Sunday 26th September
Yesterday we travelled 5 miles and 5 locks to Wrenbury. It was sunny but cold on the water. It is always cooler on the water than on the bank I have noticed. We went into the village to get a paper. It was a pleasant walk, part of which went through the churchyard which was very interesting. George came too and we sat on a bench while Ken went in to the shop. It was lovely sitting in the sun. We came back via the canalside pub The Cotton Arms. This pub has an adjacent campsite which was occupied by several caravans and tents. There was a Bluegrass Rally/Jam Session going on, banjos abound! We met a nice chap who looked like Willie Nelson and had a chat while we sat outside the pub. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo for George’s pub guide (of the pub not Willie Nelson!)
Today we have moved on about 4 miles and 2 locks to Willeymoor Lock. There were a couple of lift bridges to negotiate too. The second of these is an electric one which closes the road. These electric lift bridges are such that you need to operate them using your BW key and you can’t get your key back until the operation is over. So we went first and then 3 other boats appeared, I had no choice but to let everyone go through before I could lower the bridge and get my key back. This resulted in us being 3 boats behind where we would have been when we joined the queue at the first lock! Such is life.
As usual I was up on the lock helping, long before it was our turn There was no one coming down so the lock had to be reset every time for the boats going up. Then when it was our turn no one from the queue was up there helping me! The lady from the boat which was just leaving the lock stayed behing to help which was very kind of her. Two people from the boats behind turned up just as we were leaving! Such is also life.
At the next lock the queue had dissipated, as is usually the case with the second one, so we went through quickly. Then at Willeymoor Lock there was a convenient pub so we moored up and did a bit of gongoozling! There are still quite a lot of boats about so there was plenty to see.
We can see the lock from our mooring so we can get going in the morning before a queue forms. We have to do 2 locks then the Grindley Brook 3 and a staircase of 3 locks tomorrow so we need to get off to a good start.
