After breakfast in our hotel room we drove from Cambridge down to the Essex coast, where we had an appointment to see a litter of puppies so we could choose one. We were deliberately early so we could have a look at a waterway we’ll never get to — the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation which is disconnected from the rest of the network. Heybridge Basin is at the end of the canal, and the Sea Lock connects to the Chelmer Estuary and out to sea.
We had tea and cake in the Tiptree Tea Rooms, which are run by the people who make the jam. The walls of the loos make this very clear!
Then it was time to make the couple of minute drive to the home of the dog breeder. Her Border Terrier, Poppy, had a litter of six: two were blue and tan and four grizzle and tan, and we’d said we’d have a grizzle and tan one. We were second in line to choose, so we had three puppies to see. To be honest, we could have had any of them. They’d just had their lunch, so were all quite calm and sleepy, but after about half an hour or so we’d both tended towards the same one, Mr Grey with the grey collar. His colouring is a bit darker, and he seemed quite sparky. Once the other two were taken away, he really livened up.
We then had a long drive back to the boat — but at least we can turn the heating on remotely, and get some lights on when we get close too. We’ll be doing the journey again in four weeks time when Macc will be coming back with us. The name was chosen because the whole process has happened while we’ve been up here on the Macclesfield Canal, so it’s a proper link.