Moore Tuesday 6 March 2018

Well after visiting the Charity Shop and the recycling bin not only is the boat lighter but we finally got away at 11am, still heading east. On the edge of Lymm there is a dog agility ground, it looks as if its also used for mass dog exercise, there were a different set of dogs on our return.

Lymm St Peters Church has a very interesting spire so please click the smaller photos for a closer look.

The day was a bit overcast but no rain, unlike last night, good job we hadn't planned to go out to eat.

Just beyond Burford Underbridge (not aqueduct) there is an old canal side building that stands right on the waters edge, the west end looks to be a house, I do wonder if they suffer with damp.

They also have a fine display of snowdrop drifts along the road side.

Quite close to Oughtrington Lane there is a yard that has a few manikins and woodcarvings, there is a new carving since we were this way last, the van parked behind it is quite impressive as well.

When we left the moorings in Lymm this morning we were the only boat there, when we returned there were 4. We carried on travelling west with just a very brief stop at Thorne Marine to pick up another brass label showing where the diesel isolation valves are.

We had planned to stop for the night in Moore as there actually some mooring rings there but as its right against the road we carried on for a bit stopping before we reached the science park.

Today's Journey 14 miles in 4½ hours.

Lymm Monday 5 March 2018

We set off this morning at about quarter past ten so that we arrived at Preston Brook tunnel on the hour, Although we have not had an air frost for about 3 days it was still cold enough overnight for the floating ice to freeze together into one lump.

CRT have been along this section of canal cutting back the off side vegetation which is good.

Dutton lock was against us but its the smallest head I have ever seen across the gates, I am sure two of us could have pushed the gates open each end, once through the lock I continued on slowly towards the tunnel mouth while Diana walked to the tunnel to look through and reported there was a boat coming through so we held back, it was five minutes to eleven so I think he may have been a couple of minutes late entering as it took us twelve minutes to transit the tunnel without hurrying. its the straightest of the three on this stretch and you can clearly see end to end.

The weather felt much warmer as we came out onto the Bridgewater Canal, or CRT Licence entitles us to spend up to 7 days on the Bridgewater without buying a licence, but once we leave we must not return for 4 weeks which I think is fair. Claymoore Navigation like most hire companies have their boats all back at base (except one in Dutton Dry Dock) so are moored over quite a bit of the canal, but still plenty of space to get through.

We passed our first fishing match of the year, it was a little after mid day and they had been at it since 10am and it was still a dead heat, no one had caught anything. One of the chaps said to me he had mentioned to his mate they would see someone daft as them out in the cold and we had just come by. To the very last man they were a friendly bunch.

Some dogs just cant resist picking up and carrying sticks, this one had half a tree and it didn't just walk along the towpath with it, it kept shooting off down the bank through the trees, but it didn't drop it.

We have used more diesel than normal due to running the diesel heating higher in this cold weather, also we haven't moved for 4 or 5 days due to ice so less engine hours so more diesel use per engine hour run, because of this I decided to stop at Thorn Marine and fill up, we also filled with water and bought a couple of engraved brass notices while we were there. As the water tap is on their meter and not a Peal Holdings tap they make a charge of £1 for half an hours use of the tap to fill a boats tank with water.

I was rather taken by this garden seat, its only big enough for one but I think it is carved out of one length of tree trunk, I hate to think what it must have cost to buy. As you can see its the prow of a Viking Long Boat.

We pushed on to our planned mooring for the night at Lymn, there is only one other boat here, unlike when we have been in the summer months and its been full. More shops have closed since we were here last, one of them being Rolando’s Gelato shop which is a shame.

Today's Journey 12½ Miles, 1 Lock in 4¼ hours

Dutton Sunday 4 March 2018

Last night we wandered up to the Stanley Arms to eat and were very lucky to get the last available table. What a difference to last time when the chef had gone home and we had to order a take a way. The place is really buzzing again so worth a visit.

This morning we woke to the rain but it didn't last long, off to the Anderton Lift for cooked breakfast again and again got talking to Ted, we later found out that he and his late wife were instrumental in saving the lift and taking the petition to 10 Downing Street followed by fund raising. We looked for the notice that listed the people and organisations that supported the restoration financially but couldn't find it anywhere. We were lucky as Ted told us that Dave who was wandering around outside with a lifejacket on was the chap that took people to the top of the lift and he was doing trips up there today. It turned out Dave was very flexible on his timing. The first trip was 10 30 and it was already quarter to eleven, so we booked on the 12 30 and went at quarter past eleven.

It was a tad chilly up there with the double helical gears commonly known as Citroën  Gears, as André-Gustave Citroën held the Patent on them. I won't go into the workings and history of the lift because you can look that up if you are interested, I will just post a few photographs of the visit. Please click them to enlarge them.

Aqueduct full of ice	Looking down on the casons	looking back to the aqueduct
View from the old control cabin	gate lifting winches	redundant lifting gears
Caissons lifting motor	Bevel Gears	The lift

At quarter past two we decided to set sail, the sun was trying to come out and the temperature up to 6°C The ice was well broken with lots of open water, what was there was still about 15 to 20mm thick, so if it hadn't been broken I wouldn't have set off. We arrived at Saltersford Tunnel spot on 3pm and west bound traffic has to enter the tunnel between the hour and quarter past, so it was straight through, well not straight because it a wiggly tunnel. We carried on west to the site of the Dutton breach that occurred in 2012. there are several videos of this on the internet.

We had just moored up and it started raining heavily for about 10 minutes, if it stays like this the ice should be well rotten by tomorrow.

Today's Journey 4¾ Miles in 1¾ hours

Anderton Saturday 3 March 2018

The temperature didn't drop to below freezing until first light this morning, but it was still enough to ice the canal over again. We would like to head onto the Bridgewater canal but there have been no boats come from that direction yet so I expect there will still be thick ice in lots of places.

A cooked breakfast today at the Anderton Lift Visitor Centre and we thought it good value, sausage, fried egg, bacon, hash brown , beans, 2 rounds of toast and 2 large filter coffees for just £6.35 each rounded off with a chat with an 82 year old volunteer who lived on a boat for many years.

As the day progressed it got warmer and the forecast shows it as being the last of the frost in this area but next week before it warms up by any great degree.

After lunch we decided to go for a short walk along the canal towards the Bridgewater canal to see the state of the ice. The Lift Basin has started to thaw so maybe that will be open Monday for boaters stuck on the river.

Just the other side of the lift the Candy Boat is moored and open for business, we did help by buying 3 types of fudge and we have seen a few kids wandering round with bags of sweets.

The ice been broken by a boat coming through at some point so we should be OK to move tomorrow afternoon until we hit virgin ice again which could be anywhere. Looking down to one of the industrial units on the estate I spotted this old Living Wagon, I hope that it is being restored and not broken up. A little further along is an interpretation board giving some information about Barnton and the Trent and Mersey Canal. Please click to enlarge it.

We walked over the top of Barnton tunnel, I suspect that the eastern end was constructed by the cut and fill method as the land directly above the tunnel forms quite a valley, you can see one of the two air shafts in the photograph, but from the second air shaft to the west end the land follows the normal contour and there is no trace of any earth works. also the air shafts are of a different construction design.

Once we had passed the end of the tunnel we took the lane down to the River Weaver and walked back along the river bank, we didn't realise how far the river looped out. A short way along the towpath there are two rather heave lengths of chain just popping out of the ground.

We carried on walking and came across this mile post, I hadn't spotted any posts from the water when we have cruised the river and they are quite large.

There is now next to nothing left of the old soda works that use to be on the far bank, when the piles of spoil have been removed there will just be the remains of the yellow supports for the riverside frontage of the works, so much different to our first trip on the river when they were removing the very first sheets of cladding.

We stayed on the river bank until we got to the Winnington Swing Bridge where we crossed the road and followed a footpath back to the Trent and Mersey canal through all the wild garlic and then back to the boat.

Today's Walk 3¾ miles on foot

Anderton Friday 2 March 2018

Well the temperature has been above zero for the past 24 hrs but there is still an icy wind blowing. This morning we walked the ¾ mile back to the marina and our car to go into Davenham to get a few odds and ends before taking the car back to the marina. Just as we walked back to the canal a boat passed breaking the ice heading towards where we were moored. The canal in some places was open water like where we were moored but other places it was over 30mm. We really needed to move as the mooring was fully exposed to the 30+ mph winds we are getting today. As the boat was breaking ice we were just about able to keep up with him but just after passing Harnser he came to a standstill, 30mm thick ice and very shallow water, he was on the mud. It took him some time to extract himself, get into deeper water and carry on. Our immediate thought was follow him to Middlewich but another moored boat asked how far he was going and the answer was not far.

We settled down for lunch and the other boat that was moored ahead passed us, so after lunch we set off. it wasn't easy getting away from the bank with the wind and ice but eventually the bow moved out and round we went.

We passed this Wagtail sitting on the ice picking around.

We now had a path where two boats had been breaking the ice, unfortunately the one we were following stopped at The Lions Salt Museum but we carried on to Anderton, stopping at the services to refill the water tank, that means a shower in the morning, once full we carried on round to the Anderton Lift Visitor Centre to moor. We chose this spot because the canal is icy, and an icy canal means no 30+mph winds.

Today's Journey 5½ miles in 2½ hours

Whatcroft Flash T&M Thursday 1 March 2018

Well we are here for another day. yesterday the temperature rose to zero but overnight if was -5°C. Its been a bit breezy for the past couple of days but last night it was gusting up to 40MPH this has resulted in the water being whipped up in the two thin spots and spread over the ice causing it to rot as the water from below would be warmer. Although the flash has little ice now the canal each end is still iced over with a very thin white covering, we haven't had hardly any snow, but it would be nice if this wind drops a bit, as today its even picked up more. Unlike yesterday which was mainly sunny today has been overcast and the temperature never reached zero.

We have not done much today, I de-coked the stove burner which was rather cruddy and also took the hot wash basin tap to pieces again. For some reason it gets next to impossible to open. In the end I have to turn the water off and take the tap to pieces, when I do I never find anything wrong, I put it back together and it now works fine again. I must have done this 4 times now. I wonder what tomorrow has in store, with a bit of sun we could have go for a walk, I don't think we will be moving the boat.

Just before I go it’s the 1st of the month, check your smoke and CO alarms folks, you know it
makes sense.

Whatcroft Flash T&M Wednesday 28 February 2018

I have started this blog a bit early because I don't think we will be going anywhere today. Last night it dropped to -6.8°C in the roof and this morning there were just a couple of patches of free water in the ice. This was the view from the porthole.
It been sunny all morning with only a little snow flurry and I have had to do something I hate doing, running the engine without moving, just to charge the batteries.
We have gone into saving mode, just a wash and no shower in the morning to save water, Fridge off and food outside in a cold bag to save electric and engine running.
As it was nice and sunny this afternoon we went for a short walk along the towpath towards Middlewich.
I spotted the end of a culvert under the canal so went to investigate further. There are even steps right down to the water and once down there you can see right under the canal.
All these photographs will enlarge if you click on them.
We then carried on to the next bridge and crossed to the private drive at Whatcroft Hall. There is a footpath diagonally across the field of horses but the estate have provided a permissive path alongside the drive which is much easier to traverse. The drive its self is closed off with code operated security gates.
In the field on the other side of the drive there is a good sized flock of, I think Rhea and in the next paddock Alpaca with some sheep.
A couple of the trees alongside the drive have been felled sometime in the past and the trunks left about 2.5mt high with the top sections being carved. We did consider continuing on to the road and returning on the other side of the canal but were not sure where we would be able to cross back to the boat, so we retraced our steps. Passing under the railway bridge I spotted some steps up the side of it. The twin track bridge is now only single track and the northern span has been turned into a footbridge, so we would have been able to have crossed had we taken the road. Maybe tomorrow.
We were also able to pinpoint where some of the smell around here is coming from, this tanker is spraying cattle slurry on the feild, not ground level spraying but up in a large arc from the back of the tanker.
As we left the railway bridge it started to snow and turn much darker, less than an hour ago it was bright sunshine.
I read on Neil's Blog that the new water point in Leamington on the Grand Union Canal is not for boaters after all and has a non CRT padlock on it. It seems from what I have heard the company that built the student accommodation wanted rather a lot of money from CRT for the use of it and CRT said no, its too much.
Today's Journey Nowhere