Northern Exposure: Day 10

It’s been a lovely sunny day today, and even a little bit warm in the sunshine.  We set off about 8.15 straight into the Hassall Green Locks.  The lower of the two has the M6 only yards away; I always look out for this lock from the motorway — if you’re going south, it’s not far from Sandbach services.

The next bridge could hardly be more different from the M6 bridge just a couple of hundred yards behind.

We had a good road down the locks, with almost all of them in our favour.  Only the non duplicated one, number 62, was completely empty.  The bottom lock at Wheelock is overlooked by a pretty cottage.

There’s a three mile section before the next lock, and hundreds of new houses have been built along the canal.  When we got to the lock, a boat was just coming out — and the same thing happened at the next one.  It’s been good to see a few boats on the move, because the past couple of days it’s felt as if we were pretty much on our own on the system, with the country in the grip of coronavirus fears.  Several of the boats have been hire boats, so it seems other people are having normal holidays too.

On the approach to King’s Lock, a boat drifted out in front of us and was soon right across the canal.

Adrian jumped off to pull it back in, and it turned out there was actually someone on board.  It was a shared ownership boat, and there was a tale of a boater being rushed to hospital and the boat being secured in a hurry.  Adrian and a chap from another boat tied it to rings rather than pins, so at least it’s now properly secure.  Once that was done we went straight into King’s Lock as a boat had just come up.

We found another boat coming up the top of the three Middlewich locks too, which also meant the middle one, which is round a ninety degree bend, was also in our favour.  We moored up by the park and had a lateish lunch, before walking to a supermarket for some food for the next few days.  There were a few signs of panic buying, with no pasta or loo rolls to be seen, not that we needed any.

We’ve had various interesting emails today: updates on stoppages that we’re interested in, and news that the Crick Boat Show has been postponed — it might happen later in the year, apparently.  A number of boats have been past, and one of them turned out to be the fuel boat, Halsall, so we flagged down Lee and filled up with diesel and got another couple of bags of coal.

8 miles, 18 locks.  (132 miles, 94 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 9

Scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast today, as it was Sunday.  It was rather dank and dreary when we set off at 8am, making the short journey to the southern portal of Harecastle Tunnel.  The tunnel keeper said we’d have to wait ten minutes or so, while they ran the fans to remove stale air from the tunnel.  It also gave us time to damp the fire right down and remove the chimney.  We also had a safety briefing, including a check of our headlight and horn.  Soon we were ready to go.

As usual, shortly after entering the tunnel we heard the doors clang shut behind us, and the fans begin to roar.  This time, a bit of mist was created up ahead.

It took us about 35 minutes to go through.  I noticed that there are now very visible distance markers every 100 metres; they count up to 1300m, then the next one is also 1300m before they start counting back down again.  I saw the skeleton painted in an alcove, but didn’t get a good photo of it this time.  When we emerged, the water didn’t look as orange as it normally does.  We reckon it’s probably because there have been few boat movements recently, because we could see that where our propeller had churned up the water, the orange colour was appearing.

We passed the entrance to the Macclesfield Canal at Hardings Wood Junction, and we’re straight into the Red Bull Locks.  A boat had just come up, so the top couple were in our favour.

As we went under the aqueduct that carries the Macc over the Trent and Mersey, we entered Cheshire, so we are properly in the north now.  After the third lock we stopped at the services, filled the water tank, started some washing, and got rid of rubbish.  Setting off again, we completed the six Red Bull Locks.  One of them has an old rope roller at the mouth of the lock.

As we got to the Church Locks, a boat was just pulling away from the bottom of the two, so we had to turn them.  These locks are no longer duplicated.

The boat up ahead was a single hander, so at one of the locks I went to set ahead for him.  Several of the duplicated locks have one chamber out of action.  However, by the time we got to the bottom of the Lawton Locks we had both boats going down side by side.

We stopped at Rode Heath to have some lunch, which turned out to be good timing as we sat out some rain and a hail shower.  When the sun came out again we went down the Thurlwood Locks and the Pierpoint Locks.  We have done 16 of the 26 Cheshire Locks, and dropped about 150ft towards the Cheshire Plain.  We moored up just before the Hassall Green Locks.  There is some motorway noise from the M6 which is not far away, but it’s not too bad.  It’s also surprisingly sunny, and a chicken will be going in the oven to roast shortly, so all is well.  We are obviously wondering what impact the coronavirus will have on our trip.  At the moment we plan to continue doing what we’re doing until we’re told we can’t.

8 miles, 16 locks.  (124 miles, 76 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 8

It was cool and damp when we set off this morning at 8am.  Trentham Lock is just around the corner, then there’s a suburban stretch through Hem Heath, then past distribution centres, and the post industrial outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent.  There are five locks in the Stoke flight, all of them quite deep.  The second one is approached from under the railway line.

Towards the top, there’s the old bone mill works, which has a little arm off the canal.

At the top of the flight we stopped at Capital Gas to change a gas bottle that ran out a week ago.  Their office has moved to the other side of the site since we last stopped here several years ago, and we had a job to get anyone to hear the bell.  But eventually we were served, and the gas is still a very good price.  Then we moved on the short distance to Middleport Pottery, where we moored up outside.  On the wall approaching the pottery, there are some very good murals.

We had online tickets for the Pottery Heritage Trail, which saved us a few pounds, and they had the steam engine running — making clouds of steam out the front, and regular toots on the whistle (they were selling toots for a £1 donation).

We had lunch of Staffordshire oat cakes in the cafe, then pushed over to the towpath side of the canal so Adrian could go to a nearby shop for some milk.  We carried on another mile or so to Westport Lake, where we’ve moored on the far end of the moorings.  There are only a couple of other boats here, but there are lots of walkers and the playground and the cafe look busy.

7 miles, 6 locks.  (116 miles, 60 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 7

A much calmer day today, and there was bright sunshine when we woke up.  At 8am we moved the short distance to the water point, where we filled the tank and started a load of washing.  We were moving again at about half past, heading past the marina and onto Hoo Mill Lock, the first of the day.  That one was empty, but by the time we got to the next one we had another boat in front of us, so had to turn it and most of the rest.  Adrian worked the four individual locks up to Stone, then I took over for the Stone flight.  We’d had lunch on the approach to the flight; the bottom lock is next to the Star pub, where there was a strong smell of garlic bread.

There’s a lot of building going on at the Joules brewery site, with a community theatre and a pub going up.  The new building has been built to match the distinctive roof of the old one.

The boat in front of us had stopped for water below Newcastle Road lock, but we still had to turn it.  Above it, the school has a smart new building, and the kids seemed very excited when Adrian returned their waves.

The top lock had a couple of CRT volunteers greasing the paddles, so it was empty for us and they helped work us through.  It’s then just a mile to the Meaford flight of four more locks.  While we were in the second one up it started to rain, and it was quite heavy.  But at least the rain was gentle and vertical rather than hard and horizontal.

We moored a bit before Bridge 104 at Barlaston, as a rainbow appeared.

As the rain had stopped we walked up to the Wedgwood factory.  When we were here a good few years ago the whole place looked as if it was on its last legs, but now there’s a new museum, a shop, and upmarket tea rooms, and an outlet store.  There’s also a big new housing estate alongside.  The shop featured a sculpture made of plates and cups, which we think was probably supposed to be a bull in a china shop.

14 miles, 12 locks.  (109 miles, 54 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 6

The wind yesterday evening and last night was horrendous — very strong and very loud.  Not only was it whistling past the boat, we could also hear bits of twigs dropping on the roof.  None of it seemed to be in the forecast, either.

This morning all was calm — relatively, anyway.  As today’s forecast had winds of 40mph from lunchtime, we thought we’d better get under way sooner rather then later, so pulled away from our mooring at just after 7.30.  There’s pleasant countryside, then the village of Handsacre where more new houses are being built, and then Armitage, home of Armitage Shanks.  The canal passes right by the factory, and there were toilets and basins being loaded onto lorries.

A little further on is the former Armitage tunnel, which is only one boat width wide and no longer a tunnel after the roof was taken off because of subsidence.  The first section is almost a tunnel again, as a road has been built over the top.

As we approached Rugeley the sky up ahead looked very black.  Then we had a very unpleasant shower which was made up mostly of ice.  It chucked it down for a few minutes, and those of us who were outside in it found it quite painful, as the strong wind threw ice crystals in our faces.  Fortunately it didn’t last long, and the sun was soon out again.  We moored up in Rugeley and did a big shop at the canalside Tesco.  Due to the Coronavirus, there were empty shelves where loo rolls and pasta should have been.  Having set off again, we crossed the River Trent on an aqueduct; the river has clearly been a lot higher than it is today, but it still has a very fast flow on it.

We made another brief stop on the moorings opposite the pig farm when another hail shower blew through.  There was just enough time for tea and a hot cross bun before the sun came out again and we could carry on.

Colwich Lock is one of the prettiest anywhere to my mind, but I’m not sure the lock cottage always looked quite so neat.

Between Colwich and Haywood Locks, there are good views of Shugborough Hall.

There were only a couple of boats moored along this section, which in the season is nose to tail.  We decided to go up Haywood Lock and take a chance on there being space above.  There was — loads of it — and we chose a space just a boat back from the junction, where the Staffs and Worcs Canal goes off.

It was almost 1pm, so we went across to the farm shop cafe and had a very nice lunch.  We had a look round the farm shop, which is very upmarket, but still had organic pasta and recycled paper toilet rolls.  This afternoon, we decided to stay put.  The wind really has got up and we are being buffeted about quite a bit.  However, there has also been some good sunshine on the solar panel, and we’ve both been doing bits of work.

10 miles, 2 locks.  (95 miles, 42 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 5

We had excellent food in the Samuel Barlow pub last night, and then a couple of hours of chat with Helen and Andy, who drove over from their home.  It was great to catch up with them.  This morning we were awake early again, and set off before 8am.  After an hour or so of studying the back gardens of Amington, we got to the two Glascote Locks.  The top one needed filling, but the second one required only a top up.  We went straight through Fazeley Junction, staying on the Coventry Canal — although the next section was actually built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, which explains why the bridges have names rather than numbers.  The canal up to and beyond Hopwas is rather pretty.

Once again today the wind built as the day went on, and it was very gusty at times.  We passed through Huddleston Junction and then past Streethay Wharf.  On the approach to Fradley there are some new houses which I’m sure weren’t here last time we came this way, built in a 1930s style.

There’s what appears to be a huge housing development going up on the other side of the canal too, on what used to be an aerodrome.  At the junction, Adrian got off to swing the little bridge out of the way, then we turned left onto the Trent and Mersey, watched by a few people at the Swan.

Both the two Fradley locks were in our favour.  We’re more used to wide locks, so the bridge over the entrance to Shadehouse Lock appears impossibly small.

We went up Woodend Lock too, and continued for a couple of miles, mooring up on a stretch of piling just after Kings Bromley Marina.  It was only 2.30 but had become very windy and cold.  We’ve started catching up on the new series of Last Tango in Halifax.

17 miles, 5 locks.  (85 miles, 40 locks)

Northern Exposure: Day 4

As predicted, yesterday afternoon’s rain continued all evening, but it was dry when we woke up.  We set off a little before 8, straight into the stop lock with its tiny fall.  Then Adrian did a textbook all in one 180 degree turn through the bridge onto the Coventry Canal, although for some reason he only awarded himself 28 points out of 30.  Then it was through the narrow by the engine house, and onto the water point, where we started the washing machine and filled the tank.  A combination of a slow tap and a tank that hadn’t been filled since before we set off meant we were there for the best part of an hour.

The weather cheered up a bit as we did the stretch through Bedworth, last Charity Dock, which seemed to have more boats these days, and Marston Junction.  In Nuneaton, there are new houses going up behind Boot Wharf; I wonder how long it will be before there’s tension between householders and the residential moorers at the bottom of their gardens.  We also passed one of the least appetisingly named Chinese takeaways I’ve ever seen.

After Hartshill there’s a tree down across the canal, with just enough cleared to let a boat through.  When we got to the top of Atherstone Locks, a boat was jus mooring up so we had high hopes they had just come up.  Sure enough, as we approached the top lock the volunteer lock keepers opened the gate for us, then sent me on to set the next one while they worked Adrian through.  That was the extent of the help though — they don’t stray from the top lock.  Most of the first few locks were in our favour, and this part of the flight is rather pretty.

Further down, the towpath was a quagmire, and most of the locks were empty.  At least by the time they get out into the countryside they’re in pairs, so you can go down and fill the second one in each pair while the top one is filling.  These locks take about 4 minutes to fill, and 2 minutes to empty.  We completed the flight of 11 locks in around a hour and three-quarters.  The wind had been getting stronger all the way down, and at the bottom it was particularly bad.  There’s a field on one side which is so flooded it’s a job to see where the canal ends and the field begins; the wind was so strong, the new lake had waves on it.

Just before Polesworth it began to rain.  Having not seen a moving boat for three hours, we met two through Polesworth, but fortunately not at any of the awkward bridges.  After a couple of downpours the rain eased off, and the wind dropped too.  We’ve moored at Alvecote and will go the highly recommended Samuel Barlow pub for dinner.  Helen and Andy Tidy are due to join us in there later for a drink.

18 miles, 12 locks.  (68 miles, 35 locks)