Not all retracing is a backwards step

Got through to Kings Lock Chandlery at 8.45 this morning, and they confirmed they could service both engine and central heating unit tomorrow, and for a good price. So when Aqueduct rang at 9.30 to say they couldn't, we were content. As it happened, we were already facing the way we'd come, so set off back to Middlewich with a happy sense that things were going in the right direction.

Shortly after we were astonished to find an impromptu session taking place on the off-side bank.

The crew of NB Jester were going strong with sax, guitar / castanets and a tuned drummy sort of thing a bit like a squat Caribbean steelpan. It was so much fun we stopped and gave them our ears and hands for a little while.  We'd have liked to have stayed longer, but other pleasures awaited.

It was a fine morning, much better than forecast. My best beloved spotted a chestnut tree, from which she would have liked to have replenished her supplies of spider-repellant objets d'art, but unfortunately it was the wrong side of the barbed wire.

So, back in Middlewich, we wandered down to the KLC (not the KFC) to make detailed arrangements for the morrow. Then I managed to get in touch with Steve at Evesham marina who, when we were there in June, had recommended a particular device for combining output from the two alternators and maximising it. Sounds like it might be the second step in improving our battery arrangements. The first was turning off the inverter last night and seeing a considerable improvement in the morning.

Things are looking up. And we still have the delights of the Shroppie to come, should we continue with our plan of going home that way.