Northern Exposure: Day 14

A very sunny day today, but my goodness the wind was cold.  With not far to go today, I reset the loo first thing, and we got a wash load going so it could do the wash part of the cycle before we set off.  We got going around 9.15.  The countryside is rather pretty.

In Stockton Heath, we paused at Thorn Marine to get a couple of bags of logs, then carried on through Grappenhall, where there appears to be a bus stop on the towpath — although closer inspection reveals it’s on the road.

On previous occasions when we’ve wanted to stop in Lymm we’ve struggled to find space.  Today, as we didn’t need to stop (our friends who live there are self isolating) there was loads of room.  There are lines and lines of moored boats after Lymm and through Oughtrington towards Little Bollington, so the couple of miles takes forever.  However, today the views were fantastic — I could see the Winter Hill transmitter up above Bolton which must be 25 miles away, ranks of wind turbines on the moors, and the tower blocks of Manchester.  We stopped at the water point and the tank filled while we had lunch.  We moored up just a mile or so further on, near the under bridge over the road to Dunham Massey.  We are just a few yards inside Greater Manchester.  This afternoon we walked along the towpath a couple of bridges, and went into Dunham village, where a farm shop supplied us with sausages, potatoes, a cabbage, and eggs.

The village is very pretty, with lots of very expensive looking houses, and a little church.

11 miles, 0 locks. (172 miles, 96 locks)