Wild garlic and Bluebells.

A quick blog while I've got 3G on the I-pad. Tuesday morning we locked down Wardle lock,off Middlewich Arm of the Shropshire Union and on to the Trent and Mersey. The plan was to water up at the bottom of the lock. We came out of the bridge and reversed to the tap, only to find our connection was too big to fit the tap. This must be the only tap on the system that size or we've been lucky to dodge the rest. Carrying on down the next three locks we found a tap with the correct fitting. After half an hour topping up the water we moored at Middlewich 48hr moorings so we could walk into town. As I was tying the front rope a voice at my shoulder said"you've not been writing your blog,this took me back as I've done two since we set off which I explained to the crew of NB Serena. Unfortunately they were having trouble getting on line and had missed them. We had a good chat before going to town. It's always nice to talk to some of our readers. Back from town we left Middlewich by way of the Big lock heading for Anderton and passing the boatyard at Northwich where we bought Doublefracture then new and unnamed. It was a nice slow cruise in the sun to Anderton the home of the lift that drops boats down to the river weaver. It is truly a magnificent sight. It is also a great piece of engineering. On Wednesday we slipped our moorings early and headed for the Barnton tunnel(572yds long)the first of three tunnels we were to go through today. The second was the Saltersford Tunnel(424yds)this you can only enter between the hour and twenty past when heading north, as it is only one boat wide. Leaving Saltersford we were in a wooded cutting and the banks were covered with wild garlic and bluebells and the air was filled with the smell of garlic. The third and longest was the Preston Brook Tunnel(1239yds)this also is only wide enough for one boat. We had to wait till the hour(11 o clock)for the ten minute window for us to enter the tunnel. It took twenty minutes to reach the other end and I was glad to be back in the open air. I'm not good on tunnels these days. Our mooring Wednesday night was at Lymm a lovely little town. After dinner we decided to have an evening out, so had a few pints in the Bulls Head next to the bridge over the canal. This morning we left through open countryside before arriving in Sale and the start of our run into Manchester. Turning right at Waters Meeting(the left turn takes you to Wigan)we saw Old Trafford football ground before mooring in Castlefield in the centre of Manchester. Tomorrow we go up nine locks to the start of the Rochdale canal.