Saturday 16th November 2019



Today was a short cruise, retracing our steps and heading back towards Middlewich. Slowly, we passed through Wincham, Rudheath and Billinge, reaching Bramble Cutting where we again moored up and again, were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves.

Halsall passed us by before we left the mooring and we caught him up at Orchard Marina. Before long, he too was held up by a boat travelling very slowly and so we had a convoy of four, slowly moving boats. We quite enjoyed the slow passage through this lovely section of canal and, for the first time, we saw Whatcroft Hall, well hidden in the trees. Had we been travelling at a normal pace, we would never have seen it.




Convoy leading to Bramble Cutting



At Bramble I made a rope ladder to hang over the back end when we are moored up. Brenda’s recent fall into the canal has shaken the two of us. We had always thought that, if you fall in, you could merely walk to the bank and heave yourself out. Not so. The mud on the bottom was deep and, trying to stand on it, her weight took her leg into the mud and she had a hell of a job extracting herself from its grip. Adrenaline helped her to swim to the bank where a passing dog walker managed to haul her out although this was very difficult with her heavy, wet clothes.  Had this guy not been passing, the outcome does not bear thinking about.

As an aid to this happening in the future, the rope ladder will be hung from the back end whenever we are moored, a rope is being made up to hang along the sides of the boat to help pull yourself to the back end and a throw line has been ordered to keep on the back of the boat. We have also invested in a Ladder Mate from Miracle Leisure. This is a metal gangplank that also doubles, on the reverse side, as a ladder. Strange though, that it is primarily a gangplank but is too wide to fit into a standard gangplank holder.

Once darkness began to fall and the plentiful pheasant had started to roost, the air rifle came out and two birds were bagged. Primarily for Kenny and Sue, but Sue decided she didn’t want them, so two more for our freezer.



Weather: a cold, clear day.



Day Total: 0 locks; 6 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; Day’s running hours 1.3 

Overall Total: 816 locks; 1394 miles; 53 tunnels; 61 Swing Bridges; 17 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; total engine running hours 893.0

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