This morning was planned. Get up push over to the water point, dispose of yellow water, fill up, as the tank filled have breakfast, wind, head to the moorings below the boat lift, Geraghty zoom if they were still there to join, then ascend the lift.
It was chucking it down! Neither of us wanted to spend another Sunday getting soaked on the boat lift. Waterproofs on we pushed over to the water point. As soon as I got inside I checked to see if we could do the lift tomorrow instead. When Mick came in he’d been thinking the same as there was an 80% chance of rain for much of the rest of the day. First lift booking at 9am tomorrow, we opted for 10am, our booking was changed.
Next I did a plan of our route for the next ten days on Canal Plan, would loosing a day mean we’d be needing long days to achieve our next transport hub. The overnight stops all seemed to be where we’d most probably end up anyway. Our plan was complete.
Tank full we reversed back to where we’d come from, squeezing back in. 10:15 we joined the Geraghty zoom. Subjects, halls of residence, being at Uni for 52 weeks a year, Izal toilet paper and wall washing, the later subject we came in towards the end so I’m not sure what that was about.
Hello Tilly down there!
What to do on a wet day in Northwich? Go the pictures! I checked what was on. For once there were a couple of possible films on the list, all with afternoon screenings. Right at the end of the list was a National Theatre Live screening of Prima Facie. I’ve been wanting to see this for ages. We’d missed it online for some reason, and I’ve looked at other cinemas in the past but it’s been fully booked. I checked the seating plan. LOADS of seats. I snapped up two straight away.
Chicken, Ham, Leek Dauphinoise Pie
Lunch first with some of our market swag. The chicken, ham, leek dauphinoise pie was so yummy I’m going to have a go at making one myself. Then I had the difficult discission of which sweet thing to have, half of each. I suspect they’d have been nicer yesterday, but they were still yummy and quite indulgent, well it was a miserable Sunday!
Half and half
All of two minutes walk to the Odeon next door. We resisted any food or drink from the kiosk much to the surprise of the lady checking tickets. The film did have people turning up during the trailers and even into the play, some missing a good fifteen minutes.
A bit different from the deco Odeon we’re used to in Scarborough
Well. WOW! What a performance by Jodie Comer. A one woman show, that sounds like it’s a comedy/stand up, it’s far FAR from a comedy. So many words to retain and so few pauses, such quick delivery and emotion. We soon knew where the plot would be headed and suspected we knew the outcome. Not a jolly afternoons viewing by any means, but enjoyable despite the subject. I’m so glad I spotted it on the end of the listings. If you’ve never seen it I think it may be on in cinemas for the next few weeks.
Outside the day had decided to dry up, should we make a move to the moorings by the lift? No we opted to stay put, enjoy being in the warm. In Morrisons the other day they had Ducks on offer so one of those went in the oven, adding to the warmth from the stove we had a very cosy evening with very nice food.
0 locks, 0.1 mile, 0.5 of that in reverse, 1 wet day avoided, 1 new umbrella, pair 37 finished, 2 cinema seats, 1 incredible performance, 1 roast duck with plenty of left overs, HELLO!! remember me?! 1 extreamly bored cat!
Vale Royal Visitor Mooring to Odeon Pontoon, Northwich.
The locks on the River Weaver are open at 9am, we were wanting to get a mooring back in Northwich for the day, so ideally wanted to be on our way as soon as the locks opened. As we pushed off from our mooring Mick made a phone call to the lock, we were on our way from their top side.
We had less than half a mile to cruise to Vale Royal Locks, so took our time. On arrival the lock wasn’t ready, the swing bridge was still across the lock chamber. Was there anyone in sight? It took a while to spot someone in a blue t-shirt, he didn’t seem to be coming to work the lock. Mick checked his phone. Ahh he’d called Hunts Lock not this one! Who leaves Mick to make arrangements and bookings? The chap popped out of the little hut, a volunteer arrived, we got a wave, they were on their way.
8th swing bridge over a lock
The swing bridge had it’s ropes removed that hold it in place and then one of the chaps stood on the end of it as it gradually turned from over the lock, no winding of handles. On closer inspection later we noticed an electric drill was used to rotate the bridge.
We were joined by a boat that had stayed in Winsford last night, they’d had a peaceful night and were now heading into Northwich to moor for an hour or so and visit the market that was meant to be on today. Market! Did someone say Market? I looked for information online. The second Saturday in the month there is an Artisan Market in Northwich.
Spooky faces
We followed them down Hunts lock, then led the way in towards Northwich. Spaces on the wall where we’d moored on Sunday, we pulled up close to a boat already there, our locking partners pulled up close to us. Then Mick spotted a space on the pontoon, that would serve us better, we moved over, thanking the other boat for mentioning the market.
Straight to see what was what. The market stretched for most of Witton Street. Bakers, sausages, cheese, olives, macaroons, gin, beer, scotch eggs, lots to choose from and then stalls of things nobody actually needs in their lives.
There is no point in rushing in to the first stall that has something that looks nice, best to walk round everywhere, see what’s on offer then pounce, or as was the case today, join the queue!
The butchers window
A big sign behind one queue was for a gluten free bakers! Pies, pasties, numerous cakes, we’d certainly be coming back to this stall. Infact other bakery stalls didn’t get a look in. I joined the queue my eye s set on an egg custard, not had one for years. The amount of things people were buying, one chap requested 2 of these, 1 of those, a slice of that cake, a vanilla slice (my ears pricked up at that one), that scotch egg. The lady behind me made a very audible sign, she’d had her eyes on that scotch egg. She asked the baker if there were any more, ‘Sorry last one’ ‘No point queueing then’ She made sure she had words with the chap who had bagged the last scotch egg!
Our edible swag
The pies! Which one? Chicken ham leek and dauphinoise potato .The Sausage rolls, which one of them too? Pork and Black pudding. Oh dear was that a small custard and a vanilla slice that snooked into my bag too! Mick decided he’d see what C Webb and Sons had in the way of pork pies, they had a queue out of the door too. A warm pork pie and a sausage roll. Next we headed to the HS Bourne Cheese chap. Two wedges of treat cheese, some blue Cheshire and some clothbound Cheshire. That was enough edible swag for one day.
This afternoon we walked up to the station, from here we caught the train into Manchester. The London Leckenby’s had arrived in the afternoon with a very full car load, Josh was moving into Halls in Fallowfield at the University. Andrew and Jac had booked into the Ibis Hotel, once The Portland Hotel where I stayed in the early 90’s whilst working on props for the touring version of Phantom of The Opera.
Leckenbys
Big hugs all round, we then walked into the Northern Quarter to find a pub Andrew knew of, this took some time to find, but we got there in the end, it took a while longer to find a table. Beer and wine and lots of loud conversation were had before we then headed to Sweet Mandarin a few minutes walk away. I’d heard very good things about Sweet Mandarin as they have an extensive gf menu, a rare thing for a Chinese Restaurant. The food was very yummy, no-one noticed the lack of gluten. We drank, ate chatted away and had a very good evening.
Now Josh headed off to meet with a friend from Hackney who had also moved to Manchester today. His new life starting as he headed off on the top deck of a bus doing his best to ignore his mothers loud waves! They are seeing him again in the morning for the final goodbye. Another pint in a pub near to Piccadilly Station before we said goodbye to Andrew and Jac. A lovely evening celebrating Josh starting University.
Josh’s first night living in Manchester
2 locks, 3.1 miles, 1 right wrong number, 1 swing bridge, 4 rowing boats, 2 sausage rolls, 2 pies, 2 treat cheeses, 2 pudding yums, 2 trains, 13,893 steps with a pole, 1 new Mancunion, 2 Londoners, 1 old student trying to remember, 1 new student with places to discover, 1 great Chinese meal, 2 many glasses of wine, pairs 51, 52, and 53! 1 cat totally forgotten about!
Blind mans stretch to Winsford to Vale Royal Visitor Moorings
Some shore leave for Tilly as we did our morning routine, she was gone for quite a while but returned before we’d finished breakfast, the doors firmly closed behind her. Time to move on, we’d got the rest of the Weaver to cruise even though it would have been nice to be moored up for a day. Boats had already started going past, NB Lyndsey Jane had pulled onto the pontoon below the boat lift. As we rounded the next bend she could be seen winding and heading back to go up the lift, their time on the river over.
Back to Northwich
We soon caught up with a boat ahead of us, this was Sabrina on her electric boat. She pulled into the moorings in Northwich, there was chance to say a hello, we were carrying on.
Mick tried calling ahead to Hunts Lock. We had two phone numbers, neither of them worked! We’d have to hope someone would see us. First we were to cruise past Northwich dry dock. Here many old boats are moored, including Tyseley, Mikron’s boat, there were also several boats that used to moor in Stone. Two boats sat high up on a sideways slip (not sure what they are called) and boats were most probably in the dry dock under the viaduct which is reached from above Hunts Lock.
Approaching Hunts Lock
Activity could be seen at the lock, this and Vale Royal Lock are both manually operated, lots of handles to turn just like the clown at the end of Camberwick Green. A boat was coming down, perfect.
Our turn, we passed our rope up to the Lock Keeper, he tied it round a bollard and then as we rose up he passed it back down. Mick mentioned about the phone number not working. Apparently there had been a problem with the mobile used at the lock so a new sim had been got, this came with a new number. At the lift we were meant to be given a leaflet, I suspect they’d not bothered as it would have disintegrated in the rain last Sunday. We checked the number, his phone rang. He’d let Vale Royal Locks know we were on our way.
£400,000 click photo for details
The Lock Cottage with it’s immaculate hedge is for sale, it comes with a mooring and it’s garden reaches the end of the lock island.
Now we passed old boat yards on the west bank, several boats sat out on the hard, some under cover. A couple of old fire engines too and a wooden boat shrouded under weather torn tarpaulins.
The number of boats along here has thinned out from 13 years ago, we remember quite big ships.
Is it really round here?
At Vale Royal Locks the lock was waiting for us, we just couldn’t see it as it was tucked in between the bigger lock and a weir that was bobbing us about. Rope passed up, gates wound closed behind us and up we came. Here our discussion about locks with swing bridges over them continued. We are now up to 8 locks with this layout across the system, we’ve been through all of them except Jesus Lock on the River Cam.
We might come back to there
Now the top reach of the river to cruise. We passed a nice stretch of moorings soon after the lock, a good amount of space should we want to come back to it.
The oldest working mine in the country
What was that up ahead? An enclosed pit head? Yep Winsford Rock Salt Mine. A Looooooong conveyor stretched along the bank of the river to one of those salt igloo shaped buildings. It produces on average 1,500,000 tonnes of rock salt a year, used to grit roads in the winter months. The mine was first opened up in 1844, a down turn in the rock salt market forced it to close in 1892 but it reopened in 1928 when another mine near by was subject to flooding. The mine has over 160 miles of tunnels and still has reserves that are estimated to be able to last until 2076. In some of the empty tunnels documents are stored, the National Achieve have over 20 miles of storage.
Mounds of spoil or is it rock salt line the banks, behind trees more industrial units hide. Then the first mooring at Winsford showed itself, sadly with a burnt out narrowboat on it. Under the two bridges then round to the right then a hand break turn into the small basin which faces out onto the flash. We held back as a boat reversed out, then we tried mooring on the side away from the car park, but would have needed long legs to reach the bank. The other side was better and we settled down for a late lunch.
Winsford Flash
Some supplies to see us back to at least Middlewich were needed. The nearest supermarket Morrisons. Only down side was that we seemed to have to cross what felt like a bypass several times. We avoided it by staying on the river, but then had to cross at the next bridge to find a crossing where we’d not be run over. Another dice with death at a round about, Winsford is not intended for pedestrians!
We hadn’t realised we’d been off CRT water
We quickly made a decision that our mooring might be noisy this evening. Several vans were parked up and it had the look of a good place for deals to be done, add to that the number of geese and swans, it could end up being quite a noisy night. Oleanna was backed out, winded and we returned to the nice stretch of moorings above Vale Royal Locks, sadly after cat curfew!
This morning I’d started to write yesterdays blog, I finished it at lunchtime, just needed to be proof read. I logged in to do so, only to find three quarters of the post had vanished! The IT department couldn’t find it, I always click save, it just hadn’t! How annoying now I’ll have to write it all again!
2 locks, 11.6 miles, 1 U turn, 1 flash not investigated, 2 wrong phone numbers, 1 right one noted, 160 miles, 3 speedy roads, 43 swans, 25 geese, 1 cuddly toy goose, 1 slice of white sliced on our solar, 0 cat shore leave, 1 lovely mooring, 0.75 blog post vanished.
Marsh Lock to ‘Blind Man’s Straight’ or Tilly’s bench
The wind and torrential rain carried on this morning. News that Hunts Lock was now open, we wanted to be on the move, but the rain was just constant, maybe we’d have to delay our cruise to Winsford by a day or two. That would have knock on effects to the next few weeks! The weather was so horrible even Tilly didn’t bother to ask too much to go out, not that she was allowed anyway.
We watched the radar, a window of opportunity a while after midday. The black clouds started to dissipate, an odd patch of blue! We put on our waterproofs and crossed our fingers that we’d not get soaked yet again.
Moss covered paddle or gate gear
The pontoon looked to be higher today, maybe it was maybe it wasn’t, but the ‘hup!’ onto the bank didn’t look as high. With a scaff pole fixed to the pontoon and some other structure to hold onto I had a go, bum on the bank, I just had to be able to stand up now!
Coming in to the lock weathered wood
Marsh Lock leads out onto the Manchester Ship Canal and therefore you have to have special permission to go through and your boat needs to have been checked over by a surveyor for seaworthyness. All the winches and paddles are very weathered.
Out to the ship canal
Out in the channel wooden structures have weathered away, the wind was certainly keener stood looking across the River Weaver and Ship Canal, the River Mersey just over a thin strip of land. I was glad Mick had persuaded me to go and take a look, I just had to get back onto the pontoon now.
Goodbye chemicalopolis
Across the way at the chemical works hi-vis clad chaps shouted over and waved as we made ready to push off. Ropes untied we were on our way again, this time with the wind at our backs, grey clouds to stern and starboard, hopeful blue sky to port, you could see your breath.
Hello Sabrina!
We passed the same boats as we’d seen on our way down, waved to Sabrina a Facebook Boat Woman, a shadowy hand waved back, one day we’ll end up mooring in the same place and actually get to meet. Past the Danny, only one head visible onboard today.
Goodbye Danny
By now the sunshine was taking over, it was nice to see the river in this light and not huddled up in our waterproofs. Devil’s garden looked inviting, the chap stuck his head out of the hatch, ‘Much better today!’
Devil’s Garden, such a lovely mooring
Sleepers have been used to level out a riverside track, new looking aggregate lining the route on the north bank.
As Dutton Railway Viaduct came into view Mick called ahead to the lock, it would be ready for us. A centre line was all that was required and we gradually rose up the lock chatting away to the Lockie. He’d inform Saltersford Lock for us.
Glad we’ve got long ropes
Above the lock the wreck of Chica sits more degraded than when we passed her 13 years ago. Her story started in 1894 as a cargo boat in Norway, she was commandeered in WW2 by the German Navy, after the war she ran guns across the Mediterranean and then smuggled tobacco and cigarettes from Gibraltar. She then joined the Liverpool fishing fleet and ended up being a trip boat on the Weaver in the 1980’s. In 1993 she started to take on water and with no-one on board she sank at Dutton and has sat on the bottom ever since. Follow the link for a good photo of her a year after she’d sunk. Below are the photos I’ve taken. Left in 2011, right 2024.
Back on up towards Saltersford Locks. Despite the call ahead the gates weren’t open, a chap stood peering over the bottom gate, someone else could be spied holding a rope at the far end, a boat was coming down. We waited for our turn then passed the centre line up top.
Saltersford Locks
Two very chatty volunteers here today. We heard that the Lock Keepers cottage was now under offer to a keen gardener and how the volunteers are thanked by C&RT by going on boat trips every now and again. All the time we were at the lock the Lock Keepers Collie came back and forth hoping someone would throw his ball for him.
Play ball with me!
We carried on up stream back to where we’d moored a couple of days ago. Only one other boat moored here today, so hopefully Tilly would have a better time of it.
A bench sits on the towpath. Tilly took a fancy to it. Tipple tails made over the arms, some serious scent marking went on. It’s all Mine Meow!
Mine!
There’s a brass plaque on the bench in memory to Thomas Shuttlewood who died too early in life, it also mentions that this part of the river was known as ‘Blind man’s stretch’. A lovely spot to sit out on a sunny afternoon, watch the river go by and have a hair cut, as Mick did later on.
2 locks, 10.1 miles, 1 written off morning, 1 lovely afternoon, 1 huge expanse of water, 1 woofer, 1 woofers ball, 1 cats bench, grade 3, 4 pairs of socks photographed, 2 pairs wrapped up ready to go, 1 CRT notice, 3 bookings, 2 boaters 1 cat with everything crossed.
Devil’s Garden to Runcorn and Western Canal Junction to Marsh Lock
Tilly awarded the Devil’s Garden a stamp of approval this morning despite it peeing it down for most of her shore leave. A boat we’d passed yesterday came past and pulled in next to the other boat on the field. This is such a lovely mooring, hope we have time to stop here again on our way back.
There’s a devil out there!
A lull in rain gave us the impetus to push off at 11:30am. The chap who’d pulled in asked if we’d got a brolly, well on Sunday we discovered our brolly was destined for the bin! It wouldn’t have helped today as it was very windy plus we were heading into the wind!
There they go
Soon we came across a rowing eight and rescue boat, everyone as soggy as we were. They had soon turned and could be seen gaining on us. Their cox wasn’t altering their course any and they were destined to meet with our stern fender. What to do? Hold our course, they were still gaining on us! Mick decided to pull over to our port and slowed down with the aim of them continuing straight on. This didn’t work as they also slowed right down and looked at one point as if they were about to turn again and head up stream. We carried on returning to the correct side of the river, after a while they came past us to port.
Here they come again
There was a space at the end of the moorings at Sutton Swing Bridge, but we wanted to continue further today despite the rain, maybe we’d stop here on the way back.
Daniel Adamson
On the other side of the bridge sat the Daniel Adamson, were they on the water point? We spotted a pontoon just after them and pulled in to dispose of our rubbish. This is the boats home mooring, hooked up and filling with water. A chap came and asked if we’d like a look round. Silly question! Of course we would. A cruise on the Danny was on the list of possible things to do for Mick’s 60th birthday a few years ago.
The Danny (originally named the Ralph Brocklebank) is a steam tug which was built in 1903 in Birkenhead. She was built to pull long strings of barges laden with goods from Cheshire and the Potteries to Liverpool. She also carried passengers between Ellesmere Port and Liverpool this continued until 1915. During WW1 she had a short stint for the Royal Navy patrolling around the Liverpool coast.
Ropes
She was purchased by the Manchester Ship Canal in 1922 for over £3000, she still towed barges and carried passengers along the Ship Canal including VIPs around the inland docks. In 1936 she was given a radical refit was renamed after the Ship Canals chairman Daniel Adamson. The wheelhouse and bridge were raised, she got an upper deck and two saloons. The interior decor was done by Heaton Tabb and Co who were owned by Harland Wolff Ltd and had worked on the grandest of Atlantic liners. The interior was renovated in the modern Art Deco style.
Curves
Trade on the ship canal and the docks changed through the following decades. With the rise in container ships Manchester docks could not compete and were closed in 1982. The Danny was retired and in 1986 she was towed to Ellesmere Port Boat Museum where she’d started out her life 83 years earlier.
Her upkeep dropped, she fell into disrepair due to funding cuts, she was vandalised and set fire to. By 2004 she was earmarked for the scrap, but word got round, and Mersey Tug Skipper Dan Cross set up the Daniel Adamson Preservation Trust and soon he’d bought her for £1 from the Ship Canal. By 2015 the Heritage Lottery Fund had awarded the trust £3.8 million to restore her to full working order, by which time volunteers had already given over 1000 hours of their time.
Beautiful woodwork
Gordon showed us round, what a treat. The saloons were restored to how they would have been in 1936 with beautiful wood, glowing with warmth, graceful curves and deco steps.
Fancy
The steps up to the bridge have brass fretwork on them. The wheel is the original still with steam powered steering. The love for this boat shone through as Gordon told us the history.
The boiler has three fires
We’d noticed the standard hose pipe to the water point. It takes them three days to fill their tank and tonnes of water is needed as ballast! She has a coal fired boiler and the volunteers are now grateful that the coal arrives in bags as they have ten tonnes to shift at a time and get into the holds.
Steam powered steering
Mick asked how she was to steer. Gordon’s reply was ‘Pig comes to mind!’ From the bridge you can’t see the bow due to the canopy over the deck below, so they use the Jack mast to steer by. Four turns of the wheel, then you wait to see what she’s doing before you have to compensate.
Not only does the water tank take three days to fill, but it also takes that time for her to get up to steam for a trip. If she’s moving two days in a row firemen have to stay on board overnight to keep the fires going.
Thank you Gordon
Thank you so much Gordon for showing us round, what an unexpected treat when only wanting to dispose of our rubbish.
Chemicals
Under the M56 and onwards towards the Ship Canal. Blimey it was getting windier and windier. Now we cruised past the start of Koura Global a massive chemical works, followed by INEOS more chemical works. This continued on right up to Weston Lock where the Weaver navigation meets the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Weaver. We then turned to follow the navigation to the north for about another mile still accompanied all the time by chemical works.
Last lock on the Runcorn and Western Canal
Along here a narrow strip of land keeps the navigation from the ship canal, we couldn’t see it from onboard Oleanna sadly. At the far end the current navigation stops at Weston Point. Here there used to be three sets of locks.
Six inch 1888-1915 map
One towards the Ship Canal to the west. A lock to the north which led to another two locks and then out onto the Ship Canal. Then to the east a lock up onto the Runcorn and Western Canal which finally led to the flight of locks up to Runcorn. The bottom lock gates of the later lock are still visible, today with a heron guarding them.
A rare moment of sunshine after we’d winded
We’d heard that it might be possible to bang spikes in here, but we couldn’t work out where. So instead winded and headed back to Marsh Lock where there is a pontoon. We’d been warned the other day that the pontoon has lost it’s access to the bank. Mick later in the afternoon managed to haul himself up onto the bank and go to have a look at the lock and across to the Ship Canal, the Mersey not far away either.
Marsh Lock looking out onto the Ship Canal
White horses and rain continued for the majority of the day. Tilly resided herself to sitting in front of the stove. I joined her to do some knitting. News came through later today that Hunts Lock on the Weaver has been successfully repaired and is now open for navigation. An adjustment of cruising hours now required to reach the other end too in the time we have.
Our mooring for tonight
0 locks, 6.4 miles, 1 swing bridge, 2 pairs of gloves, 1 guided tour, 1930s deco, 3 days for water, 3 days to get enough steam, 10 tonne coal, 1 stove lit, 1 cosy cat, 1 very wet and blustery day.
A wet morning and my back had a twinge, last thing I wanted to do was get down on the floor to do my exercises, they could wait for another day. One thing that couldn’t wait for another day was a cruising plan. A joint effort was required and a touch of maths.
Serious planning
We both opened up Canal Plan. We worked out when we need to be back in Yorkshire, a mooring has already been found for Oleanna. Then specific dates when we need to be elsewhere, the number of days when Oleanna won’t be moving, which stops require a train station, which a marina. The way Canal plan works is that if you add in some stationary days then the end date of your cruise gets added to. We didn’t bother with this, instead we deducted the number of days Oleanna would be stationary from the full trip and kept a tally on how this affected trip days. I understood my method, Mick just had to go along with it and see if it worked. Thankfully it did. Yes we could have adjusted the trip on Canal plan and added in the stationary days but that would then be a touch ridged.
Three possible routes to try out and see if the dates would work.
Firstly the Huddersfield Narrow, the shortest cruise. Plenty of stations to choose from, if we got stuck by flooded rivers it would be the easiest to move the boat at short notice when levels came down. Marinas not so plentiful, but a slight adjustment to cruising hours made it work.
Second choice the Shroppie, the longest cruise. This would mean not doubling back on ourselves too much. Stations not so good, some buses would be needed. Cruising days on the Tidal Trent have some leeway and the tides look favourable to CRT working hours at the locks. Some adjustment required for a marina, but that would be manageable if they have room.
Third choice the T&M, in between the above cruises, retracing the way we’ve just come back to Fradley. The Tidal Trent on the same days as the Shroppie, better stations too.
The final choice is still to be made, but at least we could let friends know the two possible locations we’d be at for a rendez vous. About half an hours drive between them so at least they’d know where abouts to head in the first place.
We checked the radar. More rain due overhead. Two boats moved off, a while later they were replaced with another two. We were going to wait until after lunch, hoping the rain would subside. The two boats that had arrived headed off again in a lull in the showers.
Hello back there!
At 2pm we decided to make a move whether the weather was good or not. Waterproofs on we winded and headed down stream to Saltersford Locks. On arrival there was a boat moored on the lock waiting pontoon, where was the Lockie? We hovered for a while, then Mick rang the Lockie. The lock would be ready in about 15/20 minutes, the boat on the landing moved off and we could pull in to wait. Sure enough the lock took forever to fill, the Lockie set it filling and headed off for a while.
This is the only downstream lock we went through back in 2011, it holds 660,000 gallons of water and I think it was estimated back then that it could hold 27 Winding Downs. It sits alongside a smaller lock, but that hasn’t been used since the 70’s. We passed our ropes around bollards towards the back of the lock. The bow just by a set of disused centre gates. The lock was set emptying, this would take time too.
For sale with some period details!
Just below the lock was a water point we pulled in to fill up the tank. An end of terrace cottage, formerly a Lock Keepers cottage, is for sale. The pressure was pretty good so we were on our way again soon.
Pontoon Mooring?
We didn’t remember the journey to Dutton Locks from 13 years ago. Houses sit close by. Some leading up to Acton Bridge have pontoon moorings sticking out into the river, one of them for sale!
Acton Bridge
The moorings by Acton Bridge were full. We wanted to be further on anyway and the mooring certainly wouldn’t be cat friendly. Mick took the advice of the Lockie back at Saltersford and called ahead to the next lock, it would be set ready for us when we arrived.
Looking towards the weir
Above Dutton Locks the moorings were full. The sunk vessel we’d seen 13 years ago has degraded a lot! Maybe on our way back I’ll get a closer look, today we wanted to head on further. We pulled into the lock, the gates closed behind us and the water started to drain out through sluices in the side of the lock.
Disintegrating
Now on totally new water to all of us. Back in March 2011 the locks had been on winter opening hours meaning they had to be booked, we only had limited time on the river anyway so hadn’t ventured further, today we could carry on.
Dutton Viaduct came into view, dark against the rain laden clouds, sun streaming through where it could. The river has views, next to no flood banks. Open views, then tree lined banks. We had our hopes on a mooring a mile or so further, a little m on our map meaning we’d need spikes.
Dutton Viaduct
As it came into view it had great potential and there was only one boat moored up, space for us. We winded and pulled in a short distance up stream with trees to our bow and stern, our own slot. We’d found the Devil’s Garden mooring, both of us had heard of it before, a favourite for many.
Ducks are forever hopeful
Tilly was allowed out and we all had a little explore, checking signs and fences avoiding stepping in the cowpats. Tilly stayed out and played for a while, but it was blustery, rainy and she was wanting dingding.
They’ve come out to play too!
Mick lit the stove, we’d be needing one for our jacket potatoes to accompany a pie each. Yarn was selected for the next pair of socks, pair 37 I think. Thank you to those who’ve sponsored a pair this week I’ve now only got to find two more sponsors to make 52 pairs for the year and I’ve beaten last years total too! It may be that as the nights start drawing in I may be able to knit a few more pairs, after all why stop at 52, I’ve still got a mountain of yarn to use.
2 locks, 5.8 miles, 2.2miles of new water, 30 minutes for one lock, 1 full water tank, 1 damp blowy day, 2 pies, 2 jackets, 0 cows, 37 in 4 shades of blue, 1 cosy boat, 1 lovely mooring.
Northwich 2 day Visitor Moorings to above Saltersford Lock
With all the rain yesterday we both were checking the river levels this morning. The Northwich reach had actually gone down, but above and below had risen, obviously there had been someone lifting sluices on weirs to control things.
A little bit of extra time was used to start catching up on the blog. It takes time, usually whilst having breakfast, but on longer more interesting days (well more interesting for me) it can take a while longer. Certainly sifting through photos eats up time. Plus early starts to cruising limits writing time, so I had a lot to catch up today.
Town Bridge
Time to stock up on food for a few days. The nearest supermarket is Waitrose so we went to see what yellow stickers there might be.
Crossing Town Bridge we noticed the different gates at either end. On the west bank is a sliding gate that crosses the road to stop traffic, on the east side there are two gates that hinge closed. Then the bridge would be able to swing to allow taller boats to pass through. The bridge was opened in 1899, designed by J.A.Saner and was the first road swing bridge on floating pontoons and the first electrically operated swing bridge in Britain. In 1924 it was closed for several months for repairs and strengthening during the period known as the Northwich ‘big lift’ when buildings and roads were raised to combat subsidence. In 1998 further works were undertaken, the bridge being lifted off and put in a car park for repair. A crane was brought in which had been used to build the Millenium Dome, but the weight of the Town Bridge at 330 tonnes and was too heavy for the crane.
Winding
Back on board we had lunch before pushing off, we wanted to find a mooring for Tilly. Mick winded Oleanna, a lady watched from the marina and congratulated him on his expertise, then we were heading down stream back towards the boat lift. The new pontoon was even more chock a block than yesterday, NB Lyndsey Jane’s stern sticking out around someone’s bow fender. The pontoon below the boat lift on the other hand had lots of space, but we wanted a better mooring still, no pontoon would suit us, and Tilly better.
Under Town Bridge
Yesterday the flag at the boat lift had hung down, not a breath of wind to go with the rain, today it was dry but blustery. Waterway Routes showed us three possible moorings around a bend downstream of the lift. We passed a weir guarded over by cormorants and under another swing bridge.
The lift looking drier today
The first mooring had potential, we’d have been on our own. The second the bank was a touch higher, more difficult for me. The third was longer and lower, already with two boats moored, but with bollards, grassy field and bunny potential above it, this would do. We winded to face the current and pulled in, positioning ourselves in the middle away from the other boats, but space for two more to pull in either side of us.
Winnington Swing Bridge
Rules given, the doors were opened. Hmmm! It would be good if I didn’t have to share this outside with woofers! I’m not sure Tilly even made it into the field above, at least she had some outside time.
A weir and sluice gate
I managed to get up to date with the blog during the afternoon. Then our attention turned to our cruising plan for the rest of this year. Today a notice regarding the Huddersfield Narrow had looked promising, this route would cut down the miles of our cruise back to Yorkshire, but would our current set up work there? I’ve never had to clear the prop on Oleanna, in fact I’ve never actually cleared a prop on any boat! Would I even be able to reach the prop to clear it? This is one question that needs answering before committing to going over the HNC.
I’m not too sure about it here!
Ease of transport links are important over the next six weeks as appointments and engagements need to be met at different ends of the country. We also want to meet up with good friends and need to give them an estimate of where we might be. Having three possible routes is making this really quite tricksy. I think tomorrow we’ll need to knuckle down and make some decisions.
0 locks, 3.2 miles, 2 winds, 1 straight on, 2 boxes wine, 1 outside rejected, 2 loose ropes, 0.7m, 3 ways, but which one to go for?
Forge Brook Aqueduct to opposite Northwich Quay Marina, River Weaver
The first boat to pass today
The alarm was set early, well you just don’t know when a coal boat might arrive. It turned out we could have had some more time tucked up in bed. Having a booking for the boat lift and we were going to be joined by our friend Lizzie for the day meant we’d be moving today no matter how hard it was raining!
The Geraghty zoom covered subjects such as Clare Baldwin, ping pong, the 70’s BBC drama Canal Children, Ballet Shoes and tuna. We kept an eye out in case NB Halsall arrived, but there was no sign of them. A message came through, it would be mid to late morning. Oh well, we’d got half a tank of diesel and a bag and a half of coal, hopefully we’d be okay.
A skip
Covers were rolled up, full waterproofs on we set off around 11am. At the Anderton Services we wanted to drop off some rubbish, but there were a couple of hire boats there. One lady offered to put our bags in the bins for us, which we accepted whilst hovering at the end of the services. Recently there have been several posts on social media with photos of mountains of rubbish around full bins here. Today the main bin area was cordoned off, instead there was a big skip, far more capacity for all those boats coming off the Bridgewater Canal where bins are almost none existent.
Halsall arriving
We made our way to the lift waiting moorings, pulling in behind another boat also booked for the 12:15 passage. Lizzie arrived too, everyone starting to drip a bit from the amount of rain. Mick went to see if he needed to check in, there are cameras so they know when you’ve arrived. Just as he was walking back to the boat NB Halsall was pulling up next to us. Mick was informed by the lift staff that we’d not be able to fuel up if we wanted to go down the lift, there were other boats coming up and there simply wasn’t time. We explained to Rachel on Halsall maybe we’d be able to see them elsewhere in a week or so. Then a more amenable chap came and asked if we’d like to change our lift booking to the next slot, there was space. Brilliant, thank you! We could now top up on fuel and coal and maybe even have a warming cuppa before our descent.
Rachel brought Halsall close again, we tied up. Brolli in hand the diesel tank was filled to the top and three bags of Excell were popped onto Oleanna’s roof. We were their last customer, they pushed back to wind and head back the way they’d come. £1.06 delivered in the rain, you’ve got to love coal boats.
The soggy three
Tap on the roof, waterproofs back on, it was time to descend the lift.
This would be Oleanna and Tilly’s seventh and final wonder of the waterways. Mick and I had been down the lift on NB Winding Down back in March 2011! (our blogs were a bit different back then) Back then it was unseasonably warm, today it was seriously WET!
We followed NB Lyndsey Jane onto the aqueduct that leads to the boat lift. Under the gate that cuts the rest of the Trent and Mersey Canal off from the lift. This then closed behind us.
In front we waited for the two gates to lift that would connect the aqueduct to the lift caisson. Once cleared we could proceed into the caisson. Stern ropes attached to the side and tied off, engines off.
Gates closing behind us
The gates behind us came down. One gate seals off the aqueduct from the lift, the other seals the water into the caisson. Once these are closed the water in the gap between them is emptied out.
Hello over there!
We then had a bit of a wait for things to start to happen. Then slowly the caisson started to descend, a very slight shuddering could be felt as we lowered. A boat was ascending in the other caisson, passing halfway as you’d expect. Looking upwards it felt a lot further than the 50ft we’d travelled between canal and river.
Another wait for the gates out onto the river to lift. The chap on board NB Lyndsey Jane said we could go first, he’d rather wait for the mud to finish dripping off the bottom gates. We obliged, any mud would very soon get washed away by the rain.
A blast of our horn as we came out onto the river and turned left. We pulled onto the 24 hour mooring where there was a good amount of space. With the covers back up we quickly retired inside to attempt to dry out and have some food. The shower was filled with coats and life jackets on hangers, some drip drying required.
Whoops!
What to do with the rest of the day? We walked up to the visitor centre a good look at all the information about the lift, I’m going to save that for when we go back up. There was also a really good collection of vintage arcade games. Why I don’t know. We refrained from exchanging money for tokens to get them working, but just looked instead. One box was filled with puppets around a house where accidents were waiting to happen. I’m fairly sure this chap shouldn’t have been balancing on the banister rails like he was.
Soggy at Anderton
Back at Oleanna we decided to head on to Northwich. It was still raining, we were still wet, might as well carry on being wet for a while longer. The river is quite rural on the way to town. There are a lot more moorings than there were in 2011, a new pontoon was chocka block. We carried on hoping there’d be space for us somewhere. Thankfully between the two bridges opposite the new (to us) marina there was a space just big enough. Phew!
A dry off, mick lit the stove, we had a glass of wine whilst we decided what to do for food. The nearest place was Relish Tandoori , just behind the flats we were moored infront of. They do a Sunday Buffet which seemed to be popular, we opted to join in.
Yum
Poppadoms, followed by a selection of starters, then six or seven main courses, all help yourself. Fresh nana bread too. Everything was very nice, better than most take aways we’ve had over the last few years. Only criticism was it all could have been just a touch hotter, they needed better candles! For the three of us with a drink each it came to just over £50.
Here we waved Lizzie goodnight as she headed back to her hotel. What a totally soggy day, but a rather good one. Thank you Lizzie for joining us.
Oleanna has now travelled the seven wonders of the waterways.
* Jim Shead’s Seven Wonders of the Waterways I think were slightly different, if anyone can remember them please let me know as the website no longer exists.
0 locks, 2.8 miles, 1 left, 1 lift, 7th wonder of the waterways, 4 siblings, 1 on the metro, 82 litres diesel, 60kg Excell, 3 very wet boaters, 1 very bored cat, 4 moorings in a day, 6 dripping sleeves.
A couple of days ago a new notice had come through from C&RT, Saltersford Lock on the Weaver was now open. Then yesterday a notice regarding Hunts Lock also on the river suggested things were progressing well, an update would be issued on the 11th. It was now worth continuing with our plan to descend the boat lift, fingers crossed the work at Hunts lock does the job.
Tilly got some shore leave in amongst the dog walkers, the field alongside the mooring here was being used by a chap on his bike cycling round it with his two woofers running along behind. He did several laps whilst his little boy trailed behind only managing one.
LOTS of food!
There were things in the fridge that needed eating up, especially the white pudding we’d bought in Leek, so we had a leisurely morning, no need for lunch today!
With my knitting out the back we pootled onwards, quite a few boats heading our way, Bramble Cuttings was empty, was it last night? There were two boats moored opposite which suggested it had been occupied.
NB Huffler back on the main land
As we came past the flashes, we passed bows with NB Huffler. They had crossed the Ribble Link with our friend Chris (The Pink Hat Man) on NB Elektra quite a few weeks ago, then they were caught by the breach on the Lancaster Canal and the broken sea lock on the link. Not a good situation to be in. A few days ago they were lifted out and transported by lorry to Lymm where they were put back in to be able to cruise back to their home mooring for winter.
We then hoped we’d get to see another boat NB Halsall the coal boat, they were due to leave Park Farm Marina today heading for the Anderton Boat Lift. But there was no sign of them, we expected they were a long way ahead of us. However later on in the day we got news that they were actually behind us, maybe they’d catch up with us before Anderton.
Waiting patiently for two to come through
As we reached The Broken Cross Pub we could see a boat coming through the bridge, Mick pulled us over to the side where we trod water opposite the moored boats. A second boat came into view, we waited. As the chap came past he made a comment about the reeds that were encroaching from the offside, ‘if they weren’t there it would be a lot easier! Just what do we pay our licence fees for?!’ Well if that bunch of reeds was removed the only difference would have been that we’d have been able to wait for him to come through the bridge 60ft closer to it. So no difference to us really.
Approaching Tata
Coming through by the Tata Chemical works, cranes were busy on the site of the new power station that is being built. Right by the canal was a new structure which looked like a futuristic Swiss cottage on stilts wearing a very large roller on it’s roof. As we cruised past we could see several very large fans underneath , around 6m across, maybe this is a new version of a cooling tower? More info on the sustainable power station can be found here.
We finally pulled in, half an hours cruise from the Anderton Boat Lift, a little distance away from another boat giving Tilly some extra towpath. Across the fields bells could be heard, most probably from Great Budworth, someone was getting married maybe. However this was soon overtaken by a new large structure being erected on the nearest farm, steel work being hit into submission and then bolted together. This noise continued until dark.
That is when we got the sound of fireworks. Maybe it was the wedding, distant music could also be heard. If it was coming from the wedding the couple must have had a very big budget! Then after maybe 15 minutes we got fireworks again. These went on for quite sometime with a big finale. Another gap, then more. What was going on? Was there a firework convention going on?
It turns out that tonight in several locations across the country there were big firework festivals/competitions. Manufacturers showing off. The one we could hear was most probably coming from Arley Hall, there was also one in Blackpool and one at Catton Hall near Swarkstone at the other end of the T&M, 50 odd miles away. Shame we couldn’t see any of them!
0 locks, 7.5 miles, 3.75 hours shore leave, 3 hours of fireworks, 15 minutes dinging, 5 hours steel fabrication, 1 sock up to the gusset, 1 more pair sponsored.
Some shore leave before we moved on today, with the rest of the locks through Middlewich to work through we didn’t want to be too late leaving and Tilly obliged by returning in good time.
Bee and clover
Such familiar water this stretch. by the railway bridges there used to be a winding hole just long enough for Carefree Cruising boats to wind in before returning to base by Elton Moss Bridge, but now you’d be lucky to be able to turn a 40fter there, so overgrown.
Nice Lock
Nice Lock 67 had a boat just leaving it, if there was going to be one lock I’d operate on the Cheshire Locks this would be the one. I hopped off with a windlass, Mick closed the top gate and I wound the paddles up at the bottom end. This was quite often the first lock we’d go through on NB Winding Down, hence it’s Nice name, but it also was likely to be the last lock too, then it got named Nasty Lock! But now it’s always Nice.
Knitting as we cruise
Down the Booth Lane Locks meeting a couple of boats heading up. The last of these boats had a hobbling lady walking the towpath, she should have caught a lift as they were only going to have to wait at the next lock for the boat ahead of them to go up.
Statics avoiding looking towards the canal
More new houses going up and some static caravans are also being plumbed in right beside the canal, no canal view though as very few of their windows faced the water.
Mick as blue as the sky
What a glorious day to be boating. Sun blue skies and not too hot. Should we have a mooring today where we could have a bbq what would we eat? There were some sausages or mince, both frozen. Maybe we should see what the new small Morrisons could provide for us.
King’s Lock
We pulled in close to the fish and chip shop, two houses along the way for sale. Well except it was quite hard to pull in. A new length of armco looked appealing, but either there was a sunken vessel there or a ledge, we tried further along, and again. Finally we made it close enough to the bank. The gate to the road leads just that straight onto the road, no pavement just a little gravellyness then the busy road. Morrisons was out of various items, but there were some burgers and a bag of mixed peppers. I checked the free from items. That bread looked nice, ah no wonder it was Rye Bread, first ingredient, Wheat! No wonder they had quite a lot of it!!
We’d originally not planned on stopping in Middlewich, but to carry on straight through, but now we were moored up we had lunch. With one boat just ahead of us when we pushed off again we waited to use King’s Lock. This boat was going onto the water point then up onto the Branch, we had another two possible water points to choose from.
winding a 70fter
Just as I was about to bring Oleanna out from the lock a 70ft hire boat arrived, were they turning up to Wardle Lock and the Branch, no just winding. With a boat on the water point and a CRT work boat the other side of the junction this limited their turning circle. Their wind taking ages, but they managed it in the end. We followed them down to the Middlewich three.
With the opportunity of there being volunteers at each lock I decided I’d like to work the locks as I’d only need to do half the work. However there was a long wait. Another hire boat was under tuition coming up the locks so we and the boat ahead had to wait. The volunteer wasn’t going to let anyone through the lock until the uphill boat had cleared, both boats could have gone down in that time.
I let Mick bring Oleanna round the bend towards the middle lock
The 7/8 chaps on the hire boat in front seemed to know what they were doing and were soon on their way. The volunteer I suspect was a touch deaf as I asked if I could fill the lock. ‘NO!’ He then gestured to wind a paddle up! We were soon on our way down, I checked that there were other volunteers at the locks, ‘Yes’ marvellous! That was until the other two volunteers walked up to the top lock and said the middle lock was filling. Even my walking pole didn’t suggest we’d need assistance, they then vanished into thin air. Oh well the first time I’d been looking forward to having assistance at the locks and it wasn’t going to happen.
Last of the narrow locks for a bit
I opened up the middle lock, the chaps from the boat ahead lifted a paddle to refill the bottom lock for us. I worked us down the middle lock then Mick and I swapped over for the bottom lock, I could do no more.
Yarn bombed posts
We pulled onto the next water point and toped up the tank, emptied the yellow water and then made ready to push onwards. Big Lock had just been emptied, but we were soon on our way down. We’d totally forgotten about Middlewich on an afternoon, especially on a Friday, we’d thought we’d be through by early afternoon, but that pause for lunch! Saturdays it’s shareboat central at the junction, Fridays seemed to be hire boats! Mental note for next time, avoid certain days, avoid afternoons and the volunteers will clock off as soon as either the chippy opens or after the last hire boat is through.
Big Lock
It was getting quite late, we’d thought of heading on to Bramble Cuttings, not that much further, but on a sunny Friday afternoon there was likely to be no room for us. So when we came across Croxton Aqueduct and the towpath widened out and there was plenty of space we pulled in. Tilly was given an hour whilst we got ourselves ready for a bbq. The burgers I’d bought were really quite fatty and sent big flames up from the coals, charring everything. I gave them a few minutes rest away from the fire before finishing them off which seemed to calm them down a touch. A lovely evening sat out none the less watching and eating as the sunset.
Just about ready to start cooking
9 locks, 5.9 miles, 1 straight on, 1 new edge too shallow, 1 nice lock, 1 knee still able to do the T&M hurdles, 3, 2, 1, 0 volunteers, 1 closed council tip, 4 fatty burgers, 4 pepper haloumi kebabs, 1 bowl coleslaw, 1 sunset.
