We left our overnight mooring at about 10am and recommenced our decent of the 15 Audlem locks, the flight wasn’t busy but we reached Audlem Wharf by 12 noon where we planned to have lunch at The Shroppie Fly. We had checked out their website and chosen from the reasonably priced menu, but when we arrived the menu was quite different and not quite so reasonable so we opted for the light lunch options of Cheesy Chips and Bread & Olives.
Unfortunately Joy developed a migraine and so we de-camped, with food, back to the boat and decided to overnight on the 24 hour moorings just outside.
When Joy felt better she went and investigated Audlem Mill while I attempted to get better performance from our TV aerial by dismantling it and cleaning all the internal connections, what else can go wrong with a TV aerial? Later we walked around the village.
In the morning we watered up before descending the remaining 3 locks of the Audlem flight, which were easily accomplished as there were many more boats on the move, some of them trade boats headed for the Floating Market at Market Drayton this weekend.At bridge 85 we stopped for lunch and then visited the (not so) Secret Bunker.
For over 50 years this vast underground complex, remained secret, hidden on the outskirts of a sleepy Cheshire town. Declassified in 1993, the 35,000 square foot underground bunker would have been the centre of Regional Government had nuclear war broken out.
Secrets of the Bunker
After our visit we immediately approached Hack Green Locks and passed Wildside Perserves’ Jam Butty moored up, returning from Middlewich Folk and Boating (FAB) Festival, we assume.
Through the locks we continued the 3 miles to Nantwich and moored on the embankment above the town at about 3pm.