Trent & Mersey Canal

We ventured out ... but not for long.

It was difficult to decide what to do this morning. Part of the marina had ice floating over it but we thought we could get past it and out of the gateway. (There isn't a footpath from the marina so we couldn't go and have an advance look.)When we turned out of the marina the blip is what we saw! Solid ice in one direction on the canal and several metres on the side shown.

The ice wasn't the thin sort that the boat can break its way through, it was about 1" deep. Kat & G stood on the bow beating it with poles to break it up in front of us so we could get into the clear bit. By the time we had worked our way though this to the next ice it was time to moor, have a bacon, brie and cranberry butty and consider what to do next.

K & G took a walk along the towpath and came back, telling us that further along there was 2" of solid ice and, beyond the junction it was worse than where we were now. OK! Descision made! We gently made our way back to the marina - in reverse. At least back in the marina we had mains electricity and the ability to go off somewhere in the car if we wanted to.

The somewhere we went off to was the Canalside Cafe, just a short distance away. It was a pleasant distraction and we felt like we were on holiday.

Thanks for the well wishes over the last few days. Sorry I can't spend much time online commenting.