September Cruise - Day Twenty

A much longer day today, made slower by people who kept pulling out in front of us. We left Tixall Wide at 8.20, and it was a while before we saw another moving boat. Then they came streaming in the opposite direction, usually at bridge holes. We had boats in front of us at every lock, so everything seemed to take quite a while. At Park Gate Lock, we had a five minute shower of rain.

It was lunchtime by the time we reached Penkridge, so we filled with water and got rid of the rubbish, then moved over to the other side of the canal for lunch. Just as we were setting off again, a Countrywide Cruisers hire boat winded, so we were second in line for the lock again. It meant we had to turn every lock up to Gailey. By the time we got to Rodbaston Lock the sun had come out, the temperatures had gone up, and a couple of layers had to come off. But the colour of the sky behind suggested that not everywhere was enjoying the sunshine.

Rodbaston Lock is right next to the M6, and there's a sign saying that Stoke on Trent is 24 miles, and Manchester 64. It's taken us since Sunday to get from Stoke, and it's a week since we were in Manchester!

We had one of the latest finishes of this holiday, not stopping until gone 5.30. We're tied at Coven Heath.

17 miles, 12 locks. (245, 188)

September Cruise - Day Nineteen

We had a fairly relaxed start to the day as we knew we didn't have far to go. But we still found ourselves slipping away from our mooring in Stone at 8.30. There were two boats in front of us at the first lock, with nothing coming up. But in the two and a half miles to the next lock we passed ten boats going the other way. At Hoo Mill Lock, a motor and butty pair were coming up, and it was fascinating to see the butty being pulled into the lock on a very long line, slowed by opening a top paddle, and then towed away on a long line. Both the water points at Great Haywood were occupied, so we turned onto the Staffs and Worcs Canal, and moored at Tixall Wide. There were very few boats here, so we have a prime spot with a great view of the Elizabethan gatehouse on the far side of the wide.



We had lunch, then walked back to the junction and visited the farm shop and the shop in the village. Then we walked across Essex Bridge into the Shugborough Estate. At £12 each to go into the house, we decided to give it a miss; but we carried on up the footpath through the estate, which is now owned by the National Trust. It's a pleasant enough walk with some great views of the house, but the number of signs telling you not to do things is perhaps a little over the top.



10 miles, 4 locks. (228, 176)

September Cruise - Day Eighteen

Westport Lake proved to be a quiet enough mooring, in spite of the road noise which I assume comes from the M6. The first boat heading north went past at about 7.15, clearly eager to be first through the tunnel. We set off south at around 8, and were at the top of the Stoke locks an hour later. The second lock down now has a notice on it, warning of leaking walls. We already knew about this problem having been up the locks on our outward journey: a couple of boats had told us they'd had their bedrooms or bathrooms flooded. This is the view of the water gushing out of the wall, seen from above.



At the bottom of the locks we passed The Silver Kroner, and had a quick shouted conversation with the owner, Steve. It's actually not the first of my Canal Boat review boats that we've seen: we passed Fizzical Attraction moored on the Macc on Saturday.

At the Meaford Locks, the sun came out. We also met a boat at every lock, which made life easier. Contractors have started work repairing the collapsed towpath below the second lock. We stopped for lunch near Roger Fuller's yard, then it was down the Stone locks. We stopped for water below the bottom lock, then as we were moving off we heard shouting from the towpath. It was Elsie and Eric from Bendigedig returning from a shopping trip. We moored up just beyond the very full town moorings, then went back to Bendigedig where we were invited on board for a cup of tea. It was nice to hear about Elsie and Eric's travels. We then went into town for some shopping. Quite an early finish for us, but because of our change of route we have plenty of time to get back to base.

12 miles, 14 locks. (218, 172)

September Cruise - Day Seventeen

Time for Adrian's colleague Alex to go home today. She got a taxi at 9amfrom the aqueduct in Congleton to Macclesfield station, then on to Manchester. In about the same time, we had completed the five miles to the Hall Green stop lock. This one had a drop of about a foot.

It was just after 11am when we moored up near the aqueduct at Red Bull, and walked down the steps to the Trent and Mersey to do some washing at the BW services. We used the time to do a bit of cleaning of the boat. We then had lunch and were ready to set off again at 2pm, to make the short journey to Hardings Wood Juntion. Originally, we'd planned to turn north here, to complete the northern half of the Four Counties Ring. But the closure of the Shroppie means we're having to re-trace our steps back to Norbury Junction. So it was a right turn to the northernportal of the Harecastle Tunnel.

We had to wait about forty minutes for a boat coming north, then set off as the second boat in a convoy of two. The southbound journey through the tunnel seemed very different from the northbound trip just over a week ago. I was very conscious of not being able to see the end, and was much more aware of the changes in height and width of the bore. We saw the doors open for the boat in front, then as they'd clearly been going faster than us, the doors closed again with a resounding clang. As we moved south, the noise from the fans got louder and louder. We seemed quite close to the doors when they swung open. The trip through the tunnel had taken just over 40 minutes.

We moored at around 4pm at Westport Lake, on the northern edge of Stoke. We went for a walk round the lake. There's an impressive new visitor centre which is currnetly surrounded by fencing while landscape work is completed. On returning to the boat, a man from the boat in front asked if we were leaving, as he was planning to run his engine in gear for a while to charge his batteries, and there would be quite a flow. Adrian reminded him that this is against BW byelaws (which was apparently news to him). Anyway, he hasn't turned his engine on yet, so we can only assume that he's waiting until after 8pm, which is also against the rules.

9 miles, 1 lock. (206, 158)

September Cruise - Day Sixteen

Bollington proved to be a very quiet mooring. We left in overcast but fairly warm conditions at around 8.30. We were soon passing Hovis Mill at Macclesfield.

The scenery south of Macclesfield is fantastic, with damatic hills and deep valleys. When we got to Bosley locks, a boat was just coming out the top lock so we went down and stopped in the long pound for lunch. The locks are picturesque, very rural, and much easier than Marple. They're deep, and made of huge stone blocks. We passed a procession of OwnerShips boats coming up

We've moored at Congleton, just past the aqueduct. It's a reasonable place for Alex to get back to Manchester in the morning.

14 miles, 12 locks. (198, 157)

September Cruise - Day Fifteen

From one extreme to the other -- 43 locks over the past two days, but none today. We left Bugsworth at 9 and made the short journey to the junction where we moored for a re-stocking trip to Tesco, which is right next to the canal. We carried on to the basin at Whaley Bridge to turn. Our progress back to Marple seemed a little better than yesterday; we only ran aground a couple of times. One particularly problematic place is just south of Furness Vale marina, where a willow edging has been put in on the off side. It has burst into life, creating an unruly willow hedge.

At Marple Junction, we turned onto the Macclesfield Canal, had lunch on the visitor moorings and then moved to the other side of the canal to fill with water. Setting off again, progress down the Macc was very slow, with the bridge holes particularly shallow. We stopped for services at The Trading Post next to Braidbar boats, where we had a chat with Bruce and Sheila from Sanity.

We stopped for the night at Bollington, just past Clarence Mill.

We're moored right next to a very high aqueduct. From the canal level, the road looks a very long way down, but it's only from the road level that the real scale of the aqueduct becomes clear.

14 miles, 0 locks. (184, 145)

September Cruise - Day Fourteen

Another day with lots of locks. We set off at 8.30, went through two tunnels, and then crossed the Marple Aqueduct, which has a railway viaduct along side.

Then it was straight into the flight of 16 locks, which raise the canal more than 200 feet. Unfortunately we had another boat right in front of us, which meant each lock had to be emptied before we could use it. The other boat was an older couple, and I ended up setting a lock ahead for them, then returning to set the lock they'd just left. Alex and Adrian worked Debdale through. About half way up the flight, we started meeting boats coming down. It's a very pretty flight, although the paddle gear is very stiff, particularly on the bottom gates. But there are unusual locks, such as the two which are right on the road, and fantastic views of the pennine hills.

At the top, we failed to find anywhere deep enough to moor, so we had lunch on the move. We aldo ran aground half a dozen times. Regular boaters in this area tell us the water level is five or six inches lower than it should be. So it was slow going to Bugsworth Basin, a restored trans-shipment area which used to be used to transport lime. It's a fascinating area, and we went for a walk around the various arms. This evening, we went for dinner at The Navigation, a pub once owned by Pat Phoenix, aka Elsie Tanner from Coronation Street.

10 miles, 16 locks. (170, 145)

September Cruise - Day Thirteen

A remarkable day's boating, which was very hard work. Fortunately, we have additional crew, in the form of Adrian's colleague Alex, to help. We set off at 7am, straight into the Rochdale Nine locks. These are wide locks right through the heart of Manchester. The paddles are stiff, many don't work, some balance beams are short and need a chain-pulley system to open the gates. The route goes right along Canal Street.

The eighth lock is in a fairly grim setting, underneath a building.


Once the Rochdale Nine were out of the way, in a pretty good time of two and a half hours, we turned onto the Ashton Canal, straight into 18 further locks. Fortunately, there were lots of boats coming down which made things easier. Some of the route of the canal is being gentrified, but other areas are very run down, and parts of the canal were filthy and full of rubbish, far worse than any other canal we've been on -- including parts of the BCN backwaters. At Lock 10, the water level was so low I couldn't get the boat in the lock. We had to let some water down to give us sufficient depth. At the top lock we got something round the prop. We stopped for lunch at the top (it was 1.30 by this time), and Adrian checked the weed hatch, pulling out a pair of jeans, lots of string, and dozens of plastic bags.

The afternoon's boating was much less demanding: a lock free stretch onto the Peak Forest Canal. We turned at Portland Basin, and things immediately improved.

We moored for the night just beyond Bridge 9, and a quiet spot between Hyde and Romiley.

11 miles, 27 locks. (160, 129)

September Cruise - Day Twelve

Today we had the first rain of our trip. It started shortly after we set off at 8am, first as drizzle, then as we got closer to Manchester it turned to proper rain. The Bridgewater Canal quickly moves into suburbia, then there are long lines of moored boats through Sale. At Waters Meeting, where the canal splits, there's a huge container terminal. Then the canal passes Old Trafford.

Soon there are views of the Manchester Ship Canal, and Pomona Lock, which is the link between the two canals. Then we were at Castlefield. We stopped at the water point to fill the tank, and the "Water Womble" arrived. This widebeam barge cruises the Bridgewater Canal picking up rubbish. We had a chat with the crew - one of them confused Adrian by saying that the weather forecast for tomorrow was that it would be splitting the flags! We headed into the canal basin, turned, and moored up. It was raining heavily, so we dried out and had a change of clothes, by which time the rain had stopped.

We walked into town via the Rochdale Canal towpath, so we could check out some of the locks we'll be doing tomorrow. One section of Canal Street has already had the new fence fitted, to try to stop drunken people falling into the canal and drowning. I have to say, it doesn't look as bad as I'd feared, and certainly isn't as high as I'd expected.

We had lunch at Mr Thomas's Chop House, a fantastic Victorian pub, and then walked miles round the city centre. The weather had cleared up, and the sun was now out. This evening, we're joined by another crew member who'll be with us for a few days.


10 miles, 0 locks. (149, 102)