Nantwich, Middlewich, now Northwich. "Wich" / "wych" is an ancient label designating a special place – in this case, salt-producing places. They've been centres of the saline industry since Roman times and, in their heyday, the canals shipped an awful lot of salt. For me, it all conjures up images of Mordor, but such devastation as we saw today seemed linked to other chemical industries.
The earlier part of today's journey was through much more pleasant surroundings.
However, the effects of salt extraction were still to be seen where subsidence has broadened out the canal into "flashes".
Some of them were almost as attractive as Tixall Wide, even though the cause was so different.
There was no signal last night to make this post, so it's being delivered on Wednesday morning. We tied up behind NB Elan Nº 2, and chatted for a while with Paul and Chris and their friends from Australia. Should they read the blog – nice to meet you, guys. Chance encounters like this are part of what makes boating special.
0 comments:
Post a Comment