We made our planned brief return home today - we will be back, hopefully on Saturday. We were already booked in to the marina.
Christine took the car from Hack Green to the marina, found out our berth, paid our dues etc whilst Mike brought the boat down from our overnight mooring. The canal was already quite busy with boats in both directions. She was delayed for a little while as we figured out how to link her phone into the car sat nav - we have only used Mike's so far. Lesson One: make sure that both Bluetooth and wifi are turned on . . .
There is only one bend in the canal on the route to the marina. This former railway bridge is about half way and, with a good telescope, it would be possible to the upper Hack Green lock! The sadly abandoned railway was the Market Drayton branch that connected to Nantwich in the north and the North Staffordshire Railway at Market Drayton. This was the most westerly part of the complex network known fondly as The Knotty and commemorated in a specially detailed dramatisation by New Vic company in its older surroundings. The Market Drayton Branch, however, was part of the GWR.
The allocated berth is right next to the canal (with an embankment in between!) so Christine was able to point out where Mike needed to head, and also texted direction (well, most of them. Pity about the missing left turn between the two right turns!) Overwater is quite a large marina laid out so that most berths only see a small proportion of the total boats. With the wind almost non existent, it was straightforward to reverse in between two other boats. Inevitably there were several permanent moorers waiting to welcome and chat!
We loaded in the up the car - luckily Christine was able to park it for unloading very close to the pontoon. Even so it was almost half past twelve by the time we left the marina entrance.
The journey back was very smooth. The first part was a rural route until we joined the motorway just south of Trentham. A few sections had speed limits because of maintenance work but no queues or other hold ups.
We set off with the car all but fully charged and the estimated range gave us a good margin to get home but this was by far the longest trip we have done in one go in this car. In the end we returned with about 27 miles spare! We thought that that was quite close but talking to our neighbours - electric car enthusiasts - they said that they once returned from France with just 4 miles left! We do not think that our nerves could have coped!
We now have a few days with innumerable tasks and meetings to fit in so we will return at the weekend in need of a rest, no doubt!
2.1 Miles - 0 Locks
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