Coast to Coast UK - What three words?

The What3Words App provides you with a unique combination of three words to pinpoint your location in any 3-metre square anywhere in the world. If I had to provide three words to describe this adventure so far, they would be ‘engineering, waterways and history’. If we looked closely, I am sure we would find these were common themes in most of our travels.

Having left the engineering wonder that is Tower Bridge behind, and headed generally northward, we had organised a stopover in Hartford, for no other reason than to visit the Anderton Boat Lift. This amazing structure was designed back in 1875 to lift boats and barges a height of 50 feet from the River Weaver up to the Trent and Mersey Canal and was in operation for over 100 years until it was closed due to corrosion.

Following a huge and expensive restoration project, it opened to the public in 2002 and has long been on our list of desirable experiences. A short taxi ride from The Coachman at Hartford, saw us there in time for our boat tour this morning. The informative tour took us first, down the river and provided us with a great deal of history of the area, before returning us to the boat lift, where we were able to experience the wonder of being driven into a huge caisson (water tank) and lifted via counterbalance up to the canal. Impressive! I read that the Anderton Boat Lift is one of  the ‘Seven Wonders of the Waterways’. I sense a new challenge ahead.

A short taxi ride back to The Coachman where we had stowed  our luggage, a delicious lunch, which we didn’t really need given the huge breakfast they had provided for us before we left for Anderton, and we were off again, back over the road to the station, for the return to Crewe, where we were to catch a high-speed train to Preston. This time, we were prepared with platform information via Stephen’s helpful app, and we had time for a coffee (the worst I’ve had in the UK to date, I must just add) before boarding the train.

Boarded we did, but leave, we did not. There was a medical emergency on board, which held the train for some 45 minutes before Paramedic assistance could arrive. When we finally reached Preston, we were confused by some rather unhelpful signage i.e. Taxis at front of station, with no indication of where the front of the station was. We eventually found a taxi, after carrying our luggage up and over the platform bridge (not the first time we have had to execute that manoeuvre at this particular station!) and after a brief stop at Europcar, we were on the road to the Lake District with our own set of wheels for a few days.

Arriving later than anticipated at  Bankground Farm in Coniston, our new home for 5 nights, I had time for a very quick shower before we drove back around the narrow, windy roads to Windermere, for the Alliance of Literary Societies dinner. The Arthur Ransome Society (of which Wallsy is a member) are hosting a weekend gathering, which was the impetus that brought about this whole journey.

Dinner was lovely, set in the garden room of the Royal Hotel overlooking Lake Windermere, and we met some stimulating people who belong to societies interested in the life, times and works of other authors such as Charles Dickens, Samuel Johnson, Jane Austen (now there’s one I could get into!) and on the list goes. One woman at our table had played the Seventh Doctor’s companion Ace, in the Doctor Who series during the late 1980’s! 

We had arrived  a little frazzled because we were running late, but that soon dissipated and we settled in for a nice evening, albeit one which saw me well out of my comfort zone, forced to make small talk with strangers, but Wallsy, of course, was absolutely in his element!

The remnants of the lingering twilight over Lake Windermere as we left, made it all worthwhile.

A happy Wallsy at the Anderton Boat Lift!

Boarding the boat which would take up into the lift.

A stock photo which shows the boat being lifted in the caisson.

Windermere twilight.