Getting closer to "home"

So here we are just short of Bramble Cuttings, which are the moorings visible on the far side of the canal.

Actually, you probably can't tell that there are moorings there but when we got here yesterday there was a boat there and a boat directly in front of us (he's just left). This spot is about 45 minutes by boat from Middlewich and is a rarity on the Trent & Mersey - a mooring point with rings. It's very remote but was full when we got here at 7.30 last evening (we just squeezed onto the last ring and knocked a pin in behind us).

We had spent Friday and Saturday in Middlewich on the Shroppie Branch and Sunday round the corner on the T&M and it wasn't great to be honest. As we tied up on Friday a couple of blokes walked past us with dogs on leads. As they passed a cruiser up ahead a pit bull type dog jumped off and launched a fearful attack on one of the dogs. The occupants (we later found out they're father and son, possible alcoholic/junkies who've been there for months) couldn't pull their dog away despite multiple boots to the ribs and ended up throwing both dogs into the canal to finally separate them. Then the son started issuing threats to a woman who witnessed the scene and started marching up and down the towpath with a hammer in his hand.

Around the corner on Sunday was different but not better. With queuing boats it took us over two hours to complete the four locks and a distance you could have walked in fifteen minutes. With the batteries charged we stopped close to another boat (on such a busy stretch it's polite to moor close up to allow other boats a chance to get in). The guy in front the ran his engine from 1pm until 8.45pm, no big deal even if you are supposed to quit at 8pm. No, the problem was when he fired up again at 4.45am the next day! When he came home from work at 6.30 and fired up again we knew we were in for a repeat performance so took an evening cruise down to here for some peace and quiet.

In some ways we are our own worst enemies. If we need to resupply we always plan to finish a day's cruising in a town, do the shopping and stay the night. All because once we stop we are reluctant to move on again. Time to review that logic I think. How about staying out in the sticks, hitting the next town in the morning, get the shopping done then back out into the sticks again? I think we'll give that a shot for a while.

In terms of us getting back "home", Peel Holdings have told us the Bridgewater should be open on the 24th or very close to it. We will give it a couple of days' leeway in case it's busy so should be back around Leigh at the end of next week.

Finally, remember how I said there was a remarkable lack of wildlife visible on the Llangollen and that we see more in urban areas like Wigan? Well, yesterday evening we cruised past a grass snake swimming down the canal. This was on the outskirts of Middlewich with housing right there on the towpath - bizarre.