We set off in time to be at Preston Brook tunnel by nine as northbound boats go on the hour. Then a pleasant cruise along the Bridgewater canal in warm sunshine to reach Lymm by lunchtime. After lunch a stroll around the town to find somewhere for tonight’s meal. We settled on a restaraunt called
To show our guests more of the river Weaver we went upstream to just before Winsford, winded and then headed back to Northwich. Just as we were approaching the floating pontoon mooring by the cinema another boat pulled away leaving just enough space for us. After lunch we took a quick wander round the shops
With friends Sue and Tom we left home at 6:30 to try and miss the M5/M6 traffic. It wasnt too bad and we arrived at the marina about 9 o’clock. After unloading, topping up the water and a cup of tea we set off around 10 o’clock. The plan was to go down onto the
For the last few weeks Just Heaven has been in the dry dock at Nantwich. The well known boat painter Andy Russell has been giving her a complete new look. We gave Andy some general ideas, but left it mostly up to him. We are very pleased with the result.
Just an hour and a half’s chug back to the marina, packed up and off home.
26 miles, 1 stop lock, 3 tunnels. The weather started off fine, so we set off early. It stayed ok for most of the day, but then started raining in the afternoon. We have been boating for about a month and so far it has rained every day. A stop for lunch at the entrance
A long day today, 24 miles and 7 locks. We need to be home on Thursday as we have some furniture being delivered, so we decided to push on. Also we didn’t want to stop overnight in Manchester, so once we had reached the outskirts we had to carry on through and out the other
14 miles and one lock. During the morning we watched the C&RT guys and contractors working on repairing the bridge. Various rumours abound about how it was damaged. We heard that it was possibly a dumper truck, possibly a JCB and possibly a local farmer that damaged the bridge deliberately. On some land adjacent to
We easily made through bridge 9 before the cutoff time and arrived at the vandalised bridge mid afternoon. We expected a bit of a queue, there was only Wombat II that had gone out yesterday. It poured with rain during the afternoon and evening so we just stayed onboard and read books.
We had extended our stay in Liverpool until Sunday because of the problem with Bridge 20 only being available at noon on Mondays and Fridays. C&RT’s arrangements for the Liverpool link is that boats arriving come in during the afternoon, and those leaving depart in the morning. The time slot allocated for leavers is 8:00