Back at Middlewich

The Happy Couple

Well as you can see we are still enjoying our lifestyle, been too distracted to write anything on here!
We moved northwards from Northwich on Monday, over a week ago now. The locks here on the River Weaver are very large
as they are able to take seagoing

Saltersford Lock, big enough for sea going vessels

vessels from the Manchester Ship Canal. We went as far as Frodsham, a small town we remembered visiting before, picking up a nice mooring by the swing bridge. Thursday was market day so we caught the bus in and had a look around.
The lock keeper at Dutton Lock had told us a large steam ship was coming in off the ship canal on Friday, so we stayed at our mooring by Sutton Road Bridge so we could watch her go by.
Most of the bridges along the river swing, but we are low enough to fit underneath​. However the Daniel Adamson was a lot higher.

Sutton Bridge swinging open.

It was very interesting watching the bridge open and the ship go by. As you can see below she is quite a bit bigger than us. She gave a lovely toot from the steam as she passed by.

The Danny passing us, check out the wake

On Saturday we turned and started heading back to Acton Bridge where the Danny was now moored and we went on board for a look around her. Into the engine room and the lovely art deco salon.
With another trip to Northwich to stock the cupboards we came back up the Anderton Lift on Monday.  Later that day friends Anita and Kevin arrived on 'Nobody Knows'. We spent an evening and morning catching up with them before it was their turn for the lift down to the River. Yesterday we left Anderton arriving back in Middlewich today.

River Weaver

Arriving in Northwich on Saturday we spent a couple of nights there stocking up the cupboards. Although not a large town there is a choice of several supermarkets within a short walk. With 2 very blustery wet days at Vale Royal moorings we Traveled up River on Wednesday passing these works on the way to Winsford.

Winsford moorings

The moorings at Winsford are run by Cheshire Council and not CRT. This is as far was we can go on the river. It opens out into a flash but have been advised it is very shallow in places. Wednesday was Paul's birthday and my cousin Dawn and her husband Dave drove over from Stockport and we all went for a meal at the Red Lion. Very nice it was too. As with most of the moorings along the river this one is 48 hours, so Friday morning saw us heading back towards

Another good meal, you can see Falcon through the window

Northwich, but not before Cheryl had joined us. We cruised the 2 locks and 5 miles then got the bus back to collect her car. By then the only sensible thing to do was go out to eat. The Bombay Quay, an Indian restaurant overlooking the water proved to be ideal.





Northwich,

Anderton and on

Enjoying the sun with Cheryl

 We had a lovely sunny day with Cheryl. Hard to believe that was a week ago. We gave her lots of boating experiences. She helped us to work down through 4 of the Middlewich Locks and along the way we filled with water and got a pump out! Oh yes she did get a short cruise too, but not very far as we didn't want to leave Middlewich! Mooring before Big Lock we did walk down to look at it. All the locks on this stretch of the Trent and Mersey are narrow, then unusually the last one (or first​ if you are southward bound) is a wide one.
On Saturday we went for a stroll around the town. There was a street market and we found the regional Town Crier Competition taking place. So after stocking our cupboards on Sunday we moved on. With an overnight stop Monday saw us arrive at Anderton where once again we met up with Diane and Kevin, visiting the Stanley Arms for a very nice meal. Tuesday we moved on to spend a couple nights a a pretty spot looking out over the River Weaver Valley before turning and heading back to Anderton. Today we are taking the lift down to spend a couple of days on the River Weaver. Again Cheryl is joining us, so she must have enjoyed herself last week. Not going to be such good weather this time though. Drizzle at the moment, hope it changes soon!

Town Crier Competition​