Hurleston Junction

Conditions this morning were somewhat blustery as we departed Coole Pilate. On arrival at Hack Green Locks we found a short queue going both ways. Whilst waiting I read the information board at the locks, to find that Hack Green played an important role during the Second World War, as a radar station providing protection for the docks at Liverpool. We forget how far north we have come, and that Liverpool is not that far away. We descended through the pair of locks without incident. That's it for the easy narrow locks for a while, it's the heavy wide ones from now on. A couple of miles later we arrived at Nantwich. There is a small but bustling basin, with full services. We took on a tank full of water and visited the waterside cafe. We did not visit Nantwich town this time, we will save it for another day. Two more miles and we reached our destination, Hurleston Junction. This is were the Llangollen Canal departs from the Shropshire Union heading off towards Wales. Our intention is to do this trip when we have finished in Chester and Ellesmere Port.

       

                                                          Hurleston Junction.

       

                                                   Straight on for us to Chester. (this time)

After securing the boat we walked ahead towards Barbridge Junction a mile and a half away. There are a couple of pubs here, and we wanted to check out a possible Sunday lunch venue. Ye Olde Barbridge Inn has got our vote. We will probably move forward nearer to this on Saturday.

     

                                      Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal.

Barbridge Junction is where the Shropshire Union links up with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich. This will be our route back when we start to head south again for the winter. There is a canal and music festival at Middlewich this weekend, which may explain the heavy traffic over the last couple of days.

Returning to the boat the weather has warmed up making for a pleasant evening, although the wind is still gusting quite strongly.

      

                          Our spot at Hurleston Junction, with Oscar enjoying some playtime.

Totals 6 Miles 2 Locks

Running total 275 Miles 128 Locks 11 Tunnels