Sunday 12th September
We’ve done 8 miles today, no locks though. It was absolutely hammering down when we woke up but by the time we were ready to leave it had stopped raining. It kept clouding up during the morning but didn’t rain any more. We stopped at Rudheath so Ken could go to the garage for a paper but the garage was under refubishment! We moored up again at Broken Cross so he could go to the Coop. We had to put mooring spikes in as there weren’t any rings. Two boats came past in opposite directions just as I was getting myself a sneaky bit of brem (bread and marmalade to you) and the front spike came out of the ground. I had to rush out and grab the rope before I left the bank! I was just remooring when Ken reappeared.
When we reached Marston, just past the Lion Salt Works, there were 2 B W barges across the canal. It seems their front mooring spike had come out of the ground too! There was a boat behind us and they pushed the barges into the bank while Ken moored them up again.
We carried on, incident free, to Anderton and moored (with well banged in spikes) near the sanitary station as I had things to do later. We walked George to the boat lift for a look from the top and then to the pub (you may have noticed we didn’t go yesterday!) On the way to the boat lift and pub we spotted some better moorings, with rings, so we decided to move up when we got back.
I had to take the rubbish out and empty the loo so Ken said he would get moving and I could catch up after I had finished. I went to give the mooring spike a good whack, so I could get it out of the ground easier. Unfortunately I gave my shin a good whack instead – ouch!
We are now moored a bit nearer the boat lift, opposite the nature park and tomorrow we will go down to the bottom of the boat lift for a look there as well. It still hasn’t rained again but I have seen the forecast for tomorrow ……………….. aaargh!
