Dark skies on the horizon.

 Oh if only!! If only we could have stayed warm and dry in FS today and not had to venture out in these atrocious conditions. Yesterday we spoke to Carole and Alan and, like fools we are, arranged to meet at Stafford boat club on Friday or Saturday. This means early starts and long days for us to make that date. So from where we moored in Middlewich, we have 65 miles and 42 locks to do in 4 days. Regardless of the fact it was lashing it down and would rather have stayed in the dry, we left very early this morning.

Mist rising at 6.30am.

Who in their right mind would travel in this!!!

 The skies were dark and dramatic and deposited vast amounts of water all over us , and then on the other extreme the sun came out and the glare on the water was blinding.One minute we were wet and cold and the next we were steamy and hot!

The going was slow at first because of those sensible boaters who stayed put and out of the rain. This  meant we had to creep past long lengths of boats for what seemed like ages. First two locks on the Middlewich branch of the Shroppie were against us but having turned L at Barbridge Junction, we got lucky when a boat exited the bottom of the Hacks green locks.The journey through Nantwich was also slow. So many boats moored and only a few coming toward us. At the aquaduct we met a couple who said they read my blog. Apparently we first met about 5 years ago on the Leeds and Liverpool at Skipton on one of the waterpoints. I think he said his name was Jack? or John? but I caught the lady's name as Jill. Hello to you both and thanks for reading my ramblings.

 We came across another sunken boat on the way to Audlems 15 locks. This time the canal was wide enough not to impede the navigation but could still become a hazard if nothing is done about it.

 Initially our plan was to moor at the Shroppie Fly if a space was available, but it was still early afternoon and, with boats coming down the flight, we decided to go for the full Monty and do all 15 locks.

Approaching the Shroppie Fly.

And looking up the flight.

The by washes on this flight are wicked!

 In fact I'm not sure if we made the right decidion because more boats were going up then coming down. The boat immediatly in front was a single hander so to help him along, I would get our lock ready for Ian, walk up to help him through his lock, before coming back and doing ours. I was pretty pooped by the time we reached lock 3. By now it was 4.45pm so we called it a day with two more locks of the flight to do tomorrow. We expect another early start and I'm really hoping the weather is a kinder to us then it was today.
Total miles 18 and 17 locks in 8.5 hours.

Wildlife for today,

Wonder if this rug gives him a complex?

Enjoying the sun.

Have added this because I liked the dark sky behind it.