September Cruise - Day 12

It was a cool, misty start to the day.  Marbury Lock was the first of the day, and we appeared to be on our own.  As we approached the Wrenbury Lift Bridge, a boat pulled off the moorings and followed us through; they then operated the next bridge, so we were back in front.  But by the time we reached the top of the Baddiley Locks, there were two boats in front of us.  It was a while before we started meeting boats coming the other way.  It was a similar story at the Swanley Locks, but at least it gave us a chance to talk to plenty of other crews, particularly the two ladies on the boat in front.  By the time we reached Hurleston, we were in front because they'd stopped for fuel.

We were quickly down the locks, with just one boat coming up, and turned right towards Nantwich.  When we reached the town we moored in a space on the embankment, and went over to the Nantwich Canal Centre.  Adrian put some washing in, and we had an excellent lunch at the cafe.  While we were there, Bill Saner, the MD of the Canal Centre came over (my review of one of his boats will be in the next edition of Canal Boat) to talk about another story -- so we ended up having a look at the work that had been done on a boat badly damaged by a falling tree.

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking a walk into Nantwich, which turns out to be a very nice town with lots of interesting buildings.

Back at the boat, we sat in the cratch reading the paper and watching the boats go by.  It's clear that you have to be at Nantwich early to get a space!

10 miles, 10 locks (128 miles, 85 locks)