Everything and everyone was enjoying the sunshine today
Now this is one very good mother duck. When the ducklings have got to this size there is usually only 1-3 left. This duck has managed to retain/rear 7
More cows soaking up the sun - I don't think we've seen any, sun that is, for over a week
It was quite a shock to the senses to see and hear the continuous thunder and roar of road traffic whizzing past after the general peace, quiet and slow pace of canal life
The locks came in clusters of two or three, followed by a longish pound between. With quite a few boats coming up the locks, all the locks were in our favour (a few leaky ones required a little topping up) and quite a few gates were opened for us as we left gates open for them.
In some of the pounds between the locks we further investigated the vibration noise coming from the engine bay. This involved lifting the boards to the engine bay and I would hang my head down in bay and look around as L varied the engine revs, by slowing down and speeding up, as I tried to locate the source of the noise,
We are definitely back in cow country now
Peaking over the hedge
Pretty lock cottage
After doing a number of locks we reached Wheelock where we once again stopped at the water point and rubbish disposal. L, unable to figure out how to use the services shower, came back to the boat for one. Sudsy water going out
As fresh water goes in
The Briar Roses are now in bloom
So this is what grey haired old men do when they don't have boats to build
As we came down the last few locks before reaching Middlewich we received further texts from Justin with suggestions regarding the vibration coming from the engine bay. Most we had eliminated already and he had one last suggestion.
On the longer pounds, when I didn't have my head down the engine bay, I got to enjoy the sunshine and the countryside.
After the last lock before Middlewich there is a long straight stretch and we pulled over on the lock landing to try what Justin suggested. Lawrence removed the lid of the weedhatch and put it back in place as far forward as possible. We are talking a millimeter or so. We set off again and the vibration was terrible, much worse than before. We pulled over again and while I hung onto the boat, L got down into the engine bay and moved the lid back a fraction. We set of again, L upped the revs, the vibration was still there. We pulled over again and repeated the process, this time Lawrence pushed the weed hatch lid as far toward the stern as possible before screwing it down. Back on the canal he upped the revs, and hey presto no vibration noise.
Oh Bliss, we were very happy as was, of course, Justin. No major, or for that matter, minor repairs needed.
First swan we have seen for weeks
We moored up in Middlewich at 2.45pm after doing 18 locks and went to the Tea Room by day/Pub by night (very strange) establishment overlooking Kings Lock to have some lunch and to celebrate the end of the vibration noise. Lawrence is looking forward to turning into a speed demon we might get up to three miles per hour, ocassionally, now!!
From Kings Lock we looked down to see this boat making the turn out of the Middlewich Arm of the Shropshire Union Canal and onto the T&M. We watched carefully as we would be turning off the T&M and onto the Shroppie after lunch
After lunch we came down through Kings Lock to find this boater waiting for us to exit the lock had lost his boat! As L exited the lock he nudge the stray boat back toward the lock landing
And straight after that bit of drama he executed a perfect turn onto the Shropshire Union Canal
Immediately after the turn there was another lock to be negotiated. And this time a change of routine.
We have been going down through the locks since we left Marple Junction on the Peak Forest Canal.
Now we would be going up the locks.
After rising through Wardle Lock, we had to wait for a boat load of people to weave their way through
a series of bridges and pass into the lock before we could continue on
We had every intention of cruising on for another hour or so, but as we came to the site of the 2017 Middlewich breach
We saw this pleasant view AND mooring rings and went no further
It sounds like a hard slog today. It was, but with all the boats about we did lots of chatting at locks and everybody was enjoying themselves, even the fishermen on the towpath were happy chappies today :) Amazing what a bit of sunshine can do!
Bed now, another early start tomorrow. It's meant to start raining by 12.00, so the sunshine didn't last long.
11 miles, 20 locks, 8 1/2hours
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