Beeston Castle

Oh dear, I've got all behind again. A combination of busy, long days, enjoying the evening sunshine and poor internet signals in Cheshire mean I've not been able to post a blog for a while.  Now there is so much to tell you.
For now I'll just go back to Wednesday, when we cruised down to Beeston, the weather was not so good first thing,but by the time we stopped it was lovely again, sunny and warm.
Before lunch Ian wanted to change the oil in the engine, so I left down the engine 'ole and went blackberrying.  Not so easy to find this year, at least not in the accessible places. But I got enough for more apple and blackberry crumbles (Ian would eat them every day!)

I also found a few damsons, someone had got to the tree before me, so there were not many in reach. 
We don't seem to have seen so many wild fruits about this year, maybe we have just not been in the right places.

From our mooring we could see the ruins of Beeston Castle way up on a high crag of rocky sandstone.

So once Ian had finished playing with the engine, and we'd had lunch, we set off across the fields to explore the castle.

The 'Castle of the Rock' - its medieval title - was begun in the 1220s by Ranulf, Earl of Chester, one of the greatest barons of Henry III's England on his return from the crusades. It was kept in good condition and used until the 16th century for military defense.

During the Civil War it was in use again but partly demolished under Cromwell's instruction to prevent it from being used again as a stronghold.

For us, on a wonderful clear day, we could enjoy the most spectacular views all around and across the Cheshire plain towards, Liverpool, Manchester, the Pennines and The Wrekin.

After all the climbing it was just good to sit in the sun.