No 3G in Barbridge–hence the late post

Sunday 9th June

After breakfast Simon took me in his car to Church Lawton to move my car to Barbridge – no Di Blasi this week as we knew he was joining us. On our return John and Gillian were out in their garden on the opposite side of the canal so we bade our farewells and set off along the Middlewich branch.

I was amused to see a sign hung in the window of a bank-side moored boat “Master Boaters slow to 2MPH to pass moored boats – Masturbators don’t” unfortunately I didn’t get a photo.

At one point we had to move round a tree that is falling into the canal. It appears that branches that were interfering with the towpath have been trimmed back but the rest is a hazard to shipping.

We stopped at bridge 14 to visit Church Minshull as Simon had promised to buy us lunch. We vaguely remembered using a path to access the village in the past but had to make do with the road this time as we couldn’t identify where it started from. The Badger has recently re-opened and does very good quality meals and had 3 real ales on hand pump. The food was not ‘pub grub’ and was priced higher reflecting the quality of the ingredients and preparation. All three meals were excellent so another establishment receives a Jannock recommendation.

Once we had rejoined the boat we set off towards Aquaduct Marina where I purchased 123 litres of diesel to top up the tank. Alongside the services wharf was a tug style boat for sale which had the wonderful sign writing stating “Registered in Guantanamo Bay” before it’s registration number on the cabin side. Brenda treated us all to ice-creams before we left the marina to continue our journey.

Through the last two locks and we emerged out of Barbridge junction to pull onto the waterpoint and refill the tank before moving down to moor opposite the Olde Barbridge Inn. I then took Simon to his car in Middlewich, bade him farewell and returned to Barbridge as we have a three day weekend this time.

Graham

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