A day late to Wrenbury

Yesterday saw a return to the wet and windy conditions we’d enjoyed earlier in the week. It did brighten up later, but by then we’d settled on staying put.

Today dawned crisp, dry and bright. I had a short run early, took Meg for her constitutional, then we got off towards Wrenbury.

It was about 20 minutes to our first and only lock today, Marbury Lock. There’s a fine lock-keepers cottage alongside, and the lock chamber is, unusually, protected by fancy barley-twist railings.

Marbury Lock

Judging by the style they’re not a recent addition, installed since the cottage was sold into private hands. They must have been there whilst the property was occupied by a company employee. I wonder if he was fond of the odd tipple?

A fair drop of water coming down the by-wash

Blue skies and cotton-wool clouds. It could almost be summer…
And a clean roof!

Nearing Wrenbury now, that’s St Margaret’s Church on the skyline

Wrenbury Frith Lift Bridge is locked in the open position.

The mechanised Wrenbury Lift Bridge was next, alongside the small hire base and marina. It’s not a busy road crossing, but by the time I’d let Mags and a single-hander going the other way through, we’d accumulated half a dozen cars, one cyclist and an assortment of pedestrians. All good natured, though.

Mags toddled on while I lowered the bridge and sorted out the barrier, waiting for me just short of Church Lift Bridge. Back to manual operation with a windlass here.

Mags approaching Church Lift Bridge after I’d raised it.

And that was that for the day. We pulled in not far past the bridge. I‘ve made a trip to the village shop-cum-Post Office to top up the stores, cutting across the field and through the graveyard. I’ll go again before we shove off in the morning.

We’ve had a small change of plan. We were intending to head down to Nantwich for next weekend, hiring a car for me to get to my first event of the season, a half-marathon at Oulton Park motor racing track. Mags was intending to stay on the boat as dogs are not allowed on the circuit and we wouldn't want to leave Meg that long, so I was just going to moor on the bank somewhere. But now there’s a good chance that we’ll both be going off on the Saturday, so I’ve arranged a long weekend mooring in Venetian Marina on the Middlewich Branch. It’s on route to the Trent and Mersey and our appointment with the hull blacking brush in Stone at the end of March.
So the small shop here is the last opportunity for groceries for a week, till I pick up the car in Crewe next Friday.

Locks 1, miles 3