Finally Away

Annoyingly I've lost the photographs of when we were lowered back into the water last Friday evening - and I'll never get the chance to take them again as the marina will soon be closing.  On the Saturday we came up the Anderton Lift, and back onto the Trent & Mersey Canal.

The view from on the lift down to the River Weaver below can make the trip worthwhile.

We've spent most of this week getting many odd jobs done, including getting the car MOT'd (it passed) - and this afternoon we finally managed to set off up the Trent & Mersey Canal towards its western end at Preston Brook.

For an overall view of the navigable canals and waterways, I'd recommend looking at this site

http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/mwp.php?wpage=Inland-Waterways-of-England.htm

and for a brief history of the Trent & Mersey Canal see

http://www.tmc-mileposts.co.uk/tmhistory.html

Not far from Anderton (& its boat lift) is the village of Barnton (where I used to live) .  The canal goes around the village, which is on a hill above the canal.  A recent landslide however means one poor sole will be loosing his garden shed

Just out of the photo are the contents of the shed including an electric lawn mower.

The woodlands are springing into life with the wild garlic

and the bluebells

becoming more abundant.

Despite going through 2 tunnels today, Tonni is happy to be cruising - the second we moor up she was yowling to be let out and taken for a walk on her harness.

And a final thought - despite having two weeks of heavy rain (and hail), seeing the River Weaver rise by over a foot, and seeing some fields flooded, we are still dragging the  bottom of the canal - it isn't water levels that are the problem - its the lack of dredging being done.