Just a short hop to Runcorn and the end of the Bridgewater canal

Since my last update I've been moored up at Anderton near the boat lift.  Last week I picked up a car and had a trip to South Wales to watch my nephew ride in an Extreme Enduro event - it was certainly extreme and Olly had a greta ride to finish 4th overall. Not bad considering 1st and 2nd were both ex World Champions riding factory prepared bikes.  For those into Enduro the link below is a video of the event.  If you'd rather not watch all 30 minutes Olly has a staring role at 17 minutes and the sharp eyed will spot me at 13.20 standing on a pile of rocks in a blue coat taking photos.

Following that trip I then drove over to Peterborough to spend a couple of days with my eldest son Steve for his birthday.  While over that way I did the rounds and called in for coffee with Malcolm Harley and had lunch with Paul and Debbie Beaumont.

Having got back aboard and warmed the boat up after 4 days without heat I've just had a gentle run up the Runcorn arm of Bridgewater Canal which I have not travelled before.  The short run of 6 miles from Anderton to the junction at Preston Brook passes through 1 lock and 3 tunnels and offers very good views over the Weaver valley.

On this occasion it also offered a splendid view of a kingfisher which very kindly stayed still long enough for me to get a few lovely shots.  Very pleased to finally catch a good one as I so often see them darting across the water having been disturbed by the boat and disappear before I can grab the camera.  One of the advantages of travelling at 4 mph is that you can afford to take your eyes of the water for a few seconds to grab a shot.

Beyond Preston Brook the canal winds its way through a pleasant mix of urban and rural scenery before arriving at the terminal in Runcorn where I'm currently moored.  The canal now ends at the bridge behind the boat but originally continued down a set of locks to join the Manchester Ship Canal half a mile away.  Sadly those locks were filled with concrete in the 60's and reopening them is not practical.

At least some of the history has been preserved rather than bulldozed and built on and there is now a footpath following the old canal route.  Here the path passes through one of the locks and the bench on the right is in the spot where the gates would originally been set into the wall.  It felt very strange walking through a lock.

The actual junction where the canal met the MSC is still intact.  The water just visible beyond the hedge is the mighty river Mersey.