We arrived back on board Tranquility on Saturday. She is looking really good after the new painting job, lovely glossy finish! Have already had comments from strangers about how great she looks. By the time we had unpacked and got sorted, there wasn't much time before darkness would set in so we decided to wait till the next day before moving away. We had enjoyed a good meal at the Big Lock pub at Middlewich on the way to Sandbach, so just stayed on board for the night.

On Sunday we got up quite early- ooh, cold!- and set off at 0810 towards Wheelock, in order to turn around. We moored back at Elton Moss by 9am, then left by car for Sandbach so I could go to Mass in the small, old St Winefride's church. We got back to Elton Moss by 1140 and left soon afterwards for Middlewich. It was cold and wet and we wondered why we had decided to use this week of our allocation instead of staying in a warm, cosy home....We moored before Rumps Lock, for lunch, then continued up to the moorings before Kings Lock, where we stayed for the night. Short days in Winter!

There were very heavy rain showers in the night and also some this morning and it was VERY cold. Steve went out for his newspaper and I went out later to post the Christmas cards I'd been writing. We went through Kings Lock about 10am and Wardle afterwards. Very icy. Quiet down the Middlewich Branch but we did meet 5 boats altogether. Apart from a rain shower to start with, we had beautifully sunny weather all day, but it was perishingly cold. (Hot water bottles were good for improving the temperature of frozen hands). We arrived at Barbridge just after 3.30pm and filled up the water tank, then tried to moor further along. Plenty of space but, as at other times, difficult to get near to the banking. We were intending to have a meal at the Barbridge Inn, but it didn't look too hopeful when there weren't any lights on at 6:15pm. However, we decided to have a look and discovered that the place is closed for refurbishment. (Loved the live Jazz there on Thursdays). We carried on walking to the Jolly Tar across the very busy main road, to see if they were offering food. Fortunately yes and it was very good, though the place was nearly empty. Back to TQ early, so time to write the blog!