Our walk started at 9.30 am on a cold, wet, and windy morning.  Only one of our group decided to carry binoculars as the chance of seeing much birdlife was pretty small.  The start of the walk led us into the woods on the South side of Lymm Dam.  Instead of walking along the woodland path we dropped down to the waters edge and walked along the boardwalk.  Within a few yards we had three Grey Wagtails on the ground in front of us.  Excellent views even without binoculars.  The boardwalk only stretched for about 100 yards and then it was back to the normal path.  A few yards further we met an old friend from a previous walk.  This wooden figure seemed to remind me of someone but the name just would not come to mind.  Crossing over the bridge near the far end of the dam we walked down the other side back to the A56 road.  Crossing over the road led into a footpath which took us straight into Lymm village centre.  As we came to the centre one of our favourite shops was directly opposite, Sextons the confectioners.  Excellent food and a good toilet meant that this was a mandatory stop.  Eventually we started moving again and entering the lane opposite the Spread Eagle pub we passed under the Bridgewater canal and then climbed onto the canal towpath to complete the next part of the walk along the towpath towards Warrington.  Now on the other side of the canal was Lymm market which was open.  I am sure the girls had not noticed the market as we passed close by and now being on the other side they were prevented from stopping to shop.  As we walked along the towpath the name on the barge in the picture caused some comments ranging from "that's good" to "how daft - takes twice as much work to paint that". After about a mile along the canal towpath we left the canal and used a footpath (no signpost) which led us round the front of some cottages and onto the Pennine Trail.  We now reversed direction and were walking back along the trail towards Heatley.  Still raining but with a good surface on the trail it was much preferable to muddy fields.  Along the trail we passed a rangers cabin with an odd looking black figure nearby.  There must have been some magic in the figure as the rain was stopping at last.  When we reaches Rushgreen Road, which connects Lymm to Heatley, we left the Pennine Trail and walked down Rushgreen Road towards the centre of Lymm.  Not long after passing the Farmers Arms pub we turned left into Sandy lane which led us back to the Bridgewater canal.  As we entered the canal there was a good deal of splashing at the far side of the bridge.  The picture shows the cracked water pipe right in the middle of the bridge with the water falling into the canal.  Five minutes debate on how the water board could fix the leak in this awkward position and it was off again now walking along the towpath back towards Lymm centre.  Passing Lymm Cruising Club we eventually came to the centre of Lymm with its interesting buildings, shops, and pubs plus the ancient Roman monument called The Cross.  We were not sure about the stocks by the cross and maybe these were added after Roman Ttimes.   A little bit of window shopping and it was down Rectory Lane towards the A56 road.  As we came the A56 directly opposite was the parish church of St Mary and just to the side of the church was the pub called the Church Green.  A board outside the pub advertised two full meals for £4.95.  Much too good a bargain to be missed so after a  quick 100 yard walk to where the cars were parked and a quick change of boots it was back to the Church Green pub.  We thought that with such a low price we would only get very small portions but the portions were normal sized and very enjoyable.  An excellent way to finish a 5½ mile walk.

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