Downstream to Sutton Bridge, back up to Acton Bridge

Ginny (NB Wilvir) and I exchanged texts on Saturday morning, the upshot of which was us cruising downstream to join them at Sutton Swing Bridge. First, though, we had to go up to Northwich for a bit of shopping.

From the moorings below the lift it’s only a mile and a half to Town Wharf in Northwich.

Leaving on a bright, sunny morning.

The sunken concrete barge doesn’t seem to get any worse year on year, it just gets more overgrown.


Northwich Town Swing Bridge ahead, the wharf on the left.

There’s a boat on the low bit of the wharf, so we had to pull onto the high bit. No problem, as Mags doesn’t need to get off. It wasn’t designed for narrowboats…

Shopping done we turned around and headed downstream, past the lift and the salt works, once supplied by water, now the loading equipment silent and unused.
 Cruising the waterway now, it’s hard to believe that as recent as 1984, 1000 ton freighters were coming up here.

The navigation is actually more canal than river, successive improvements to the river since 1720 have seen the channel widened, deepened and often diverted.
Leaving the chemical works behind a wholly artificial channel is taken to Saltersford Lock, bypassing a meandering river section.

Barnton Cut, although you wouldn’t think so…

Saltersford Locks

From Saltersford it’s around 45 minutes to the next, Dutton Locks. The valley along here is open and flat, with the Trent and Mersey Canal just to the north and 50 feet higher.

River crossings are few, and most of those are swing bridges, installed during the last upgrades.

Acton Swing Bridge rotates about a central pivot.

There’s plenty of headroom for narrowboats.

Dutton Locks were open ready for us, as the keeper at Saltersford had rung ahead for us.

Dutton Locks, MV Chica on the right


I don’t think it’ll be long now before the wheelhouse succumbs to gravity…

In Dutton Locks…

…and out again.
The towpath bridge of the returning river channel, and Dutton Railway Arches carrying the West Coast Main Line, in the distance.

Under the railway.

Twenty arches carry the railway over a span of 500 yards. It was completed in 1837, and is a Grade II listed structure.

Pickerings Wharf



When the river was first made navigable Pickerings Lock was the last lock before it became tidal. The lock was on a loop of the river that was bypassed during later work, and the non-tidal navigation lengthened to Frodsham.



A swing bridge was installed to connect both sides of the “new” cut, but this has been removed.

Swing bridge abutments

The route passes through a narrow wooded length before the valley opens out again at Devil’s Garden.

Devil’s Garden, fine, popular moorings here…. empty today.
Considering it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, there’s surprisingly little boat traffic about.

Frodsham Cut was dug to straighten up and avoid a tidal loop of the river course, but was made redundant in 1827 when the Weston Canal was opened, taking the navigation around to Weston Point Docks below Runcorn.

Frodsham Cut, a boom prevents boater access

Access to the Mersey Estuary was initially through Weston Marsh Lock, but, with the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, a short extension and new lock was built, connecting to the new canal. Another canal, the Runcorn and Weston, climbed through 10 locks to meet the Runcorn Arm of the Bridgewater canal. This is derelict, but a successful campaign to re-open the locks would inevitably lead to the link to the Weaver Navigation being restored.
Now that would make a good round trip…

A little further on a fork to the left carries the river channel over a weir and out into the Mersey Estuary.

River channel to the Mersey.
Dead ahead is the Weston Canal. Strictly speaking the river joins the Ship Canal but as the canal sits at mean high water level in the tidal estuary at this point, the distinction is unnecessary.

Just around the corner we pulled in and joined Bill and Ginny (NB Wilvir) and Steve and Barbara (NB Silver Knot), for the afternoon.

Steve, Barbara, Ginny and Bill

Although the day started fine and warm it got cooler in the afternoon, but Mags still managed an hour sat outside nattering before she’d had enough.

We took our leave of them yesterday afternoon, just a short cruise to take us back to the moorings at Devil’s Garden.

It’s quieter here, and there’s plenty of room for Meg to stretch her legs. The moorings were still empty as we approached, but then a boat came, and another, and another… There were five of us there last night.

Devil’s Garden this morning.
Just the tops of the boats to be seen.

Looking across the Weaver valley
We’ve decided to break the return journey to Anderton into three very short days, so today we aimed for Acton Bridge, with just Dutton Locks to deal with.

The lock ready for us…

…up and ready to leave

Moored below Acton Swing Bridge.

Another day that started warm and bright turned grey and cool later. Rain forecast later, too. Never mind.

Thanks for the comments on the last post, folks. Greygal, hi, yes it's lovely down here, but don't tell everyone! Seriously though, we try to get down here for a "Weaver fix" at least once a year. This is a bit of a flying visit, or it might not be? We'll be waiting for you, Lesley and Joe. You'll not escape this time! Thanks for the kind words, Louisette. We aim to please...

And on the previous post, Hi Sue, Simon. Yeah, how lucky can you get, eh? Simon, Sue mentioned the nasty swans at this time of year, go steady on your ride along the Monty. Enjoy! 

Locks 3, miles 18½ (three days)

Going down…

We dropped down onto the Weaver today, it’s likely to be busy up on the Trent and Mersey this weekend and we’ll be nicely out of the way down here.

There was a rush of boats first thing, at 9 o’clock they were already queuing on the holding dock, but by the time we moved up there was no one else to join us.

Waiting for the nod on the holding dock

All clear to go in and crossing the aqueduct which links the structure to the canal

We use the boat lift at least once a year, but I never tire of the pleasure of using an engineering masterpiece that was opened in 1875, modified in 1908, closed in 1983 and re-opened in 2002.
It’s a stunning piece of kit, I’ve described it in detail before so I’ll just let the pictures do the talking today.

Looking up at the now-redundant machinery deck…

 

…out up the Weaver valley…

 

…and down to the adjacent caisson.

We’re going down…

…and MV Edwin Clark is coming up

The two caissons are original, now approaching 140 years old, but the hydraulic rams date from the refurbishment in 2002.

Down, and the guillotine gate opens to let us out onto the river.

Looking back

Moored just a couple of hundred yards upstream

I got my new/old front brake assembly fitted to the bike this afternoon, played a bit of ball with Meg, and generally pottered. We’re heading to Northwich tomorrow for a bit of shopping, then will be heading off to the countryside, not sure whether upstream or down though.

Locks 0, miles 1

A gaggle of “What Ifs” lead to a result!

I spoke to Sue on NB No Problem on Tuesday evening, with a view to meeting up. We were prepared to go back to Middlewich to see them before they head south, but instead they came up to us at the flashes.

With visitors for dinner I had to get some meat and veg in, I wouldn’t have bothered otherwise, we’ve plenty of back up canned stuff. So I unwrapped the bike from the stern carrier, and spotted a broken brake mounting bracket. It looks like we’ve had a close encounter with a lock gate sometime in the last couple of months.

Anyway, I took it off, and pedalled up to the farm shop on Shipbrook Lane with just the back brake working.

Coming back I tried to get hold of someone at Halfords in Northwich (it’s a Halfords bike), but struggled, the promised call-back not materialising. I decided to have a ride into town to visit the branch in person once we’d got moored up today.

We tried to moor just up from the services at Uplands, but struggled to get in, then, when we did, we couldn’t get a TV picture. Soaps for Mags tonight, so that was a no-no.

We’d not intended to use the services till tomorrow, but the next spot for mooring was the other side, so we pulled onto the wharf to empty loos, fill with water and drop off the rubbish. And here’s where the result came in.
In the skip compound is a bike frame, handlebars attached, with exactly the same brake gear as on mine! I took off the handlebar complete, and had to drill out the very badly corroded mounting screws, but now I’ve got not just a replacement, but a spare, too!

So, if Sue and Vic had waited for us in Middlewich instead of coming to meet us, I’d never have unwrapped the bike and found the damage.
If Halfords were a bit more efficient in returning enquiry calls, I might have finished up ordering a new part, at, no doubt, some ridiculous cost.
If we’d been able to get a decent mooring the other side of the services I‘d have been ignorant of the abandoned frame in the skip compound, and would have cycled in to town and maybe ordered the new part at Halfords.
And finally, if we’d not got any rubbish to get rid of…
As I said, a result!

Anyway, Sue and Vic turned up after lunch yesterday, and we had a really good afternoon and evening, just talking about this and that. It was warm enough to spend a lot of the afternoon sitting outside, first time this year.

This morning it was time for both boats to go in opposite directions.

No Problem had to turn around, so reversed past us and turned in the wide section of the flash. It’s OK to turn here so long as you don’t got too far out.

Sue and Vic reverse past us…

…turn around…

…and head back towards Middlewich.
Good to see you again, have a good summer! It should certainly be better than anticipated earlier, they’ve finally got their engine issues sorted. Read Sue’s blog here.

We were about half an hour later getting off, seen off the premises by Sid the swan.
He’s a bit tense, his missus is sitting on eggs just across from our stern, so he’s feeling protective.

Around the corner to Billinge Green Flash and the dredging for the new marina, and I could see the remains of the derelict boat that used to be anchored in the shallows.

Derelict, could have been NB Brill.

The other marina, a little further up on the towpath side, is still making progress, although slowly.

You can’t see much from the canal, but the towpath bridge over the entrance is finished.

Nothing much seems to change at Orchard Marina…

The canal skirts around Northwich, to the east and north. The town grew up on the banks of the Weaver, around 50 feet lower than the canal.

A bit of housekeeping would make the bend near Bridge 183 a little easier..
Smells nice, though.

Passing Broken Cross the navigation has to go through the Brunner Mond chemical works.

Brunner Mond adding steam to the already moisture-laden clouds.

Everyone has their own idea of the perfect mooring…

The Lion Salt Works in Marston is being restored as a working museum, after several decades of standing disused. It’s expected to be open to visitors later this year.

Lion Salt Works at Marston

From Marston the canal leaves all traces of industry until Anderton, passing through fields and woodland for a couple of miles.

Bluebells in Marbury Wood.

As I mentioned, we finally washed up opposite Anderton Marina, and spotted our first brood of cygnets for this year.

Proud parents, seven little ones

A little later, as I started to write this, there was a bit of commotion outside. A group of schoolkids in canoes were heading up the canal, but the cob, concerned for his young family, had other ideas…

A bit of panic ensued, before they all got turned around and headed back the way they’d come.
Swan 1, canoes 0.

The weather hasn’t been as bad as the forecast suggested; we put up with half an hour of rain when we set off, but then it faired up a bit. We even had a few glimmers of sunshine this afternoon.
I think we’re dropping down onto the river tomorrow, out of the way of the Bank Holiday traffic.

Locks 0, miles 5.