The weather is looking up.

What an amazing change in the weather, the met office says <5% chance of rain for the next few days. Washing's blowing on the front deck and we hope the HUGE puddles on the towpath can dry up once and for all.

We're back at Higher Poynton to get our final teething problems sorted out and some touching up……….. of the paint work of course. We spent Monday night in the paint dock at Braidbar which was handy as it was tipping it down and John stayed dry, having the time of his life changing the 10 litres of oil in the engine and gearbox, which needed to done after 50 hours of running and we were actually up to 73 hours. Much more oil than in his motor bike. Being inside the paint dock meant we were unable to light the fire or have the heating on or use the cooker, so a short stroll in the torrential rain to The Boar's Head for dinner and to keep warm.

Today we've walked up through Lyme Park to 'The Cage'. What an amazing view over Manchester, to the Pennines and beyond, the wind was bracing though.

I think we'll be having some visitors next week over half term which will be nice. Then we'll have a trip down to Macclesfield. We're stuck on the Macclesfield and Peak Forest Canals at least until the end of February as the locks both ways are closed for repairs. However, there's 28 miles of canal to explore.

John's perfecting his bread making. However, he's feeling a bit paranoid as the geese must smell it and stare at him through the port holes. The same pair of geese seem to be there staring all the time and knock on the side of the boat too.