A bit of a knock-back

I’m feeling a little tee’d off at the moment. With just over three weeks to go to the Liverpool Half-Marathon and my training going really well, I’ve pulled a muscle in my right thigh. Damn!

It was yesterday morning, out on an eight mile fast run when I felt a twinge, but carried on. It was only when I’d cooled down after a shower I realised how painful it was. So now I’ll have to rest it for a few days, then have a couple of tentative runs to see how it goes.

Still, Meg appreciates it. Not being able to run, I can still walk, and we can have longer walks in the mornings now.

There’s a pleasant 2¼ mile amble from where we were moored till this morning.

Along the towpath to Bridge 211 from where there’s a fine view towards Dutton Lock on the river.

Looking towards Dutton Lock
There’s a track down to the river, following the fence line across the middle of the picture.

The bridleway along the river is surfaced and turning right (downstream) takes you over the weir stream to Dutton Lock.

Dutton Lock and Lock House
The impressive piers supporting the sluice gates
Pity about the rubbish piled up against the bridge protection boom.
After a look at the lock and the wreck of MV Chica, head back upstream for about a mile to Acton Swing Bridge.

Looking down river

Acton Swing Bridge
This carries the busy A49 over the Weaver and is still operational although not used very often these days. Perhaps as well, considering how much traffic crosses it.

It pivots on a central pier, by means of steel ropes on capstans.

The central pivot from under the bridge
The engine house.
The cables that haul the bridge around can be seen entering the side of the brick structure.

At this point you leave the river and put up with 100 yards of the main road before turning into a lane on the left, past Bartington Hall and ending up back on the canal at Bridge 210.

Bartington Hall
The Trent and Mersey at Bridge 210
Just 5 minutes back along the towpath and we are back where we started.

A very pleasant hour’s excursion on a gloriously sunny morning.

After breakfast we headed off, north up the canal to Preston Brook.

The tunnel waiting moorings are getting a bit congested. NB Empire seems to be a permanent resident, and now there’s a BW workboat here as well.
Could be interesting when the canal gets busy at Easter….

Out into sunshine at the north end of Preston Brook Tunnel, and Claymoore Navigation’s base is passed, followed by Midland Chandlers.

Claymoore Navigation

We stopped at the chandlers for some bits, then carried on, now on the Bridgewater Canal, turned around at Daresbury and retraced our steps to moor near Red Brow.

Tomorrow we’re going to take the original main line of the Bridgewater, down into Runcorn. There used to be 10 broad locks there, linking up with the Manchester Ship Canal, but they’ve been filled and built over.

Remember, back in the 80’s there was a TV drama series called Travelling Man? It was about an ex-copper who was framed and locked up for a crime he didn’t commit, and who, on his release, spent his time mooching about on his narrowboat Harmony looking for his son, the guy who framed him, and generally righting wrongs. Well, it’s just become available in a DVD box set. I’ll be getting it.

Oh, and I’ve received an email today, about an apparent threat to online security. If you get one, which mentions “Simon Ashton”, just check out http://www.hoax-slayer.com/simon25-hacker-hoax.shtml before you clog up everyones inbox!

Locks 1, miles 5½

The countryside beckons.

After an enjoyable couple of days in the bustle of Anderton, we felt that we needed a bit of peace and quiet. So we headed off northward, through Barnton and Saltersford tunnels, to a spot above the River Weaver after saying our goodbyes to Chas and Ann on Moore 2 Life.

Leaving Anderton

On the left is Anderton Marina, on the right, Uplands.

Between the two tunnels there’s a wide basin, with an access road down to the Weaver and Saltersford Lock.
This must have been built for a reason as the canal is cut into the valley side at this point. An awful lot of material has been moved to create the wide.

Saltersford Tunnel is quite constricted at it’s northern end.
A couple of miles beyond the tunnels the canal runs 50 feet above the river, giving fine views down the valley to Frodsham.

Looking over the Weaver.
It’s been another sunny day after a frosty night. The forecast is predicting more cloud for the rest of the week. But still fairly mild. At last…

Our mate Carol, down in Shardlow, has sent me this link to a mail forwarding company. Sounds interesting, especially the “network of mail receiving agents on, or as close as possible to the water system”. And at £7 a month including postage for the cheapest option, it’s pretty reasonably priced, too. I’ve added a link on the right, for future reference.

Locks 0, miles 4

It’s official….

Spring is here! St David’s day and the first day of Spring. Pretty good too, blue skies, warm(ish) sunshine, birds singing and the first sprouts shooting up through the leaf mould.

We swapped neighbours at the flash last Thursday. Sue and Vic had moved on to Anderton, but Chas and Ann on Moore 2 Life arrived. They’d decided to have a look up this way, the first time in 8 years, before heading over towards the Shroppie.

We moved in extended convoy up to Anderton on Saturday, and have enjoyed the weekend exploring the nature parks on both sides of the canal.

We’ll be parting company tomorrow; we’re heading north and they are heading back to Middlewich. We’ll catch up again later in the month, I guess.

We’ve got a sort of plan for the next couple of months. Unfortunately it involves a bit of hanging around in the area again, but there’re worse places.

Now we’re not able to get to my Liverpool race by boat, we’ll have to leave the boat somewhere for the day and travel up by car. Then, a fortnight later, she’ll be going into Orchard Marina for much needed (after all the ice breaking) bottom blacking, for a few days.

Leaving there we’ll head south to Hardings Wood, onto the Macclesfield and Peak Forest into Manchester, dropping down into Castlefield via the Ashton and Rochdale Canals for my 10K in the city centre in the middle of May. This was part of the original itinerary.

From Manchester we’ll head across to Liverpool using the new link to get through the docks. We’ll stay there a few days then head back out again. After that, well I don’t know. As we’re up in the top left corner of the system, it might be worth trying to get a passage across the Ribble Link up to the Lancaster Canal. We’ll see.

Oh and thanks to Alan from NB Andante, moored near the boat lift yesterday, for introducing himself. It’s always a pleasure to meet people who read my sometimes aimless scribblings. Makes it all worth while, somehow.

Locks 0, miles 5½

In Vindication……

Before reading this, if you haven’t already, go to Sue’s latest post here. Then hit your browser's back button.

OK, done that? Right, you’ll know what I’m talking about now!

We’d arranged to meet up with Sue and Vic at South Flash, 4 or 5 miles north of Middlewich, last night. By the time I’d had my morning run, walked the dog, and visited Kings Lock Chandlery and Tesco’s it was past 11 before we fired up the engine and headed down Wardle Lock, the last (or first, depending on your point of view) on the Middlewich Branch.

Then there were the 3 narrow locks in the town to descend, before we pulled over to take on water at Townbridge Wharf.

Down the Middlewich Locks.
While we were filling a BW workboat came past, with Mike and Yvonne. We’d met them a week or 2 ago at Hack Green on the Shroppie. Greetings were exchanged, and Mike asked if we were going down Big Lock, the broad lock at the edge of the town. He said he’d set up the lock and wait for us there.

We thought that No Problem would have left long since, as the time was now nearly 1 o’clock, but we came around the corner and there were both Moore 2 Life (Chas and Ann) and No Problem on the visitor moorings.

The Gang's all here...
Sue and Vic saw us coming and started untying NP, to join us at the lock, and I had to tell them that we’d already made an arrangement with Mike.

Oh dear. We moved on past to a barrage of light-hearted abuse.

They followed us down and waited while we locked down with Mike.

Middlewich Big Lock

He didn’t help – “They’re fussy who they share locks with”, he told Sue!

Anyhow, I gave them a hand to start the lock, and Ann had come down to the lock as well, so we pushed off, out of the way.

We had an enjoyable cruise to the flashes, through the countryside with the River Dane often running close alongside the canal.

Looking over the Dane Valley
A glimpse of the river.
We arrived at our agreed overnight stop at around 14:30, and NP came round the corner 10 minutes later.

South Flash
In the evening they joined us and we had a good chat over a bottle or 2. We paid compensation in the form of half of one of Mags’ home made ginger cake. So all’s OK now.

We’ve decided to stay put today, but they’ve toddled off this morning up towards Anderton. We’ll catch up again in a couple of weeks.

It’s been a lot milder these last couple of days, but of course it’s also got damper. Overnight rain and some showers this morning have transformed the frozen towpaths into muddy ones, Still, you can’t have everything.

Oh, and the heating’s working like a dream. Thanks Ed.

Locks 5, miles 4½

Meetings at Middlewich

It felt very cold today. There was ice on the canal again (what’s new?), not as thick as yesterday, but there was a biting wind from the north.
We didn’t have far to go, just down into Middlewich.

At Stanthorne Lock
Two lots of our boating buddies were heading up to the town as well, from the south, so, as soon as we were tied up, Meg and I had a walk along the towpath to meet them.

No Problem comes into Rumps Lock
The dogs haven’t seen each other for some time, and they got pretty excited.

"Hello Meg!"
Sue and Vic below Kings Lock
Chas and Ann from Moore to Life were following, but I had to get back to our boat to meet Ed, who was coming to refit our heating boiler.

He arrived at around 14:45, and soon had the thing up and running again. The radiators get a lot hotter now, so that’s a good job done.

Not very big, is it.
While he was busy with his head down in the bowels of the engine room, Sue and Vic and Chas and Ann arrived, having walked back from where they’ve moored in the town.
Tea and Mags’ home-made chocolate muffins all round, while we caught up with the news and gossip.

No Problem is heading north, same as us, but Moore to Life is going across the Branch to Barbridge.

Locks 1, miles 1½

Winter drags on…..

We woke up on Sunday morning with 3” of snow on the towpath.

Here we go again…
There was also a thin skin of snow covered ice on the water. It was so soft that it folded, like plastic, around the stern when a boat passed.

Bendy Ice

But with a fine, sunny day, both snow and ice were just about all gone by evening.

We had some regular visitors to the bird feeders through the day. One robin had more than his share of the fat ball.

Fat ball, fat robin
No snow this morning, but the very low temperatures overnight had left us with ½” of ice on the canal.

Breaking ice again.

We had a steady cruise east and north, the ice thinning as we went. I don’t know whether it was just not as thick further on, or it was thawing as the day wore on. It was still cold on the back of the boat, with a breeze from the north.

Leaving Cholmondeston Lock
We passed Church Minshull down in the valley to the north of the canal.

Church Minshull
Tom Rolt spent several weeks here in 1940, with his wife Angela on their converted narrowboat Cressy.

I guess these signs weren’t here then?
His book, Narrow Boat, describing a journey around the then decaying system, has never been out of print since it’s publication in 1944.

Lionel Thomas Caswell Rolt, to give him his full name, was one of the founder members of the Inland Waterways Association. The association was formed to restore and revitalise the canal network, and from painful beginnings (Rolt and Robert Aikman, co-founder, both had strong and often differing opinions) has grown to become a major force in promoting restoration and maintenance of what is now a valuable resource.

He is probably best known for writing Narrow Boat, but has also penned books on railways, cars, industrial history and philosophy. Three autobiographies and several biographies as well as some fictional works, must have kept him very busy. Had he not died in 1974, he would have celebrating his 100th birthday this year. There are several events occurring around the country to honour the man’s achievements.

The official website is here.

After Church Minshull we covered another 3 miles or so, pulling in on rings near Bridge 23.

We’ll be moving down to Middlewich tomorrow, hopefully to meet Ed who will have our serviced and polished Eberspacher heating boiler ready for refitting.

There’s a new website launched today. Canal Boat Classified looks like it could be a useful “one stop shop” as the information develops.

Locks 2, miles 6½

Snow, frost and sunshine, and the best laid plans……

We’ve a diesel fired central heating boiler running 3 radiators as well as the domestic hot water. It’s not our primary heat source; hot water is also generated from the engine, and the solid fuel stove is far more efficient (and cheaper to run!). But it is handy to run for just an hour first thing in the morning to give us hot water for ablutions and to take the overnight chill off the cabin.
So with it being a little unhealthy recently, I thought we’d better “get a man in”. I rang Ed from Four Counties Marine Services, and he was in the area, so we agreed to meet at Barbridge, where he could remove the unit and return it to us, serviced, on Tuesday.

So instead of a day off yesterday, we had a short cruise down to Barbridge. A bright day, but turning to snow showers later.

More of the white stuff at Barbridge.
Bright sunshine today after a hard frost. We decided to move on from Barbridge, so cruised back up onto the Middlewich Branch via a detour up to the services at Calveley and back.
We didn’t go so far, tying up above Cholmondeston Lock.

Through Barbridge this morning
Moored at Cholmondeston
More snow is forecast overnight and tomorrow, so we’ll probably stay put now till Monday. We have to be in Middlewich by Tuesday to meet up with Ed again to refit the heater.

Plans, plans!
We’d intended to make a bee-line for Liverpool, leaving Anderton in about a fortnight. This would have got us into the city via the new link nicely for my race on the 28th March. Then back down the Trent and Mersey to Northwich for the middle of April where the boat is booked into Orchard Marina for a week for bottom blacking and a few other bits and pieces. From there we would head south to Hardings Wood Junction just above Stoke On Trent, turn onto the Macclesfield Canal and head up to Manchester via the Maccie, Peak Forest and Ashton Canals, which would see us arrive at Castlefield just right for my second race of the season, the Manchester 10k in the middle of May.

Notice that all the above is in the past tense? Intended, would have?

We got a phone call today from the BW office at Wigan. The trip along the Liverpool Link will not be possible till early April. The route would not normally be open till the end of March anyway, apparently. But this year the extreme weather has delayed a stoppage at the Stanley Dock flight, and the works won’t be completed till maybe 2nd April.
So that’s that then. Time for a rethink.

On a positive note for commercial canal carrying, in South and West Yorkshire anyway, these 2 reports are of interest ... Local Government Chronicle here.... and BBC here. Common sense prevails? We can only hope.

Locks 0, miles 8

Nantwich to Hurleston Junction

We moved on from Nantwich today, heading north again. The larder and fridge are both topped up, as is the water tank and the coal stocks.

Loading solid fuel from Ivor and Mel’s Mountbatten.
Mel decorates canal wear with traditional “roses and castles” designs. We bought a couple of examples of her work as gifts.
I realised afterwards I should have got a picture of her stock…

Instead here’s the sterns of Mountbatten and Jellicoe.

After the coal it was 100 yards along to the services, arriving just as Jenny Wren was pulling away.

Good timing at Nantwich services.
Then we had a gentle chug along the canal, just over tick-over, enjoying being on the move again. Not for long, though. We pulled over at Hurleston Junction, after only a couple of miles.

At the end of the embankment above Nantwich the canal goes through Bridge 92. This is the last of the narrow bridges heading north.

Bridge 92
This is because the canal from here was originally the Chester Canal, linking up with the Mersey at Ellesmere Port. It was built to wide beam dimensions, so all the locks and bridges are broad, in contrast to those on the Shropshire Union. The arm to the right of the picture, now the base of Nantwich Marina, is the end of the original line.

Spotted a kestrel aiming for it’s lunch on the way.
A rushed shot I’m afraid. I don’t know whether it was successful, I didn’t see it again after it dove (dived?) behind a hedge line.

We’re not in any hurry. I sent an application off to cruise the Liverpool Canal Link yesterday. This is the new section of canal at the end of the Leeds and Liverpool, giving boats access through the docks, along the front of the “Three Graces”, and to moorings at Salthouse Dock.
From there it’s only a short walk to the start (and finish) of the Liverpool Half-Marathon, my first race of the year, at the end of March. So we’ve 5 weeks to get there.

Locks 0, miles 2

Back to Nantwich

Had a day watching boats go by yesterday. Mostly hire boats, with the odd “privateer” thrown in for good measure. It was fine and dry in the morning, but turned showery later.

This stretch of towpath is part of the Weaver Way, roughly following the Weaver Valley from Audlem to Frodsham. Along the way are interpretation boards, discussing the local area.
The one at Baddington Bridge talks about freshwater mussels that are found in the canal.

Apparently there are 2 types, the painters mussel, and the endangered depressed river mussel. I supposed I’d be depressed if I was an endangered species, too. I wonder what it was called when it was prolific? Elated river mussel? Manic river mussel?

Seriously, the name derives from the flattened shape of the shell, not it’s psychological condition.

We had the day boat out of Nantwich Marina arrive at the locks at 09:30 today. It turned around and moored on the lock landing, then the crew set off up the flight on foot. Odd behaviour which was explained when Meg and I caught up with them. They (Mike, Yvonne and Roamer the dog) had been asked to fetch a broken-down boat from above the locks. It was only a small one, so they’d borrowed the day boat for the job. We had a good long chat about boats, canals and watery things generally, before they set off back to Nantwich.

Mike, Yvonne and Roamer.
Off back to Nantwich
We followed on, about an hour later.

Although the day started grey with a few light flurries of snow, it soon cleared and this afternoon was sunny and warm if you could keep out of the wind.
It was so clear this evening that Mow Cop, 13½ miles away to the east, was visible.

Locks 0 miles 2¾

Happy St Valentines Day!

I hope you all got at least one card. For those who didn’t, lets have a big Aaaah. I’ve just thought, that includes me…. Here's one for us, then.

Having spent a couple of days in sunny Nantwich, picked up the mail and done a bit of shopping, it was time to move on.

By the time I’d had my run (a long one on Sunday mornings), had breakfast and taken her ladyship for a walk, it was getting on for midday before we were ready to get off. They’ve been a few more boats about this weekend, of course it’s half-term, isn’t it. Seen a few hire boats out of Middlewich and Bunbury.

Over the A534 on the Nantwich aqueduct.
It’s been fairly mild today, after the early mist cleared. We had a touch of ice on the water in sheltered places, but that soon melted. We didn’t go far, just a matter of getting out into the country for a couple of days, so we toddled on down to Hack Green and moored just below the locks.

Typical Shropshire Union Canal.

Moored at Hack Green
There are more moorings at the top of the 2 locks, and a little further on at Coole Pilate, but there didn’t seem to be much point in going up the locks just to come back down again. Getting lazy, ain’t we! No, just saving ourselves for later in the year…

Following claims that boaters are avoiding Skipton for fear of vandalism, the Craven Herald carries a story telling us it’s not that bad. “No further trouble for the last couple of weeks.” Hmm, that would be during one of the coldest spells of the last few years, when the kids were at school anyway. Like I already said, it’s half-term, now.

Alf, regarding your comment on stern gland packing on the last post. For advice I went to Tony Brookes excellent website, where he gives a step by step method of repacking the gland (including a dead easy way of getting the old stuff out!). I suspect that a lot of folk put a new ring of packing on top of the old simply because of the difficulty of removing it.

Locks 0, miles 2¾