Make Hay While the Sun Shines

And boy did the sun shine today! To borrow an old hack's oft-repeated headline:
Phey ! What a scorcher!
Yesterday  it took us two hours to negotiate four locks through Middlewich because there were so many boats on the move so today we set off at 6am to get back on schedule.Nantwich was so busy with boats needing water that we decided to forego that exercise and proceed to Audlem. Now the sun started playing hide and seek and the wind picked up to make things difficult for us. 
 
What we were unaware of was this >

Boats were moored up nose to tail, sorry, bow to stern, for several hundred yards before the bottom lock and all space in town had been reserved days before. With seventeen miles already under our belt we embarked on the climbing the fifteen locks. 

However we did find a spot three locks up, right behind the Cheese Boat.

And right next to one of the outdoor stages.


At 8.30pm we had to move into a pub for our musical entertainment because all the outdoor stages were closed down for the night.




 

The acts we did see were very good but we have to move on tomorrow so our prime mooring will be available again. 

And yes, there was some intrepid hay making under way in the hot and windy weather




17.5miles / 5 locks / 1 festival