Boats, Beers and Boozers, 2018. No. 21

The night before we left we had some excitement as we had to leave our boat after being knocked up by the police about 8 o'clock at night. It seesm that that the couple on the boat astern of us had been rowing (I had heard them at one stage!) and it had resulted in the lady dousing the cabin of the boat with fuel and threatening to set it alight. It was about two hours before they talked her out of it and we could get back aboard!

The only way for us to get onto the Shropshire Union, without having to head down to Birmingham, was now to return down the Ship Canal to Ellesmere Port. The Middlewich Branch was closed and our original plan had been to go down the Anderton Boat Lift to the Weaver and then out of Marsh Lock for the short little leg round from there to Ellesmers. It meant another early start to be  at the Pomona Lock for eight again. This time we were accompanied by NB. Meander. As we cleared the lock there were three boats heading up onto the system, caught out by the same problem. I like this sculpture/installation that is right by Traford Bridge.

The weather was lovely as we wended our way back down the Manchester Ship Canal. Even the ships on Stanlow Jetty was happy.

We were making our turn into Ellesmere Basin at around 5 o'clock and we weren't sure whether the bridge man from the council would be there to open it for us as it was out of his hours. But he was and we penned through to the bottom basin of the Canal Museum.

The Holiday in is on one side of us, and on the other is some of the collection of craft. The waterways here had a covered warehouse over them until it was lost in a fire. If it had survived I wonder what the museum would have filled it with?

We had a day in the museum before heading off into the wide blue yonder of the canal system. Here we are heading up the Whitby Locks. There is the pair of narrow locks and wide locks next door. They are not a staircase as there is a little pound between them. They are named after the little village that was here when the canal arrived, but is now a suburb of Ellesmere.

We didn't go too far and stopped in the country to enjoy the sunshine. We wandered up a footpath from the canal to the village of  Stoak and found the Banbury Arms. It is a little off the beaten track but handy for the canal, and the Cheshire Oaks Retail Park. In the lovely weather there is a nice large garden to sit out and enjoy the sun in. They seemed to be very busy with food, but we weren't eating today. I had been polishing the boat so needed a drink.

I tried a Weetwood Bear. They are named after Weetwood Common, near Tarporley, Cheshire, where the brewery was set up in 1992. A brewer had the skills and the farmer the barn and off they went. It soon picked up and they needed to extend in 2011. They moved just round the corner and started up in 2012. In 2014 the business was sold but the original team are still involved.

I chose  a pint of Eastgate at 4.2%. It had a nice rich aroma and the taste wasn't disappointing. It had a refreshing taste, just what I needed, and a nice amber colour. It was thick in the mouth with a nice sweet taste, a lot like Batham's (my favourite beer, so far!), but not quite.

Due to the weather I felt obliged to try another beer, research purposes only you understand, and I tried the Joseph Holts beer. Joseph Holts has been going a long time, since 1849, and since 1860 at the same brewery! It seems amazing that it hasn't been gobbled up in the past, but now is a large brewery compared with the microbreweries. It is still run by the Holt family, The great, great grandson. It can be found at Cheetham, Manchester.

I went for the Bitter at 4.0%. It had a nice cooper tinge to the beer and a lovely head on it. This is not a flowery IPA but there is a little fruit there. It was a great session beer with a nice bitterness to it. Not bad at all. It was a pub we will return to when passing this way next time.

Beers, Boats and Boozers, 2018. No.20

We had made it to Manchester but quickly learned that we had to leave via the Shipping Canal again, so some time had to be spent organising that trip and coordinating locks and making payments etc.

Helen had seen that the Police Museum was open, as it is only open on Tuesday, so we made sure we paid a visit. It is well worth the couple of hours as there are good displays and the building is also interesting with cells, charge room and a magistrates upstairs. The volunteers are mainly ex police and love telling their stories etc.

Another place off the beaten tourist track was the St. Mary's Catholic Church and this fantastic High Altar with the 14 angels above the saints.

We then went off to have a look at the John Rylands Library. It was built by his 3rd wife with part of the fortune he left. It is in the Victorian Gothic style. His wife often over rode the designer/architect which may be a good or bad thing. The statue is of John Ryland.

We then went for the full book overload by visiting Cheetam's Library. This is the oldest public reference library in the world having been set up in 1653. There are over 100,000 books, of which 60,000 were bought before 1851. To use the books you have to make an appointment, not just turn, which is the same for the tour.

On our travels we stopped for drink at the Piccadilly, just round the corner from the station and on Piccadilly Gardens. We welcomed Helen back and saw our daughter off to London, and home again. It was a standard Weatherspoons but there were 6 hand pulls on as well as the normal house beers.

The White Horse Brewery was set up by a group of friends from the industry in 2004. They settled on a place in the village of Stanford in the Vale, the Vale being the Vale of the White Horse, hence the name. It can be seen from the works.

I had a pint of Village Idiot, 4.1%. It is a golden ale, made with fresh hops, light malts and wheat. It was palatable but nothing special to me.

I then tried another new brewery, Bowman Ales from Droxford in Hampshire. They started brewing in 2008 and hit the ground running. By 2008 they needed to extend as their sales increased by 50%. You can buy their bottled beers in some supermarkets, but as they have no bottling plant they use Oakleak Brewery for that.

I tried their second biggest selling beer, Wallops Wood, 4.0%. It is a chestnut colour with a nice aroma when pulled. The head wasn't as thick as I like, but then I am a northerner and that is a northern trait I am told. Certainly if you go for a pint in London anyway! You first get the malt and then finish with the hops. Again it was fine, but not a stand out beer to me. The price was the usual Weatherspoons discount at £2-79!

Beers, Boats and Boozers, 2018. No. 19

Leaving Liverpool this time was not via the Leeds/Liverpool Canal, but via the Mersey to the Manchester Ship Canal.

We had to time out arrival at Eastham, the start of the Ship Canal from the River Mersey, to allow for outward shipping. We were only on the river for about an hour all told.

The Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) was wide and deep and we only met one work boat on our journey to Manchester. Here we are passing Mount Manisty, named after the engineer in charge of this section, and made up of the cutting from the canal.

Stanlow oil berths are mainly export berths for products now as the crude oil comes in at either Tranmere jetties or from a single point mooring buoy off Anglesey. However there were four ships working at the quays on both sides of the canal.

At the old mouth of the River Weaver the sharp bend in the canal seems to be protected by these old lock gates. There is now a lock at the entrance, called Marsh Lock. Unfortunately for our later plans this was badly damaged the following day.

After Eastham the first lock on the MSC is Latchford and although slightly smaller, they are still massive, and all with the same type of equipment that they were built with. To the right there is a 'barge' lock of smaller dimensions, but unusable. Further to the right of that are the controllable sluices that regulate the water levels in the canal that are fed by surface water streams and rivers.

It was great to see the Barton Aqueduct from below, rather than when crossing over on the Bridgewater Canal above. It is the only swing bridge for a canal in the world.

After a couple of nights on a mooring at Salford Quays we headed up the Pomona Lock to the Bridgewater and ended up moored on the Coal Wharf at Castlefield. A nice handy mooring in the sun. It was great to complete a full navigation of the MSC with the trip over the Mersey thrown in. Not some thing you get to do every day.

Very handy for our moorings was the Knott Bar, just up some steps and on Deansgate. It is built into a iron railway arch with an extension. The upstairs is available and makes for a good dining area. The Knott is actually named after the station opposite, Deansgate. When first built in 1849 the station was called Knott Mill, and the name is still there above the entrance. The place has been in the Good Beer Guide for about 14 years now. It started out as the Smart Bar and then the Nowhere Bar before being obtained by the Marble Beer Co and had blossomed since. Now sold on it is still flourishing with a good reputation for food and for a great selection of around 8 hand pulls and plenty of cider and craft beers on tap.

I treied an experimental beer from Wander Beyond Brewing Co. They started up at the end of 2017 and can be found under Piccadilly Station in Manchester, despite the fact that Mat Breslin is from York. His family had connections to the Marble Brewery too. They have no core beers by design so they can experiment with seasonal and new ingredients in their brews.

I had a pint of one of these experiments, CF160 that is named after a new hop. The brewery are apparently know for packing flavour in without raising the alcohol over much. It sounded up my street and at 4.3% I wasn't disappointed either. It had a nice head for a n Indian Pale Ale style. First came the sweet orange taste and then quickly followed by a lovely hoppy and malty taste. I loved it and it would seem a shame I am unlikely to see it again. Mind you at £3-60 it was a bit more than normal, but par for inner city I suppose.

Named not after the East African Rift Valley but the none reflective molecular dust cloud between the Milky Way and the Solar System this 6.0% stout, also from Wander Beyond, did not live up to the CF160 for me. A nice black colour with a cream head looked good, but the lashing of lactose, oats and dark malts didn't pack the taste I was hoping for. It was very sweet but then there was just the alcohol taste at the back of your through. Not to be repeated, at £4-00 at least. A brewery to lookm out for though.