We’ve now well and truly left our lockdown location behind, having previously made tentative plans with our three-month-bubble-buddies to return for a reunion in 2021. It’ll be interesting to see if this eventuates, and who comes to reminisce …
A Rather Different Nantwich
From Henhull Bridge we cruised for the final time to the medieval town of Nantwich, primarily to fill up with water, get a pump-out, and do some grocery shopping. I was overjoyed to see an abundance of blooms in the town again.
What I wasn’t so keen on was the sheer volume of PEOPLE! Oh my goodness. We’ve not mixed with so many strangers since mid-March. It was freakily frightening in a way I wouldn’t have believed possible just four short months ago.
Of course, there are many shops now open, travel agents too, and half a dozen hairdressers. The hairdressers I walked past all had face visors on, with one clearly displaying their hygiene precautions outside. The pavements even had 2m signs on. Awesome. They’re remaining certainly mindful and ‘alert’ here.
On a controversial note, however, I was frankly appalled though to look inside a Barbershop and see all the male barbers had only face masks on, which were pulled down from their noses to only cover their mouths. What a flipping waste of time! No point bothering if you’re not covering both.
Once we’d shopped, it took us a couple of hours to finally leave Nantwich as we kept bumping into people we know! John and Militza from ‘Stitch Militz’, Toastie from ‘Coffees and Toasties’, then our friend Adrian as he walked past.
Moving out of Nantwich we passed Bob and Sandra again, nestled next to Ruth. They’d been selling a few ice creams, while Ruth was busy with her extraordinary canal art.
An Evening Out
Not out out! Just out. Next to the boat. With more friends! We hadn’t got far from Nantwich when we spotted Nev, who we hadn’t seen for a year or more. By this time we were almost at Hack Green locks so decided to stay and socialise. Kim was keen to get on her newly bought stand up paddle board.
Audlem Locks and a REAL Evening out
Friday began late for us after Thursday evenings fun and games. I had a call and some other work to complete, but early afternoon we set off up Hack Green and onwards to Audlem Locks. The latter are one of my favorite flights on the system, with a penultimate treat at the summit.
Inspired by the Namaste boat (peace be with you), we took a mini-break at the village, where Kim and Barry went for a wander while I did a bit more work! On the way back Kim investigated the famous Shroppie Fly and suggested we have an early evening beverage. At the bar she spotted a paper menu and became enticed by the delights on offer. It did t take too much to persuade me to eat there, they started taking orders at 5pm. I knew we had many more locks to ascend before the day was done. Do we blew caution to the wind (because this place felt so well managed), and relished our first meal out for over five months.
By the end of the day I’d walked almost 11,000 steps – unusually in sublime sunshine we’ve had so much rain recently!
It’s always a welcome relief to find Cheshire Farm Ice Cream and home made slices at the top lock.
We stopped before Adderly Locks, and Kim enjoyed a long stand up paddle board.
More Family Fun
Yesterday Lisa collected Barry and me, giving Kim some peace and quiet to continue writing her Masters Thesis. We stayed overnight even, for the first time since February, which was gorgeous but knackering. It was rather an early start this morning!
Another Evening Cruise
It’s been a gloriously hot and sunny day today. We drove back to Areandare late afternoon in Rob’s car (I’m insured on it now), and went up the Adderly Locks. Once up, I walked back to the car and drove to Market Drayton where I met Kim and Barry for tea.
I’ve got a full work day tomorrow, so we required a better internet signal.
What a wonderful update! 😀 … do you know the video of Kim is stuck on ‘very-fast-forward? I couldn’t adjust the speed from here, and I wondered if you’d done that deliberately, or the glitch-grinch had struck. 🙂
Lol! It’s meant to be on very fast forward – it’s on the ‘time-lapse’ setting which is as she wanted it 😉
OK 🙂
I think we arrived just before you left (Adderley locks) we were hailed by Kim on her paddle board and relaxing music who gave us good advice on moorings while we were trying to get in with wheels for a remote ‘ cat friendly’ mooring and did not realise it was Kim until we moored up and noted your flags) we may well pass tomorrow as we return to our home mooring at Shebdon.
Hi Nev. Well fancy that! She had a fantastic time paddle boarding today. She’s just told me the tale of bumping into you (not literally thankfully!) and giving you suggestions. It’s a rather pleasant spot there.
We’ll be in Market Drayton for a couple of days so do peep as you pass. I may not be able to wave as I’ve got a few calls tomorrow but Barry will be around. 😉
Glad to see the little hut stocked up again with goodies. We’ve not come across anywhere yet that we’d eat at, mostly because we’ve not passed to many places, but we’ll see when we get up onto the L&L properly.
Pip
I was rather surprised to be honest. Especially so late in the day. They’d had free milk to give away during lockdown as the cows obviously continued producing. It’s such a delightful property and always slices of deliciousness on offer. Kim bought herself a cream tea as a weekend treat.
I wasn’t keen on frequenting any pubs/eateries but this one was so well and safely managed we couldn’t resist 😉