Our jolly little band of five assembled in the busy Cotton Arms and waited. “Trekking Britain (aka Jamie) might arrive” I pronounced.
We waited.
“Hello” said a familiar voice. It was Anne, an unexpected addition for tonight’s stroll, the venue for which had shamed this resident of ‘near Nantwich’ into joining us for the evening.
Next time, perhaps, Jamie – a bit closer to home.
Most of the evening’s photos were blurred due to poor light, so there’s no picture this time of the wooden bascule (lift) bridges, raised and lowered by counterbalancing beam weights, that are a feature of this stretch of the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal.
There is also a selection of shapely single span brick bridges like ‘Number 13’ above.
We followed a route described in Jen Darling’s ‘More Pub Walks in Cheshire and Wirral’ (Page 100). I won’t describe it in detail, as you should be able to work it out from the image below. The first half was through pleasant enough farmland on well marked paths blighted only by frisky cows and electric fences randomly placed without any consideration for users of the footpaths. Andrew’s jacket served as a good insulator, even if it did bring some of the fences down. Another example of inconsiderate Cheshire farmers – it’s really so simple to cater for footpath users and electric fences, but they seem to prefer to have their fences pulled down.
The frisky cows were friendly enough, even if Jenny didn’t appreciate their attention, but a picture of an angry bull on a stile as we exited one field served to further incriminate the local populace.
Andrew (‘concerned resident of deepest Cheshire’) vowed to file a report.
After that, the stroll along the canal was very easy and jovial. Just as well. It got dark.
Here’s the flattish 9 km route – it took about 2¼ hours at a very gentle pace.
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