Long weekend in Cheshire: Day 2

A really beautiful Sunday morning, and to remind ourselves what day of the week it was we had eggs for breakfast, scrambled on a Staffordshire oatcakes!  We headed off along a footpath over the fields, and looking back got a great view of Briar Rose on the moorings, with Mow Cop castle up on top of the hill beyond.

We were heading for the National Trust property, Little Moreton Hall.  We were both convinced it opened at 10, but when we got there we found it was actually 10.30 so we had more than 15 minutes to wait.  It meant that when we did get in, there were very few people about.

The whole place is wonky, because of the way the timber frame has moved over the years.  Lots of the rooms upstairs have undulating floors (one drops by as much as 1 in 8) which look much more dramatic in real life than they do in photos.  There’s a fireplace which looks at an angle but is actually level — it’s just that the rest of the room around it is on the skew.

We had tea and rather disappointing lemon drizzle cake at the cafe, and had a look round the gardens.  The ducks that live in the moat are almost tame, and come and sit under the tables remanding crumbs.

Back at the boat we had lunch and then did exciting things including my tax return (Adrian did his yesterday).  Later, as I still needed steps, I walked along the canal northwards, passing a couple of fields of highland cattle.

I took a footpath by Bridge 81 across some fields of sheep, chickens, and horses, and returned to what I expected to be the next bridge.  It turned out to be the Watery Lane Aqueduct.  I also saw the Heritage Marina day boat being towed back to base.

It’s been a very nice relaxed day.

0 miles, 0 locks.  (6 miles, 1 lock)

Long weekend in Cheshire: Day 1

We were up and about promptly this morning, on a unusually murky and chilly day.  We’d been joined at Westport Lake during yesterday late afternoon by two other boats, and one of them, a shared ownership boat, set off just before we did at about ten past 8.  We headed for Harecastle Tunnel, and moored behind them on the waiting area.

The tunnel keeper came over and said there was a boat coming south, and once they were through we’d be able to go in.  It was just before 9 when the southbound boat appeared and the boat in front of us could enter.  We followed a couple of minutes later.

Once we were inside, the doors clanged shut behind us and the fans roared into life — and although a bit of mist appeared, it was nothing like as much as it has been in the past.  The middle section of the tunnel is quite low, so I had to step down onto the engine board to steer.  Some concentration is needed to keep in the middle.  After quite a while, I noticed we had another boat behind us, but a long way back.  It took about 40 minutes to get through, then we emerged blinking into the light, waving at the tunnel keeper in his little office.

As we went under the railway bridge, an East Midlands Regional train was going over; the guard had his head out of the window and said hello to Adrian.  I wasn’t really fast enough with the photo.

The boat ahead was starting on the Cheshire Locks, but we made the left hand turn at Hardings Wood Junction, onto the Macclesfield Canal.  It’s closed at Bosley Locks at the moment because of a breach at the top of the locks, but we’re not going that far.  A CRT update that came out yesterday suggested the canal should reopen by 20 June, which would be ideal for us, as we’ll be back from the Crick Boat Show by then.

After the junction there’s a sharp right hand turn, then about half a mile of straight, then another sharp right, where the canal crosses the Trent and Mersey which is heading down locks below.  Over the wall, I could just see a boat in one of the locks.

It’s a long time since we were last here, 2013 in fact, so it’s perhaps not surprising that we didn’t remember much.  We soon reached Hall Green Lock, rise just 1ft.  This is where the Macc really starts, because the bit we’d just travelled was actually built by the Trent and Mersey.  Each canal had a lock here, which is why there’s a long narrow leading up to the lock, and each had a lock cottage.  The Macc one is currently for sale, £260,000 and in need of restoration.

We passed Heritage Marina and then Ramsdell Hall.  When the canal was built, the owners wanted a view so railings were put along the canal instead of a hedge.

We pulled up on the moorings by the railings, just before Bridge 86, much to the apparent annoyance of a couple of ducks.  There was a boat in the middle, but we’re right on the end, with the best view through the railings.

Lunch was Staffordshire oatcakes with mushrooms and cheese, then we went for a walk.  We went along to the next bridge, then up the road and under the West Coast Mainline, up the hill a bit more and through a bluebell wood.

We came out onto a road which took us down to the gates of Ramsdell Hall, then walked past the road entrance of the marina where we called in for an ice cream, before returning along the canal.  Other achievements today include using a needle to get a small mountain of fluff out of the charging port of my phone; the cable now clicks into place again instead of falling out all the time.

6 miles, 1 lock.

Big Trip - Day 8

We were awake early again, and were under way at 7.45, keen to get a good start.  The first lock of the day was just around the corner, Trentham Lock, and it's a deep one.

Next is a long lock-free pound into Stoke on Trent.  In Hem Heath we passed Waterway Routes.  The canal passes the Britannia Stadium, a vast Sainsbury's distribution, and finally an incinerator.

I always love the range of services on offer at the Dolphin boat yard.

At the Stoke locks, there was a boat waiting to go up, and two coming down.  The second lock has a railway line right behind it.

The penultimate lock of the flight is a bit difficult to get into, as it's at a very strange angle.

The top lock leads to Eturia Junction.  We came out of the lock and reversed into the start of the Caldon Canal, to go to the water point.  While we filled the tank, we started a wash load.  The junction has lots of old buildings, and is quite charming.

Between Etruria and the Harecastle Tunnel, the canal passes lots of former and current potteries, and the site of a steel works, which was demolished years ago.

At the tunnel, the boat that had been ahead of us at the locks had been waiting an hour.  Four boats were coming south, and then the tunnel keepers would be having a half hour lunch break, so we'd be waiting 45 minutes or so.  Sure enough, the four boats arrived on schedule.

By the time we went in, another boat had arrived behind us (a couple we'd seen several times yesterday), so we were a convoy of three.  It's a bit tight in the middle section of the tunnel, and it's cold because fans suck air through for ventilation.

At the far end, five boats were waiting.  The water is orange, because of the mineral leaching out of the ground.

The Trent and Mersey carries on down duplicated locks, but we were turning onto the Macclesfield Canal, a sharp left turn under a roving bridge.

Having made that turn, the canal goes right and right again, to cross the T&M on an aqueduct.  we've stayed on the level, but the T&M has dropped down below us.  We saw the boat which had been in front of us heading for the second lock.

Although Harding's Wood Junctions feels like the start of the Macc, it's actually still part of the T&M until Hall Green Stop Lock, with a rise of just a foot.  There's only one lock here these days, but there used to be two, end to end, one for each canal, and each with its own cottage and stables.

We carried on for a couple of miles past the imposing Ramsdell Hall.

We moored a little further on before Bridge 86, with fantastic views over the Cheshire countryside.

15 miles, 7 locks.  (121 miles, 61 locks)