20th June '12

I didn't want to get up today - mainly because I didn't sleep last night. John (bless him) took Paddy out and then went for his run (yes he's still doing that most mornings - it's up to a good half-hour now, the man's demented) and tried not to make a noise. I hauled myself up and had got breakfast started by the time he got back but it took a while to get into gear.

We walked down to the lift but after chatting to boaters last night who were going to the festival (one of whom was an IWA volunteer and knew about stuff) and it appears that not only are there no moorings available but there are no slots on the lift to go down this week or to come up until the end of next week, so we are going to do it another time when it's a bit quieter.

here are two boats going into the lift ready for the descent - it is a long and slow process. this bit is just a sort of holding bay and then they move forward into the lift bit together.

This is the whole thing from the bottom - John went down - I couldn't get through with Paddy so he became the photographer for a while. It's a massive structure and I'm looking forward to the experience later in the year hopefully.

The entrance to Barnton tunnel - 572yards long.

Coming around the corner before Saltersford Tunnel - we had to go in between the hour and 10past as it was one way traffic and you couldn't see the other end despite being only 424yards long. It was one of the first tunnels built and Brindley wasn't too good at going in straight lines at that point.

and finally ..... the entrance to Preston Brook tunnel - 1239yards and can only be entered from the south between the hour and 20past. Although over twice as long as Saltersford you can actually see the light from both ends. Miraculously our headlamp didn't go out once! Phew... mind you the longest only took 17minutes to get through and the lights usually go out after 20 minutes but John reckons the new circuit breaker is up to the job. I was still ready with my new 1000 candlelight torch, just in case!

We are now on the Bridgewater Canal - totally new water for us and it means that we have travelled the whole length of the Trent and Mersey - I have bought us a plaque to put on the back door to celebrate our achievement.

Here's the photo from yesterday of the heron wading through the shallows of one of the 'flashes', you can see how wide it is but not navigable.

We actually grounded a bit today - John was getting onto the right side of the canal to go under a bridge and the water wasn't deep enough. He got us off quite quickly - I was all ready to do my bouncing about on the other side of the boat or getting the pole to push us off but he got us free before I had a chance to do my hero bit.

There are NO locks on the Bridgewater - what am I going to do? It's not a very long canal but it IS the first to have been built. Our first impressions are good, towpaths are wide and in good condition and the canal itself is wider than we are used to. There are widebeam craft up here so it's going to be a bit different. We shall be going through places that we remember from visiting Manchester to see the boat whilst it was being built - in fact this is where we SHOULD have taken her for her initial voyage if only she'd been finished in time.

Weather forecast is horrendous for tomorrow so not sure if we'll do a lot tomorrow, what a shame. Theoretically we can only be on this waterway for 7 days without a separate licence - fingers crossed!

Nearly forgot - we are moored near a place called Moore! just a few miles up the Bridgewater.