Karen and I got to Whitchurch without any difficulty. We tied up and I did some preliminary exploring while we waited for Schuyler and Marcia. There is a short extension from the main canal that goes a short way towards downtown Whitchurch. I talked to some guys who were soaking in the sun next to their boat. They said that they had had a good meal at the Anchor Inn. I reported back to Karen and we waited for the others.
Marcia and Schuyler showed up not too long after, after 5:00 pm. Schuyler looked OK, but they wanted to get to a drugstore to get some antibiotic salve and protective stuff for the finger. So we headed right into town. It turned out to be a walk of at least a mile. But we found a drugstore that closed at 6:30. It was just 6:30, but Marcia and Schuyler were let in. Karen and waited outside. After a little while Marcia came out. As we waited we watched the employees leave. No Schuyler. We wondered what kind of surgery was being performed on him. After about a half hour Schuyler appeared with a bag of stuff and finger that had been cleaned up and bandaged up. He was, I thought, pretty much good to go.
We had a good dinner at the Anchor. We asked them to call a taxi to take us back to the path to the canal. While we sat in front of the pub waiting for the taxi, clueless male that I am, I did notice Schuyler looking pale and shivering. Karen did and gave him her jacket while we waited. The taxi driver was the same lady that I had spoken to a few days previously. She apologized for being unable to pick us up on Sunday evening. It was very nice not to have to walk all the way back to the boats! We retired for the evening
The next morning Schuyler was fine and we completed the trip without any more untoward adventures!
We were required to return our boats at 9:00 am on Monday morning. Our plan was to spend Sunday night just outside of Middlewich and start early on Monday to return the boats. This would require traversing three locks. At some point while waiting at a lock I spoke to woman who had also hired their narrowboat from Andersen. I think that she said that they had, with kids and grandkids, 12 on their boat! They had rented from Andersen several times before and their strategy was go all the way into town. There was winding hole not far past Andersen boats to turn around and tie-up and be ready to return the boat without a big gyration in the morning. And have dinner at the Big Lock pub. It was good idea and that is what we did.
I am pathologically averse to being late. For anything. (Karen and I once sat in an empty parking lot four hours before a ferry was scheduled to leave.) So we were at Andersen Boats well before 9:00 am. And had to wait for them to show up. Turning in the boats was a breeze. We had our stuff packed, they took over the boats and that was that. They stowed our stuff while walked over the canal to a hotel for breakfast. After breakfast and a couple of phone calls I found a taxi that would take us to Crewe for the car rental pickup and the train station. So the Tiptons were on their way to Wales and Brower/Taylors were on their way to Scotland.
Some pictures are at: https://goo.gl/photos/UzXb1e3GEhhNGMaTA