It’s the autumn Equinox today, and as the nights draw in earlier we’re blessed with more beautiful sunshine and warm (for the time of year) weather. We were also blessed with the presence of Mum and Dad to help us through the Wigan flight. We’d been warned of the heavy gates and difficult paddle gear, but with their help and the sun on our backs, the task wasn’t so onerous as we might have feared – we got through it in under 4 hours.

Mum and I stayed near the boat as Dad steered Oliver through, and Sarah went ahead getting the next lock prepped

We had a little hiccup with one of the pounds running low and running aground, but nothing that couldn’t be sorted without a little jigging around! At the bottom we rewarded ourselves with a picnic lunch in the sunshine.

Dad then cycled back up to get the campervan and pick up Mum – surely justifying his purchase of a new folding bike in one fell swoop!

Unfortunately the van had picked up a puncture, so Mum and Dad had a bit of a detour via Kwik Fit before meeting up with us again to deliver a mop, and have some dinner down the local.