Rain this morning, but at least the strong winds had died down — although there was still a bit of a breeze. Macc and I got a bit wet on our early walk, but I was also multi-tasking: yesterday we’d been looking at second hand cars and consulting with our friend Billy who knows much more about these things. We’d found one we liked the look of, so as I walked up the towpath I did an online reservation to put it on hold. We got under way at about 8.30, and it’s only about 20 minutes or so to the Hack Green Locks. I got off at the previous bridge and found the top one almost full, so the gate was open by the time Adrian arrived with the boat.
While we went down the first lock I walked to the second one, which was also nearly full but with only one paddle working. Again it was full by the time Adrian got there.
We were down the locks in good time, and then it was just the few miles to Nantwich. It rained the whole way so I was pretty wet by the time we got there. We arrived just about 10am, which was when Adrian had a call happening so I got moored up on the embankment.
After lunch, Billy picked me up in his car and we drove to Northwich to have a look at the car I’d put a reservation on. It was very neat and tidy and a good price, and we had a decent test drive on all sorts of roads. So we’ve bought it! It means we’ll have a car for the winter — and in the spring we’ll either sell it again or it can go into storage. All in all it was a pretty good afternoon’s work, and we’re very grateful for all the help Billy has given us. He came back to the boat, where Macc greeted him like an old friend. Macc was tiny when Billy and Sheila came to see him in February, so he’s changed a lot.
4 miles, 2 locks. (338 miles, 221 locks)