Beeston Castle.

Wednesday 24th August, 2016 at Egg Bridge, Waverton.
A cloudy start turned brighter later.

We set off mid morning and almost immediately came to Bunbury locks, a staircase of two locks. Fortunately, we had the help of a C&RT volunteer. We also had help from a Danish family travelling on two hire boats.

The locks on the canal north of Nantwich are all wide locks and many of them have these attactive round lengthsman's buildings.

Our goal today was to visit Beeston Castle, about a mile's walk away from the canal, so we moored up and set off on a footpath across the fields. Beeston Castle is built on the top of a natural sandstone outcrop that rises 500ft above the Cheshire plain. The outcrop is clear in the distance.

The only hazard (other than the odd cow-pat) that we encountered on our journey was a very large herd of dairy cows who were crowded around the gate through which we had to go. It transpired that this gate led to their milking parlour and they were queueing up, already impatient to get milked! It always seems such a wondrous thing that they naturally know when it's time to be milked and will make their own way to the milking parlour.

The farm buildings were clearly old but beautifully maintained (the farm supplies milk to Tesco) and the farmhouse itself was straight from a picture postcard.

Although the Castle is mediaeval, the gatehouse and the external wall is Victorian; however, this gatehouse is built very much as the two ruined Castle gatehouses must have been.

As with most castles, it has a chequered history including battles and sieges in the Civil War - the victors, as usual, trying to tear it down after they had defeated the occupants.
There is evidence of Bronze Age occupation of the rocky outcrop, but the castle dates from 1220. An outer wall surrounds a massive outer bailey or "ward" with a single gatehouse entrance. Right on the top of the 500ft outcrop is the inner ward with its own huge gatehouse and divided from the outer ward by a deep rock-cut ditch, which was the source for much of the stone used in the Castle's construction. This photograph was taken inside the inner ward at the top.

The views from the top were astonishing (it's possible to see eight counties), particularly as the day was very clear. Between the castle and the canal, there is a railway line; we watched this "Nuclear Waste" train go past. - the third in as many days that we have seen.

We spent a happy hour or so exploring the ruins and, in the inner ward, met a family which had come together from all corners of England, and from Connecticut in the USA, for a family gathering. They asked R to take a group picture of all of them together.

We found it impossible to take any photographs that did justice to the massive size of this Castle and its surrounding wards, which must have been incredibly impressive sitting high above the plain below.
Later, as we were sailing on to Chester, we looked back at the rocky outcrop, illuminated by the sun low in the west and agreed it is certainly the Castle's most impressive aspect. It was only by chance that we happened to look back and saw it - so we will do our best to photograph it on the way back.

Back on MM, we thought that we would get a few more miles under our belt as it was a beautiful evening. This pretty moth joined us on the stern for a while, perhaps convinced that MM was a (very) large flower.

We moored at Egg Bridge for the night, which might give you a clue as to the menu for breakfast tomorrow!
Today: 9 miles, 6 locks and 4.5 hours.
Trip: 270 miles, 200 locks and 201.0 hours.