Tag Archives: Trent & Mersey

The Grand Tour

Day 74 – Dark And Stormy

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A fabulous sunset last night, with it being so hot we left the front, back, side and roof hatches open, boy did we get a shock at 1.56am with thunder, lightning and heavy rain. It was a mad dash to close everything up. Toby much prefers these dark and stormys.

Toby doesn’t cope very well in the heat and struggled yesterday, so we cast off much earlier than usual at 7.15 to try and avoid the worst of the heat; I steered while Toby made breakfast. We passed this huge industrial site owned by TATA Chemical, it was quite something.

The canal soon narrowed with lots of blind bends to keep Toby on his toes. There were a few flashes, with great views.

This has to be the boat with the most solar panels, the owner said he’s not had to charge his battery from the engine once this year.

Middlewich and our first locks for what seems like an age (Liverpool, some nine days ago). Vlockies helped on site and we paid in kindness with flapjacks, it did the trick as one of the vlockies stayed with us for all three locks – or maybe he felt sorry for me, as he asked me about the sleeve on my arm, his parting shot was ‘a day over ground is better than a day underground’ thanks for that!

We passed the Middlewich breach repair, this stretch was out of action from March to December last year, and cost some £3m to repair. That’s somewhat different to a breach many years ago at The Lion Salt Works which was repaired in two weeks!

The countryside views and the blue skies have been wonderful today and have lifted my spirits. I was feeling a little flat the last day or so thinking that we’d done all the funky bits, how wrong could I be.

We found a perfect shady spot under a big tree, it required pins – these big long pins – and boy did I whack them in!

Toby sat out in the shade with a glass of Pimms and his kindle, he’s much more chilled today.

It was also ‘bone juice day’ and my three monthly injection in my tummy to strengthen by bones. I’ve been looking at the box in the fridge since we started, so it’s good to get it over and done with. Toby was very gentle, I’m hoping there is a bit less belly fat now to find a spot.

The Grand Tour

Day 73 – The Only Way Is Up

It was back up the lift today, but first of all we wanted to explore as far as we could downstream. We left Northwich at about 8am, went passed the boat lift and reached Saltersford lock in good time. Here we had to do an about turn, as the lock is closed for some significant repairs, and then return back towards the lift.

On the way back we passed one of the moorings, and were surprised to see a bull had made its way from the field onto the bank! ‘No way I’d get off there!’, said Sarah.

Bulls aside, the river was lovely and tranquil in the morning sunshine; I could maybe have been tempted into going for a swim if we’d been lingering longer.

We were booked onto the lift for 10:45, but got there at about 9:15 just as another boat was going up on its own. I thought maybe we could join them, but was told it wasn’t possible, so we waited for our slot and nattered with the other waiting boaters. Well, Sarah nattered, I hid inside in the shade!

Unlike our trip down on the lift, there were boats in the other caisson this time too – it was a bit surreal as we passed, them going down as we went up. Sarah did all the helming in and out of the lift, whilst I sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Back on the Trent & Mersey canal, we were only going for 10 minutes before we stopped to fill up the water tank and change the water filter. There was a pump-out there too, but it was out of order. Whilst we were filling the water, a CRT repair guy came along to fix the blockage with the pump-out. ‘You can test it on our boat if you like?!’, said Sarah cheekily. ‘Sure, no problem!’ came the response – so we got a free pump-out. We weren’t even half full, but never say no to a freebie! Well not quite a freebie, he got a home-made flapjack for his efforts.

Water tank full and poo tank empty, we then motored the short hop up to the old Lion Salt Works. We only just squeezed in between two other boats – it seems really busy here but we suspect a lot of the boats haven’t moved for some time; we didn’t see any mooring time restrictions either.

The salt works were well worth the visit, and we timed it perfectly for one of their two daily guided tours which was a spot of luck. The salt was extracted from local brine streams (mostly by pumping the water up from underground, though there are some salt springs in the area too). The brine, which is eight times more concentrated than sea water, is then boiled in massive iron salt pans and the salt crystals scraped up and dried out.

  • Blacksmith’s forge
  • Grinding mill
  • Salt pan

After the tour we had a drink at the cafe, and then walked back to Oliver. I had some ice cream and Sarah had a lolly to cool off from the heat. I fixed a dodgy light switch for the pantry and Sarah cooked some burgers for dinner, which we had with some salad.

Blog nearly done and it’s starting to cool down slightly. We’re sat out in the shade in the front cratch to make the most of any breeze we can get!

The Grand Tour

Day 71 – Lift Going Down

Today we ticked off another of our big-ticket items for this trip – the Anderton Boat Lift, otherwise known as the ‘Cathedral of the Canals’. Built in 1875 to convey ships down from the canal and onto the River Weaver, it ran up until 1983 when it was closed in need of repairs. It was then restored in 2001-2002 and has been running ever since (excluding a fair few breakdowns!)

You can just turn up and go on the next available lift, with no charge at all, but Sarah was keen to book in advance. It cost all of £5 to do so, and Sarah looked very pleased with herself when we found another two boats waiting before us to go in, but two hadn’t booked so had to wait another 45 minutes.

All in all it takes about half an hour, and then out we popped at the bottom onto the River Weaver.

The river is wide enough that you can turn around pretty much anywhere. It’s not fast flowing so it’s quite relaxing to pootle along. The wildlife seem to like it here; apparently, there are otters in the area, so I’ll be keeping a lookout this evening. In the meantime, we’ll make do with a heron standing on one leg, karate-kid style.

It seemed like only minutes before we reached Northwich, where we just squeezed into a spot on the first pontoon, touching fenders with the boats fore and aft of us. A quick trip to Waitrose to restock on food supplies and the fridge was bursting at the seams.

Replenished, we moved on to Hunt’s Lock. We phoned the lock keeper to let him know we were coming, and were instructed to moor up on the left. We were in for a bit of a wait as another set of boats had just been up, and two more were on their way to come down but wouldn’t get there for 10 minutes, so it was the perfect chance for some lunch. I also finished off the bottle of wine that we no longer had space in the fridge for!

The locks are all manned; we drive in and the lock keeper drops us a rope with a loop on the end, which we then put our centre line through and he pulls it back up and pulls us in. We had three of us in the lock together as they’re quite wide, but with three boats there’s not much space to bump around and the locks filled very gently so it was probably one of the easiest locks ever.

The second lock, Vale Royal, was similar and with the same three boats again. Shortly afterwards we pulled over at the Vale Royal moorings, which everyone has said are a lovely place to stop. At first it was quite busy with fishermen, walkers and cyclists all enjoying the warm weather, but it’s now lovely and peaceful here.

The Grand Tour

Day 70 – Argee Bargee In The Tunnel

A pre agreed cast off this morning of 8.15 as the first of three tunnels only allows passage for ten minutes on the half hour. We were again prepared for rain although not for the wind, we had quite a job keeping the brolly from turning inside out.

Despite the cloudy skies, the scenery has improved today, with everything looking even more lush with all the rain.

Preston Brook was our first tunnel, and I did the steering. In the first shot, I was a little close to the left hand side and the brickwork, hence the somewhat concerned face – my steering and facial expressions definitely improve.

Toby steered in the next tunnel which was also a timed entry, we were following an old puffer narrowboat with a horn that sounded like a very old Downtown Abbey era car. The third tunnel was a free for all with whoever gets there first. The boat in front sounded his amazing horn and entered the tunnel, so we followed, we then heard another horn from a boat who had entered after us from the other direction. To and fro they went with their horns, so we thought we’d join in to signal that there were two boats. The boat coming the other way backed off and reversed out – phew!

Toby has been on the lookout for a Kingfisher all holiday and today we saw two. One on a branch and another in flight, they move so quickly, I think we were very lucky to get this shot. Next on the list is an Otter, I think that may be pushing our luck.

We moored at Anderton and had lunch in the museum cafe. It also gave us a chance to take a closer look at The Anderton Boat lift which we’ll take tomorrow. We’ll be going down from The Trent and Mersey Canal to the River Weaver. You can just turn up and take the next slot, but as you know, I like a plan! So we’ve paid our £5 and we’re booked on the first passage tomorrow at 10am.

We met up with Jan, one of my work colleagues and her husband Chris in the local pub. Jan has been in the wars after falling off her horse and is in a back brace and sling, Chris is doing a grand job looking after her. It was great to catch up.

The Grand Tour

Day 17 – Witness to a Crime

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Today we planned for the worst and hoped for the best with the weather, and kitted out in all our wet gear. Sadly my waterproof walking boots are no longer waterproof (I must confess to putting them in the washing machine which probably explains it). It felt like everyone was coming on to the Caldon so we had a good flow of hire boats at the locks and swing bridges and plenty of help. We met a lovely bunch of CRT volunteers on rubbish collection duties.

The staircase lock is rather interesting, we were going down and usually you have to empty the second lock, so the water from the top lock can drain into it. This staircase is different as it has a run off to the right, you can see it to the right of the first picture. I had a grumpy permy boatman shouting at me that I was doing it wrong, I had great pleasure sharing that in fact I was correct, as I have read and was following the the instructions, and maybe he’d like to do the same! He let me alone after that and spouted on to the hire boaters.

The staircase was also the scene of the crime. We approached the lock to see a young lad loitering, then a couple arrived and something handed over, the lad then disappeared. Said couple remained at the lock and two more people arrived in quick succession and more bags were handed over. We can only assume it was drugs, and a very slick operation. Toby usually gets off the boat to help with the lock, we radioed on the walkie talkies covertly (!!) and Toby stayed onboard, I chatted to them about the weather – as you do!

We were soon off the Caldon and back on the Trent and Mersey Canal again

We were really impressed by the artwork on a stretch of fence by the canal, it was completed by students at Stoke on Trent College.

You see some interesting sights on the canal, we assume this is a new swimming complex.

We decided to moor at Westport Lake, just before Harecastle tunnel which we’ll do tomorrow. Toby thought there might be something on the prop, so down the hatch again to find what we think may be a scarf.

We had a walk around the lake and the visitor centre. Toby declined the chance of a fluffy coffee and cake, instead settling on a mango and passion fruit yoghurt icecream, made using the molds from my mum, this is attempt no 2, there is still room for improvement.

We picked up some local Staffordshire oatcakes, they’re very much like a pancake and made with oatmeal. We had them for tea with eggs, ham and cheese, and very nice they were too.