Friday 30th December

We set off early to get off the lock moorings where we had spent the night. There was no wind to speak of. We stopped above the next lock (57) for breakfast then set off in the rain down the remaining 10 locks of Heartbreak Hill. The locks were against us to begin with until after the third we met a boat coming the other way! This had not happened since Tuesday. In one of the locks we washed down the starboard side but not very comprehensively as it was steadily raining. We then stopped at Wheelock water point to fill up and wash the other side. Then on to Elton Moss arriving at about 2 ish. There's lots of other boats here, there's  Alcedonia, Adagio, Kingfisher, Festina Lente, Tranquility, Water Lily as well as the normal couple of other boats in various stages of construction. Adagio has since set off northbound toward Middlewich. We had a spot of lunch then set to the cleaning which always dominates our last day. After dark I noticed that both front and rear doors of Kingfisher were open to the elements (it was still raining). They had been like this when we arrived but we had assumed that someone was on board. I've shut the doors now but there doesn't seem to be a padlock of any sort to lock them. 
When the cleaning was done for today we headed off in the car for Sandbach, We went to the Oriental restaurant and had a very nice Chinese meal. I was still in boat holiday mode and forgot that the car was outside so ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio. This meant that Pip had to drink three quarters of the bottle. She didn't seem to mind. 

Its been much quieter than I expected out on the cut this week. We've probably seen only about six other boats on the move. Yesterday we saw none at all. The weather's not been great but it could have been much worse and at least there was no ice. 

Looking forward to May when we plan to go to Liverpool.

Mick & Pip