The First Half of Heartbreak Hill

 Saturday 24th June 2023 at Hassall Green.

Ahead at Middlewich is King's Lock Chandlery, which R hopes will be able to supply us with a new set of batteries; however, a quick check on the internet confirmed that they do not open Saturday or Sunday, so we will have to mark time until Monday to find out if they can oblige. We should arrive there on Monday anyway, so the timing is right.

This next flight of locks, many of which are duplicated side by side narrow locks, is known by boaters as "Heartbreak Hill" - all 31 of them! We set off quite happily as we have never had any problem with these locks despite their reputation; in fact, we have always enjoyed them, many of them being well spaced out and in pretty settings.

This morning, R started doing the locks single handed while M was being domestic. This meant that, for once, M was in MM going through the locks. This is not a view that she normally sees!

Some of the duplicate locks are both still working, which speeds up the process.

Some of them have been allowed to deteriorate and others have even had one lock of the pair filled in. A sad sight.

R still hard at work as we went down the flight.

R's reward was a glass of wine and supper on the towpath in the warm evening sunshine.

Today: 4 miles, 13 locks and 4.3 hours.

Trip: 28 miles, 33 locks and 20.3 hours.