Cheshire Ring Which Way ??

[Darcy]

We are planning to do the Cheshire Ring the week before Easter, starting from Preston Brook. We had planned to go anticlockwise to break the 2 new members of our party into locks gently rather than plunging into the Rochdale nine. Also since we hope to do 3 hours or so on the Saturday afternoon after collecting the boat, if we went clockwise I assume we will have to stop very early on the Sunday to avoid mooring in Manchester.

 

However, we have been advised to go clockwise to get Manchester over early in the trip. Does anyone have any advice ? In particular, is the Manchester section any more difficult one way than the other ??

 

(The party will be 3 adults and 2 children + 2 "Seniors" that have not been before).

 

Many thanks for any help.

[John Orentas]

Hi Darcy.

 

Some people get a bit obsessed about doing the Ashton / Manchester during the day they prefer to make a very early start and leave Ashton at the crack of dawn, though I think all this is very exaggerated, anyway doing it that way will get you through the potential problem area before the young chaps have woken up. (It doesn't really work out the other way round) and you will have all the rest of the day to tackle the Rochdale nine, there are good safe moorings in Castlefield.

 

After that long day you will have a nice easy one on the Bridgewater with an overnight stop at Lymm or the Cheshire countryside on your last night.

 

*Note. The Bridgewater is wide, deep and lock free you will be on and off it much faster than you may imagine.

Edited March 22, 2006 by John Orentas

[Christine]

We did the Cheshire Ring last September, clockwise from Middlewich (afternoon) We stayed the first night at Rudheath (cheap egg'n'ham'n'chips £3.95 at the Old Broken Cross) and then again at Stockton Heath.

 

We had a great night at Castlefields which are good moorings and we did the Rochdale 9 at about 10.00am with several BW guys about to help us on our way. Some of the gates (handcuff key) were quite fierce but otherwise no problems - keep the bow doors closed. The Ashton section was fine - the kids were still in school on the Monday but we picked up a load of rubbish on the prop. We cleared a pair of woolly tights and other clothing which we had to stop and unhook.

 

It was a great trip, I was more anxious than reality proved but travelling during school hours seemed a good idea. A night at Whalley (Kwiksave is over the bridge), the beautiful Marple fight and we had overnight stops at Macclesfield & Red Bull and back for a night just on the Shroppie above Wardle and back to Middlewich for Saturday Morning.

Edited March 22, 2006 by Christine

[Darcy]

Thanks for your comments Christine and John,

 

On balance, I think we will stick to our original plan and go anticlockwise. I like to idea of a nice easy last day on the Bridgewater to round off the week. It will mean chivvying everyone out of bed early on the Manchester day since I understand that the Rochdale nine are locked at 4pm. Does anyone know what happens if you are halfway through them at this point ? Do you get stuck in there ? Or is it like some museums etc "last admission X hours before closing time" ??

 

Sorry if this appears dense - we've done primarily rural routes before.