Floating about: Day 12

We were up and about early this morning, as we had a car booked at Enterprise at 8am.  This time we were given a small car (which we’d booked) rather than a big one, but it was a rather nice brand new Renault Clio Alpine.  We headed up to Braidbar, which took less than an hour, and where the water levels are well down and continuing to fall — which means there’s a delay in getting our boat into the paint dock as everything is sitting on the bottom.  There are more details on the Kingley Vale blog.

On the way back we diverted to a big Asda to get some food in while we had the car, and also buy some bulky stuff.  There was a car park close to where we were moored.  While Adrian put everything away, I took the car back.  We’d only had it for about 6 hours.  We then had a slightly late lunch, and headed off.  As we’ll now have less time in Lymm than we’d expected, we wanted to get a few miles under our belts.  When we got back to Preston Brook we filled with water and got some washing on, then headed for the junction.  We’re going over the railway here, then there’s the little junction bridge, and then the M56 (which we were on earlier) looming behind.

We turned left, where the canal seems to have new houses everywhere, and then the skyline is dominated by the tower of the Daresbury Research Centre.

We carried on to Moore, where we pulled in past the village stores, once it becomes countrified again.  We can hear the beat of the Creamfields festival.  I don’t recognise any of the names on the lineup!  The last time we moored here was March 2020 after we had aborted our efforts to get to Liverpool.  Lockdown was announced that evening.

7 miles, 0 locks.  (56 miles, 14 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 17

Now that we’ve made the decision that we’re heading home, we seem to have a new sense of purpose — particularly because we have a sneaking suspicion that it may not be long before there’s some sort of lockdown and we’re stopped from cruising at all.  We have a plan, and a plan b.

We set off just before 8, and after a mile stopped at the canalside Aldi in Leigh.  We’d hoped to use the moorings right outside, but other boaters had had the same idea, so we stopped on the other side of the canal and Adrian walked over the bridge.  In under half an hour he was back, with virtually everything that had been on our list.  We set off again, straight back onto the Bridgewater.  With the canal on an embankment for much of the way, there was a great view of the mighty Winter Hill transmitter on our left hand side.

I was a bit surprised to see a tank in a field, but it turned out to be a target at a driving range.  We retraced our steps back through Worsley, where there’s a busy boat yard.

On the approach to Monton, a dog walker alerted me to a mattress in the water — but at least it was floating so I could avoid it, and I could pass the message on to two boats coming the other way.  We re-crossed the Barton Swing Aqueduct — and this time the view is towards Salford and Manchester.

We were soon back on the main line of the Bridgewater, and facing the long long straight section through Sale.  While we’d been going along, Adrian had made some mushroom soup using mushrooms which were perhaps a little past their best — in human years, they would probably have been told to self-isolate.  It was very tasty, and exactly what we needed for lunch.

We made very good progress — the Bridgewater is both wide and deep, so you can go at a decent pace — so we made our intended target of Dunham Massey by 1pm.  We carried on, and stopped at the water point at Little Bollington where we filled the tank and got a load of washing going.  Once we were going again, we went under a bridge at the same time as a tractor went over.

Our next target was Lymm, but we were there at 3pm.  The White House by the bridge is the home of Matthew Corbett, the guardian of Sooty.

So we keep going, through Thelwall, Grappenhall, and Stockton Heath.  At Higher Walton the rhododendron-lined cutting looked lovely in the sinking sunshine.

We stopped at Moore, just before the little shop right by the canal.  It was almost 5pm; I can’t actually remember the last time we put in such a long day, and certainly not when we covered so many miles.  We’ve done a big reverse-C shape — Pennington Flash to Moore is actually only 12 miles by road.

30 miles, 0 locks.  (228 miles, 96 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 13

Dutton is another lovely peaceful mooring, with the only sounds being the distant trains over the viaduct across the valley, and birdsong.  This morning we set off just before 8.15 — knowing that Preston Brook Tunnel is timed entry, which going north is the first ten minutes of the hour.  Just before the tunnel we had the stop lock to negotiate, with its fall of two inches.  Then we had about ten minutes to wait before we could go through the tunnel.

Going through takes about fifteen minutes, and when you come out the other end you’re on the Bridgewater Canal, having switched from the Trent and Mersey.  There’s then nearly a mile before the junction with the Runcorn Arm (although apparently this used to be the mainline, and it was the connection to the T&M which was built as an arm).  We took the left hand turn towards Runcorn, new water for us (the first new water of the trip).

At the start of the arm you cross the railway line on an aqueduct, then get the best view of the water tower.  It was only when I downloaded the photo I realised there was a man on top of the tower.

Most of the arm is bordered by housing, but there are also wooded sections near Norton Priory.  Further into Runcorn there are big road bridges, and you get glimpses of the suspension bridge and the new Mersey Gateway Bridge, with is numerous cables.

We passed the neat base of the Bridgewater Motor Cruising Club, which occupies two arms and the basin at the end of the canal.  The canal comes to an abrupt end at Waterloo Bridge.  We turned and moored up.

We had hoped to follow the course of the locks which used to go from Waterloo Bridge down to the docks and the Ship Canal, but there are massive works going on, seemingly to demolish some of the elevated roads leading to the suspension bridge, and each way we tried we found our way blocked.  Instead we walked into town and followed signs for the Promenade, which gives views of the suspension bridge as it crosses the Ship Canal and the Mersey beyond.

We went to the Co-op in town for some fresh food.  It was quite busy with lots of empty shelves, but we got enough for meals for a few more days.  Back at the boat we had lunch, then set off back down the arm.  Mooring options are few on the arm itself, so as it was early we carried on back to the junction and turned left towards Manchester.  Having been down the arm, you have a whole new perspective on the views over the valley.  Soon we were passing the Daresbury Research lab with its distinctive tower, which we’d been able to see from the arm.

We moored up on the approach to Moore, in a nice open spot next to a stables.  We’ve had to deploy the tyre fenders, as the boat was scraping against the stone bank under the water.

14 miles, 1 lock.  (161 miles, 96 locks)

North West Passage: Day 16

It was pretty grey and drizzly when we set off about 8.15. We immediately began to pass the wide expanses of water known as flashes. Just north of the biggest one, there's a CRT sign notifying that the canal will be crossed by HS2 -- turning a rather lovely quiet place into a noisy one. In case anyone was worried that the canal is always a rural idyll, we then passed through the middle of the Tata chemical works, with steam and sulphurous smells coming from pipes and vats.

Apparently they produce soda ash, sodium bicarbonate, and calcium chloride, among other things, here. A little further north is Lion Salt Works, which used to produce salt by evaporation and is now a museum.

As we got to the water point at Anderton, a boat was just leaving and another was coming in from the other direction. Fortunately there are two water points at the services there. Then two more boats turned up, and moored on the outside of us and the other boat. We started a wash load, but even so the tank was full in about fifteen minutes or so.

We headed past the Anderton Boat Lift, where the trip boat was about to go down, and on to Barnton Tunnel. The approach, under a road bridge, is difficult, and you need to be virtually at the tunnel entrance before you can see whether anything is coming the other way.

The tunnel is very bendy inside. As we neared the far end I heard a horn, so sounded mine in response. A day boat was coming the other way but as it's a one way tunnel they had to reverse up and wait. The next tunnel, Saltersford, is so bendy you can't see the far end so entry is timed. Northbound boats like us can go in for the first twenty minutes of the hour; it just so happened that we had only a couple of minutes to wait.

The bends are such that you actually have to steer round corners inside. Out the oer side the sun actually made an appearance for a while. It wasn't long before we reached the Dutton Stop Lock, with a fall of a whole four inches. Then it's Preston Brook Tunnel, which again has timed entry. We had about twenty minutes to wait. The house on the right is for sale at £600,000.

Just inside the northern portal of Preston Brook Tunnel, the canal changes from the Trent and Mersey to the Bridgewater. This is a private canal owned by Peel Ports, not run by CRT. A couple of miles further on is the Daresbury Laboratory, with its distinctive tower.

We carried on to Moore in increasingly blustery conditions, and moored up just after the village. Since we've stopped there have been a few sudden downpours, although none has lasted very long. We can also see planes turning onto their final approach into Liverpool Airport.

19 miles, 1 lock. (190 miles, 130 locks)