Friday 21st October

Our last morning on the cut. I wish the sun had been shining but it was a very grey day. We set off to retrace our steps to King’s Bromley Marina and arrived there about 10.30am. We went on to our mooring and walked up to the office where we were warmly greeted by Martin (the new manager) and Sue. Richard asked if he could do some painting and they suggested that we move to the maintenance pontoon so we untied and moved again! In fact it is much better for us as a) Millie can go ashore easily and b) we can get the car right beside the boat when Victoria arrives tomorrow. We will go back onto our own pontoon on Sunday before we leave to go home. I’m not sure how I feel about going home. Yesterday I was all for it and couldn’t wait but I felt very sad as we approached the marina this morning. But it was cold today and I know it will be nicer at home! Also SCS phoned and said that our new sofa and chair are going to be delivered on Tuesday :-)

Millie was reading the blog last night and said that I had only put one photo of her on it this year – so today’s photos are just for her!

Memorable moments (in chronoligical order). Victoria being on board with us and making new friends – Steve and Diane in April. Our visit to Birmingham in July. July 28th when we lost Millie in the morning and had a badly fouled prop in the afternoon. My break in Worcester at the beginning of August with Victoria. My Mother and Stepfather on board both Mary H and Cecilia as they were tied together going up the Severn. Our “holiday” with Penny and Jim. Our race to the Caldon Canal to meet Robert and Laura and of course their stay with us for a much too short a time. The Anderton Boat Lift and our lovely visit to the River Weaver and finally meeting up with my cousins in Cheshire. However I think the most memorable moment of the year has to go to Millie when Richard knocked her off the side deck into the River Severn.

Statistics for the month. 154 miles and 67 locks (it felt like more than that!) Which makes our total for 2011 – 718 miles and 594 locks in 109 days. Last year we averaged 8.1 miles and 5.7 locks a day whereas this year its been 6.6 miles and 5.5 locks. About the same locks but less miles – interesting.

So readers that is it for 2011. We will be back in April 2012 but until then a Happy Christmas to you all!!

Thursday 20th October

We both woke up early this morning so I got up to make a cup of tea and witnessed a beautiful sunrise – unfortunately the photos didn’t come out very well :-) I nearly tripped over a huge mouse that Millie had left for us! It’s quite rare that we get a whole one but I’ve been saying to her recently when we have gone off to the shops that I would try and buy her a mouse – I think this morning’s offering was to say “forget it I’ll get my own”! We stopped at Haywood Junction for water and I walked to the Canal Side Farm Shop, I wondered if it would be any good but it was amazing! It had a wonderful array of fruit and veg, delicatessen and butchers as well as homemade cakes, jams, breads – I could go on for ever! I had been looking for something to put my eggs in and found a lovely little basket :-) (I love baskets!) We also walked into Great Haywood which is a lovely village right on Shugborough’s doorstep. The bridge in the photo is Essex Bridge is a Grade I listed packhorse bridge over the River Trent. It was built in 1550 by the Earl of Essex for Queen Elizabeth I so that when she visited the estate she could go hunting in the woodland around the local village. It is now the longest remaining packhorse bridge in England with 14 of its original 40 span arches left. We will go back to Great Haywood and spend a bit more time there at some stage. We were soon passing through Rugeley with the four cooling towers of the power station looming over us. Rugeley seemed to be pleasant but it was all done on tick-over as there were so many moored boats at the bottom of gardens. Between Rugeley and Armitage (where the Armitage Shanks factory is) is a strange rocky cutting which used to be the site of Armitage Tunnel or Plum Pudding Tunnel but mining subsidence necessitated opening out of the tunnel to what it is today. Before we knew where we were we had arrived at King’s Bromley Marina but decided to carry on to Fradley Junction so that we can say that we have completed the whole of the Trent & Mersey Canal! We had three locks to do but then found there was no mooring at Fradley so went back through two of them and moored up for the night.

Wednesday 19th October

I actually set the alarm last night as we needed an early start today. When Richard got up to make the tea Millie was out which is most unusual but when I got up I called her and she bounded out of the wood – she obviously thought it was a nice Millie-place! We went and collected our milk and daily paper and set off – 12 miles and 12 locks, we hadn’t done as many locks and miles since doing this same stretch in September. We went through eight locks and pulled over at Midland Chandlers and got inside before it poured down. After lunch we set off again. We passed the Moat House Hotel at Acton Trussell which is a Grade II* listed building. It sits on a raised mound which was constructed in the Norman time and is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Around 6,000 moated sites are known in England, the majority of which served as prestigious aristocratic and seigniorial residences with the provision of a moat as a status symbol, rather than a practical military defence. The peak period during which moated sites were built was between c1250 and 1350. Examination of the timber frame during refurbishing of the Manor points to a date around 1320. It is said that James Brindley actually used the moat for a few yards when building the canal. When we came this way last time we passed through Tixall Wide and decided that it was rather nice so that was our goal for the day. We arrived in lovely sunshine but there was a cold, cold wind. We moored overlooking the Elizabethan gatehouse that I talked about back in September but have now discovered that Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned there for two weeks in 1586.

Tuesday 18th October

It wasn’t too bad a night in the end but Richard has restless legs which kept him awake for an hour or so and we didn’t wake up until 9am! Today we left the Shropshire Union which in some ways I’m sad about and in others I’m pleased about. Obviously I’m glad to have left all the cuttings behind and the Shroppie ledge which did cause us problems with mooring but it is a lovely canal, well maintained and every official mooring place has rings to moor up with. The Shropshire Union Canal Society should be applauded for all their hard work – I don’t think there is another canal with as many picnic areas with tables and barbecue stands and masses of benches for weary walkers to rest on. The last lock on the Shroppie is only a 6” drop – hardly seems worth the effort! So back onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire and the Pendeford Rockin’ which you may remember from a month ago. I was down below when Richard called me up saying that he might have a problem – I assumed he meant another boat was coming along the narrows but it was a swan family which he was worried about squashing! At Coven Heath we passed from West Midlands to Staffordshire – you wouldn’t have noticed but I bet the residents of Coven Heath are pleased that they don’t live in the drab sounding county of West Midlands. I spent most of the morning down below working on a Tesco delivery shopping list for when we get home – we also have visitors coming so I’ve planned meals for the whole week and ordered the food :-) We passed Hatherton Junction where the Hatherton Branch used to come in. The canal was opened in 1841 to bring coal from Cannock - the last load came down in 1949. We pulled over at Gailey for the night and walked down to the lovely Roundhouse Canal Shop. I asked the lady if she would have any milk in the morning and she said yes and would we like a daily paper too – I felt as if we were in a hotel!!

Monday 17th October

Well I think we have more or less finished with the cuttings – thank goodness!! Lapley Wood seemed to go on for ages – in fact I think that when they got to this part of the canal they ran out of names as that is the only on today that was named! We stopped in Brewood (pronounced Brood) and wandered into town. We came across a lovely shop, Coopers, who had excellent vegetables, delicatessen, interesting jars and prepacked meat but it looks really good. I can thoroughly recommend it. After lunch we moved down the canal to just south of Chillington Wharf where we stopped for the night. We came across a couple of interesting bridges/aqueducts today. The first was the Stretton Aqueduct over the A5 which was built in 1832. It must be very strange for drivers going 60 mph down the A5 to look up and see a narrowboat slowly crossing above them! The second was the ornate Avenue Bridge which carried the driveway to Chillington Hall. This type of ornate bridge was constructed for powerful landowners who would only grant permission for a canal to cross their land if such a structure was built for them. Chillington Hall has been owned by the Giffard family since the 12th Century. I suggested to Richard that he change his name to Giffard (or even Giffard-Hall) – much posher!!

Sunday 16th October

Back in September I mentioned about seeing a small motor cruiser that had seven bags of insulation tied to its bow well we saw it again this morning! I am now more than ever convinced that it must be for buoyancy! We had a little bit of drizzle which wasn’t forecast but it soon stopped. We went through Cowley Tunnel – the only tunnel on the Shroppie though at only 81 yards one can hardly call it a tunnel! Even more cuttings today - Chamberlain’s Covert and Rye Hill cutting, plus a few smaller ones that aren’t named. There was another former Cadbury milk depot at Lord Talbot’s Wharf at High Onn. We passed a former World War II aerodrome which was opened in 1941 and became one of the RAF’s largest training units – it is now a pig farm! There were two wartime dramas – one being an American Thunderbolt which crash landed in the canal and the other when a narrowboat carrying an uncovered load of shiny aluminium on a moonlit night was attack by a German aircraft which dropped a bomb that exploded less than a hundred yards from the lock! We pulled over at Wheaton Aston at lunchtime and once again didn’t move on. I could get quite used to these lazy afternoons :-)

Saturday 15th October

A fantastic autumn morning with the sun streaming into the bedroom – I could have stayed at Goldstone all day however we needed to press on. Millie obviously felt the same as me as she didn’t want to come aboard and set off – Richard had to chase her back in the end! After Goldstone there seemed to be one dark cutting after the other – Shebdon, Grub Street, Shelmore plus two smaller ones without names. I got quite depressed even though the sun was shining through the trees :-( At Knighton there once was a Cadbury’s creamery where until as late as 1961 Cadbury’s collected Shropshire milk (in Cadbury's milk boats) for processing for their Bourneville factory. The milk and chocolate ‘crumb’ was carried by canal from when the creamery first opened in the 1800’s. The last boatman to trade was nicknamed “Chocolate Charlie” – he carried the final cargo from Knighton to Bourneville in 1961. Grub Street Cutting is 80 feet deep and has a very unusual double arched bridge with a telegraph pole set into it. Apparently there used to be a whole line of poles along most of the length of the canal. A black-eyed, monkey like creature is supposed to haunt the same bridge ever since a boatman was killed there in the 19th Century. We moored up for the day in Gnosall Heath (pronounced Nosall and not like a Gnu!) It was a lovely afternoon so we went for a walk then I sat on the back deck and read. There are two canalside pubs in Gnosall but we chose the Navigation and had an extremely good meal there.

Friday 14th October

“Operation De-Flea” starts today! I had changed the sheets on the bed last week but had stashed them away to take home to wash but they had to come out and be washed. We have worked out a plan of action so today is day one!!! We set off for a short day, just long enough for the washing machine to do it’s bit and then stopped so the washing could dry . There are five locks at Tyrley which we seemed to fly through and then pulled over for water – all this washing will deplete our water supply quite fast! The approach to Tyrley Bottom Lock is most unusual as it appears to be blasted through rock, however it is very attractive. At the top lock there is a field of, what looked like, tall rush like grass. Richard was chatting to a BW man who said that it was Elephant Grass. I Googled it and it appears that the crop grows up to 10 feet high and can be made into a biofuel and sold to power stations. Gardeners may well know it as Miscanthus. After Tyrley is Woodseaves Cutting - a very narrow and dark passage which was blasted through sandstone. During construction there were frequent avalanches and even today lumps can fall off into the canal which is why a 2 mph speed limit is imposed. I was very pleased when we emerged into a wider and nicer part of the canal and we moored up at Goldstone Wharf. We spent the afternoon de-fleaing the boat. Richard was down on his hands and knees hoovering every square centimetre of the carpet and soft furnishings while I washed down all the surfaces and sorted out my “basket” where I keep all our papers and my handbag lives – Millie likes to sleep in it. Everything that could be was then taken outside and sprayed, including my handbag! Fortunately it was a lovely afternoon so things were put on the roof to air and de-smell! The bed was hoovered and the sheets changed. We then vacated the boat for a while – Millie had already gone walk about so didn’t have to be put in her basket on the roof! Everything was put back and we moved back inside. We noticed that we were alone – when we arrived at Goldstone we took the last place on the mooring but gradually each boat left and no-one came back in the evening – I wonder if the word got round about our predicament! It was a fantastic evening so I took the opportunity to take some photos.

Thursday 13th October

We only had a half mile trip today into Market Drayton. There was plenty of mooring and it all looked nice until we walked up into the town. Everywhere looked so drab and gloomy even though the sun was shining. There are a lot of empty shops and the ones that are occupied look tatty and unkempt. We sat on a bench for a while but I’m afraid the place depressed me so we didn’t hang about. However on a brighter note Market Drayton has been the home of gingerbread for the last 200 years. In the past, not content with rum in their secret recipe, decadent Draytonians dunked it in port. It is reputed to have curiously restorative powers – maybe I should get some! There is a market on a Wednesday – I wish we had been here for that. There was a great fire 1651 which destroyed almost 70% of the town. It was started at a bakery, and quickly spread through the timber buildings. The Buttercross in the centre of the town still has a bell at the top for people to ring if there was ever another fire. We stayed in Market Drayton as we had to take Millie to the vet. She appears to have a bad dose of fleas L I’ve been applying Frontline flea stuff monthly since I met Richard but I had heard that cats can become immune to it however the vet said that Frontline is the best treatment. She reckons that we have so many fleas on thre boat that they are jumping on Millie biting her then dying from the chemicals! We have to wash all our bedding and towels, hoover, spray some revolting spray everywhere and vacate the boat – Millie will have to go in her basket on the roof!

Wednesday 12th October

Today we met a famous celebrity but more of that later! Blue sky and sunshine with white puffy clouds – I thought I must still be dreaming but it was real! We walked into Audlem and found a very quaint village but not much there. They advertise a butcher but he is closing up which leaves the usual shops - take-aways, paper shop, florist, Co-op and what looked like a rather nice delicatessen. There is also an excellent canal shop on the wharf which is in a converted mill. As we pulled away from our mooring it started to drizzle (thought it couldn’t last). There are 15 locks at Audlem and as we had already done 2 we had 13 left to attack. The locks are all fairly close together so it wasn’t too bad though most of the traffic was going our way so the locks were against us. At the top lock the lady who lives in the old lock keepers house was selling lovely cakes and fresh vegetables. I bought a few things including some wonderful carrots and broccoli straight out of the garden. We pulled over for lunch then set off to the 5 locks of the Adderley flight This time the traffic was both ways which is fact takes longer. At the top lock was another shop – Adderley Wharf Farm Shop - but this time a farm butchers though they also sold cakes and eggs. The cakes and eggs are for sale on the lock side but I had to walk to the farm for the meat. It’s all their own meat but I won’t go into details on here! Alison, the owner, was saying how surprised she was at the amount of boat traffic and this time of the year – I have to say that we have been quite surprised too. This is where we met Jack the sheep who was wandering along the towpath as if he owned the place – in fact it turns out that, as the local celebrity, he does – just don’t tell British Waterways! I watched him cross over the lock gates with my heart in my mouth but, of course, he does it all the time! Please click on this link and read about him – it’s a lovely story! (Photo courtesy of the Daily Mail) There are some attractive moorings at Adderley Wharf but we couldn’t get near the side as there was a concrete ledge so we kept going, checking the depth at the side at intervals. However this went on about two miles. We went through Betton Cutting which is supposed to be haunted by a shrieking spectre – working boatmen would avoid lingering there in the old days! As Richard was walking along the tow path with the boat hook he met someone who told him that the ledge is know as the Shroppie ledge and is a real pain! Fortunately not long after that we found a stretch where we could moor. Millie is becoming much braver now and today she came up on deck and even tried to jump up on the hatch door but because it was pushed right back she missed and fell – feet first of course. She has now got into the habit of going ashore as soon as we moor up instead of waiting until it gets dark.

Tuesday 11th October

Wow what a windy night. It was just as well I am used to sleeping in a sailing boat as we were rocking around like mad! We had put the plants in the front well yesterday afternoon which was just as well. It was blowing up the canal and straight through the air vents in the front doors and causing a nasty draft in the bedroom! I wedged some cushions over them which seemed to help. I was a bit worried about Millie in case a big gust knocked her into the canal but she was fine this morning and had left her mouse intestines on the back deck for a change! The wind had dropped a bit as we left our mooring and headed down to Hack Green. We wanted to visit the Hack Green Nuclear Bunker which was only a 200 yard walk from the canal. What I saw really affected me. Usually you see museums like this which are devoted to the World Wars but this was in my lifetime. In 1941 Hack Green, a site previously used as a bombing decoy site for the main railway centre at Crewe was chosen to become RAF Hack Green, to protect the land between Birmingham and Liverpool from hostile attack. Thus began the service of Hack Green and the airmen and women of Cheshire in the defence of the nation. Hack Green was one of 21 fixed radar stations in the country and one of only 12 fully equipped with searchlights and fighter aircraft control. In 1976 the abandoned site at Hack Green was purchased from the MOD by the Home Office Emergency Planning Division to be converted into a protected seat of government for Home Defence Region 10:2. It was cloaked in considerable secrecy over a five year period. At a cost reputed to be some £32 million, the original Rotor radar bunker was converted into a vast underground complex containing its own generating plant, air conditioning and life support, nuclear fallout filter rooms, communications, emergency water supply and all the support services that would be required to enable the 135 civil servants and military personnel to survive a sustained nuclear attack. The HQ became operational in 1984 and was responsible for a huge area from Cheshire in the south to Cumbria in the north. The HQ would have been headed by a Regional Commissioner who would have been an appointed civil servant or minister. Under the Emergency Powers Act he would govern his defence region, and neighbouring regions if other RGHQ's had been destroyed. He would attempt to marshal the remaining resources to put the region back on its feet and prepare for the re-establishment of national government. He was assisted by a network of County War Headquarters and the United Kingdom Warning & Monitoring Organisation. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the cold war ended and the bunker was de-classified in 1993. 1994 saw the systems in the bunker dismantled or de-commissioned and in 1998 it was sold. The museum started life as the private collection of curator Rodney Siebert, and was available to individuals and groups by appointment only – it was finally opened to the public in May 2004. A fascinating visit and I would recommend it to people but maybe not with young children. We returned to Mary H and cruised along to Audlem, up through two locks and moored up on the visitor moorings. Lots of locks to do tomorrow!!

Monday 10th October

It was quite a windy night but fortunately it was blowing up the canal and not sideways, so the plants stayed upright. We left Barbridge and started wending our way southwards towards Nantwich. We seemed to be lucky as it was quite bright over us but looked to be very black all around us! We stopped for water at Nantwich Basin, this used to be the junction of the Chester Canal and the Birmingham and Liverpool Canal. Telford built the Birmingham and Liverpool Canal high on an embankment round Nantwich at a terrific cost as the owners of Dorfold Hall refused to allow the canal to cross their land. The Chester Canal was completed in 1779 and the Birmingham and Liverpool in 1835 but the two merged in 1845 and this was followed in 1846 by the formation of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company. The photo of the horse (right) is the renowned Nantwich wooden horse which stands canal. It used to be lock gates until two artists, John Merrill (who recycled the wood) and Julian Taylor (who did the iron work) came along and produced the very solid sculpture. We moored up on Telford’s embankment and walked into Nantwich. It was quite a long walk down Welsh Row but there are some lovely black and white properties along there, I think the Cheshire Cat Hotel was my favourite and was built in the early 17th Century. It looked as if someone had tried to push it over (I didn’t have my camera with me so pinched this photo off the internet). We did our shopping and wandered around then back to Mary H where I did more research on our trip to Italy :-)

Sunday 9th October

There was some sunshine when we woke up this morning ☼ Barry and Sue were coming at lunchtime so I took the opportunity to make some carrot soup, do some housework and ring Penny – the phone signal at Barbridge was hopeless so I was on the deck. When I went back down below Millie was sitting on my keyboard and had managed to turn the screen through 90º I had to stand the laptop on its side and look on the internet for a fix! I managed to find one and there is no lasting damage though Millie sulked as she got a good telling off! Sue arrived bearing gifts – well my camera lead. Thank you Sue for being a postal service. They hadn’t seen the boat before so had a quick look round and then took us to The Dysart Arms at Bunbury. We had a lovely lunch so will definitely go there again next year when we pass through :-) They came back for a cuppa then headed off home to Crewe. I have to admit that I had a sleep then caught up with the blogs.

The blogs are back!!

Thank you to my cousin's wife, Sue, who brought over my new camera cable today :-)

Saturday 8th October

A better morning though there was the odd rogue shower. We didn’t have far to go today and only two locks. The Middlewich Branch was opened in 1833 and was owned by the Chester Canal Company. Our destination was Barbridge Junction – the junction of the Middlewich Arm with the Shropshire Union itself. I have two cousins who live locally – so an ideal location to meet up with them. We hadn’t been tied up for long when Millie went ashore, dashed into the hedge and came back with a mouse – honestly it was all over within about three minutes!! The afternoon wasn’t a very pleasant one – wet, grey and dreary so we lit the fire and got on with a few jobs inside. We were moored up opposite the Barbridge Inn and had arranged to meet Philip and Dawn in there. We are a lovely chat, albeit much too short, then headed back to Mary H. I didn't take any photos today so here is one I took a couple of days ago on the River Weaver.

Friday 7th October

Yesterday we went as far north as we are going this year so today we are starting our journey southwards to our winter mooring :-) I have to say though that I think I’m ready to go home but I think the weather has a lot to do with that. The wind that dominated yesterday had died down overnight so my plants were able to go back on the roof. As we left Anderton Richard said that he thought we might well miss the showers that were forecast when the heavens opened even though the sky was brilliant blue! We passed a herd of young cattle having a paddle – they did look odd! We soon arrived back in Middlewich, had lunch and walked into town to Tesco. As we set off to go up the next three locks the heavens opened and it just poured down. I was doing the locks and got rather wet. We filled up with diesel at King’s Lock then headed west. The Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union is connected to the Trent and Mersey via a small stretch of canal known as the Wardle Branch Canal. This was originally owned by the Trent and Mersey and caused major problems when planning the Middlewich Branch as huge tolls were to be imposed by the owners of Wardle Lock. As a result in 1852 a diversion of 327 yards was proposed to avoid the lock and connect the Middlewich Branch to the Trent and Mersey elsewhere. This, however, never happened. There were two more locks to do and it rained while doing both of them :-( After the second lock we pulled over, we had had enough, and moored up for the night. While I have been writing today’s blog Millie has been lying on the table with her head on my arm – it is quite hard to type like this!

Thursday 6th October

A funny old day! I didn’t actually go ashore. I left Richard and Dave up on deck nattering away while we went up to Preston Brook Tunnel, turned round and headed back to Anderton and it was raining! I sat below and tried to sort out my camera. I had been having problems with the lead from the camera to the PC for a while and today it gave up the ghost. I had the same problem past year and had to get a new one. I went onto eBay and found one, within the UK, and who had a phone number so I could phone them. We are seeing my cousins this weekend so I wanted it delivered to Sue so that she could bring it with her on Sunday. The chap at Exprodirect was very helpful but I had to order it from his website and not from eBay to make sure I got it in time and had to pay double for it! But as it was only £2.99 it wasn’t too bad. I’m just waiting to hear from Sue to see if it has arrived. I also took the opportunity to do some research into a trip we are making to Italy next year. Dave and his wife are great train travelers and he gave us all sorts of ideas about letting the train take the strain in Italy. We got back to Anderton about 3.30pm and the boys went off to look at the lift exhibition (I had been before a few years ago when I was up this way with Penny and Jim). Dave left us about 4.30pm and we hunkered down with the fire lit as it was cold, wet and windy but we were snuggy inside.

Wednesday 5th October

When I opened the curtain this morning I saw cows and panicked! As there hadn’t been any sign of cows in the field last night we hadn’t worried about my plants but I was not extremely concerned that they might have eaten the plants during the night – but all was well :-) We had a fairly early start as we wanted to get down to the end of the river and then back to Anderton as we were booked on the last lift at 15.45. The countryside was quite open down to Frodsham. We went under the Sutton Swing Bridge carrying A56 which, as a child, I travelled along many times as my aunt used to live in Frodsham. I even remember having to wait at the swing bridge but don’t remember any ships going through! After the swing bridge is a viaduct for the railway and then the M56 bridge. After that the huge Weston Point chemical works. The earliest reference I can find to a plant being on the site is 1840 when the landscape was dominated by the giant chimneys (the largest being about 100 metres high) of the two soap and alkali works (Hazlehursts and Johnson) which were of national importance. By 1863 Johnsons had switched from soap manufacture to heavy chemicals and changed their name to Runcorn Soap & Alkali Co. Ltd. After the difficulties of the 1890s the chemical industry expanded again and The Salt Union built a vacuum plant at Weston Point. In 1916 the company became associated with Brunner Mond & Co. and eventually four chemical companies merged to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1926. In 1939 the Salt Union became the Salt Division of I.C.I. and has remained the largest single employer with about 6,500 in the 1970's. In the 1980's the number employed in the chemical industry began to decline rapidly, and in the 1990's I.C.I. sold its factories in Runcorn to INEOS. All this is a long way from when my two cousins and I used to sit on the top of Frodsham Hill and yell ICICI – get it? Well we were only about 12 at the time I guess! We carried on to Weston Marsh Lock where the river goes into the Manchester Ship Canal. It was very windy down there so we didn't linger and went back up the river at a rate of knots with a strong wind behind us. Upstream of Dutton Locks are two interesting craft. One is a sunken fishing boat called Chica and the other a lovely tug called Kennet. I asked the lock keeper about both and she said that Chica had been a fishing boat which was converted into a hotel boat. She ran between Liverpool and the Anderton Boat Lift and spent the winter moored up at Dutton Lock. As with many wooden boats Chica leaked a bit. She had a wind powered bilge pump but in March 1993 there was a period of about 10 days or so when there was no wind which meant that the generator had not been able to top up the batteries sufficiently and the pump stopped working and within ½ hour Chica had sunk. The tug Kennet was built in 1931for the Thames Conservancy and was used for many years towing maintenancers on the river above Oxford. In 1973, she was rescued from an Iver scrap yard, starting a Thames pleasure craft life, based at Windsor and visiting Henley. For many years she was loaned to Gloucester Docks and Sharpness Canal Museum until she was sold in 2008 to Tim Leech who owns Dutton Dry Dock, near Preston Brook on the Trent and Mersey but who lives on the River Weaver. We were booked on the last lift at Anderton and had arranged to meet Richard’s friend Dave there. We were a little early so went up to Northwich to empty the toilet and get rid of rubbish and then went back to the lift. We shared the lift with another boat and seemed to get up much quicker than coming down!! Dave, who is with us for 24 hours, met us at the top and we moored up just outside the lift. We went to the Stanley Arms for dinner and had an extremely good meal but they could do with sorting out their wine!

Unexpected blog break!

Normal blogs will resume on Sunday when I get a new lead for my camera!!

Tuesday 4th October

A lovely peaceful night. There was only one other boat above Vale Royal Locks with us. I was asking the lock keeper as we went down how many boats actually go through the lock and use the top part of the river and he said that not many do. Most go as far as the lock and then turn round – what a waste to go so far but not carry on and see how lovely it is. Hunt’s Locks were busy with three narrow boats in the small lock! We stopped in Northwich to make our final foray to the Co-op – this time we found a short cut, pity we didn’t find it before! As we returned to Mary H after our shopping trip the town swing bridge started to open as a large barge was waiting to go through. After lunch we set off back down towards the Anderton Lift but this time we went past and headed downstream. Once we passed the grotty industrial part of the river we moved into some lovely countryside. Saltersford Locks were next followed by Dutton Locks. Both these locks use their large lock for everyday use as the smaller ones are no longer working. In the 1980s as many as two ships a day were using the river to go up to the chemical works so the large locks were electrified and as the number of working narrow boats demised on the River the smaller locks were allowed to deteriorate. Up until 1999 there were still two ships a week using the river. Below Dutton Locks is the Dutton railway viaduct, which was built by Joseph Locke and George Stephenson for the Grand Junction Railway. A civic celebration was held on its completion, as there had been no deaths or serious injuries to the workers during its construction. The viaduct is now grade II listed. The landscape after Dutton Locks became more wooded but with the sun shining through it was beautiful. Our destination for the day was the Devil’s Garden. We weren’t too sure why it is so called but one of the lock keepers told me that it’s so called as the plants from boats mysteriously disappear! However she also added that there are some hungry cows living in the field where the boats moor! Millie thought that the spot was wonderful and played in the field leaping over thistles and being a kitten again :-)

Monday 3rd October

A leisurely morning and some shopping then we headed upstream. The locks are double locks with one large one and one huge one! The lock keeper at the first set of locks (Hunts Locks) told me that the smaller of the locks puts 140,000 gallons of water down the river and the larger one 500,000 gallons! The second set of locks (Vale Royal Locks) is the top lock on the river is only using its enormous lock at present so works on a timed basis so that water isn’t wasted. It has to be one of the biggest locks I have ever been in - there was another boat in with us and we were tied up together but we still looked lost! The dimensions of the lock-chamber are 220' long x 42'6” wide, with 15' of water over the sills. The gates are still powered by water-driven Pelton Wheels though one of the lock keepers has to give it a helping hand nowadays. We carried on upstream to the Newbridge Swing Bridge where we thought we would have to turn round as the bridge was too low, but we inched along and got under with only the solar lights being knocked :-) As we went on we could taste salt and came across the Winsford Rock Salt Mine which is Britain's oldest working mine. It lies almost 200m under the Cheshire countryside and has a fascinating h istory. Rock salt was first found in Northwich in 1670 but it wasn’t until 1844, when prospectors were looking for c oal with which to heat saltpans, that rock salt was discovered in Winsford. During the late 19th century the salt industry descended into chaos due to over-capacity. In 1888, Salt Union, which consisted of 66 salt operators from the area, was formed in an attempt to bring order to the market. However, with salt also being supplied from the Northwich Mines, the market remained over-supplied. Despite having mined out some one million tonnes of rock salt, the Winsford Mine was shut down in 1892. In 1928 the last mine in Northwich flooded, resulting in the re-opening of the Winsford Mine. The mine re-opened with technology on its side and rapid expansion of the mine began in the 1950’s due to the use of rock salt to de-ice the country’s expanding road network system. It has since grown steadily and, today, the mine at Winsford now stretches 5km east to west and 3 km north to south. We carried on to Winsford where British Waterways relinquishes ownership of the river. We could have carried on into Winsford Flash but it is very shallow and we didn’t fancy finding ourselves grounded! We turned round and headed back upstream mooring just above Vale Royal Locks. We had a very strange neighbour requesting a meal! I was talking to a passer-by who said that there had been a Canada Goose and a Greylag swimming around together over the summer and she assumed that this must be the offspring!

Sunday 2nd October

I got up to go to the loo about 12.30am and looked out of the window to see the Swan family swimming past us – I thought it was rather late to have such a young family out and the photo I took this morning at 10.30am shows that I was right – dirty rotten stops outs! We woke up to a grey day – not what we were used to or what we expected :-( In fact while we eating breakfast it started to rain a little. We set off in drizzle (the forecast was for the last nice day today) and I was down below working on the blog when I started to smell the Northwich Chemical Works :-( It really was awful. We actually passed a hire boat moored up just before the works – you would have thought that they could have found somewhere better! It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Anderton Boat Lift. The lift was designed by Edwin Clark and built in 1875. The lift was the world’s first and was built to speed up the movement of cargoes carrying salt, coal and clay between the River Weaver and the Trent & Mersey Canal. The 50ft height difference between the two waterways was a constant problem and Clark’s solution was to use a revolutionary new system of hydraulics which could transport canals boats between the two waterways without the need for loading and unloading. By 1904 a major overhaul was needed but the use of river water has caused serious corrosion to the lift’s hydraulics. The hydraulic rams were removed and a massive assembly of shafts, gears, weights, wheels and pulleys were erected over the lift. With the addition of an electric motor the modified lift was completed in 1908. The lift was closed in 1983 after serious corrosion was discovered during a routine inspection. By this stage the lift was a Scheduled Ancient Monument but it laid silent for nearly 20 years until a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund secured £3.3 million towards the £7 million cost of restoration. The main work commenced in March 2000 and finished in March 2002. The lift is now back to its original working order using hydraulic operation with the 1908 structure and pulley wheels retained as a static monument. We gingerly motored into a holding area and a large guillotine gate shut us in. Once that was shut another, in front of us, was raised and we moved forward into one of the tanks (caisson). Once that gate was shut we started our descent. Each caisson is supported on a single giant ram which is hydraulically connected to the ram on the other caisson so as one goes up the other goes down. Large pumps in the building below the aqueduct pump the hydraulic oil from one cylinder to the other lowering the upper caisson and raising the other. It is an amazing feat of engineering and a fascinating way of going from one waterway to another! All too soon we were out onto the River Weaver and heading towards Northwich. We moored up just after the town swing bridge just in time as the rain came down with a vengeance :-( Richard lit the fire so that we felt snuggy but before we knew where we were we had all the doors and windows open as we were far too hot!

Saturday 1st October

The time came to leave Middlewich, Millie and I had been very happy there but were looking forward to moving on. We went through Big Lock and down to the water point to fill up – I’d worked hard to conserve with water and had managed nicely. The canal became interesting – overgrown in places and big wide areas (flashes) in others. The wide areas are formed by subsidence due to salt mining. In one of the flashes there used to be a number of submerged wrecks of abandoned narrowboats. In the 1950s British Waterways scuttled a number of surplus narrowboats in various place throughout the system. In recent years all the wrecks have been raised and taken off for restoration, as the guide book says, one generation’s cast-offs become the next’s prized possessions! We went under Hell’s Kitchen and Murder Bridges (!) then pulled over for lunch at Whatcroft flash and, as it was so lovely we never moved on :-) The only neighbours we had were Mr. & Mrs. Swan with their four children Down, Upping, Lake and Flanders (you have to be of a certain age to understand the last one!) who lived on the tow path. During the afternoon a father and his 12 year old son (well approximately 12) came past the boat on their bikes. The father inched his way past the family but the son was having none of it. It didn’t matter how much encouragement the father gave his offspring he was not going to go past. So Lady Mary H to the rescue!! I went up with some bread and encouraged the m other into the water b ut the father wasn’t going to get wet so I enticed him away from the edge of the canal and into the hedge so the young boy could get past. Up to this point I thought what a wimp the boy was but to tell the truth I was scared stiff – that swan was huge out of the water!!! Millie just loved the spot and was out and about all afternoon coming back every now and again just to make sure we hadn’t left without her :-)