We start with a photo from yesterday evening and a lovey sunset. It was early to bed as we had a heavy locking day ahead of us. Toby woke in the night to a migraine, so we agreed it’s best if we stay put for the day so Toby can recover, and not be in full sun all day.

A walk into Bilbrook to buy a paper, and a Costa fluffy coffee for Toby (all part of the recovery plan!). Toby decided to build up the filler, so once it’s painted, the whole surface will be smooth. It’s surprisingly malleable but soon goes off and hardens.

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We’re both guilty of getting the munchies when we stay put for the day. You can’t eat anything in secret with Eira being around! She’s partial to a cheese straw and licking the yoghurt pot clean, although her tongue isn’t long enough to clean her face, and required a bit of human assistance.

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The rest of the day was sat out in the shade reading the paper.

Toby started another sourdough loaf – I’ll let him explain it all… we know one or two of our readers are interested in making their own, so hope it might prove informative.

Toby here… so… there are a million different ways to make sourdough and everyone has their own take on it. This is just mine and what works for me. Being on the boat things have to be a bit flexible with time and temperature. It’s very warm at the moment, ideal temperatures for the yeast which is great. Key – T=Time from starting.

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The starter mix is 40g white bread flour, 40g warm water, and 20g of the mother (which is the same 50-50 ratio of flour and water). This is just left in a pot with a loose lid on, until it’s at least doubled in height in the pot and has lots of air bubbles in it. It should float if you put a blob of it in water. Today I left it for 6 hours before making the main dough mix.

The dough is made with the starter above, 300g bread flour (I’m using a malted mix from Shipton Mill) and 200g of warm water. Technically you want the final mix at 28C, for which you can use the formula: (Final dough temp x 2) - flour temp = water temp or you just say hand warm and approximate it.

Thoroughly mix everything together, and then leave for 20-30 minutes in a covered bowl. This lets the flour absorb some water before you start trying to work it. Then add 7g salt, with a splash of water and work it in so it’s well mixed. Shape the dough into a boule (google it!) – the aim here is to stretch and add tension to the dough.

Leave to prove in a warm environment (we use an airing cupboard at home). After 45 minutes, reshape it into a tighter boule as it will have spread out and flattened. Repeat twice more after 45 minutes each time, and then leave for a final hour. Each time the dough should be looking smoother, and holding it’s shape a bit better.

After that, the dough then goes into a banneton, covered up and put in the fridge overnight. Alternatively leave it in a warm place for about 2 hours. We’ll show this and the following stages tomorrow.

I spent the morning repairing the end of the guttering at the stern of the boat, which captures all the rain and sends it down a run-off to the side. The port side never really drains though as the boat has a slight lean to the right – almost all the heavy stuff is on the right, and there’s not enough ballast to compensate it.

The net result is a very rusty and corroded end to the guttering, to the point now that water overflows into the engine bay. You can see the port side on the left (after removing the flaking rusty bits), compared to the starboard side on the right.

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I used a dremel with a wire wool brush to remove most of the surface rust, and then cleaned it up and painted over with some vactan to help neutralize and seal any remaining patches of rust. I then built the end back up using some epoxy putty. It’s not something I’ve used before, but looks promising so far.

A bit of filing down the rough edges and a few licks of paint and hopefully it’ll soon look like new again, assuming the putty holds strong.

Jobs done for now, I was closely watching Sarah’s progress on the train back, and exchanging messages on WhatsApp. The 12 minutes to make the change at Birmingham New Street slowly decreased down to 5 minutes as the train was delayed. Luckily she made it in time – good job too as the next train to Bilbrook after that was 2 hours later due to a cancellation.

That’s the end of train journeys home for this trip, hooray! Happily reunited on Oliver we caught up with each other’s news.

Sarah’s lost 1st 4lb since the start of the holiday, and now weighs less than I do – the only downside is her trousers are a bit loose around the waist now and require a safety pin to hold them up!

Tomorrow we tackle the Wolverhampton 21 flight of locks – looks like it’s going to be a scorcher of a day. Hopefully it won’t be as much of a melter as Hatton was in 2015.

Today was Sarah’s last trip back to hospital before we return home. For once the trains ran on time, and it was a smooth journey – only one change, at Wolverhampton once more, and the train to Oxford leaves from the same platform as the Bilbrook train arrives on, so that’s handy!

Bilbrook’s a nice little place, lots of handy shops, and some lovely signs. Eira had a good run around the park on the way back from the train station.

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I went foraging for blackberries with Eira in the afternoon. She seems to quite like them too, but is happy to let me do the picking.

There was an apple tree too, but the apples were well out of reach – so I got some down with the boat hook! Sadly they were more suitable for cider than anything else, but we had a couple of apples from Donald and Beth, so I used those with the blackberries:

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Ok I confess it was shop-bought pastry, but very yummy all the same, it went down great with some custard. If anyone’s in the area I’ve got some left over!

We’ve made it to moorings just outside Bilbrook, where Sarah will be catching her train tomorrow. We’ve had lovely weather today, the Shroppie cuttings looking rather gloomy when the sun is in, but glorious when it’s shining bright.

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Sarah gave Eira a walk along the towpath whilst I pootled along behind, all the way up to the water point where we topped up the tank.

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Our first and only lock of the day was at Wheaton Aston. This was scheduled to be closed for the CRT to make repairs, but the outcry was such that they changed their minds, and will do the repairs in the winter when things are quieter. In the meantime, the bottom gates are incredibly leaky, as you can see from the piccie below.

Some boaters like to grow lots of plant life on their roof. I don’t know how the first one sees where they are going, but it did look nice. As for the second, well it clearly doesn’t go anywhere anyway!

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We stopped off at Countrywide Cruisers for a pumpout, as they are alongside and on the right side for our pump out. We were impressed to learn that they’ve been going for 49 years, and the man doing the pumpout for 30. Not bad going!

After that, it was plain sailing up to our mooring point. The moorings here are blighted by the typical ‘Shropppie shelf’, which lurks a foot or so underwater at the edge. As a result we couldn’t get Oliver close in; Eira was going to have to walk the plank.

Despite coercion with cheese and treats, she refused to get on and I ended up carrying her back aboard. Later she did pluck up the courage to get off the boat – the promise of walkies overruling her fears!

Luckily when we got back from a trip to the shops the boat behind us had left, so we moved back to where the shelf is much smaller and we can get the bow in close enough to just step off rather than needing to leap for shore.

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The weather is holding, and we’re enjoying the warmth on our backs and somewhat short lazy days cruising. We cast off, with Toby steering while I walked ahead with Eira. We went past the old Cadbury’s wharf which opened in 1911. In it’s hey day, milk, cocoa and sugar crumb were all delivered here by narrowboat – just imagine the whiff in the air!

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It doesn’t look like this stop gate has been used in a while.

We stopped at Norbury Wharf and topped up the tank to the brim with fuel (76p a litre), we then shimmied over to the other side and filled the water tank up – I wonder how much extra weight we added in that time?!

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I’d forgotten about Cowley Tunnel and how impressive it looks, cut from the rock. I’m glad we were aboard, as the towpath was a wet muddy mess. We saw a lady walking along it in flip flops!

We moored up in the middle of nowhere, we were surprised as usually at least one boat moors up – so far so good!

I did some cooking, and Toby took Eira for a walk. She really enjoyed running through the maize fields and was quite hard to spot, apart from the shaking of the leaves. She’s true to the saying of dog-tired and has been asleep since.

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Wow, 100 consecutive days aboard Oliver, that’s a first (but will it be the last?!) Just a short hop for us today, so after letting Eira out for a morning wee we got back in bed for our tea and coffee. I took Eira for a walk and Sarah topped up food supplies at Morrisons, we eventually cast off at 10am.

Just the 5 locks at Tyrley to tackle today. We were really lucky – with a steady stream of boats coming the other way, Sarah didn’t have to open a single entry gate, nor close an exit one, making the locks a breeze.

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Eira seems to really like the locks and was quite fascinated by them, following Sarah as she opened paddles, then running back to check that I was ok, back and forth she went!

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Cadbury’s used to collect milk from the wharf at the top of the flight and take it to their factory at Knighton, near to we’re now moored for the night.

This must be smallest, narrowest narrowboat we’ve ever seen on the canal!

Whenever I think of the Shroppie, it’s the deep verdant cuttings that always come to mind. Woodseaves Cutting is over 100 feet deep in places, and it all felt rather other-worldly as we passed through, seemingly cut off from the rest of the world. We kept our fingers crossed that no trees would fall down!

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We moored shortly before Knighton, deep in the countryside; perfect for an afternoon walk with Eira.

Today we were due to meet up with Sarah’s boss (and good friend) Donald, his wife Beth, and their dog Eira, who we’ll be dog-sitting for over the next two weeks. We set off from the top of the Audlem flight with plenty of time to go through the 5 locks at Adderley and on into Market Drayton for 12pm to meet up with them.

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The sun was shining, and the Shroppie was full of lovely produce, from nature’s finest crab apples, to local stalls with lots of goodies to choose from.

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All that greenery comes at a price though – a fallen tree was across the canal, barring all progress. Another boat had come across it earlier at about 9am, and then reversed all the way back to the nearest accessible bridge so the CRT guys could catch a lift with all their kit once they arrived, so we waited back with them in case they needed more cargo space.

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The cavalry arrived with their chainsaws a couple of hours later and we followed after them into battle against the tree.

Luckily there were lots of boaters to lend a hand. After a couple of hours all the branches were cleared away, but the main trunk was too deep underwater to reach all the way with the chainsaw. It was most of the way through though, and after a couple of attempts ramming the lead boat onto it, and a bit more pulling all together on a rope, it finally parted in two and we could pull it out and chop it up bit by bit.

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Needless to say, by this time we were well past 12pm time to meet up in Market Drayton with Donald and Beth, so instead they walked up the canal with Eira to meet us for a late lunch on board. Sarah then walked back with them to the car whilst I stayed to help clear the tree.

By about 3pm there was enough space for boats to safely pass; the sunken part was marked with a rope and some bags and left for tomorrow when they can bring a workboat up to lift it out fully. I then cast off to get to Market Drayton and meet up with Sarah again.

Soon after passing the tree, I passed the boat ‘Dogtannian’. Sarah and I both loved the cartoon series as kids, and their motto of “All for one and one for all” seemed particularly fitting for today’s joint effort clearing the tree.

Someone said we needed to do more music/video embeds, so for anyone left in the dark about Dogtanian, perhaps the below will enlighten you a little!

Speaking of dogs, Eira is settling in nicely, though still seems a bit unsure of what’s going on!

I took Eira out for a walk this evening, and was delighted to find Fred and Lisa on nb Chyandour (who we’d met at Liverpool), moored up just a little further up the cut from us. We had a lovely chat and caught up on news, and when I got back to the boat and told Sarah, she went walked down to say hello to them too. The narrowboating community really is fantastic.

The heavy rain had passed by morning, and with sunshine on our backs we cast off, the clouds were quite impressive.

We were lucky enough with more Kingfisher sightings today. I always seem to be steering and Toby always seems to be on the loo, so quick reverse and shout down to Toby, he comes running up, worrying that something’s wrong – no no, can you just try and get a good photo please!

Two locks under our belt and we moored up and visited Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker. It was rebuilt in the 1980’s at a cost of £32m, and would have been a centre for Regional Government had nuclear war broken out. It was declassified in 1993, and includes a BBC and BT (or British Telecommunications back then) emergency transmission room.

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We were soon back on our way and forgot that it was Saturday until we saw the fishermen. A big smile and a thank you from us, and surprisingly they all gave a cheerful response – miracles do happen!

We then reached the Audlem flight of 15 locks- we could have done with mum being on board! The heavy rain created some strong overflows at the bottom of each lock, Toby did a great job steering in the locks, although at times he looked like he was heading for the bank, such was the force and the steering angle required. I don’t jump the gates anymore, so Toby climbs on the roof and up the ladder to close the offside gate.

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Our reward for reaching the top of the flight was this delightful little cubbyhole in someone’s garden. Goodies ranging from cream teas, shortbread, lemon drizzle cake and Toby’s choice – Cherry Bakewell.

Toby does like a G&T, but is suffering these last six weeks or so with a bout of migraines. We did a blind taste test with one real G&T and a Seedlip non-alchoholic variety. There’s nothing wrong with Toby’s tastebuds, he knew which was the real thing, but would consider trying the other varieties.

Rosemary travelled home back to Barry in Oxford today; we had time for one last group selfie first. It looks a bit like I have a freakishly long arm giving everyone a hug!

Sarah and I caught the bus with Rosemary to Crewe, and then waved her off on the train before catching our own train back to Nantwich. Rosemary’s intended train was running 36 minutes late, but luckily she was just able to make the train before it, so didn’t miss her connection at Wolverhampton.

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Back in Nantwich we did some food shopping in Marks and Spencers, and admired some of the town’s lovely flower displays.

The weather is rather wet today so we decided to stay put on the boat and do a few jobs; Sarah did the washing and I put the speaker back in the newly repaired box.

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Rosemary messaged to say she got home safely and without any hiccups. We imagine Barry welcomed her home with a song:

The lady dancing in the video is now 69 years old – only a couple of years older than Rosemary!