Sunday 29th December 2019



Brenda had a shocking night’s sleep after chipping a tooth, resulting in the side of her face swelling and the beginning of earache. Fortunately, as the day progressed, the pain abated and the swelling reduced, but a visit to a pharmacy will still be required on Monday morning.

We left the mooring quite early for a slow cruise down to Anderton, winding at the Boat Lift and passing, en-route, Ken and Astrid on Susie. After stopping for coal at Anderton Marina, we again filled with water at the service station. Being unsure as to how long we will spend at Bramble Cutting, it seemed prudent. The canal side at the service station was a muddy quagmire and the hose full of mud at the end of filling. CRT spend so much money on towpath upgrades for the benefit of walkers, you would have thought they would maintain this to a better standard for the use of boaters.

While filling, we saw Paul and Dawn emerge from Anderton Marina, heading for the Broken Cross pub where we also planned to overnight. Once filled, we started the return journey, retracing our steps towards Bramble. We came across Ken and Astrid on the moorings at Marbury, overlooking Great Budworth Church, another lovely mooring. We had first met them on the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal while waiting for the Severn Estuary Crossing and Ken sent us a video clip he took of us starting the run, coming out of the tidal basin at Sharpness. They were spending their winter around Northwich and we had met them for lunch before Christmas.

Slowly tracing our steps, in no particular hurry, the number of boats on the move today was very noticeable. At the Broken Cross at Rudheath, we were lucky enough to moor right outside the pub as a day hire boat was leaving just as we arrived.




Mooring at the Broken Cross, Rudheath



We sat in the pub with Paul and Dawn. It was great to meet up with them. We had known Paul and Dawn for a number of years and Paul fitted a new bulkhead on the boat after it was rewired in June 2018.



Weather: a lovely day although a touch chilly.

  

Day Total: 0 locks; 7 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; Day’s running hours 27.4                                

Overall Total: 858 locks; 1484 miles; 53 tunnels; 61 Swing Bridges; 17 Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; total engine running hours 959.5




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