4 Counties Ring - Day 8 - Trent & Mersey (bridges 88/89) to Tixall Wide

Engine:4h Miles:7.5 Locks:3

Woke to bright sunshine, swiftly clouding over. Remained variable but mostly dry all day.

An easy run down to Great Haywood although it seemed that every other boat that we met was in a bridge hole.

Moored on Tixall Wide at 12:30. Had lunch then went to visit Shugborough Hall museum and gardens. Quite fascinating especially the Patrick Lichfield apartment and his wall planners.

The weather still cloudy and windy but dry so gambled on a coat of gloss paint over the primer on the bow. Fingers crossed!

4 Counties Ring - Day 7 - Etruria to Trent & Mersey (bridges 88/89)

Engine:8.7h Miles:11 Locks:15

Watered before heading off. No. 4 in queue for first lock behind a couple of novice hire boats and another boat. Boat 2 in particular was very slow to pick up the drill so Alison and crew of Boat 3 (Constance May) went ahead to whip them into shape - disappearing for so long that Andrew had donned windlass sling and gloves in case he needed to single-hand!

Sun trying to make an appearance from behind clouds.

Slow heavy locks - by 12:30 we had only got through the first 5 locks though crew had worked the locks several times!

Once boats 1 & 2 stopped at Barleston, progress was a lot better. Stone looked interesting and pretty but we pushed on through. We had heard that there had been quite a queue at Aston Lock this morning so we headed out into the country side to get through.

Towpath beyond is quite overgrown so continued for another half mile or so to find a lovely spot with the railway - never far away - comparatively discreet.

4 Counties Ring - Day 6 - Caldon Canal - Consall Forge to Etruria Museum

Engine:9.1h Miles:12.5 Locks:15

Debated whether to spend the day painting. Forecast good but cloudy and chill morning not promising. Decided to push back to Etruria and within 30 mins the sun came out. Still, a beautiful day for boating.

Lunch on the move once through Hazlehurst Junction - BLT in pitta. Cloudier again and headwind appreciably slowing progress. Topped up with water and offloaded rubbish at Park Lane Wharf (recycling bins not reached there yet).

Several heavy rain showers during the afternoon (which validated decision not to do any painting!) and quite windy at times too.

Shadowed a green boat all day that made good progress away from us but was slow at locks. Couple from Durham with two very chatty kids.

Moored at Etruria Museum by heritage boat Keppel

Arrived at Etruria and were able to take the very last berth right outside the Museum and under the nose of the heritage narrowboat Keppel - celebrity neighbour!

Really enjoyed the hot free showers before spending the evening at the Holy Inadequate - a very good real ale pub.

4 Counties Ring - Day 5 - Caldon Canal - Endon to Black Lion pub at Consall Forge

Engine:5.8h Miles:9.5 Locks:9

Bright sunny start. Up and breakfasted in good time.

Watered up at Park Lane Services. Esso garage visible from Bridge 31. Possible grocery source?

Met a boat coming up Hazlehurst Locks so all set for us!

Arrived Froghall 13:30 for lunch.

Churnett Valley very beautiful but canal very narrow and twisty for much of the way - the helm is never bored!

Part of the way we join the river itself - lots of space beside and below the boat - quite a different feeling.

Crew (Andrew) employed on voyage with scraping and painting the bows.

Beautiful sunny day and a top mooring opposite the pub. Definite advantage of having a shorter boat which can squeeze into small lengths!

The final tunnel - too low for us...

Nice meal and beer at the pub. Free range chickens wandering around the pub garden and occasionally indoors. Wide range of beers and ciders.

Another top mooring!

4 Counties Ring - Day 4 - Trent & Mersey Westport Lake to Caldon Canal Endon

Engine:6.8h Miles:10.5 Locks:9

A gentle start after the exertions of the previous couple of days. Alison stiff and Andrew nursing a sore shoulder after trying to stop a lock gate swinging open...

Raspberries foraged while waiting in yesterday's queue with muesli for breakfast - delicious!

Stopped at Etruria Wharf at 11:15 for water, Elsan and waste.

Staircase locks not straighfoward but negotiated eventually. (What Alison means here is that I managed to ground a boat coming down the locks by forgetting to close the paddles on the bottom lock... Owner was very understanding...- Andrew).

Bridge 9 - they were certainly were not kidding about the low headroom. Had to remove the chimney and Alison had to dismount from her steering stool!

Did some shopping at Milton which was mostly closed apart from the bookshop and a Coop and Nisa in competition.

Teamed up with 30ft Civente to go through the locks together. They are based on the Lancaster Canal and get onto the main system with a tow over the Ribble Link from the pilots @ £60 a go (interesting idea!)

4 Counties Ring - Day 3 - Trent & Mersey Rode Heath to Westport Lake

Engine:5.8h Miles:6 Locks 12 & Harecastle Tunnel

Steady progress through the remaining Cheshire Locks.

Passed Linda King (teapot) with Liz (Laus Deo choir!) as crew. It's a small world...

Queuing from Red Bull services and major queue at the Harecastle Tunnel. A Health and Safety survey in the morning meant late opening plus canal much busier now the rain has calmed down.

Entered the tunnel at 15:56 and exited at 16:40 after a trouble free transit. We were last in our convoy of 8 boats and the tunnel was therefore lit up for us by the lights of the other boats. Quite relaxing really. Even managed to spot the skeleton this time!

A sunny evening at last and a pretty mooring overlooking Westport Lake which we walked around after dinner to stretch our legs - very pleasant.

4 Counties Ring - Day 2 - Middlewich Branch (Bridges 24/25) to Rode Heath

Engine:7.4h Miles:11 Locks:21

Shared 2 locks with 30' Aslan II.

Paused for shopping 10:15 at the Mace stores near Kings Lock Middlewich.

Heavy rain at start of morning clearing with SW breeze.

Lunch stop just past bridge 158 on outskirts of Sandbach.

Pushed on during afternoon to find top mooring outside the Broughton Arms at Rode Heath. Not our first visit to this pub and we had another nice meal with good beer!

Heavy rain and hailstorm in the evening forced us to stay in the pub and have another pint while waiting for it to ease. This on top of belly pork and black pudding + banana cheesecake sundae for Andrew and steak and ale pie + chocolate crownie for Alison...

Still.. We had earned it with 21 locks today!