It was a good decision yesterday moving to the Town Moorings as the housed gave us evening shade, I even had to get up during the night and close the hatches because we were feeling cold.This morning was much fresher, a bit of cloud and a breeze.
We pushed off at about 10am up to Hunts Lock which is maned at weekends. At the lock there was no sign of life but a notice in the window with a phone number saying they were at vale Lock so I gave them a ring to let them know we were waiting. They had two boats to lock down Vale and then they would be with us. It must have been about mid day when they arrived, just a barge came up and moored by the lock gate and a cruiser came in just in front of us. I went to see the lock keeper, a proper CRT one and he assured me, both us and the barge would get in together and we did.
We both thought they could have squeezed the cruiser in, but he locked up alone afterwards. Severn’s plan was to go up to Winsford and back down again this afternoon. He left the lock first and off he went.
when we reached Vale Lock he had just tied up to the wall and we tucked in behind him. We had bit of a wait for the lock keepers as they had to lock the cruiser up Hunts, close up and then drive to Vale Royal. The cruiser turned up just after they did. Again Severn went in first against went to the right bank and we lay beside him. Being 60 foot long even he looked small in the lock.
While waiting he lowered the forward section of his cloths so that he could clear Newbridge Swing Bridge with it’s 2M clearance. We waved him goodbye and pulled onto the visitor moorings for lunch.
A couple of hours later just before we set off again he came down the river heading back to Northwich.
I think the good people of Cheshire must all be doing their laundry today, looking at the outflow of the sewage discharge point. Loads of foam.
At the Red Lion a small dingy had just pulled in, he had ran out of petrol and had to row back, I offered him a tow to the slipway but he said if we had been an hour earlier he would have been glad of it. We carried on past the end of the CRT navigation to the
mouth of Winsford Flash where I decided to reverse down into the moorings. A real pigs ear as soon as I stopped the wind caught my bows and tried to turn me round as I went back down. having the prop in the treacle in the mooring arm didn’t aid manoeuvring. There is only a little sailing boat moored here, but as I wright this it is thundering and the heavens just opened.
Today’s Journey lots of hanging about.
5¾ miles with 2 locks in 4 hours
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