Day : Thursday
Date : 30 May 2019
Start : 1040
Finish : 1500 Stanley Arms T&M1500
Well this morning when we got up it wasn't raining, unfortunately that didn't last long and it started just after we set off. As you can see from this photo there is no activity at all at the lock.
The reason for the late start was the bread needed making and we wanted to time our engine running with the bread baking as that is when it uses the most electricity.
Our first stop was Anderton Lift where I nipped up to see when we could come up the lift, first space was 1340 hrs. so we continued up to Hunts lock, on the way we passed this sunken barge, I hadn’t realised until this week that its actually concrete. You can see from the photo what the weather was like.
This tent has been on the river bank just before Northwich for some time now, it must have been quite grim living in there.
At the moorings in town we passed this motorised butty, it has a hydraulic motor in the rudder driving a propeller, a bit like an outboard.
As we winded just below the lock the bread was baked and it also stopped raining so we came down river to the new pontoons in Northwich and stopped for lunch.
CRT have been installing these floating habitats for wildlife along the river in Northwich, you may think its a good idea with that high hard piling along the river, but what you cant see is that the piling ends about 30 Mt to the left of it and then it's natural soft riverbank nearly all the way to Saltersford lock so the little critters are hardly short of anywhere in the area to live.
1pm we set off for Anderton lift, there was a hire boat waiting to go up when we arrived, they had done the Cheshire ring from Middlewich and just had time to come down the lift before lunch and go straight back up after lunch. The Anderton Lift trip boat was doing a good trade, they had just unloaded a boat full and these people were waiting to go. The cruise seems to last about half an hour and they don't quite go into the town which seems a shame. I am sure it would be a lot more interesting for the passengers if they just did another 5 minutes.
At 1-30 two boats came out of the lift and we were on our way in, the hire boat was a 6 berth and had t go well to the front of the caisson to have their stern clear of the white line at the back, if you are behind the line then you trip the lift and initiate an emergence stop as it comes to the top to stop the boat being crushed by the buffer. Once out of the lock it was off to Anderton services to fill with water, but what next. Dinner at the Stanley Arms seemed a good idea so we winded and headed back to the lift, then winded again and reversed through the bridge, waited for a boat towing coming the other way, passed the moored boats and moored outside the Stanley Arms. Once here I refitted the stern light, that's the last bit to go back, I think and then did an oil and filter change plus check the batteries for water, so we are good for another 250 hours again.
Today's Journey
7 Miles 0 Locks in 3¼ hours
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