Winsford to Middlewich

Mon 13th June  Vale Royal to Marbury Country Park

Vale Royal moorings

The locks don’t operate until 9am, so we set off at 0845, getting to the locks 10 minutes later. Rather than tie up on the pontoon, which is out of sight of the lock, we hung around midstream so we would be seen. There were several CRT staff, who seemed to be clearing out some furniture and office equipment from their building.  The kindly gentleman with a huge beard who had helped us last time did so again, opening the gates for us.  These are quite large locks to be manually operated, but they are part of our heritage and can’t be electrified.  We were asked to put our centre line round a bollard, which we did, but as we went further down, so we ran out of rope, and one of the team unhitched it again. We really didn’t need it, and we seldom use ropes when going down.

Vale Royal Locks and the out of sight pontoon

Vale Royal Locks and the silly centre rope

We were told to take it easy on the next stretch as we would need to wait for a yacht coming up in Hunts lock. We passed Jalsea Marine with its interesting assortment of craft.

Jalsea Marine

Owaissa, built in 1934

The yacht. They must have had to swing the bridges.

The yacht was well through by the time we passed Jalsea Marine, so the lock was ready for us.  Again we persuaded them not to put our rope round a bollard, and reluctantly they agreed.

Hunts Locks

Visitor moorings below the locks

Historic boats in Yarwoods Basin

Historic crane

We arrived at the sanitary station just after 10am, and discovered that they were refurbishing the place and had switched off the water.  Thankfully our need was not too urgent, but it would have been nice to be able to rinse the cassettes after emptying them.

Hazel went off to Waitrose to pick up some essentials, and we kept Hugo in, as we had a deadline today. We met up with Don and Celia and had a pleasant lunch in a cafe nearby. Eating out opportunities in Northwich are limited, but this place was fine.

We had promised to give a DVD to Don and Celia but James had forgotten to bring it from the boat. So James nipped back to the boat to collect it while Hazel nipped to Waitrose again to buy something she had forgotten. Our excuse is that we have lived so long that our grey matter is now full of information, and there is no memory left.

We then set off for the Anderton Lift, arriving at their holding moorings 45 minutes before our scheduled lift time. We had 15 minutes to spare.

The holding moorings below the lift

We hurriedly puffed up the slope to visit the shop (Hazel’s idea), quickly realising that we didn’t actually want any of the touristy things on offer. By the time we returned to river level, 25 minutes later, there was a lady with a clip board waiting by our boat. “What time do you call this?” she said, in an attempt to tick us off and be friendly and welcoming at the same time.

The lift in use, with the caissons ascending and descending

We set off straight away, round the corner and into the lift.  We were sharing this time with North Star.  Their usual mooring is at Thrupp on the Oxford Canal.  We had to wait there for about ten minutes while the boat at the top level was organised. This turned out to be the trip boat. The ride up was not jerky at all. We left first, as North Star needed to stop for water.

Sharing with North Star

Big Nuts

We continued past the sanitary station and found some mooring rings a little further on, near Marbury Country Park, with a pleasant view.

Moored near Marbury Country Park

2 locks, 6 miles, 1 boat lift

Tue 14th June  Marbury to Billinge Green Flash

We had a leisurely start this morning from our peaceful mooring, and were soon passing the Lion Salt Works at Marston. The place looks as though it has been rebuilt since the last time we were here.  We need to pay a visit on our return journey.

Lion Salt Works

Soon after this we came to the remarkable chemical works where many pipe bridges and conveyors cross the canal. We remember this from our hire boat trip in 1984, but our photos did not come out.

Chemical Factory

We came to Orchard Marina, but it did not look as though they welcomed visitors as there were no notices, and no service pontoon. We needed water but we have enough a day or two.  Soon after this there is a new marina almost complete – Park Farm Marina.

We were pleased to find mooring space at Billinge Green Flash, with a pleasant view over this small lake, caused by salt extraction.  There were no bollards or rings, so we had to bash in our moorings spikes.  As we did so, one of them fell apart, losing the D shape as the weld cracked open. We still used it, but we need a replacement.  They all seem to go this way in the end.

Tony and Pat came past on Paws 4 Thought and stopped for a brief chat.

Billinge Green Flash

Paws 4 Thought

We could hear some traffic which wasn’t too bad, and there were a few planes heading for Manchester Airport.  There was also a railway line running behind us, but we didn’t hear any trains.

This evening’s garden

0 locks, 4 miles

Wed 15th June  Billinge Green Flash to Bramble Cuttings

Hazel was woken in the night by a very loud train going past on the line behind us. Presumably the line is only used occasionally for industrial purposes.

Early morning at the flash

In the morning we found the remains of small bird on the stern deck. We think it was a wren. Hugo is not usually interested in hunting birds, and this makes three birds in twelve years, one of which flew away when James opened Hugo’s mouth.  Wrens chivvy him and drive him to distraction. They can get too close. He is very quick when he wants to be. 

Leaving the flash

As we had a dry morning we decided to get a little closer to Middlewich. We passed another flash, where we had seen decaying abandoned boats in 1984. Now they have either been salvaged or they have rotted away.

We passed some extensive parkland and gardens at Whatcroft Hall, and finally found a mooring at Bramble Cuttings, an old clay pit that has been adopted by the Broken Cross Boat Club. They have left the original wharf rails in place, and have installed picnic tables and barbecue areas. It is away from the towpath and the only access is by boat.

Bramble Cuttings

Wharf rails at Bramble Cuttings

We had some more heavy rain later.

0 locks, 3 miles

Thu 16th June  Bramble Cuttings to Middlewich

We were on our own as we woke this mooring.  The other boat that arrived some time after us had already gone.  Our signal was very poor, and the forecast seemed to change every time we looked at it. We set off without waiting for breakfast, as it was dry but cloudy.

Croxton Flash

There were other moorings available near Croxton Flash, but after the aqueduct, there were lots of boats moored ready for the festival.  We stopped at the water point before the Big Lock, and took 40 minutes to fill the tank.  Meanwhile we had breakfast, finishing off our croissants.  A boat came down through the lock just as were finishing, so we had it set ready for us.  We passed the trading boats, many of whom we have seen before, but didn’t see Areandare.

Filling the water tank

The Big Lock

Welcome to Middlewich

Historic boats and a school group

There were three other locks, all narrow, and we had a CRT volunteer to help us through.  We arrived at Middlewich Narrowboats and found our mooring, bank side, with plenty of bushes for Hugo. We paid the balance of our mooring fee and bought another mooring pin to replace the one that had fallen apart. We also collected our post, including our postal voting papers for the referendum.

We put up the hood, and very soon we had a heavy rain storm for two hours.

Heavy Rain

Some still have to keep going

When the rain stopped, we ventured out to go shopping, but we took our brollies just in case.  Wise move! We hadn’t been gone ten minutes when it started again.

We found a post box and sent off our postal votes. We visited the chemist where Hazel’s prescription had been sent and she was able to get her medication.  She’ll live a bit longer now.

We also found Morrison’s, a bit further than Lidl.  They are new since our last visit, but they didn’t stock wholemeal muffins! Now how are we going to make Eggs Florentine?

Back to the boat for a Cornish cream tea, and, later on, stuffed peppers and feta cheese salad.

Then more rain.

4 locks, 2 miles

This weekend: Middlewich FAB Festival.