Portland Basin

Don't you just love hire boaters!!!!
We set off quite early this morning (well early for us anyway) and followed a hire boat down the locks from Stalybridge to Ashton. They'd raced passed us while we were still moored outside Tesco and we followed about 20 mins. later. They kept leaving bottom gates open, paddles either fully up or only half lowered and hardly any of the hand-cuff locks reinstated. It makes me so mad because it's just laziness. It's not as if it were someone struggling single handed, there were enough people on board to cope quite easily.

It's been a beautiful warm sunny day again and we pulled into Portland Basin Marina for a pump-out and diesel (85p/l domestic). The owner, an old acquaintance Guy Holding, offered us a mooring for the night and although it's not very picturesque as we're squashed right down the arm, it's meant we could safely leave the dogs for a couple of hours to visit Portland Basin Museum. I was surprised that it's free to visit the museum and it's actually very good.

We always try to have fresh flowers on the boat and the best value I've found comes from Aldi. They're cheap and last really well. These gorgeous red roses were only £2.99 for a dozen!