Spending the weekend at Marston

11th & 12th January

Yesterday was a seriously frosty morning, but it proved to have been a ground frost only. This didn't stop it from having frozen the centrelines to the roof of the boat, mind, but at least the cut itself was still liquid.

While I walked back to Middlewich to get a paper and a loaf of bread, Sheila prepared the boat for moving on. It's a steady plod to the moorings at the Salt Barge at Marston, with the very mixed scenery that's typical of this end of the Trent and Mersey. Parts are idyllically lovely, and others distinctly industrial, as when you go through the centre of the big Brunner Mond works just before Wincham Wharf.

Still, it all adds interest as they say, and at least the weather conditions were pretty good.

On arrival at Marston, we found that what had been visitor moorings alongside the old, now derelict, Lion Salt Works, have been converted into formal long term moorings. However, the informal ones on the other side of the road bridge are still there.

I had a chat with some of the moorers there after we'd tied up. One or two of them have been living on this length since 1992, and don't see why they should start paying for the privilege now. They make the point that it used to be a problem area for mooring, with kids hanging around interfering with the boats, but now it's as safe as anywhere on the system, thanks to their presence.

Trouble is, the BW continuous cruising rules say very clearly that you can't stay more than 14 days in any one place if you don't pay for a mooring there.

I also discovered from these guys that the Salt Barge, that used to be a reliable eating pub, has gone seriously downhill, and now doesn't serve food at all. Since we'd been planning to eat there today with Peter and Jan, this was a problem. Sheila rang her brother, and we agreed that they would collect us from here and take us to a pub in Great Barford, just up the road.

This they did this morning, bless them, and we had an excellent meal at the George and Dragon. They also brought us some firewood from a tree they'd taken down in their garden, a consignment of knitting wool Sheila had ordered, and my repeat prescription.

After lunch, we went back to the boat for coffee and were joined there by representatives of the next two generations, in the form of Alastair (Peter and Jan's eldest), Alison his wife and Abigail and Joshua their kids. This made for a full but cheerful boat. Josh in particular had never been on board before, and was both amazed and, I think, quite taken with it. He spent a lot of time exploring up and down, overseen by his sister, and then staring out of the side hatches.

Fortunately, being Saturday, there was a bit of traffic up and down, and later, when we went for a walk, some swans.

After everyone had left, we relapsed quietly back into somnolent mode. The forecast for tomorrow isn't too good, so it looks like we'll be staying put and working in the boat. It should give me a chance to put some photos up on the main website, as we have a decently fast connection here.