Pastures new-ish

It was still breezy this morning as we set off from near Lion Quays, after a blustery night. But the sun was out and the birds were chirping in the trees, making it easier to forget how chilly the wind was.


It stayed fine until we got past St Martins, but then the first of several squally, wintry showers blew in. Of course, the snow had to arrive as we crossed the exposed moor…


The New Marton Locks proved challenging, especially the lock landings. The wind was now picking up, blowing straight across the canal, making mooring difficult.

New Marton Top Lock


You’d have thought though, with a three week stoppage to work on the gates, someone could have mixed up a bucket of mortar and found a few bricks…


The skies cleared as we left the bottom lock, but not before they dumped another snow shower on us.

At Hindford the canal swings to the east, so the wind was now behind us rather than on the side.

Approaching Maestermyn it was looking a bit dodgy to windward…

We almost got away with this one, just catching the fringes.

We pulled in just past Bridge 4W, a fine open stretch of moorings with sunlight streaming in the side windows. Well, for a while, anyway.

Bridge 4W

There’s a dirty great hole in the brickwork at water level on the offside, the reason why it’s being closed for repair from the 19th of February for 3 weeks. We’ll have to be back up from the Monty and through here by then, otherwise we’ll be cut off from the western end of the canal. We could always go to Ellesmere for a bit though, after the 22nd when more bridge repairs are supposed to be completed.

If you get a break in the cloud don't forget to have a look at another Super Moon tonight.

It's at the closest point in it's orbit now, making it appear larger and brighter. It's also a "Blue Moon", the second full moon this month. And to top it off, further east there's a lunar eclipse, giving it a red-tinted aspect. So they're calling it a Super Blue Blood Moon. Apparently it's not happened for over 150 years...

Locks 2, miles 4½