Day 59 - Middlewich plus another little challenge to overcome.

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3 locks, 300 in total!!







Whilst some parts of the country had their hottest day of the year I think we probably peaked yesterday, but not by much.







We headed back to Barbridge Junction and turned left onto the Middlewich Arm of the Shropshire Union. There aren't many locks on this Arm, not that we minded in the heat, and the views over rolling countryside are gorgeous as the canal seems to be at quite a high level compared to its surroundings. Attractive houses and farms too. There are 2 huge marinas - basic more than pretty. I think the Middlewich Arm ranks amongst my favourite canals. At the first lock we saw something about 100' up in the air, multicoloured, barely moving and flashing lights. Helicopter hovering? Hot air balloon? It could have been anything as we squinted into the sun. We forgot all about it as we worked the lock but then discovered the answer – and you'll have to look at the photos to find out! We met a large number of boats which had been picked up from hire bases yesterday or today – usually at bridges or narrow sections of course.















On a wetter note – we filled up with water first thing this morning and by lunchtime the water tank was empty; upon investigation however the bilge was full, water deep enough to cover part of the engine. It was our old friend the calorifier which had sprung a leak, either the tank itself or a connection which we couldn't get at anyway. We called River & Canal Rescue – the AA of the canals - pumped the bilge and waited, luckily not for too long. The engineer confirmed that the engine and gearbox were ok to use but could do no more. The only water we had was what I had scrounged from other boaters, stored in saucepans and kettle. A very kind neighbour also gave us a 2 litre bottle of water. John walked Hattie down to a stream to cool her off – she'd been panting a great deal today – and then we set off at about 4pm for the run into Middlewich, the nearest water point. There are 3 boatyards in this town and we hope that one of them can get us sorted within a few days. It could have been a lot worse!

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