At last I have the energy to update the blog. This has been a tough enough few days – lots of cruising, some good weather, two days of bad.
We arrived in Middlewich on Monday morning.We were early as we came over on the Belfast to Birkenhead overnight ferry. Our narrow boat wasn’t going to be ready until after 1 so we took a walk around the town, got some shopping, and went to a pub for lunch. The luxury of being inside a pub, with a pint!
We returned to the boat after lunch and waited around for our boat refresher and safety briefing. Shortly after 3pm we set off, heading South on the Trent and Mersey Canal. It was a busy enough first evening’s cruising with 8 locks to negotiate. We moored up outside Sandbach, had some food and fell fast asleep.
Next morning we were up at dawn, got breakfast and set off. We wanted to try and make it to the Harecastle tunnel. Twenty three locks later we made it to Kidsgrove Bute we were. Too late to get through the tunnel that day. We moored up and treated ourselves to dinner at the Red Bull. Once again, sleep came easily.
Wednesday morning, up early once more. I headed for Tesco to pick up a few forgotten supplies while Lindy got herself ready. After setting off we negotiated two locks to arrive at the entrance too the Harecastle tunnel. Four boats were already in the tunnel so we had to wait for about forty minutes for them to get through before we could enter. 1.6 miles of underground travel went uneventfully. I enjoy the tunnels but this one was unnerving. Normally you can see a tunnel exit growing in the distance but Harecastle tunnel has doors on the southern exit and these are only opened when the tunnel keepers reckon you are close enough. The rest of the day was a lot of cruising to pass Stoke-on-Trent. We moored up for the night outside Weston on Trent.
Thursday morning was another early start. This would be our last day on the Trent and Mersey canal. We continued South to Great Haywood where we took on more fresh water at the junction before turning West to navigate the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. We travelled for most of the afternoon before stopping overnight at the village of Penkridge. Dinner at the Littleton Hotel this evening before turning in.
Friday morning we left Penkridge hoping to make it to Autherly Junction at Wolverhampton so that we could head North on the Shropshire Union Canal. It was a pretty straightforward day’s cruising and we made the junction in good time. Once on the ‘Shroppy’ we cruised for an hour or so to moor up at Brewood. The Bridge Inn was booked for dinner.
