Night light's.

3 Locks, 5 Miles. Now moored above King's Lock Trent & Mersey Canal.

It was a bit eerie at our moorings last night with a full moon turning the night into day. Looking around the horizon we could see the orange glow in the sky from the lights of Chester, Liverpool and Northwich on our port side and Greater Manchester on our starboard side. It was quite spectacular

With a fine, mild but overcast day we set off this morning for Middlewich. Along the way we came across Steve and Barbara on Nb Silver Knot so we hove to in the middle of the canal for a quick chat and catch up. We may see them again in the new year around the Peak Forest or Macclesfield Canal's.

After watering up and visiting Kings Lock Chandlery we moored a short distance up the canal. Unfortunately we are beside a main road which up until now has been very busy so we will have to wait and see if it quieten's down later tonight. The weather looks to be OK tomorrow so we will able move to a better location.

1520 locks, 3221 miles, 51 Tunnels, 42 swing bridges and 39 lift bridges since Nov 2006

That was a surprise!

Finally!

2 locks, 10 miles. Now moored at Church Minshull, Middlewich Branch.

With all our chores in Nantwich now complete we are free to move on and start our trek to Rugby for Christmas. Due to various stoppages we are having to go via the Trent and Mersey and Coventry Canal's but that's no problem.

The first job was to head south to the winding hole before we could head back towards the Middlewich branch. Surprisingly we passed 5 other boats on the move so we haven't got the canal all to ourselves just yet. After the first lock we pulled into Venetian Marina for diesel which was hassle free I'm pleased to say. The guy who served us was in total agreement with our 10/90 split as we are an all diesel boat. Their prices are £1.12 and 69p. We spotted this notice in the window which we thought interesting. Shows even the paparazzi get things wrong.

Just a bit further along after the second lock we saw the contractors busily preparing the entrance to the new Church Minshull Aqueduct Marina. The marina is due to be filled in early January.

A short time later we spotted a kingfisher sitting on the top of the hedgerow. Normally they fly off the moment you start getting too close but this little fella just sat there and Dot managed to get some photo's off which this one is the best.

1517 locks, 3216 miles, 51 Tunnels, 42 swing bridges and 39 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Goodbye Nantwich!

Tomorrow we start heading south

That's where the money goes!

Nantwich Embankment.

This morning we had a visit from the local mooring warden and she told us that all BW staff will be busy over the next 2 weeks scouring the towpath's for unlicensed boats. Apparently this is a regular event that takes place after the cruising season comes to an end.

In our recent mail was a survey from BW and some of the questions had me searching the log book for answers. One surprise that came out of it was that we had spent £1800 on diesel in the last 12 months. Considering our boat is all diesel with only diesel fired central heating that isn't too bad. Other expenses included maintenance £1000, propane gas £126, insurance £188 and licence £833. That's the way the money goes.

Canal's in Flood?

0 Locks 6 ½ Miles. Now moored at Nantwich.

We had quite of bit of rain and wind overnight but it wasn't until this morning we found out that there had been more than an inch of rain and rivers were again in flood, no surprise there. What did come as a surprise was that the Grand Union Canal was in flood at Cosgrove and Stoke Bruerne and the canal was closed until further notice, unbelievable.

Our trip back to Nantwich was a cold and windy trip as we were heading straight into strong winds but at least the rain held off until this evening. We have a few engagements over the next couple of days and then hopefully we will be heading for Rugby via the Trent and Mersey Canal later in the week.

1515 locks, 3206 miles, 51 Tunnels, 42 swing bridges and 39 lift bridges since Nov 2006

An Improvement after the weekend