Tuesday, November 28, 2017

A grand day for it…

…whatever it may be! In our case it was a cruise up to Wrenbury.

Yesterday afternoon Richard and Ruth arrived, pulling in just beyond us to deliver 10 bags of Excel, before heading onward.

Mountbatten and Jellicoe, Chamberlain Carrying CompanyDSCF1950
We’ll be seeing them again when we need diesel or solid fuel.

After a cold night we were off at just before 10, good to be on the move again on such a fine day. Swanley Locks were just around the corner.DSCF1952

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There are two Swanley Locks, with about 5 minutes between them, then there’s about 40 minutes to the three at Baddiley.

Meg is feeling well enough now to supervise the lock operations…DSCF1954

The middle Baddiley lock has a particularly savage bywash, but Mags crossed it with aplomb.

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A lot of the locks on the canal have awkward bywashes, due to the continuous flow down from the River Dee. Especially the singles at Grindley Brook. But that same flow makes the canal desirable for winter cruising as it’s unlikely to freeze.


But the standing water alongside does…
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After leaving the top lock we had another 1½ miles before arriving at Wrenbury, mooring just shy of Church Lift Bridge.
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This one is the first of the Llangollen Canal lift bridges, the second is a little further on, carries a road, and is mechanised. Tomorrow’s job.

I put the bird feeders out, and within 20 minutes we had blue-tits, long-tailed tits, and a cheeky robin. But I interrupted them by going out and chopping up the rest of the wood on the roof. It’s all stacked in the cratch now. The weather looks good for the rest of the week, so we should be at Whitchurch for the weekend, even at the speed we go!

Meg is showing steady improvement, she’s eating well, is walking okay and there’s no bagpipes in her chest any more. There’s just one more day of antibiotics, and I’m cutting her steroid dose in half now as well. Fingers crossed…

Hi Steve. We’re only going to be here for tonight, so we’ll probably miss you. Not leaving till 10 in the morning though…
Hiya Carol. Yes, it’s been a worrying time, but we’re hoping we’re over the worst now.

Locks 5, miles 4

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