A particularly gruelling and emotional couple of days down to Southampton for a family funeral, we decided to stop on the way home and "chill out". It was lunch time and we were near Warrington so I scanned the map for somewhere nice to stop and have a picnic. I was drawn to the Anderton Boat Lift and Country Park. It was very hot and although it was likely to be busy we thought this would be an ideal stop before the long haul on the M6.
The first thing you see see when you park in the country park carpark is the eyesore factory on the other side of the River Weaver
Things are much more attractive on the canal though
The light was good and the reflections made all the difference
Lots of canal boats are moared here on the Trent & Mersey Canal
Houses and boat reflected in the canal
Lovely detail on the information board
The Anderton Boat Lift carries boats including large barges from the Trent & Mersey Canal to the River Weaver some distance below
Follow that duck!
A barge that has just come out of the boat lift
and a smaller one just about to go down
There is an interesting vistor centre and you can pay to go on a boat in the lift
Very peaceful even though there was a lot of visitors about
Lovely bright colours on a barge
More reflections
Willowdown on the fishing lake
Colourful Dragonfly Gates in the Country Park
The willow seat where we had our picnic we then returned to our car and joined the motorway heading north and back home
We stopped for our last break in the layby by the Cree Estuary where a friendly rabbit joined us and helped share our salad!
It was good to see that back in Scotland the May blossom was still in full bloom as it was brown and overwith down south.
The Cree looked calm and beautiful
The water sparkled in the sunshine behind the Salmon nets.Having not been back to Southampton for 3 years, we were so glad to be back in Dumfries & Galloway and it made us appreciate even more what we have up here.
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