Northwich

The Anderton Lift gets us onto the River Weaver from where we can moor in Northwich   town centre.

 This, however , is the first view from the river, the soda works which eventually brought ICI into being.It is strangely attractive actually!!!

 And here we are moored at Town bridge. Weather's looking threatening...

Never mind, there's a rainbow! All will be well...

 Into Northwich,to some pretty buildings...




....and interesting parks,

and a lesson to us all!!

The Anderton Lift

 It really is a trip down memory lane! This Morgan is the same year and the same colour as the one we had in the dim and distant past....


C'est vraiment une voyage dans la memoire! Cette Morgan etait le meme annee et le meme couleur que le notre, il y a des annees.....

 But, on we go! To the famous Anderton Lift which takes boats from the safety of the Trent and Mersey Canal and deposits them 17m below onto the River Weaver.


On y va! The Anderton Lift, qui sert comme une ecluse. C'etait construit en 1875 et permit les peniches de quitter le caneau et arrive sur la riviere, 17m au dessous.

Now, listen carefully...


Ecoutez bien!

Into the caisson..

Down we go...



On descend doucement...

And out we go!





Et voila!

Easy!!



Facile!

Random thoughts,photos and friends!

                        " Buy a canal boat and live on it for a year? Why not?!!!"

Well now, nine months on let's see why not...how about, because drought,floods,gales and pestilence have followed us since January? ( OK, maybe not the pestilence, yet )

Or, because every few weeks we seek out a willing boatyard to pump out our overflowing toilet ( not nice )

And then there's the tunnels; cold long passages of crumbling wet blackness from which we emerge with John, grinning like a Cheshire cat, saying ,"Wow, wasn't that marvellous?!" ( Errr...No. )



Don't even THINK about getting me started on the locks. Hundreds of them.

 Heavy.

 Deep.

Ridiculous footbridges to cross over, or instead,"you could leap that gap"

 WHAT?!

On the other hand....

We have viewed at close quarters (and not just by falling in ) the rhythm of life enjoyed by the beautifully graceful swans,
 elegant herons with their languid, ' flap-if-I-must'  flight leading us along 

the canal, darting swallows and ducks a-plenty...

Then there's the weird and wonderful sights along the way..
cows in the water
and boats in the field 
to name just two!

Sculptures, amazing feats of engineering and oddities by the dozen!

And if that's not enough, we have caught up with family and friends galore, some of whom we haven't seen for years!! 

Sunrises, sunsets, tranquil scenes and idyllic countryside,

So, all in all,
"Buy a canal boat and live on it for a year. Why not indeed,it's fun!!"
And it's not over yet!
Oh good.
But ,
Winter??

Wales! / Pays de Galles !

 We had to leave England to find the sun!
 Lovely warm days in Wales.



Nous etions oblige de quitter angleterre pour trouver le soleil, en pays de Galles! 

Luckily the canal went that way too and we found ourselves creeping across the Froncysyllte aqueduct...


D'abord on a traverse l'aqueduc de Frocysyllte
( avec stupeur et tremblements de  ma part, mais les choses allaient de mal en pis!)

Beautiful gates of Chirk Castle
Les belles portailles deu Chateau de Chirk

The aqueduct was built in 1805 and is now a World Heritage Site.
1007 feet long, built by Thomas Telford.

 One of John's aims of the adventure, to cruise across the Pontsycyllte Aqueduct! I walked and that was scary enough, the thing moves!


Une des reves de John, traverser l'aqueduc de Pontsycyllte. Il est fou. Moi, j'ai marche mais l'aqueduc a bouge et ca me fait peur!

126 feet above the River Dee.
A cast iron trough built on top of stone pillars.

Despite everything, we arrived safely in Llangollen!

Malgre tout nous sommes arrives sain et sauf a llangollen!

Wales, home of the harp. This one welcomes participants to the eistedfodd.

 Moored at Llangollen Basin. Very beautiful,calm and warm..



Nous sommes amarre ici au calme, dans une belle paysage et il faisait beau!

Llangollen town.

                        This house is Plas Newydd and was the home of 'the ladies of Llangollen', two women who lived together here for 50 years .Quite a scandal at the time...