Moving on from Etruria

Moving on from Etruria

June 2014

After a frantic weekend at the Etruria Festival we took our leave on Monday morning, saying goodbye to Barry and Sandra who will be heading north and out of our radius for a couple of months till me meet up again in September at the Black Country Boating Festival.

Goodbye for a couple of months! (selfie)

I always find it odd when a festival dissipates. One minute its all there and the next everyone has dribbled away and suddenly you find yourself the only boat / tent on the ground.

And so we set off north, returning to base "the long way round" via Middlewich and Nantwich. No matter how many times we pass through the Harecastle Tunnel its always a bit of an event. This time the tunnel keeper handed us the usual instruction sheet and given the tragedy last week I made sure Helen was aware of the alarm code should anything go wrong. Of course, all went well and we were soon passing through Red Bull Junction and into the top end of Wheelock Hill.

Rode Heath

Steady progress was made and we ended up in Rode Heath where we met something of a Roving Traders convention - The Justina and Mark (Rosette Boat) who are a victim of their own success, Vapours and another boat selling canal craft nick nacks. Whilst we didnt open for business we did have some jam on the roof which was purchased by a boat following us down - all seven jars of it!

Justina, Mark and their dog just before my windlass hit him! Sorry.....

The second day of our travels took us to Wheelock for lunch where the horesboat Maria was moored and we paused in the Cheshire Cheese where we had a pub lunch washed down with a pint of Hydes Ale. Not a bad little waterside watering hole if you are in the area.

Jacqueline - Ducks 2 Water

Then its was on to Middlewich and into the Middlewich Branch via the diminutive Wardle Canal. Having looked at the weather forecast we ditched the plan to visit the Weaver and settled on a more relaxed trip back so stopped early mooring just in front of Jacqueline on Ducks 2 Water.