Back at bridge 96!

We had an earlyish start this morning leaving the mooring at 9 just after a short sharp shower. So there I was in my wetties determined not to be caught out again. Betty and I had 4 locks and the double staircase to do today and I must say that it was a lot easier than when we came down. The wind was very gusty so we had a few hairy moments. At Beeston Iron lock Graham went in first and Paul tied up but when it was our turn to go in the lock the boat was stuck on the bottom so it took about 5 mins to get off the lock mooring. Once again when we got to the staircase we couldn't get on the lock mooring as the Anglo Welsh day boat was on it so we had to double up with a hire boat and Graham had to hang back under the railway bridge as he couldn't get any closer to the locks. Two boats were coming down but the wait was a bit better than the hour and a half on the way to Chester.

We arranged to moor up by bridge 104 so we could have our last coffee together and say our goodbyes. Paul had to get down the weed hatch as there was something round the prop, a polythene bag as it turned out. We set off again after an hour, again having difficulty getting away. At the Calvely services a boat pulled out in front of us so we were away behind Tranquillity but managed to wave goodbye as they went under the road bridge.

Yet again we had to pull over as we seemed to be going no where but there wasn't anything in the weed hatch so we just had to live with the slow speed until we got to our current mooring. Paul has had a good look around and cant explain why we were going so slowly lets hope the problem has cured itself.

Tomorrow we are going the 2 miles to Nantwich and hopefully we will be able to moor up. Going down it was chock a block.

We have really enjoyed our time with Betty and Graham its nice to travel with friends. They are now on their way to Anderton and onto the Weaver hopefully we will catch up with them again in the winter.