Bags of bridges.

After our stop over at Hest Bank we moved on the next day in beautiful sunshine once again.

The first thing of note we came to was Milestone Bridge that was built in 2014 to carry the M6 Link road called the Bay Gateway! In the photo above you can see how the pairs of precast concrete beams make the span. Two 200t cranes lifted them into position at theirabutments and lowered them to meet in the middle.

It is thought to be the longest spanning twin precast arch beam bridge in the UK at 28.7m!!

As we crossed the Ribble Estuary there are good views of the Castle and Priory Church.

It is not quite the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct but it is very impressive in its own way. It is in fact the largest all masonry aqueduct in Britain and was designed by John Rennie and opened in 1797.

The Aqueduct was started in 1794 and the actually person in charge of its construction was a Scotsman Alexander Stevens who actually died before it was completed, as you can see. This plaque is on the exterior wall of the Priory Church.

The distant view of the Ashton Memorial in the Williamson Park makes you realise why the views from the top are so good.

We moored up to have a walk down to see the Aqueduct from another channel. It is a handsome structure that had £2.8 million spent on refurbishing it in 2011/12.

It is enhanced with an inscription on both sides. On the north side it simply says 'To Public Prosperity' in English. On the south side in Latin it translates as; Things that are wanting are brought together. Things remote are connected. Rivers themselves meet by the assistance of art, to afford new objects of commerce. Engineer J. Rennie. Built A. Stevens. Father and Son.

Once through the City of Lancaster the countryside is very pretty with little cuttings that house clouds of flowering wild garlic. The smell was lovely and the shade was actually welcome!

The cuttings meant that there was the odd high bridge that stood out.

We stopped before Forton on a nice peaceful country mooring with the field of alpacas opposite that meant that we had something to watch. I never heard them make a sound the whole time we were there. The sun and early stop meant that there was time to catch up on a few of the little jobs that needed doing that get put off. This one looked like a stuffed soft toy to me!