Dane Valley To Middlewich. 1 Lock.






50 miles later and some bright spark sticks a lock in the way.








From the two Poolstock Locks at the bottom of the Wigan flight to the Big Lock at Middlewich is just about fifty miles of lock free cruising. There is the stop lock at Preston Brook tunnel of course but at only six inches it doesn't really count.









A shall we shan't we start to the day. We did and got away with it.









This end of the Trent and Mersey is surprisingly narrow at this time of year.
Generally if you are going to meet another boat it is normally around a bridge hole, dont ask me why this is, it just happens. You can cruise for two solitary hours or more, get to a bridge and there's a boat coming the other way.

The morning ritual of waking, washing, getting breakfast ect can take up to two hours with no boat activity, but the very second you let your ropes go....... here comes a boat.

The chances of that happening must be millions to one, making a bet that a boat will pass you at that exact time must be something like betting on the lottery, yet it happens time after time.

This Heron was confidently striding along the bottom as we steered rapidly away from him (or her).

Here we are then.
We have pulled in for a few days to give Ubique a bit of TLC. After a year and a half of pounding the waterways some things need a bit of attention so we have made the decision to stop completely until everything is sorted before continuing our travels.




Until next time..........................






.