Onto the Macc

After another windy night, we were glad to find it a flat calm first thing this morning. Setting off just after seven, Sheila steered up the first three locks and we stopped on the water point at eight. We'd had the Hurricane running for the trip, so that the calorifier was full of hot water and Sheila was able to start a washload whilst I got the tank filling.

We were a little alarmed that the Hurricane then cut out, with an error message on the remote control switch saying "Flame Out". Investigation showed that Sanity Again's side was pressed up against the wall of the wharf, so that the air intake for the heater was blocked. Once we were on the Macc, I tried restarting it and it fired up with no problem.

Setting off again with a full tank, we were soon up the last three locks, and Sheila negotiated the tricky turn out of the lock into the junction. We'd no sooner done so than a boat appeared coming in the other direction. This proved to be Graham and Beryl on Priscilla, having a few days cruise before heading back to Poynton, where they moor, for the Owners' Weekend in a fortnight's time.

The weather steadily deteriorated as the day went on, becoming a typical Bank Holiday, wet and breezy. Still, it was good to be back on the Macc. We actually had to queue for the stop lock at Hall Green, which was emptying very slowly. The boat coming down was crewed by a foursome who were clearly enjoying the holiday, rain or not, merrily swigging from cans of the amber nectar as they went.

Once up the last lock of the day, we chugged merrily on to the mooring beyond Ramsdell Hall, meeting a fair bit of traffic coming the other way. A particular worry was a couple of canoeists, one of whom decided to play chicken with us at a bridge hole. On the way back, they passed us one either side, although Sheila had pulled over to the right to let them through.

The towpath alongside the hall is now looking quite spiffy, as the project to renew the fancy wrought iron railings has been completed. We've tied by Bridge 86, the Little Moreton Hall moorings, as usual; the afternoon's been spent mostly doing internet stuff like emailing a (short) list of jobs we want done while we're at Braidbar, setting up an Ocado order for while we're there and buying some mirror plates online from Screwfix. These last will be used to fix our smart award certificate to the cabin side by the galley.