Sunday 19th June
It’s been a day of two halves weatherwise with chilly cloudy conditions this morning and lovely sunny, warm conditions this afternoon and evening. We headed up to Weston Marsh this morning passing through Dutton Locks and Sutton Swing Bridge. The scenery is lovely until you go through Sutton Swing Bridge whereupon it becomes all industrial. The huge Runcorn ICI chemical plant dominates the scene here. We turned round at Weston Marsh Lock. This is the lock which takes you down on to the Manchester Ship Canal. There is another lock down to the Manchester Ship Canal further on at Weston Point Docks but we didn’t go down to the docks because there is a 5ft swing bridge and we wouldn’t be able to get under it.
After this excursion we made our way back to Dutton Locks and moored on the visitor moorings below the lock to get water. B and B had stopped at Sutton Swing Bridge to get theirs and we were going to both go up the lock when they arrived and moor on the visitor moorings above the lock. However there was a boat there already and not room for two more. There isn’t really room where we are for two boats either. There is a mooring on the opposite side of the river to where we are and B and B had to go in there when they arrived. Unfortunately they are unable to get a satellite signal because of the trees and their digital signal is a bit dodgy. We have had to put our satellite dish on the bank but we have managed to get a signal.
Our moorings are both nice because the towpath in both cases is at the top of a bank and not right beside the boats, keeping the people and their dogs a bit of a distance away. It was lovely and sunny and we sat outside with George, who likes to lay on the grass in the sun, bless.
This evening however, our idyllic mooring has taken a drastic turn for the worst as an outflow of raw sewage has started up right at the front of our boat! The smell is unbelievable, aaargh! No wonder Ken hadn’t caught any fish today! We can’t move because there isn’t anywhere else to moor up!
