We were all up, showered and breakfasted by about 8:30, so just chugged over to the lift waiting area.

It was a bit later than our allotted time of 9:15 as we entered the lift, but we were up by 10 o’clock.

The new tank gauge showed just over 80% full so we decided to have a pumpout at Anderton marina so that we will have an almost empty tank ready for the next trip.

A plan was to take lunch at Bramble Cuttings, but a quick calulation showed that we wouldn’t be there until nearly two o’clock. So instead we stopped opposite the lovely Whatcroft flash and had lunch there.

On the way into Middlewich we were stuck behind a very slow boat. A stop at the water point to top up the tank should have given them time to get ahead, but we caught up with them again at the second lock. The lock flight was very busy and it took us almost an hour an a half to get up three locks.

A trip to Jacks supermarket (a first for J&M) provided food for a barbecue expertly cooked by Mike.