Anderton to Vale Royal (River Weaver)

Saturday 26th August

Lovely morning on the River Weaver

Coming into Northwich

Pat & Patrick moored at Northwich

Patrick leaving Northwich

We are moving on today down to Northwich to where our friends Pat, Patrick and Poochie are, so we set off and it was a lovely sunny morning.  It is only a couple of miles to Northwich from where we were moored so we were soon there.  We stopped off at the services and then moored up alongside Pat and Patrick.

Coming into Hunt's Lock

All of us in Hunt's Lock

Pat was out shopping so we had a coffee and a chat with Patrick and Poochie, it was lovely to see them again.  Pat came back after a while and we had a lovely chat with her then Kev and I went up the shops to get a bit of shopping.  Pat and Patrick were going to wait for us and then we will go down to Vale Royal moorings together.

Convey following behind us

We went to the Lidl and also to Sainsburys and then spotted a butchers which we hadn’t seen before so we went and had a look, they are called Birtwisles and are famous for their pies so obviously we had to buy a couple and we also got a few other things.  It is a nice butchers and they were very friendly.

All in Vale Royal Locks

We got back to the boat and our other friends John, Sharon and Smuggler were also down here on the Weaver and were moored up nearby. We chatted to them and they were also coming to Vale Royal.

We set off along the canal to Hunt’s lock, the locks here are big river locks and are manned so easy to do.  We had to wait for a couple of boats to come down and then it was our turn, we went in first followed by Patrick and John bringing up the rear.  We all tied up together and up we went.

Vale Royal Locks

John now leading

The lock keepers were very friendly and only one top gate would open so we went out first and led the convey along the canal for a couple of miles and then we came to Vale Royal Locks.

This one was ready for us, so we went in followed by the other two boats and up we went.

Sitting in the sun

Cormorant drying his wings

Poochie playing with her ball

We were soon through the lock and this time John went out first followed by Patrick and us bringing up the rear.  We chugged on to the visitor moorings which are not far from the lock and was surprised to see that there was no boats there as it is a really lovely spot and usually very popular.  This mooring is opposite a weir and the Cormorants often come and sit there and dry their wings.

We all moored up and then it was time for a cup of tea.  On the way down, I had made Barabrith (sort of fruit loaf) and so we all had that sat in the sun.

It was a beautiful sunny warm afternoon and evening so we sat outside having drinks and I made Lasagne for tea so we had that as well and had a lovely time chatting, eating and drinking. 

We are staying here for a couple of days just chilling out and doing a few caches as there are quite a few in this area.

Moored at Vale Royal