Nantwich

We are spending a couple of nights moored at Nantwich, a town whose architecture mixes old with new - but with an emphasis on the old.  There`s a lot of the new development that seems to have the olde world, Tudor type wood effect, so the only way to tell if a building is modern is to see if the walls are vertical - and it`s over 10 feet tall.

Natwich is surprisingly large with supermarkets and lots of coffee shops and bars. A large church dominates the town square (St Marys, I think) and there seemed to be lots going on - not just shopping, there were guided walks and church events, and just people of all ages hanging around.  It was nice. 

And it`s obviously affluent: the women at the checkout in front of us in Morrisons, after buying her fags and lottery tickets, told the till lady that she was off to Thailand on holiday - "it`s only a week", she said, "but it`s better than nothing". A short while later, when it was our turn, the lady working the till said, "I`d be happy with a week in Rhyll".

There are a number of  48 hr moorings (as well as long term ones) along the canal and we stopped south of the aqueduct to make sure we got a place. A good call as it turned out - all the moorings beyond had been taken.  It was a busy Saturday, probably more than usual because of the incredible weather - hot and sunny; a summer day, not an October one at all.

Sue had a near miss with a swan that seemed to have mistaken the gravel tow path next to M for water, and tried to land on it. Apparently the bird had swerved to avoid M`s pram cover, which resulted in it flying straight for Sue.  After Sue ducked down pretty rapidly, it crash landed on the path and there were a lot of missing feathers before it finally toppled into the water.   It then swam off as if nothing had happened - what a professional.

Simon`s sister a her family (minus one daughter and two dogs) arrived on Sunday and we all had lunch on a picnic bench opposite the marina after moving M beyond the aqueduct.  We had winded just north of the town and then went back to Hack Green to wind again.  They seemed to enjoy the ride on M and Carolyn (12 years) had a go at steering, doing a pretty good job of it.  It was lovely seeing them and we had a really enjoyable day.  We dropped them off just as it started to rain, back at the same spot we had moored at on Saturday night. And here we`ll stay until tomorrow.

New building - old style



Geese on the way in to Nantwich




A Church dominates the centre of Nantwich



Sign by canal......we obviously can't tell you where it is!

 





















Carolyn up front....



........and at the tiller



Simon, Lou, Alan & Carolyn.....V must be hoovering the bank nearby!