to Saltisford Locks on the River Weaver

Friday 7th August 2009
We were booked on the Anderton Lift for 1:45 pm, so we had set the alarms to get us up early. We set off in the sunshine and I decided that it was time to put some jeans through the wash.
A 'flash' on the Trent and Mersey canal.

The process was working well at first, but then the shower pump stopped working. Our mini twin-tub is situated in a corner next to the shower, we can fill the washer tub via the shower hose, and the whole thing drains into the shower tray, so it is quite important to the process that the shower pump works. I took over steering while Alan and David emptied buckets of water through the side hatch, and finally pulled out the works of the pump, which is right underneath all the shelving that the twin-tub sits on. A fuse had blown, which they quickly replaced and I was back on track. Perhaps we need to carry a spare shower pump, I know that a lot of people do.

We carried on northwards, occasionally passing huge factory complexes and arrived at the lift in plenty of time. We were told to move onto the holding lock at 1:15, but on getting there a bit earlier we found ourselves moved straight into the caisson with another boat. The operator checked our boat name, BW licence no, and the number of people on board, and we set off.













I'm fascinated by industrial archaeology, so I loved going down in the lift. I've put most of the photos towards the end of this post, with a brief comment by each. We spoke to the lift operators on our trip down who were happy to tell us a lot about the lift. The caissons counterbalance each other, so as one is lowered, the other rises. There is a facility to raise or lower them independently, but this takes a lot more energy.

Opposite the lift is a factory complex, and as you travel downstream towards the lock at Saltisford you see other, seemingly derelict factory buildings, although when you get closer you can see that at least parts of them are being used.

Factory on the River Weaver













Not much further down, the River Weaver opens up into fabulous countryside, which is so far removed from the industrial complexes only a couple of miles further north that it is hard to believe it is the same river. Several times kingfishers shot in front of the boat, a flash of red, followed by bright, iridescent blue.














As we headed for the locks I suddenly recognised a boat moored up. It belongs to a former colleague of mine and her husband who have lived on the boat for many years, but now they are retired they can disappear from their home mooring for months at a time. We honked the horn, and Barbara and Will appeared, somewhat surprised to meet us so far from home.

The lock at Saltisford is HUGE, surely the largest one we've been through.













After passing down through the lock, we only just managed to get back up again. The lock keeper had told us that we needed to be back for 3:45, forgetting that the lock closes at 3:15 on Friday. Fortunately we had told him that we were booked for an early passage on the Lift tomorrow, and he waited for us to return.

We then went north beyond the lift, to Northwich, to look at cameras as Alan's wide angle camera has packed up, and for me to go to a pharmacy about the bruise above my eye, which has spread upwards towards the eyebrow and down into part of the eyelid.
The pharmacist wanted me to see a doctor, and directed me to a couple of practices. Both of which had only one doctor on duty, no appointments free, and were closing very soon. One suggested that I try the 'minor injuries' department at the local hospital, which proved to be about 10 minutes walk up the hill.
At six o'clock on a Friday evening, the department was empty of everyone except staff, and I was seen immediately.
All the usual checks, blood pressure, pulse, history, etc were taken, and then, once again I found myself with people shining bright lights in my eyes, and peering into my eyeball. Seems to be a bit of a habit on our boating trips.
Having been given the OK, and told that I'd probably just ruptured a blood vessel we headed back to the boat, and back to the moorings just above Saltisford Lock.

End of the day.












After dinner Alan and I went for a walk up to look at the two tunnels on the Trent and Mersey Canal, which is only a very short distance from the river at this point. As we walked back dusk fell and we were glad that we had taken a torch as the footpaths were overhung with trees and it was very dark.

The River Weaver at dusk












Miles: 23.6 , Locks: 2 Total Miles: 203.6, Total Locks: 211

SOME PICTURES
The entrances to the two caissons.












The teflon coated hydralic ram, and the underside of one of the 250 tonne caissons.
















Alan looks out to the lower caisson - the end of the link to the Trent and Mersey can be seen. This stretch of canal has a guillotine gate at each end, and only one is ever open at any one time, to make sure that the Trent and Mersey canal doesn't empty into the River Weaver. The caissons are lowered to river level each night, to help protect the highly expensive rams from damage.




Entering the caisson.












The view of the River Weaver from the top of the Lift.











Leaving the lift.

























The old counterbalance weights, now formed into a small maze.

A factory complex - it looks like some film set.

Stoke on Trent to the middle of nowhere (updated)

Thursday 6th August 2009
The alarms were set for early, and we got up and left the mooring by about 7:00 – Westport Lake looked wonderful in the morning sun. In the gaggle of geese by the boat was one albino, which was constantly nipped by the others.
At the South Portal

A short journey got us to the tunnel mouth at about 7:30, the BW tunnel ‘keeper’ started getting ready soon after. Checking boat names, licence numbers, number of people on board, and giving us the necessary safety information. The tunnel has subsided considerably over the years because of the salt mining locally, and the published maximum head room is 5’ 9” – which is what we have measured Chalice’s air draught at. Despite our concerns about Chalice’s air draught he said that there would be no problems, but keep our heads down at the lowest point.



We entered the tunnel at just after 8:00 am, the lead boat of several. We could see the other end clearly, and there is a strong draught through the tunnel because of the powerful ventilator fans. We emerged into the sunlight in about 32 minutes. We had been able to make good headway and at no point had we been anywhere near scrapping paint.


Emerging from the Tunnel
Almost immediately we were into the sets of double locks, the beginning of a long flight, known colloquially as “Heartbreak Hill”. Alan and I took turns working groups of locks, cycling ahead between locks to set the next one.
Canalside village

The Cheshire countryside was stunningly beautiful, in the sunshine passing the fields of sweetcorn I could almost imagine myself in the Vendee region. However; the queues for the locks were particularly bad. At one lock a woman was selling homemade produce on behalf of the Great Ormond Street Hospital – so we bought some warm scones and raspberry jam.

At some point in the morning, David looked at me and said, "what have you done to your eye?". I put my hand up to my eye and could feel a small lump in the 'corner' of my right eye, much like a spot. "Great", I thought, "I've got a zit in the corner of my eye", and I went to look in the mirror to see how bad it was. What greeted me in the mirror was a huge bruise, curving up along the crease of my eye. I have no idea how it got there, and am not a little disturbed by it, although it isn't painful.

We kept on towards Middlewich, and Alan and I began to form a plan – a detour to the Anderton Lift. We rang the lift, and booked two passages – one down on Friday afternoon, and another up early on Saturday morning. Then we headed into Middlewich, did a brief shop at the Tescos (not the Express – we were told by a passing dog walker of the bigger one a short distance further into town), and headed of northwards again.
This part of the Trent and Mersey is stunningly beautiful, and fairly quiet compared to the lower reaches, and after Middlewich there are no locks before the Anderton Lift. There are several large lagoons, called ‘flashes’, off to the side of the canal, which you are warned not to venture into as you may hit the original edge to the canal, or run aground. They are privately owned and are due to the subsidence caused by salt mining. All of them are very beautiful, reed fringed lakes. We tried to moor at Croxton Flash, but unfortunately the canal was just too shallow at the edge.
Checking the edge at Croxton Flash

We found a good mooring in a reedy straight shortly afterwards, which was marred only by the rather agricultural aroma. A very, very long day for us – something like 13 hours on the go.
As I prepared dinner Alan sat in the evening sunshine by the side hatch, looking through the photos for the day. He called me over to look at something and I rested my elbow on the side hatch – whereupon a swan promptly bit my elbow, then hissed loudly in disgust as it realised that it wasn’t tasty. Fortunately, I was wearing a loose jumper, and I wasn’t hurt, but the swan kept trying to poke its head in through the window, and attacked us when we tried to shut the side doors. Eventually David went onto the roof and fended the swan off with the boat hook while we quickly shut the doors.

Miles: 17.7, Locks: 35
Total Miles: 180, Total Locks: 209

Weston-upon-Trent to Stoke-upon-Trent

Wednesday 5th August 2009
We were woken by the boat being violently shaken. Alan shot out of bed, but it didn't look like a boat had gone past. The only possible reason we could think of was that someone had climbed onto the gunwale to get something from the roof.

"We have both kinds of music..." This list just amused me.

Being awake we ate breakfast, and set off in the drizzle again. We passed through the wide, flat-bottomed Trent valley, through small towns and working through short flights of locks. We have never had so much delay at locks. There were queues of three or four at every lock, and for every boat up there was one coming down.

As the day progressed we moved from overcast to blue skies and light cloud.

Row of cottages in Barlaston.

As we worked up the flight of very deep locks into Stoke we continued to have to wait a long time for every lock - so we made use of the time talking to the other boaters. We said that we were planning to moor at the summit, but we were warned off this as we were told that all the boats near top of the flight had had their ropes cut the previous night. The general consensus was that we should stay either at Westport Lake, or at the Tunnel mouth. However, one of the last boaters down said that they had heard that there were 'gipsies' causing problems at the tunnel mouth - so Westport Lake it would be.

Heading through Stoke there was little sign of the industrial heritage at first, although there were a couple of bottle kilns, sanitised, stuffed and mounted as part of a housing development. The further we got the more we could see the remains of old factories. Almost all abandoned, some displaying burned rafters.

The Eritruria Bone and Flint Mill

At the top of the flight we decided to walk up the small distance to the staircase locks at the beginning of the Caldon Canal - however, the locks have been so covered with white safety handrails that it is hard to see what they are. They look more like some water treatment plant.


Alan was quite upset by this example of H & S gone mad - is the entire canal network eventually going to be subjected to the white railing treatment? Are people only going to be able to be able to go boating when they take regular safety certificates?

Bottle Kiln

In a field of weeds a middle aged woman sat on the remaining brickwork of the factory that had stood there. A couple of cans stood on the brickwork by her, and arranged neatly, as if on a shelf, a pair of pale pink stilettos. She called out to ask the time, and though I can offer no reason, I felt wary. "Half past six", I called back.

A short distance on we passed a young fisherman, staring at the water, a half drunk bottle of Lambrusco on his lap.

Another bottle kiln.












The lake was an excellent choice - really beautiful and peaceful. We weren't even disturbed by the large population of Canada Geese.
(Sorry if there are any discontinuities in this post or the layout - it's been done on a very, very flaky connection!)

Miles: 18.5 , Locks 16
Total Miles: 162.3, Total Locks: 174

Hatherton to Weston-upon-Trent

Tuesday 4th August 2009
Grey and rainy all day.

We got started about 9:00 am, and set off north again, passing Canal World Forum boat Aquagem.

I got seriously wet, so changed into waterproof overtrousers and waterproof boots - which I wore all day - possibly explaining why my legs ached so much by the end of the day - every step meant lifting the heavy boots through the wet grass.

Gailey

Through Gailey and then onto Penkridge where we stopped for supplies - a very attractive town than I wish I had more time to investigate.

We headed on up the Staffs & Worcs Canal - eventually passing through Tixall Wide, which was attractive, but having heard so much of it - I was sort of expecting more.

Building at Tixall Wide

We turned left at Great Haywood Junction, and carried on to Weston-Upon-Trent where we moored, then headed for the pub.









Happy Boater






Miles: 19.3, Locks: 14
Total Miles: 143.8, Total Locks: 158

Brum to the middle of nowhere - Staffs & Worcs

Monday 3rd August 2009
Note (sorry that this was posted late - I've had connection problems - a bit of a problem in the middle of the countryside)
Alan woke early and went for a walk while I continued to doze. By 8:00 he was back at the boat and ready to get going, as we thought it would take a long time to get out of Birmingham and into the open countryside.

Chalice moored near the Sea Life centre

As it looked like being a dry day I decided to tackle the backlog of washing that had built up. I'm still very impressed with our tiny twin tub - it gets the washing very clean, and reasonably dry. I then festooned the front of the boat with a rack of drying t-shirts, which does nothing for Chalice's appearance.

It's a long way to the first three locks, then another several miles before you meet the Wolverhampton 21. As we got to the top of this flight Alan decided that we had collected something around the prop - so he went down the weed hatch and pulled out a mass of tangled plastic bags and rags. A boater coming up the flight told us that it had taken them three and a half hours - so we thought that we should not be boating too late into the evening.

As it was we found that we had a working boat behind us, with the crew pushing us hard. I don't like to give in if we aren't slowing someone down so we pulled out all the stops, Alan and David working the boat, and me lock-wheeling ahead. As it was we finished the flight in 2 hours 20 minutes.

Then onto the Staffs and Worcs canal, through the very narrow cutting, which has only a few designated passing places, and then try to get a few miles done and find a mooring that wasn't too near the motorway or railway.

Passing through the cutting.

We moored in the middle of a field not far south of Hatherton, fairly near to a bridge. Then Alan and I went for a walk, where we found these amazing striped caterpillars - they are the caterpillars of the cinnabar moth, and they eat ragwort - which they help to control.

Back at the boat we watched as hire boat after hire boat hit the bridge hole. All the Viking Aground boats hooted their horns repeatedly at every slight bend - possibly they are being given an unrealistic view of things by the hire company?

The scariest was a boat which came past at full throttle, with four children fighting constantly on the roof, while wrapped in the boat's duvets. I did wonder for their safety.

Miles: 20.8 , Locks: 24
Total Miles:124.5 , Total Locks: 144

Knowle to Brum

Sunday 2nd August 2009
Woke up to a glorious morning, and set off early(ish - 8:15). We were surprised by how green and attractive the route into Birmingham was. The maps in Nicholson's guide show housing and warehouses from soon after Catherine de Barnes, but we were passing through attractive wooded cutting most of the way. Having said that, there was huge amounts of debris in the cut at times.

Passing near to Tyseley, I heard a whistle and the steam locomotive Kinlet Hall sped over the canal shortly ahead of the boat. Daft, I know, but this simple thing made me really happy - I was jumping up and down and waving at the passengers on the train.

We arrived at the Camp Hill flight at about 11:00 am, and got to the top of the Farmer's Bridge flight - a total of 24 locks - about 3 and a half hours later. We've now done the Farmer's Bridge flight several times, and it never ceases to amaze us - parts really are quite surreal.

This lock is underneath an office block, going from this lock to the next we had to cross with another (fortunately short) boat - it's hard to imagine how they managed to get two 70 foot boats to cross in the past. The water to the left of the lock is the pound between each lock.

Shunting past another boat - short tunnel ahead.














Half way up the flight you pass the foot of the Birmingham Telecom Tower, which can be seen as a landmark for many miles.













Alan takes a picture of me from the lock inside the short tunnel - David is lockwheeling.














These lovely people watched us intently through the lock - it turns out that they are Danish, and start a narrowboat holiday tomorrow - which explains why they were watching so closely.

At the top of the Farmer's Bridge flight - Telecom tower in the background.

We quickly found a place to moor, and went shopping as well as going for a coffee and a wander around the area surrounding Brindley Place. Birmingham has masses of very attractive floral displays.
















The design for this trip boat seems to have been done by someone having a migraine attack.






In the evening we went out for a meal near to Gas Street Basin.

Miles: 13.7, Locks: 24
Total Miles: 103.7 , Total Locks: 120

Warwick to Knowle

Saturday 1st August 2009
The poor weather we have had recently has continued today. It's nice now as I type this at dusk, but we had some foul weather for our journey.

We started up the Hatton flight at just before 9:00 am, it was already drizzling and intermittently rained quite heavily. Alan and I continued our regular swapping of lock winding duties, changing every five or six locks. Shortly after I had taken over at the helm a man from the bank shouted that he often saw women working the locks, and men steering, but it was unusual to see a woman steering. Is it really so strange? If a man is more experienced at steering then it is natural for him to continue - if there are any problems then you want the more experienced helmsman. However, how is the woman going to get more experienced if she doesn't steer? What if she has to steer sometime? And how about the man getting some exercise occasionally?
I love this old BW van near the top of Hatton.


We worked up alone, and met only a few boats coming down. We finished the flight of 21 in about 2 hours 45 minutes.

Just after the top we passed Tawny Owl - where Richard had left us a message in his window! It is really nice to know that some people are keeping tabs on how far we've got.

Leaving Shrewley tunnel - not long after the top of Hatton.

We decided to take the Knowle route into Birmingham (instead of turning left and going through Lapworth), largely because we've never done it before, so we did several lockless miles and then the flight of 5 close together locks at Knowle. I'm told that this is a very beautiful flight - I didn't really appreciate it. Somehow the rain started in earnest just as we started the flight and I didn't have time to get my waterproof boots on, or my rainproof hat before I found locks being got ready. I had soggy feet and cold water running down the back of my neck. My glasses had to be abandoned as I could see even less through them than I could without them.

Not a happy bunny. For the life of me I can't see why they'd left the front doors open!




We stopped very early for us, almost feeling guilty for stopping by 4:00 pm. However, we have been advised that moorings further into Birmingham might be a bit disrupted on a Saturday night. We'll do the whole run into the centre of Brum tomorrow in one go.

We are currently in the fields, not far above Knowle locks, surrounded by the countryside, birdsong, and with a beautiful pink and orange sunset.

Miles: 11.8, Locks: 26 Total Miles: 90, Total Locks: 96.