Canal boat

Sunday
We'd had full intentions of getting up for church this morning, but having had very little sleep on the plane the night before, our bodies thought otherwise! I woke up at 8.30 and thought I'd just have a bit longer in bed - the next thing I knew it was about 10.40 - and service was at 11am! Janet and John had left for the early service so had left us sleeping, and apparently we had slept through a phone call , followed by a knock on the door by Roger's Dad to see if we were going! We enjoyed a lovely Sunday dinner altogether, then we went walking at Ashton and Neumann's Flashes, part of Northwich Community woodlands. The flashes are reclaimed waste lime lagoons and land above old salt workings. The market town of Northwich was the salt-producing capital of the UK. At its peak there were at least 74 mines in the Northwich field producing approximately one million tons of salt a year. In salt mines nowadays, 30% of salt would typically be left as pillars, but in earlier centuries mine owners extracted the maximum amount of salt possible leaving as little as 5% as precarious support. In addition poor mining practice often resulted in flooding, hence uncontrolled "wild brine" pumping became more profitable. This caused yet more water to penetrate into the mines ultimately leading to severe subsidence and massive ground collapse, to form large meres or "flashes". The flashes now provide wonderful habitat for birds and other wildlife and there are several bird hides along the waters edge which provide good viewing. The flashes are part of a large network of paths which link up with Marbury Country Park, another place we often walk when we are here. My blip shows a narrow boat on the Trent and Mersey canal on the latter stage of our walk.

One year ago: Calm before the storm