The weather seems to be slowly improving. Yesterday afternoon we were down to two layers (from the standard five).
We are well on our way to Llangollen but still haven't managed to stay more than one night anywhere. We are stopping to explore the tiny villages which are accessible by public footpaths which lead through woods and farmers fields. A very different experience to walking in Australia.
The highlight of this week was travelling through the Harecastle Tunnel on the Trent and Mersey Canal. The tunnel was completed in 1827 and is 2,675 meters long. It was used for transporting coal to the kilns at the Staffordshire potteries. It was quite a tricky passage as it's very low in parts.
Since our last update we have changed canals a couple of times. Moving from the Trent and Mersey to the Llangollen canal via the Middlewich branch of the Shropshire Canal.
Middlewich was lovely town with a good market on Saturday where we finally managed to buy some spicy pepperoni.
In the last few days we have been travelling mainly through the dairy country of Cheshire (they can be very smelly). We have never seen such long, lush, green pastures.
We've now done a lot of locks this week (19 on Friday) and a few lift bridges on this stretch. It included our first staircase lock at Grindly Brooks. In a staircase lock the top gate of one lock is the bottom gate of the next. Depending whether you are going up or down determines how you operate it. We were lucky there were volunteer lock keepers on to help so we didn't muck it up.
Harecastle Tunnel
Busy Traffic going over the Canal.
Garden Growing in a Lock Gate
Walk to Church Minshull
Crooked Tudor House in Church Minshull
Ken going over the Stile on the walk to Church Minshull
Hi Phil. We have seen some fish jumping as we travel along. And there are a few keen fishermen dropping a line in. Here at Ellesmere port we found our first fishermen who had caught 2 Bream. Like you they do not keep the fish they throw them back in.
06/06/2024 - Coogee Beach Today we arrived at Coogee Beach. Ken had a spare part for the ute that he ordered over a month ago so we drove to Canning and picked it up. We came back through Fremantle to get the lay of the land and it started to bucket down with rain so we headed back to camp and will come back another day. 07/06/2024 - Perth Supreme Court Finally, we made it to Perth. We caught the train from Cockburn Station, the train runs down the centre of the freeway. It took us right into the CBD. From there we walked down Barrack St to the Bell Tower. It was built for the Millenium and bellringers ring the bell at 12pm every day. Bell tower. South Perth We wandered around the dock area and since we had a day pass we caught the ferry across the Swan River to South Perth, not much to see here so we came back again. Perth skyline. Rhino. Next was the arts precinct. We looked around the State Library and then headed for the Museum, a little beauty. W...
9th May - 11th May On the first day, we drove to Koroit, a small town halfway between Warrnambool and Port Fairy. We had planned to stay two nights but in the end, we stopped for three and were given the third night free at the caravan park. A lot of business were closed as they had the Irish Festival the week before and most of the town had tested positive for COVID. On the first day, we went to Warrnambool. At the Thunder Point lookout, we got chatting to some whale watchers (we didn't see any whales) who recommended Hopkins Falls as a local place to visit. So after our walk around Thunder Point, we headed out to the falls. At the falls we got talking to some more locals who recommended the Trestle Bridge on the Timboon - Camperdown rail trail and the Timboon Ice cream shop. Both were top tips. The next day we headed to Port Fairy and explored the historic town, we walked along the wharf, then the beach, and had a drink at the local pub where we met a conspiracy theo...
January 18. A fair bit of relaxing beach walking today, First at Bridport then at Beechford. We toured back to camp via Low Head. An Old bloke approached us at the lighthouse and he was going to give us some info whether we liked it or not. Apparently, the Queenslander was built by accident when there was a mix-up with the plans, he also showed us a pair of Penguins in their burrow. Bridport Beach Bridport Beach Low Head Lighthouse Low Head Queenslander January 19. We realised we've got two months in Tassie, not two weeks so it's time to slow down. Today we moved from Scottsdale to Bracknell. Scottsdale was a good location except for the logging trucks that start before sunrise and finish after sunset. The campground we were in was right next to the Tasman Hwy. Toni...
.jpg)
Comments
Looks like you're having the best time. We're loving your posts and can relate tot the chilly weather. Keep em coming!
Rod