“A brief period of rain, hail, sleet or snow.” Note the “brief period”
The Met Office predicted “Showers, some heavy” for today, but frankly it’s been chucking it down most of the day!
It started as we set off from Moore, paused for a few minutes while I loaded a couple of bags of solid fuel at Thorn Marine, started again as I was taking the rubbish and recycling to the tip near London Road Bridge in Stockton Heath, we got a brief interlude as we cruised through Lymm, then got thoroughly soaked again for another three-quarters of an hour till we got to the moorings near Ye Olde Number 3 pub. Brief it wasn’t!
Needless to say, it stopped almost as soon as we arrived, and we’ve bright sunshine now!
So I didn’t take many photos today, here’s a few…
Cock pheasant in a rare patch of sunshine.
He was very unconcerned at us passing, in fact if it’s the same one, he ran alongside me for several paces when I was out on my run this morning!
The unusual concrete bridge carrying Chester Road
The rhododendrons at Walton Hall are just coming nicely into flower…
Just past Walton Lea Bridge, a regular on this stretch, NB Harry with it’s astroturf roof.
And a little further on, someone’s attempting to hide from the mooring enforcement officers. (Do they have those on The Bridgewater?)
I was pleased to see that Thorn Marine is still here, but still hand-to-mouth with the lease from Peel Holdings. They want to redevelop the site, but the Hamiltons, owners of Thorn Marina are determined to stay put. The downturn in the property market is helping their case, but that is showing signs of change now.
Thorn Marine
I'm surprised that the canal-side buildings they use aren’t listed. At one time this was the terminus of this leg of the canal, while the Duke’s agents negotiated a route through the grounds of Walton Hall. The buildings were offices and warehousing, built around 1770 when the Runcorn section of the canal was constructed.
Looking over the rooftops of Stockton Heath towards a grey horizon, Christ Church visible in the murk.
After a damp four miles, the sun came out briefly as we cruised through Lymm. The popular moorings on the town side of the canal were full, but there was space on the towpath side.
Lymm moorings
The towpath was being excavated just out of town by National Grid. They had this mechanical elephant, a giant vacuum cleaner to remove dirt and rubble from the hole.
It wasn’t being used, though. I was told it doesn’t work in the wet…
We pulled over on the moorings alongside the main road near Ye Olde Number 3. A bit noisy here, but it’s only for one night. Tescoman is delivering to us here in the morning.
Locks 0, miles 9½
2 comments:
Coo.. That thing would do my pump out a bit quick! :D
Aye, but like the man said, it doesn't do wet!
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