First Weaver voyage

Catching Up

After doing the Cheshire Ring I let this blog lapse, as I found that doing it every day was rather a burden. Especially in the summer months, when we would be cruising until quite late, it was taking up all the time left after dinner. However while going through the log book and reviewing the year I looked back over the blog and really enjoyed it, bringing back the trips we had taken. So I am going to catch up on three of our voyages since that August journey.

Thursday 19^th September

We decided that we were going to complete another of our long-term targets, and get down onto the River Weaver. We had Eileen moored at Keckwick overnight, so we loaded up with goods and dogs, and set off south at about noon. We went through Preston Brook tunnel at 13:30, and we called ahead to the boat lift to discover that the final descent was at 16:30. As we were going through Saltersford at 15:30 that meant we had to push on through Barnton tunnel and beyond, and we just made it.

We tied up at the holding dock, and I had time to rig the anchor, which I had bought in preparation for the river trip. On a canal, where there is rarely a current and it is mostly 3-4 feet deep, an anchor isn’t necessary. But on a river, with currents, weirs and deep water, you need the ability to stop moving safely in an emergency. The anchor, chain and rope are awkward objects, so on the canal I keep the anchor in the cabin, and the rest in the bow thruster compartment. But on a river they have to be ready for instant use, so before going down the lift I put them all together, attached the rope to the forward pin and put the anchor in the well deck.

Going down in the lift was a novel experience. There is room in each caisson for two boats, but we were on our own. You sail forward onto an aqueduct, and a gate is dropped behind you, then another gate opens to allow you move forward into the caisson itself. Once everything is closed there is a lot of clanking and grinding, water pours out and then you move slowly but smoothly down. Eventually you reach the bottom, the front gate is raised and you sail out onto the river.

First time on the river

Our first impressions of river cruising were of space, and complete calm. The current was almost completely imperceptible, a few feet a minute, and it didn’t affect navigation at all. What did make a difference, though, was the width of the waterway. On a canal you are always aware of the fact that there are very few places you can turn, because your boat is longer than the canal is wide. As reversing is slow and awkward, this means that your facing, and the proximity of winding holes for turning, are major constraints on your journey. On the river you can turn almost anywhere – indeed the Weaver is wide enough for a comfortable U-turn.

Barons Quay Northwich

Town Bridge

We headed upstream, round a big bend with reeds on both sides, then immediately into the centre of Northwich. It is more than 40 years since I started work with ICI here, but this was an entirely different view of the town, looking up at the two swing bridges as we sailed through. Along the river above the centre there are boatyards and docks, and quite a few seagoing vessels. They would look very small alongside a liner or tanker, but compared to canal traffic some of them are pretty large.

Mooring at Furey Wood

We went up as far as the pool below Hunts Lock, where we plan to moor tomorrow, then turned and went back down through the town. A few hundred yards below Town Bridge we pulled over to the bank which is quite well built up at that spot, and we were able to moor comfortably. We were on the edge of Furey Wood, a public park, with heavily wooded slopes rising steeply above us. Across the river was the new entertainment and shopping complex of Barons Quay, but we could let the dogs off in complete safety, as if we were miles from anywhere.

TODAY: 6:0 HOURS. 12.3 MILES. 1 LOCK. 1 Lift.

Friday 20^th September

We had noticed a leak of water in the cupboard under the sink last night – in fact what we had noticed was the water coming out onto the floor, the leak itself was under the back of the sink, behind the bin. So this morning, while Loulie took the dogs for a walk around the woods, I cleared the area and got under to have a look. The leak was coming down the pipes leading to the mixer tap, which I had to unbolt from below. I had hoped it would be a loose connection which I could easily tighten, but it proved to be a leak in the tap itself, at the point where the nozzle rotates to direct the stream. I tried tightening things up, then dismantling and rebuilding the unit, but a dribble still came out.

At this point Loulie came back with reports of how splendid the walking was around the woods, so I went for a bit of an explore. It is very steep, with many sets of wooden stairs linking the levels, and various lookout points.

Map of Furey Wood park. Our mooring was where the white path comes down to the river on the right

After lunch I decided to try to find some stuff to repair the tap, so I walked into town. Although we felt very remote, five minutes’ walk along the bank brought me to Town Bridge, and just across it is the shopping centre. In the market I found an old-fashioned hardware stall which had some PTFE plumber’s tape. However even with that there was still a leak, so I left the tap partly loose, with a cloth around the base to prevent any water running down behind the unit. Repair will have to wait until we can get someone with more plumbing skill than me – or maybe a new tap unit.

Trip boat from the Anderton lift passes our mooring 

After that we unmoored, and headed down river, past Anderton and then under Winnington Swing Bridge, which I must have crossed hundreds of times – it is much further off the water than it looks from the top of the bridge, and we sailed under with plenty of clearance. We went on down past the site of the old Wallerscote works, which is now partly a housing estate, with some clear rough ground, awaiting development.

The boat lift from the Weaver

A weir dropping down the the river

Going around the bend below Barnton

Winnington Swing Bridge

At Winnington the river splits off from the Navigation, and at several points as you progress downstream there are weirs off to the side where excess water can flow down into the river, thus keeping the navigable waterway at a fairly constant level. We sailed around a long bend below the Barnton outcrop, knowing that high above us was the familiar canal with the Barnton pool between the two tunnels. Before too long we arrived at Saltersford Lock, which was as far downstream as we were going on this trip.

We turned and sailed back the way we had come, and then through the centre of town, under the two swing bridges and up to Hunts Lock. We moored to the bank just below the lock, on clips attached to metal fittings on the stone dock side. It was quite a step up to get on and off, a bit tricky for the dogs. We were actually on an island – just above the lock the river goes off to the side and down a weir, before rejoining a few hundred yards below. A railway bridge goes over, high above, and there is a dry dock actually between two of the piers of the bridge. Across on the other side there are other shipyards – back in the day this was the centre of the Northwich shipbuilding area, which produced a famous class of canal vessels.

Moorings below Hunts Lock

Weir on the river on the other side of the island

A large boat moored in the river

We were here to see Jonjo’s band, Scratch, at the Bowling Green Inn, which is only a few hundred yards walk from where we were moored. Loulie’s friend Shirley also lives very close, and she and Joan turned up for the gig, which went very well, apart from Loulie damaging her Achilles while pogoing. We walked/limped back to the boat for the night.

TODAY: 2:15 HOURS. 7.3 MILES. 0 LOCKs.

Saturday 21^st September

We made a reasonably early start today, because we wanted to get all the way to the head of navigation at Winsford and back in time to come down Hunts Lock before it closed. All the locks on the Weaver are manned – they are huge compared with a typical canal lock. They are paired, with a “small” and a large lock in parallel, and even the small one is easily capable of taking half a dozen narrowboats – they are designed for seagoing ships. We went up at Hunts Lock – they tied a rope to the end of our centre line, which they looped around a bollard on the side high above me, so I could keep the boat under control as the water rose. The (volunteer) lock keeper said he would ring ahead to the next set at Vale Royal to say we were coming – you don’t have to “book” but things go quicker if they are expecting you. He also gave me a package to deliver up there.

Derelict boats above Hunts Lock

The Blue Bridge

This stretch of river goes up past Sir John Deane’s rowing club, and in fact I did a little rowing here, decades ago, as part of some ICI social club event. A long straight reach leads to the Blue Bridge where the A556 goes over, and then out into the country. Vale Royal locks are round a tight bend, but we had been warned and took the right line in. The lock keeper here told us about a bridge a little further up which is very low, so we pulled over to the bank soon after leaving the lock. Ever since we got Eileen we have had some items on top of the roof directly in front of the steering position – a gangplank and a couple of poles. As the roof is stepped aft, this is the highest spot, so we moved everything along to the roof of the forward cabin, which meant that they were below the level at the rear. That meant we had effectively reduced the air draft by about nine inches, and it also made for a much clearer view forward from the stern, especially for Loulie. When we reached the bridge in question we slid through with plenty to spare, and it was clear from the gauge marked on the pier that the river was fairly low.

Immediately after the low bridge you come to the salt mines, and the river starts to bend back and forth, weaving between mountains of rock salt, pithead buildings and old piers and docks, no longer used, though the mines are still very active. After a mile or so, around another bend you come to a large winding hole showing the upstream limit for the large seagoing vessels that used to serve the mines. Above this point the river curves through wooded slopes, with no sign of human influence for a while, as though you are suddenly in the Canadian backwoods. Even when you reach Winsford you are hardly aware of it, a few houses in the trees at the top of the slopes, but the banks are wooded even as you go under the major roundabout on the A54. Past that you go upriver a few hundred yards more until you reach Winsford Flash. This is alive with sailing dinghies, but there are signs everywhere warning that it is too shallow for canal craft, so this is as far as we go.

Mountains of salt

The minehead

Wooded river bends below Winsford

Having turned at the opening to the flash, we started back down river. Past the salt mines and the low bridge there are some nice moorings on the right, where I dropped Loulie and the dogs. They walked on down to Vale Royal Locks, where I picked them up before descending. On to Hunts Lock, which we reached well ahead of the deadline at 17:00, and down into the middle of Northwich. We moored right in the centre and I did some shopping, then we shifted down below Town Bridge to fill up with water.

Moored on the pontoon by the boatlift

After this we went on down to Anderton, and moored on a pontoon just above the boat lift. There are a number of these pontoons on the river – they float, moving up and down large vertical posts which are fixed in the bottom, and pass through holes in the pontoons. This means that if the level rises or falls the pontoon, and boats moored to it, rise or fall as well. By contrast if you are moored to the bank when the level changes, all sorts of bad things can happen. There was no mobile signal when we moored, but in compensation we discovered that there is wonderful dog walking up into the woods and ultimately to Marbury Country Park.

TODAY: 6:45 HOURS. 12.2 MILES. 4 LOCKs.

Sunday 22^nd September

We went onto the CRT website for the boat lift and found the first available slot was at 11:30, so we went down river, part way to Saltersford, and moored at a handy spot to have breakfast and let the dogs off. We then turned round – taking advantage of the freedom given by the width of the river – and sailed back up to Anderton. On the way down we had been alone in the caisson, but today we were joined by another boat. You are tied side by side for 20 minutes or more, with not much to do (unlike a lock) so there is plenty of time to chat. The other boat was a rental, with a couple aboard – an Italian man and a Japanese woman. He is a marine engineer, and was very excited about the lift. Loulie gave them a tour of Eileen, and they made us (me) a strong Italian coffee.

Once were up and out of the lift we turned for home – in fact the angle of the exit meant we had to turn right then wind immediately, opposite the visitor mooring, before setting off north. After that it was the usual trip home, through the three tunnels and up to moor at Keckwick Lane about four, to unload cargo and passengers. So ended our first river trip, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. There is a different feeling to navigating along a much wider waterway, and in many cases with no towpath or other human artefacts, and as I have said, the freedom to turn at any point is very liberating. It was also nice to see a town with which I am very familiar from an entirely different angle. Great fun.

TODAY: 6:00 HOURS. 9.8 MILES. 1 LOCK. 1 LIFT.

VOYAGE: 21:00 HOURS. 41.6 MILES. 6 LOCKS. 2 LIFTS