It don’t get much better than this…

Although we could do with the wind dropping a bit, but you can’t have everything.
I unshipped John Sage first thing this morning for a trip up into Northwich for some fresh stuff, that saved us having to stop for groceries as we passed through on the river, then we were away at around 10:00.

Could almost be summer…


After WWII steel was in short supply so they started making barges out of reinforced concrete as a stop-gap.



It wasn’t a new idea, reinforced concrete or ferrocrete was used as early as the mid 19th century for building craft. Not just small vessels either. In the first World War a yard at Shoreham was commissioned to construct ferrocrete barges and tugs, the largest of which was 125 feet long with a 27 foot beam and driven by a steam engine.


But this pales into insignificance compared to the Chinese Gu Tian, constructed in 1974.
Photo from the Daily Mail, interesting full article here.

‘morning…


We stopped for water and rubbish disposal at the wharf next to Town Bridge in Northwich, then set off, past the new-ish marina on the left, up to Hunts Lock.

Town Bridge, Northwich


Northwich Marina on the left, on the site of the Floatel and Northwich Marine’s boatyard.
The visitor moorings on the right are quiet, only two boats on there.

Approaching Hunts Lock

It’s generally a good idea to give the lockies a call 20 minutes or so before arrival. They appreciate it and it means the gates can be open for you. But I hadn’t in this case, I knew that Meg would need a wee so we pulled in on the bank and we walked up to have a chat.

There are two locks here, the earlier smaller one to the left and the ship lock to the right. The smaller one is in use here. And it’s manual winding for the paddles and the gates!


I always think that the ladder-way up the side of the chamber looks like a stack of faces with a dismayed expression…


The lock sides here are higher at the upstream end, why, no-one seems to know. But it gives you a weird perspective as you look forward, it appears we’re going down by the head!

It’s a half-hour or so to the final upstream lock, Vale Royal, passing a new development on the left and Jalsea’s boatyard on the right.

Boats of all shapes, sizes and conditions here.

Two fixed bridges…
…Hartford (road) Bridge in the distance…

…and Vale Royal Railway Viaduct


Vale Royal Lock is just around the corner, and can be confusing…

The smaller lock is again in use, but it’s now on the right of the ship lock and not obvious as you come around the bend.

That’s the one, to the right of the bull-nose.

To make matters even more confusing the earliest chamber still exists on the far right, now used as a sluice.

It’s clearer from above…


We pulled in on the moorings a little further on, just one boat here when we arrived, he left and was replaced by another who turned up from upstream.




Enjoying the sunshine…


…with tea and cake!


Neighbours…




Struggled a bit with the pictures today, too sunny! Not complaining, mind…

Locks 2, miles 4¼

Just messing about on the Weaver…

We had a grand day yesterday. Meeting Val, John and little hairy Harry at the Boat Lift holding moorings, we were lucky to get a passage down onto the river just 45 minutes later.
We shared the caisson with a pleasant couple on NB Oakfield. It turned out that they live not far from Val and John!

Waiting on the connecting aqueduct


Going down

The mooring pontoon down on the river is a new addition.

The east caisson, on the left, passes us in the opposite direction as we descend

Redundant gearing on the top deck, left over from when the lift was operated with counterbalance weights.


And out at the bottom, a smooth 50 foot descent. 

We turned right, downstream, for Barnton Cut and the woods and fields heading north. The last time we came down with V&J, a couple of years ago, we went up to Northwich.

Winnington Swing Bridge, always in need of a coat of paint
Low headroom to the left, south, bank.

Bluebells…


…and gorse.


Barnton Cut, the rising ground ahead is pierced by Saltersford Tunnel carrying the Trent and Mersey Canal


I think he’s nodded off…


A short wait for the lockie at Saltersford Lock

Big locks, these.

The last upgrade, in the latter half of the 19th century, allowed boats of 1000 tons, with a length and breadth of 196 x 35 feet, to navigate upstream as far as Winsford.

Our first cootlings


Acton Bridge.

All of the original Weaver bridges are designed to swing to allow passage of large shipping. This one is pivoted on an island, the backwater to the left provides moorings for the Acton Bridge Cruising Club.

New short-term moorings between Acton Bridge and Dutton Lock.
















We were kept amused for a few minutes by this pair of Gadwall (I think) ahead of us.
They’d take off a few yards ahead, accompanied by irritated cackling…

…only to splash down after a few seconds.
They did this several times before pulling over and letting us past.

We stopped for lunch above Dutton Lock, just past the wreck of MV Chica.

Not getting any better with age…

She’s got an interesting history…

Lunchtime

After eating we had a walk around the lock, chatting to the lady lockie and enjoying the sunshine, before retracing our route back to Anderton.

Another look at Chica…

Precariously balanced stack


Seen through the collapsed roof, the galley still has a stove and fridge! 

I called up the Saltersford lockie as we passed Acton Bridge so he had the lock open and ready for us as we arrived.

Acton Swing Bridge, showing the central pivot

Back at Saltersford


A look at the underwear – the sluice mechanism used to drain the lock

Grey wagtail on the hunt in the gate recess – successfully.





The weather had cooled a bit as cloud built up, but we still hadn’t seen any rain as we came past the entrance channel to the boat lift.





We tried out the new mooring pontoon just visible at the extreme right of the picture, and very nice it is too.
We did move onto the grassy bank a little further on this morning, though.

Tea and cake when we’d stopped kept the wolf from the door, then sadly our guests had to depart. We’re moving further away from them now as we’ll be heading south and east when we rejoin the canal network.

All in all a very good day. I was surprised how few boats we’ve seen on the river. Only a handful yesterday afternoon, and one of those was Oakfield with whom we’d shared the lift.
A few more days down here before we go back up onto the jolly old T&M.

Locks 2 (the same one twice…), miles 11 

A short May Day cruise…

Very short, in fact, about a quarter mile, just around the corner!
The May Day bank Holiday has brought the boaters out in droves, but we were already tied up after filling with water at the services. Incidentally, the elsan and pump-out facilities are still out of action here at Anderton.


I was wondering why we use the international distress call “Mayday” instead of, say, “Easter Monday” or “Shrove Tuesday”. Well it goes back to the early days of flying and two-way radio and an air traffic controller at Croydon. He recognised that with voice messages now replacing Morse Code, the SOS call requesting assistance was redundant. And who wants to shout “Sos, Sos” into their radio mike… With a lot of England to France traffic passing through Croydon he suggested Mayday, a corruption of the French m’aidez – help me.  And it’s now internationally accepted for maritime and aviation transport.

Anyway, we were just filling up with water when Martin on the fuel boat Halsall hove into view, so I picked up another couple of bags of solid fuel. You never know…

He pulled in in front of us, then suddenly the previously quiet canal was thronged with boats.  
I’m glad we got in and filled before this lot arrived. Another two were coming down past Anderton Marina as well!

We pulled in again between bridges 198 and 199.

The day started dull and overcast, and it even tried a little rain on for size at lunchtime. But the skies cleared and it’s been a warm, sunny afternoon. While we were at the services a familiar chap was dropping off a bag of rubbish. It was Peter, over from home in Tasmania for a boating summer. He and his wife Jennifer joined us for a brew and cake this afternoon. They’ll see us down on the river later in the week, and I think an evening of hilarity is in store…

Looks like the weather is going to be good for the rest of the week. Lovely.

Locks 0, miles ¼