From our mooring we could see down to the River Weaver and Top Flash, just above the navigable limit in Winsford.
It was a really bright morning as we set off, rather early as we had just about an hour to go to reach Church Minshull where we expected to be able to find a service at the village church at 11 am.
We passed a converted set of stables, A reminder that the Shropshire Union Company once operated a fast boat service which meant having fresh horses available at frequent intervals, not unlike the earlier stage coach system.
We duly arrived at the nearest bridge to the village and there was plenty of room to moor at the designated Visitor Mooring - at least there were good rings to tie to. We had time to change and also have a cup of coffee before setting off to walk into the village.
It was not really very far and only took us around 8 minutes to the centre. On the way we crossed over the River Weaver, still very slow but rather smaller that we had navigated.
The church is the most prominent building alongside the pub (We heard later that the pub has only been re-opened fairly recently after being closed for several years.
Many of the houses in the centre are 'black and white' timber framed.
We were a bit hesitant as there seemed to be no people going into the church but the notice board confirmed our expectations of a service at 11. We pushed gently at the door and it opened and we were warmly greeted by the vicar an one other person. they admitted that they had been discussing whether there would be a congregation today as so many of there local people were away on holiday. In the end there were just 8 of us plus 2 small children.
Afterwards we stayed and chatted - they made us welcome over a cup of coffee and we learned just little more about the area. Despite looking on the map as if the village was once an important centre. in fact is was for a long time an offshoot of Acton, just outside Nantwich. A long time ago, Acton was the centre of life in this part of Cheshire and Nantwich also was merely a subsidiary!
The church building is the third on the site and even this one has gone through a number of changes, several times following a fire or the structure becoming unsafe. The latest works were only completed about four years ago, including the provision of a toilet and a kitchen!
At the back of the church is a splendid West Gallery - here they call it a minstrels gallery so perhaps they never did have singers with the instruments.
After leaving the church we walked back to the boat and opted for lunch before setting off. As it happened, we only had half an hour's run before we arrived at Minshull Lock, the first of two to do today on the Middlewich Branch. They are notorious for delays on summer weekends so it was little surprise to find that we were joining a queue of seven boats ahead of us.
Nearly an hour and a half later we were able to take our turn but at least everyone was in chatty mood and the time soon passed.
The two boats immediately ahead of us said that they were mooring up before the next lock and indeed by the time we reached Cholmondeston Lock there was only one boat still waiting.
After that we had a short distance to Barbridge Junction where we turned left to come down the Shropshire Union Main Line towards Nantwich. Just after the junction there is a narrows which was once a gauging stop where tolls would have been collected from passing boats. The present day rubbish bins are alongside so Mike was able to hop off at the start with our plastic bag, put it in the bin and hop back on again before Christine had finished passing through the narrows!
We went a little further until we found a gap in the hedge that would allow us to receive a tv signal and leave us only about half an hour to reach Nantwich Marina where Christine is keen to locate a launderette (she has already checked out that it is still there - we have used it before but that is several years ago)
8.0 Miles - 2 Locks
No comments:
Post a Comment