Greater Cheshire: Day 2

We really liked our shady mooring, and the Cobb barbecue did indeed come out last night.  The towpath was wide enough to get the chairs out too.  This morning we wanted to get going at a reasonable time, so we’d do our moving in the cooler part of the day.  We left our mooring at 8.30, with Adrian walking along to set Cholmondeston Lock (pronounced Chumston, apparently).  It’s a deep one, going down 11ft.

Below the lock is Venetian Marina, which is open to the canal.

At Minshull Lock, a boat had just come out so it was ready for us, and there was a chap to help from a boat approaching below.

The canal travels on long embankments, with far reaching views over the Weaver valley, which look much better in real life.

There’s a Jacobean style house alongside one bridge, and then there are converted stables, which were for sale last time we came along here — although we’ve realised that we’ve never done the Middlewich Branch in this direction before.

Lots of the route is very pretty, emphasised no doubt by it being so sunny today.  There are big skies, and pretty bridges.

The West Coast Mainline crosses the canal on a very angled bridge.

When we got to Stanthorne Lock we found ourselves third in the queue to go down.  Adrian went to help, which was just as well as the first boat was a single hander.  The lock is slow because the paddles are limited, after the breach here a few years ago was blamed on someone opening all the paddles.  Before it was our turn, we had two more boats behind us.  While we waited, the Emirates A380 went over, heading for Manchester Airport.

The crew from the hire boat behind were all very chatty, and came up to the lock for a look and to talk — but didn’t bring a windlass between them.

We stopped shortly after the lock, at the aqueducts.  There are some rings here but not many, so we are on a ring at the stern while the bow is on mooring stakes which don’t really go in very well.  It’s hot again, although there’s a cooler breeze today, so maybe another barbecue is called for, once the Wimbledon men’s final is done.

8 miles, 3 locks.  (11 miles, 7 locks)

Wending to Wales: Day 10

We had a lot of locks to do today, so we were up and at ‘em early, leaving at 7.40.  Not early enough, though, as a single hander moored along from us was already on his way down.  It was a nice temperature at that time though, with the sun still not very high in the sky.

The first six locks are close together, but not all are duplicated.  At one of them, I went ahead and set a lock for the single hander.  He turned out to have views on lots of things that he wanted to tell us about, most of which we disagreed with.  But he also said he believed in returning a favour, so at the sixth lock, where there are two, he used one and got the other ready for us, and he let us go first.

Adrian worked the Thurlwood Locks, where there are two, and then I did the next twelve, which are all within two miles.  At Hassall Green, the pound between the two locks was extremely low.  The M6 crosses the canal after the second one, then the next bridge is a complete contrast.

Down the locks to Wheelock, some were in our favour, others were empty, and some were somewhere in between.  I popped into the cafe at the golf course to get ice creams, but they’d sold out!  By now it was very hot, so we could have done with them.  After the final Wheelock Lock, we saw a little dog on the towpath, apparently some way from its owner.  We’d hoped to stop on the water point, but there were already three boats there, so we gave it a miss.  People were keen to hear the info on the little dog though, and set off to tell the owner who was searching for it.  If we’d realised it was properly missing, we could have tried to do something about it.  

We had lunch on the move  and Adrian worked the remaining locks, starting with the three at Booth Lane. At one of the bridges we had a slight delay as CRT guys were fishing big stones out of the canal and putting in piling.  They said we’d have to wait twenty minutes but it was much less than that.

King’s Lock was the last down the Middlewich Junction.

We moored up immediately on the right for diesel at King’s Lock Chandlery where the price was £1.03.  We also got a couple of oil filters, once they’d found some in the stock room.  Then it was off again to make the left turn onto the Wardle Canal and the Middlewich Arm.  Wardle Lock is straight after the turn.

We continued for a little way out of town, and moored on the aqueduct below Stanthorne Lock.  This is where the breach happened a few years ago.  It’s really hot, so I think the Cobb barbecue will be coming out again.

12 miles, 26 locks.  (134 miles, 92 locks)