To date : 1115 miles, 791 locks
We don't tend to cruise more than 3 or 4 hours in a day but today we made an exception. We're on waters we have already travelled 2 or 3 times before so we decided to make a day of it and reach Nantwich for the weekend. Even the crew of nb Winton's Folly were out taking down their pram cover by 8.30am. We passed Andersen Boats - they have the most pristine boats we've seen in a hire fleet.
I got a better share of lock duties today. We're back to single locks and I particularly like working these locks as they have a little bridge at the end with the pair of gates. It eliminates the "jumping the gates" issue.
We were amazed at how many boats we've passed today. It feels like suddenly they've all come out of their marinas. I wonder if it's because we've been around Manchester and it's not as popular a route?
The Middlewich Branch makes for lovely cruising with great views. Once again we passed our starting point at Aqueduct Marina, and then the very first lock we did on our boat. That brings back memories.
Our plan was to stop for a diesel topup at Venetian Marina. We're trying to manage until we reach Wheaton Aston but thought we would be getting a bit too low for comfort by then. There was a little hire boat chaos outside the marina so we moored up and had some lunch. The hire boats were still there so we pushed on to Nantwich. The wharf at the Nantwich Canal Centre was just waiting for a customer. Perfect.
We chose a mooring just a couple of spaces back from where we were last time in Nantwich. The same spot right in front of the path down to the road was free but everyone walking up gigs straight through the window. We have no boat opposite so couldn't have done better.
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