Nice places to moor between Kings Lock and the Macc junction

[PCSB]

Morning all. After having some minor warranty work carried out in the boatyard I am looking to be on my way again heading towards the Macc. I've only cruised the section between Kings Lock and the Macc once and we did it in a day! 

 

Advice on where there are nice moorings on this section of the T&M would be gratefully received.

 

TIA

Paul.

[Tracy D'arth]

Not many!  You have the highway, Chemical works, railway then new housing estates.

Wheelock is popular but one end of the moorings is close to the main road.

Its not bad around Chells Aqueduct now that the long term moorings have gone but there are stinky dairy farms all along this stretch.

There is Red Bull of course but again it is often full.

I usually stay above Red Bull on the park, its quiet and handy for Lidl. 

[trane]

Rhode Heath if you want a pub. Church Lawton (by  the Church) if you want a quieter  mooring. Some good footpaths if you have a dog/enjoy a walk

 

[Tracy D'arth]

I forgot about the Church Lawton moorings. Again there is a road at one end and the bells, oh, the bells!

Rode Heath is always very busy, I moor on the pub, Broughton Arms, and have a meal. The food has been much better of late.

[IanD]

1 hour ago, PCSB said:

Morning all. After having some minor warranty work carried out in the boatyard I am looking to be on my way again heading towards the Macc. I've only cruised the section between Kings Lock and the Macc once and we did it in a day! 

 

Advice on where there are nice moorings on this section of the T&M would be gratefully received.

 

TIA

Paul.

 

I've moored several times on the Macclesfield round the back of the Blue Bell (just past the bridge) with no problems, the rail line is close by but IIRC there aren't many trains, certainly not late at night. The reason for mooring here should be obvious if you like good beer... 😉

[PCSB]

Just now, IanD said:

 

I've moored several times on the Macclesfield round the back of the Blue Bell (just past the bridge) with no problems, the rail line is close by but IIRC there aren't many trains, certainly not late at night. The reason for mooring here should be obvious if you like good beer... 😉

We intend to spend time on the Macc, just planning how to get there. And yep I do like good beer

[IanD]

9 minutes ago, PCSB said:

We intend to spend time on the Macc, just planning how to get there. And yep I do like good beer

We've usually done Middlewich to the Blue Bell in a day but this needs several keen crew who like doing lots of locks. In the days when the Romping Donkey was open Hassall Green was a good halfway stop, now the Cheshire Cheese at Wheelock is one option but it's a bit close to Middlewich, and the Broughton Arms ar Rode Heath is similarly a bit close to Red Bull -- there's a decent pub desert where you might want to stop in between, depends how much of a hurry you're in.

[Tracy D'arth]

I have never stopped overnight at the Romping Donkey because the racket off the M6 is terrible.

We were there 2 years ago when the truck ran off the motorway and down the embankment, almost made it into the canal.  It took a long time to get it back up onto the road, we left before they finished, got sick of the flashing lights and noise.

Robinsons ales, always good. As a non beer drinker I still appreciate their quality, Old Tom in Christmas puddings, scrummy.

[PCSB]

15 minutes ago, IanD said:

We've usually done Middlewich to the Blue Bell in a day but this needs several keen crew who like doing lots of locks. In the days when the Romping Donkey was open Hassall Green was a good halfway stop, now the Cheshire Cheese at Wheelock is one option but it's a bit close to Middlewich, and the Broughton Arms ar Rode Heath is similarly a bit close to Red Bull -- there's a decent pub desert where you might want to stop in between, depends how much of a hurry you're in.

We're not in a hurry at all, as long as we get through the planned closure at Congleton before it closes we'll be happy. Looking at the maps the stretch between Kings Lock and the Macc seems to one just to get through rather than dawdle. The only time we did this (the other way) there were very low water levels and we did Red Bull to Middlewich in a day. We enjoyed a couple of beers in the Kings Lock that day.

 

After a conflab with my better half we may go to the Macc via the Shroppie which we know reasonably well, just checking the planned closures now.

[IanD]

12 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I have never stopped overnight at the Romping Donkey because the racket off the M6 is terrible.

We were there 2 years ago when the truck ran off the motorway and down the embankment, almost made it into the canal.  It took a long time to get it back up onto the road, we left before they finished, got sick of the flashing lights and noise.

Robinsons ales, always good. As a non beer drinker I still appreciate their quality, Old Tom in Christmas puddings, scrummy.

You'd have been doing well to get a beer there 2 years ago since according to WhatPub it was already closed in 2016... 😞

 

IIRC I've got a *very* old bottle of Old Tom in the beer cupboard, wonder what it's like?

Edited October 20, 2023 by IanD

[Tracy D'arth]

3 minutes ago, PCSB said:

We're not in a hurry at all, as long as we get through the planned closure at Congleton before it closes we'll be happy. Looking at the maps the stretch between Kings Lock and the Macc seems to one just to get through rather than dawdle. The only time we did this (the other way) there were very low water levels and we did Red Bull to Middlewich in a day. We enjoyed a couple of beers in the Kings Lock that day.

 

After a conflab with my better half we may go to the Macc via the Shroppie which we know reasonably well, just checking the planned closures now.

If going up the Shroppie in wet weather  beware of the bywashes at Audlem.

1 minute ago, IanD said:

You'd have been doing well to get a beer there 2 years ago since according to WhatPub it was already closed in 2016... 😞

Beer wise I was talking about the Blue Bell at Kidsgrove.  I know the Donkey has been closed for many a year, I tried to use the post office there, its all gone now,

Was the Donkey a Robinsons?

[IanD]

5 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

If going up the Shroppie in wet weather  beware of the bywashes at Audlem.

Beer wise I was talking about the Blue Bell at Kidsgrove.  I know the Donkey has been closed for many a year, I tried to use the post office there, its all gone now,

Was the Donkey a Robinsons?

Can't remember what the beer was, haven't stopped there for more than 20 years -- the Blue Bell certainly had *lots* of excellent beers every time I've been there, but I don't think Robinsons was one of them, it's not exactly highly-regarded nowadays...

[PCSB]

22 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

If going up the Shroppie in wet weather  beware of the bywashes at Audlem.

...

Yep, they can be fierce. Last we went up it was after rain. Tyrley was even worse, 4 especially so. Helped Chamberlains through there, hard work with the butty.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

16 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

 

Was the Donkey a Robinsons?

I’m not sure it was. 
I do remember the beer was decent in there, whatever it was,

but even at that time it was comparatively expensive to most other places. 

And if I remember proper, I think it was one of those places that would start early Xmas bookings in September.
 

It had that (now) dated feel about it which I liked. 
 

I think once on the Macc I head to Congleton to have my first pub pint. 

 

Otherwise, I’d agree with the Brought Arms as a kind of mid way stop over between Middlewich and the Macc. 

[Arthur Marshall]

2 hours ago, PCSB said:

We're not in a hurry at all, as long as we get through the planned closure at Congleton before it closes we'll be happy. Looking at the maps the stretch between Kings Lock and the Macc seems to one just to get through rather than dawdle. The only time we did this (the other way) there were very low water levels and we did Red Bull to Middlewich in a day. We enjoyed a couple of beers in the Kings Lock that day.

 

After a conflab with my better half we may go to the Macc via the Shroppie which we know reasonably well, just checking the planned closures now.

When's the stoppage at Congleton? I can't see one on the stoppage list?

[PCSB]

@Arthur Marshall Bridge 74A 2nd Jan to 16th Feb according to the latest list.

Edited October 20, 2023 by PCSB
forgot the tag

[Tracy D'arth]

If it was China the work would be done in one night, not 7 weeks!

Edited October 20, 2023 by Tracy D'arth

[PCSB]

9 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

If it was China the work would be done in one night, not 7 weeks!

Yep, this time it is the highway authority so not a CaRT jobbie.

[IanD]

2 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

I’m not sure it was. 
I do remember the beer was decent in there, whatever it was,

but even at that time it was comparatively expensive to most other places. 

And if I remember proper, I think it was one of those places that would start early Xmas bookings in September.
 

It had that (now) dated feel about it which I liked. 
 

I think once on the Macc I head to Congleton to have my first pub pint. 

 

Otherwise, I’d agree with the Brought Arms as a kind of mid way stop over between Middlewich and the Macc. 

 

Bleeding Wolf? Rising Sun?

 

Sadly the Bird in Hand is no more... 😞

 

(where the landlady threw us out for playing crib -- said she'd never had cardplaying in there for 50 years and wasn't going to start now -- so we went to the Rising Sun, which was Ansells but that was 40 years ago this year IIRC...)

Edited October 20, 2023 by IanD

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Yes, I’ve mixed my pubs,

and I’ve mixed my greens,

Hassall and Scholars,

I was on about the Bleeding Wolf!

 

 

Forgotten about the Rising Sun (Scholars Green)

that’s a decent pub,

 

[Richard T]

We had a very good but simple meal in the Cheshire Cheese at Wheelock this summer washed down with a fine pint of Lees bitter. The chippy at Wheelock has shut and was up for sale.

[Tracy D'arth]

8 minutes ago, Richard T said:

We had a very good but simple meal in the Cheshire Cheese at Wheelock this summer washed down with a fine pint of Lees bitter. The chippy at Wheelock has shut and was up for sale.

The Italian canalside does a fine take out pizza.