Wednesday 2nd September 2020
Wednesday dawned grey but dry. I had a shower last night, because I could not start the engine this morning, it would need to be cold so the mechanic could work around and under it as he lifted it up to get the gearbox off. I had a discussion last week with the NNC people about whether we should replace the gearbox at the same time, as it was going to have to come off as part of the process. It’s fairly clear we are going to have to replace it fairly soon, perhaps over the winter – it has been getting stiffer to get in and out of gear, and failing to go into forward when it’s cold. In the end we decided that it would extend the delay in getting the parts, so we elected just to change the drive plate.
The mechanic arrived on time, and everything seemed to go smoothly. It was all done in less than two hours, and I called Loulie to tell her to pack the pack into Jonjo’s van and set off. They got here with no problems, we moved everything into the boat, and set off at about half one.
I had sent another email asking for a booking for Harecastle tomorrow, and we had a spot on the first passage southbound, setting off at 8am – and we had to be there at 7:30. We did not want to leave ourselves any locks to do in the morning, but there are few and poor moorings on the Trent and Mersey between the top locks and the tunnel. Our plan therefore was to go up the six remaining locks, then turn onto the Macclesfield Canal. This would also allow us to go a couple of miles up the canal to Heritage Narrowboats, where we could get diesel, water and a pumpout.
Soon after we started it began to rain, and it set in to pour hard and steadily for the rest of the day. We worked up six locks, thus completing the twenty six of Heartbreak Hill that we had started in Wheelock a week ago. We turned right onto the Macc and cruised up to the Heritage base, keeping an eye out as we went for suitable moorings for the night. There is one lock on this stretch, the Hall Green stop lock, just one foot of rise, and we soon reached our target. Fuelling and pumpout was very wet, but it meant that we would not have to worry about stopping on the trip south for a few days.
We turned in the mouth of the hire boat basin, and set off back, with Loulie jumping out with the dogs to give them a walk. We went back down the stop lock and moored at a spot we had noted previously; a slightly overgrown bank but not too bad, and well placed for an early arrival at the tunnel mouth in the morning.
TODAY: 4:30 HOURS. 4.9 MILES. 8
LOCKS.
Voyage: 15:25 HOURS. 30.8 MILES. 18 LOCKS.
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