Marina Wednesday 4 January 2017

The wind picked up a bit overnight, not steady but just the odd gust.This morning was another fine day and even a bit warmer than yesterday, I didn’t even put the insulated overalls on.

The Broken Cross club are extending the moorings at Bramble Cuttings at the moment, I noticed that some of the mooring rings have 1989 cast into the concrete bases, so its a long term project.  One set of rails has been restored, this is where the tubs of clay would have been pushed down and tipped into the waiting boats.

I made a comment earlier that I have not seen any Kingfishers this trip then on the last morning I see 3 in ¾ of an hour between Bramble Cuttings and out moorings. An unfortunate photo as the camera was set for landscapes and I didn’t have my glasses on to see to reset it, so it was point and shoot, the Kingfisher didn’t fly away and should have made a great photo.

On our way out we passed a pile of lorry tyres dumped into the canal, CRT were on their way to retrieve them, we met them at Middlewich Locks and were able to pinpoint where they where. As you can see its a very convenient point to fly tip right beside the lane.

Back at the marina firstly we unloaded the boat to the car, then drained the water, I drain the potable water system all the way back to the isolation valve on the outlet to the cold water storage tank. Once that was all done there was the final task before we could set off home and that was to remove the 24 volt alternator, it had been making some protesting noises for some time and when I got it off there must have been a good 5mm end play in the shaft so it may be passed saving.

Today’s Journey 3 miles, no locks in 1 hour.
So in this 16 day trip we did 122 miles, 58 locks in 59 hours.

Bramble Cutting 03 January 2017

yesterday evening when we walked to The Badger pub it was freezing quite hard and when we returned to the boat it was even freezing harder. As a result of this I expected to find the canal well frozen this morning, so we were in no hurry to get up. As it turned out the temperature shot up overnight and any ice on the canal this morning was very thin. Things got even better when two boats passed breaking up what was there.

We set off behind them at 11 am. The architecture here is quite striking, on one side of the canal in Minshull Wharf with all its curves and the other side a very square farm house, even the eves are squared off between the chimneys above the roof line. On lots of the canal there was no ice at all and the broken stuff was probably only 2-3mm thick. The boat ahead of us winded at the first winding hole he came to  and the second moored up just before Stanthorne Lock, even so all the locks were against us. We stopped briefly for lunch just above Wardle Lock and then dropped down, turning right to fill up with diesel at Kings Lock Chandlery. Coming out of the junction from Wardle Lock there was a boat moored almost opposite on the very end of Kings Lock Chandlery’s moorings which tightened the turn a bit. The boat had quite an unusual bow. With 170lts of diesel onboard we backed up and winded at the junction, needless to say just as I got to 90° across the cut the wind picked up and tried to take me sideways towards Kings Lock, but it failed.

This winter CRT replaced the bottom gates of Middlewich top lock, its a pity they didn’t have a tin of grease in the toolbox, I did oil the spindles via the oil holes with my oil can. As we entered the top lock a boat was just coming into the bottom so we were hoping that he had also come up Big Lock, but no such luck and the lock was empty, so that was yet another to turn.

The whole area suffers from ground subsidence due to historic brine pumping for salt production, over the years the canal companies have had to raise the tow path levels to keep the water in the canal, it doesn’t look as if it will be that long before this section requires raising a few inches.

We carried on a little further to moor at Bramble Cutting for the night, we have  never moored here before and it is a pretty little spot with picnic table and mooring rings, It was originally a loading wharf for clay from the local clay pits, this was used in the construction of the canals. The site is maintained by The Broken cross boat Club who have regular working parties here and are increasing the number of moorings.

Today’s Journey  7.5 miles, 3 canals, 1 Junction, 6 locks in 4 hours.

Church Minshull Monday 2 January 2017

Firstly I would like to say hi, to the couple with the black Lab who chatted to Diana at Hurleston this morning and read our blog. I hope you enjoy your stay at Kings Bromley Marina, we thought it was a good place to stay.

What a different day to wake up to. It was still below freezing when we set off at 10 am. It wasn’t overly cold overnight but it had been below zero since late evening so the outside of the boat was icy where it had been wet, including the roof and gunwales one side.

We stopped at the water point at the top of the Hurleston Locks to top the tank up, you never know when you are likely to get stuck for a few days in this weather. While we were there a hire boat came past which resulted in the 4 Hurleston locks being set against us when we set off. The views from the top of the locks with the bright blue sky were fantastic.

This is the reason the Llangollen canal rarely freezes over, this constant flow of water into Hurleston Reservoir, I think it is now the main drinking water supply for Chester, but when it was first built it was to maintain the water level in Shropshire Union canal. At the bottom of the flight we turned left along the Shropshire Union canal as far as Barbridge Junction where we turned sharp right down the Middlewich Arm, It was here that we uncounted our first real ice on the canal this winter. Luckily for us it had been well broken but the buts were about 5mm thick, not thick enough to stop us but I was still pleased it was someone else's blacking that did the deed. As I waited for Cholmondeston Lock to fill I was entertained by this little chap on the lock side.

There was quite a bit of traffic about, much more than we have seen moving over the last few days. Venetian marina was looking very full with most of its ice undisturbed. Passing Nannies Bridge I gave a blast on the horn for Peter to come out and wish us Happy New Year. Funny old place the cut, some people you will only see once a year, maybe less but you still consider them friends. At bridge 11 Diana hopped off the boat to walk to Church Minshull, two reasons, firstly she likes a walk and secondly to see if the Badger was serving food tonight. I continued and could see the bridge where she would cross the river (centre of the photo) as she made her way  to the village. I moored at bridge 14 and waited for her return via the road. last time we visited the pub we took the footpath from bridge 11 but thought it may be a bit squidgy tonight, so we will chance the room and traffic instead.

Today’s Journey   7 miles 6 locks 2 junctions and 3 canals in 3¾ hours.

Burland Sunday 1 January 2017

As expected the New year started of rather damp,after seeing the New Year in twice last night, BBC at midnight and ITV+1 a hour later, added to the rain we made a very late start, not getting away until 11-15 am. The weather was quite miserable with cold rain coming across on a northerly breeze.

I did wonder what made this land owner open his land to the public, especially as there were several game feeders in the wood. I didn’t look to be near a footpath at all.

There was very little about in the cold, wet of the morning, even this chap didn’t look at all impressed.

As we passed through Wrenbury we could see that there was a vintage car rally going on in the car park of The Dusty Miller, a pub that stands both on the tow path and the road right beside the lift bridge, I don’t know if it was connected with the event but the caravan site just across the road form the pub also looked quite full, such a shame the weather was so miserable, but there were still a lot of people wandering round.

We stopped for lunch rather than eating on the move and when we had finished the rain had stopped, looking at our weather station we could see how the pressure had plummeted in the early hours of the morning but was now on the rise again.

We met 3 boats this afternoon, 1 hire, 1 share and one private. The sky was blue with wispy clouds and the sun was doing its best to wish us Happy New Year. We carried on to just below bridge 4 to moor for the night on the visitor moorings, just as we were tying up the sun was sliding down below the horizon for the night, lets hope its back tomorrow.

Today’s Journey  7¾ miles  6 Locks in 3½ hours