An easy Day. ( For me!)

It was a cold start.  Overnight the temperature dropped leaving the boat dew covered this morning. Whilst not under trees, they sheltered us from the morning sun.

Showered and we were off the very short hop to the only lock of the day adjacent to Venetian Marina.  Saw our pal from yesterday at his mooring in discussion with a chap.  No doubt this revolved around the reason he could make no progression!   Gawd, I do sound a grump, but I am not honest!

Once up, we made steady progress towards Barbridge junction.  There are many moored boats here, but it was a beautiful morning and to glide through still waters in the sun was sheer pleasure.  At the junction we turned south, onto the Shropshire union proper.  There is a water point here, right on the junction.  A boat was filling but we decided to wait behind him in order to take our turn.  This meant our stern somewhat  protruded near to the the junction, but it did not pose a problem.  CRT or their predecessors certainly know how to make water points challenging!

Soon watered up and we began the journey south.  For once we passed Hurleston junction without turning.  A little sad really, but hey ho.

 We are now onto a busy canal.  The traffic certainly increased.  We soon approached our destination for the day, Nantwich and managed to moor just prior to the junction with the basin.  We now have the " Shroppy shelf" to contend with.  Not easy to moor without the base grinding against the sloping stone or concrete bank.  This is really only a problem when boats pass, so tonight hopefully, we should be ok.

I walked the bog to the services, whilst Ali took a mega wash load to the Launderette at Nantwich canal centre.  Once done, we decided to walk into the rather pleasant town in order to do a little food shopping.  They have an M&S food here, so no contest where we went.  We did not need too much and on the way back called into the historic and excellent Cheshire Cat ( http://www.thecatat.com/ ) for a lovely meal.  What a pleasant and civilised place Nantwich is.  Very busy canal wise though.

Tomorrow we are popping into the canal centre for an engine service and fuel. Add a gas bottle to that!  So not a cheap day in prospect.

Ali has been asking just what the item I got from John Lewis to " Fix" the toilet lever/handle was.  Well this was what I got.

http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-havana-muddler/p1399174

And this is how I used it.

The original Thetford handle snapped off the spindle, leaving a hollow tube. By cutting down the " Muddle", sanding it down until it would snugly fit into the tube, then securing it with a small screw, voila!  It works....  The alternative was trying to source the spindle online, get it delivered, then dismantle the whole toilet in order to fit it!  The thing seems more robust than the original!

So an easy day cruise wise. The sun shone and caught up with a few chores and had a lovely meal.  A very nice day all in all.

Miles 6
Locks 1