Middlewich to Anderton

We had an unexpected visit to Wales as James' grandad had been taken into hospital and at 97 it was a bit concerning. Enterprise in Northwich came and picked us up on Tuesday, as usual, they were brilliant and we were soon on our way in a brand new Fiesta with not even 200 miles on the clock. Our journey by road took us back to Chester, down through North Wales, across to Aberystwyth then following the coast down to Cardigan. All was going well until we reached our turnoff on the A44 across to Aberystwyth where the road was closed, the only alternative was, a mostly single track, road through the mountains adding nearly an hour to our journey. We later found out there had been a big accident on the A44 where sadly four people died.

Lovely views from the mountain road

But it was very narrow

Very isolated cottage, there wasn't another house for miles

We went to visit Grandad on Wednesday, it is a bit of a trek to the hospital taking about 40 minutes each way. We found him sat up in his chair and a bit better than the previous day, on Thursday when we went he seemed to be making good progress. It will be a long recovery process and probably a good few weeks before he will be back home. We had a lovely time with Pam and Pete (James' Mum and Dad) and it was good to see them both again.

Enjoying a lovely dinner with Pam and Pete at Cardigan Golf Club

We got the car back to Enterprise on Friday and had a very lazy Saturday. We finally left Middlewich on Sunday and had a pleasant cruise with no locks do and not many other boats on the move, arriving in Anderton late afternoon.

One of the flashes, they had signs warning of  'Danger shallow water'

Then passing by an industrial part

Moored just before bridge 199

9.25 miles

Total 256.25 miles and 158 locks