Lymm

Some canal-side towns and villages are more welcoming to boaters than others.  Alongside places like Audlem, Crick, Alrewas and Cropedy, Lymm is very welcoming and also full of charm.  It’s only small but has all the essentials – except we couldn’t find a pet shop.  There are LOTS of different eating places and LOTS of estate agents!  Due to it’s popularity mooring is restricted and monitored.

A few pictures as a ‘taster’:-

               

                             

Cottages of character.

               

                    Main shopping area.                                              Just a  pretty shop!                                      C17th Cross          

                  

A Dog friendly pub.   Lola thought her new-found friends were exceptionally hospitable!!

Lymm -a very desirable place to bring up a large family.

We all had a delicious fish and chip supper last night. Today we’ve had some torrential rain, re-lit the fire(!) and Ken & Sandra need to get something fixed on their boat but it’s all in hand.  Lola needs to stop falling in the canal OFF THE TOWPATH!  She’s now done it NINE times all of her own accord!! She smells very nice at the moment though after her bath complete with puppy shampoo!

So far, we really like The Bridgewater – it’s wide, seems fairly deep (we haven’t had any trouble getting into the bank to moor up), it’s tidy and there are lots of sections with wide open views.  Water taps and rubbish disposal points are far and few between, however.  It’s managed by The Manchester Ship Canal Company.  We are currently moored up opposite the grounds of the National Trust property of Dunham Massey Hall.  If only it would stop raining we would go for a long walk.  Perhaps tomorrow will be better?

xxoo

Walking in Fields of Gold

Do you remember me when the west wind moves upon the fields of barley ………..?

Lesley Jean Shelton nee Allebone     21.09.1947 – 13.06.2004   xxoo

Un-chartered Waters

Travelling North, and emerging from the Preston Brook Tunnel, found us on new territory – The Bridgewater Canal.  This canal was built by Francis Egerton, the third Duke of Bridgewater, to enable coal from his mines at Worsley to be transported to Manchester and sold cheaply.

First stop – Daresbury.

We stopped at Keckwick Bridge for lunch and walked up to the church in the village of Daresbury just 1/2 a mile up the road.  Lewis Carroll - real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (good quiz question!) was born here.  His father was curate and there are lovely stained glass windows in the church depicting the famous characters from his children's books.

               

The church, which was bigger than I had anticipated, was beautifully kept throughout and ALL the many stained glass windows were quite stunning.  There was also a beautifully carved stone memorial to a young wife who, after only a year of marriage, died in childbirth.  Gulp!

All well worth the stop so thank you, Sandra, for suggesting it.  xxoo

Next stop:- Moore

We moored at Moore!  Just past the little village shop.  We walked to one of the original swing bridges over The Manchester Ship Canal.  The MSC here is very different from where we have seen it before – at Ellesmere Port.  Here, it is just like a river.

Just over the bridge is a local nature reserve.  There’s a large area where dogs are allowed to run freely off leads but you are allowed to take them everywhere else in the reserve on leads.  Fair enough!  So often we come across reserves where dogs are not allowed at all and, therefore, prevents us from going in.  Also, this reserve is open to anyone – you don’t have to be a member.  Well done, Moore!

We didn’t have time to explore the numerous hides but it will definitely be on the list for the return journey.

 

Today – onwards to Lymm.

So, What’s Occurin’?

Last Friday saw us completing the really tidy ‘Heartbreak Hill’ (volunteers had apparently been busy during April and May cutting grass and painting lock gates) and arriving in Middlewich.  We pressed on through King’s Lock and then three more to moor up for the night by the church.  The next morning we met the skipper of n/b “Louth” – a Goldsbrough boat and he told us that he too is heading for Liverpool along with about 23 other Goldsbrough boat owners!

On Saturday night we competed with fishermen for space at one of the flashes – wide areas caused by subsidence as a result of earlier salt mining.

I’m completely amazed at the sophisticated ‘gear’ fishermen have these days!  The two really nice chaps near us were there for the night complete with:- tent, padded camp beds, luxury sleeping bags, a fancy cooker and so on and so forth …..!!!  They certainly weren’t ‘roughing it’ BUT, all this luxury didn’t make the fish bite!!  They caught nothing!

 

On Sunday we arrived at the Anderton Boat Lift.  The whole area was busy with visitors both boaters and non-boaters.  We are hoping to spend some time on The Weaver after we have been to Liverpool.

We met up with our friends Ken & Sandra on their boat and – had Sunday dinner cooked for us! 

                 

Today we’ve moved on near to where the breach was at Dutton last year.  We’ve been for a lovely walk along part of The Weaver, through fields and back along the canal  past the site of the breach.

       

We think that C&RT have done a really good repair job to the area – all done ahead of time too.  Due to the prolonged rain we had last year the embankment gave way and 24 million litres of water and 12,000 tonnes of stones have been needed to fill it!  Apparently, 12 double-decker buses could have fitted in the crater that developed.

               

               

All this has cost over £2,000,000 though!!!!!!!!

Good Timing

We got to the southern end of The Harecastle Tunnel at 8.05am and by 8.15am we were leading other boats through the tunnel!  Good timing!

40 minutes later we emerged at the Kidsgrove end without catching even a glimpse of the reputed resident ghost (most tunnels have one!) ‘The Kidsgrove Boggart’!!  Perhaps it was all too early in the day for him – or, for all I know, it might be a her!  I did, however, manage to see a white painted skeleton in one of the recesses but I was too slow to catch it on camera.  I’ll be ready for it on the return passage.  The water at the northern end of the tunnel is a definite shade of red!  This, apparently, is due to some sort of leakage from a nearby mine.  Could it be iron?  I don’t know.

The tunnel may be 1 and 3/4 miles long but, being a one-way system, at least there isn’t the worry of meeting on-coming boats!  The only worry is a breakdown – engine or lights! (or an encounter with that ghost of course!!)

                                 My decorative solar lights came on:-  

And there was always ‘light at the end of the tunnel’!  A good saying don’t you think?  You always know which direction you are going in and, although the ‘end’ may seem a long way off, you know that if you keep going you’ll get there eventually!!  

So, at 9.00am we began tackling ‘Heartbreak Hill’ – the section of the Trent & Mersey between the tunnel and Middlewich. (I’m not sure that’s strictly accurate!)  Don’t let the name put you off!  Yes, there are a lot of locks but some of the Cheshire countryside is absolutely fabulous and, being part of ‘The Four Counties Ring’, there are usually lots of other boaters coming towards you and making life all a little easier!  When the canal was built in the 1830’s most of the locks were duplicated – ie there were two chambers side by side.  Many of these are still in operation today.

(Derek, my little slice of fruit cake, I think you would like this section of canal – no time for boredom!! xxoo)

I did, however, find some of the paddle gear very hard to wind up and down and some of the gates very heavy to open and close.

 

Lola is learning the routines well:-

         

Tomorrow it is our intention to get to the junction with the Middlewich Branch of the Shroppie but I have a sneaky feeling that the Middlewich Canal Festival is imminent.  If it’s occurring this weekend then ………………. our timing will not be so great!!

xxoo

Variety is the Spice of Life …..

You know how coins have two different sides?  The Trent & Mersey has been like that for us over the last few days.  ‘Heads’ or ‘Tails’ – both different and both interesting in their own ways.

From Colwich to Stone

We said ‘goodbye-for-now’ to Sharron and Ken with whom we had spent a really good evening.  We will look out for them on the way back – they are heading South.     

Great Haywood was really, really busy with boats – no change there then!  We didn’t even attempt to stop, just waved to ‘Keep Smiling’ as we passed and wished them a safe journey to Liverpool via The Shroppie!

We have only travelled from Great Haywood to Stone (actually the other way round) once before and had forgotten just how rural it is.   As recommended by Ken & Sandra, we moored up for the night close to the village of Burston where the young River Trent flows very close to the canal.

               

On reaching the lovely (and very popular!) little market town of Stone the next day, the only available mooring spot was right by the car park and rather grim!!  However, it did at least enable us to go off and do some shopping before moving on to Barlaston.  I hope we can stop for longer in Stone on our return journey. 

From Barlaston to Westport Lake.

Today we have travelled from Barlaston, on past Etruria and to the visitor moorings at Westport Lake which is about a mile from the South Portal of the Harecastle Tunnel.  Going through the region of Stoke the character of the canal inevitably changes dramatically, being surrounded by busy roads and industrialisation both past and present.  Clearly this area was once the industrial heartland of the potteries – architectural relics remain in evidence.  Even in a derelict/semi-derelict state I think some of the buildings remain majestic.

These old bottle kilns might now be surrounded by modern housing but at least they are still there and ‘steal the show’!

And …………………..

           

 

                     

Five locks lift the canal 50 feet to Etruria and the junction with the Caldon canal.  The following pictures are of us going through the second lock.  Surely this must be one of the seediest locks on the entire system?

                 

Walking alone under the bridge to get to operate the lock, my friend, Sue, on n/b “Peaceful Waters” would call it ‘a wire in the blood’ moment!!

Anyway, as I said, we are now moored by Westport Lake.  We’ve walked Lola around the circumference of the lake and she has discovered what fun it can be chasing ducks and geese and making them scurry into the water!  We were all on our own when we arrived but there are now several other boats.  The sunshine which was promised for today has somehow failed to materialize.  Tomorrow – the tunnel  ………………. and beyond ……………

xxoo

Striking a Balance

 

Well, I have to say that we found “The Greyhound” at Hawkesbury Junction deserving of its good reputation.  I can’t believe that we haven’t been in there before!  It’s full of atmosphere (and even on a Wednesday evening it was full of people) and has an extensive menu.  A pub well-supported by the good folk of Coventry I was told.  We had a lovely evening with Helen & John.  Helen is my late brother’s daughter but he was divorced when she was only four and her mum moved to Lincoln shortly afterwards.  Helen is a secondary school teacher and she and John live just outside of Hull so over the years I have not seen a lot of her.  I hope we have sufficiently whetted their appetite for being on a narrowboat  so that they come and spend longer with us in the future.

                                                     When we have visitors they have to bring their own bedding!!

We left Hawkesbury on Thursday morning and kept on the move until we were almost at the bottom of the Atherstone flight – we made steady progress and moored up at about 5.30pm.  Friday, the sun came out and we did a similar distance reaching Streethay at the end of the day.  Saturday, that ‘steady progress’ was interrupted by a few obstacles.  First of all – bridge ‘oles!  Quite often there were boats moored either side of the bridge holes and, what with this and the water really needing to be dredged, it was a case of …….. coming to a grinding halt, reversing, full steam-ahead, slowing down and then limping through!  Going through the long bridge under the A38 we were met by another boat who hadn’t/couldn’t see us coming because of the moored boat blocking his view.  That involved him poling back!  Then – Fradley Junction!  How busy was that!  The majority of boats coming off the Coventry and those approaching from Alrewas were going towards Great Haywood – and that, of course, included us.  Even with volunteers manning all the locks it seemed to takes ages to clear the three locks.

In praise of volunteers – what worthwhile jobs they do.  Some were manning the locks, some cleaning paintwork and rubbing down surfaces ready for re-painting and others weeding.

Next -The Narrows near Armitage – the first section was interesting as a boat came towards us and just kept on coming despite the fact that we were almost out.  In the end John found it easier to let him carry on and he (John) reversed all 7/8ths of the way back!!  Sometimes self preservation (and the preservation of new blacking) become the most important thing on the agenda.

Another lovely looking pub we have yet to frequent –“The Plum Pudding” near Rugely.

On reaching Rugely it was really busy with moored boats so we forsook the opportunity of a visit to the supermarket and carried on to moor between there and Colwich.  We were lucky enough to find a spot but, again, it was pretty busy with moored boats.

SO ……………. we have re-looked at the maps and decided to ‘strike a balance’ and average about 15 lock miles a day so that we can moor up at no later than 4pm each night.  That should be about a sensible 5 hours travelling time – any more than that and somehow the fun element dwindles, we/I get tired (not getting any younger!!!!) and it just becomes tedious!

Sharron & Ken on n/b “Janus” have just pulled up in front of us (we first met them at Evesham in 2009) and Jane & Jona on n/b “Keep Smiling” are behind us (last seen at Foxton earlier this year) so there’s some catching up to be done.  We need to catch up with some chores too so we’ve decided to ‘stay put’ for today.  After all, it is Sunday!

Tomorrow’s planned destination:- Sandon.  xxoo