The late May Bank Holiday weekend saw the Wolfers & Odesses off on a narrowboat adventure on the 
The accommodations were tight but we expected that. The key distinguishing feature of a narrowboat is its width: it must be no more than 7 feet wide to navigate the British narrow canals. After a very very short lesson on canalboat etiquette and steering we were underway on our own. Jeff & David looked rather spiffy in their captain’s hats! There was little traffic on the canal as we passed through the industrial section of mainly abandoned salt & chemical works. We laughed a lot as we made our way to our first goal : The Old Broken Cross Pub where we had a fine fish and chips dinner.
We moored the first night at the Billinge Green Flashes in the We headed with some trepidation to our first lock. The Big Lock in Middlewich is only a rise of 5ft and can accommodate two boats at the same time. We were lucky to go through with an experienced captain and learned the ropes (not to mention the paddles and gates
!) with him. It was an adventure that gave us confidence that we could handle the locks ahead. The canals are very friendly places, we would say hello to people on passing boats, trade quick comments and get news of the traffic ahead. I learned a new word on this trip - Gongoozlers! Gongoozlers is the canal workers’ slang for an observer standing idle on the towpath and are people who enjoy watching activity on the canals. Amazingly Again – there is an article in Wikidpedia about it and these people have a website! The word gongoozler is from the Lincolnshire dialect: gawn and gooze, both meaning to stare or gape. Canal locks often attract spectators because the operation of manual canal locks is a complex job, with a number of opportunities for mistakes to be made. Some observers have been known to heckle the boat crews, while others carry "lock keys" and want to help boat crews with their passage. I just heard a lot of laughing as we did the locks! The whole lock operation usually takes about 20 minutes. We were always pleased to meet another boat coming towards us, because this meant that the boat had just exited the lock on our level and therefore set the lock in our favour — saving us time and work. This was particularly appreciated late on in the day when we had enough of the lock experience and were headed back to Middlewich. But back to the adventure....
After Middlewich we did a further four locks taking turns doing the manual work. Holly & David were the best at moving the paddles & gates (while I was the worst!) and Jeff was terrific at getting the boat into the lock. 
My favourite was the Wardle Lock (9ft. 9in) where we meet the lovely lock keeper Margret (who was about 80 years old!). She moved the gates like they were matchsticks! Margaret also gave us a flower for our vase hand picked from her own garden! We continued on down the canal traveling by lovely canalside houses, beautiful woods, huge fields and large herds of cows. There were many ducks and swans but it was their babies that captivated me. I had no idea that Swans have about seven babies in a litter. They were charming.
By late Saturday afternoon though, it was enough. We were done. We had about as much of the trip as we wanted to have. We turned the 58 foot boat around (which was not an easy thing to do on a canal!) and headed back to Middlewich. We had done ten locks in one day and would do no more. We had a nice dinner at the Big Lock Pub, played Mexican dominoes and went to bed. Everyone slept soundly! When w
e woke up on Sunday morning the weather was still cold and wet. We had our last breakfast together and called a taxi. Jeff and I headed back to the Anderton Marina to pick up our car. We were sorry to leave Holly & David alone on the boat but Jeff had a
What I had really discovered this weekend was a whole new world. Here in England was this whole subculture of people who thought that spending time on a narrowboat was fun and relaxing. I was happy to get back to
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