Middlewich

A much better day than forecast at one point we were down to t-shirts, only 4 locks for Sue to do, she is still aching from yesterday's marathon lock wheeling. We followed Chris & Roz on nb Kallista through the locks, they are on their way to LLangollen.  Sue was happy when a boat sign written with  'Sunbury on the Thames'  (her home town) came through, she has arranged to meet up with their crew at the Crick boat show but we forgot their names.

Moored up just before Kings Lock in Middlewich and walked over the bridge to speak with Stephen who will do FL's servicing tomorrow. There's a bit of re-jigging of moored boats to do in the morning to get FL dockside.

The pub at Kings Lock is shut down at the moment, which is a surprise as it is in an ideal location with a large residential area opposite and an industrial area behind although it was competing with six other local public houses. We walked down the towpath to The Big Lock for a roast beef lunch.


Middlewich had been associated with salt production since before the Romans arrived. In 1969 a purpose-built British Salt plant was built on a greenfield site out of town at Cledford. When the canals were built they were used to carry the salt to the Potteries and to the Mersey for onward shipment around the world, this traffic petered out as the railways took over.

There are two large hire fleets based in Middlewich, Middlewich Narrowboats and Andersen Boats, many of the boats were still waiting forlornly for hirers as we walked by. We popped into Middlewich chandlery and bought a new kettle to replace the one Sue left on the lit stove without water in it.

A towpath obstacle the horse would never of got past.

About time that came down, like the name though.

These fishermen were the friendly kind.

British Salt plant produces 860,000 tons a year.

The closed down Kings Lock pub.

Big Lock public house.

Depicting a salt carrying boat.

Tight squeeze to get past Middlewich Narrowboats