We left at 10:42am, and had a good run to the first lock, where we waited 20 minutes to get through the lock. The queues were a little less at the bottom of Audlem, but it was still slow going, and it didn't help that the lady in two boats ahead had broken her arm recently, and it was still healing.
At the pub the rain got a little to heavy,so rather than go slowly in the rain we pulled in at the water point and started to fill up. The rain eased, and so we set off again and soon caught up to the other boat again, thankfully though they were getting a good run, and so didn't hold us up to much. We didn't have to many delays for the rest of the day, and we got to the top of Tirley without any boats moving until we reached the top lock were another boat was coming down. When we reached Goldstone Common we were going to stop, but only once we'd passed the only place to moor, anywhere else was to shallow thanks to the unique way this canal was dug - it does mean though that you get few bridge hoppers! We finally found a little bit of modern piling near Park Heath (just before Knighton). Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/
