Just in case the purchasers of Almyne wanted to make a fuss about the gearbox we decided to get on with our travels straight away.
Rugeley is a good place for shopping, a Tesco right by the canal and Aldi not too far away with all the normal shops in the village within easy access.

Reducing the amount of travelling we are doing on a daily basis as we are meant to be slowing down, living on the canals, and the past few weeks seem to have been rather hectic one way and another.
Used the facilities at Anglo Welsh as they are a friendly bunch.

While we were here we persuaded the engineers at Anglo Welsh to service both engines so we are good to go for another year or so..

Not to be mistaken for Weston-on-Trent which is some 48 miles away but also on the Trent and Mersey canal. The locks on this part of the canal are comparatively shallow so are easy to negotiate single handed. The climb up or down the ladder is not too onerous.

I got up this morning and D'fer stayed in bed. I had forgotten to put the retaining bolts on the bed to hold it open and somehow D'fer must have managed to get the balance just right because the bed folded up with him inside. Not a sound, he actually seemed comfortable and cosy in there but I was furiously trying to think of a way of getting him out without crushing him when the bed folded out again. Decided that the best way was just to reach in and grab him by the collar and haul him out. Successful manouver but I have decided that the bed is going and being replaced by my design of fold up bed.
Stone, home of the Ginger hire boats. Also a good place for chandlery and general shopping.

Passed by Barlaston and World of Wedgwood. We did pop in for a look but I couldn't see anything I wanted or needed so we carried on a little further.

Moored up after a fairly easy days boating ready to go into town tomorrow for a little shopping.
Used the facilities to good effect. Etruria is a good place to hang around for a while if you have the time as this is the place where they grind elephant bones down to a fine powder to make bone china.

From Etruria we go past Middleport Pottery, still functioning after 133 years, impressive, and Westport Lake before approaching Harecastle tunnel. The tunnel is one way operation and before entry you must check in with the tunnel keeper who will check your lights and horn and give you a heads up on what to do in an emergency.
As soon as you are in the tunnel the doors are closed behind you and the fans are turned on to draw air through the tunnel to remove any diesel and carbon monoxide fumes and, boy, are they noisy. It is a relief to get far enough away from them for the noise to become acceptable.
In all the times I have been through the tunnel I have never seen the skeleton, almost certainly because, as a single crewer, I have to concentrate hard on where I am going instead of sightseeing.
Leaving the tunnel you arrive at Hardings Wood Junction just a short distance from Kidsgrove. As we are going on to Middlewich we did not take the left turn to the Macclesfield canal this time.
1 tunnel sounds quite innocuous but this one is over a mile long and takes a good half hour to negotiate.
Kidsgrove is the home of the Red Bull pub and Red Bull facilities.

We are kind of rushing a bit at the moment as the Middlewich FAB festival is on in a day or so and we are aiming to get there in time to get a mooring in town.
Managed to do a little shopping at the local supermarket to keep us going for a day or two.
The rushing is helped by the fact that the locks along this stretch are paired, that means that there are two locks at a time, so if I am really quick I can get Olive going up (or down) in one of the pair and then rush to the other and get Forty Two started on the second, rush back to Olive, get her on the way, back to Forty Two, to finish up there, close Olives lock gates, rush up to the next pair and start all over again.
Using this method I got two boats through 13 locks each, 26 lock movements in total. I should be quite fit after all this activity.

There is a good animal food stuff store at Wheelock, so got a couple of bags of dog food. Nice place to look around and visit the not-so-derelict water mill.

We have grabbed a spot just outside Big Lock on the opposite side to the tow path, I think it used to be long term moorings but there are no signs to that effect now, so I'm giving it a try.
As we were working through Rumps Lock (9ft 2in deep) just before Middlewich D'fer was ambling around the lock as usual and he just fell over quite close to the edge. I noticed a few weeks ago when Richard was visiting that when Richard got up to go D'fer fell off the sofa and had difficulty standing up so this was quite worrying, especially if he falls into a lock. Determined he would see a vet at the first opportunity and until then an extra special eye would be kept on him if he was around a lock. It would not be easy to keep him in or on the boat around locks without him creating merry hell with his barking.

First day of the 25th Middlewich FAB (Folk and Boat) Festival with music, juggling and parades throughout the town and Morris dancing in several locations.

Second day of Middlewich FAB Festival
We managed to catch Polly and the Billets Doux and the Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band, while catching a pint or two at each venue. Well there's no charge to get in, might as well support the sponsors.

Third day of Middlewich FAB Festival when we got to see My Sweet Patootie, a Canadian duo who used to sing as Tanglefoot and Edward Alice and Molly On The Run. It was quite difficult to get to each venue in time to see the players.
At Middlewich Narrowboats I spent several hours drinking in the atmosphere and the local ale while my No. 2 spent several hours entertaining the spectators with her dancing. She even managed to get several other women dancing as well.

Recovering and deciding where to go next. On one of my walks along the tow path I noticed a boat called The Honey Bee that had a sign in the window advertising gas fitting. I had a chat with the guy on board about the new instantaneous water heaters available as I wanted to fit one to Forty Two, I don't like having to run the engine to get hot water, however he wasn't very forthcoming.

Found a good spot for my No. 2 to do some painting, about a mile out of town. There is a winding hole another couple of hundred yards further on but it's not signed and not many people know about it. There's another about half a mile and one lock back into town, shopping should be fairly easy.

A hire boater came along today going much too fast, he was throwing up a wash and rocking all the boats. I tried to signal to him that the canal gets narrow ahead, in fact the canal is only as wide as his boat. The canal narrows to an aqueduct over a stream but unless you know it is just around the bend you will miss it. Well, he did. Miss it I mean, he plowed into the bank going so fast he nearly ended up aground. All his passengers were thrown about the boat and everything came to a complete standstill. I don't think he will go that fast again and I would lay money on him losing his damage deposit to pay for all the broken crockery.

In the course of painting the bilges my No. 2 has found that her calorifier is leaking. I have emptied it and tried a repair but it was not successful.

Watched a couple of guys abseiling down the church today, I think they had been cleaning it. Should have taken some pictures but I didn't have my camera with me.
I looked up what was going on and was intrigued to find that the St Michael and All Angels church web site is hosted by Mythic Beasts Ltd. Doesn't quite feel right.

I couldn't help taking a picture of this as I spent a couple of years towing a boat around and this setup makes perfect sense. The towed boat cannot get too close, neither can it get lost and it can ride the waves without disturbing the towing boat.
Made enquiries at two of the boat yards to see who to pick on to replace the calorifier on Olve and decided to go to Kings Lock Boatyard. He had done a couple of jobs for me on Almyne in the past and I have confidence in him.
I got Forty Two booked in with Middlewich Narrowboats for blacking in a couple of days.

Eventually got around to taking D'fer to the vets. I am surprised he is so good at the vets because every time he has had to visit them they have given him a jab, mind you he doesn't seem to mind that.
Anyway it seems he has some kind of "old dog vestibular syndrome" or dog vertigo, proper name Vestibular Disease. Easily controlled with tablets, which he takes once a day with a small treat. Will still keep an eye on him in case it re-occurs, especially around locks.
It may or may not go away in time.

Took Olive in to Kings Lock Boatyard where they replaced the calorifier.