Three different canals (well almost) and a close encounter of the blogger kind...

I didn’t bother to post last night, we only cruised for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then spent the evening on Corbiere’s paintwork.

Me and Meg, Posing
We ended up just past the Weaver aqueduct, a ¼ mile before bridge 8 and Minshull Lock. Just along from here a brand new marina is being built, Aqueduct Marina.

New Marina Development
Moored just down from us were the Bywater Hotel Boats pair, Rose and Karnataka
Today we were on the way at 09:50, heading towards Barbridge Junction. Minshull Lock was in our favour, so we were through in no time. The Health and Safety Police had been around on the lock side, I see.

We carried on to Venetian Marina just before Cholmondeston Lock. We filled with diesel and replaced an empty gas bottle. The red stuff is 87p here, but will go up another 2p after today’s delivery.

I see the tanker drivers working out of the Shell refinery are out on strike for more money and picketing the gates, and there's another fuel protest convoy on the M6 between Cheshire and Lancashire tomorrow. I'm glad I live on a boat....

We just got clear of the marina service mooring and into the lock as Carol arrived, at the head of 3 or 4 more boats. So we moored above the lock and I helped the boats up, to speed things along, while Carol went shopping.
It wasn’t much of a hold-up, we were on our way again by 12:00.

Barbridge was busy as usual, but we turned out onto the Shroppie at the blind junction without incident, Carol following.

To Barbridge Junction.
We turned onto the Llangollen Canal at Hurleston Junction 1½ miles further on.

We were lucky at Hurleston, a queue of boats coming down the locks meant that we were able to shuttle from one chamber to the next easily.

Hurleston Bottom Lock
Between Locks 2 and 3
We did the necessary emptying and filling at the top of the flight and pushed on, past Swanley Marina, to the Swanley Locks. I was delighted to be met at the first lock by Sarah, aka Greygal. She’d been keeping an eye on the blog so knew we were around, and had spotted us passing the marina entrance where they moor. So she jumped into the car and headed us off at the lock!
It was great to meet her, I was so excited I didn’t even get a picture! It really made my day. We’ll try to meet up at some point while we’re in the area, so keep watching, Sarah, and I’ll keep a bottle (or 2) on ice!

We finally ended up just past bridge 12. It must be a popular spot, there were already 4 boats here when we arrived so we slotted on to the end of the mown section, in the weeds.

This is the view from the side hatch as I sit here typing…
Carol pushed on a bit further, to moor near a road bridge so Sonja could get to the boat. She’s staying with Carol next week. Another hand on the sandpaper and paintbrush, maybe??

It's been a grey day, as you can see from the photos, with a bit of drizzle around noon, But the cloud started to break up later in the afternoon, giving us a glimpse of the sun.

Locks 8, miles 7