Tuesday 9 October 2012

Heading North by the Scenic Route

"You are heading north by the scenic route"
Thus I was greeted by Richard on nb Cartref  (a Cutweb member) this  morning as we moored in Nantwich: According to whom Gecko is famous on the canals.  Kind words but hardiy accurate.
After a very busy weekend around Chester and Wrexham with WADIHS we left Christleton yesterday morning and headed south. We travelled two hours before meeting another boat and that occurred at a bridge. C'est la vie.! We are booked in to Reedley Marina in Burnley for the winter but due to the breach in the Trent & Mersey canal north of Middlewich we will be taking a much longer route and arriving later than planned. Yes, I am aware that we should have turned left at Barbridge but she who must be obeyed wants to use the launderette here and I have to empty the toilet.  There are no services at Middlewich and we are stopping there for Kings Lock to do a nose job on Gecko: the ring to which the front fender  was attached has rusted through and needs replacing. Gecko spent a couple of weeks there back in August  whilst we had another radiator fitted to the central heating system and we went to look after the grandchildren. The boat should feel at home there but I hope she was not traumatised by having all the solar-powered lights stolen during that visit.
The effect of this breach on our route is this:
Original route to Waters meeting - 38 miles & 5 locks
New route - 59 miles & 87 locks
Scenic it may be, but hard work it will definitely be
Whichever way we go we have a further 59 miles and 36 locks to negotiate

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