A 'smashing' time was had.

Two things we wanted to do today. One, find Asda and two, find a tackle shop. For Asda we needed bridge 29, easy you might think but none of the bridges had numbers and some even had no names. So it was more by luck then judgement that we stopped by the right bridge. And with rings to tie to,  a bonus in itself as rings on the Bridgewater are few and far between with long lengths of concrete edges running along a good bit of it.This makes banging pins in a bit difficult. Still, find the right spot and the pins go in like a dream and as the canal is deep and a good width those speeding boaters don't get to pull them out. Anyway I digress. We looked on Google Earth, found Asda and the route we needed to take. Very easy to find but a good long walk. Reckon nearly a mile each way.

Shopping done we carried on towards Sale.

 Long and straight is the only way to describe coming into Sale, and a rower was making sure he had the whole width. He did move over at the last minute but we were still hard over on the offside. As he came past we noticed a mirror attached to his hat. No excuse then not to see us and move over in plenty of time.

Bridge 35 is the second bridge.

Long and straight.

It was about this time that a crash was heard in the galley whilst Ian was below making a cup of tea. He came out on the back deck looking very sheepish. My canalware tea caddy had slipped from his grasp and lay smashed on the floor. He thinks he may be able to stick it together but I'm not convinced. So now I need to find another, hopefully I'll find one similar on line.

 By Bridge 35 we moored on rings again, only a very short length but just enough for two boats to tie up and we managed to get on the tail end. Walking toward Sale town centre we came across a Pet Shop also selling fishing bait. Not quite the tackle shop I expected but at least I could get my wrigglers. Then on the way back I noticed a ladies hairdresser doing dry cuts for £10. I dont mind paying that for a 15 minute cut, it's when they ask over £15 that I object to. I could be shorn within the hour so back to the boat to drop off my bait before walking back again to have a short back and sides. ( I really have gone very short! At least I wont have to be done for a while)

We were going to continue on our way but the rain started as I arrived back at FS. It rained for 5 hours so we battened down the hatches and decided to stay. Trains were very near as well as cars going over the bridge and we did think we could be in for a noisy night. Oh well I expect things will quieten down eventually.

Wildlife today, a Gosling trying to eat a Dandelion.