Early Friday morning we left Nantwich to try and beat the crowd at the Hurleston locks. Just North of the Nantwich Aqueduct we called into the BW service centre for water etc before going onto the Llangollen canal where these things will be in great demand with all the hire boats and there will probably be delays.
As we were negotiating bridge 97 to turn onto the Llangollen canal we were forced to back track to allow another boat to clear the junction having just exited the Hurleston flight where we were heading. At least the lock was set in our favour which was a good start. At the third lock we met up with the lady lock keeper which was a bonus getting us to the top fairly rapidly.
It was certainly noticeable that our speed and engine revs differed from cruising the Shroppie in that punching into the flow we were definitely slower at 1200 revs. After several attempts to find a suitable mooring we eventually moored near bridge 11 where we had planned to stay for 2 nights.
With more uncertain weather forecast for Sunday we decided to move closer to Wrenbury a day earlier than planned. Moving off earlier than normal proved to be beneficial again because since mooring up there has been a constant flow of mostly hire boats and moorings are at a premium. We will stay here until Monday morning when we will move up closer to lift bridge 20 where we have another Tesco delivery organised and we will be about as close as possible to the railway station to meet our friends, Robin and Jenny from New Zealand.
After lunch we took our investigative stroll into town to get our bearings for Monday. On the way back from the railway station Dot decided to try and find a quicker short cut across fields and bridlepath's. Unfortunately her usual in built sense of direction let her down (must be something to do with the Welsh air) and we finished up doing a very long route march. Along the way we crossed a large paddock with a herd of young heifers and a few steers. When they spotted us they all came charging across the paddock thinking we were going to feed them I suppose. Poor Dot just about had kittens but as I have worked on a farm in NZ I was not perturbed when they finally stopped about 10 feet from us. As I walked towards them they gradually backed away until they lost interest in us and wandered off. By the time we reached the other side of the paddock the cattle once again spotted us and came charging across the paddock again, this time though they ran up a steep bank towards the road and for one horrible moment I didn't think they were going to stop and I could see them breaking down the fence and breaking out onto the road. Thankfully the first cattle to reach the fence did a quick about turn and as they ran back down the bank they headed the others away from the fence. Silly Moo's.
Walking back through the village Dot demanded an ice cream to help steady her nerves after that little escapade. This evening the weather has turned foul and it is raining rather heavily.
Low flying air balloon last evening when it was much more pleasant than tonight.
1410 locks, 2021 miles, 45 Tunnels, 42 swing bridges and 20 lift bridges since Nov 2006
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