It was back up the lift today, but first of all we wanted to explore as far as we could downstream. We left Northwich at about 8am, went passed the boat lift and reached Saltersford lock in good time. Here we had to do an about turn, as the lock is closed for some significant repairs, and then return back towards the lift.
On the way back we passed one of the moorings, and were surprised to see a bull had made its way from the field onto the bank! ‘No way I’d get off there!’, said Sarah.
Bulls aside, the river was lovely and tranquil in the morning sunshine; I could maybe have been tempted into going for a swim if we’d been lingering longer.
We were booked onto the lift for 10:45, but got there at about 9:15 just as another boat was going up on its own. I thought maybe we could join them, but was told it wasn’t possible, so we waited for our slot and nattered with the other waiting boaters. Well, Sarah nattered, I hid inside in the shade!
Unlike our trip down on the lift, there were boats in the other caisson this time too – it was a bit surreal as we passed, them going down as we went up. Sarah did all the helming in and out of the lift, whilst I sat back and enjoyed the ride.
Back on the Trent & Mersey canal, we were only going for 10 minutes before we stopped to fill up the water tank and change the water filter. There was a pump-out there too, but it was out of order. Whilst we were filling the water, a CRT repair guy came along to fix the blockage with the pump-out. ‘You can test it on our boat if you like?!’, said Sarah cheekily. ‘Sure, no problem!’ came the response – so we got a free pump-out. We weren’t even half full, but never say no to a freebie! Well not quite a freebie, he got a home-made flapjack for his efforts.
Water tank full and poo tank empty, we then motored the short hop up to the old Lion Salt Works. We only just squeezed in between two other boats – it seems really busy here but we suspect a lot of the boats haven’t moved for some time; we didn’t see any mooring time restrictions either.
The salt works were well worth the visit, and we timed it perfectly for one of their two daily guided tours which was a spot of luck. The salt was extracted from local brine streams (mostly by pumping the water up from underground, though there are some salt springs in the area too). The brine, which is eight times more concentrated than sea water, is then boiled in massive iron salt pans and the salt crystals scraped up and dried out.
Blacksmith’s forge 
Grinding mill 
Salt pan
After the tour we had a drink at the cafe, and then walked back to Oliver. I had some ice cream and Sarah had a lolly to cool off from the heat. I fixed a dodgy light switch for the pantry and Sarah cooked some burgers for dinner, which we had with some salad.
Blog nearly done and it’s starting to cool down slightly. We’re sat out in the shade in the front cratch to make the most of any breeze we can get!