Acton Bridge > Dutton Locks > Pickerings Cut > Devils Garden > Weston Canal
From Dutton take a walk up to the Trent and Mersey Canal and come back along the Weaver
You cannot help but notice the sunken boat 'Chica' as you arrive at Dutton. In its prime it used to be a hotel boat.
Dutton is a lovely place to sit and watch the boats go by.
There are footpaths converging from all directions and a picnic site to eat your 'baggin'.
Behind the locks are the sluices. These are part of the flood control defences which made the Weaver the leader in water management in the late 1800's.
Watching trains crossing Dutton viaduct it is hard to believe that it was built only a decade after Stephenson's 'Rocket' won the Rainhill trials.
Its twenty two arches were certainly built to last.
Further downstream is the little hamlet of Pickerings on the left bank. This was once the tidal limit of the river before it was made into a navigation.
There used to be locks here. The houses on the right bank were built to house the lock keepers.
The river winds its pretty way through Aston and Catten with just cows and sheep for company, before making a junction with the Frodsham Cut and re-entering the bustling world at Sutton Weaver Swing Bridge.
The Frodsham Cut was the old line of the navigation until 1807, when the Weston Canal was built.