A bright crisp sunny day greeted us this morning. Wall to wall sunshine. We got under way and first port of call was Wardle Lock. Maureen's cottage seems to be looking better each time we pass. The gardens have now been cleared and it looks like new windows installed.
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| It's still called Mareen's cottage after all this time. I guess it always will always be Maureen's cottage. |
Having descended the lock and with no other boats moving I hovered AmyJo at the junction while Chris helped Eric to lock down. I do enjoy keeping AmyJo "on station" Small burst of throttle backward and forwards help to keep her in the same spot, alowances made with the tiller due to the wind and so on.
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| I quite enjoy holding on station whilst waiting for Chris |
At the Middlewich locks the top and middle locks were against us but the bottom was full. This was due to the sheer amount of water flowing down the by washes, overflowing the top gate. I single handed AmyJo through the locks and Chris worked them for Eric.
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| Autumn leaves carpet the area around the locks |
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| AmyJo in the pound above the middle lock bathed in sunshine |
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| Dropping in the Middle lock while Eric waits above |
After descending the bottom lock I tied AmyJo up just below the bottom gate and reset the lock for Eric. AmyJo lay patiently tethered by her center rope just in front of the bottom gate until I returned to her prior to Chris letting the lock down.
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| Bottom lock ready for AmyJo to enter |
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| and parked below the bottom gate |
Our final lock of the day was Big lock, unusual as its a double lock not a single. A watching couple opened and closed one of the bottom gates for us.
Shortly after leaving Big lock Chris started to get a Migrain so retired below. Fortunately it did not turn into a full one and by evening had reduced to just a dull ache. This meant there were no more photos taken until we reached Anderton.
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| Decsending Big Lock |
Sadly on arrival at Anderton the staff informed us the lift was no open due to the flooding. So we will have to try again another time, it just was not meant to be. The lift closes for the winter on the 4th November so it will have to wait until next year now.
Total distance:10.31 miles Elapsed time:5h29m49s Locks:5 Bridges:39
Average speed:1.88 mph (2.78 lock/mph)
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