With only a couple of cruising hours left, plus one lock, we had no need to make an early start and it was mid morning, after some domestic activities, when we decided to make a move. As soon as we started to unloose our mooring ropes and draw pins, then a couple of boats tuned the corner just behind us and so by the time we were at the lock (only 100 m away) we were ate the back of ta queue of three, although the first was able to enter the lock quite soon.
Stanthorne Lock is very deep and takes some time both to fill and empty so it is little wonder that at busy times it an be quite a bottleneck, along with the other three locks on this branch.which is just under ten miles from end to end.
Eventually it was our turn - on this occasion all the arriving boaters were happy to help each other through and to speed things along just a little.
It was mixed weather - a little rain, grey at first
then a little blue started to break through
and finally quite bright. We paused at the last visitor mooring before the marina to have lunch.
However, when we set off for the last quarter of a mile, the wind was strengthening and by the time we had turned off the canal it was quite tricky to manoeuvre. We had already been shown where to moor and so we planned our approach as best we could, watching the flags indicating the wind direction. Alas, our allocated slot was occupied! Also, the service mooring was busy and as we looked around we were quickly blown down the water to the end of the marina where we did eventually manage to turn around and then come in to a vacant slot.
The mooring manger was in a meeting for a little while so we did one or two other tasks as we waited - failing to obtain a replacement bolt for the side hatch was one of them. Not that the chandlery lacked effort! They did not stock the correct size item but they scoured their supplier catalogues, made a phone call to one of them and then looked on-line but to no avail. Full marks for effort. We do not know how the bolt became damaged but it looks as if something caught it when the hatch was open, just enough to pull the housing part out of shape. Ideally we want one with exactly the same footprint of fixing holes as it attaches to a metal door. We had a similar problem with one on the sliding hatch at the rear door but at least that screws into wood.
Finally we made progress on where we were to moor - it seems that there has been a moving around of several boats and we were caught mid process and that first slot would not be free now until tomorrow. Instead they allocated another mooring but in a different bay of the marina so we had to navigate around in the strong wind.
All was going well until the final turn to reverse into the narrow space - the adjacent slots were occupied. By now the wind was blowing almost head on to the reversing boat which meant that a small variation would blow the front of the boat either one way or the other. Whichever direction Mike tried for it was the wrong one until about the fifth (at least!) attempt he picked the right angle and, in the end, slid into the space quite smoothly. At least we avoided hitting anything in all of this to-ing and fro-ing.
We drive into Nantwich, about three miles away, and called at Morrisons to pick up a few items including rolls for lunch on the way home tomorrow as well as fill the fuel tank
5.9 Miles - 1 Lock
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