Marston to Anderton Country Park (River Weaver)

Monday 4th August

The sun was shining again today and we are on the move again today.  Had a shower and wondered why the water was draining from the bath very quickly and the pump wasn’t coming on.  Told Kev and he had a look and found that the plug and fitting in the bath had dropped out because of a rusted screw.  So we now need to get a new part before we can have another shower, hope we can get it fixed soon.  Set off along the canal towards Anderton, it is very rural on this part really lovely. Stopped at the services to fill up with water, get rid of rubbish, etc., then moved down onto the visitor moorings and walked up to Uplands chandlery to see if they had the part for our bath.  They didn’t have it in stock, but said they could get it from their shop in Nantwich and it could be delivered tomorrow.  There was another chandlery across the way in Anderton Marina so we went over there to see if they had one.  They were on their break and weren’t interested in helping us at all, they said they didn’t have one, but not sure how they knew what we wanted, as they didn’t even look at the part we took to show them!  We walked out of there and went back to the other place and the lady there ordered the part for us and we can pick it up tomorrow morning.

The Anderton Lift

We then walked around the corner to the Anderton Lift and visitor centre.  Had a walk around there.  We are going down it, but were going to get our part and then go down tomorrow.  We went to the office and the lady there said you just turn up and they book you on the next available lift.    We walked down to the bottom of the lift by the river and there were some really sunny moorings down there and where we were moored by the marina was overhung with trees and dark, so we decided that if there was a space, we would go down the lift today and onto the River Weaver and moor on those sunny moorings and then walk back up for the bath part tomorrow.  We went back to the booking office and first she said we could go down at 1.30pm, then she said there was a space on the 12.50pm, so we booked on there. 

We went back to the boat and moved down to the 24hr moorings, then should have gone on the holding moorings by the lift a half hour before our time to go down, but there were two boats already there and  no room for us, so I went down and asked them what time they were due to go down, one boat Tardis 2 had been there when we first went for a walk and you are only supposed to go to these moorings a half hour before your time to go down.  She said that she wasn’t sure, but thought it was 12.50pm, the same as us, I asked the other boat and he said he was booked on the 1.30pm, so I said to him that did he know he shouldn’t be moored there at the moment, he said he did, but had come there as they weren’t sure what to do, but he wasn’t going to move to let us go there, all he said we could come alongside him, I don’t know, why do people think they can please themselves and not stick to the rules.  So, I went down to the office and told them that we were waiting but couldn’t get on the moorings because of this chap and the lady said she had told him he had to move, so she radioed the chap in charge of the boats and he came and told the chap to move, so we moored where we were supposed to!  

Going into the boat lift

View from top of lift

No sooner had we got to the moorings, and we were told to go into the lift, Tardis 2 came in beside us.  The barrier went up and we then went into the actual lift and tied up.  He told us abit about the history of the lift and then off we went down to the River Weaver.  It takes 9 minutes to go down and it was brilliant. 

Passing the other car

Going down in the lift

The other car on the lift passed half way down on its way back up.  We got to the bottom, waited for the barrier to go up and then we were on the River Weaver, came out the lift, turned left and moored up on the sunny moorings by Anderton Country Park. 

At the bottom of the lift

Leaving the Anderton Lift

Moored at Anderton, River Weaver

We chilled out for a bit, then walked along the River Weaver and through the country park to Northwich which is a really nice town.  We walked through the town, then down to the river to see what the moorings are like there and Patrick and Pat on Diligent 2 were moored there, they had come down this morning.  Had a cup of tea and a slice of cake and a nice chat to them, then headed back to the boat.  It was nice to see them again and I am sure we will bump into them  again shortly.

It was a lovely sunny evening.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get any T.V, first time on our trip, so not so bad, but can only get intermittent internet, hence why this is posted a day late!  We will probably stay here again tomorrow so we can get our bath part and also the forecast is not so good, then may move off Wednesday depending on the weather.