Shropshire 11 - Grindley Brook Staircase Lock / belly pork, soup and a roll in the Horse and Jockey / the house hunting continues

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When we got up in the morning we had not much of a plan for the day . Another trip over to North Wales hunting . We were determined to find something and though that we had hit the right one with the one we were viewing this morning . The drive over was uneventful . We try to find a different way to get there . Breaking the monotony by trying Buxton, Macclesfield , Knutsford and Chester . Down to Derby and Uttoxeter . Over Ashbourne way . Across the new road around Manchester Airport . We are running out of options . But we did set off with some optomism . It was Day 161 of our new Covid life .

The sun shone on us as we felt reasonable happy that this would be our house . However we have said that many times before and our house never quite lives up to expectations . This time though it would be different . Of course it would. Nothing like a positive thought to set you off in the right direction at the start of another day.

Lao Tzu reported this morning that "Life is series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them " "Let reality be reality" he said . "Let things flow naturally forward whatever way they like " Nice sentiments . We have always had to change in the world of motorhoming . A campsite that promised much never delivered . An aire that on the face of it was poor turned out wonderfully. A meal anticipated has been a meal of disappointment and sometimes when we expect little and have to change tack quickly we do it with good grace . If the weather is poor we accept it and move on. If it becomes too bad we come home . We plan a holiday . We change a holiday . We don't mind change but all this mess that we find ourselves in with Covid is beginning to wear thin .

We have a meal booked at the Horse and Jockey at Grindley Brook today. We have been before . We won't be surprised with the food . It will be good . And then after the meal we can perhaps celebrate buying our house with a glass of wine and a walk along the towpath of the canal . The Shropshire Union Canal - a canal I have walked many times . But never this far . Never as far as the staircase locks of Grindley Brook.

We arrive at our house . It is cute if you can call a house cute . Brick and a buttercream coloured render . A corner plot with fairly small garden . And then there is the road . A cul de sac with a few houses on it . How easy would it be to move Gabby in and out? A long drive - long enough for Gabby . It had been built for a caravan so that ticked one box. Back garden fairly small . How big do you need a back garden ? A path behind the house leading to a park . Nice for walking I thought in my new Covid way of thinking exercise . The neighbour came out . She had lived here for 37 years . She loved it . Nice neighbours . Nice road . Nice was the word she used often . Inside it needed a bit of TLC but nothing like ones we had seen recently . We mentally checked out the windows and doors . Replacements needed . A brick fireplace which looked slightly 70's . A small kitchen and dining room . Knocking the wall out would give us a big kitchen diner . Bathroom tiny with little scope to improve it . Some positives and a few negatives . We offered on it straightaway . We thought it a nice neighbourhood and we had come through open country to get to it . Head and heart were working together . However , as we left we felt that there was a spontaneous change coming on as we came into houses . Detached ones, semi detached , flats . A veritable rabbit warren. The head took over the heart and when the estate agent rang to say our offer had been accepted we sadly told him we had changed our minds .

All that was left was to come home but first a meal . A lovely pub recently done up. We sat in a corner and felt Covid secure . Glenn ate belly porl with potatoes and vegetables . Verdict very nice . I chose a bowl of proper chips with a spicy parsnip soup and a panini . Nice too. We ate up , paid up and ended up walking the towpath along the pretty canal . The local garage was doing a roaring trade . Car after car came in and filled up with what must be the cheapest petrol in the UK .

If you hire a boat in Llangollen you end up here at Grindley Brook . Lock after lock after lock . The canal gently climbs through several single locks as it passes through the English countryside. At Grindley Brook there's a flight of three single locks followed immediately by a staircase of three locks. Unlike single locks, which work best with boats alternately up and down, the staircase is usually operated with three boats up, then three down. There's a lock keeper on duty at busy times and plenty of signs to follow at other times. We saw the two lockkeepers working hard to keep the traffic on the canal moving . A cafe was open and doing a roaring trade . We watched the boat "bendegedig " meaning excellent as it made its way from lock to lock . It is a slow old holiday travelling on a canal boat . But along this stretch there is much to see . Bridges to go under . Locks to negotiate and Dutch style bridges . And the odd pub or two - the Jockey and the Willey moor Lock . All offering refreshments to the slow meandering traveller .

Sadly our walk came to an end and we headed home . Another one of those days of change . We set out planning to buy a house and came back with none .

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