Just a short cruise….

Such a lovely day today it seemed a shame not to be out on the water, so we took a short trip to Northwich, filled up the water tank, and then came back downstream to Barnton Cut.

On the services at Northwich Town Bridge.

Fast asleep on the wharf.

He’s got his legs tucked around a mooring bollard so he doesn’t roll into the river. Mags said she hoped he wasn’t dead, I said I didn’t think so, no-one had nicked his shoes!

We’re still hanging around the Anderton area; Mags has to go back to Northwich on Friday to collect her new specs, and then we’ll be going back up the lift sometime over the weekend. On Monday Seyella is due to be hauled out on the slipway at Uplands Marina for a new propeller to be fitted.

Heading back down river, ex Cowburn & Cowpar NB Swallow getting a polish while waiting for the lift.

In the western tank the trip boat Edwin Clark comes down, while two narrowboats are on their way up.

Edwin Clark (the man) was a leading 19c expert in the field of hydraulics, and he was commisioned to design and build the boat lift. More about him on Wikipedia here.

And there's more about the design and construction of the lift here. Be warned if you've a slow connection, it's a 3.3mb pdf file.

We’ve had a lot more sunshine today, especially this afternoon. The forecast looks set fair for the next few days as well, so it could get quite busy on the water over the weekend.

Locks 0, miles 4¼