Thursday 28th June 2018



We were both awake at 5am to witness a beautiful dawn. There was mist on the surface of the canal and the moon just going down in the south west.






When we awoke properly, we had a full fried breakfast outside on the picnic benches. The sun was shining, birds singing and boat slowly passing by. It doesn’t get much better.

We spent the day lazily doing our own thing. Brenda cleaned the boat throughout. She looks so much better. I suppose we have been that busy it has been getting neglected.

I washed and polished the starboard cabin sides. Ever since Swanley we have been moored port side to and so haven’t managed the starboard side. The boot tops were also blackened on this side, so at least on one side, she looks as though somebody cares for her.

The brush and mop handles and boat pole were primed and painted light grey to match the colour scheme and the boarding plank was painted and coated with the broken glass for better grip.

We were going to have another bbq but the day has been so hot again that we couldn’t face food after our breakfast. Instead we had cheese and biscuits and listened to the England match on the radio.

Tomorrow we are calling into Orchard Marina for Sandra to look at our electrics.

That should be interesting.

We had been negotiating the final payment to the boat builder and today a figure was settled on. No doubt now, by mutual consent, we are on our own as regards any future issues with the boat. What a shame it finishes this way. After all we have a lovely boat that will be well loved and used.

Another hot, hot day. The days seem to be getting progressively hotter.

This evening I took the dog for a walk across fields behind Brambly Cuttings towards King Street. Stunning views and a perspective of the canal not normally seen.

The guy off the boat moored ahead of us took some photographs of us and the boat from his drone. We are really looking forward to receiving them.

 Yesterday I forgot to mention an update to mileage and locks. The Trent and Mersey Canal has mile posts indicating mileage to and from Preston Brook and Shardlow. While coming out of Middlewich we passed the 18 mile to Preston Brook post so have covered 1mile in almost two weeks.



Day Total: 1 locks; 2 miles; engine running hours 2.6

Overall Total: 97 locks; 102 miles; engine running hours 71.5


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