Day 30 - Sunday July 30th - Barbridge Junction to Wheelock
16 miles 2 furlongs, 11 locks, 8 hours 30 minutes
Set off at 9.30am, back to the Junction. Made a complete fist of
turning into the Middlewich Arm, told an onlooker that it was an example
of bump-steering. :-) There was a queue of three boats waiting to go
down at Cholmondeston lock, resulting in a 25 minute delay. Through
Minshull lock at 11.35am, having caught up the hire boat in front.
Passed Pete's place by Nanneys Bridge - forgot it was his (Sorry Pete,
I'd have stopped if I'd remembered). Was back behind the hire boat at
both Stanthorne and Wardle locks, arriving at Middlewich Junction at
2.30pm. No sign of the old girl who used to lord it over boaters
passing through "her" lock (Wardle lock), has she passed on? It must
have been many years since I last came by this way. Crept out of the
Junction and turned right, to find King's lock sat completely empty with
gates open, and a boat just coming under the bridge from the Preston
Brook direction who also had that lock in his sights. Oh well, those
are the breaks, sometimes they go your way and sometimes they don't.
Today it was my turn. :-) Straight into King's lock and a chat with the
guy behind me. Turns out he was single handing as well and making for
Wheelock for the night. As I was leaving the lock we saw another boat
heading for it, so the other guy waited for him to go down. Trouble
free run through the remaining four locks. Met a boat in a bridge hole
just before Wheelock. He was pushing on quite quickly, but can't have
been paying attention, as I was already part way through the bridge.
When I saw him I went into full reverse, as did he. We avoided each
other, although he did end up ramming the bank by a tree. I had to tow
him backwards out of the tree as he wasn't able to free himself. The
only moorings available in Wheelock were before the bridge, and I'd gone
past those before finding the rest were full. I ended up going up the
first two locks and mooring there for the night. No pubs doing food, so
I got a Chinese takeaway on my way back from the pub.
Weather - Sunny Intervals
Tomorrow's Forecast - Light Showers
Terry Streeter
NB Arun - Wheelock
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
