On our way to Middlewich

Swanley Bridge Marina to Cholmondeston Lock : 4 miles, 4 locks

Total to date : 90 miles, 44 locks, 20 lift bridges, 6 tunnels, 6 aqueducts
In the drink to date : Elly's phone charger (retrieved - it floated!), Mick's sunglasses, hearth brush, mooring hook (retrieved with sea searcher)

We decided to make the most of the night moored in the marina.  This morning we churned out 3 loads of washing.  The first two were dried in the marina's dryer and the third in our machine along the way.  The boat batteries are at 100% and every electrical appliance is fully charged.  Excellent!

It was actually quite enjoyable being in the marina for the night.  Now we're thinking we might do that every 2 or 3 or 4 weeks, depending on where we are and how we're going.  That's not counting Winter when we'll be at Aston anyway.

We went for a walk to check out the other boats and I noticed nb Rhapsody in Blue moored just down from us.  Another Crown narrowboat.  When we got back to the boat we thought there must have been a Crown party going on as tootling past us heading out of the marina was nb Aussie Mossie!  It was a boat we had been considering buying a few months ago but decided there were too many things we'd prefer different.    Wish we could have had a look at her!

I did a few hours work while the washing was going and about lunchtime we decided we'd head off.  It was extremely windy and we were a little nervous about getting out of the marina with all the moored boats around.  We had a little discussion about tactics and off we went.  Mick handled the boat extremely well and didn't even scrape the side on the way out the marina exit.

I spent another couple of hours inside working while Mick made mileage progress.  I'm getting a bit better at dealing with those narrow bridge holes which is a relief.  I still pass the tiller back to Mick if there's a boat coming the other way at a bridge but I'm feeling a little more confident.  I even drove into one of the locks at the end of the Llangollen and let him go ahead and prepare the next lock so I could go straight out of one into the next.  It wasn't until the last lock that we encountered a boat coming the other way.

By the time we reached the turn in the Middlewich Branch the weather had turned and it was drizzly.  Mick persevered a little longer but we decided to moor up just before the Cholmondeston Lock. We have a few hours ahead of us tomorrow to be moored up at Middlewich for Friday.  Roger, we'll be there!

1. Our neighbour at Swanley Marina
2. nb Aussie Mossie from Down Under
3. nb Rhapsody in Blue