Delayed update due to being out of communication. The weather has been really warm and the May has been overtaken by Elderflower and wild roses, summer really is moving on. The ducklings, goslings and cygnets are growing up, although there are still some really cute ones around. If anyone would like to join us let us know when you would like to come and we will let you know as soon as we can where we will be.

Day 43, our last lazy day for a while. We moved from Anderton moorings to Middlewich with a stop on the way for some wood treatment as we discovered some wood worm in the new wood used to make our bed extender in the forward saloon; not what you want on a boat with loads of nice wood! Moored on a much quieter mooring at Middlewich and spent an entertaining hour watching CRT staff pull junk out of the cut, from an approx. 70ft space they pulled out a Workmate, a bicycle, a couple of kids bikes, a bedframe, a large pole, miscellaneous metalwork and a few bricks. Later we walked up to see the site of the breach which has curtailed our northern trip as we decided we only had time to get through the grotty bits of the northern canals so have turned back.

 

Day 44 made up for our lazy days with 10 miles and 22 locks. At Kings lock the sunken boat was still there but at least it is now well marked. At one lock J made friends with a bold duckling who came over to see her on land; really rare they are bold on the water but not on land.

Had to evict a hire boat from the water point at Wheelock, they seemed to think they could moor there for the day. Good run up to Rode Heath and we ended up on the same mooring as we had on the way down.

Day 45 and we completed the locks of heartbreak hill having been woken by a passing boat at 0615. We caught up the boat later in the day; a single hander who was really helpful – opening paddles / gates before we got to the lock whilst he worked his boat through the other of the pair. We got ahead of him part way up so J went back to help him with the gates on the last lock before where we had moored. Just below this we had some rather enthusiastic paddle opening from the crew of another boat and J only just avoided ramming the top gate, revenge in the form of hitting their boat (with lots of shiny paint) which was moored too close to the lock as we exited. Met another couple from Dorset (West Bay) on our way to the shops. After lunch moved up onto the Macclesfield canal. Moored as close as we could get to Little Moreton Hall and visited during the late afternoon.

This is a Tudor moated house which is surprisingly original, the long gallery was so warped it made us feel seasick; a very interesting place.  Loads of martins flying around the court yard and some goldfinches hanging on the walls.

Warm day ended with a lovely sunset, the mooring had a great view to the west over the Cheshire plains.

Day 46 and more locks, after a three hour cruise we hit the Bosley locks (a flight of 12). There was some confusion at the first one which meant we ended up with too many boats in the pound really, the boat following us did the same thing but recovered less gracefully. Went around trying to get on the lock mooring between locks 2 and 3 and decided from then on to hover in the pound. At least it was possible, last time we went up this flight it was so windy we struggled to get out of some of the locks because the boat was wedged across as we soon as we came out of the lock. Very sunny so really hot and tired when we reached the top of the flight for a late lunch. Moved on and were close to our expected overnight mooring when we were flagged down by the boat we had followed up the flight; the swing bridge we were just coming up to was broken because a car had hit the stop barrier so the safety interlocks were now stopping the bridge from opening. We were the third boat in the queue going north and we flagged down the following boat so that made four. The CRT already had someone there and they were waiting for a part. They said it might be later tomorrow before it was fixed, later we were told by someone from one of the other boats that CRT were working on it and hoped to finish soon and that they were going to move on, in fact it wasn’t fixed until it was beginning to get dark so we all stayed put; not the best mooring, next to the Leek to Macclesfield road so a bit noisy and the pub had closed. No tv or internet connection either.