Unto The Breach!

The wind died down overnight but it was raining at first light, so what to do ?  Er, I know, turn over and go back to sleep!

Later on Bombo looked out of the side hatch and said ... "It's stopped raining guys, lets go".


This tree had come down about 100 metres in front of our mooring but as we are a narrowboat we squeezed through.  A fat-arsed wide beam would be waiting for the chainsaw gang to arrive!

Crack she went ...

Just before we went through the Preston Brook tunnel Ray and Leonie (NB FireflyNZ) arrived, walking along the towpath.  They were moored the other side of the tunnel.  They walked back over the top to set the stop lock for us.

Once through the 1239 yard tunnel we were back on the good old Trent and Mersey Canal ... yay !

The stop lock raises up by about 2 inches !

Nice 1931 Tug ...

We then reached the repaired breach at Dutton Hollow ... wow, that was one big breach!  I didn't realise how high the canal was above the ground below, it must have looked like 617 Squadron (The Dambusters) had been through there.  It was a bloody big breach!

There are mooring rings there to tie up to now and the view is superb because all the trees were swept away down the embankment.

They are still working on the other side of the canal, probably putting the farmers field back together.

Looking down to the River Weaver ...

NB Firefly NZ following ...

We stopped for the night at Little Leigh.

We decided as it was a Friday night we would go out for a beer and dinner ... there were 3 pubs to chose from so I took the doggies for a walk to check them out.  The first one, 'The Hollybush' looked fantastic but to get to it was a bit of an effort across the fields, and I knew that the girls in their six inch stilletos would whinge.  Down the hill I went to the second one 'Horns Inn', but that was now an Italian restaurant, so lucky last was the 'Leigh Arms'.  I was checking out the menu outside, when this chap said to me, ''You can take the dogs in for a pint''.  "That's good,'' I replied, "but I am but a poor lad with no cash on me".  "No worries," he said, ''I will buy you one''.

So I went inside and it turned out he was the  pub landlord !!  What service .... well it worked!  The four of us went down later for a few drinks and dinner, it was superb!

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will set of for a big lift!