Monday 26th September

We had a lazy morning as we had decided that I would stay in Wheelock while Richard goes home tomorrow for a few days. It was a glorious morning and we were enjoying it but in the end we realized that I would possibly go berserk over the next five days as both the phone and the mobile broadband had very bad reception and anyone who knows me would understand what that means!! So we reverted to plan A and headed on to Middlewich. Though the canal doesn’t go through Sandbach it runs fairly close to it and then runs alongside the A533 for almost 3 miles. The strange part of it is that there is no hedge or fence – just a small width of grass between boat and HGV! There are 4 locks along the stretch before the canal reaches the junction of the Trent & Mersey and the Shropshire Union (Middlewich Arm). As we got to the junction a boat came out of the Arm – rather fast! I hooted the horn and slammed the boat into reverse, fortunately coming to a halt fairly quickly. When we got to the next lock the other boat pulled over and let us through first – a sign of guilt perhaps? There is a nasty 90º bend after the top lock going down into the second and as there was a hire boat coming up I was rather concerned but I needn’t have worried! We stopped for water after the bottom lock and then moved on to the moorings where I will stay until Richard comes back on Friday.

So, once again, a blog break! The statistics are a bit boring as we have only been out for 16 days but we have covered 171 miles and 137 locks. The running total is 564 miles and 527 locks. I will start the blog again on Saturday unless something interesting comes up in the meantime!