There’s plenty of really nice country in the areas surrounding Manchester. To the north is Lancashire and Yorkshire and to the south is Cheshire and Derbyshire. Our plan for the next three days is to visit the lovely English countryside in those counties. To facilitate that we were up early catch the tram to the Deansgate-Castlefield stop in Manchester and then the No. 33 bus out to Salford to visit the Sixt dealer there. Salford is only 10 minutes by bus away or 25 minute walk. The young chap there was very helpful, putting us in a blue Renault Clio – a darker blue than Kerry’s and a year older than the one we had in Croatia. But at least we were in a familiar car again with the steering wheel on the correct side of the car. Man, that makes things so much easier when driving in a foreign city! The chap did a good job up-selling on the insurance too, so his boss will be happy.
Today we’re gonna stick close to home and check out the area immediately to the south. Indeed, Sale and Chorlton are in the county of Cheshire while the Manchester CBD is in Lancashire. Our hostess, Isabel, texted us a list of places in Cheshire to visit so we’ll go with that. First cab off the rank is the village of Lymm. Down the outer ring road we drove for about 30kms, I reckon, before we took a left hand slip-road and found ourselves in the leafy streets of the town. Following the signs to the “village” we found a car-park next to the Bridgewater Canal. The Lymm village is a pretty place sitting at the bottom a little hollow. Typical of these places, there are three pubs within a single gaze from where we exited the car-park. The sun was barely over the yard-arm so we resisted the temptation to visit one of them so early and found a cafe instead. The young manager was excited to learn we were from the land down-under as he’d just been advised that his Australian work visa was approved and he was keen to get started on his new adventure. His plans include opening his own cafe once he’s explored our country a little and gets settled. He’s off to a good start as his cappuccino was strong with a nice creamy froth and and the right temperature for us. He’ll need to improve on the freshness of his cakes though.
Sitting above Lymm is very picturesque little lake to which we took the short walk through the forest by the stream that it empties into. A local chap was camped on the shore trying his luck for a fish of some sort – don’t know what might have been in there. Better at night he reckoned. Near where he was camped was a very detailed sign spelling out the fishing rules and costs. Thank God a home I just walk up to any water and fish. I don’t even need a licence anymore! A nearby C of E church was worth a quick look if no reason other than to experience that English thing where grounds surrounding the church are filled with the graves of former parishioners. So different to rural Australia where many cemeteries are not within five miles of the town.
Back to the car we went through some other streets and by the canal to head to the town of Frodsham, not far from where the River Mersey begins to spread out as it nears the Irish Sea. Actually we were headed for Frodsham Hill where a panoramic view of the district awaited. Down a long stone path we walked to the viewing point where a obelisk commemorating the local boys who’d not returned from the Great War stood. If you’ve ever been to the memorial of the 1983 Mt. Macedon bushfires you will know precisely what this place looked like. Along the path instead of snow gums there were oak trees. At the end of the path instead of a cross there was an obelisk. Looking out, instead of broad volcanic plains with a distant Melbourne on the horizon there was the broad Mersey River and a distant Liverpool on the horizon. They’re the only differences….. oh, and the four power stations and the forests of wind turbines!
On the way up we passed the Ring ‘o Bells pub. It was past lunchtime so we popped in. This place gets an A+ for service. We’d barely set foot in the front door when a girl appeared and directed us to a table for two in the front bar. The manager was soon there with menus and ready to take our drinks order. All that may sound a little overbearing and pushy but it was actually really good. The staff made us feel very important to them, not just another couple of antipodean blow-ins. We ordered our drinks and the soup and sandwiches which were both excellent. Perfect for our needs at that time of day. It’s no wonder that they won the J.W. Lees Regional Pub of the Year award this year. Well earned, we say! Highly recommended if you’re ever on Frodsham!
Next on our list was the town of Knutsford. On the way there I spotted one of those brown tourist signs pointing travellers to the village of Anderton where sits the Anderton Boat Lift. This was an opportunity too good to miss so we ignored the instructions and protestations of GPS-girl and headed there. Why so, I hear you say. Well, the Weaver River and the Trent and Mersey canal pass right by each other at Anderton. Trouble is, the canal is 15.2m higher than the river. For ages goods being transported along one waterway had to be unloaded from one narrowboat, carried up or down the hill and loaded into another to continue its journey to its destination. Somehow the two waterways had to be linked. A number of proposals were put forward and the one that won was to build a structure that would lift a narrowboat, still in the water, up or down to the next waterway. A mind-blowing feat of engineering in the modern era let alone in the mid-nineteeth century in the Victorian era. In 1875 the Anderton Boat Lift was open for business and continued to be so for the next 110 years. Its initial design was base purely on hydraulics. Two huge side-by-side troughs of water, each capable of holding two narrow boats, were raised and lowered in sympathy with one another by moving water from the river and the canal through pipes to drive the huge pistons upon which the troughs sat. When one was at canal level the other was at river level. No power was needed to make this all work. Trouble was the river water was very corrosive so the pipes leaked after a while. In 1905 the hydraulics were replaced with electric motors until 1975 when ongoing maintenance became too costly. In 2002 the Anderton Boat lift was re-born using the original hydraulic approach but using modern hydraulic oil instead of water. It’s once again an important link between to the two water ways. I had the privilege of watching a modern day narrowboat make the journey through this ancient engineering marvel. Even more special, this is the only one of it’s kind in the world and one of only two boat lifts in the UK. What a great little detour!
From Anderton we made it to the town Knutsford but it seems we missed the cute village so we just poked around the nearby country lanes for avoiding all the A roads and whatever B roads we could. After a photo stop at Smithy Green :) we arrived at Swan Green where The Crown pub was just opening for business. Here we spent an hour or so, Kerry doing her craft and me writing the blog (but not this entry). We had a 7pm dinner appointment with Emily so we headed back to Chorlton for that arriving about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Dinner was going to be a picnic in the nearby Longford Park with fish and chips the only item on the menu. Emily found a nice grassy area where we sat on her blanket and enjoyed the fresh evening air. A couple of excitable dogs came to join the party hoping for a scratch and a pat and maybe something to eat. They got all of that when one of them helped himself to Kerry few remaining chips! Their respective owners were quite embarrassed about their “Dogs Behaving Badly” but we loved it!
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