A long day!

Set off this morning at 6.00 to clear the Audlem flight and still met boats! Some had set off at 5.30am!!! Travelled on looking for a nice quiet country mooring to moor up early - no chance; this is the Shroppie after all. I maintain that this is a most beautiful canal, ruined by 2 things. Firstly: long, long lines of online moored boats including, in one place, an extremely long line alongside a farmer's field where not one boat was displaying a mooring permit - I guessed that they have not notified BW and therefore don't exist.

Secondly: the complete lack of remote country moorings. Moorings are fine if you want to stop outside a pub squeezed in with dozens of other boats but if, like us, you like to get away a bit you are faced with shallow waterand thick mud or concrete walls and sloping slabs!

Due to this, we ended up not mooring until gone 5.00pm having completed 47 lock miles, (22 miles and 25 locks,) in a total of 11 and half hours cruising time!

We did, however, reward ourselves with a full beef roast dinner and freshly made fruit salad and have allowed ourselves the luxury of a lie in and full fried breakfast tomorrow before continuing towards Wolverhampton, Birmingham and home - that should be interesting!

Every trip, I have attempted to photograph a Kingfisher - it is my life ambition. Today I got the closest ever.......

........OK, not quite there yet but I'll keep trying!

My new camera is great but I am finding it hard getting the colours right. Most of my pictures have turned out over exposed and washed out so tomorrow, I'll take the ISO setting off automatic and set it on ISO 200 and see if that helps.

My final picture this evening is one of the characteristicly high Shroppie bridges. I simply love these deep wooded cuttings.