Sunny morning, showery afternoon

That’s been the pattern for the last couple of days, and today’s weather didn’t break it. The only change was one of the showers being of hail! A bit of a surprise, that.

I prefer it this way around; it means I can get my morning run in and Meg and I can have a decent walk, without getting wet. And the short cruises we’re doing means that we’re usually tied up again before the weather turns.

This morning we had a walk up to the village of Little Leigh.

Good Morning!

The village is on top of the bank above the water meadows, and the path up gives some splendid views across the Weaver Valley.

Weaver Valley.

The village is a typical small farming community.

Village School, now Village Hall

Brick built St. Michaels and All Angels, Little Leigh.

We set off this morning after a gaggle of boats heading for Preston Brook. On this stretch between the tunnels at Preston Brook and Saltersford, the boats tend to appear in groups as both of these have timed passage. So we could be pretty sure that we wouldn’t have someone chasing us along.

Looking over the valley to Dutton Railway Viaduct.

Built between 1800 and 1847 for the Grand Junction Railway, the viaduct now carries the West Coast Main Line over the River Weaver on 20 arches.

We didn’t intend to go so far today, and were moored up just alongside Longacre Wood by midday. Just before the first of this afternoon’s showers arrived. It’s a lovely, quiet spot here. There’s the occasional train passing the other side of the woods (you’re never far away from a railway on the canals) and aircraft heading into Manchester Airport, but the rest of the time it’s just birdsong.

Moorhen Chicks near Dutton Hollow

Carol asked about Tony Blew’s UK Waterways Ranking Site (http://www.ukwrs.co.uk) which seems to be off-line at the moment. It could be to do with a server change-over; my link isn’t working either, and the listings are not available from the website. I’m sure Tony has it in hand. Anyhow, if your link is to the “coobeastie” website, you’ll need to change it to point to the UKWRS one. Simply open up the code in blogger’s design page, and change both occurrences of coobeastie to ukwrs. It should work then, when it’s back on line.

And Carol, we're chafing at the bit to see the tideway cruise(s) pics. Seen some of Sue's....

Locks 0, miles 3