Olek is onboard

On Saturday morning, Tim arrived with Olek at 7.50 – they left Dalry at 5am, so it was a quick trip down, although Tim said the traffic was building up by the time he got to us – and then he had to drive back!

I think this is Bridge 92 that we were moored near. I like that its RH side isn't exactly vertical!

The rain had stopped by the time he left, after being pretty much constant from about 2pm yesterday, so we had breakfast (Olek’s second, as he’d eaten before they left Dalry) and set off. It was a lock-free day, but busy. We stopped just south of Congleton, moored up carefully to avoid nettles, and went for a walk through some woods, across a golf course and down a lane back to the canal, arriving back at one of the snake bridges, where the towpath changes sides and there is a curved path across the bridge so the horses didn’t have to be unhitched.

Feeding ducks is a key part of the trip, and I only look so much taller because I am standing on the stool!

After lunch we tried fitting the rope button on the bow – first it went on upside down … Then we found that chains for the lower hooks were too short. So we left it attached by the top chains – and we are going to get it fitted by someone who knows what they are doing. It will help if they are a contortionist so they can curl up on the front deck and lean out over the bow, undo U bolts, hook them through the eyes on the boat (under the bow), do them up, all without falling face first in the water that would, at the least, leave them dirtier than before they dunked or, at worst, poison them!