Knighton

 Lucky me, only 5 locks today. 

Before we set off we walked into Market Drayton for a bit of shopping. After that we emptied the loo and admired one of the trad boats heading down to Audlem.

Within a mile of setting off, the first of the Tyrley Locks. 

A lovely set of locks surrounded by trees. 

But have a look at the rock that the navvies had to get through. No JCBs, no diggers, just pick axes and dynamite. 

We made it to the top lock in just under an hour. Pretty good going for us since one of the gates refused to open until I stopped trying to force it and gently pulled the gate with one hand. 

We're now entering Woodseves Cutting. A very narrow cutting where we were advised to travel at 2mph only. 

This landslide shows you why we need to keep our speed down and not create a wake. 

Because of the depth of the cutting the bridges are spectacularly tall. 

In many places the towpath was running with water. Luckily this stretch was all stone but there was plenty of evidence of landslips where water was seeping through the soil. 

Once we got out of the cutting we could see in the distance The Wrekin - a grey hump in the middle of the picture. 

We found some mooring rings before Knighton in what we thought was a nice quiet place. Surprise, surprise, the local farmer had other ideas and was combining the field right next to us until late in the evening. There he is going over the bridge. 

Actually it didn't disturb us at all and we are glad that there are people like him keeping the country fed.