Near perfect

Yes, that was a near perfect day's cruising as you're likely to get at the end of March. Pleasant weather, precious few boats, perfect timing for both Saltersford and Preston Brook tunnels and a nice quiet mooring at Moore, 100 yards down from the general store that I will alight on tomorrow.

I got my flashes muddled yesterday so we actually set off from Billinge Green, not Croxton. I believe BG is to be the site of yet another new marina, and yet I can't understand how they got that through short of two-bobbing the officials. Why not destroy every beauty spot there is why you're at it? Stick a multi-storey car park on Tixall Wide, go on. What I don't get is that there appears to be some correlation between BW's support of new marinas and their desire to reduce linear moorings. Great in theory but in practice? People choose to go on-line for one of two reasons: the expense or the claustraphobia of the marina-based alternative. So exactly how are you going to force someone who has made a choice one way to suddenly reverse it the other, just so it suits your policy? Bonkers.

We made good progress along what is one of our favourite stretches anywhere. Favourite for all sorts of reasons. Deep water, changing scenery and one landmark after another: Brunner Mond, the Lion Salt Works, Anderton Boat Lift and the Dutton Stop Lock tucked away in its bosky setting. We passed several hire yards today and find it a bit disconcerting to see so many boats in - it is the Easter holidays for the kids still? In fact, it's been very quiet all round, which suits us just fine. We're now sitting here catching up with work, once again enjoying a degree of the 'hot face' feeling. The forecast is none too shabby for the rest of the week, so the tan should be topped up quite nicely by the weekend!