From Barbridge Visitor Moorings (24 hour) to Ladybird Moorings, a distance of 15 miles, 1½ flg and 22 locks.
After spending ages stuck in queues at locks and knowing that most of the boats that were going the same way as us would either be heading for Hurleston Junction and the Shropshire Union Canal (Llangollen Canal) , or would be heading south to do the Four Counties Ring in a crazy number of days we decided that an early start would be a sensible thing to do. So Kathy and I got up and found we were surrounded by thick mist. We cast off and cruised past lots of moored boats, about 70% of which were facing south, so obviously no-one else could be bothered getting up.
Start : Barbridge Visitor Moorings (24 hour)
Finish : Ladybird Moorings
As we came along the embankment towards Nantwich Aqueduct I noticed that a lot of boats on the 48 hour moorings were exactly the same ones as had been there when we’d come through on the first day of the holiday and moored in the same places. Now Nantwich is a popular destination and the visitor moorings are always in demand and it seems silly that BW are quite happy to let boats just sit there and blatantly break the 48 hour limit by a significant amount.
The misty morning was starting to turn a bit damp and it wasn’t getting any warmer either and when we arrived at Hack Green it actually seemed to be darker than it had been when we got up and unless you looked at a watch you really would have had no idea of the time of day.
Coole Pilate Moorings had quite a few boats moored up, and to be honest if we didn’t have to be back on the moorings I’d have been tempted to join them.
By the time we reached Audlem Bottom Lock No 27 the weather was starting to clear up and it was almost sunny. The passage up the locks went pretty well, surprisingly well considering we were on a really popular canal in the middle of the school Easter holidays, the canal was busy but everything seemed to be working well and there were no major holdups
By the time we left the top lock it was a completely different day and the sun was out. We sailed through Adderley locks and Kathy and I sat on the front deck and soaked up the sun.
We got back onto the moorings mid afternoon and luckily the public moorings opposite our pontoon were not totally full because its a bit of a pain getting back into our slot if there are boats on the towpath side.