It's Over

Friday 18^th September 2020 

The mooring below Big Lock proved very successful. It was nice and quiet – just a few dog walkers early on, but less traffic than a normal towpath mooring. And of course there was nice open green space close by in both directions. The other benefit was that with the Middlewich locks all behind us there was no pressure to get moving early, so we took our time.

In the end we got moving about ten. As we were approaching Croxton Aqueduct I saw a boat coming the other way towards us. This aqueduct is very narrow, just a few inches either side of a narrowboat, so I swerved over to the left to let them past. As they came by I recognised them – the Tiller People, regular vloggers based at the Overwater Marina on the Shroppie.

Tired crew on the final leg

Trent and Mersey jungle north of Middlewich

Bridge 213 - last one on the T&M

After that we were following a well-trodden path back through the wilds north of Middlewich, then through Wincham and Marston, past Marbury and Anderton, then through the tunnels. Loulie took the dogs off for a walk after Barnton, and we got back to the marina at about five, and our adventure was over.

It has been a great trip, with a strange hiatus in the middle. We have reached two landmark points on the network – Shardlow and Birmingham - as well as a number of other memorable spots; the Trent crossroads, Fradley and Fazeley Junctions, Dudley Museum and the tunnels, and the Wolverhampton flight. Given the strange year and the constraints of lockdown it’s good that we have managed to get away for a significant length of time. We have not had as many nights on board as we had planned, but something is better than nothing.

TODAY: 7:00 HOURS. 19 MILES. 1 LOCK.

Voyage: 94:25 HOURS. 176.7 MILES. 138 LOCKS.

A Long-Expected Return

 

Wednesday 8^th July 2020

We made a slightly earlier start today, and set off through Wincham and Anderton. Home waters, and a voyage only notable for being so much later than we had expected. As always this part of the trip is dominated by the timings through the tunnels, and we reached Saltersford in time to go through at noon. I dropped Loulie and the dogs off at the other side, so that she could give them a good walk, and we timed things nicely to go through Preston Brook at two.

Following our normal routine we moored up close to Keckwick Lane to walk the dogs home, and then bring the car up and unload. Later in the evening I went back up and took Eileen up to the winding hole, and back to the marina. Another boat turned in (from the Runcorn direction) just before me, Rock and Roll, and it turned out that they are moored right next to us, on the next pier, so I had a tricky little manoeuvre to reverse in past them and the boat on our pier ahead of us. I did it very nicely, to the point that the guy on Rock and Roll complimented me on how smooth it had been. I remember two years ago how I stressed about getting in, but plenty of practice and experience has given me more confidence. He also asked if we had been away on a long tour, but I explained how we had been trapped in Nantwich by the lockdown.

 

Mabel Seaman Secker resting

TODAY: 9:30 HOURS. 17.6 MILES. 1 LOCK.

Voyage: 18:20 HOURS. 35.3 MILES. 9 LOCKS.

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

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