To Langollen

[john6767]

Wednesday 22 August

 

Move off the couple of miles to Anderton to use the services, and then round the corner to the boat lift. We moor just past the entrance to the lift and go find were we need to book. We find it hidden away downstairs with a back at 11:50 notice on the window, it is now 11:20, gurrr. We have a little look round and take a few pictures and go back to the booking office at 11:45 and there is someone there now. First available slot is at 2:50, which is later than I was hoping for but we have no choice but to take it. We also book the slot for the return at 4:15 tomorrow afternoon. We have a bit of time to kill so look round the site some more, and then go back to the boat for some lunch.

 

I was just reading the leaflets that we had been given on the use of the lift and the Weaver, when one of the lift operators knocks on the side of the boat. Do we want to go now, as there is a spare slot? Not even sure what time it was but within 5 mins I have reversed up to the entrance and onto the aqueduct, so no real build up to this as I was expecting!

 

The lift operator at the top was really great, he explained everything very carefully, gave us a history lesson on the lift and was very enthusiastic. It seems to take ages, as each of the processes takes place, and then we start moving down. Typically, it has just started to rain. At the bottom the process is repeated, and another friendly operator takes us through what is happening, and then we are off. The boat we shared with is going upstream and they go first, and we turn downstream based on the advice given here.

 

Within a couple of minutes it starts to rail heavily, and I do mean heavily, but lasts perhaps only 5 minutes. We soon start to lose the industrial surroundings. There are a few houses near to the water which really does reinforce that in many respect this is a canal and not a river, as the water level is well controlled and there is very little flow at all.

 

The boat we shared the lift with recommended that we phone ahead to the lock, and in reading the leaflet that seemed to suggest that too, so we called Saltersford Lock, and were informed that a boat was about to come up and we should wait on the pontoon on the left, which we did. The lock in use was the large one of the pair(213 x 37 feet!), and it took what seemed like an age to fill, but that gave time for our postponed lunch. A very small cruiser comes out of the lock and we go in. The lock keeper asks if it is our first time on the Weaver, and provides lots of information to us. It takes along time for the lock to empty. The lock keeper says he will call Dunton Lock to let them know we are coming.

 

At Dunton the lock opens for us as we arrive, I could get used to this, and we go in. Again it is the larger of the 2 locks that is in use. When through the lock we have to decide if we carry on today, or stop. We have been recommended Devils Garden for overnight mooring, but when we get there it is actually full of boats, so we decide to carry on and see what we see in terms of mooring opportunities.

 

In the end we go all the way to our planned turning point at Weston Marsh Lock, which is at the side of the navigation and goes onto the Manchester ship canal. To get there we go past a huge chemical plant, and it all starts to get a bit edgy with the heavy industry, the much more exposed feel, and by now quite high wind. We stop on the pontoon at Weston Marsh Lock and have a look at the lock. It certainly will not win any best kept locks awards, and the ship canal on the other side looks like open sea, with sizable waves hitting the lock gates, whipped up by the wind at this exposed location. Beyond the ship canal you can just see the Mersey estuary. I decide that this side of the lock is exciting enough of me!

 

Turning round is no problem, just motor off the pontoon and do a U-turn, lots of room. We retrace our steps past the chemical plan and Runcorn Rowing Club, who are just opening up for what looks like an evening of training. Once past Sutton swing bridge it gets back to rural, and we start looking for a spot to attempt to moor. We have no idea if it is going to be possible to get near the side. About halfway between Frodsham Cut and Devils Garden, we get to the area we spotted on the way down and we try to get to the side. We get close enough, so that will do for the night.

 

It is a very nice evening now, and there is no wind here, although I suspect it is still blowing a gale at Weston Marsh Lock. We soon get the rowers from Runcorn coming past us, and it makes for a very tranquil scene.

[john6767]

Thursday 23 August

 

As usual we get off later than planned. Our deadline is to be on the holding mooring at the Anderton Lift at 3:45, so still lots of time. On the way down we had been told to call Dunton Lock when we passed the railway viaduct, which we did, but got voice mail. When we arrived at the lock at 11:40 there was no sign of the lock keeper, so we tied up as did the boat that was behind us, they had also got voice mail. The lock keeper shows up, great I thought, but it was only to tell us that he was going to have his lunch now and it would be 12:30 before we go through. So that is the disadvantage of having the locks worked by keepers!

 

On the dot at 12:30 he reappears and opens up the lock. There are now three boats waiting. He puts us and another boat along one side and another boat next to us. A fourth boat arrives and comes into the lock alongside the one behind us. Three of the four are continuing on to Saltersford Lock, so we travel in convoy, with us in the lead.

 

At Saltersford we are straight in and he puts us three abreast in the lock. We are against thewall but as one boat is dropping someone off to walk, we travel in the middle of the three up to the lift.

 

We get to the lift at 2:40, we have an hour until we need to be on the holding mooring, so we continue on up to Northwich Town Bridge. We turn there with plenty of time to spare. On the way back we pass the lift trip boat which in addition to taking people up and down the lift, does a river cruise. The trip boat looks like it is based on a BW work boat hull, ie. has no proper bow, and as it comes towards us up river it is making a large wake.

 

With lots of time to spare we moor on the holding moorings. It turns out that we will be going up on our own, and on time we are instructed to go into the left caisson. We wait for what seems like an age, and the operator tells us it is the trip boat (which went up before us) holding things up as it comes straight back down for its last trip of the day. Once we are up we again wait for the interspace to be filled and the gates opened to let us onto the aqueduct, where we wait for the gate to be closed behind us before the gate off the aqueduct can be raised. As we come off the aqueduct the mussels onthe gate above us squirt water all over the roof of the boat and us!

 

Our plan is to get past Northwich before stopping for the night, and we end up stopping at Whatcroft Flash.

[john6767]

Friday 24 August

 

A very pleasant morning in a pleasant setting, we get off eventually though. A nice trip down to the edge of Middlewich. At Big Lock a boat has just started coming down so we have to wait. We go up on our own, and as we do 2 hire boats arrive to go down. As we leave the lock the first of the hire boats goes in, and the other moves up and ties upagain to wait his turn!

 

At the bottom of Middlewich locks we catch a boat up, and itis turnaround time for the hire fleet based there and there is nowhere to wait, so we have to hover alongside one of the hire boats. It is busy up the 3 locks with one up one down at each. As we approach the junction with the Middlewich Branch it is very busy going that way, not helped by the hire fleet there using the lock mooring for one of their boats, naughty. We go straight across the junction and into the empty lock, and moor up on the rings above the lock. A quick trip to the chandlery there and then a drink at the Kings Lock pub sitting by the side of the lock, very pleasant except for the road noise. A couple of boats go down to the junction, and it really is a mess there now, with far more boats waiting to go up Wardle Lock than there is space for. The fish and chip shop is too tempting so we get lunch there and go back to the boat to eat.

 

Moving on out of Middlewich we pass British Salt, and the site of the RHM factory where Sally once worked as a student. We try to come up with reasons why the RHM site had been cleared and left.

 

At Wheelock we use the services, and it has now started to rain. We go up the first two of the paired locks, and as the rain is quite heavy now we call it a day as if we carry on it looks like we will need to do another 6 locks before we can stop.

[john6767]

Saturday 25 August

 

Not very far to travel today, but a few locks to do. We don't rush at it, and just take it steady. The locks are all deep, and going up they have quite a strong pull on the boat, so it seems simpler to sit the bow against the top gate, which is not what I normally do. There is a steady flow of boats, but not enough that it causes any queues for us, although sometimes the benefit of the doubled locks comes into play with a boat in each.

 

We stop short of the built up area, so have a few more locks tomorrow before Harecastle Tunnel. We had done OK weather wise today, but in the evening there is very heavy rain.

[john6767]

Sunday 26 August

 

We get off and up last 3 of the operating paired locks to the services block. We use the services,as we are queuing for the next lock which is a single. The middle of the 3 locks between the services and the tunnel is having the offside chamber worked on and it has new gates fitted and structural repairs, and looks as though it will be back in use soon.

 

On arrival at Harecastle Tunnel there are already 4 boats waiting to go through. As this our first time through the tunnel keeper comes over and gives us the information sheet and talks us through everything. The most import thing he stresses is, "to go through at a steady cruising speed and let the boat do the work". We are waiting for 2 boats coming the other way and after about 15 mins the first one arrives, and 5 mins later the second. A 6^th boats has arrived behind us and slowly we go in, the keeper holding each boat back to space us out.

 

My initial reaction is what is all the fuss about, with the towpath removed the tunnel is wide and therefore the profile is no issue. You can see that when the towpath was in place it would have been a different matter. Going south about 5 mins in there is a low section, but it is really not that low and because of the width the curve of the roof does not get near the handrails at the cabin front at all. The only bad bit is that someone has slowed down at the low section and as I am catching the boat ahead up fast I need to slow down for a while. The roof then gets higher and stays that way the rest of the way through.

 

The boat behind us is certainly the slow one of the group, his light is now a point in the distance behind us; lucky he is last. As we near the south portal we can see theexit and the doors stay open, but after we come out the doors are shut, presumably as the boat behind is so far back.

 

The information sheet and the keepers instructions recon on 45 mins as an average journey, and they give you 75 mins before sending in the "troups". Our time is 33 mins, not very fast I guess but feels about right without pushing it but going fast enough. We made no contact with the sides or roof at all in the trip through. My overall impression is that this is much easier than Braunston tunnel, it is shorter, straighter,and you has the whole tunnel width to yourself and do not have the variability of other boats to pass.

 

The weather has brightened up, and we stop at the pub at the Festival Park for a couple of drinks, before moving on to just before Stone for the night.

[john6767]

Monday 27 August

 

This is the last day of this part of the trip. By the time we get off the weather is not great, and at the top of Stone locks there is a sizeable queue. Down that Stoke locks is not bad once through the first. The trip boat/cafe boat is not doing any trade at all, a bit of a washout for a bank holiday.

 

After Stone then it is just a short run down to Aston Marina where we are leaving the boat fora couple of weeks. It is really blowing a gale when we arrive and as they have a fun day on I was expecting to make a mess of it in front of a big crowed. Of course the weather means there is hardly anyone there, which is a real shame for the marina. We stop on a mooring by their trip boat and go to the office to sort things out, and then move onto the pontoon we will be staying on. I almost make a good job if it!

 

So that is it for now, pack stuff up and into the car we had left there a week ago, and home.

[john6767]

Time-lapse video, going down the Anderton Boat Lift and on the River Weaver