A Quiet Day and Farewell to Nantwich.

 Thursday 4th August 2022 south of Nantwich.

We had a very quiet morning. M did a wash and pegged the clothes out to dry on our washing line. We have spent over two days in Nantwich and would have loved to stay longer. However, we felt we really should move on since these moorings are restricted to 2 days and, hardly surprisingly, are highly sought after.

R backed MM up to the water point behind us where we met a couple on a brand new boat celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. The boat was their anniversary present to each other - how lovely is that! They had decorated the roof of the boat with yards of silver tinsel and anniversary themed banners!

When they had finished watering up, R helped them to get going.

The water point was very busy so we let another boat, that had been waiting, go ahead of us as we were not in a hurry. That gave the washing more time to dry!

Here you can see the remains of the former Chester Canal alongside the current Shropshire Union.  Thomas Telford's original plan was to use the course of the old canal down to Autherley Junction but permission was refused (see below). The short remaining section is now occupied by Nantwich Marina. The canal is built on an embankment here on a long curve round Nantwich because the local landowner would not grant Telford, the canal engineer, permission to cross his land. The huge embankment took five years to build because it kept subsiding; how frustrating for Mr Telford. Worryingly, even now  the towpath is subsiding in places, so the problems seem to persist.

The canal crosses the main road on this aqueduct which is particularly handsome when viewed from below.

A little further on we caught up with the happy couple celebrating their anniversary; you can clearly see the tinsel bedecking the boat!

No rush to get anywhere today so we didn't go too far, just a mile south before we moored up ourselves.

The setting sun was hiding in the tree next to the railway line! And the waxing moon was reflected in the water below.

Today: 1 miles, 0 locks and 3.1 hours (including three days power)

Trip: 324 miles, 195 locks and 176.1 hours.