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In market Drayton, Dawn is having a pump out in the back ground.

Norbury Junction to Market Drayton.

Breakfast - cereal etc. Check engine with extra care today, especialy the water. Start engine, let it warm up. Now to put the hob on for coffee etc. Henry had persuaded me to put some realy nice instant coffee on board. (If you didn't know, during the summer we only use an electric hob for cooking, in winter we light up a multi-fuel stove.)

So with a large cup of coffee in hand, we set off towards Market Drayton. We hit some of those pictorial landmarks to day, the double bridge with telegraph pole in the middle, Knighton (the Cadbury place etc.) just after 10

Just after mid-day, we had reach Tyrley Wharf, there was not a boat in sight, foolishly, we decided to stop for some lunch. No sooner had we got the kettle on and started putting butter on the bread, boats started appearing from every where. If we had kept going, we could have gone straight down the locks, but now we ended up trying to reverse our boat to try and make room for the queuing boaters.

That bridge - Knighton Wharf - Tyrley Wharf
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Once we had lunched, we joined the queue of boaters, and went down the locks. At this point we noticed, the light for the effluent tank was on indicating that it needed to be emptied.

According to our guide book we needed to go to the boat yard, the far side of Market Drayton, who offered pump-out facilities. On getting to the spot, the boat yard was no longer there, but replaced by some very nice new housing. We moved slowly up the canal and asked a local boater where the nearest pump-out station was, it seemed we had just gone past it, it was now part of the British Waterways facility behind the last bridge. We did a not very nifty turn around and let Richard off to go to the nearby boatyard to by a British Waterways card to operate the machine. Mean while we pulled into the side next to the British Waterways services, and started to get the hose out etc. By this time Richard was back with the card. The pump out went smoothly, and we pulled forward to take this opportunity to take on water, as some else joined us to use the pump-out. We slipped even further down, to more up for the night.

On this section, they have put mooring rings in for boaters, but as this section is also used alot by the local population, they have put solar powered led lights next to the rings, to warn pedestrians of the danger of tripping up. It looks very attractive in the evening.

Sue goes and does some basic shopping at the local supermarket. Then its an evening of eating at home, a quite read etc, drinks and so to bed.

Market Drayton Moorings - The town
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