Whitchurch

Tuesday:  Set off at 7:15.  The weather: Thin overcast with odd blue patches, but a chilly wind getting up. We made very good passage today - destination Whitchurch for a shopping bonanza.  The few opposite direction boats we passed meant that most locks were in our favour, especially after we passed an Avechurch hire boat which had stopped to open the electric lift bridge at Wenbury letting us through first.  By the time we had got to the top of the Grindley Brook three locks and staircase we were about 1/2 hour ahead of them.  Took the waters there and visited the canalside general store for a bit of local produce, newspaper and postcards.  Proceeding on we found a manual hydraulic lift bridge just before the Whitchurch Arm and a very tight turn into the arm.  We got ourselves jammed across the cut attempting it, so had to backtrack and reverse up the arm.  Had , of course, we had read the sign we would have known that the idea is to use the winding hole 100 yards further up the canal. The arm is the first part of a restoration project and is very clean and tidy with excellent moorings.  Plans are in existence apparently to take it further into town and the road bridges are already evident.  According to the visitor information board these plans include an inclined plane.   Sounds a bit odd, but water conservation might be the reason, and it would certainly be an attraction to bring boats in.   It is a long walk into town at present, even longer with heavy shopping.  We chickened out and took a taxi.