Church Minshull

Another fairly early start this morning, with a two and a half hour drive up to Cheshire for a boat test.  The location was Aqueduct Marina at Church Minshull on the Middlewich Arm.  It's a lovely marina, with a very nice (and very popular) cafe.  It was also fantastic weather wise, with clear blue skies; in the sunshine, it was a,so reasonably warm.

The test took quite a long time, because the nearest winding hole was a good hour away.  Still, Andy managed to get most of the internal shots done, in addition to the externals, as we went along; similarly, I steered three-quarters of the way, then the owner took over while I went inside to make notes about the interior.  Interestingly, the boat's index number was noted by CRT staff twice in the space of the few miles we travelled -- once by a man equipped with a handheld computer, and half an hour later by aman with a note book

We've never managed to go along the Middlewich Arm on any of our trips, on spite of trying a couple of times.  The few miles done today were very pretty; some of the route was on an embankment with fantastic views across Cheshire.  We really must return to this area to do the whole arm.  Unfortunately I took only one photo, and that was only on the phone, just as we returned to the marina.  It does at least show what a nice day it was.

The journey back south was trouble free, and I arrived at Briar Rose just as it was getting dark.  I'd been away for a few minutes short of ten hours, so was delighted to see the ecofan on top of the stove still turning (albeit slowly).  It didn't take much effort at all to get the fire going well again.

Tomorrow it's back home.