Hurleston to Nantwich

4th & 5th February

It was a calm and cold morning yesterday, ideal for boating. We got away at 9 and went up Minshull Lock. I'd dipped the diesel tank the day before., and reckoned we needed about 60 litres of diesel – the level was between half way and three quarters of a 200 litre tank.

We'd not planned to stop at Venetian Marine, hadn't been sure they'd be open on a Monday in winter even, but they were, and had diesel at 63.9ppl, so we went in and got some. The tank actually took 94 litres, which seemed a bit odd, but there you go. Propane is now over £20 for a 13 kg bottle, so by the time I'd paid for one of those and the diesel, I found myself handing over £80 in cash (Venetian doesn't take plastic).

On we went up Cholmondeston Lock, planning to water at Barbridge when we got there. In the event, Sorrel was on the water point and had only just started, so we decided not to bother – there was about 45% in the tank still, enough to last to Nantwich the following day (i.e. today).

At Hurleston Junction, a dredger was working by the bridge, so we stopped on the moorings on the Barbridge side, rather than going through to the ones on the far side of the bridge. As soon as we'd moored, there was an almighty rain storm, so another case of good timing, methinks.

After lunch we took a wander up the Hurleston Locks, just to get some exercise and to see if there were any photos to be taken. We found a bit of seriously broken down mooring by the water point, but the flight itself is in reasonable nick, although famously, the bottom lock is only just wide enough for 6' 10" beam. Many a boater in the pernicious habit of boating with the fenders down has regretted not taking them up before attempting that lock, only to get jammed in there.

Coming back towards the top of the flight after wandering along the towpath for a bit, I idly read a stoppage notice taped to the balance beam of the top lock top gate. It said that Baddiley n0 2 Lock is stopped from 7 January to 7 March as an extra stoppage. This means that we can't do the Llangollen this month as we'd planned, which is a bit of a sierra oscar delta, but there you go. We'll just have to think of another way of passing the time until we can get southbound.

Not a good move to put the notice only on the top gate either – if we hadn't happened to walk up there, we'd have worked up four locks before discovering that we couldn't go much further. Thanks BW.

When we got back to the bottom of the flight, the guy on the dredger was working on its hydraulics – it looked as if one of the legs that braces the flat on the bottom of the canal was giving trouble, as he'd got the hose off the fitting. He'd clearly spilt some hydraulic fluid (brake fluid, basically) into the cut, as it had all washed down and around Sanity in an unholy mess. Careful examination of the blacking today didn't show any damage, thank heavens, but it wasn't a clever thing to have done.

Today we made a more leisurely start on a bright and breezy day, but were still away by 9.30 for the short run to Nantwich. We passed another dredging site, an interesting challenge in a strongish cross wind, and got onto the service point and watered without too much hassle.

There was a handy space in the visitor moorings before the aqueduct, and we'd no sooner arrived than S.K.I. turned up (SKI = Spending the Kids Inheritance). We'd not seen them for a bit and we all had a good natter, including some of the other continuous cruisers on the moorings. We are all in the same boat (not literally), as the opportunity to do the Llangollen when it was quiet had looked too good to miss.

After lunch we made a trip into Nantwich to start the shopping bit again – Nantwich is a great little town, with a decent range of shops, so we'll stay here for a couple of days, doing a variety of shopping and generally catching up with stuff.