A walk From The Anderton Boat Lift 15th September 2021

The Anderton Boat Lift at the start of the walk.

A Grey heron fishing in the Trent and Mersey Canal, but not the bird of the day!

Wood sculptures next to the Trent and Mersey Canal.

A Kingfisher next to the Trent and Mersey Canal, but the one we can add to the birds seen or heard list for the walk.,

Mike, making sure the back markers know where to leave the towpath.

The bridge over the Weaver Navigation / River Weaver near the Leigh Arms.

On the footbridge over the River Weaver west od Saltersford Locks.

A few Great cormorants on the Weaver Navigation at Saltersford Locks.

Our lunch spot at Saltersford Locks.

Saltersford Locks from our lunch spot.

The Winnington Swing Bridge, our exit point from the path on the north side of the Weaver Navigation.

Walk stats:

Distance: .6 miles. Climb: 223'.

Time: 3 hours 58 minites. On the move waking average: 2.6 m.p.h. Overall walk average: 2.1 m.p.h.

Temperature: Max 27.2 Celsius. Min 24.9 Celsius.

Beaufort Wind force: 0 - 1. Calm to light air.

Group: Martyn, Roger, Wendy and Mike.

This was a much better day weatherwise than any of the weather forecasts, although the BBC did get closer than the Met Office on this occasion. 

It was pretty well sunny all day and opportunities to remove sunhats were rare, but my head appreciated it on those few occasions.

A walk to celebrate the return of three of the Wednesday walking group regulars after their enforced absence for a variety of legitimate reasons!

This was a repeat of the walk done by the "Chester Branch" during lockdown when I was unable to cross the Wales - England Border, but in fact it was undertaken in the opposite direction.

The first surprise of the day was seeing a pair of Mute swans on the Trent and Mersey Canal with six large juveniles, were they all related?

We followed the Trent and Mersey Canal, all the way to the Leigh Arms footpath and onto s the return route on the path adjacent to the Weaver Navigation.

Along the towpath we encounterted a few men fishing but only witnesed one catching a fish - small Roach.

The path by the Weaver Navigation, was good at times, but  occasionally deviated slightly from the river through fields.  Thankfully this was all behind us once we had reached the Saltersford Locks.

Today we had two of the group vying for bird spotter of the day.  Roger after his cateract operation seeing a Common buzzad about a mile away that I could only identify with my binoculars and Wendy being the first to spot a Kingfisher on the Trent and Mersey Canal.

I think Wendy just about won, as she spotted two more Kingfishers as we were having lunch at the Saltersford Locks.

Birds seen or heard today included: Mute swan, Black headed gull, Moorhen, Mallard, Grey heron, Kingfisher, Common chafinch, Jackdaw, Carrion crow, Common blackbird, Great cormorant and Common buzzard.

Overall a very enjoyable walk and no-one opted for an extension to Marbury Country Park and felt that a refreshing pint at the Morris Dancer at Kelsall was a much better option!

Surprisingly, the Morris Dance was almost empty, with their kitchen out of action, but we all enjoyed our drinks sitting in the shadwe in the seating area below the grape vines.