Double 0 Life

 Having decided against embarking on the LLangollen, we have a new plan.... the Four counties Ring.  This will take us into unseen (for us) territory and, as the Rivers are too fast to go back down the Severn to Worcester, we will take a route through Birmingham, and back down Tardebigge, which doesn't seem quite so daunting now we are so much more experienced.  We took the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union canal towards the Trent and Mersey.  This was uneventful and very pretty.  The Trent and Mersey seemed much busier and had a completely different feel, particularly as much of it followed a busy road and the noise was deafening.  Pretty ugly surroundings remnant of salt making works centuries ago.  We battled on to get away from the noise. It got prettier at last, and we experienced our first double locks, which are no big deal really.  It just means that when you head for one, it's probably out of action and you should have headed for ...

 We had another problem with our dearly beloved boat. Travelling again along the Shropshire Union canal, the pretty bridges didn’t make up for the inclement weather. Wind, rain and 8 degrees!.  We thought we were doing fine, confidence restored, when we realised that despite our careful skill our batteries were still not getting charged by the engine. So the wonderful blokes at Norbury weren’t so clever, and we still can’t rely on our electrics.!!  We got to Market Drayton after about 5 days of trying to get there, as it has an Aldi and a Sainsburys. We were desperate to find some warm clothes, but these little towns don’t have the major clothing retailers as ereyone orders everything online. There’s nothing in town centres these days except for hairdressers, barbers shops, predominately Turkish, Vapes outlets and Tattoo artists. I’m afraid this is true.  We were both so cold and fed up we nearly started to lose it! For the first time, we actually felt like giving up...