Dressed only in his pyjamas, Mike started the engine and brought the boat alongside - by now Andrew was also out to help. One of the spikes was still attached to its mooring rope but the other was missing - presumably in the canal. There was then little else but to change out of rain-soaked pyjamas and return to sleep and look for a new spike during the day.
The 'proper' start to the day was the, by now ususal, combination of an immediate flight of locks in the pouring rain! We were, however, quite pleased with the efficiency of our operation leaving the flight just over an hour later.
At Johnson Hillock flight we moored to take on water whilst Christine went to the nearby boatyard in search of a new spike - successfully.
There were few other incidents in a pleasant day of cruising with long woodland stretches, despite being quite close to several towns. For about four hours in the middle of the day the sun shone and it was pleasantly warm - at least by comparison with recent climatic conditions.
By five o'clock we arrived at the top of the Wigan flight of 21 locks - which we will tackle tomorrow. At the moment, the party sent to suss out the pub (which seemed quite interesting in Nicholsons) has returned to report that it has seen better days but might be a possibility for an evening meal - there is little obvious opportunity in the sections immediately ahead of us.
