The Downs family arrived at 9:15. As soon as they had unpacked and had a coffee we set off towards Middlewich. We hadn’t gone far when it started to pour with rain. Paul and I stayed outside getting wet whilst the others remained dry. We stopped at Bramble Cuttings until the rain stopped, then carried

Left home early (6:18) to beat the M5/6 traffic. It seemed to work as we made it in record time (2hrs 18mins). Had breakfast, unpacked and chilled out. Daughter Nikki and her family are due tomorrow so we were making tne most of tne peace and quiet. A walk after lunch then more chilling.

Just down the four locks and four miles back to the marina by 10 o’clock. Bacon sandwiches at 10:30, J&M left soon after. We tidied up and were away by 12:00

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

We awoke to blue skies and it stayed like that all day, reaching 23°C by early afternoon. The lock keepers at Hunts lock dont come on duty until 9:30 on weekends. So we chugged up slowly then moored up and waited for them. On through Vale Royal locks and and to Winsford, where we moored

Jan & Mike arrived just before 9 o’clock having set off at 6:30! We unloaded their stuff and set off for the Anderton Lift . Our booked slot wasn’t until 3:45. So we had an early lunch then went to the office to see if we could go earlier. It seems that the CRT system

I have spent most of today making new deck boards to cover the engine hole. I bought a sheet of Buffalo Board at home. The problem was that it was too big to fit in the car. I had only measured the old boards roughly, so at home I had to cut the new board

The quickest trip up the M5/6 so far, only two and a half hours. We are here to do a few odd jobs on board before friends Jan & Mike joins us on Thursday. The weather forecast was for sun, but it’s raining. One of the jobs is outside so that will have to wait

We woke up to find that visibility was reduced to just a few yards with thick mist/fog. We only had about 3 hours cruise back to the marina to do, but we still set off at 8:30. A single hander passed us just after eight, so we knew we’d have to follow him down the

A really lovely day weather wise. The sun stayed out all day making it very pleasantly warm. We set off about 8 o’clock towards Middlewich. Through Big lock, the flight of three locks, then around the junction and up through Wardle lock. As Simon & Karen have to be back at work on Monday we