Onwards into Cheshire

After the excitements of the past few days we are resuming are journey home. During a gap in the rain we set off from Anderton at 9:45. The route started off in the Northwich Community Woodlands where we had walked yesterday, but became less interesting.

We passed by the Lion Salt Works which our rather aged guidebook described as an old open pan salt works that was being restored and was well worth visiting. Sadly it is all fenced off with signs warning of dangerous buildings, a scene of complete dilapidation.

This section of canal culminated in the massive Brunner Mond (formerly ICI, now part of the Indian Tata group) soda ash works where salt is converted to sodium carbonate. The canal passes beneath a large number of pipes and gantries connecting the plant on both sides.

After then the scenery steadily improved as the ground became more hilly. Along the canal route are a number of flashes where land subsidence due to salt extraction has flooded areas adjacent to the canal. We stopped at one of these flashes just before lunch time as the clouds were looking ominous.

After the lunchtime rain eventually stopped at 14:40 we travelled a couple of miles down the canal before mooring for the night as the rain fell again and flashes of lightning illuminated the sky.

I was relieved to find that during the 3.5 hour journey our alternator more than generated sufficient power to replace that used over last night, so we should be OK .