Our second day in Middlewich provided us with an opportunity for an excursion to Liverpool and gave me a distraction from all things “canal”. Our B&B hostess, Liz, drove us to the rural train station and 30 minutes later we were walking the streets of Liverpool England.

The Albert Dock area was amazing and steeped in the histories of the 18th Century slave trade, the 19th Century Irish Potato Famine, the loss of the Titanic, the sinking of the Lusitania, The War to End All Wars (which it did not), World War 2, and of course the events surrounding the births and careers of Liverpool’s most famous sons, The Beatles.

Liverpool deserves a full day or two to do it justice. We were constrained to a half day, so after a bit of walking and abbreviated museum visits we signed up for the two hour “Magical Mystery (bus) Tour.

We had been urged by a number of folks to do this. Kris and Chris were excited but I confess that I was less enthused, expecting nothing more than “kitch”. I was wrong and now stand counted as another proponent of the tour.

We visited the childhood homes of the “Fab Four”, drove through the neighborhoods they loved, and learned the biographical backgrounds of a number of their iconic hits such as “A Day In The Life”, “Strawberry Fields”, and of course “Penny Lane”. There was so much more, but well beyond the scope of a blog post. Should you come to England then make certain that Liverpool is on your itinerary.

Returning to Middlewich we again walked the canal until we came to a lovely canal-side Pub, The King’s Lock, where a setting sun, picnic tables, and proper cask ale provided an opportunity to relax and make new friends.

The friends were David and Jerri, a couple from a nearby community who are a year from retirement. In preparation they have purchased a motor home and are embracing dreams of monumental travel. Hmmm… sounds familiar!

Finally, at the recommendation of David and Jerri we walked to another canal-side pub, The Big Lock, where excellent food and service provided the perfect end to a perfect day.

Our canal adventure begins tomorrow.

Peace Everyone. Pete

As transatlantic coach flights go, this one was less than torture and more than uncomfortable. Imitation seats, imitation food, imitation everything except that the flight crew was genuinely kind, attentive, and able to make the best out of mediocrity.

Happily, our bags were where they should have been and Andy of AK Hire was on time to deliver us to Middlewich.

Middlewich immediately impressed with its small town English charm. It is home to a number of pubs, a very old church, and the intersection of two canals that date to the 1700’s.

We will be guests for two nights at the Boar’s Head Inn, a classic pub/restaurant/Inn where our room for 3 will set us back 75 Pounds a night, including “Full English” (breakfast).**

We arrived at the Inn at 9 a.m., and although check-in was not until the afternoon we were given our room immediately and provided breakfast as well!

Tomorrow the proprietors are driving us to catch a day train to Liverpool. Friday there are taking us shopping to help us provision food for our canal journey. Remarkable hospitality that one would never find under a Hilton or Holiday Inn marquee.

Kris Ashton wasn’t expected until the afternoon and my Christine was suffering an acute lack of sleep. Breakfast done, Christine headed for bed and I headed out to explore.

I found myself drawn to the canal like a magnet! In a matter of minutes I was visiting with the staff of Andersen Boats and viewing our 61 foot long “home” for the next three weeks.

One piece of bad news: A lock on the Cheshire Ring Route has been closed for emergency repairs. However, there is a silver lining to this “cloud”. The alternate route I have chosen includes the Llangollen canal that is world renowned and a designated World Heritage site. It was the canal featured in the July 1974 issue of National Geographic that originally inspired me to Britain’s canals.

I then proceeded to walk along the canal that will be our departure route on Friday. In less than 30 minutes I had struck up conversations with the crews of two vessels and was lending a hand with the locks for Martin and Mary, owners of the narrowboat “Otter”. If half the people we meet are as friendly and fun loving as they seem to be then there will be more journeys like this in our future.

Our friend Kris arrived in the afternoon and happily she is as excited for this adventure to begin as we are. She joined me for my third walk of the day along the towpath. Walk #2 was in the company of Christine. In all, I put in 5 miles “pacing” the canal today like a caged animal. I will let my pictures at the end of this post express the beauty of the day more eloquently than my words can.

Our day concluded with real English cask ale, a marvelous beef stew served with Yorkshire pudding, and a packed pub cheering Manchester United on in their efforts against Barcelona in Premiere league play.

Peace Everyone. Pete

**PS. A full English breakfast at the Boar’s Head consists of juice, coffee, a fried egg, potatoes, two sausages, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, a generous serving of ham, and (my favorite) black pudding… which is a form of blood sausage.

In 48 hours we depart for a 6 week journey in the United Kingdom. It could be an interesting time from the standpoint of current events, given the evolving Brexit controversy and the eagerly anticipated arrival of the newest “Royal”, possibly on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s 93rd birthday (April 21st). We plan on inoculating ourselves from all things political, and most things “celebrity”. It is our intention to spend each day absorbing the countryside and embracing the hospitality of England’s “commoners”.

An overview of the coming 6 weeks may be helpful for you who wish to follow us. I have borrowed liberally from internet images to provide some visual insights:
We depart Kansas City for a 15 hour transit, including connections and layovers, to Manchester England.

Manchester, pop. 500,000+, is located in northwest England, 35 miles east of Liverpool. It was founded in 79AD by the Romans as a military outpost. It is the third most visited city in the UK after London and Edinburgh. We will reserve a real visit of Manchester for our canal passage through the heart of the old city.

A 30 minute taxi ride south to Middlewich will deposit us at the door of the Boar’s Head Inn where we will enjoy 2 days in residence prior to taking the helm of the Salten-Fjord, our 61 foot narrow boat.

Middlewich is known for its historic salt mining operations which also date to the time of the ancient Roman occupation. Our good friend from Colorado, Kris Ashton, will be with us in Middlewich and for the first 8 days on the Canal. We met Kris in 2013 while walking 525 miles across Spain.

In previous posts I have given an overview of what we may experience following the 90+ mile Cheshire Canal Ring and 100+ mile Four Counties Canal Ring routes. It promises to be a physical endeavor as the two routes present nearly 200 locks that we will have to operate by hand as we navigate the slow waters of 250 year old transportation system. Here are links to the earlier posts:
“A 45 Year Dream Nears Reality”
“Our Coming Canal Journey”

After Kris departs, Christine and I will solo cruise for about a week. We will then be joined for the final week aboard Salten-Fjord by our good Canadian friends, Tom Shillington and his wife Nanci Burns. We met Tom and Nanci while walking 150 miles from Porto Portugal to Santiago Spain in 2018.

Once the 3 weeks on the canals are concluded we will travel to Chester England for 3 more days in the company of Tom and Nanci. Chester, dating back to the Roman occupation, is one of the best preserved Medieval walled cities in Britain.

It is a virtual certainty that we will day-trip to Liverpool, the birthplace and shrine of the Beatles.
Christine and I will wish our Canadian friends farewell as they depart for Italy and we train south the Cardiff, Wales.

In Cardiff we will be joined by our dear Welch friends Huw and Nina Thomas.

Our friendship dates back nearly 20 years and includes a number of adventures, not the least of which were the London Subway bombing of 2005 and a driving tour of Ireland in 2018. We will spend 3 days together in the England Cotswold’s countryside.

Huw and Nina will then see us off in Portsmouth England for our ferry crossing to the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey.

Guernsey achieved recent fame as the subject of the 2008 bestselling book and excellent 2018 movie, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The Channel Islands are located in the English Channel, near to the French shore. They are small self-governing British Crown dependencies that were occupied by the Nazi invaders throughout the Second World War. Our visit will include 3 nights on each island before an overnight ferry crossing and return to Portsmouth.
Once back in Portsmouth we look forward to visiting the remarkable HMS Victory, the 104 gun 18th Century “Ship of the Line” that served as Lord-Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar.

Another highlight in Portsmouth is the museum that houses the salvaged remains of the “Mary Rose”, King Henry VIII’s warship that sank in 1545 and was razed in 1982. Her recovery is one of the most complex and expensive salvage operations in maritime history.

From Portsmouth we will spend 4 days returning by train to Manchester for our flight back to Kansas City. On our way back to Manchester we hope to include nights in Winchester (home of Winchester Cathedral) and Oxford England (home of its namesake university, the oldest University in the English speaking world).

We look forward to sharing our day by day journey with you!
Peace Everyone! Pete