Sweet and Salty

Aren’t they sweet,

Our journey from Middlewich took us through Cheshire’s salt heritage, a merry mix of beautiful countryside and gentle cruising, 

Meandering through the bluebell woods

I think this swan wanted to see us off his aqueduct over the river Dane

Perhaps we should have paid the toll

Although when we saw those black clouds rising we made straight for the next available mooring

The calm before the storm

We still got drenched in the minutes it took us to stop and tie up.

Oh boy that was some downpour

It didn’t last long but we didn’t trust the clearing sky

It didn’t look that much clearer when we reached the Tata Chemical factory at Northwich, although some of that is steam not cloud

It feels a bit alien travelling through a site like this

The site now includes the UKs largest carbon capture plant recycling 40,000 tonnes of CO2 opened in 2022, I wonder if they will need a new bridge symbol

It’s not that much further on to the Anderton nature park, one of our favourite moorings

Two day mooring at the Anderton nature park, time to take down the coronation bunting

We didn’t decend the Anderton Boat lift this time

But descended on foot and walked into Northwich along the River Weaver,

Wilton Brook and the River Weaver

Last time we were here Firecrest’s generator had suffered a catastrophic malfunction and due to a number of reasons we  ended up stranded in Northwich Marina for 8 weeks, (lovely marina though) and missed out on exploring the river. But Northwich has several millenia of providing salt for the country so we thought it only right to enjoy a bowl of salty popcorn

Film night treat

And a little more sweetness