Cruising with Shelley and Harley

 Friday 26th July 2024 at Dutton Hollow.

We set off from Anderton with "Lazy Bee" and "Many Meetings" one behind the other. 

There are two tunnels on this stretch of canal and, as they are not wide enough for two boats to pass, north bound boats can only pass through on the hour and south bound boats on the half hour. We arrived just too late to go through, so moored up to wait our turn.

As we waited, another boat sailed past and went into the tunnel, well past the time. It seems the rules just don't apply to some people. When the time came round, we went through and there was no sign of wreckage so they must have made it. Pity!!!

When these tunnels were being built, shafts were driven down from the surface and then dug from the bottom of the shafts out in both directions. Some of the shafts are still there to act as ventilation. They look a bit strange when viewed from the darkness below!

We moored up at the site of the Dutton Breach, where the embankment collapsed in 2012. We had moored here last year and R mocked up a picture of MM on top of the breach. It took six months to rebuild the canal.

After we had moored up, R went to write up the our boat log and he found that MM had reached a milestone of 3,700 hours running since she was launched in 2011.

We celebrated, together with Shelley and Harley, with a glass or two of wine sitting on the towpath. A lovely end to our first day cruising together.

Today: 5 miles, 0 locks and 2.1 hours.

Trip: 102 miles, 70 locks and 55.8 hours.