Summer Trip 2013. Crick to Liverpool.

Crick to Atherstone.

Monday 22^nd April saw us leave our home mooring at Crick with the aim of reaching Liverpool on the 9^th June.  We do realise that the journey would be possible in about 18 days, but we want to have a casual and relaxing time, to stop when we want, not to be hindered by time constraints, to moor and walk the local countryside and visit points of interest.

The first day saw us down the Watford flight, through Braunston and onto the Oxford canal before mooring for the night close to Onley where we had agreed to meet Alan & Helen nb Porthwillow for the evening.  

The view from the evenings mooring close to All Oaks Wood.

Lucky to find a spot for an hour.  A short walk to Rugby's Tesco and then back on the move.
 

Passed the coal boat close to Blinklow

 We reached Hawkesbury junction by lunchtime the next day and proceeded to the Greyhound (one of my favourite pubs on the cut) for lunch.  I can really recommend the spare ribs.

The Greyhound - Hawkesbury Junction.

Tench and butty Australia going south towards Coventry.

Early Friday morning saw us close to Atherstone.  We moored short of a mile outside at a great spot and walked into town.  Pleasant town to visit if you’re not in a hurry, co-op etc. if you need to stock up, plenty of pubs and four second-hand book dealers.   Weather being kind so far only had rain overnight.

Eleven locks first thing in the morning before stopping at Tamworth to visit the castle.

Closing 2012

If you’d been following the blog last year you would have realised that I stopped entering details after we had reached Market Drayton.  No real excuse, it just didn’t happen.  I’ll attempt to bring the blog up to date with a few pics thrown in as we are already on this year’s trip, and I hope to keep the blog going throughout the journey.

The next stop after Market Drayton was Audlem, well known for the Shroppie-Fly, a canal side pub and eatery used by generations of bargemen. 

Shroppie-Fly Audlem

Three miles after leaving Audlem we came across a sign advertising Hack Green’s secret nuclear bunker?  A Second World War radar station secretly designated to play a role as a Regional Government Headquarters in the event of a nuclear war. Made redundant at the end of the Cold War it became a tourist attraction.  One interesting exhibit is the radio transmitter that sent Margaret Thatcher’s order to sink the Belgrano during the Falkland’s War.

Secret Nuclear Bunker?

Thatcher's Falkland's Transmitter

Nr Nantwich canal centre

Two days later we arrived in Chester.    Chester was great, it’s full of history, particularly Roman, has an interesting town hall, a great Cathedral and the River Dee.  An excellent stop for a couple of days.

Chester Main Street

 

Chester's River Dee

 

Chester Main Street

  

Bacchus moored in Chester

Ellesmere Port found us at the northern end of the Shropshire Canal the location for the National Waterways Museum.  We spent the night in the secure basin and visited the museum before turning round to head home.  

Near Ellesmere Port - not good for the prop

National Waterways Museum

The route home took us via Middlewich, down the Trent & Mersey Canal, through the Potteries and turning south onto the Coventry Canal at Fradley Junction.  This part of the journey will be repeated on this year’s trip, though in the opposite direction, so will be in the new blog.