly they let us through second.  Two boats were now waiting to come through from the other side and the nice Dutch lady allowed all to pass. 

This was the second bridge of the day, god the gunwales need painting.

The scenery is very attractive all along the way.  My only complaint is the weak and complete lack of 4G.  I remember last year doing locks above Audlem and meeting two lady dog walkers.  One was a nurse making house calls and all their notes are written up on iPads that often don't have signal, she said its diabolical in Shropshire.  When you live in the south and hear tales of internet blackspots you don't really understand what others have to cope with.

My daughter Verity now living in NZ has said for years that you get 4G everywhere including 3 miles off shore in her brother-in-laws boat.  We have a way to go.

See how high I was to get this shot for you Reader? 

Really gorgeous blues and whites, but I am concerned by the damage this tree/shrub is doing to the armco as it grows unchecked all along the canal.

Well the wind continued to pick up and when we got to Bettisford to moor up, the wind didn't help at all, I could barely pull WaL in, then we realised we had gone aground , moved forward, wind HOWLING, went aground and finally we got in but not before David had had a complete sense of humour failure, it was very funny.

He went for a nap.  Then late afternoon we got into the car to drive to his sister Sally's.

They live in a place I can't spell nor pronounce, its all in Welsh but they do live in Shropshire, just.

Over the centuries, the Welsh border has gone back and forward a few times.

I put the address into Googlemaps ..... "Cannot find a way there" said Google.  That is usually what they say about war zones or going overseas.

I tried again with the nearby village (Hamlet) and farm name, no joy so finally did the village and postcode.

Bingo, well it go us to the village, then we had to call for directions, but Sally didn't hear the mobile.

We eventually found it.  A lovely evening was had by all and our niece was there too for afternoon tea in the garden of their centuries old stone house.  We had supper in the pub on the banks of the Montgomery Canal which is ten mins from them. 

I have no idea where we were when I took this out of the car window, but I reckon its even older than Sally's house.  Slight lack of investment maybe, what a tragedy if it falls down. 

 Supper was beef brisket in red wine with mash