Oct 22nd

Normal 0 false false false st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Well all I can say is, this is what it is all about!  What a perfect day we have had.  When we left our mooring it was the most beautiful Autumn morning and before long the morning chill had lifted, the sun was shining in a bright blue sky, birds were singing - what more could you ask for - not a lot!  After about an hour's cruising we came to the first of six locks - after some of the locks we have encountered on our travels, this was a piece of cake!  Soon after this we arrived in Middlewich and decided to moor up for a shopping trip as we were getting a bit short on one or two things.  We found a Somerfield up in the town and managed to come back with two rather heavy bags - well we won't need to go again for a while!   We pressed on and did another three locks and then we had a 90o turn under a bridge, which Clive handled very well indeed and then straight into a lock.  When we came out of the lock we had left the Trent and Mersey behind and were now on the Middlewich Canal - this is the shortest canal in Britain and is our link to the Shropshire!  We decided to moor up again and have some lunch and then pressed on again to the last lock of the day.  After that it was just a gentle meander through absolutely beautiful countryside.  Cheshire really is beautiful Clive had made his mind up this morning that he wanted to moor up at Church Minshull for the night.  He remembers it from our previous trip on this canal back in 2005.  So we pressed on and finally came to the visitor moorings at our destination, complete with tie-up rings. However we couldn't tie up as the boat just wouldn't come into the bank, there seemed to be a shelf under the water all along this stretch.  Although the boat was only a foot off the bank we could hear and feel it rubbing along this underwater shelf, not pleasant!  Clive wandered along the bank with the boat hook, probing the water for the full length of the visitor moorings; the shelf went the full length.  He then got to the sign showing where the visitor moorings were and discovered that on the other side of this the water was clear - so we managed to manoeuvre the boat in reverse back along the bank until she finally came to rest snug against the bank.  Great - so much for visitor moorings!  Anyway once we got moored up we managed to look at the view - absolutely lovely.  The village of Church Minshull is nestled down in the Weaver Valley and looks rather like a model village from the canal.  It's very pretty.   Well that's all there is for today - a perfect end to a perfect day!