I know it has been a big gap since the last post but this winter seems to have dragged on so despite that we are now on the move again  first day down to Macclesfield and the superb fish and chips at the Chinese and despite being moored outside a pub a quiet night then onward next day in strong winds to the Bosley flight of locks we stopped for lunch just before the locks when a hire boat that we had given directions  to the water point  earlier in the day appeared but because of the strong wind banged into us twice no harm done so we helped them off the side although the wind seemed to have them glued on  and away they went with us following later but when we reached the top lock we had the same problem it took us ages to get going again with hilary driving and me pushing  the boat out .
Two and three quarter  hours later we reached the bottom of the flight and moored up for the night when the lady from our previous encounter appeared with two pieces of home made flapjack one for each bump  very tasty too .
Another quiet night although we were overlooking the site of an horrific explosion last year at a wood chip factory ! Today  our new friends set off , turned around and went back up the locks and towards the hire base and the end of their   holiday.
We travel onwards down onto the Trent Mersey where we have stocked  up on gas and coal at Smithsons before entering Harecastle tunnel a mere 2926 yards long that only took us forty minutes to complete,
a doddle after last years attack on the Standedge.
We are now moored next to Westport lake in Stoke on Trent settling down for the night