Thursday 15th August 2013

In true boating fashion we woke this morning and changed our ideas for the day! We sailed down to the 'Secret Nuclear Bunker' instead of walking. It would have taken us quite a while and in one place the towpath looked very muddy- strange as we had no idea where the water was coming from. After turning the boat we moored up and the Bunker was only a short distance away. This building started life as a World War II radar station. It was then altered in 1982 (at a cost of £32million) in order to become a Regional Government Headquarters in the event of a nuclear attack. It was interesting to see how old all the equipment looked and rather scary to realise that these buildings were all round the country when we were getting on with our everyday lives. Graham felt a suitably officious portrait was needed!

I thought that this milepost certainly provided lots of information for the canal traveller.

It also confirmed that we were right to sail down as the round walking trip would have been 6 miles!

I know that this tree is dead but it did look rather dramatic standing all alone

So we returned to Nantwich, now facing the wrong direction, and went into the town. Loved the church in the centre which was being decorated for 3 weddings this weekend, and also the museum had an interesting film about Cheshire Cheese making. The town looked to have a huge variety of all kinds of shops and we may return another year for a longer browse. Most impressive were their floral displays. They were everywhere.

The rain started about 6pm and seems set for the night. Hoping it clears up tomorrow as Chris and Tim arrive then.