Proud to fly the NZ flag on English canals

Tuesday 22 June. 5 miles. 5 locks.

Another pleasant day in the country. Very hot with no shade until 1400. Found the only tree overhanging the canal and stopped for lunch (2 hours) then moved on when it cooled down. Spent the night at Wheelock, the bottom of what is known as Heartbreak hill.

Wednesday 23 June. 5 miles, 20 locks.

An interesting day as we climbed up the hill. This was our first experience of paired locks. Independent locks side by side so you have double the chance that one will be "set" for you. In our case empty as we are going up. Worked pretty well as 15 out of the 20 were set. spent the night at a quiet spot just before Kidsgrove. 6 locks short of the tunnel.

Thursday 24 June. 5 miles, 6 locks, 40 minutes underground.

Climbed the last 6 locks, passed under the Macclesfield canal. Been told by many we should do that canal. Next time? Had lunch at the Harecastle tunnel entrance while waiting for the northbound traffic to come through, one way. Then around a very tight turn for a 70ft boat into the black hole. The further in the narrower it got, the fumes were thicker and the noise from engines an fans got deafening. Kept looking for the light at the end of the tunnel and eventually saw a shaft of light. Looked like light from a ventilation shaft. Next minute out of the gloom comes a big "STOP" sign which had me confused, then full reverse, end of tunnel, doors closed. Diana says Bang I say small nudge. Tunnel keeper was saying al sorts of things I couldn't hear. doors open. Brilliant sunshine. Make peace with Keeper and park up a mile down the canal beside a lovely Westport lake. Off to find a pub to watch All whites. First 2 pubs didn't have football on. 3rd was watching Italy but were more than happy to watch the All Whites since we were there. After 20 minutes of trying to tune the TV to ITV4 we watch Italy miss out on going through. Only then did we hear that we had ended ahead of Italy on points.

Photo is: "Trent & Mersey Canal........John entering a lock. Diana is closing the gates & winding the paddles to fill the lock."