Pub Crawl - 20th July 2019

Saturday 20^th July 2019

Shady Oak, Beeston to The Cheshire Cat

7 miles, 0 locks

We woke to sun and a much better view of Beeston Castle

And a chance to take a photo of our mooring

 And the view from the side hatch

I am afraid we were led into a false sense of security and no wet weather preparations were made.  We pulled pins around 09:45 and just as we were untying the ropes the drizzle started.  Sadly it was not long before the drizzle became a deluge.  Monty and I sheltered inside until the worst was over.

We emerged shortly before bridge 114 which we know from bitter experience is the start of a two mile stretch of moored boats.  For those of you who are non-boaters – this means we have to proceed at tick over – ie very slowly so we don’t rock the stationary boats around.  An ideal time for Monty and I to jump ship and walk when we would be able to keep pace with the boat.  We set off confidently, however I soon realised that the ground was very lumpy and doing my knee no good at all.  Chris tried to pull in to pick us up, but it was too shallow and he could not get close enough.  There was nothing for it, but to keep going for a mile until the next bridge.  Worse was to come – the heavens opened again and we got completely drenched!  By the time we were picked up it was dry again and I was able to take a couple of pictures of the next mile of moored craft.

I know we never travel very fast, but it is really wearisome having to proceed at snail’s pace for such a long time.

You regain your freedom at bridge 116 and can put your foot down – okay probably still only 3mph, but it feels better!

At bridge 117 we became aware of Cleddau slowing to almost a stop – whatever could be wrong?

The cause was a heavily laden very slow-moving day boat who had the grace to move over and let them pass

 Thankfully they did the same for us – I hope they had a great day out.

We moored just past The Cheshire Cat

The rain held off, the sun went in and out and the wind helped to dry my whirligig full of washing plus the wet gloves, hats, coats etc., not forgetting a dog coat, harness and lead.

We had travelled from one pub to the next at a very slow, sedate crawl.  The four of us had an excellent meal in the Cheshire Cat.  Cheshire prices, but the food and service were excellent.