Wrenbury to Ellesmere

Sun 1st Jul  Wrenbury to Marbury

We walked up to church for the 9.15am service. We followed the footpath from Wrenbury Church Lift Bridge. The path leads directly to the church yard.  We had a warm welcome, and discovered that Francis was there from O Be Joyful.  We had asked him yesterday whether he was planning to go, and he had said “What a good idea!”  We also met Debbie, who had given us lunch in 2000.

The path to the church

St Margaret’s Wrenbury

Alison the vicar was away, and they had a visiting minister called Ian, who spoke about the healing of Jairus daughter, and the unclean woman who touched Jesus’ clothes in the crowd. It was pointed out that this would have made Jesus unclean, and therefore Jairus, the leader of the synagogue, would have had a difficult decision to make: whether to stick by the rules and forbid Jesus to come into his house, or go against the rules, allowing compassion to take over, and invite Jesus anyway.

We chatted to lots of people afterwards over coffee. The church service style is a bit too traditional for us, but the welcome is always sincere.

We bought a few things in the shop afterwards, before returning to the boat to set off.

A Sea Otter called Polly B 2 came past, and they said they were also Christians. We were just about to leave, so James went forward and gave them a BCF leaflet and then opened the manual lift bridge for them.

We followed them through, and then stopped at Anglo Welsh to empty two cassettes.  They had no running water at the elsan point, so we had to use a water hose to rinse out and flush. Hazel managed to avoid falling in this time.  This happened in 2014

When it was time to use the main lift bridge, James waited for a car to come through before closing the gate across the road. A hire boat was coming the other way, so James beckoned them through, and then Gabriel started through. A man in a shiny red car started hooting his horn.  When Gabriel was halfway through, he got out of his car, and shouted in a posh accent, “There are village rules for this bridge, you know!” James said “This is my boat going through now.” “I need to get to the airport” he said.  There are some other replies that always come to mind later, but perhaps they were better left unsaid. The bridge was lowered, and the red car made sure he was first across, by which time there were four cars waiting, and a flotilla of bikes. There were three other boats also waiting by then.

We moved on, looking for shady moorings for a barbecue. We found some between bridges 21 and 22, and had a very pleasant meal using pork steaks we had bought in the shop in Wrenbury that morning.  There was a farm across the canal, with chickens and two cockerels. They were having crowing competitions for hours, and we decided that, if we wanted some sleep, we would need to move on.

Shady mooring spoilt by chickens

We found a frog among the foliage by the path

BBQ

We set off when it was a bit cooler, went through Marbury Lock, where the towpath changes sides. There is a ridiculous fence along one side of the lock, making it difficult to cross the locks or get on or off the boat.

Silly fence at Marbury Lock

We moored just before Steer Bridge (24) where we found Polly B 2.  We got our chairs out next to them and enjoyed the company of Paul and Polly for a couple of hours.

There was a lovely sunset, but we didn’t have a good view of it.

Gabriel with Polly B 2

Sunset

1 lock, 3 miles, 2 lift bridges.

Mon 2nd Jul  Marbury to Grindley Brook

Morning sun at Marbury

We had intended to leave early to do the Grindley Brook Locks before it got too hot. However, we had chosen a shady spot the night before, and we didn’t have the usual sun streaming in at 6am, so we slept on a bit. We left quietly at around 8.30, before Paul and Polly were up.

To start with we had three spaced out locks, Quoisley, Willeymoor, and Povey’s, which were all against us. We waited for a boat coming the other way at Povey’s. A small boat called Dreamer with a crew of four was following us. A mile after Povey’s Lock, we came to the start of the Grindley Brook Locks, which were now in our favour.

Willeymoor Lock and Tavern

Into Grindley Brook

Grindley Brook Lock 6

James nipped to the garage for some milk. Trying to get into the third lock was a challenge as there was a strong side stream which pushed the bows the wrong way, wedging the tiller against the bank. In trying to get free, we sent lots of water onto the towpath. We noticed that the grass was a lot greener just here, so we think others may have done the same.

Grindley Brook Lock 4

The wet towpath

There was a boat coming down the staircase, so we had to wait for them to emerge at the bottom before we could start up. 

Under the A41 at the foot of the staircase locks

Looking up

The lockkeeper was using the left side of the locks where the shade was, and following a comment, he said he had planted the hedge there years ago for that very purpose.

At the top

The unusual lock cottage by the top lock

We stopped for water at the top, where there are four taps, and surprisingly good pressure. While the tank was filling, we walked back to dispose of rubbish, and bought ice creams from the cafe.

We saw Flick, a lady who had spoken to Hazel in Wrenbury. She is on a boat called Marilyn Jane.

Just above the water taps it was great to find that there are visitor moorings.  So often at the top of a lock flight we have found permanent moorings for permit holders only.  We stopped for the day in the shade.

We had a long chat with a lady whose husband had gone back to look for a mifi gadget he had left behind at a picnic site.

9 locks, 4 miles

Tue 3rd Jul  Grindley Brook to Lyneal Coppice

The length of moorings had filled up later on yesterday, but most of the boats had gone by the time we left at 8.45am. After the first two bridges, we had a lift bridge by the Whitchurch Arm.

New Mills Lift Bridge

Further on we came across a guy on a hire boat who was trying to leave his mooring, but was too close in to the side. He eventually got away, but then beckoned us on. We knew there was another lift bridge just around the corner, and if we overtook, we couldn’t get off to operate it. We pulled in behind instead and James went, armed with a windlass, to raise the bridge. One of their crew got off at the same time, so he went to raise the first one, and James walked on to raise the second one. These bridges are both called Hassel’s.

Hassel’s No 2 Lift Bridge

Soon after, we passed Paul and Polly on Polly B 2.  They were just about to set off.  Then we met Bruin coming the other way. Norman had his brother crewing for him this time.

Bruin

We followed the hire boat through two more lift bridges, and at the last one, Morris Lift Bridge, they beckoned us past.  There was another boat going in front of us, so we were in a line.  The first boat stopped at Bettisfield for water, so we went past. We found a shady mooring at Lyneal Coppice, so we stopped for the day. Both the boat at the water point, and the hire boat, passed us later.

Tilstock Park Lift Bridge

Roundthorn Bridge

A Greylag Goose family

Whixall Moss Roving Bridge

The Prees Branch

Whixall Moss

It was very shallow in places and we saw at least three boats get stuck at the edges in various places in the Bettisfield area.

After we had settled with our chairs under a shady tree, someone started up a chainsaw in the woods behind us. Oh, well!  It finished eventually, and we thought we heard a goldcrest in the woods. There was a greater spotted woodpecker exploring the trees opposite.

Shady mooring at Lyneal Coppice.

0 locks, 9 miles, 5 lift bridges

Wed 4th Jul  Lyneal Coppice to Ellesmere

We left our shady mooring and had a gentle cruise towards Ellesmere.  We passed Cole Mere almost out of sight to the south, and the place where Kairos used to be moored.

Kairos mooring place

There were pretty woods, and Blake Mere where there were surprisingly few boats.

Woods

Blake Mere

We passed through the short tunnel, where there was no need to put the headlight on. There is a towpath through the tunnel, and the path overhangs the water. The boat tries to go in the middle of the channel, so we had to crab through at an angle.  This same effect applies later on the big aqueduct near Trevor.

Ellesmere Tunnel

Emerging.

We passed the entrance to Blackwater Meadow Marina, before arriving at the junction with the Ellesmere Arm. We paused to empty a cassette and dispose of rubbish before heading down the arm.  We found a mooring which regrettably was in full sun, although there were shady places to sit. We put the washing out to dry.

Marina entrance

Ellesmere Arm

Moored in the sun.

We had a few jobs to do in Ellesmere. Firstly we went to Tesco, where we asked about power points for the mission. We left our details for someone to call us. We bought a few essentials.

Then we walked round to the marina to enquire about mooring for a few days next week, while we go to Anglesey to visit friends Andy and Vicki Harvey.  They couldn’t guarantee a mooring with electric power.  They said they would try and sort something out and call us tomorrow.  If there is no power, we may as well moor somewhere on the towpath, where it would be better for Hugo.

We were in touch with Roger and Mirjana concerning pub gigs, and they gave us some helpful advice. They also invited us to join them for a home group this evening.  They came and collected us and took us the home of Audrey, a member of their church, where we were joined by two other people to make a small group of seven.  We had a Bible based discussion about the issue of giving and receiving.

Hazel Audrey Mirjana Roger

0 locks, 3 miles, 1 tunnel

Next: a few days in the Ellesmere area trying to sort out a pub gig for the mission, an unplanned visit to the vet for Hugo, a quiz with Cellar Church, and trying to find a suitable mooring for when are away next week.