I was up and out of Jannock at 06:00 to do a car shuffle from Romiley and was back on board by 08:00. We moved off towards the Bosley flight. At Royal Oak swing bridge we first met ‘Miss Bossy Tiger’, she bounced like a Tigger and wore a stripy top. She held the bridge open and hurried a flotilla of 3 boats through before closing it again. A queue formed at the top lock as a hotel pair worked through. With boats going up and down Ms Bossy Tigger came up to Brenda and told her when she was to go down in the lock and where her boat must wait in the pound below. Brenda explained that she was not with the boat she was assisting so MBT proceeded to explain all again to the Euro-hirers on the ABC boat that Brenda was assisting. This quite perplexed them. Brenda told her how we WOULD be doing it all, based on her years of experience, MBT being all of 14 knowledgeable years. MBT then showed Brenda how to work a gate paddle but gave up after two turns as it was very stiff. “They are not as easy as they look!” Erm, yes they are reply Brenda winding it up in one go. It took us three and a half hours to descend the 12 locks with the benefit of a few boats ascending. It’s all that good advice that slows one down. One of the flotilla ha pulled over at Congleton as we went past. Just as well that we slow for moored boats as they had forgotten to tie up the front end. Don’t panic Capt. Mainwaring! We chose a nice quiet spot to moor for the night, so two tractors started collecting in the hay whilst the sheep called a riot, someone is out shooting in the field behind us and a RAF Hercules has just performed three low passes. Ssssssssshh! Graham www.jannock.org.uk P.S. My holiday was due to finish today but due to a cancelled appointment I have extended it for another two days - the Caldon then tomorrow.
_______________________________________________________________ Fight the credit crunch; get paid to recycle - http://www.tiscali.co.uk/recycle _______________________________________________________________
