Chilly chilly along the Bridgewater

Tuesday 28th April

Heavy showers till 9.15, when we pulled pins and set off, pausing at the village to dispose of rubbish and recycling in the convenient bins by the towpath.  There were occasional gleams of sunshine but generally it was so cold and breezy that it was a morning for thermals, hats and gloves.  At Stockton Heath is a building once used as stables, fodder store and staff house for the packet boats.  Before Thorn Marine took it over, it was a morgue! (thanks Nicholson’s).

We were finding the Bridgewater good for cruising speed – wide, deep, concrete edges – but not especially interesting or pretty, although it has its moments.

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As did Dave and Meg.  In spite of her little coat, with her thin fur Meg soon went inside once the sun had gone again.

We were expecting something dramatic at the M6 bridge – the Thelwall Viaduct has only ever been for us an exotic item on traffic reports before!  All we got were a few powerful whiffs of diesel and glimpses of gantries above the trees.

We moored at Lymm (only 2 spaces left, and 10 minutes later the moorings were full) and Dave took Meg for a stroll round the village while I made some soup.  Back they came with fish and chips (yum!), so soup tomorrow.  After lunch we walked round the village and up along the Dingle to the waterfall at the end.

 

Someone had tried to climb down to the water but had slipped – we heard the yells and laughter – and was clambering out rather wet and green.  I climbed the steps to see what was the other side of the road – this -

but Dave’s injured foot is still painful so we’ll have to explore further later in the year.  The upper gateway to the Dingle is attractive.

less so the wretched Japanese Knotweed, at least not once you know the damage it does.

Lymm is full of places to eat.  It must be the local moneyed classes which allow it to support them all as well as a good butcher and artisan bakery.  Shame there is no greengrocer though.  The Dingle runs uphill between red sandstone cliffs, which can be seen exposed in several places.

 

We didn’t stay in Lymm though, as we wanted to get into Manchester in time to spend tomorrow afternoon sightseeing.  So we put our warm gear back on and continued to Dunham. I took Meg for a run between showers back to Ye Olde No 3, checking out better places to moor for the journey back later this year.

11 miles, no locks