Church Lawton to Westport Lake - Trent & Mersey Canal
4.25 miles, 6 locks
We suffered torrential rain overnight - it was pouring as we tried to go to sleep, still going at 02:00 hours, stopped at 04:00 and raining again at 06:00! Thankfully not so bad as they had in parts of Yorkshire. We set off in the dry aiming to stop somewhere round Hardings Wood (Junction) to nip to Tesco. A very short day - just about 1.25 miles and 5 locks. Most of the locks were doubles and we managed to get a good rhythm going - I was going ahead to set the next locks, whilst Sue closed up behind the boats. It was a boots and gaiters day, but only showers that did not necessitate waterproof trousers.
We passed a dairy farm just after milking - the cows seemed to be taking themselves back to their field
Chris has Welsh farming relatives and many years ago we visited one that mainly farmed sheep and beef cattle. One dairy cow was kept for family milk, butter etc. At milking time Auntie Winnie would go outside and call and the cow would wander down the lane and into the dairy! All the farm cats would appear as if by magic for their bowl full of fresh hot milk! The one thing we had to remember before visiting was not to eat! Whenever we went, even if we were not expected, a full tea would be provided. There was no chance of just having a cup of tea and a piece of cake. Oh no, you had to have sandwiches, scones and at least two cakes!! Happy memories of a very happy old fashioned farm, which, sadly would not survive in today's world. There used to be orphaned lambs being kept warm near the AGA (until a surrogate mum could be found) and I remember once going for a walk in the company of 2 Anglo-Nubian goats.
Back to today - see below for the reason for the need for boots and gaiters - it was almost impossible to walk round them. It took me back 60 odd years when I used to splash through puddles with great relish. My mind wandered back to my wellies - the children of today have such a wonderful choice of colourful boots. When I was a lass, wellies were a bit like Ford cars - you could have any colour as long as they were black!
Three locks and we stopped at the services to empty and fill as required before heading down the next two locks and mooring up to visit Tesco. It was closer than we remembered.
Store cupboards were replenished. We had heard from boaters coming from the Macc that the Harecastle tunnel was shut. A phone call was made. It had been shut for 4 hours this morning due to flooding, but was open again now. We decided to move on in case of more rain tonight and head for Westport Lake - our proposed stop for tomorrow night, hence two days into one.
Sue and Ken headed off about 40 minutes or so before us. They were still waiting when we arrived.
They were no 3 in the queue, so we would be number 4. Closely following us was a hire boat who caused a bit of chaos as they blocked the exit for the five boats heading north through the tunnel.
One of those was the Anglo Welsh boat 'Merlin' - still looking good Irene and Ian.
Once the five coming north (apparently there were six, but one lady felt is was not for her, so they turned back before entering) came through it was time for the southbound convoy of five - Cleddau disappeared before our eyes
Our turn - in at 15:09
We got the last two moorings at Westport Lake
with a pretty good side hatch view - well it would have been if it had not been raining and we had to keep the hatch shut!
Sue, Monty and I went for a walk around the lake before the rain started and for about 2 minutes the sun came out! It is a very pleasant walk with some wonderful views
The plan had been to have breakfast here tomorrow, but they as don't open until 10am, that idea had to be shelved.
I failed to find this second lake when we passed on our way north - aptly named Little Lake,
where there was a line up of geese on the starting blocks waiting for someone to blow the starting whistle!
We found this near the visitor centre
They need to be seen in the flesh to really appreciate the work involved, so do go and find them if you come this way
This is definitely a very popular mooring and worth visiting.
A postscript to this post - when we had moored I checked the emails on my phone to find a notice from C&RT that the closure of
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