Canal: Ashton
Heading: In
Weather: Wet, Windy.
The weatherman said it was going to piss down all morning and he was right. Oh well, on the plus side that gives me a doodly morning and on the plusser side that gives Dave enough time to cook his latest victim in his Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber (don't ask), and to come and join me for the afternoon. I should explain that I had given Dave and Donna a short ride on the boat, much to their glee the other day. and Dave was so taken with it he rang in the evening and asked to come and crew for me for the afternoon. Music to my ears as it means I get help dealing with the next shed load of locks and Dave gets some hands on experience of handling a narrowboat which he very much wants as he is thinking of buying one. Update: He since has!!
So, we have a very pleasant afternoon working our way down the locks into Manchester and I give Dave lots of advice on boat handling, lock management and the like and he turns out to be a natural, and a very entertaining shipmate. He would be a great asset to the boating community so I hope he does get a boat.
By 5pm we have worked our way through a dozen or so of the locks when Dave has to jump ship to do his dog feeding duty. He has been great to have aboard and I hope we can meet up with our boats side by side one day, somewhere or other and have a few beers. I carry on and do a few more locks solo and then moor up for the night right outside the National Cycling Centre. Tonight the 1st mate signs on again and 2nd Mate will join us in the morning to crew through all the heavy duty locks in central Manchester and see us on our way out the other side heading towards Waters Meet and the Bridgewater canal and ever closer to home.
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