Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the river

Friday 4^th October

After our enjoyable first trip on the Weaver a couple of weeks ago, we decided to go back again and complete the set by going down to the lower end of the river, having been to the upper limit of navigation on our last visit. We had moored Eileen at Keckwick overnight, so we were able to load up and get away in time to go through Preston Brook Tunnel at 12:30. We had booked our passage on the boat lift at 15:45, and after coming out of the Barnton tunnel we got a call from them asking where we were, because they “recommend” you get there half an hour early, which we had not done. It turned out they were in a hurry because they were closing early for some reason, and this was the final run.

In the stop lock at Dutton, in the rain

While we were in the lift the operator told us that the river had been very up and down overnight, to the extent that the trip boat had been jammed under the edge of the dock that morning. When we emerged from the caisson the difference was immediately visible – where previously the current had been imperceptible, now it was very strong. We headed upstream towards Northwich, and the first thing we did was to moor on a pontoon next to Barons Quay and get some shopping done. We decided to moor up in the same spot by Furey Wood that we used before, and as I went to turn across the river we were swept well below the spot I had been aiming at. There was no problem going back to the right place against the current, but it was a new experience. We moored up, but we were a little nervous given what we had been told about the river level. Then we discovered there were wasps going in and out of a hole in the bank, so we decided to take that as an excuse to give up on that spot.

A map of part of the park at Anderton

We went back downstream to Anderton, and our initial plan was to moor on a built-up stretch of bank where a number of other boats were already tied up. However as we were approaching a man on a boat we were passing warned us that the spot we were aiming at was shallow, and that he had been stuck there the previous night, taking about four hours that morning before he could get towed off. We decided to moor instead on the pontoon which we had used before, and again as I turned across the river we were swept well down below our target – I had to do some nifty steering to avoid clipping another moored boat. We knew from the last trip that there was no mobile signal at that spot, but as before we were compensated with some lovely walking for the dogs.

TODAY: 6:0 HOURS. 11.5 MILES. 1 LOCK. 1 Lift.

Saturday 5^th October

Our objective today was to get right down to the end of the navigable Weaver at Weston Point, and ideally to get back as far as possible, to catch our lift booking on Sunday. We set off at about 10:45, and soon arrived at Saltersford Lock. Because the river flows around the locks, by definition, there was no problem with the current while we were working through. At Saltersford they were using the larger lock – the smaller one has been out of action for a long time. The larger one is very large – I reckon it would take 20 narrowboats easily, and there are huge cavernous spaces in the walls, which help reduce the amount of water lost each time the lock operates.

Saltersford Lock

Below the lock we carried on down river, and soon came to the outskirts of Weaverham. As with Northwich this is a town I know well, I shared a house here in 1978, but from the river we were seeing an entirely new aspect. There is a long line of homes along the river, some substantial but some quite small, even some “static mobile homes”, and many with boats outside. Then further down is the Grange School Rowing Club, and as it was Saturday morning there were a lot of boats out, all sizes from eights down to single sculls. Just past them we came to Acton Swing Bridge, taking the A49 over the river beside the Leigh Arms. The pub was hosting a steam fair, and besides all the traction engines in the car park there were a lot of steam narrowboats on the river, and also the Daniel Adamson, the large Mersey tugboat.

Steam Narrowboats

Acton Swing Bridge

The Daniel Adamson

Approaching Dutton Locks - the river goes off to the right

The next landmark was Dutton Lock, the final lock for us on the descent, and once again we were using the larger chamber. We then passed under the railway viaduct, with the West Coast Main Line going across, far above. There followed quite a long stretch winding through open countryside, with Aston and the top end of Frodsham far away on either side. The river splits above Frodsham – it used to be possible to go on down the Weaver from here, but the lock which used to exist is derelict now, and you have to follow the main Navigation. That takes you down under the Frodsham Swing Bridge, and on under the Chester railway and the M56.

Going under the West Coast Main Line

Winding through the woods

After passing another rowing club you come to the start of the chemical factories, at Rocksavage. These stretch several miles around the bank from here to Weston Point, where the navigable part of the Weaver ends. It is a huge plant, or connected series of plants, especially as seen from close up at water level. Like the Winnington factory opposite the Anderton boatlift, this was one of the four component parts which formed ICI nearly a hundred years ago – ICI now gone, of course, though the canal is still here.

Frodsham Swing Bridge

Bridge under the Chester railway, with the M56 in the distance

Part way along this stretch there is another large lock on the left, Weston Marsh Lock. This gives access down to the Manchester Ship Canal (and ultimately to the Mersey and the sea). We were not going down there this time – we hope eventually to get onto the Ship Canal, but we need a different licence which requires additional checks, and some extra facilities on the boat, such as a lifebelt. Instead we headed on along the Weaver Navigation, until we came to the very end. Here a derelict arm branches off to the right – this is/was the old Runcorn and Weston canal, a short navigation which led up the “Ten Lock Flight” to the Bridgewater Canal in Runcorn Old Town. Straight ahead you come to a swing bridge, permanently closed, beyond which is a dock and eventually another lock down into the Ship Canal. This area is now out of use, though apparently still viable if needed – I understand it is owned by Stobarts.

The end of the line

We turned here, and headed back upstream. We had some thoughts of getting back up the Dutton Lock before it closed at five, but it fairly soon became clear we would not make it. We had a booking for the lift at 11:45 the next morning, and as the locks don’t start working until half nine, it would be quite tight. We decided to stop at the “Devil’s Garden”, a mooring place provided by the local farmer, and not too far below Dutton Lock.

Mooring at the Devil's Garden

It turned out that the Devil’s Garden was a bit of bank you could pull up against, beside a field at the bottom of some wooded slopes that led upwards away from the river. When we had moored and got out to let the dogs have a run we discovered that it was waterlogged to the point of being flooded almost all over, but there was no better place likely to be found below the locks, so we made the best of it. Later on, after dark, when we got off with the dogs we discovered that a herd of cows had arrived in the field, and we had a pretty muddy time splashing around in the dark with the dogs pulling on their leads and the cows plodding up and down around us. Later still, as we were getting ready for bed, we discovered that the river had dropped about a foot, so I made sure there was enough slack in the mooring lines. Despite that I spent a restless night – I was also worried that the river would rise suddenly to the point where we might drift onto the bank and become stuck, so I was feeling every slightest bump or wobble, trying to figure out what was happening. I even had half-dreaming thoughts that we might have come adrift and be floating slowly down river.

TODAY: 6:15 HOURS. 18.7 MILES. 2 LOCKS.

VOYAGE: 12:15 HOURS. 30.2 MILES. 3 LOCKS. 1 LIFT.

Sunday 6^th October

Happily, when the light came I could see that we were still attached to the bank, and beside it, not on it – in fact the level had returned just about to where it had started. The cows were still about, which gave us challenges in managing the dogs, especially when they were having breakfast. We set off at nine, in torrential rain – a couple of eights from the rowing club were out practising, so at least we could console ourselves that someone was getting wetter than we were.

Navigating in the rain

Wet Bobs

We arrived at Dutton Lock at 9:30, but there was a little delay before the lock keeper arrived to start his shift. We went on up through the locks, and then hurried past Acton Bridge and Weaverham to Saltersford. I am not quite sure what the rules are about speed on the river, and going past moored boats. Certainly, as the channel is many times wider and much deeper than a canal, there is much less disturbance from your passage, but there is an instinctive feeling that you should be slowing down anyway, it is so ingrained into anyone who travels the canals. We called ahead to Saltersford, and there was no delay going through there, so we reached the lift at Anderton just about on time; we were lining up to moor at the holding dock, but they signalled us to go on in.

A muddy passenger on the Trent and Mersey

Going up took a little while, and by the time we had winded outside the lift and travelled back we had no chance of getting through Saltersford at 13:00. That meant we were at Preston Brook for the 16:00 passage, and as we were waiting another boat came up behind us – a steam-powered narrowboat called Whistle Down The Wind. They had been at the steam fair at Acton Bridge, and were on their way north. We went through the tunnel and moored at Keckwick to unload – we left Eileen there until the morning.

TODAY: 8:00 HOURS. 17.2 MILES. 3 LOCKS. 1 LIFT.

VOYAGE: 20:15 HOURS. 47.4 MILES. 6 LOCKS. 2 LIFT.

Monday 7^th October

Leaving Ruby at home, we took the other four dogs to Eileen, and sailed up to Stockton Bridge and Thorne Marine, where we filled up with diesel. Turning again at the mooring just above the London Bridge we set off back home. After going through Moore we spotted a large Dutch barge, fitted as though for the sea, but lying in the reeds on the offside. As we went past we could see that she had pulled out her mooring pins and drifted across from the towpath – there was a fairly strong westerly blowing. I decided there was no prospect of towing such an ungainly craft upwind across the canal and getting her moored safely – it is hard enough to control Eileen on her own in a strong side wind. But we took a few pictures and posted them on the Bridgewater Facebook group, and within a few minutes someone had responded to say they knew the owner, and that he had been alerted and was on his way.

Adrift

After that we cruised without incident back to the marina and moored up, before walking the dogs home. So ended our second river voyage, and very different from the first. It showed just how much a river can change, even a relatively tame one such as the Weaver, which has been used for navigation for centuries. It was clear, for example, how important it was to have an anchor rigged – last month we would only have been heading into trouble at a few feet per minute, but this time things could have gone badly wrong in seconds. You have an entirely new set of challenges and possibilities, that you do not need to consider when you are on a canal. It did not put us off the rivers, and we will certainly be back down onto the Weaver, but we will treat it with a bit more respect. As a postscript, a few weeks later the river rose so high that parts of Northwich centre were flooded, despite the flood defences which we had seen.

TODAY: 5:15 HOURS. 5.2 MILES. 0 LOCKS.

VOYAGE: 25:30 HOURS. 52.6 MILES. 6 LOCKS. 2 LIFTS