Still Nantwich!

Here I am Rune

Distance 2.1 miles

Total 675 Locks 26 Tunnels

Running total mileage 1020.3 miles

Not bad, we’ve done 2.1 miles today and are back within 250 yards of where we were previously moored here at Nantwich. Not sure whether re-mooring so close to where we were moored is in the spirit of continuous cruising but it has been forced upon us by necessity.A quick turn around at the nearest Winding Hole then back to the mooring. The problem lies in the whining noise that the engine has been making when starting up each morning for the past 4 or 5 days. Thinking the worst it sounded like a bearing preparing to fail to me but the crew rightly identified it to be a slipping belt. It turned out that the domestic alternator drive belt has a lot of wear on it which has resulted in it slipping for a short period whenever starting up. Fairly easy to replace (or so I thought) since we were moored directly opposite the chandlers. Pop in there, get a new belt and we’d be on our way rejoicing within the space of a few minutes, or not! Sod’s law steps in to help and the chandlery doesn’t have our belt in stock. The one we have has a Halfords part number on it but he tells me that the nearest branch of Halfords is in Crewe, 6 miles away. Apparently there is a car spares shop in Nantwich he recommends so I try there. No luck, he hasn’t got it in stock either but can order it for me. Decide to travel to Crewe to try to get the part from Halfords, which is where things started to get worse.

The trip to Crewe was actually quite pleasant, along a really good cycle-way called Kings Shilling Cycleway to celebrate those who walked to Crewe to ‘Take the King’s Shilling’ and join up, I believe for World War 1. Very pleasant trip but unfortunately it brings you into Crewe nowhere near the Halfords, took another 35 minutes to find Halfords. Once found the result there was absolutely stunning! Walked into the shop and after looking around for about 10 minutes I couldn’t find the drive belts so approached a member of staff and asked, ”Where do you keep the drive belts?” His reply was, ”Don’t do drive belts”. Obviously I thought this was a misunderstanding so I got the drive belt out of my bag and showed him what I wanted, he was insistent however and repeated, “Don’t do drive belts, haven’t done them for over a year now”. I was almost speechless. “So what happens if I break the drive belt on my car?”. The reply was, “Take it to a garage”. “I can’t, the drive belts broke”, “Sorry, don’t do drive belts”. It actually felt like a scene from Monty Python. The rest of the afternoon was spent looking around Crewe for a shop that might sell drive belts, which was eventually successful at one called CES so thought it might be prudent to get one, and a spare. Can’t believe how difficult a simple task became!

Tomorrow on towards Chester.