A Day of Industrial and Rural Contrasts.

 Wednesday 13th July 2022 in Middlewich.

On the Wigan flight of locks, M's lock-wheeling gloves finally gave out; they were more hole than glove!  But they had done stirling service for two seasons, so she wasn't complaining! When we were home recently, we acquired a new pair of  (actually cycling gloves) and this morning they were unwrapped as today we have five locks to do, the first since Wigan and Poolstock one month ago.

South of Anderton is Northwich, a very industrialised area. This massive factory is Trouw Nutrition and makes animal feed. The huge building towers over the canal and is rather forbidding.

And this huge factory plant that spans the canal is a part of Tata (what used to be British Steel). t makes soda ash for the glass, detergent and medical industries. As if it isn't already large enough, there is massive construction work taking place with concrete structures several stories high being built all round.

However, just a few miles further south the landscape changes character completely and we found oursleves in gentle, leafy surroundings once more.

You leave the "dark satanic mills" behind and enter a rural greenspace. Such a contrast in such a short distance.

Between Northwich and Middlewich there are a number of new marinas including this one; it is still under development and has yet to be filled with water. There appears to be a constant demand for new marinas and they very quickly fill up with boats, which says something about the number of new boats being built every year.

Our first lock is "Big Lock", so named because it was made into a wide lock in the 1930s as the first step of an abortive scheme to make the whole Trent & Mersey Canal into a wide canal. We were able to share the lock with this lovely traditional narrowboat. The traditional and the modern together, side by side.

Finally, another three (narrow) locks further on we entered Middlewich, where we turned right on to the Wardle Canal that connects the Trent & Mersey Canal to the Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch.

Just one lock in the very short (60 yards!) Wardle Canal and we had to queue for it! And there were other boats waiting behind us...

Just above the lock, we moored up and went to Morrisons for a "few bits". The evening sunlight beautifully illuminated this willow tree and its reflection.

Today: 11 miles, 5 locks and 4.8 hours.

Trip: 276 miles, 167 locks and 145 hours.