Half a day, and half an hour away

In a leisurely fashion, we've set off from Poynton on our way back to Alrewas. After a relaxed start, we got the boat ready for cruising again, and pulled through the bridge onto the water point. It took around half an hour to fill half a water tank (the tap there is not the quickest); Sheila put the time to good use by getting a washload ready. Peter Mason set off for High Lane in Just Siviting whilst we were there; he had the shell for Starshine to tow after it had been craned in at North Cheshire Cruising Club. I briefly met Dave and Wendy Tarpey who are having her built.

Once the tank was reasonably full, we moved onto the shop mooring for a pump out and diesel; after just under a fortnight's use of the Hurricane, we needed 32 litres of fuel. Whilst we were manoeuvring, the phone rang with a request from Susan to see if I could improve a photo of the new hire boat, Tiree, to go on the brochure.

I couldn't manage a satisfactory job in the time available in iPhoto; it needed a lot of background cloning over, so Susan emailed it to me and I did the job properly in Photoshop Elements this afternoon.

With Sanity Again ready to cruise, we boated up to High Lane ourselves to use the winding hole, thus giving ourselves time to run the washload. Winding 70 foot there is not easy; as usual, the very end of the hole is full of mud, which makes the boat very reluctant to keep turning, but in the end we got round.

After that, it was a very pleasant potter back to Poynton and on to Adlington, where we've tied opposite Lyme View Marina. By now it was lunchtime, and the washing machine was just finishing. We'd taken all morning to do a bit less than a half hour trip from Poynton.

The afternoon has been spent quietly; the washing is drying in the sun on the whirligig, Sheila has been crocheting, and apart from my photo editing, I've been reading and dozing.

The plan is to amble down to Congleton for Monday, where we'll be joined by Peter and Jan Comline for a couple of days and the trip through Harecastle Tunnel.