A Day Trip to Warrington

Thelwell ferry terminal on the south side of the canal

Today the cold wet weather finally went away, to be replaced with hot sunny weather. So, I caught the train to Warrington to see the Thelwell Ferry and the Latchford Locks on the Manchester Ship Canal. And to visit three Good Beer Guide pubs in the town.

I took a lot of photos; a large number were unusable because of my shaky hand (I’ve got a problem with my internal wiring it seems, though the doctors tell me it’s nothing serious). Unfortunately, some of today’s were not taken with a high enough shutter speed, resulting in fuzziness.

I caught the train from Marsden, via Manchester Picadilly, to Warrington. As usual, the cheapest way to do it was with a return to Manchester and then a separate return from there to Warrington. It reduced the cost by a couple of quid. A stupid, stupid way of pricing rail tickets.

The Thelwall Ferry

The first place visited was the Thelwall Ferry across the Manchester Ship Canal. It’s free, though you can give a donation to local charities. I caught the bus there; the ferry’s a short walk from the bus stop. I’ve written more about the ferry in a separate post, here.

After catching the ferry across the canal, I walked along a track to Latchford Locks, about fifteen minutes away. Sadly, there are very few views of the canal due to all the trees and undergrowth.

Behind the track is the Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve. I didn’t visit it, but it looks like it’s an interesting place. The River Mersey flows through it. If you don’t fancy walking to the Latchford Locks, you can could walk through the reserve and catch a bus on the opposite side.

The Latchford Locks

In its heyday, the locks were busy, but now they’re in a derelict state, though I think they’re still used occasionally. There’s a path across the locks. I’ve written more about them in a separate post, here.

Back on the south bank of the canal, I caught the bus back to Warrington for some refreshments.

A Pub Crawl

Back in the centre of Warrington, I visited three of this year’s Good Beer Guide pubs; the Albion, the Hop Emporium and the Lower Angel. Three interesting pubs where the beer is not too expensive, especially in the Albion. I’ve written about this minor pub crawl here.

I often stay at my sisters in Liverpool to visit her and my mum, and sometimes to keep mum company when Alison goes on holiday. A couple of hundred yards from Alison’s house is a stop for the number seven bus, which goes to the Warrington Interchange. I’ll be catching it to revisit the Hop Emporium and the Lower Angel.

After that I caught the train back to Marsden. No fish and chips this time I decided to have a few snacks during the day. I prefer not to drink alcohol on an empty stomach.

The Manchester Ship Canal

Very few ships pass along the canal these days. A lot of the bridges and locks look derelict.

The canal is now owned by Peel Ports, the owners of the port of Liverpool. In 2011 they announced a £50 billion plan, known as the Ocean Gateway plan, to develop the port of Liverpool and the Manchester Ship Canal as a way of easing congestion on the roads. The Ocean Gateway website has lots of information about the plan.

While waiting for the bus out to the ferry, I was talking to an elderly lady. I told her about the plan to start using the canal more, and how good it would be to get traffic off the roads. Her view was the exact opposite. Apparently, they are thinking about this a lot in Warrington, and the view is that it will cause traffic chaos. There are four swing bridges there, opening and closing them is going to be a big problem for transport around Warrington. I crossed two of the bridges on the bus to and from the ferry, they were very, very busy. I think she may be right.