Clare went to the wool shop in Nantwich this morning.  I opted not to accompany her – there’s only so long I can manage not to look impatient.  Instead I got on with sawing up some more of the boards I am reusing to build up the tandem cupboard.  I don’t mind hand sawing, but it is more pleasant in small doses, and warmed me up.

After lunch the weather improved enough for us to consider moving on.  The canal has been very busy with a steady stream of boats in both directions.  When I set off I noticed a boat coming up behind us.  After a mile or so it was obvious that they were going faster than us, so on a long straight stretch I slowed down and invited them to overtake.

They gamely accelerated past us (closing speed: about 2 mph). As they drew level, the water being displaced by their boat was rushing past so fast that we stopped relative to the bank despite making steady headway through the water.  The skipper of the other boat was clearly enjoying himself immensely.

I soon saw another boat coming up behind us and was wondering about a repeat performance. Luckily I realised we were now approaching a lock and decided to keep our place in the queue.  I’ve been so used to lock-free canals I hadn’t even thought we’d see any today.  The idea had been to get to a marina to buy some diesel.  By the time we’d cleared the pair of locks, it looked like we’d arrive at the marina at about 4pm.  On their website, it says they are open until 5pm “in summer” and 4pm “in winter”.  They missed out the detail of when these seasons start and end.

We spotted a mooring with rings and so decided to moor up for the night and get diesel tomorrow, rather than risk getting to the marina just too late.

Once we stopped, I put the cover up again at the back.  Clare had been talking to another boater about our paintwork at the lock.  She commented that we ought to finish off the detail work around the rear deck.  I realised that it was all enclosed by the cover, and so could be done today despite the threatening clouds.  I’ve also been annoyed by some of the splodges visible from the driving position, so it would be nice to sort them.

So boiler suit on again and I opened up the tin of Window Grey paint.  It appeared to be dark blue!

After a thorough stir it matched the grey, and not the blue.  So I managed to paint the detail around the rear deck – and a few low down bits at the stern.  I think it will look better next time I’m driving.