Holiday Diary

Dear Diary,

Monday saw us heading through the Middlewich locks and turning onto the Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch, stopping just before it meets the Shropshire Union main line. We will travel a short distance down to the junction with the Llangollen and the four locks at Hurleston junction in the morning. We had a visitor to help us through the locks at the junction, Dev Shep who we met online and then in person at the Ellesmere Port Boat Gathering and we passed Janet and Gareth from the Wigan Flight Crew going into Big Lock as we came out. It was a lovely sunny day until about six o'clock when it rained for a short period so we decided to call it a day and moored up for the night.

The 'wides' as they are known locally

Primed and ready to pounce

Narrow aqueduct crossing the River Weaver

Middlewich big lock, the rest are narrow from here on

Gareth and Janet whom we met initially online and then in person at the Crooke Beer Festival last year on their first cruise out after retiring and buying their boat

Dev who we also met online and then in person at the Ellesmere Port boat gathering who kindly helped with the locks after working a night shift!

These narrow locks are a lot faster than the wide ones we are used to 

It's a busy stretch here as there are lots of hire boats and only one boat at a time can go up and down so there's time for a chat while you wait

Sharp bend between the locks

Dev at the helm

Queuing again...

The locks have been 'yarn bombed' (google it)

Finally our turn

Inches to spare

Nice tug on the Middlewich Branch

A conveyor bridge of cows going in for milking

Quintessential English countryside abounds

Cygnets are plentiful at the moment

Another glorious view across the rolling fields

A slightly damp end to an otherwise sunny summer day but it certainly hasn't dampened our spirits.....

Living the dream!