Today though was very familiar waters, as we ready ourselves for the run through Manchester tomorrow. We didn't want to wind up having to spend the night in the centre, so we have positioned ourselves close to the urban area as a jump-off point. We didn't set off from Keckwick bridge until about half two, because we were only planning on about four hours cruising, up to our favourite spot at the Bollin Aqueduct. This took us through Stockton Heath, where we stopped at Thorne Marine and filled up with diesel - she took 180 litres, which is far more than we have ever got into her before.
We have an extra passenger on this trip, at least for the first week. Blossom the Labrador is with us, while her owner Shirley is at Pony Club Camp, where they can't take their dogs. Fortunately our pack already know Blossom, and she is Minnie's best friend - they are very alike. Blossom seems to have settled down pretty well to shipboard life - she was sleeping on the stern with the rest of them before we had gone too far.
After that we carried on through Grappenhall and Thelwall to Lymm, which was looking very picturesque in the sunshine. It is strange - when I approached it by road I never found Lymm very appealing, but arriving by canal seems to put an entirely different face on the village.
It was a beautiful evening, we opened the sun roof, which isn't very often possible. We carried on until just after seven, when we reached our target at the Bollin Aqueduct. To our delight there was nobody else on the stretch, apart from one boat at the far end, half a mile away. There were a fair number of walkers coming past though - one couple who have three dogs and a boat themselves photographed our stern because it is such a good design to keep the dogs aboard. Another couple had a Labrador with them, and we let ours off to play with it for quite a long time. We're off to bed now - we expect an early start, as the sun wakes the dogs, but in any case we want to set off early and get as far as we can through the city.
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