A Glorious Afternoon and Evening.

Tuesday 23rd June 2026 Near Bunbury.

We drove up from home to Venetian Marina, where we were greeted enthusiastically by Shep and also by her owner Chris on nb "Gadding About" (great name!) next to MM. In true narrowboater's style, Chris kindly offered to help us with lifts etc., should we need it.

Having left the car at the Marina, for us to pick up tomorrow, we moved MM up on to the service bay where we treated ourselves to a Magnum each in the hopes of cooling off before setting the lock and then going through. This lock (Cholmondeston, pronounced "Chumley" by the locals) is our last narrow lock (all the locks from Barbridge Junction to Chester are wide locks) and our last lock going up (all the locks from Barbridge Junction to Chester will be going down).

Soon we arrived at Barbridge Junction, where the Middlewich Arm meets the Shropshire Union Canal; here we turned right towards Chester. The Middlewich Arm has been lovely.

Not long afterwards, we moored up half a mile before Bunbury Staircase Locks. Having already had a long day (the drive up from home was 4 hours), we decided to leave Bunbury for tomorrow. By this time,  the day was becoming really hot and so we got out the folding chairs, found a shady spot to sit and poured ourselves two large G&Ts.

 Despite the heat of the sun, there was a breeze, and so the evening turned out to be magical; and a very special evening for our last proper cruising evening. From tomorrow evening, MM will be in Marina and so this was out last opportunity to sit beside her on the towpath.

It was so nice that we decided to eat our supper on trays on our knees. 

Later in the evening we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset. What a special end to our last full day cruising with MM.

 From 18th to 23rd June: 7 Miles, 2 Locks and 2.9 Hours.

Trip: 188 miles, 139 Locks and 92.7 Hours.