The last time we took "Forget me Not" and "Hazel" away from home waters and didn't get a problem with either water shortage or lock failures was 2017. Now funding is being cut for the waterways (so that billionaires don't have to pay too much tax).
It would have been OK if "Forget me Not" hadn't broken down at Runcorn. We could have got home easily. Unfortunately, while the boats lay at the Sprinch in the care of the Bridgewater Motor Boat Club a heelpost failed at lock 87 of the Rochdale canal. OK, I thought, we'll have to go the long way round via Macclesfield, only to discover that there was another heelpost failure at lock 57 of the Trent & Mersey canal.
We decided that it looked like the longer route would be open first so, once we got the engine running again, me and Aaron started the boats moving, reaching Broken Cross near Northwich on the first day. We had to go back to Ashton to do the Thursday shop deliveries but returned on Friday ready for a saturday move on to Middlewich helped by Sam Kennion. We had a good crew on Sunday with Alistair, Chris Gladwin, Paul and Kate Sillitoe and, of course, Aaron.
It was an excellent journey up the Cheshire locks as far as Malkins Bank to tie outside Pam and Malcolm's boatyard. The boats are just a few locks short of the broken lock and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will re-open at the end of the week.
