Bilbo and company

This end of the Trent & Mersey canal has a lot like this…

and some like this…

and even some like this…

traversing which you are guaranteed to meet very little coming the other way. But as soon you hit the reed beds, encroaching from both sides so that there's hardly room for you, let alone a passing stranger, four come along at once!

With the first we exchanged some jokey pleasantries. Passing the second I was too busy avoiding on-side hazards to chat, let alone take a photo. The third was a hirer who acquitted himself very well.

And the fourth was called "Bilbo Baggins", to add to my growing collection of Tolkien-related names.

 Also on a journey (though not an unexpected one, I think) down to Sandbach were Mark and Tina, stretching their legs in the Autumn sunshine.

And we passed some other items-of-interest.

Last of all but, appropriately, past so quickly there was no time for a photo, was NB Strider. So the Tolkien list now reads:


Arwen Evenstar
Aragorn
Bilbo Baggins
Brandywine
Gandalf
Goldberry
Hobbit
Lóthlórien
Many Meetings
Shadowfax
Smaug
Strider

Finally, tying up in Middlewich tonight we have traversed the shortest canal on the network. The Wardle canal is just 47 metres long, from bridge to Wardle lock.

Middlewich seems a kinder place now than when we first visited it last summer.