Sunday 4th August
And so we come to the final leg of the circuit, on the fourteenth day of
the trip. This was over familiar waters, through the remote countryside between
Middlewich and Northwich, and then round the latter town, through Wincham,
Marston, Anderton and Barnton. The main point of interest is the time we will
hit the Saltersford tunnel, because there’s a window of only twenty minutes in
each hour that you can set off north. I had some idea we might get there for
the 13:00 sailing, but that started to look infeasible, which was a good thing
really, as it meant we could take things easy.
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| Nearly Home |
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| Thin House at Anderton |
As we went through Wincham we passed a group of youngish people (by
comparison with the average canal population) on the bank next to three plastic
cruisers (GRP – Glass Reinforced Plastic) or margarine tubs as they are known
to those of us sailing something more solid. Much later, after we had gone
through the Saltersford Tunnel, they came up behind us very fast (gosh, perhaps
ten knots or more). We pulled over to let them pass, which they did, though I
think they could probably have slipped past regardless. When you are used to 57
foot and 17 tonnes of solid iron, these seem incredibly nimble – they are
typically only about 20 foot or less, with an outboard motor – they can spin in
their own length, accelerate instantly and manoeuvre with ease. They soon
vanished up the canal ahead of us.
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| On Lookout |
As usual we took two hours to go from Saltersford Tunnel to Preston
Brook Tunnel, and when we arrived the Margarine Tub Club were waiting to go in –
their extra speed hadn’t enabled them to get an hour ahead of us. The stop lock
was tough to work, because the Trent and Mersey was higher than usual, so even with
the water overflowing the bottom gates, there was still a bit of a height
difference at the top gate, which made it hard to move. I managed it in the
end, and when they saw me there the GRP boaters came back to help.
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| In Preston Brook Tunnel |
We followed them through the tunnel, and then as usual we went up to
Keckwick Lane to drop off the dogs. I then winded and came back to the marina,
where I moored very nicely – I am getting more confident with experience. I
greased the stern gland and we unloaded into Loulie’s car and went home – tired
but also sad it was over.
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| Map at 4-8-19 - the Ring complete |
TODAY: 8:05
HOURS. 20.1 MILES. 1 LOCKS.
VOYAGE: 88:45 HOURS. 115.9
MILES. 92 LOCKS. 8 BRIDGES
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