Swanley Bridge Marina - Saturday 25th May

There was a strange yellow thing in the sky today.  OK so I know that probably all the blogs are saying the same thing – Twitter certainly was – but it was so nice to see a bright sunny day after yesterday.

We went under Wrenbury Lift Bridge.  It is a Grade II listed wooden lift bridge and is one of a dozen such life bridges on the canal but is the only wooden lift bridge carrying a road across it.  There was a boat coming the other way so I didn't have to operate it. 

Wrenbury Lift Bridge

We had six locks before getting back to Swanley Marina and had plenty of time so pulled over for a leisurely lunch however Muffin had other ideas and appeared under the table smelling quite revolting!  So our leisurely lunch came to an abrupt halt and Muffin was unceremoniously put into the shower. At least it was a warm day and we didn't need to use the hairdrier. We quickly packed up before he could roll again.

The boat traffic going up the canal was pretty continuous with queues at all the locks however it did mean a pretty speedy descent for us with lots of help as well as the locks being in our favour.  At the last lock we went through there was a queue of six boats waiting to go up.

A soggy doggy

And so we are back in Swanley Marina and will be going home tomorrow for two weeks. It's been a good three week cruise and we didn't let the weather get us down though it did defeat us once.  It was lovely to have Penny and Jim on board and great to make new friends in Julie and Jeff.  

We will be back on June 10th and heading for Manchester - maybe with a diversion down the River Weaver.

 

Moorings near Steer Bridge (24) to Swanley Marina

6.87 miles

6 locks
3 lift/swing bridges
 

Total for the month

105 Miles
50 Locks
18 Lift/swing bridges