Vale Royal Moorings to Winsford (River Weaver)

 Monday 11th August

Approaching New Bridge

We are off today, so got ready and went to see if John and Sharon were ready to go, they were so we both chugged off.  Just up the river, there is a swing bridge called New Bridge, it is very low, but okay as we got under, not much room to spare mind you!

Salt Works

Chugged on up the river, past the salt works and piles of old waste and on to Winsford.  The moorings at the Red Lion were empty, mind you there is only room for two boats, so we turned around as this is the end of the navigation and moored up.  John and Sharon did the same.

Sitting in sun at Red Lion

Me and the Red Lion!

Moorings at Winsford

The lady from the pub came out and was really friendly and told us where the shops and supermarkets were.  We had coffee and chilled out for a bit, then we all went to the pub and sat outside and had some lunch as the sun was out and it was really pleasant.  It is a really nice pub, so Kev and I decided to eat there this evening as well.  John and Sharon were going back up the canal as they wanted to go the other way as well and are on a time schedule.  We walked back to the boats, said goodbye to Sharon, John and Smugger, it had been really lovely seeing them and spending some time together, it was really nice they had come to see us.  We will see them again when we go back down to the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal at the end of the year.

We walked up to the town, it is okay with quite a lot of shops and a couple of supermarkets, an Asda and an Aldi.  There is also a Morrisons, but it is the other way from the river.  Our friend Jane works in Winsford, a bit out of the town.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t meet us, but never mind, we understand how it is for these people that work!!!

The Flashes

Walked back to the boat, then walked down to the Flashes, this part of the river is not navigable to narrow boats as it is very shallow, had a nice walk along there.   They have a Monday club in the pub, first of all, they did a beer draw, throughout the week if you buy a pint in the pub, you get given a ticket and all the tickets go in the draw, then on the Monday evening, they draw a ticket out and the winner gets if he is in the pub when the draw is done, 10 free pints, if he is not in the pub, he gets 5 pints.

In the evening, we went up to the pub for our meal.

They then do Spin the Wheel and Open the Box.  A strip of tickets is £2.50.  They do three lots of each game.  For Spin the Wheel, they put a ticket out of the box and the owner of that ticket has won a pint, you can then gamble that pint by spinning the wheel, picking red or blue and if you win, you win two pints, the pints are doubled each time you spin the wheel, obviously if your colour doesn’t come up, you lose.  One chap kept picking a colour and winning and he won 16 pints, a couple of people won 8 and one person won 4.  Also, on one or two of the spins, he tucks a £5 note into one of the colours on the wheel, so if you win on that square, you get the fiver as well.

The Open the Box game was they pulled out a ticket again and that person’s ticket, could either open the box or the compere offer them money instead.  The girls from behind the bar’s ticket came out and they were offered £45, but turned it down, opened the box and in there was a packet of monster munchies and they were out of date!   Another chap turned down £55 but inside his box was a meal for two at some pub or restaurant with a bottle of wine and the third chap who was the compere’s dad turned down£75 for a packet of crisps.  It was really fun, but needless to say we didn’t get any of our tickets drawn out.  The top prize in one of the boxes which wasn’t chosen was £500, second prize £400 and third prize £250, these prizes will go over to next week.  It certainly brings the people out  as the pub was very busy.  We had a really nice meal as well and the staff are all so friendly, it is a really good pub. 

The Red Lion

Moored outside Red Lion

Went back to the boat.  Moving off tomorrow after we have been food shopping.