6^th May

June sat watching a large Dog Fox whilst having breakfast on a bright sunny morning. Soon on our way travelling through Lymm, and on to Stockton Heath where we stopped for the Sainsburys shop and drop off some rubbish at the recycling centre.

* Leaving Lymm

* Useful garden Shed

The canal was busier than we had seen for the many weeks as it is Bank Holiday and the Watch House and Lymm Cruising Clubs were out on their Club Cruises, we must have seen over 50 boats, most travelling back to their mooring in order to avoid the rain and wind forecast for Monday.

We arrived at the Preston Brook Tunnel with just 5 mins to wait before we could go through. At the south end of the tunnel we were buzzed by bats flying low over the boat and my head. There were several boats waiting at the other end and more waiting to come through the stop lock, they were the stragglers of the Lymm CC on their way home. The last one got through the stop lock just before their tunnel transit time was up.

Motored on and moored up overlooking the Dutton Lock on the River Weaver in a lovely sunny spot. It was a lovely afternoon so we decided to take a walk down to the river and explore the area.

* Dutton Lock

* Weaver Sluice at Dutton Lock

* Don’t leave your boat on the Weaver

* Old Inspection Boat being renovated

* The front Steering position with the wheel on the side.

As we walked back to the boats we spotted a very realistic Scarecrow, at first we thought she was real.

* Scarecrow

Climbing the hill to the canal we could hear what we thought was a drum beating and it seemed to be getting nearer. As we got back to the boat two Dragon Boats appeared around the corner at full speed.

* Dragon Boat Racing

* 2^nd Dragon Boat

Later on after dinner I decided to go for a walk along the canal and around a few corners bumped into a chap enjoying a glass of Whiskey on the bank outside Nb Buttons. I stopped to chat and never got any further with my walk as he was a most interesting guy who had been in the Merchant Navy and was a Vindi Boy like Max, on the Sandhills narrowboat of the same name. I promised to pass on his details to Max so that they could talk about old times..

7^th May

Although the forecast was for a really bad day we awoke to brilliant sunshine so June and I decided to go for an early morning walk before the rain. As we passed AY Carrolann stuck her head out and asked if we wanted to travel until the rain started.

We thought it was a good idea and so we left our mooring at 7.30 heading in the direction of Middlewich not expecting to get very far. However, although the wind got stronger, the rain did not look like coming and so we sailed on through the Saltersford and Barton Tunnels, again just arriving at the right time to go straight through. We continued on passed the Anderton Lift and decided to take the risk and travel on to the Flashes (an area like the Norfolk Broads) where we moored up just in time for lunch and a short shower.

The area is teeming with bird life, Buzzards, Grebe, Reed Bunting, even a Swan who poked his head through the hatch to be fed.

* Cheeky Swan

* Reed Bunting

The forecast rain did not materialise so we could have carried on to Middlewich. Even with all the sophisticated computers they still can’t forecast our weather. Lets hope tomorrow is fine as we want to push on to Wheelock to celebrate Carolann’s birthday at the local restaurant.