See ya' later elevator!

This is the Anderton Boat Lift;

although, on this occasion, it's the boat 'lower' ... and we've just brought Moonstone out of the chamber on the left; having started fifty feet up above. It is a marvel of Victorian engineering; dating from 1875. Here's the Wikipedia entry.

However ... I've started at the wrong end of this part of the cruise. This is where we are now ... where were we? Ah, yes. I remember ... up the Peak Forest Canal to Bugsworth Basin, with our friends Eliza and Gordy (Portland, OR.) Once we had dropped off our friends at Macclesfield railway station, we turned around and went back to Bollington; (great folk club, where the wonderful Pete Coe was the featured guest) for a heritage narrowboat 'meet-up'.

Proceeding - once again - Westerly on the Macclesfield Canal, at Stoke-On-Trent, we turned off on the Caldon Canal, towards Froghall. We stopped off to visit the Cheddleton Flint Mill where the site is believed to have been used for milling since the Middle Ages.

Leaving Stoke-On-Trent, we started on our Journey to North Wales. Stoke was, once, world-renowned for its manufacturing of pottery (the area is known as 'The Potteries) and fine china. At the time, these 'bottle kilns' were a ubiquitous part of the landscape. Now, only a few have been preserved, to remind us of that heritage.

The Llangollen Canal is (comparatively) quite narrow and shallow. It is also unusual in having a flow of about 1mph; so the Westward journey was quite slow.

Having arrived at the 'World Heritage' aqueducts, we invited several friends to join us for the trip of a life-time: 'flying' 126 ft. above the River Dee, on the Pontycyllyte Aqueduct! More impressive Victorian Engineering ... this being just one of Thomas Telford's masterpieces.

We actually went back and forth a couple of times, and were very lucky with the weather; as we have been for the past month or more.

Coming down the Llangollen Canal was a tad faster than our upward journey, so we took a couple of days out to explore the - very small, very rural, almost deserted - Montgomery Canal. Then it was back; via the Shropshire Union Canal and the Middlewich Branch Canal; to the Trent and Mersey Canal. That connects the North Sea to the Irish Sea, from the headwaters of the River Trent to the Manchester Ship Canal.

Because we were passing the Anderton Lift, we decided to drop in (almost literally) to the River Weaver; one end of which is 'post-industrial', whilst the other is delightfully rural.

So ... the 'drift Northwards' continues but, for now, our sights are set on our return to our chosen winter mooring; on the Eastern outskirts of Manchester. Fingers crossed for reasonable weather. All for now folks. Tom and Lyn.