Keeping busy.

I was round at Mum's for 0900 to take her for her diabetes MOT. She was pronounced fine. We then went to ASDA and did a really big shop for her. She will be stocked up for a while now.

All Mum's cards with flowers from Anita. I didn't buy any as I thought the brothers would have sent some. It looks like we all thought the same thing!

When I got back home I checked out the garage door. It is a roller door with a motor that winds it up and down activated by a remote control. I checked that nothing was blocking it. The motor was working okay and it was going up and down it was just that when it reached the bottom it just went back up. Looking at the motor you could see that the limit switches were on cams and the cam wasn't breaking the switch to stop it so it thought it had come down on an obstruction. Bash got up and took the plate off and moved the cam round abit. It took a little trial and error but it seems to be working okay now. That has saved at least a £60 call out plus and work done.

As it is supposed to be raining tomorrow I set to at cutting the lawn. The grass didn't appear too long but I had to empty the collector quite a few times. There was a programme on Radio 4 this week about 'What is the use of Lawns?' Unfortunately I missed it. I'm not really that bothered about it really, you know weeds and stuff in the mix, and I would never water it as the water is on a meter and the lawn soon recovers after a drought. Mind you there is something very satisfying about seeing a neatly cut lawn. I then did some weeding in the flower beds to try and remove any weeds that would be seeding. I found a few blackberry's ripe that had been self seeded among the climbing roses and the ones I have planted along the fence will be ready soon. If there is a bit of rain over the next couple of weeks I think there will be a very good crop for someone to pick.

The lawn looks loads better once it has been cut as can be seen by this half and half photograph. There are some dry spots but nothing that wont come back.

Happy Birthday Mum.

Round to Mum's in the morning as it is her 87th Birthday and she looks very well with it all. It looked like she had a card for every year of it too, but I was told later it was only 20! There were a few little jobs to do and then the main business of  catching up with all the family and town gossip. About lunch time I was back home to try to get some of the jobs I need to do sorted before going back to Mum's.

The garden soon gets out of hand and the side of the house has become a bit of  a jungle  with the hedges and roses needing cutting back and everything taking root between the pavers.

Somehow brambles have got mixed up with the roses and they have a lot of fruit on them.

All sorts of self seeded plants have taken root in the paving slab gaps.

It will all have to wait until the next time as I have been busy with sorting out house insurance, Income tax and stuff for the car. There is still the garage door to sort out too. Bash, Sam and I went to pick up the Birthday Girl and take her out for a meal at Alison Hall. The Hall was an old Nissan hut that was bought by the Hedon WI in December 1931 and was dedicated to Mrs Alison Todd who was the President of the branch at that time. It was sold in 2010 and turned into a restaurant. The wrought iron grill that once decorated the door way has been saved and is outside the Hedon Museum. My Mum went her as a young girl during the war to dances and then WI and I used to take my daughter to dance lessons here as it had a lovely wooden sprung floor so was light to use. The wooden building was 'replaced' with a brick one and is a very good bar/grill now.

Birthday Girl.

Tony, Mum, Sam and Bash with very full tummys.

Back Home for a bit.

After a very good nights sleep in an extremely quiet Overwater Marina we were late up and didn't get on the road until after 1030. Mind you it was hard to leave Helen, Macy and the boat to go home. After having spent at least  six months apart every year for long enough it is difficult to leave these days.

A bit of a bracing wind to say good bye.

Boats as far as the eye can see in Overwater marina from the visitor moorings.

The run home was made in good time. As we pulled up on the drive Bash told me that the garage door wasn't working and I wondered what else was kaput. The grass wasn't too long but I think that is more down to drought conditions than anything else. The  garden hasn't got too out of hand during the growing season but there  will have to be some serious pruning and clipping later in the year. There was nothing in the fridge but that was to be expected.

I spent an hour or so going through the stack of mail that had built up and placed them in piles of importance. Car road fund tax and contents insurance to sort first. I also  have to submit my tax return this time home too. It will be interesting finding all the bits and pieces of paperwork that are required. They are all there but they get placed in all different bits of the filing cabinet and it takes time to track them down. I will then have to try and fix the garage door. I think that the it is set too low as it it closes and then  goes straight back up so at least the motor is working.

I am wondering weather I will be able to wake up in the early hours to see if I can see the peak of the Perseids meteor shower as the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet debris passes us again. There could be up to 100 shooting  stars every hour at it's best so worth getting up if you have a clear night.

Over water to Overwater.

We ate at the Black Lion pub last night. It was the CAMERA pub of south Cheshire this year and is a lovely old building dating from 1644. It is 'higgledy piggledy' with different levels of small rooms and wattle and daub walls. This morning we went round the town following the guide from the Information Centre. It is a very good leaflet as it is full of information.

Wilbraham Almhouses built in 1870 to replace some built in 1676 by Sir Rodger Wilbraham. The six poor men got £2 and a pair shoes every year and a gown and cap every other year in 1804.

The Wright Almhouses.

The Wright, Crewe and Hope Almhouses. The Crewe houses were built in 1776 on this site which used to be a House of Correction. The Wright houses were built in 1638 in London road. They were taken apart and moved to this site in 1974. The Hope houses were built using a legacy left by Harriet Hope a local shopkeeper. They were built in the 70's using stone and other material from demolished buildings in the town.

The Olde Wyche Theatre was built in 1919 as a cinema.

Churche's Mansion. This was built for Richard Churche in 1577 and is a Grade 1 listed building. An Elizebetham well were found when old hearths were opened out. The front is decorated with figures of the owner and his wife and things such as a lion, ape and a salamander. The Salamdar was supposed to be able to survive fire and its charm worked as the building survived the great fire of 1583.

Carved salamander on the front of Churche's Mansion, Nantwich.

We had lunch upstairs at the Nantwich Book Shop, and very tasty it was too. After getting back to the boat I put together the cupboard that Bash and Sam brought with them, whilst the others caught up with the Sunday papers. We were late setting off and had to go to Hen Hull Wide moorings to turn round. Bash was on the helm past the all the moored boats and he hadn't lost his touch. He made a very good job of winding the boat too. It was relatively quiet with the late hour as we repassed Nantwich and headed south.

Bash at the helm.

As we passed a field of heifers one got a little too nosy and fell in the cut. I thought that we would have to stop and drag it out again but fortunately it was at a shallow spot and was soon out un-aided. 

We were soon at Hack Green Locks and Sam was out and helping with the locks. This is her first outing on a narrow boat but I hope it wont be her last. Once clear of the locks she took the helm and did very well, picking it up quickly.

Tony supervising Sam at the Hack Green Locks with the old stables in the background.

About half an hour later we turned into Overwater Marina as Helen will be staying here whilst I go home for a few days. We filled up with water ready for the morning. It is very quiet here.

Back to Nantwich.

After eating on the boat moored up near Audlem we walked in to the village and sampled all three pubs there was to offer. Non of which were in my favourite list but it allowed us to catch up with each others news. The Shroppie Fly has a notice up saying it is under new management and will soon soon be under refurbishment, and not really before time.

By the time we had all been sorted out we got away at around 1000 but as we weren't going far it didn't matter as we only had a couple of miles to go and four bridges before we tied up again to visit the secret Bunker at Hack Green. A short walk brought us to an obvious war department building. I think there was also a small airfield here at one time. The Secret Bunker was an administrative sub centre for governing the are after a nuclear attack. It was a bit pricey to get in at £8-25 each but it took us a couple of hours to go round the 27 exhibit rooms. The bunker had a few rooms as they would have been but a lot were just housing kit from the era. It brought a lot of the paranoia back and was interesting but I think that the Secret Bunker in Holmpton East Yorkshire was better. That was housed beneath an innocent looking bungalow and was connected to the early warning system rather than the civil defence aspects of nuclear war. The rooms there were also largely as they would have been. We forgot to take any photographs when we were inside but did manage to snap the cattle outside cunningly used to disguise the bunker! The bunker was maintained at full readiness until 1993 with regular manning and had a capacity for 135 people. There are radio studios and communications centres with  all heads of things like burials, fire, police, local government represented.

Hack Green Nuclear Bunker.

Guards in disguise at Hack Green Secret Bunker.

After a bit of lunch back at the boat we set off again and were soon at the Hack Green locks. Sam received instruction on the mystrys of working locks from Bash as we descended the two. It is nice to be on narrow locks again though!

Sam receiving instructions/orders from Bash at Hack Green locks.

We were soon through and passing through the Cheshire countryside on the way to Nantwich. I asked a couple of passing boats what the mooring situation was like and didn't get the impression that there was bags of room.

Canad geese jumping out of the canal like penguins out of the Antarctic Ocean.

We found a nice mooring south of the town and just after Bridge 91 that will be a little further to walk into town for our tea but all good exercise to use up some of the intake of calories.

Visitors.

We had a morning of tasks before setting off. I walked back into town to buy some more heavy stuff  for the cupboards, like milk, cat food, lemonade etc. meanwhile Helen had set to with the baking and we ended up with butterfly buns, ginger biscuits and a lemon drizzle cake. After that we set to with a bit of a clean through ready for our visitors.

There had been a steady stream of boats passing both ways but it seemed to have gone quiet as we passed over the Nantwich Aqueduct.

Nantwich Aquaduct.

The countryside was quite pretty but it was a little windy and cool as the sun didn't come out until much later. There were loads of geese in one spot and they must have been the young as they were taking off and flying round and landing again. I thought it was to toughen up their muscles for flying off again. I thought they were going to crash into the boat at one time.

Kamikaze geese.

We only had two locks today and they were at Hack Green. It was lovely to be back in the land of narrow locks again. They seemed very light to the touch and quick to fill compared with the wide beam locks.

Hack Green Lock.

We were heading to Overwater Marina to pick up Bash and Sam. They will be able leave the car there whilst we have a couple of days with them on the boat. They will then take me home and I will leave Helen in the Marina. We took fuel whilst we were waiting. They arrived about 1630 and after a cup of tea we decided to leave and head for Audlem. The idea was to wind before the locks and find a mooring so we could go to the pub later. There was a a spot quite close to the locks so we were quickly moored up

Sam, Ashley and Helen with tea and cakes.

Nantwich.

We set off, but only round the corner to the services. We stopped to dump our garbage and top up with water. I also took the opportunity to pick some more red currants and black currants. I was surprised that there were any left but it didn't look like any had been picked since we passed on the way to Chester a week or so ago.

We were soon approaching the Barbridge Junction with the Middlewich Branch. I was expecting it to be heaving with boats but it was surprisingly quiet.

Barbridge Junction, Middlewich left through the bridge.

After the junction there was more traffic than we had been used to but I'm sure we will get used to it again. Well we did before we stopped for the night! Quickly Hurleston Junction arrives. This is the route to Llangollen and is usually very busy at this time of the year but was again quiet with just one boat in the first lock going up.

Signpost at Hurleston Junction.

It wasn't too far until our mooring on the embankment at Nantwich. The canal was supposed to go to the west of the actual route but the owners of Dorfold Hall refused to allow it through there land so a very large embankment had to be built and with civil engineering methods it took years to stabilse the bank to stop it slipping and breaching the canal. It is a bit of a walk from where we are moored, near the aqueduct over the Chester Road aqueduct. The walk into the town down Welsh Row passes a school built in 1921, pubs built in 1676, Georgian houses built in 1740'ish, alms houses built in 1870 to replace some from 1676. Once in the town centre there are still plenty of things to see. Streets radiate from the Town Square. We walked to the station to get my tickets from the machine ready for my trip home next week. We then got some bits and pieces from Aldi's and then walked back into the town to explore a little.

Town Square. Nantwich.

War Memorial, Market Square, Nantwich.

St. Mary's Church Nantwich. Most of the building dates from the 14th Century but there are parts that were part of a building of 1133AD that was the Abbey of Combermere.

The Crown Hotel on High Street, near the Oat Market. This property was built in 1585 after the great fire of Nantwich of 1583 where are large part of the town was reduced to ashes by the fire that burned for three weeks. The upper storey is a long gallery where ladies could promenade in all weathers and i believe an early form of tennis was played too.

Shropshire Union Canal Aqueduct with the embankment around Nantwich. The Battle of Nantwich was fought on land to the right in 1644. The town was held by Crowell's men. After 10,000 troops fought it out and the Royalists were defeated and the siege lifted. We are moored a little to the right of the aqueduct.

We paid a visit to the Tourist Information at the Civic Hall to gather information as Helen will be visiting here several times next week I feel. She saw the bargain of the day, a pinny for a pound! I feel that several will be purchased so beware if you have a birthday in the near future!!