Sutton Weaver Visitor Moorings to Dutton Locks.

We were settled on the 48 hour moorings, but Alan and Lin moved to the other side of the swing bridge to try and get a TV signal, I think Alan wanted to watch the football. Keith had found out the right direction to get a TV signal and so the aerial went up and hey presto we had the ITV channels and Film4 so that would do for us. The down side to these moorings is the noise from the road.

The Chester Road is a very busy road, so if you do not like road noise this is not the place to moor. It did however do us for the night and once I was asleep, I never heard a thing. The other thing which we could not ignore was the smell. Coming down the river a farmer had been muck spreading and the smell was extreme to say the least. Now as a girl I grew up in farming, but the smell was more than my nose could cope with. Because it was so warm, we had to have all the doors open, so therefore put up with the smell, in a hope it would dissipate during the evening. Even with the doors all shut later on, it was still getting into the boat. It was a smell to definitely clear the sinuses. The local rowing club was out in force with single and paired boats rowing up and down the river. They are quite a joy to watch as they put in all that effort. After dinner the TV went on and we watched Flim4 all evening. First up was "My Super ex-girlfriend", which was rather boring. At 9pm it was "How to lose friends and alienate people" with Simon Pegg, which was much more entertaining, but I failed to watch it to the end, because my bed was calling.

Woke at 7am to hear a man shouting instructions and waves slapping under the back counter. The rowers were out early getting some early training in. Now wide awake, I got up and made us a cup of tea and turned the fridge and freezer off because the red warning light was flashing, which meant the batteries were dying, we had not run the generator last night and so the batteries had got low, which is no big problem because at 8am the generator went back on and all was well with the battery bank once more. Paddy got his walk around the small piece of green area we have by the boat, I did not fancy walking him a long the busy road. Back on the boat, mog and dog got their breakfast and then I had mine (I know my place). After the generator had finished charging the batteries, we locked up the boat and set off into Frodsham.

At Frodsham Bridge we watched as Loach was being filled with grain. Just behind her it looked like the James Jackson Grundy, which had been at the River Festival.

The walk into Frodsham is about 15 to 20 minutes and is partly up hill, but it is a gentle slope so nothing to strenuous.

Frodsham is quite the little gem and much bigger than I expected. The town is of Saxon origin; its 11th-century church is mentioned in the Domesday Book. The town has a long history.

Trinity Methodist Church was built in 1873 and was financed, soley, by Thomas Hazelhurst on a site given by his brother Charles.

Public donations from the people of Frodsham saved the 120ft tall spire from demolition in the late 1970's. The church ruins were consolidated and apartments were developed by Charter homes in 2004.

Frodsham was established as a free borough around 1230. Long narrow burgage plots of one acre were along what is now the high street and people were encouraged to earn their living through trade. The Black Death affected the town badly, but the market got going again in 1661 and the currently market run every Thursday keeps those rights alive.

Along the main street there are lines of trees both sides, these were planted in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

We walked up and down the market stalls and stopped at Nick's stall where he was selling meats, pies, bacon, cheese etc. We bought.

Two packs of meat, a large pork pie, and four large spring rolls for £4.50, which I think is an absolute bargain. I could have spent more money, but the fridge is now full to bursting point. On another stall, we bought a couple of new pillows, because ours need replacing and I am ever hopeful this will help with Keith's breathing issue at the moment which is making him snore.

I just loved this, stamps one side.

Phone box the other.

The Bears Paws (what a great name), was built as an inn in 1632, it used to have the name The Lions Paws (still a great name). The inscribed headstone over the entrance bears the coat of arms of Earl Rivers of the Savage family , the crest being a bear's paw. The addition of a post office room saw the name changed to "Bear's Paw Hotel and Posting House" in the 18th century. The name was later changed again with the arrival of the railway to the "Bear's Paw and Railway Hotel". Listed Grade II The old sandstone building was built during the reign of Charles I, an original lintel hangs above the main entrance inscribed with the date 1632 A.D. Apparently the pub has retained original features such as an old oven, low ceilings and beams. There is also a Priest Hole hidden at the rear of a cupboard next to the chimney. That is one to visit another time.

We by now were parched so got a coffee in The Cottage Tea Ship, where for a cup of decaf coffee it was £1.50. After a sit down and our coffee, we wandered around a little more, before making our way back to the boat.

Back at Frodsham Bridge, the James Jackson Grundy was being loaded with grain. The Sutton swing bridge was being swung as we made our way back to the boat, but as we later discovered nothing came through, it was just BW and the maintenance guys checking it worked. When we got back to the boat Ian and Karen off of NB Tacet were taking a photo of the boat, they had got back to the bridge to see if anything was coming through only to be disappointed like us. We had a quick natter, before we said cheerio and were back on the boat. I made us some lunch, put our goodies in the fridge and then we got the boat ready for the off.

12.45pm we left our over night mooring and headed down river and who should be coming up river.

Alan and Lin on Farthings Hook, were on their way back up river, we had seen them in the town earlier.

We passed by the Rowing Club.

A Buzzard was sitting on the road sign.

This part of the Weaver is very industrial with the chemical works and in fact we were not actually on the river, but on what is called the Weston Canal.

We passed by Weston Marsh Lock which takes you down on to the Manchester Ship Canal.

Whites Swing Bridge was as far as we could go so we had to wind. I like the little church. It is Christ Church built around 1841 at Weston Point and was designed by Edmond Sharpe, a  distinguished Victorian architect who designed three Watermen’s churches, sited along the River Weaver – Holy Trinity at Castle in Northwich, and Christ Church at Winsford. The church is no longer in use, which seems like a real shame. The church is the only remaining building from that time still standing. Sadly thieves have stolen the church furniture, including the font.

The winding hole is in front of a disused lock, which used to take you on to the Runcorn & Weston Canal, which is now of course abandoned.which leaks so much they have put stop planks down to stop the water leaking through. We winded at 1.30pm and began our way back from whence we came.

Mrs Tufted Duck and her babies.

At the Devils Garden there was no room for us to get in, so we decided to carry on to Duttons Locks, which was no big deal, we will stop there another time.

3.15 all moored up, we walked up to chat to the lock keeper.

The dark sky was about to throw lots of rain at us as we spoke to the lock keeper, so we all dived for cover.

See what I mean.

As I type the sun is back out and it is looking like a lovely evening. Dinner is in the oven and no TV signal, so not going to be watching the TV tonight.