A day of mixed sunny spells and showers, some quite heavy. Alas, this was not what we had expected from the weather forecast and played havoc with some of our plans . . .
We were up quite promptly as we aimed to walk just under a mile up the hill to the church in Little Leigh for the Family Service at 9.30. We arrived about 10 minutes early and found that we were about the fourth and fifth persons there! By the time the service began there were around 18 including a small girl who, we were told later, had just started school.
The service was taken by the Reader - there are three churches in a combined parish (history coming full circle as the church at Little Leigh started as a chapel of ease in another parish! They are also linked with a fourth church with the same vicar.
The church has the same very 'fiery orange' brick look both inside and out. The bricks came from Jabez Thompson in Northwich.
The church has a number of stained glass windows, all memorials to local people. On the south side they all date from the mid 20th century but there are two quite recent ones on the north wall.
The same firm, Jabez Thompson, was responsible for the terracotta reredos depicting the Last Supper - it reminded us very much of the Tinworth panel in Truro Cathedral.
It seems that the present church and several of the other buildings in the village, including a village hall and a school, were the result of gifts from Lord Leigh who had estates in the area at one time. However, they were all sold just over a century ago. Even today the village has a population of under 600 across the civil parish, two thirds what it was 150 years ago.
We stayed for coffee and a chat - the local people are obviously proud of the church and its history.
We walked back to the boat ready for our intended task of the day. A change into painting clothes and Mike set about preparing the other side of the boat for a coat of black paint. As it was on the side away from the towpath this entailed turning the boat around. Fortunately we were between two quite close winding holes (albeit about a mile apart) so Mike went down,. turned and came back to where we moored overnight.
We made good progress with the sanding even though there had been rain overnight and the areas to be prepared had first to be dried off. At this stage we were inclined to believe the forecast which had suggested that we would have time to prepare and then paint this side. However, as we completed the sanding down came the rain! By now the forecast had changed and it looked a better bet to try later this afternoon.
So, after having had our lunch we went back to the other winding hole to turn once more and then head south towards Anderton.
As can be seen, the sky was very frustrating - at times very warm and sunny and at others rather wet, even occasionally same time!
We were fortunate in timing our arrival at Saltisford Tunnel just right so that we were able to drive straight in - a day boat (with a 30th birthday party on board) that was in front of us decided to stop for a while before negotiating the tunnel. The reason for the timed entry is that it is not possible to see properly through to check for on-coming traffic.
However, there is no restriction at the next tunnel which is longer and also bendy but, by a strange quirk, can just be seen through although either a crew has to get off and check from the towpath or the boat has to nudge into the tunnel to see, ready to back out if something is on-coming. For us the way was clear.
At Anderton (at the lift two boats were just completing their ascent) we stopped for a full set of services - which we really did need. It took some while as the water taps are notoriously very slow. At this stage we were still hopeful of finding a place to moor and paint close to the next winding point at Wincham.
As we passed the winding hole the clouds turned even darker and it was clear that painting was now off the agenda for the rest of the day - in any event although there was a good bank for mooring it was not a hard edge and grass is not a useful addition to the paintwork!
Alongside the winding hole is Thor Specialities (UK) part of the global chemical manufacturer and supplier. Their R&D facility was relocated when the company acquired the land on which a local football team had their stadium but whose owner went bankrupt. The canal bank has strict warning signs about not mooring or landing and what to do if sirens sound (run? turn the boat throttle to max?) - no doubt a consequence of the storage of some very toxic chemicals on the site.
As we completed tying up the rain returned and this time turned into a thunder storm with some rather loud claps not far away.
6.3 Miles - 0 Locks (But add almost 2 miles - see blog)
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