Look no locks

We are now on the part of our journey where we have just over 42 miles with only one lock, and that one is a stop lock at the junction of the Trent and Mersey and the Bridgewater. After all those lock free miles we have a couple of locks then Wigan Flight to look forward to.

Today we were back to the chilly, grey weather of April, I'm glad we took some time to enjoy the better weather yesterday but also get so work done. We managed to clear out a binbag full of rubbish which we then dumped at the bins at Anderton.  After that we carried on through the Barnton and Saltersford tunnels. We discovered after we entered the Barnton tunnel that our tunnel light had slipped on it's mounting and was pointing almost straight down so we came through with just the lights from inside the boat to light our way. That's not something either of us want to do again! We got it sorted before we reached Saltersford but I decided to walk over the top so I could get a rare photo of Morgana on the move.

Morgana exiting Saltersford tunnel

 As we left Saltersford tunnel it began to spit with rain which rapidly turned into a light shower so after another couple of miles we moored before we reached Preston Brook tunnel, we will tackle that tomorrow. There were a lot of boats on the move this afternoon both hire boats, some of them having just started out, and private boats. I expect we will encounter lots of traffic as it is a Bank Holiday weekend.

Here are a couple more of my collection of canalside flowers.

Red Campion

Ransoms

Today's journey 11.7 miles and 2 tunnels

So far this year we have travelled 284 miles, 173 locks, 5 swing bridges and 8 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 1485.7 miles, 1259 locks, 61 swing bridges, 38 lift bridges and 48 tunnels