Up the river

Waiting overnight to go down the Anderton lift gave the opportunity to see how the new chimney would all sit together. It will look even smarter when I've painted over the tar staining on the roof. I just need to finalise the best relative positions for the chimney and the liner inside, and ensure that I can get them off in a hurry when approaching Bridge 12 (I think) on the Caldon canal.

Our slot today was at 12.50 and they fitted us in the caisson alongside a hire boat.

Maurice saw us packed in nice and snug, and tried to make sure we all knew what we were doing.

The view down the river as we descended was picturesque, as ever, but would have benefited from a bit more sun.

I love silhouettes and these have a character all their own. The middle of the three vertical pipes is the hydraulic lift for the other caisson.

Then it was off up the River Weaver and through Hunts lock. The two upstream river locks are operated manually and quite hard work – fortunately they are manned by CRT staff.

We went under the A55A556…

and under a railway heading somewhere…

through one of the Vale Royal locks, ably assisted by master mariner Chris…

and tied up for the night at the Vale Royal visitor moorings.

This evening the sun is just beginning to come out, there's hardly anyone else around, and there's a cormorant perched on something on the other side of the river. The tick from my home-made clock on the kitchen wall sounds unusually loud.