Tuesday 5 November 2013

On the home stretch

Anderton to Middlewich : 10 miles, 1 locks
To date : 928 miles, 624 locks


We feel like we're now on the home stretch.  In fact it does rather feel like going home to the marina.  As close as it gets while we're here in England anyway.  No more detours or diversions or meanderings.  We're on the Trent and Mersey Canal which leads right down to Aston Marina in Stone.  There's still some interesting cruising along the way with the locks of Heartbreak Hill (26 locks in about 6 miles or so), the Harecastle Tunnel (2.7kms... very dark... very low... very long... very eerie), and then finally one of our favourite places to navigate; Stoke on Trent.

So this morning we left Anderton and what a glorious cruise it was.  There was a light frost first thing and it was crisp and cold but the sun was out for much of the time.  Just lovely.  I did get some work done along the way.  We passed a tiny little boat that was rather cute and another one that was a little over the top with the solar panels.

This time we've moored on the visitor moorings in Middlewich beneath a row of Autumn colour.  We had lunch and did our groceries for the next few days (there's not much in the way of shopping until the end of Heartbreak Hill).  Then I did some re-arranging.  That seems to be a recurring theme as we're constantly moving things about.  We're going to need the thicker duvet out soon.  We're still using the summer weight one but the nights are getting colder and it won't be long before we feel it.  It's nice to have a well insulated boat!

Both of our suitcases are stored beneath one of the dinette seats and so far we've used them to store spare clothes (Winter clothes in Summer etc).  But, we're now starting to get rid of things we know we won't be needing again and I've started filling one of the suitcases with things we'll take home with us.  I think we might ship one carton home over Winter.  Despite my best intentions I seem to have bought the odd item to take home.  Those odd items are now almost a suitcase full!


















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