Dec 18th 09 - near Congleton

Ok did anybody notice it got a bit cold last night?  Well the flipping canal was frozen this morning wasn't it so all our plans are now on hold till the damn thing thaws out, which could take a couple of days!!  We have approximately sixteen hours of cruising to do, including quite a number of locks, in order to reach Church Minshull Marina.  Under normal circumstances we would say that would be three big days or four reasonable days.  Judging by the weather forecast we could well be stuck here till Monday, maybe even longer, which does not leave us a lot of time left!  The only way we are going to be able to do it  now is to get up as soon as it is light, when the canal has defrosted, and do as many hours as possible before it gets dark each day. 

So Christmas is on hold at the moment and if things don't improve very soon, could well be cancelled altogether!  Dreaming of a white Christmas is all very well when you are exactly where you want to be with the people you want to be with when the snow settles, if you aren't then it becomes more of a nightmare!

Oh well at least at the moment we have everything we need.  We are warm and cosy with plenty of diesel for the central heating and fuel for the stove.  We just filled up with water yesterday, we had a pump-out a week ago so are still ok with that, we have plenty of food on board.  The only thing we are lacking is alcohol! We have one bottle of wine and one bottle of beer - that's not going to last long is it!  Oh well, we will just have to go on the wagon for a few days!  Oh, Clive has just informed me there is a pub up the road if we get desperate!  He went for a walk along the towpath this morning just to see the state of the canal further along - it was still frozen!

That's all for now then - watch this space!