Narrowboat Holiday Day 2 - Anderton to Dunham Massey (6.8 hours; 15.8 miles; 0 locks)

Tuesday, 5 April 2022

We woke around 7:30 AM, ate breakfast, and was underway by 9:15 AM.  One of the highlights of the day, actually three highlights of the day, are three tunnels that we get to go through.  The first tunnel (Barnton Tunnel) was only 1/2 hour after setting out today. This tunnel is 572 yards and operates on a first come, first serve basis.  When you arrive at the tunnel, you look up I, and if it is clear, you can enter it.  We arrived at the tunnel at 9:45 and exited 11 minutes later.

Approaching Barnton Tunnel.

Five minutes later we arrived at the second tunnel of the day, Saltersford Tunnel.  At 424 yards, it is shorter than the first tunnel, but there is a bend in the tunnel, making it hard to see if someone is coming the other way.  Because of this, there are set times that you can enter the tunnel based on which direction you are going. Northbound boats (us) can enter between the hour and 20 minutes after; southbound can enter between the half-hour and 20 minutes after.  We were lucky with the timing and were able to enter without waiting just after 10:00 AM and exited 9 minutes later.

Approaching Saltersford Tunnel

When we exited the tunnel we were greeted with an Ukraine flag.

For the next 2 hours the canal meandered through beautiful countryside.

We arrived at the third and final tunnel of the day at 11:51 PM.  Preston Brook Tunnel is 1,239 yards and can only be entered going north between the hour and 10 after.  After waiting for 9 minutes, we entered right at noon and exited 15 minutes later.

Tim is happy we made it through the last tunnel for the day,

We passed a couple of interesting things next.  Here is an old flour warehouse converted into flats in Preston Brook.

Some more cool scenery & buildings:

Intersting pod in a backyard.

I noticed in the guide book that the town of Lymm, coming up soon, has a highly rated pub, so we decided to stopped and check it out.  The Brewery Tap actually used to brew beer in the basement, but now they leave the brewing to Dunham Massey Brewery 20 minutes down the road.  We may actually check out that brewery tomorrow. 

Check out this photo.  We are just outside the Brewery Tap and you can see our narrowboat on top of an aqueduct in the background.  Pretty cool!

After the pint, I walking a block into town.  Look how gorgeous the town center is:

The center of Lymm. Looks like a jigsaw puzzle.

It was almost 5 PM and we had a bit more to go before stoping for the night.   Here is a last view of Lymm as we headed out of town:

Old buildings are right on the canal in Lymm because the canal was actually built right through its town center.
We made it to our mooring for the night, in the town of Dunham Massey, right at 6 PM.  We have big plans for this small town.  There are 2 well reviewed pubs that we want to hit.  The Swan with Two Nicks and Vine Inn.  Both are supposed to have a great selection of real ales. First i cooked dinner first (Breaded cod filet with a mayo/ketchup sauce and spinach & potatoes) for dinner.

After dinner we quickly left to walk to The Swan.  They are advertised to close at 8 PM, so we had only 1 hour till them.  Alas, when we arrived at 7:30 PM it was closed…drats…at least there is another pub to walk to…and this one is advertised to be open until 11 PM.  We walked past the boat in the other direction and arrived at Vine Inn.  It was opened, but as we were entering the door, there was a sign that said they only take cash.  Well, guess what, we don’t have any cash..drats again.  Oh well…i guess our 2.25 miles of walking will have to be chalked up to after dinner exercise.  

Back to the boat, watched some TV, got this blog done, and now off to bed at 11:30 PM.  Tomorrow is another day to seek out…and hopefully drink) some real ales.