Through Harecastle tunnel again on the first of the month, on our own, so went a bit quicker than last time, then we headed off up the Trent & Mersey. We knew we would go past the house of one of Karen's parent's old boating pals who we had not seen for many years and were debating whether we were there or not when he walked into the garden and waved - amazing. We stopped for a cuppa and a chat and then moved on. Going beside the road toward Midlewich was quite emotional as neither of us had been there by boat but had driven it so many times to and from Karen's parents, always on the lookout for moving boats.

On up to the amazing Anderton Boat Lift, with a stop at the Old Broken Cross for food and a few drinks, on the way. It is a truly wonderfull place which I have not seen before, Karen says when she saw it last it was just a heap of rusting iron. It is now fully working and stands as a tribute to people power (including K's parents and the friend mentioned above) and the national Lottery.

We decided to delay a trip through the lift to another time and went back to Middlewich where Kings Lock Chandlery replaced our troublesome fire with a brand new Morso Squirrel which works wonderfully.

Complete with new fire we set off up the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Union canal. We stopped at Venetian Marina and arranged a mooring for December and January and then pressed on onto the northern Shroppie towards Chester.

For all you adrenalin junkies out there, forget Bungee, try turning right, up the northern Shroppie, at Barbridge Junction, when there is a gale blowing from the north west. It's fun I can tell you!

Chester was every bit as good as it should be, good shopping and a great walk round the city on the walls. Then we went up to the boat museum at Ellesmere Port. This was excellent, more than you can take in in one visist, you can imagine it when it was bustling with boats. The ship canal was also pretty impressive with a great view accross the Mersey to Liverpool Airport.

We left Chester and went back to Eggbridge. Cold and quite wet but we had to meet the man who was to measure up for a cratch and covers for the boat. Just before Egg bridge it all became worthwhile as we played hide and seek with not one but two kingfishers - magical.

Measurements were duly taken and the next day we continued south in glorious sunshine. A perfect winters day followed by our coldest night so far it got down to -5 but with the full moon was almost as bright as day outside. Anyway the fire kept burning so we were OK.

We passed Barbridge Junction again and carried on south into pastures new. The four locks at the start of the Llangollen looked tempting but BW closures meant there was no point heading that way yet. We carried on down through Nantwich and Audlem, both very nice towns. The Audlem flight of locks were a delight, there are 15 which raise the canal by 93 feet. This makes each lock only about 6f eet and they are in pretty good condition.

We did have some problems with the top two and the first couple of locks in the following Adderley flight but, like British Rail, I can put it all down to the wrong kind of leaves! The wind had piled them up so thick in the water above each lock that the prop spun, but the boat didn't go forward at all, it was like trying to boat through treakle. At one point we just had to bow haul the boat about 10yds till we were out of the leaves and then carry on.

After Adderley flight the water cleared and we motored on to Market Drayton in glorious sunshine.

The highlight of the next bit of the Shroppie was Woodseaves Cutting. Very deep, narrow, and dark with wonderfull ferns. You could easilly imaging Gollum was watch from behind the trees. Having not seen another boat move for two days we had to pass two here where there is barely room for one! to cap it all Karen actually got a photo of a Kingfisher in flight.

A brilliant end to November, here comes December and we're still cruising...