Into the breach

True to their word, CaRT got us through the troubled pound and lock this morning, even though their work yesterday had not solved all the problems and they were continuing to diagnose and plan further stoppage time. Coming down we passed boat after boat moored up, waiting to be allowed up. Stopping for water in Wheelock we found ourselves next to a Danish couple in a hire boat, who were 21st in the queue, and there were a further ten behind them. I think CaRT were going to work all day to get as many possible through, before another stoppage tomorrow morning to try and work out where all the water is going. As you travel this section it feels very rural, and it was a surprise to hear tales from the CaRT personnel of vandalism of the locks that had brought them out several times in the last weeks.

We were pulling up for our lunch (warm home-made bread – yummy!) when the expected rain hit us, and we thought for a while that we might stay put. But the sun came out again and the Met Office forecast promised good things, so in the end we came on all the way to Middlewich, home to the Wardle canal which, at just 47 metres long, is the shortest canal in England. We have a date here with Kings Lock Chandlery to get some free diesel – more about that tomorrow, assuming it materialises (the diesel, that is, not tomorrow, if you see what I mean).