It gets busier every day

We left Dutton behind us yesterday intending to go to Barnton but ended up going on to the Salt Barge (yes, it's a pub!) at Marston, which is near Northwich if you don't know the area.

Us leaving Dutton 

We knew we needed supplies but couldn't bring ourselves to stop at Barnton where we knew we could restock. The problem was that we were enjoying the springlike weather too much!

There are two tunnels to negotiate along the way and we just missed our entry time to the first one at Saltersford by two minutes, partly due to still having to avoid detritus from Doris.

Tree across the cut

With a half hour wait in front of us there was enough time to enjoy a perfect BLT and orange juice with the aural accompaniment of a woodpecker in the trees above the tunnel entrance. Shame we couldn't see him.

We were just at the second tunnel entrance as a boat came out. As we made room for him he thanked us and told us no one was following him so in we popped. Now, this tunnel isn't straight but you can see a faint glow of daylight at the other end when the tunnel is empty and Elaine confirmed the "glow" beforehand.

It was quite a surprise to see a duck in the middle of the tunnel (what was she doing there?) but more of a surprise to see a tunnel light headed our way. Another boat had entered from the other end! We were well over halfway through so pretty much forced him to reverse out. I thanked him and he was OK about it, even though he claimed he was 200m into the tunnel (I don't see how that could be true. The other boater told us it was empty, Elaine saw the "glow", etc). Anyway, he had the smaller boat therefore easier to back up, right?

Having decided to forego the delights of Barnton (there aren't any!) our next stop was Anderton Marina for coal and logs. Unbelievably this large marina doesn't sell solid fuel but, luckily, the nearby Uplands Marina did and was accessible from the service block on the towpath. A quick back and forth with a borrowed wheelbarrow while Elaine sorted the water and cassettes and we were off again. There were quite a few boats on the move now and it genuinely felt strange to be sharing the canal after winter when we were the only thing moving.

As we made our way through Marbury Country Park in the continuing good weather it was time for the first al fresco beer of the season

Cheers!

then we saw another first of the year 

Delicious, er, I mean beautiful!

Soon we were at the Salt Barge, all tied up with the Sky dish pointing in the right direction. The four miles plus round trip to the supermarket (thank God for the Granny Trolley!) ended with a pint followed by a late tea then a very cosy night. Think we'll stay put for a day or two!