Dutton

Our original plan for this morning was to leave the mooring at 10 and go through Preston Brook tunnel at 1030am. But then we thought now we are here we may as well go to the end of the Runcorn arm and back. The Bridgewater company don't seem to have a problem putting barriers to help control towpath traffic.

We only met a couple of boats as we made our way towards the end, but there is development along most of the towpath side land with footpaths closed. Last time we were this way there was a company making canoes in this building, now it looks empty.

It looks as if the mural has been repainted in the past 4 years from how bright it is .

We went to the end and winded, there were two boats, a wide beam and a Narrowboat belonging to Unlock Runcorn who are working to restore the locks from the end of the arm down to the Manchester Ship Canal.
We decided not to stop at the end but just wind and head back to Preston Brook junction. There use to be a small canal side garden centre which is now closed and up for sale, it has a very nice mooring but as it not been used the lilies have taken over.

We arrived at the entrance to Preston Brook Tunnel  at about ten to two outside out passage window so had to wait until two thirty before we could enter. I got one very poor shot of the repairs part way through the tunnel which are basically a concrete box. It collapsed in 1981.

As we came to the other end of the tunnel Diana noticed we were chasing a duck, I hope we hadn’t chased it all the way from Preston Brook.

A couple of years ago a boat got into the tunnel at Preston Brook and then got wedged which required the fire brigade to get them out. Ahead was Dutton Lock which was against us, all 20mm of it. The tunnel is 4M wide but Dutton lock is probably only 3M. which limits the size of boats that can access the T&M canal. We probably only did another mile when we spotted a row of mooring rings on a concrete edging, all in the shade.

Today’s Journey

12 miles with 1 lock in 5 hours