Sutton Weaver

What has happened to summer, the outside temperature was in single figures last night and we woke to heavy rain. Thankfully the rain stopped before we got up. The river is really busy now, another Narrowboat joined us on the moorings last night and we have seen two cruisers go by today, well it is Saturday. Last night I posted a photo of the dredger, flat and tug going by. It seems there were off to Acton Bridge for a crane to reinstall the spud rams for some reason.It’s now moored on the offside at Acton Bridge for the weekend.
We set off about 10 am. and headed down to Saltersford Lock, this lock is quite slow and after Diana visited the keeper it was probably 20 minutes before the top gate opened and a similar time to drain down. The assistant lock keeper kept a close eye on us.

At the tail of the lock the depth over the cill is engraved into the stone work in Roman numerals, I suspect they are feet.

As you approach Acton Bridge the channel to the left is used for long term mooring, I am not even sure if you can get all the way through because it runs

under the bridge approach. We made a quick stop just after the bridge to dispose of rubbish, I think they are the only bins on the river now then down to Dutton Lock. A bit better photo of the old wreck as we passed. Bob had the gate open when we arrived as the other keeper rang ahead and said we were coming.

Our mooring for tonight would be the same one as we used the first night on the river at Sutton Weaver and we are in exactly the same spot, but facing the other way, that puts the bedroom further from the road bridge.

Today’s Journey

8 miles with 2 locks in 3 hours

Barnton

Last night we ate at the small Indian restaurant The Relish Tandoori We had the set meal for two and ended up bringing one rice, one main course and half a Nan home because it was far too much. Late last night I got the TV aerial in and this was my view from the deck.

Today was just a short just running downstream to the visitor moorings at . While we were here Rueben came by with this.

On the way we passed an obliging Cormorant who posed nicely for me as we passed so that I could photograph it.

Up at Nantwich this looks like Himalayan Balsam growing just below the marina

Today’s Journey

3¼ miles with no locks in 1 hour

Northwich

Last night as planned we went to The Red Lion for dinner. it was their two for one Mexican night so we had different dishes and shared them 50/50, I bet it will be the best value this trip, unless we come back.
It was gone 11 when we set off, we had a booking at Vale Royal lock for 2pm and its only about an hours run. There wasn’t room to wind by the bridge, so rather than going to the mouth of the Flash a ran backwards until the river widened and I could turn to head down stream. Yesterday we spotted a submerged boat so today we tried to photograph it. Not the best of shots through the rippley surface. We carried on down and moored on the lock landing for lunch, minutes before the rain started.On the way we passed these rather smart prefabricated bungalows, they were being built last time we were this way. The brick one at the extreme right has a rather smart bug hotel in the garden

After lunch we kept an eye out for a CRT van arriving to work the lock and swing bridge for us but no sign, so Diana walked to the lock and there they were, so we set off towards the lock arriving just as the top gate was opening but I still had to wait for the swing bridge to be moved, they use a battery powered drill to do this.

Luckily we discussed Hunts Lock with them because they were unaware we were going through so now they said they would see us there .
Passing Jalsea Marine all the moored boats have now left, goodness knows where they have all gone

Moving what's left on the bank may be more of a problem, I shouldn’t want the job of slinging and lifting it.

At this point I realised why we hadn’t seen a CRT van at Vale Royal as the two Volockies came hurtling down the towpath on their bikes to be at Hunts lock first.
Once through the lock the first thing we noticed was no dredging and the equipment tied up at the old British Waterways Yard. The yard is looking very sad now with all the windows missing.

We moored in the rain, it only started after we left the lock and stopped as soon as we moored. The reason for mooring here was a quick visit to Asda, that done it was up to the water point and then return to the mooring we have used opposite the marina.

Todays Journey

5½ Miles with 2 locks in 2¼ hours

Winsford Red Lion

Just as we were about to get up it started to rain, so no rush. Todays plan is a cruise to Vale Royal locks and back up as we have a table booked at the Red Lion tonight.
Once the rain finally stopped we headed off, reversing out onto the Flash, what I hadn’t realised was just how windy it would be, which made life interesting for a few minutes. Back down the river the CRT jurisdiction doesn’t start until the second bridge by the Red Lion moorings. Apart from the boats that live up on the Flash we are the only boat on the river above Vale Locks. Passing the water outlet the flow was much greater than yesterday

with lots more foam with the flow reaching the far side of the river. At the salt mine  a chap with his front loader was hard at work making the salt mountain bigger. There is a real range of colours in this salt, I don’t know if each colour has a different use.

We passed under the Swing Bridge again, I thought it was just a path but there was a car crossing just before we arrived.

The water level looks the same but we have only had about 7mm of rain this week although it seemed more.

We carried on downstream to Vale Royal locks where we winded and came up to the visitor moorings for lunch and when the sun came out with some nice blue sky made our way up the The Red Lion moorings at the head of the CRT navigation by bridge . I said earlier we were the only boat up here, just as we came in to moor 6 canoes came down from the Flash.

 

Today’s Journey

 

6 miles with no locks in 2 hours

Winsford Marina

This morning I spent half an hour on the phone trying to sort a transit up through Hunts (easy and Vale Royal(the problem) Last night I booked Hunts for today and went to do the same at Vale Royal and there were no passages listed this month. So this morning I rang CRT and spoke to a young lady, she didn’t know the answers but contacted someone who did so at 10am we set off to Hunts lock to find 2 CRT chaps and two lady Volockies being trained. However just before we set of Rueben came by with an empty flat to take to the dredging, so now between us and the lock was a dredger, full pan, empty pan and a tug. I  must admit I have never passed one like this before, under the arm of the dredger

Roger Alsop was on the bridge as we passed under it and I noticed he was taking photographs of us.  He has kingly agreed that I could post this one of us heading for the dredger bridge on my blog.

 

  
At Hunts Lock we entered the smaller chamber, We actually arrived before our booking but it was all OK as they were there doing the training. We discussed our plans and after locking us through they drove up to Vale Royal to lock us through there .
We had some lovely reflections as we made our way upstream with mill pond calmness.

At Vale Royal the smaller chamber, the one that is in use is to the right of the larger one. We arrived before our locking team and when they arrived that had to first empty the chamber and swing the foot bridge that crosses the chamber before we could enter.

The flow on the river is almost undetectable at the moment and we had a good headroom under Newbridge Foot Bridge. We have been under when its much tighter.

There was plenty of water coming in, I think this is from a sewage works but I am not sure on that.

We carried on up to beyond the head of Navigation to Winsford Marina, when we arrived I counted 28 swans in there. As we went in they all swam out, I took care to make sure none were between Harnser and the moorings.

The name Winsford Marina is interesting, it consists of a hard edged basin with a free to use slipway at the mouth, a single tap and a free carpark. Not what  most people would consider to be a Marina.

If anyone watches Canalboat Diaries Robbie was here in last weeks episode Canal Boat Diaries - Series 7: Episode 4 | Channel 4.

Todays Journey

 

6 miles with 2 locks in 2½ hours

Northwich

This morning Diana spotted this flat and tug hovering alongside. He was waiting for the Town Bridge to swing and timed it perfectly, well he has been boating since he was a kid.

We headed upstream to visit Matt at the Northwich Drydock Since we were here last they have got the side slip working, I can’t think where there is another working one in the UK, loads in mainland Europe.

Just beyond this is where the dredging is taking place so moorings alongside the yard are limited but we got in up near the end of the drydock.

After finding Matt and having a chat we turned round and headed back downstream, we had to wait a few minutes for the dredger driver to make safe so that we could pass.
Down at Anderton lift the Daniel Adamson  was still 

moored up. She is doing a few cruises from there over the next couple of weeks so we will probably see her on the move. We made our way downstream passing an island of Floating Pennywort before mooring for lunch . While were there Rueben came back up with his tug and an empty flat, slowing as he passed us. Soon it was time for us to set off so we went a little further downstream, passed where the dredging's were being offloaded to

wind and head back upstream. Again we had to pass under Winnington Bridge, this photo shows the arch a bit better.

We just passed the Anderton Lift and the pontoon moorings when Diana spotter the bow of a loaded flat coming round the bend. I gave a quick blast on the horn to let him know we were there and we passed with loads of room. We are now moored in exactly the same spot as last night.
At the moment you have to book Hunts and Vale Royal locks. I have booked Hunts OK for tomorrow and return Thursday but there are no bookings available at all for Vale Royal so that’s a none runner, I will ring them in the morning.

Today’s journey

 

7¾ miles with no locks in 2¼ hours

Northwich

Well as you can see the weather today has definitely gone down since last week. Although it looked bad

we only had about 6 spots of rained all day, there was a little overnight but that doesn't matter.
Away at our normal tenish, no hurry to get anywhere and the river is very busy, we have seen 6 boats on the move all day. This Grebe had two

chicks, but the little buggers kept diving under so only a photo of one. Their plumage amuses me.
We soon arrived at Saltersford Lock, as we had met a couple of boats a little earlier the lock was ready, just needed the gates opening. That’s an awful lot of

water for little old us. This lock and Dutton Lock are maned 7 days a week whereas the other two have to be booked.
You have to watch the arch as you travers under Winnington Swing Bridge keeping well to the towpath side, we could probably do mid channel if I dropped the exhaust.There is black painted steel work between the white bits.

The steam boat Danial Adamson was moored at Anderton Lift and it looked as it they had a car show on. They must be losing a fortune not taking the trip boat up and down the lift several ties a day. We carried on into town and moored at the old town visitor moorings between Town and Hayhurst Swing Bridges.

Today’s journey

 

5½ miles with 1 lock in 2 hours

Acton Bridge

A nice quiet night last night, but it never really got dark. This morning the rowers were about at about 8am but we didn’t see any after we set off at 10. We have seen more Goslings today than we have seen the rest of the trip, I don’t know if the white one in this group of 4 with young is a white “grey Goose” or just a feral one

We didn’t see any boats moving but one thing we noticed is how much the bank side vegetation has increased since out last visit 3 years ago thought. I would like this water feature in my garden.

One of our favourite moorings when we came on the river a lot was Devils Elbow, I don’t think we will be spending much time there this trip.

Soon we were at Dutton Lock and we pulled into the bank so Diana could go find the lock keeper, turned out he was one of the old seasonal lock keepers and a Narrowboater so we spent a bit of time catching up since we last met. There are only two seasonal keepers on the river now. The old wreck above the locks is slowly disappearing under the water. I have photographed it a few time over the years.

We only went as far as Acton Bridge as we have a table booked for dinner tonight.

Todays Journey

 

5¾ miles with 1 lock in 2½ hours.