Cruise Data Year 2002 Annual Mileage 903 Locks used 363 Engine hours run 1177 Diesel (Ltrs) used 1178 Cost of Gas £181 Cost of Coal £141 Cost of Pump-Out £224 Maintenance Costs £1262

We could hardly wait for the Spring and it was with great excitement and some trepidation that we left Lyme View marina. Our aim was to cruise around the North West region of the network, so we set off South down the Macc and onto the Trent & Mersey. Enjoying our trip through the Harecastle tunnel, and yes we did see the ghost, the next leg was to turn down the Staffs & Worc canal, stopping off at Tixall Wide on the way, a lovely spot. Then it was down to the junction with the Shropshire Union where we turned North again. On the way up we had lots of visitors which slowed down progress, but the weather was so nice we didn’t really care about the time. Next stop was the Llangollen canal with a short trip down the Montgomery before getting back to the Shropie. We then went up to Ellesmere Port to visit the museum, stopping off to go down the Anderton Boat Lift and spending a glorious week on the river Weaver. Then it was back down the Shropie and onto the Middlewhich branch and across to the Trent & Mersey, we decided to go up to the Bridgewater and then visit the Runcorn Arm. Not a very pretty arm but the trip down to Lymm was much better. To finish off our cruise we returned back down the way we had come, Bridgewater, Trent & Mersey, Middlewich Branch, Shropie, Staffs & Worc and then back up the Trent & Mersey. This allowed us to spend the Autumn on the Caldon canal before heading back to the Macc for the winter.

We enjoyed our year and learnt a lot about the boat and boating on both canals and rivers. Janice took lots of notes on moorings, water points and other facilities we may need again some time. One thing we were glad that we had taken with us was our two navigation guides, Nicholson and Pearson, both of which contain different information but neither have it all, hence the notes.