Gathering

We were so glad we got to Middlewich yesterday. There's been a constant stream of traffic past us for most of the day. Not all the boaters were looking for moorings for the festival weekend, but a good many were. Most will have had to tie up a good way out of town, except for the few who managed to book a mooring prior to the event. Mind you, even then we've heard tales of boats that have been on the same site at this event for the last however-many years being completely resistant to the idea of having to move simply because of the technicality that someone else had booked their spot.

In the afternoon we walked down to get a new fuse for the shower pump from those nice people at the Kings Lock Chandlery.

It only cost me 25p. I'm going to remember Little Rich's trick with the paper clip, should it ever blow again. He put it down to "fuse fatigue", and the pump's been working fine, so I'm expecting it all to be OK for a long time (note to self: keep the filter in place over the shower plug-hole to stop hair reaching undesirable parts).

One of the boats that had come past us earlier was Captain Ahab on Wand'ring Bark with The Jam Butty in tow. We all waved and said hello, and as part of our walk we went down to the Big Lock area to see if we could spot him and Helen. The boats are gathering!

However, we didn't see them immediately and we were on a mission to Lidl and Morrison's, so it will have to wait till tomorrow. That's when the festival proper kicks off – looks like being a great weekend if the skies can refrain from throwing it out.