Wednesday, 20th October
Today, I went to Kenilworth by 'train and 'bus. I left Nantwich at 10.30 and got back at 7.30. And I was at the dentist's for about thirty minutes! However, I also had a while on the computer in Kenilworth Library, and I shopped in Leamington Spa, so I used my day constructively.

One thing I found, it's not easy to use the conveniences when travelling on a train alone! If you take everything with you, you run the risk of losing your seat--and it was standing room only between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. If you leave a bag to reserve your seat, there's no guarantee it will still be there when you get back! The moral of the story is--go before you get on the train and don't have a drink from the trolley when it comes round!

Trev met me at Nantwich Station and we went for a Chinese meal. However it wasn't very tasty. We don't seem to be doing too well with eating out lately. May be we should give it all up!

Thursday, 21st October
We woke late--10.15, and thought of all those people out there going to work.........Bless them all! They're paying for our pensions! We set off from Nantwich and called in at Nantwich Canal Centre to buy coal and to ask about bottom blacking!

Now, I don't think I've inititated you in to the ancient art of bottom blacking, have I? Sadly, it's not as kinky as it sounds. And it's not the bottom which gets blacked. It's the part from the gunwhale down the side to the base plate, but not including the actual underneath. About every two years, the boat is taken completely out of the water, power blasted to remove the rust and accumulated debris, and then has two coats of bitumen applied. A visual check is made of the condition of the hull, the rudder and the propeller, to make sure all is well. And the anodes are checked.

Now, the proper name is sacrificial anodes, and my "Girls' Book of Anodes" tells me that it is "an oblong metal casting, electrically bonded to the hull under the water, whose job it is to resist rusting". We have four of these. two at the front and two at the back, and they are supposed to sacrifice themselves in order to prevent the boat rusting. The sacrificial process means that the anode is gradually reduced in size and eventually has to be replaced. Now, if you need to know more than that, you'll have to buy the book!

However, The Nantwich Canal Centre didn't have a slot avaialble until the end of April, and by then we shall have left the area. So, we have booked in with Neil at the Welford Arm on the Leicester Branch of the Grand Union Canal for the end of April. Another drawback to the Nantwich arrangement was that we wouldn't be allowed to live on the boat whilst it was being done, so we would have had to get B&B and the costs were beginning to spiral. Neil allows one to stay on board whilst it's being done, and, as there are a few jobs we want to do on the boat whilst it's out of the water, it means we can do them in the evening when the workmen have gone home.

One thing I didn't mention is how the boat is taken out of the water. There are several ways--it can be craned out, it can be dragged up a slipway or it can be taken into a dock, where a gate is put across the entrance and the plug is pulled out. As the water runs away, the boat gradually comes to rest on sleepers on the bottom of the dock. This last method is the one we want, as we have heard that boats can twist if they're craned or dragged incorrectly. then the cupboards, drawers, etc., never fit again properly.

Don't you learn a lot on this website?

The weather was appalling today, heavy rain and strong wind. We set off again and within two miles arrived at Hurleston Junction, and the four locks which lead in to the Llangollen Canal. I steered through the first couple of locks, but got rather unsettled, to say the least, when I entered the pound before the third lock. The boat grounded, and started to tilt. I get very uneasy when this happens. May be it's all those Christmas Day afternoons watching "The Poseidon Adventure"....... So Trev opened the paddles on the top gates whilst keeping the bottom gates open so that we could get more water in the pound. Eventually Liberty Belle refloated and I took it in to the lock.

But even here the problems weren't over. Every time Trev shut the bottom lock gates, I ended up right against them with the pressure of the water in the lock. So I gave it a bit of forward thrust, whereupon the bottom gates would reopen! Then Trev had to dash from front to back to shut the gates, dash back to the front to try to let some water down before the gates opened again. After a couple of times of doing this, Trev began to get rather agitated!! In the end, we managed it somehow, but I deemed it wise to swop places, in case it happened again!

The rain was lashing down by now, and we were absolutely soaked. We stopped at the top of Hurleston Locks for water, and then moved on a little way to Bridge three, and moored up. It was only three o'clock, and we'd only done about three miles and four locks, but we felt that was quite enough in such awful weather. We stoked up the fire and were very cosy.

Friday, 22nd October
Last night the wind was really wild and the rain didn't stop all night. There was thunder & lightning, but this morning it was much calmer, and we set off for Wrenbury. The rain started again, and it was a cold wet journey. We moored up and dried out and Trev walked in to the village for shopping.

Saturday, 23rd October
At last, today, we got past Grindley Brook, which is where the stoppage is for the next six weeks. So now we can relax and take our time, as this is where we shall be for the winter. The rain didn't start today until we were mooring up, and so it was a good day all round.

Sunday, 24th October
We cruised to Ellesmere today. We have friends coming to see us tomorrow and we know there's a nice pub there, the Black Lion. it was twelve miles and no locks. In fact there are no more locks at all now until we leave the Llangollen Canal. As we pulled in to the Ellesmere Arm, the rain came down by the bucketful, it was unbelievable! We moored up and dried out, and spent the evening on the boat, eating a very indifferent Chinese take away.

Monday, 25th October
Today, six friends from Nuneaton and Leicester came to see us. We felt honoured that they would travel so far, and it was the most people we'd ever had on the boat. Fortunately we didn't sink, and we all took it in turns to sit down! We had an excellent meal at the Black Lion, and they left around 4.00 p.m. We stayed in the Ellesmere Arm.

Tuesday, 26th October
We went for a walk round Ellesmere--that didn't take long! Then we moved the boat, as we had had our limit of time on the mooring in the arm. The weather was kinder today, we even saw the sun for a while. On a fence post in the field opposite I saw a large bird of prey, but I couldn't say what it was. It was about twice the size of a crow.

We also saw Jane from "Bramble" today. We've met her on numerous occasions, the last being on the Thames at Eynsham. She's spending the winter on the Llangollen, too, so hopefully we shall see her again.