A busy but successful day

Another early-ish start saw us on our way by twenty to eight. We'd had breakfast but not coffee, so Sheila steered at first whilst I produced the brown nectar with the aid of the AeroPress. Once that was done, I settled down to a steady chug along this very pleasant bit of the cut, amazingly rural in contrast to yesterday's section through the remains of the chemical industry between Anderton and Billinge Green

The canal twists and turns around Whatcroft Hall and meanders along the valley of the Dane until it reaches first Bramble Cuttings, then Croxton Flash (just a little one, this) and finally leaps o'er the Dane at Croxton Aqueduct.

As planned, we stopped on the water point below Big Lock and filled the tank to the brim, then worked up to find a mooring above. Middlewich is recovering from the Festival of Folk and Boats last weekend, so the moorings were pretty busy when we arrived. However, Lysander and Parisien Star, with whom we've been leapfrogging every since we all had to turn back at Poolstock, were just going, so we were able to get into a pleasant space, a bit tree shaded but by no means impossible. It will be somewhat quieter than the moorings a touch further on by the playground.

As I'm typing this, the spaces are filling up again. After an early coffee we made an expedition to Morrisons for a change, walking up the road from the Big Lock past Middlewich FC to the cemetery and so round to the pedestrian crossing at the supermarket. On the way back, we sussed a short cut through the cemetery, but the back gate is a little tricky to find.

After lunch, we went to Lidl via our previous route through the playground. It's shorter but noisier along the main road. Coming back, Sheila retraced the route out, but I found a short cut through a Bungalow Court, over the side road to the Newton Brewery pub and so down beside that establishment to the towpath once more.

We'll do yet another trip in the morning to finally complete our restocking before meeting Peter and Jan in the Big Lock for lunch.