Exploring the Weaver

 

After a wet start on Thursday morning we pulled pins at 11.55 in sunshine and soon came across this large barge just around the corner from our mooring. They were taking down a tree on the visitor moorings. If only it was winter it would have been on our roof. It is amazing how much wood we have seen in our travels this summer ,but come winter we will be scratting around trying to find some.

 

On the approach to Saltersford lock you see this sign. Don’t worry we will be keeping left.

 

As soon as we got near to Saltersford lock we rang the lock keeper to book in and guess what ?. It was his dinner time so he told us to moor on the pontoon and he would sort us out in an hour or so.

 

The locks here are massive and some are electrically operated and only operate between 09.00 and 17.00.

 

Eventually the lock was filled and the gates opened . We entered first followed by Narrow boat Well oiled. We put a bow and stern rope around the bollards and then Well oiled roped onto us for the trip down the lock. It emptied very quickly and we were soon on our way. As there was another lock about an hour away the lockie phoned through to let them know that we were on the way and they would prepare the lock for us.

 

Wow ! That’s some swing bridge. It is the biggest one we have been through. Luckily we are low enough to fit through with out it being opened.

 

Just before Dutton lock is the wreck of the MV Chica. It began life as a Norwegian sailing vessel at the end of the 19th century and some how ended up here.

 

At Dutton lock we entered and passed the Lady lockie our centre rope as we were the only boat going down and didn’t need to tie off fore and aft. But guess what our centre rope wasn’t long enough , so I had to hastily join another rope onto it. I have the centre ropes at the length they are so that if they accidentally fall in to the water as they have on several occasions they can not get wrapped around the propeller.

 

We don’t half feel small in this lock all by ourselves.

 

Just after Duttton lock is the very impressive Dutton Viaduct.  (one for you Dick)

 

Passing under the Viaduct also makes us feel very small.

 

We had a great laugh at this. You can see a cycle leaning on the tree on the right and a cows head in the bush on the left and you can just about make out the cyclist up the tree. We are not sure how he got there or why he was so scared of a cow. We slowed down to see what was going on . He had a mate who was about 100 yards back the towpath and was keeping his distance. After a while his mate shouted to him.. now Go! and then all of a sudden he jumped out of the tree and got on to his bike. We have never seen any cyclist pedal so hard and so fast before , he could have won the Tour de France at the speed he was going.  Carolyn reckoned he was a Townie who had never seen a cow before. Anyway we did have a good laugh…

 

This is a first for us . It’s a field mooring and its called Devils Garden. We have some lovely friendly neighbors and they are called Daisy , Buttercup and Ermintrude.

 

This is the view from our side hatch. The concrete structure you can see on both sides of the river is where the main water feed pipe for Liverpool passes under the river.  This river reminds us so much of the River Dart down in Devon where we come from. We always had a boat on the river Dart and that’s where our love of boating came from.

With heavy rain forecast we will remain here at Devils Garden moorings. We have good TV and internet connections and plenty of food and the red stuff to last us a good few days.

 

                                                                                        Happy Days