Autherley Junction

 When we set off this morning it was very light drizzle, you could hardly feel it, buy the time we tied up at Autherley Junction it was well wet as was my coat and anything else outside. We had excellent luck with the locks meeting boats at just the right places. I am not sure I would have set this slide up for my kids of grand kids, but each to there own.

Passing Otherton Boat Haven all their long term moorings south of the basin were empty, they still had boats moored outside the basin its self. They pull boats out of the water on a special trolley that has a hydraulic suspension lifting system so that they can leave them on stands and withdraw the trailer, its bit of a beast the machine that tows and powers it.

One of the boat we met at a lock had a rather unusual tiller arrangement unlike the normal swan neck you normally find on motors, it looks to be based of a Butty Elm

. Some of the repairs to the lock gates up here are quite impressive, Gailey lock top gate for instance has a piece of chain holding the toe post on and this one sort of had a bent bolt and a coach screw in the heal post.

Approaching Gailey lock from below is quite an impressive sight, they certainly knew how to design and build things to show their importance.

It wasn't until we cleared the locks of the day it started to rain more heavily and this continued all the way to Autherley Junction. We stopped about a quarter of a mile short of the junction so that Diana could visit Morrison, this is a reasonably short walk across the grass, up Rathwell Close and then right on Ensworth Crescent to Morison’s and other shops.

When she returned we went past the junction where Duke II a hotel boat was moored and moored on the visitor moorings just to the south of the junction.

 

Today's Journey 

11.75 miles, 5 locks in 4.5 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

 

Penkridge

 

A lovely peaceful night last night and of course a few boats on the move before we set off. The weather was bright sun and no wind, it felt good as we approached Tixall Lock and met the first boat of the day, it was the first of many.

The outstanding feature of the day was the fishing match, it started at Walton Bridge No 104 and ended half way between Stafford Boat Club and Radford Bridge 98 in about 5 sections, we were told there were 75 Anglers taking part, we managed to meet 4 boats in the 5 sections. I was told that some of the anglers were not happy with all the boat movements, they probably had 25 to 30 boats through. Early on we passed this boat, not sure what the thing on the top

of the mast is but on the bows he had a duck house with more housing on the towpath. There was a fine collection of white ducks swimming around and using his duck ramp.

I am not sure how the Royal Family would view their use as passengers in this train.

When we passed here a few years ago the trees had what could loosely be called “a good hair cut” I didn’t expect them to survive but they are now flushing again.

We stopped for a short time to see how they are getting on with the Stafford River Link

They wouldn’t need to drop boats far today for them to reach the river.

We carried on heading for Penkridge for the night, on the way we passed Midland Chandlers canal side outlet, which unfortunately now closed down.

I think its the only branch they have closed, lets hope it not the start of more closures. We stopped for water just above Penkridge Lock before doing just one more lock and mooring for the night.

PS. There are 25 Mallards floating around outside the boat at the moment.

 

Today's Journey 

11 miles, 7 locks in 5.5 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

 

Tixall

 

Short sharp showers would probably best describe today, not sure what happened last night but it was raining when we went to bed and raining when we got up it was raining, since then its been on and off. From about half nine they started coming past so we knew we would have a slow journey, I waited a good time after the last one and set off. Passing through Weston they have been removing the solar panels from a bungalow, I wonder if they will take them off all the bungalows, as they all look the same.

  Passing Canal and River Services I was taken by this outside light, its from a pub somewhere owned by the M&B Brewery.

At the lock up we catch up with the last boat to have passed us, I have been travelling slightly over tick over hoping the queue would be gone. The boat that had just left the  lock we had seen several days ago and we knew they were slow, but the one behind them was even slower. There were two chaps onboard, the new owner and the ex owner. The new owner had never been on a boat before and was having problems knowing which way to move the tiller, also it didn’t seem to move forward much without being in gear, he was on his way to London and the ex owner offered to show him the ropes as far as Milton Keynes. I am not sure how much boating the ex-owner had done as he drew the bottom paddles a turn at a time leaving his windlass on the spindle. As soon as the gates opened Diana suggested he went to the tail of the lock and she would close up. We still had to wait while the boat went out in neutral,  A little we passed this kiddies den and tree house, I was rather taken buy the staircase up the tree trunk.

Still carrying on at a slow pace we reached Hoo Mill lock with no queue and from here we had a steady run down to Great Haywood, here we turned right onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal crossing the River Trent, I expected it to be running more than it was. We passed a lady doing up her Narrowboat, as we passed I noticed that she had an electric outboard motor mounted on the rudder of her boat.

  From here it’s a short run to Tixall Wide, a very popular mooring area for some reason, today there were several vacant spots but we wanted somewhere slightly less open so went to the end of the flash where in narrows down back to canal width prior to Tixall Lock.

 

Today's Journey 

8.5 miles, 3 locks in 4 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

 

 

 

Burston

 

Last night we had dinner at The Plume of Feathers in Barlaston. I must give them the thumbs up for passing the VAT savings straight on to their customers, every food item on the menu was reduced in price, plus the food is very good.
The weather was a bit different today, it was fine until 2 PM then it rained a bit, then it hailed a bit, rained a bit more followed by even more hale then the sky’s really opened and it chucked it down. Aren't brollies wonderful? After the rain it sun and drizzle.

A late start today as I am having a bit of a back problem, jarred it yesterday winding Stoke bottom lock so most of the boats moored at Barlaston had already left and we only met a couple before the top of Meaford locks, so just one with us. The bridge at Meaford locks has been damaged yet again; in all the times I have been this way I have only seen it in one piece once.

Just below the bridge something dark, it looked black plunged into the water, It almost instantly reappeared and flew into the trees, it was a kingfisher diving for its dinner, it was so fast I couldn't even say if it caught anything. On our way up here last week I commented on the raised bed garden by Meaford Road lock, well since then some has been and gave them bit of a make over. 

We were to see Frederick II again at Newcastle Road Lock where they invited us to pass them and use the lock first. Cutter another tug from the Fuller stable was moored opposite.

As expected all moorings in Stone were occupied but we did stop below Star Lock to fill with water and eat a bowel of home made soup. That done we continued our journey, as we approached Aston lock we had the weather I described earlier, we waited for it to abate before tackling the lock, after this we pushed on for another mile before mooring for the night just before Upper Burston  Bridge. 

 

Today's Journey 

7 miles, 9 locks in 4.25 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

 

 

 

Barlaston

 

Guess what, it rained again last night, all night and our back end was under trees so it was drip, drip, drip even in the lightest drizzle. We ended up with 13mm so not as much as the time before. I always assumed this was an old branch now used as a spill but actually its the other way round and water comes into the canal through it.

This morning we were away at about 9 AM to make the tunnel for 9-30 AM, when we arrived we were forth in the queue and 2 following, there were only 2 boats coming through the tunnel travelling north and we were on our way a few minutes after 9-30, the boat behind us didn't even come against the bank and the last boat in our convoy still hadn’t arrived. The passage was a mixture of fast and slow, we started at a good pace and then had a session at tick over followed by a more moderate pace. These are the best couple of pictures I have managed in a tunnel to date, set on night photograph with flash.

The white squiggle is the boat ahead's stern light. There are some quite interesting mineral deposits on the tunnel roof as well,

if I can persuade Diana to take it through next time I could concentrate on a few shots. There is definitely a lot of water finding its way into the canal at the moment. 

I thought these little laser cut steel direction posts were quite good and quite vandal proof as well I would have thought.

A little way south of the tunnel there’s an area with a whole fleet of trailers, each loaded with a single steel structure as they are quite large.

When we came the other way last week I posted a photo of some chaps using a chipper. They have completely cleared an area between the fence and the towpath, I wonder why?

  As we approached Stoke Top Lock I could see a Volockie filling the lock, as usual I put Diana ashore, but the Volockie insisted she got back onboard while he worked the lock (it’s the rules) and there was a second Volockie at the next lock as well. I decided not to argue and all went smoothly, Volockie No.2 had the second lock ready as I left the first so that was fine. We only met 3 boats all day before finally mooring for the night at Barlaston just past two interesting boats moored back to back, a steamboat and a tug

.

Today's Journey 

13 miles, 6 locks in 5.25 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

 

 

 

Hardings Wood

 

Well we haven’t got wet today; it looked a close thing at times. Last night we moored up snuggled against a nice straight bank with a pair of fenders down, we hardly noticed the boats passing, however over night the pound dropped slightly and the early risers made sure we were awake as the boat banged against the heard ledge down near the base plate, so we were up a bit earlier than normal. We had a good run up the flight even with the locks against us. A share boat called Empire was ahead and in the twined locks set the other one for us, we in turn closed up for them as they left with their crew ahead setting the next ones. We then turned the lock for the single hander following us and he closed up for us. When we got to a single lock we all just mucked in. I thing we only met 3 boats all the way to Red Bull services. We stopped at the services to fill with water and dump rubbish before doing another couple of locks before mooring for the night. The Red Bull pub has an interesting growth coming from one of its chimney.

As we passed through the last lock of the day I spotted what I think is a moss growing on the concrete wall below the lock.

 This leaves us just one lock to do before we reach Harecastle tunnel in the morning. Once moored up we took a walk to the tunnel entrance, the bridge over Hardings Wood Junction give quite a good view of where the Kidsgrove Working Mans Club use to stand, soon to be Lidl.

At the tunnel it was easy to see all the way through the tunnel past the rescue boat to the very far end. (white dot just below weeds)

 Makes me wonder why these canoeists who were rescued (I am not sure they needed rescuing) didn’t just exit the South end and contact their land team.
One of the boats moored here has a rather interesting "weak link" in the chain holding the front fender.

 

 

 

 

Today's Journey 

3 miles, 11 locks in 3.5 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

 

 

 

Rode Heath

 

Yesterday afternoon we were humming and harring what to do about dinner, should we have an Indian Takeaway or even eat in at the Indian restaurant, we would get wet if it rained, should we eat in the Italian restaurant, Barchetta, or should we just eat on board. In the end Barchetta won the day and we were pleased with their Covid precautions. NHS scan at the door, sanitizer at the entrance, clear notices and clear screens between some of the closer tables. We felt quite at ease.

Just for the record yesterdays rainfall came to 15 mm, its not doing too bad at the moment as its poring our there. We set off and caught up with a single hander at the second lock but we passed him in the third.  The flight was very busy queuing at each one, when we did pull a head like at paired locks we set the other lock for the single hander, likewise when he caught us up at a single lock he would close up for us, so efficiency was quite high. There are some interesting boats moored in the arm at Malkin’s Bank, at least one tar boat.

The day started fine but by Malkin’s bank the rain had set in and that was it for the day.

We carried on hoping to moor at Rode Heath but again all the moorings were taken, there was a gap at the far end and I dropped back through the bridge to it, but as we suspected it was a touch to shore, it did however mean that I got to notice these tiny ferns growing downwards under the bridge.

We carried on a couple of hundred yards and moored in exactly the same spot as when we came the other way.

 

Today's Journey 

4.6 miles, 14 locks in 4.75 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

 

 

 

Wheelock

 

When we went to bed last night it was a clear moon light sky, it didn’t last and the rain woke us during the night, this morning it was still raining. We had bit of a late start as first I had to ring the AA about the car insurance, that took quite a time but by the time I had finished it had stopped raining. We had a walk up to Lidl to buy some food etc. bit of a roundabout route as they have locked all the gates to the kiddies playing field and we would normally walk across there. It was almost mid day when we set off, third in the queue for Middlewich bottom lock and 5 boats behind us. Some of the following boaters walked up to assist with the locks so that helped us on our way, we would end up queuing at all of the locks today but everyone mucked in. By the time we reached Kings Lock it was actually quite sunny and warm, but it didn't last and since we went to bed last night we have had 12 mm of rain. To say Middlewich Junction was busy would be an understatement.

When we were here a year ago there was a footbridge across the canal here leading to the demolished works, now its gone.

It was about here that the rain started and it hasn’t stopped. Its not so bad when there are no locks to do as you can just stand and let the water run off which is what happened above Booth Lane Top Lock. For those of you that have done this canal you will know where the allotments are just south of Rookery Railway Bridges, well on the field adjacent to the allotments there are a heard of piebald horses who thought it only good manners to walk over to see us pass.

We carried on to Wheelock where we found the first mooring after the water point vacant, only problem is its under trees so every time there is a breeze you get a heavy shower on the roof.

 

Today's Journey 

7.5 miles, 8 locks in 4.75 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.

Middlewich

 

Looking at the weather station this morning I see we had 38.5mm of rain in 24 hours yesterday, thankfully this morning the sun was out, the breeze had dropped and the world was all-good.

We set off heading towards the Anderton Boat lift where we planned to wind and return. On the way we stopped at the Anderton services to fill with water this is quite a good tap with good pressure, We arrived at the lift in bright warm sunshine so we decided to carry on for a bit, what I had forgotten was the next winding hole was a mile and a half and between Barnton and Saltersford tunnels. I have tried many times to get a good photograph of this bridge, this is my best effort to date. 

We were lucky at Barnton as there was no one coming the other way, so straight through, well not straight because its a bit twisty. We winded just before Saltesford Tunnel and nosed back into Barnton Tunnel again. Just through Barnton Tunnel is where old wooden Narrowboats come back to life, its not a fast process and these boats have been here longer I have been coming this way.

Between here and the lift a house has set out pray stones, inviting you to put out your own prayer. 

Back at the lift the water flow over the spill weir down to the weaver was as fast as I have ever seen. Back at Wincham we could see Wincham Brook was more than full of water from the recent rains.

Passing Orchard Marina in the sun as opposed to driving rain I could see there are a couple inlets, so maybe they are going to have workshops etc.

Just to give you all a smile, I have seen ventilation mushrooms in chrome, highly polished brass, painted red with spots like toadstools but I have never seen them with eyes and legs like spiders.

Repair work is taking place on the railway bridge so the towpath is closed off, the strange thing is the barriers are miles from any access or exit from the towpath and where the access is there is no large “Closed Towpath” signs, so you could walk a mile and then come up against a dead end from ether the north or the south. I can’t find anything about it on the C&RT web site.

Now the excitement of the day first I rescued a drowning plastic, road works sign, I had seen the poor thing floundering 2 days ago when we passed. Just ahead on the corner I could see the orange netting on the towpath so I knew this was its rightful home. As I  rounded the bend I could see their work flat completely blocking the canal, so now after rescuing a sign I have to rescue a work boat, pull it back to the side and re-moor it, thankfully the stake, not a mooring pin like us leisure boaters use was still attached to the rope. 

My little club hammer made little impact trying to drive it fully home. The River Dane looked brown and angry as it surged under the Croxton Aqueduct. That will make things interesting for boats on the River Weaver at Northwich where it hits the main river at 90°.

Ahead of us was just Big Lock before our mooring for the night, we were able to share this with a Black Prince hire boat heading to Chester and as they had a crew of 8 they should make good progress through the locks ahead of them

 

Today's Journey 

20.3 miles, 1 locks in 6.75 hours.

  Map courtesy of Waterway Routes https://www.waterwayroutes.co.uk/

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE All of the above is my personal opinion and does not represent  those of any official body or notices. All comments made to this blog are checked for spam before being accepted any made anonymously are accepted but if you leave a name I could say thanks.