Busy busy

For some reason it was really hard to get up and get going this morning, but I managed to surface at half six to make first thing tea and listen to On Your Farm, which was about oyster farming in Essex this time. It's fascinating what you can pick up on Radio 4 at odd hours.

We were away by eight on one of those nothing nor something mornings weather-wise. It wasn't raining, and there wasn't much wind, but high cloud kept it quite parky. I was glad that I'd wrapped up well for my stint on the tiller; sweatshirt, gilet, fleece and waterproof to keep the wind out.

We had a pretty uneventful trip to Macclesfield, with not many boats moving at first, though it got quite busy later. We were pleased to find a space on Gurnett Aqueduct, handy because we're meeting Peter and Susan for a drink at the Sutton Hall pub tomorrow night. The only thing was, we couldn't get a pin in to tie the bow, and none of the stupid rings were in the right place.

This is the usual scenario at Gurnett; the answer is to try driving the pin in well across towards the path, away from the concrete capping, but today none of our dodges worked, and in the end we gave up and came on to our preferred spot at Lyme Green, just by the winding hole. No probs here; tomorrow we'll be able to take a bus into Macc to do what we have to do in the morning. In the evening we'll either walk back to Sutton, or we may be able to persuade Peter to pick us up from the retail park by here.

We've had to light the fire straight away, and Sheila has started cutting wood again. Meanwhile, I did a basic engine service and topped up the batteries. We're both pleasantly weary (Sheila had already had some exercise, nipping off to shop as we came through Macc) and are braced for the equinoctial gale that's working its way north as I type this.