Acton and 'The Shroppie'

Sunday 14 February 5.5 miles
Donna, Jane + Tracey 

Gorgeous blue sky and fluffy clouds met us in the morning, it was also cold. It was two degrees as we left the car. We parked in Acton, a small village west of Nantwich.

We set off across the road, passed the Star Inn and then off across the fields. 

The sun had some warmth as we started across the fields.There was ice on the puddles, it was really wet and muddy in places. We walked around water lying in the fields

The path lead to Swanley Lane, we walked a short way and joined the Llangollen Canal facing north into a breeze, making our ears cold. We passed the Swanley Bridge Marina, it looked lovely in the sunshine. There were plenty of people walking along the canal, lots with dogs. On some walks we hardly see anyone.

Then we came to the Hurleston flight of locks, there were a few boats going through. Walking down the slope we came to Hurleston Junction, here we crossed over the bridge to walk along the Shropshire Union Canal. As we walked along we came to some boats tied together, one of them had its front end under the water!

Just before twelve we sat on a bench for lunch. The Shropshire Union Canal Society fundraise and have placed benches along the canal, it was great to have a place to sit. It was a lovely spot, the canal was slightly wider at this point and the bench placed so that we could take advantage of the sunshine. It was lovely and quiet, a few walkers passed us as we sat there. Donna threw the end of her sandwich into the canal and a duck immediately flew to the water to find it. One bit it found straight away but the duck then swam in circles to find the other piece. I was so quiet as we were eating lunch that when we came nearer to the busy road it seemed really noisy, modern life was breaking in.

We continued along the canal to bridge 93, we crossed this bridge and came into Acton, passing the houses, the Village Hall, the new bus shelter and WI bench, and the lovely old red sandstone St. Mary's Church with a blossoming tree outside. Then it was back to the car park and time to find tea and cake. The temperature at this time was six degrees.

We attempted to have a drink at the Waterside Cafe at the Nantwich Marina, but as it was lunch time there was a queue and no tables available, so we decided to try Minshulls. We sat a while before we got served, the women taking orders obviously didn't keep an eye on who was coming into the cafe. The tea and cake were very enjoyable.