Distance travelled: 16 miles (by boat from Audlem Top Lock Visitor Moorings to Morris Bridge No 15)

Locks: 19. Total so far: 92

We were meant to have a nice slow day today with a canalside carvery (that’s a big roast dinner in a pub) but because of Treegate yesterday we had loads of catching up to do.

So we got up early again and started straight away with the Audlem local flight. For this hill into Nantwich, Thomas Telford had to build locks. Fifteen of them, but he built them in a pretty amazingly straight line. We got into a proper rhythm and zoomed through.

Then something brilliant happened. Our luck turned and we found ourselves sailing past Overwater Marina just as the cafe opened for breakfast. So, we stopped and swapped carvery plans for giant cooked breakfasts. We’d definitely earned it.

Later in the day we saw this procession of tractors of all shapes and sizes and makes and ages. We didn’t know what was going on but we think it was raising money for the British Heart Foundation in memory of a chap called Rob Vernon. Although it turns out there was another vintage tractor run happening nearby that same day to raise money for Eilidhs Trust and the Joshua Tree. I guess Cheshire loves tractors.

By the end of the day we moored up near a village called Church Minshull. We walked to the pub, The Badger Inn, for a drink as a group. It was a nice pub but the walk there really wasn’t great…there wasn’t a very good pavement and cars were going too fast. It was a bit scary really.

Still, it was great to be together on our last proper night. I didn’t want the trip to end.