Saturday 18 July 2015

Dunham to Moore and a view of the Ship Canal

Monday 14th July; Dunham to Moore

This is a lovely quiet mooring at Dunham and we have earmarked it for the future.

1 lovely mooring at dunham

This morning we were away at 9.30 with just 2 objects in mind; water up at Ye Olde No 3 and empty two cassettes at Oughtrington.  A mooring for shopping at Lymm would be a bonus!  We were lucky that there was no-one on the water point, as this is the only one till we get down onto the Weaver.  Although Nicholson’s implies that there are full facilities at Oughtrington, this is incorrect – there is no water and no rubbish disposal.  The landing is also very short – at 55’ we had our bow firmly tucked into the bushes by the bridge (we could have moored on the towpath side and walked round).  But at least we got the cassettes emptied – we feel uneasy if we have to start using the third!

On the way to Lymm we passed Hesford Marine where we were amused by Colin the Crane.

4 colin the crane at hesford marine

We also saw a pair of lapwing mobbing a crow, calling their mournful cry and persistently dive-bombing it as it sat in a tree.  They must have had young nearby on the ground and wanted to keep the crow away.  They were moving so quickly I could only get pictures of the tree.  It was quite chilly and raining as we approached Lymm, but there was plenty of space, so we moored up and went off shopping.  The rain stopped, we got an excellent sausage roll and cheese & leek pie in the bakery, and some lovely bread too.  When I walked Meg after lunch I found some more raspberries, which was a bonus.  We didn’t want to stay though, and set off towards Stockton Heath.  The Rosebay Willowherb is at its best and there have been huge stands of it along the canal.

5 willowherb

At Stockton Heath we passed a cheery paddleboarder enjoying the sunshine. 

6 paddleboarder stockton heath

This seems to be quite the thing at the moment – there was an article in the paper recently on the paddleboarding club in Paddington and there were pictures of Bill Bailey (comedian and birdwatcher, much funnier than Bill Oddie) on the Paddington Arm.

We carried on down to moor just before the road meets the canal at Moore.   I left Dave putting another coat of varnish on the window frames and went for a run down to the Ship Canal, where nb Amyjo will be going in a few weeks!  I took a few snaps on my phone, so not the best quality unfortunately.  I took one in each direction from the bridge but can’t remember which way was which!  Visually, it’s unfortunately not the most interesting waterway.

6 ship canal towards coast  7 ship canal towards manchester

On the way back to Moore (quite a way uphill, which is obvious if you think about it, with the drop at the Anderton lift and the locks on the Weaver) I took snaps of the imposing gates of a property with a power station as a distant neighbour.

8 grand property and power station 9  grand property and power station

The horse heads are not as impressive as the Kelpies in Scotland – Edinburgh to Glasgow, now that would be a good trip!  You’d get to go up and down the Falkirk Wheel too! 

10 miles, 5 and a half engine hours.  We kept the engine running at the water point as the batteries need a good charge.

4 comments:

  1. There are full facilities in Preston Brook Marina, you can use them online( but it means is bit of a reverse out !) & use them or go into into the marina itself. Water is also available at Thorne Marine, Stockton Heath, they do charge, only a pound or two though ;)

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  2. Thanks, I'll annotate Nicholson's
    Debby

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  3. Just thought you might like to know that the Horse heads in Moore are at the gates of what used to be a Royal Artillery Heavy Anti Aircraft Battery Camp during WW2. Former Prime Minister Ted Heath confirms in his memoirs that he was stationed at Moore Lane Camp during his time in the Armed Forces.

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    1. Thanks for that - they looked rather out of place at the time but now it makes more sense.

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