After 272 miles and 166 locks (excluding diversions when we got lost) we are back where we started 28 days ago. The last day was spent wandering back the last 13 miles with a stop in a pub for lunch. We are staying in the hire boat base overnight and there are no food opportunities close by so we had a dinner of leftovers with a nice bottle of wine.
Thoughts on the holiday.
The current situation with Covid 19 precautions makes planning a holiday quite difficult. We could have gone to Spain or Greece which probably have been OK although we might have been forced into quarantine on our return. This would not be too bad if we had been away for five or six weeks but of course we might have been stranded if the airlines stopped flying. So in the end a UK boating holiday seemed a safe option and whilst none of the museums which we would have liked to visit were open we were in a different location every night and had little difficulty finding somewhere to eat which is an important part of all our holidays.
It was also quite an adventure. We had lots of dire warnings from other boaters and the hire company about vandals and hooligans in Manchester as well as difficult narrow canals in Llangollen and rubbish getting stuck round the propeller in the city centres.
The more we were warned of problems the more we wanted to complete the trip, we like adventures and how bad could it be? In practice only the rubbish round the propeller became a problem, I don’t mind mucky jobs in freezing water and it gave us a sense of achievement to have completed the journey.
Despite the miserable boat owners who hate hirers everyone else was happy despite the rather gloomy weather. I suspect like us they were just glad to be doing something.
It is great being outside all day (except when it rains when we hide in pubs) and we get plenty of exercise and feel we are achieving something.
Was eating in restaurants and pubs every night risky? Only time (14 days) will tell if we have been foolish but despite the rather random implementation of the Covid precautions at different venues it was great to be out and about rather than stuck at home feeling sorry for ourselves. The Jaipur restaurant in Market Drayton was probably the riskiest venue but it was quite refreshing to be “normal”, we do like to live dangerously.
We are spending the weekend with Jake and Gemma before returning home on Monday, we can then start planning the next holiday, in the current environment this will definitely be a last minute decision, no point looking too far ahead.