Another busy day

We've not done quite so much boating today, but it's still been pretty active. The recycling centre opens at eight, so we set off from Bramble Cuttings at half seven, and got there just after they'd opened. After disposing of quite a bit of recycling (a lot of empty wine bottles, for some reason) and two bags of "household", we carried on to the water point below the Big Lock. There's a half decent pressure there these days, but we had quite a lot of tank to fill, so a bit of time drifted gently by.

Just as we finished, Against All Odds appeared, and we shared up the lock with them. As they weren't stopping in Middlewich and we were, we let them go out first, and then carried on ourselves to the shopping moorings beyond the Newton Brewery pub.

It didn't take long to find the other Rowlands pharmacy in Lewin Street (go on past the church, basically), where my script was indeed waiting. It hadn't been made up, because it had come by post, but was sitting in a little basket all by itself…

I wonder if it was there last Saturday, when I realised that there were two Rowlands's, and phoned to check? I did say on the phone that it would have come by post, but who can tell if the assistant I spoke to knew about the little basket?

No way of knowing now – we went and did the rest of the shopping whilst it was made up. Sheila needed to get some birthday cards, and I wanted to visit the butchers, so we divided our forces. (Sheila also got the paper, in case you were worried.)

I did my stuff, popped back to Rowlands to get the drugs, and walked back to the boat, arriving just as Sheila did.

So, if using a pharmacy in Middlewich: there are two, both Rowlands, one in Wheelock Street (that's the main drag) and one in Lewin Street (easy to access from the water point by the Town Bridge). They are both helpful within limits, and with friendly staff. The Wheelock Street one is a bit bigger, but the Lewin Street one includes the Post Office now.

So if you wanted both a repeat script and to get some Poste Restante stuff, the Lewin Street one would be handiest.

Having got everything done, off we went again, aiming for Wheelock. There was a fair bit of traffic the other way, and both Rumps Lock and the first Booth Lane Lock were turned against us as we approached, although the canal is very straight there and we must have been clearly visible. It was too nice a day to get upset, however, so we smiled politely and carried on.

The middle Booth Lane Lock is screened by a tail bridge, but the boat crew who arrived from above walked down, checked, saw us coming and waited for us. Strangely enough, the first two boats were privateers, and the third a Black Prince…

By the time we were up Booth Lane Top or Crow's Nest Lock, it was one o'clock and starting to rain, so we've stopped on the towpath above for the night. Tomorrow, we have the chug round Sandbach, and then up the Wheelock flight, carrying on as far as either Hassal Green or Rode Heath, depending on mood and the weather.