The Final Countdown: Day 2

Lovely quiet moorings at Coole Pilate, and there were only 4 boats on the whole stretch.  This morning, the sunrise made a very strange light first thing.  We set off at 8.30; it was quite cool but dry to start although it drizzled a bit before long.  We got the the bottom of the Audlem Locks and went straight in.

As we rose, we could see figures with windlasses approaching: yes, it was George and Carol, our friends and ex-boaters who live nearby and like to do a bit of locking from time to time.  They had parked at Coxbank and walked down so were able to tell us that most of the locks were empty, and there was no-one else around.  We made our way up the locks, past the Shroppie Fly.

Below Lock 10, CRT are rebuilding the embankment on the offside.

A bit further up, we swapped with a boat coming down.  They had two lovely Border Terriers with them.

I always particularly like the section near the top, between the two bridges.

We got to the Coxbank moorings in excellent time (it wasn’t even 11am) and there was plenty of space too.  As a plus, the weather had also cheered up.  Carol and George had invited us to go back to their house for lunch, so we all jumped in the car and went the couple of miles.  It was really nice to spend time with them again, and we had very tasty cheese on toast for lunch too!  And we’re always grateful for their help with the locks.  George dropped us back at the bridge in the early afternoon, and we took a stroll down to the village to complete our steps.  Not long after we arrived back, the rain showers arrived.

3 miles, 13 locks.  (9 miles, 15 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 13

Finally, we have arrived in Cheshire, having started the day in Staffordshire and crossed Shropshire.  We knew we had quite a journey to do today if we wanted to get back on schedule, so with lots of miles before the first locks I got up first and got us going.  We set off at 7.15 and they were already moving the day boats about at Norbury Wharf.

At Grub Street cutting, I took the photo which has to be taken.

The former Cadbury works at Knighton was looking much neater than we’ve seen it recently, and the boat moored outside says the owners are ‘profiteers in all things decent!’.

We crossed the border into Shropshire, but the weather was so different from yesterday that The Wrekin was only a vague outline on the western horizon.  The sun hasn’t really come out at all today, and it’s around ten Celsius cooler.  Before Goldstone Wharf, there are a collection of camping pods, which don’t yet appear on Google maps.

Woodseaves cutting is deep, narrow, and very green.  There are also the remains of several land slips.

We hadn’t seen many boats all day, but when we got to Tyrley Locks, a boat coming up the top one said we had four boats in front of us.  The cottage by the lock now has flowers all over it, rather than UKIP banners.

Adrian was working these locks, and discovered that the boat in front of us was a single hander who didn’t want any sort of help from anyone.  Even when he’d left a lock he would rather faff about with a pole than let someone else close the gates.  Consequently, our progress was slowed quite a bit, although the five locks still took only just over an hour.  At the bottom of the locks, the tree stump man has had a makeover.

Fortunately, the single hander had stopped for water in Market Drayton, so we slipped by.  We had lunch on the move, then arrived at Adderley Locks which I was working.  There was a boat coming out of the top lock, and the second one was full and the gate had swung open.  There was a boat going down in front, but we also passed two more boats going up.

Between Adderley Locks and the top of the Audlem flight we crossed from Shropshire to Cheshire.  At the locks, we still had the boat in front, but there’s always the stand of goodies to choose from by the top lock.  We ended up with some flapjack and a pork pie for lunch tomorrow.

Below the top lock, one of the local cows was having a paddle.

We followed the boat down the top two locks, and we both wanted to moor in the next pound.  The other boat had had a look at what was available, and opted to stop before the official moorings, but thought we’d fit into a space a couple of boats ahead.  Fortunately, we did.  We’d been on the move for more than seven hours, which is the sort of day we’re not really supposed to be doing these days!  Just along from us was another Braidbar boat, Hollingworth, so we went to say hello to Alex and Alan and their four miniature dachshunds.

When we had the share boat, Debdale, it was based at Norbury Junction for a while so we did the Shroppie a lot.  But looking back at our journeys on this boat, we’ve realised this is the first time we’ve done the canal heading north.  The previous four occasions have all been southbound as we seem to have used the Shroppie as the way back from places.

16 miles, 12 locks.  (104 miles, 120 locks)

Wending to Wales: Day 22

Today has been a day of contrasting weather, and a lovely treat.  It started off sunny, in spite of a poor forecast.  As it was dry, we set off before 8am.

At Nantwich we crept past all the moored boats and crossed the aqueduct.

We had a bit of a wait at Hack Green Locks as a boat was going up ahead of us.  As we waited, the rain started.  We ended up crossing with a boat in between the two locks.

The rain wasn’t too bad to begin with, but as we neared Audlem it turned really heavy.  By the time we moored up at the bottom of the locks, I was so wet I needed an almost complete change of clothes.  We sat out the remaining rain, which cleared very suddenly.  We were also waiting because we’d arranged to meet George and Carol, formerly of Rock’n’Roll and Still Rockin’, who live nearby.  So with the sun now breaking through we started up the locks just before 1pm.

George and Carol arrived when we were a couple of locks up.  Then, suddenly, between the third and fourth locks, the heavens opened.  We all reached for our coats — but Carol’s was in George’s bag, and he’d gone to help a single hander down to the bottom.  So she ended up in a spare coat of ours, which happens to be extra large!

Once George was back, we feared we’d never see him as he was going ahead to set the next lock each time.  Both of them enjoy their canal fix!

We were consistently quicker than the boat ahead, and having boats coming down as well meant we often had to linger in a lock for things to happen up ahead.  The good thing was that the sun had come out again.

We reached the Coxbank moorings at about 3.15.  George and Carol’s car was parked nearby, and they took us back to their lovely house with beautiful views over the fields, where we had one of George’s legendary barbecues and plenty of conversation.  It was really lovely to spend some time with them.

9 miles, 15 locks. (261 miles, 168 locks)

Repatriation: Day 1

I worked a night shift last night, while Adrian stayed in a hotel in Milton Keynes.  We met at our marina at 8.30 and continued in one car to Nantwich.  There we saw Bill, paid our dues, and thanked him for looking after BR for 108 days!  It’s been good knowing he’s been keeping an eye on her.  As the turn south out of the arm is very tight, we spun around in the basin and reversed out.  We were soon going under the junction bridge.

At Hack Green locks there was a boat going up and another waiting.  He said they’d been waiting an hour, having been fifth in the queue.  There were also boats waiting in the middle pound to come down.  By the time we were up, another boat had come down meaning we could go straight into the top lock.

We had lunch on the move, crossing the Cheshire plain, with great views each side.  Before long we got to the bottom of Audlem locks.  We had a boat in front so had to turn the bottom lock, but they emptied the next one for us, then stopped at the water point.  From then on we met boats at many locks, meaning we had to turn just one more.  At the third lock my sister and family arrived for a visit.  Strangely, we were the last visit they made before lockdown (at Dunham Massey) and this was the first since the easing.  Audlem locks are very pretty; one of my favourite flights.

We were aiming for the Coxbank moorings above lock 3, and there was a BR sized gap that we slotted into perfectly.  The kettle went on, and we enjoyed chocolate brownies made by Emily this morning (while Rachel was at a friend’s birthday party).  I walked back down the flight with the family for more chatting time.  We have made good progress on day one of our repatriation trip; it’s been a really enjoyable day and the views here are great.

7 miles, 15 locks

North West Passage: Day 24

We slipped away at about 8am to complete the Middlewich Arm. The first lock, just after Aqueduct Marina, has a nice cottage alongside with what looked like a very productive vegetable garden.

These locks are deep, at around 11ft each.

The final lock on the Arm is just after Venetian marina, which is really just a widening of the canal. Then it wasn't long before we reached Barbridge Junction. A boat was reversing across the junction and then turned in; maybe he'd overshot, being unable to see because of the bikes and canoes on his roof.

We turned left at the junction, heading south on the Shroppie. Before long we passed the start of the Llangollen Canal at Hurleston Junction. Before Nantwich I finally managed to get a photo of a kingfisher on this trip. I've seen dozens of them this month, far more than usual. I wonder if they've had a particularly good year for some reason.

Originally at Nantwich the Chester Canal terminated in the arm to the right, which is now the Nantwich Canal Centre; the embankment carrying the canal south had to be built because a landowner didn't want the canal on his land.

By the canal a bit further round at Nantwich there's lots of new housing, with plenty more still being built.

At the two Hack Green Locks, the boat in front said we were the sixth in the procession. We had lunch on the move after the locks, then when we reached Audlem we found lots of boat had moored up so there was no queue for the locks.

We went up the first two lock, then moored so we could go into the village. It's very pleasant, and has a useful Co-op.

We'd decided to stay where we were, partly as we're being picked up by friends later, and partly because the forecast was heavy rain all afternoon. However, the boat on the permanent mooring opposite had its engine running, and the mooring was on a slight bend, so every time the lock was emptied we moved quite a bit. So at 3pm we decided to go up the next eleven locks to the Coxbank moorings whixh are a favourite of ours. There were a few boats coming down, then we caught up with a single hander ahead so had to turn the last few. Even so, we did the eleven in two hours, which is pretty good. Audlem is a very nice flight, and always a pleasure to work -- and the rain never came.

15 miles, 17 locks. (289 miles, 160 locks)

Big Trip - Day 22

I've done a seperate post about organising the Manchester Ship Canal trip, for anyone who wants to give it a go.

It was grey and bleak as we set off this morning, after a very quiet night at Barbridge.  It's amazing how being just a little way back from the main road makes such a difference.  Before long we were passing Hurleston Junction, which is the start of the Llamgollen canal.  Then it was on through Nantwich, where the moorings on the embankment were quite busy.

At Bridge 91 I could see something strange happening just through the bridge: someone was getting bucketfuls of water from the canal, and throwing them apparently at the bridge.  As we went through the bridge, all became clear.  CRT staff had been clearing undergrowth from the offside, where there's a stop gate in the bridge hole.  In doing so, they'd disturbed a wasps' nest, and there were dozens of somewhat dozy wasps flying around.  Buckets of water weren't having much effect.

A little further along, there wer clouds of smoke coming from the back of a boat.  I thought there'd must be major engine problems, but it turned out the chap had a barbecue on his semi-trad stern deck.

At Hack Green lock, we were back to narrow locks again.  There had been a procession of boats in the other direction, and we we're able to go straight into the first lock.  There'd was also a boat coming down the second lock.

But when the boat emerged, the gates were closed and the locks was turned.  Both the crews involved blamed the other for not spotting us coming.

As we headed towards Audlem, the weather took a turn for the worse, with cold rain and squally winds.  We made a decision to go up two of the locks and try to stop for lunch - probably a first on this trip as we normally eat on the move.  There was a suitable spot available, so we moored up, ate, and then went for a walk around Audlem.  If anything, it's even nicer than it was a few years ago, when we regularly came through on our share boat, Debdale.  There's a nice butcher, where we bought some chicken stir fry for dinner, and a useful Co-op where we bought a few top up groceries.

Returning to the boat, we decided that as it had stopped raining we should head up the locks.  For a moment, the sun even came out.  We passed a procession of boats coming down, including Lizzie and Chis on Shimshams, Braidbar no 101, whom we saw at the owners' weekend earlier in the month.  It was good to catch up, even if only in passing.

The rain came back, but it's still a very pretty flight of locks.

We stopped at the Coxbank moorings, two locks from the top.  It's a lovely quiet spot that we stayed at a number of times on Debdale.

10 miles, 15 locks.  (257 miles, 152 locks)