Clown of the day award goes to .....

......well let’s start with the alarm that got an extra hour today to wake us from our slumber. Better nights sleep so I woke more refreshed. We were chugging away just after 8 which worked well as when we got to Hack Green locks we had a tail of two boats. 

I forget how nice  this stretch of canal is between Audlum and Nantwich. Nantwich was full at 10 am with only one free mooring, shame as we like to visit the town centre there. I stopped for diesel at Nantwich canal centre ..... very friendly staff and took on just over 113 litres with the engine counter at 759 hours. I’ll check back on the blog to see when I last filled up.... I think Turners last year on the way back from Stourbridge.

Then is was a slow but uneventful cruise to Hurleston junction where I spotted a two boat queue for the locks .... no problem I’m a Brit so I joined the queue ! 

Enter stage left the clown, or rather the fisherman who was fishing spot on in the centre of the ‘ turning basin’ for the entrance. Of course the wind was blowing the left turning boats across said basin, so I advised him to keep an eye on his line as Percy drifted around while I got the stern into the wind. Ironically he said he’d already had one clown take all his tackle..... I think it was a wasted insult as I motored through his swim.... what a tit. 

It was very busy with boats going up and down and I’d forgotten how short the pounds were between the last two locks. The vlockies said it was relatively quiet with only 21 boat movements so far that day compared to the normal 45/50 that combined up and down. Bodes well.we took on water while we lunched but the cassette will have to wait wait as the Elsa was frustratingly our of commission ( I wonder for how long ) 

Then it was a nice gentle pootle getting reacquainted with the fast by-washes and the ‘ flow’ through bridge holes.

We past “our Cottage” A lovely place between the two Swanley locks that we came close to buying a few years ago, the current owners have extended it and made a lovely job of the place.... he even had his boat at the end of the garden ....lovely. 

We got to our target destination of Badderley bottom lock. I expect it’ll be an early start tomorrow to nip off the three Badderley locks then swing bridges !