Another short hop…

I was once told the best way to eat an elephant – a bit at a time. The same approach can be used for the Cheshire locks; spread out the climb over a few days. There are several pleasant spots to stop, so if you’re in no rush why do them all in one go?

Following that philosophy we left Rode Heath this morning, cruised for just 90 minutes and pulled in on the moorings below the church at Church Lawton.

We had a good afternoon yesterday, brother and sister Andy and Sue came to find us. We had a good catch up; we see Andy fairly frequently but Sue lives in either Australia or New Zealand depending on work. I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t come up on Andy’s new Harley, though.
I was a bit knackered after they’d left, I’d got up at 6:00 for a long run of 17 miles so  could be back in time to do the roast dinner. But I managed to stay awake for the start of the new series of the Tim and Pru show.  It didn’t disappoint…

We had a bit of a lie-in this morning finally moving off at nearer midday than 11:00.

Just out of Rode Heath the canal passes over a minor road on an aqueduct with curving brick parapets.

It was less than half an hour to the first of today’s locks, the bottom of the Lawton Treble Locks.

Mags waiting while I empty the nearside lock
These three locks are second and third generation. Originally this steep bank was negotiated by a staircase of three locks, where one chamber led directly into the next. It was soon recognised as a major bottleneck, so a conventional flight of three was constructed alongside and the staircase closed and filled. Then the improvements during the 19th century saw the second chambers built alongside.

Mags going into Lock 50

Looking down at the top of the Lawton Treble Locks from Hall’s Lock
The route of the canal to the staircase goes off to the right, through the stand of trees.

Twin brick tail bridges at Lock 49, Hall’s Lock
The earlier, Brindley built, arch has stone edging, the later addition has a brick arch.

Mags in Hall’s Lock, Mow Cop Castle visible on the hill in the background

Church Locks were our last two today, close together but with only one chamber on each still in use.

Church Locks



We pulled in on the moorings near the church. It’s been a fair day, a cool breeze brought a few drops of rain as we came up Church Locks, but that was all.




We’ll move on to Red Bull tomorrow.

Well done Ade. A bit of an epic trip, eh!

Locks 6, miles 1½