Railways, motorways and underways.

After four and a quarter hours on the canal we arrived at the second lock on the navigation, Latchford Locks. There had been a previous canal from Runcorn to Latchford that bypassed the shallows in the River Mersey near Fiddlers. It opened in 1804 and the Runcorn end formed part of the Runcorn Dock complex. It was part of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation and was bought out by the Bridgewater and then the MSC. Much of the route near Runcorn was lost under the ship canal. At the other end a new lock was built to give access to tanneries with imported skins from Argentina. The factories closed in the 1960's so the canal fell into disuse.

Obviously the lock gates can be operated singularly as for the rest of the trip only one gate was opened. The squad on the locks here reassured me that they were not waiting for me so there was no need to rush. Each lock is manned 24 hours by three shifts so would be there what ever time we arrived. We are not allowed ro moor on the canal, nor travel at night, but other than that we could take our time. I was happy to reduce the revs a bit and save a bit of fuel.

As we left it was getting pretty warm and with little wind it was thirsty work standing on the back end.

Often on the travel reporrt you seem to hear about chaos at Thelwall Viaduct where the M6 crosses the MSC. It looked like traffic was flowing today, and it certainly wasn't busy below the bridge!

The River Mersey actually flows through the ship canal and here is it exiting to follow its own natural course to Liverpool.

Other than when passing the oil terminals or dock and wharfs the nature of the canal is quite rural. You would never know that you were in an urban area. There were occasional 'wides' where the water has spread where the land allows it.

This high level railway bridge, Cadishead viaduct, is now disused and to prevent access across it a wall of containers has been placed. They have knocked down the parapet and placed the containers overhanging the bridge so as to prevent folk passing round the sides. Judging by the grafitti they haven't succeeded. It was opened in 1893 but was closed in 1964. The track bed is in very poor condition so to prevent accidents it has been fully blocked off. I'm glad to say nothing fell on our heads. There are some folk who are planning to reopen it to run steam trains over?

It would seem that Irlam Wharf is still operational judging by the expensive crane and container handling plant on site. Investment in 2012 boosted the traffic of containers from Liverpool from 3000 to 15000 containers. a 160 TEU vessel makes the trip from Liverpool three times a week. They also now call at Ellesmere Port. As most containers arrive in the UK in the SE of the UK, 50% are actually for the north of England. It is hoped that this service reduces the number of trucks on the road.

Here is where the Mersey flows into the Ship Canal. There are no reservoirs on the canal as the water comes from the River Irwell and Mersey mainly.

Apparently the speed limit on the canal is 6kts, but I suppose like C&RT waters it depends on your breaking wake. The weather held good and we were making steady progress.

The third lock is Irlam Lock and it is framed by the Irlam Railway viaduct. This was supposed to be identical to the Cadishead viaduct but settlement in the former meant that the piers had to be 'propped up'. You can see the weir next to Irlam Lock that helps control the depth in the river. You can also see the smaller barge lock between the weir and the large lock that we were using.