Today we went from Anderton to Middlewich through the old salt mining area of Cheshire. The salt was extracted by pumping water down to the salt bearing strata, and pumping brine back up. However with all the salt gone, there was nothing to hold the land up, so the whole area is prone to subsidence. In several places the canal opens up into a wide pond where the ground has sunk.

Salt brought the chemical industry to the area, and we pass by (and in one case through) some convoluted chemical plants…

… with disturbing warning signs.

No mooring. If siren sounds leave area immediately. How are we supposed to leave immediately on a narrowboat? Do we pick it up and run with it?

Then there are the rusting reaction vessels.

I get nervous next to chemical plants that are not being maintained properly, especially when there is a whiff of brimstone in the air. What toxic effluent or demon spawn is barely contained in those, waiting only for a couple of rivets to pop?

I saved the best till last.

TROUW NUTRITION. What sort of nutrition comes out of that shed? OK, I looked it up. It’s not stuff we eat. It’s stuff that the stuff we eat eats.

We have an appointment with a mechanic to get our alternator bracket fixed tomorrow. Wish us luck.

In other news, Whaley Bridge at the far end of the Peak Forest Canal where we were last week, had been evacuated because the reservoir that feeds the canal is in danger of bursting its dam. It’s not just chemical plants that need to do a better job of maintenance, Canal and River Trust does as well.