Monday, March 02, 2009

Sunny trip down Audlem Locks.

I can’t believe we’re in March already. It only seems 5 minutes since Christmas!

We were away a bit earlier than usual this morning. With the 15 lock flight at Audlem to do, we thought we better had. It was a fine bright sunny morning after a bit of a frost.

Last night’s sunset was impressive.
Bright start to Audlem.

The top lock of the Audlem flight is a bit of a surprise. You come under a bridge, through a shallow cutting, around a corner and there it is.

Audlem Lock 1

We were following another boat down, so apart from a couple around 8 and 9 when a boat came up, all the locks were against us. I expected to see more traffic on the flight than that.

Working our way down Audlem
A Saluki at Lock 9 was keen to make Meg’s aquaintance…
We stopped off at the waterpoint outside The Shroppie Fly, then just had the last 3 locks to deal with.

The Shroppie Fly and Lock 13
Lock 15. What, is that it already?





Meg was off, running backwards and forwards all the way down the flight. I think she’d had enough when we reached the bottom.
Just south of the village the canal crosses the infant River Weaver. An embankment was thrown across the valley to carry the canal, the river following a tunnel through it. The river rises 10 or 11 miles to the northwest, in the Peckforton Hills.

The Weaver
Comprehensive stern fenders on NB Canopus Can’t think what they remind me of….
We pulled over a couple of miles from Audlem, on the SUCS moorings at Coole Pilate. It’s a pleasant spot, out of the way, and we were surprised to be the only ones here. As we tied up the wind started to freshen, bringing a few drops of rain. A sign of things to come. The forecast is for wet and windy weather for 2 or 3 days.

Locks 15, miles 4½

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