Thursday 23rd June
A ten mile, 4 lock (2 locks twice) trip today has taken us to Winsford and back to where we were moored last night. This morning it was cold and showery but this afternoon (after we lit the fire it has to be said) it has improved somewhat. It is now really sunny but a very strong wind has also got up. Out of the wind it is quite pleasant.
We travelled up to Winsford, the end of the navigation, this morning and were somewhat disappointed with the mooring facilities there. We thought we would be able to moor up, go into town, walk around Winsford flash, or at least get a glimpse of it, but no. There is a mooring outside The Red Lion pub but only two bollards to tie up to. And it was so slippery when we got off the boat it was lethal! B and B had to breast up to us so we could all go in to the pub for a farewell pint. We didn’t actually see the town or the flash!
We decided we weren’t going to stay there the night as the mooring was a bit dodgy and it was overhung with trees. There are towpath works going on along that stretch and most of the mooring spots have been stripped of their grass during the process. This has made the moorings along the bank muddy with all the rain we’ve had lately so we decided we would go back to Hunts locks again as we had spent a nice night there last night. B and B were going to go back to Anderton but decided to stay at Hunts Locks as well. I think that decision had more to do with the prolific fishing than it did with them wanting to be with us!
The pub was quite nice although it did have some rather risque photos of scantily clad young ladies at one end of the bar. There was a nice Lowry print at the other end of the bar, much more suitable! We had a couple of pints then made our way back to Royal Vale Locks for the 2-45pm passage. This lock is timed because they have to use the larger one of the two, (and it is large), because the smaller one has a broken paddle, so they are trying to save water by having only 4 passages in each direction per day.
Back at Hunts Locks we have settled in for a couple of days while we wait to hear if we can get the prop done. I received an estimate from Anderton Marina for £552, which we didn’t think was too bad and I have forwarded it to our insurance company. Hopefully we will hear something soon!
