So said Barry and I almost in unison this morning. The towpath traffic of walkers and cyclists along the Nantwich embankment is ridiculously relentless. I realised it’s even more so than ‘normal’ of course. Pre-COVID-19, I reckon few of the folks taking their daily constitution in these parts (some of them evidentially don’t understand the words ‘once a day’ mind you), had any notion of the term ‘daily exercise’. Now it’s become their ‘new norm’.
The CRT sign you saw in yesterday’s post, appears to be making no difference whatsoever. I guess they just see the canal as their local nature walk. The problem is the towpath itself isn’t even 2 metres across, so the social-distancing thing is nonsense.
Hence we were off to ‘wind’ and get to Nantwich Marina and Canal Centre by 10 am this morning, having been ‘stuck’ for two nights. That’s spectacularly early for Captain Barry! Thanks, guys and gals for your essential services. Toilet pumped out, front and rear water tanks filled, diesel tank topped up, and a visit to Sharon in the shop for essential chocolate and a gift.


Further Small Business Support
Barry’s gorgeous Greeting Cards can be bought via this site and in Sharon’s shop. So if you’re near Nantwich on foot or boat, and in need of a card for any occasion, check out the range at the Canal Shop. It’s not the full 47 images (which can be found on this site), but there’s still lots to choose from.
She’s also got some enticing items lovingly hand-made by small businesses. One item of which I purchased this morning.




Happy to be Back ‘Home’
It’s such a relief to be back on our mooring near Hurleston Junction. Much quieter here. Only sounds of nature most of the time; birds calling each other sweetly, ducks quacking, a distant tractor. Oh! And the voices of our neighbouring boaters! Now we can see the sky fully again, and passing foot and wheel traffic is considerably lessened. Hoorah!
Today has been marvellously warm. Kim and I have been working as Barry sorted all the boat essentials out. He’s so happy to be back in our ‘bubble’, and has even succeeded in getting his ‘new’ bike working! Look at that ecstatic face 🙂

COVID-19 Symptom Tracker
Another day of no symptoms to report to the https://covid.joinzoe.comCOVID-19 Symptom Tracker App – having been into ‘town’ yesterday though, we realise it’s possible we’ve picked something up unwittingly. But hey, we can only do our best with following safety guidelines and hope it doesn’t discover us somewhere, somehow …
This is such a wonderful time to celebrate small joys of life – and appreciating EVERY day we live on this planet 😉
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I am working from home and sit at the table by the kitchen window at the front of the house. I too am amazed at the number of people walking around. I can honestly say that I have never seen so many people walking around and as for the dogs, I didn’t realise that the street has so many. I never saw all these people walking about before lockdown. I stay at home and do a couple of YouTube exercise videos each day. I don’t want to be out there with all those people!
Take care of yourselves and stay safe x
I guess on the bright side they’ll be healthier for the far fresher air and exercise! I’ve found people are polite and friendly if I walk through town to the supermarket and give me distance. On the towpath on the embankment there’s nowhere to move which is the challenge. We’ve got much more room here at Hurleston.
Hope you find a way to get out 😉
Oh! I just remembered – back in the blog about bin raiding – there IS a term; it’s called skip-diving. Barry has clearly raised it to the level of an Olympic sport!
😂 yes our friends Helen and Andy call it skip-diving. I liked the play on words with beach combing.
We’ve often found useful items left in or near the large bins on the waterways. I suspect it’s like a boaters charity shop only no money changes hands. More recycling – like the saying one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure.
Barry is indeed particularly competent at the sport 😝
This ‘daily exercise’ thing is interesting – we see dozens of cyclists come past our house every day now, most in lycra, many in twos and threes. I’m pretty sure most of them don’t live in the same household! The rules are being manipulated, methinks.
Definitely! We saw about two dozen motorcyclists go by on our walk around the reservoir on Sunday. I think it’s called “taking the piss”?
Way to go, Barry! 😀
😉