Bugsworth, Cheshire Ring & River Weaver
by Janet and Chris Hunter
Friday 22 September : Crew of Janet, Chris and daughter Elizabeth. Arrived 2.30 after 1 hour in road works in Stoke (avoid the A500!). Friendly boatyard, Good to see Rodbaston again as our last trip was last November. The interior was immaculately clean - thank you, Kelvin and Aly. Found my glasses that I had obviously left last November in the drawer. Managed to navigate out of the marina and set off northwards in the pouring rain - but it cleared fairly quickly. Moored at the bottom of Bosley locks in a beautiful evening.
The new fridge is smaller than the last and lacking in shelves - but I imagine we have no choice about keeping it. There is six inches above it and it appears to vent at the front, so could either put it on a plinth or put a shallow drawer above.
Steering vastly improved since last year. Would be nice if replacement prop removes the whine between 1200 and 1600 rpm but I don't feel it is essential.
7 miles.
Saturday : Cast off 9.30 and set off up the flight. Glorious weather and wonderful scenery. Could not find an anti-vandal key aboard so bought a couple at Macclesfield. Good small Co-op a couple of minutes walk from bridge 37. Through Bollington and moored beyond higher Poynton.
12 locks, 14 miles.
Sunday : Set off 10ish in the drizzle. Shopped Bridge 11 in High Lane - convenient CostCutter . Sun came out as we reached Marple and had a very pleasant trip up the Peak Forest to moor in a quiet Buxworth Basin. Bought a bag of coal from nb Alton - a working boat. Dinner in The Navigation - beer good but food definitely mediocre - but the pub is up for sale so maybe no-one cares.
9 miles.
Monday : Pottered back to Marple for lunch on board and then down the flight. Lower gate paddles are very heavy. BW lock keeper helping boats through lock 5 - very leaky bottom gates meant it was extremely difficult to open the top gates - apparently due for repair in this winter's stoppages. Moored at the bottom of the locks and walked with Elizabeth to Marple station for a train to London and work on Tuesday.
16 locks, 7 miles.
Tuesday : Quiet day on the lower Peak Forest. Only past one other boat. Spent a couple of hours in the sun between Romiley and Hyde overlooking the Tame, then moored for the night just before Portland basin - found a quiet spot just before the lift bridge.
6½ miles.
Wednesday : Very early start (for us!) at 7.30. some trepidation with stories of bandits and rubbish round the prop - but all the natives were friendly and no mechanical problems. Ashton canal locks fairly easy, but beware the two low bridges. The boat ahead lost its headlight but Rodbaston fitted underneath with no problems. Reached Piccadilly basin at 2pm - moorings looked decidedly unattractive. Continued down the Rochdale '9' - luckily in company with the boat that had preceded us down the Ashton. The Rochdale locks are heavy, with water pouring over the top of the gates as there are no sluices down the side. A number of the gates have no balance beams and you use a windlass to open and close them. Lock 85 is completely under a tower block - it feels like the entrance to the Styx. Parts of the stretch feel derelict, other parts are being regenerated. Castlefields basin (reached at 4.15) is open, quiet and interesting. We moored (on Chris Adams' advice) by the Grocers warehouse - was quiet and felt secure. It's only five minutes' walk into the centre of Manchester which is a bustling city, this week hosting the labour Party Conference. Neither Tony Blair or Bill Clinton came to visit Rodbaston though! Spoilt for choice with places to eat - actually had a nice Greek meal at Dimitri's and then went to the Manchester Opera House see 'Me and My Girl' - plenty of tickets available at the door.
27 locks, 7 miles.
Thursday : Went into town and did a little shopping, looked at the cathedral. Then afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry - good for industrial archaeology nuts like me. Left Castlefields at 4, took 2½ hours to get out of town. The Bridgewater is wide and deep - when not passing moored boats cruising at about 1700 rpm and probably 3.5 - 4 mph. Moored in rural tranquillity beyond Oldfield Brow.
8 miles.
Friday 29 September : Set off 9.30 or so, watered at Little Bollington. Rang BW and booked the Anderton lift. This is the only free water point on the Bridgewater and there doesn't seem to be any official rubbish disposal. Stopped at Lymm - an attractive little town - for food shopping (convenient Somerfields). Then topped up with diesel (43 litres) at Thorn Marine - under threat from eviction for redevelopment for housing. Lunch on board moored in Higher Walton. Preston Brook tunnel only allows southbound boats through from 30 mins. to 40 mins. past the hour so had a 45 minute wait. Good to be back on narrow winding 'ordinary' canals rather than the straight and wide Bridgewater. Moored before Barnton.
1 lock, 18 miles.
Saturday : Set off 9.30 through Saltersford and Barnton tunnels. Both are not straight, I could not see the end of Saltersford on entering which was a bit worrying. Got to Anderton and was waved straight on to the 11:00 down trip instead of our booked 11:45 one. An experience not to be missed - a chatty informative lift operator told us a lot about it. Moored in the visitor moorings and looked round the exhibition - again interesting and worthwhile. Food at the café looked very plastic so ate on the boat. Went up river through Northwich, then Hunts and Vale Royal locks - both interesting examples of mechanical engineering. The large lock at Vale Royal uses water power to open/close the lock gates. On and turned in Winsford Flash - a large lake above Winsford. Returned and moored for the night at Vale Royal mooring opposite the weir channel. Cormorants and 2 herons sitting on the channel entrance. The whole area is abundant with water birds, saw 15 herons, a kingfisher and loads of terns and gulls.
1 lift, 2 locks, 10 miles.
Sunday : Up to watch the birds again, then the 10:00 locking through Vale Royal and stopped at Northwich for water, rubbish disposal and food shopping. On past Anderton to the lower end of the Weaver. At the two lower locks BW use the electrically operated larger locks. Sitting in the 30' x 176' lock chambers Rodbaston looked very small. Winded at Frodsham Cut (before reaching industrial Runcorn) and spent the night at a deserted mooring at Devil's Garden - just as attractive as Vale Royal but less water birds.
The Weaver is a waterway not to be missed - very quiet (we only saw 3 other boats moving today) and beautiful apart from the short areas of mainly derelict salt and chemical industry (which is interesting in it's own way)
16 miles, 4 locks.
Monday : Woke at 2am to find the stern rope had come off the bank! I had used a piling hook round a bit of iron banking, but obviously not securely enough. Luckily the bow rope and mooring pin held. Fell over in pyjamas onto wet grass (just missing a cow pat) in securing boat. Said a few choice words but in retrospect saw the funny side. Moral is not to use piling hook on banking not designed for it, and to secure the middle rope as well if possible on rivers.
Set off in sunshine at 9.00, locks ready for us as lock keeper expecting us. Straight on to the lift for 11:30. The view going up when standing in the stern at the river end of the caisson is probably the best position. Moored for lunch on the visitors moorings on the T&M by the lift watching a female swan giving her cygnets flying lessons. Went for a walk around the Anderton Nature Park - well worth doing - then on and moored in isolation at Croxton Flash.
2 locks, 1 lift, 16 miles
Tuesday : Leisurely breakfast, set off at 10.15. Stopped and shopped in Middlewich. Convenient Tesco Express but town is unexciting. On slowly and moored beyond Wheelock. Wheelock locks fill fast and furiously. Crew from descending boat trying to help opened both paddles together and fully throwing boat around in lock. Collision with gate threw microwave platter on floor and broke it. Ate at the Old Mill at Wheelock Wharf (used to be an Italian restaurant until 2 months ago!). good food, huge portions. Then met up with friends in Sandbach.
Wednesday : Phoned Ownerships to order new microwave platter. Matt (from Sandbach) came to spend the day with us. I don't think he had realised how many locks there were locally!. Made good progress in mainly sunny weather climbing to Church Lawton. Lovely sunset but cold evening with clear skies.
Thursday : Last six Cheshire locks then back to Heritage.
EOH Report:
Fill with diesel.
Pump out x 2.
Valet booked.
Replace broken microwave platter (at our expense).
Repair broken chain on front fender.
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Moored at Bugsworth lower basin |
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Marple locks |
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On Lower Peak Forest Canal |
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On Marple aqueduct |
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Ashton Canal |
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Rochdale Canal lock in Manchester |
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Rochdale Canal lock underneath high rise building |
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Windlass mechanism to open lock gates |
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Manchester on the Rochdale Canal |
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On the Bridgewater Canal |
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Anderton lift - in the caisson. |
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Anderton lift - leaving the lift |
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River Weaver; Vale Royal moorings |
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Devil's Garden mooring on the Weaver |
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Croxton Flash, Trent and Mersey |
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Heartbreak Hill |