It had to happen some time. The only real question was when and who. Well it fell to Teasle to be the first to fall in whilst we were on the move. It happened today - Friday 13th appropriately - all's well but it was a bit of an adrenalin pump for a bit especially as it happened just after we had gone round a sharp bend and I knew we had a boat following us. Good old Teasle though, although she is reputed to be not the sharpest tool in the box swam gamely to the towpath side and tried to scramble out. She couldn't make it as the edge was quite high and concrete but I had dropped Sarah off and she managed to lift her out. What we would have done if she had gone the other way I'm not sure as there were very thick reed beds on that side and I would have had great trouble in getting the boat in there. Anyway apart from the initial fright everything was OK.
We are currently heading up towards the Anderton Lift although not going down onto the River Weaver. We will have a look round and then retrace our steps passed Middlewich and probably onto the Caldon.
Middlewich is a small pleasant town in the middle of Cheshire and we went in to do some shopping, got talking to the butcher who just happened to have spent a lot of his childhood holidays staying with family in Bungay! What a small world.
Yesterday - Thursday was glorious; such a welcome break from the cloud and rain. We were moored up a few miles north of Middlewich in a very rural quiet location and enjoyed a day of sitting in the sun and a bit of boat cleaning and polishing. Its still a new toy so I actually enjoyed the polishing! Not sure how long that will last.
Today the weather has returned to being foul. We had planned to visit a salt museum (historically this area was a great producer of salt and there are large lagoons called Flashes where the earth has subsided and they have filled with water but are very shallow) However having got there and moored up in the pouring rain we discovered that it is closed for renovation till 2014 - a bit long to wait.
We are currently moored next to the Marbury Country Park and it looks as though it could be a delightful area to explore but at the moment we have lit the fire and closed the hatches and are trying not to look out of the windows at the incessant rain.
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| BLUE SKIES! |
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| One of the numerous "flashes" caused by subsidence due to the salt mines |
Good old Teasle - glad she's keeping you on your toes !! Jasper had his maiden swim this last week - he managed to fail to make the towpath, but we were stationary at the time. We are back home after a fortnight of getting wet and did some of the Caldon. Three years since we were last up there. The best description of it is that the further you go the better it is. Just aim to get as far as Milton on your first day - preferably around Engine Lock. After that it is stunning. Good food in the Holly Bush at Denford. Try and do the Leek Arm too - well worth it and only an hour each way. Hopefully the river levels will have dropped by the time you get there and you can get all the way down to Froghall. Keep in touch - you are heading ever closer to us for a drink/meal xx
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