Barbecued whisky banana

Before coming up the two locks from the lower basin I showed Jan where I had walked to the Manchester Ship Canal.

At the top of the locks we wanted to stop to pay our mooring fee (£4) and empty the Elsan. On the mooring was a fisherman ignoring the No Fishing sign. We managed to tie up. While paying the fee to the CRT badge-wearing staff at the museum I complained about the fisherman on the mooring. "Nothing we can do, it's outside the museum area". Great.

We encountered a bit more weed on our way back to Chester. Huge wodges attached themselves to the bow from time to time, but little got round the prop.

We followed a boat up the Northgate Locks; after we had started up the staircase another boat came up behind. One day I'll manage to get a photo of a train passing while we're in the locks. I wasn't quick enough today.

Every time I travelled to Manchester by train from London in the 1970s I would look out for the wonderfully exotic-looking locks which were almost in touching distance. It was a dream one day to be able to do them by boat - and that dream came true in 2005. Even now I experience a frisson of excitement when working through Northgate Locks.

We continued through Chester, up the other five locks and stopped at Christleton where we had a towpath barbecue. There was plenty of heat left after the meat was done, so I wrapped a banana in foil, added whisky and demarara sugar and put it on the grill. Should have been brandy really, but it worked well. Yum yum!