Onwards Past Anderton.

We moored last night not far after Preston Brook Tunnel and it was a lovely warm evening. Helen set to making up the nets to keep the flies etc out of the boat. Needless to say the weather changed! We had a bit of excitement later on as a boater moored a hundred yards away came knocking and asking if we had any Asprin? It seems his neighbour was suffering from chest pains and he had had them before. I thought that he was on his own and being a typical bloke didn't want to call the Doctor or ambulance. I had some to pass on but later we went and checked him. It turns out his wife was there too and he looked okay, not on deaths door. Anyway he was still walking about when we passed in the morning. It had rained off and on from about 0630 to about 0930. We set off about 1000 so managed without the waterproofs.

Helen making up the fly nets to cover the doors and side hatch. The evening was so still that the interesting vapour trails were repeated in the water.

On this stretch of the Trent and Mersey Canal there are several lengths of very narrows where the reeds have encroached. It means for concentration and good timing when meeting boats coming the other way. I seemed to meet several boats at tight spots. I stopped and went astern at a bridge hole for a boat, I was just getting underway and heading for the bridge again when another one came round the blind corner, and then again for a third. I have no idea why the first two weren't able to tell me that there was another boat just behind them. Helen was ironing , making jam and cleaning through the boat after our guest has left.

Reedy narrows.

We went past the site of the Dutton Breach again and noticed that mooring rings have appeared where as when we passed about 5 days ago there were none. There was also a commemorative plaque marking the centre of the breach and the dates. On this stretch I saw three kingfishers hunting, but unfortunately not close enough to get a good photograph. 

To make up for the meeting of boats at bridge holes I hit the Saltersford Tunnel bang on time so there was no waiting. Mind you I did have to reverse out of the mouth of the Barnton Tunnel as there was a boat already in there. We passed the Anderton Lift and with the traffic I was expecting the services to be busy but there was nobody there. We pulled up to fill up with water and get rid of a fair bit of rubbish. The washer and drier have been removed from the services as they are too expensive to replace again. The pump-out was also out of order so not that useful really. We had put on a wash and whilst we were there we put the second wash on. 

On Anderton Services taking water.

After taking water we decided to carry on a little to find a mooring. We aren't far from Marston where the Lion Salt Works museum is. We were going to walk down but the boat's horn wasn't working properly so I thought I had better have a look at it. As with every small job it became a large job as the bilge pump and headlamp fused and so getting everything sorted took time. By tea time though everything was working well.

Holderness looking like a chinese laundry as we use the 'wirlly gig' for the first time and the clothes horse is on the bow.

Return Ticket, but slowly.

After seeing our guests off last night I noticed several cherry trees by the tow path. I went back after eating and managed to pick 6.5 lbs. They were big trees and I could only reach the base of them. If I had had my boat hook with me I could have picked loads more, but not sure what to do with them. They were very sweet and tasty and there were black and red grapes. I have bought a bottle of brandy and I am going to have a go with the cherry brandy and make some jam or something.

We moored outside the Brindley Art Centre that has a theatre and small gallery along with a terrace cafe. There was no bother over night and in fact just there was not very much traffic on the tow path just there. I would recommend it as a good mooring from our experience. The Arts Centre was built on the site of the Hazlehurst Soap and Eau de Cologne factory and on the other side of the canal was the Johnson Bros. Soap works also.

Probably the Lights at the front of the Hazlehurst Soap Factory, still there but now fronts a health Centre.

We went off into the centre of Old Runcorn for supplies. It looks like the life of the town has moved out to the east since the town was designated as a New Town and the housing was added to that part of the town. Runcorn is in the Borough of Halton which is a little confusing. The main industries were tanning and soda/chemical works. The rail bridge was completed in 1868 and the Mnachester Ship Canal in 1894. Some docks were opened at Runcorn so ship building and port industries grew there. In 1905 a road link was made between both banks of the Mersey with the first transporter bridge in Britain and it was the longest in the world. It was designed to carry four two horse farm carts and 300 passengers! It can be easily seen that this didn't meet the needs of the modern vehicle ownership. It was finally replace by the current road bridge in 1961.

The Silver Jubilee Bridge from the Runcorn Promenade with the Manchester Ship Canal in the foreground.

The under side of the Road Bridge.

A photography showing the Rail Bridge that is turreted as the site of the original castle on the Runcorn side forms part of the route. In the foreground is the Manchester Ship Canal and the Silver Jubilee road bridge and in the background the River Mersey and St Mary's church on the Widnes side.

A Hanging Mural showing the history and showing the heroes and history of Runcorn. The men at bottom left are Sir Hall Caine who was a very popular and best selling author who wrote the first million selling book in the UK, Professor J.R. Holt who was an experimental Physicist who worked on the discovery of the neutron and took part in the Manhattan Project to develop the first atom bomb during WWII, and Thomas Alfred Jones who won the Victoria Cross in the First World War.

End of the Road.

Today was the end of the road for our time on the River Weaver. We had booked to go up the lift at 1130 so had a nice late start as we were moored just by it.

Last night on the River Weaver.

When we moved from our overnight mooring to the waiting berth we had a visitor with us.

Our stowaway.

In a previous blog I mentioned that the drive gears for the electrically operated wire and pulley system were designed by Andre Gustav Citroen and that their shape was the basis for the cars that he built later in his career. The photograph below will show you what I meant.

The drive teeth on the cogs on the upper right of the photo look just like the Citroen car badge.

The original lift was really only the upright cast iron girders. The angled side buttresses and the heavy box structure with the drive wheels were added when the lift was converted from hydraulic ram to winch and pulley design.

Leaving the caisson and entering the aqueduct in front of a crowd of onlookers demands concentration.

After leaving the Lift the angle on to the Trent and Mersey canal is such that you can't turn left so you turn right and then a short distance further on wind and head back again. We were soon on the way to the three tunnels. We were straight through Barnton Tunnel but had to wait a while for our timed entrance to Saltersford Tunnel,

Whilst waiting for the tunnel passage a photo of three folk on a boat!

We couldn't get to the Preston Brook Tunnel in time to catch the North bound convoy so, once through Dutton Stop Lock, we again had a little wait before entering at the head of a three boat convoy. Once through it was soon under the M56 and turning to port into the Runcorn Arm of the Bridgewater Canal as we leave the Trent and Mersey Canal just before leaving the tunnel at the north end. The junction is definitely not Fradley Junction but the arm was a surprise to me as it was very rural and green. There were house etc but they didn't intrude on the canal at all. It isn't until right at the end that it becomes built up. I would recommend a diversion down to Runcorn if anybody is passing as it is nice and clean too.

Norton Water Tower near the eastern end of the Runcorn Arm

Water lilies and trees line the canal virtually all the way down to the end.

The present terminus is at Waterloo Bridge but a little further on were two branches that each descended 10 locks, one to the Manchester Ship Canal and the other to Weston Dock where we were yesterday, just over a mile away. This is another end of the road.

Waterloo Bridge is now the end of the road for the Runcorn Arm.

The final end of the road is for the week with our guest Chris who has had to leave us. We winded at Waterloo Bridge and returned a little way back to the Brindley Place Arts Centre where we had arranged to meet Hazel, Joan and Andrew who were going to pick him up. We were five minutes late arriving so that wasn't too bad. It has been a great week and we have ticked off a few firsts together. I expect that now Chris has gone it will rain!

There and Back to see how far it was.

As we were moored up by Dutton Lock we were in now hurry so when the second boat to pen down arrived we doubled up with them and set off to the nether reaches of the Weaver.

This vessel hasn't paid his C&RT licence fee for a while!

For the first few miles the River is very rural with some lovely areas with the woods coming down to the river. After passing the Sutton Weaver Swing bridge it then turns into an Industrial Chemical Plant. 

Beautiful scenery just after Pickering's Wharf on the Weaver.

 

Once past the original lock down into the River Weaver the canal is actually called the Weston Canal as it makes it's way past the Chemical plants of one side and the river, unseen behind the flood bank on the other. After a short while you come to the present lock that lets you enter the Manchester Ship Canal. It is still used, but not as often as it should be.

Weston March Lock.

Christ Church, Weston. This Church was built in 1841 and was originally built on a prominence jutting out into the Mersey. When the Manchester Ship Canal (MSC) was constructed it became marooned on an island between the MSC. and the Weston canal and was said to be the only church built on an uninhabited island in the country. It was built in 1841 and finally declared redundant in 1995. In 2002 it was vandalised and all fixtures and fitting stolen. Permission was granted for it to be used as offices and storerooms in 2005 but when we went it was all boarded up and with holes in the roof despite it being Grade II Listed.

Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey from Weston Docks.

In 2007 Eddie Stobart Transport amalgamated with Westbury Property Fund who owned Weston Docks. They have big plans to create an inter-modal transport hub with the idea of bringing cargo in by ship to the rejuvenated Dock system. There it could be transshipped to trucks with a new link road, and they have plans to reinstate a siding from the West Coast Main Rail line to the Docks system.  They have built a warehouse at present and the land seems to be used to store pallets of peat and wood bark.

We know where all the top sights are to take our guests. Limit of Navigation on the Weston Canal, River Weaver.

We headed back up river ready for penning up the Anderton Lift again. We stopped for water at Sutton Weaver Swing Bridge and had a bite of lunch at the same time. It looks like they are building another bridge next to the present one. It seems that there is to be a £4.5 million up grade of the 90 year old swing bridge, with C&RT forking out £1 million. To ease congestion during the work they are installing a temporary bridge. This is needed at 20,000 cars a day use it.

Dutton Ship Lock, going up.

We passed through Dutton Lock and straight through to Saltersford Lock. We had hoped to moor at Barnton where there seemed to be plenty of places previously but with untidy mooring and no big enough spaces we carried on and have stopped for the night not far from the Anderton Boat Lift.

Down Stream.

Sunset from Vale Royal moorings last night.

Not a long day today so whilst we were moored in the shade in the morning we took advantage and had a later rising. We were still at the lock, Vale Royal, for just after 1000 and were straight in.

Vale Royal Lock signals showing both locks ready. We used the smaller right hand lock. I tried my VHF but got no answer. When I spoke to them they didn't have it turned on! When I tried them again it seems that my radio battery isn't holding it's charge but it hasn't been used for about 13 years so not surprising really.

Chris moving out of the lock on our own.

Tug 'Proceed' at Jalsea Marine's yard. This boat was completed the same year I was born. Hopefully I'm looking in a little better nick! It started life in Antwerp as the Henrick II until 1975 and then became UK flag, named Pulwell Brave and owned variously in Poole, London, Plymouth, Jersey, The Tyne and ending up Northwich in 1995 and called 'Proceed'. I'm not sure if it actually worked much after that. Looks like a nice retirement project for somebody!!

Hunts Lock with the Railway Viaduct in the background. We again used the smaller lock.

Hayhurst and Town Swing Bridges at Northwich. We found a mooring just up through the second one and it is very close to the shopping area so off we went to collect a few bits and pieces. After a bit of lunch we reversed over to the opposite bank to top up with water as it was vacant. Then we were off again down river. The flow is very gentle at the moment, as you can imagine with this warm weather.

Anderton Boat Lift from the Weaver.

As we passed the Lift we noticed that the Union Flag was at half mast. We feared the worst for Prince Phillip, the new baby etc. But once we arrived at  Saltersford Lock we discovered it was a lovely gesture for one of the volunteers that had worked there for years and had just died of Cancer.

Saltersford big ship lock as the smaller one is currently out of commission. The Keeper told us that it was over 600,000 gals of water. I don't know about you but I can't visualise that but it is over 2700 tonnes of water. (Just think of that many metre square boxes of water). We waited for another couple of boats to join us in the lock. Apparently the maximum number of boats they have had in the lock is 35! There were just three of us today. The Keeper was a mine of information and, along with all the keepers we have come across so far have been keen to pass on their stuff and help in anyway they can.

Acton Bridge Swing Bridge. It looks like the whole mass is pivoted round the fulcrum by a wire run  round the drum back on to a winch in the brick built shed on the island.

Our mooring for the night just up stream of the last lock, Dutton Lock.

Boat Lift Day.

We moved off about 0900 to be at the Marina for fuel soon after it opened. It meant winding at the marina entrance near the Anderton services. We dumped the rubbish and then took 128 litres of fuel. We then moved back up to the Lift to book in and found that Thursday was maintenance day and the earliest we could get in was 1340. Therefore we winded again at the Lift and went back to the services to take on water, on completion we winded again and moored near the nature reserve before the lift until the time we had booked.

Chris and Helen feeding the swans by hand.

You have to be on the waiting berth 30 mins before the allotted time. They then come and give you the lowdown on everything and then we made our move into the basin. The Basin then leads into the aqueduct into the lift. The gate is closed behind you and then the gate into the caisson is opened and in you steam. The gate closes and a locking gate closes and then almost imperceptibly the tank starts to go down. There is a little juddering and then it smooths out. 

Onto the aqueduct. 

The view up stream on the Weaver from the top of the Anderton Lift.

On the way down.

The opposite tank is now above us and you can see the hydraulic ram that drives it. Each sides rams cost £1 million and is coated black. It is expected to last for 99 years before requiring service.  The Original lift, opened 1875, was hydraulically operated but the water used caused corrosion on the rams and so it was converted to electric power in 1904. The caissons were lifted and lowered by pulleys and wires on gears. The gear system was designed by Andre Gustav Citroen and were very special with V shaped driving teeth. He was very famous for this before he started making cars. It is said that the badge on Citroen cars to this day are a representation of the tooth of his innovative design.

Once clear of the lift we turned left and headed up stream. You first come to Northwich. There didn't seem to be any moorings here so we continued under Twon Swing Bridge and Hayhurst Swing Bridge. Our draft is such that they don't need to be swung for us.

Town Swing bridge, Northwich.

Hayhurst Swing bridge, Northwich.

This is the smaller of the two locks at Hunts Lock. The keepers were very helpful and take a centre line up to hold you. The lock wasn't very turbulent and we were soon up the 11'2" and continuing on our way. It was about 30 mins later that we arrived at Vale Royal Lock. We had been told that there would be another boat to go up with us so we had a chat whilst we waited.

At normal river levels New Bridge has an air draft of 6'4". The river levels are down and we easily cleared the bridge. The weather is so warm that the local lads were diving of the structure and swimming about. You can see one of them here looking like he is sky diving.

This is the salt mine that seems to supply all the road salt for the country in the winter and quite often interviews can be seen carried out here when the first snows come. Not very likely at the moment!

Just after the Salt Mine the river looks very rural, wooded and beautiful. A little further on we came to a small mooring at the Red Lion at Winsford. We stopped for a drink but didn't feel too secure so moved on. Before turning we continued under the last two bridges and out of the jurisdiction of the Canal and Rivers Trust and out on to the lake type Winsford Bottom Flash. It was caused by subsidence caused by the salt mining. Moorings are indicted but we didn't see any and whilst cautiously looking we touched bootom so turned round and went back through the bridges and headed for the mooring at Vale Royal.

Looking South on Winsford Bottom Flash.

On to the Trent and Mersey.

Helen ad Chris were at the door of Sexton's the Bakers at 0830 waiting for the pork pies to come out of the oven. With those secured and 6 baps carried back to the boat we were off in bright sunshine. There are a fair few of early starters in this weather to beat the heat of the day I assume, or get to the choice moorings just after lunch whilst there are still some vacancies.

There are some lovely tree lined sections of the Bridgewater Canal between Lymm and Thelwall and the dappled shade was very welcome. There was not too much traffic coming the other way which meant a lazy time at the tiller.

Daresbury Scientific Laboratory. The Tower was initially used as the Nuclear Structure Facility. It started work as a Nuclear Physics Laboratory in 1962 and was officially opened by Harold Wilson in 1967. It was short listed as a possible site for the CERN Large Hadron Collider but lost out to a site on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva. 300 are employed there and they currently working on such things as Syncrotron radiation sources, electron acceleration, new light sources, ion scattering, electron spectroscopy and research in to nuclear structures. The site does look to have fairly new facilities with in it and the staff restaurant looked very nice to eat out in the sunshine for a late lunch.

Just after we passed the turn into the Runcorn Arm and passed under the M56 we pulled over at Midland Chandlers to buy some gear for our trip down onto the Weaver . As always you spend more than you bargained for so didn't feel too guilty about staying on their mooring whilst we had lunch. It wasn't very far to go until the entrance to Preston Brook Tunnel 1239 yds. long. It is only one way and for boats going south it is from half past the hour to twenty to the hour. There were three of us waiting and on the allotted time we set off.  The tunnel marks the change over from the Bridgewater to the Trent and Mersey canal and as was usual the different companies installed a stop lock to prevent any loss of water from one to the other as water has always been a precious commodity on the canals.

Dutton Stop Lock. The difference was only a couple of inches but the single gate was very heavy so I helped with the other two boats  with us as they were single handers. The sunker cruiser has been there since at least May.

Just after the stop lock is a 'quaint' covered dry dock.

This is the site of the massive breach in the Trent and Mersey Canal at Dutton. It occured in September 2012 and the canal was re-opend for navigation in May 2013. It now seems that it is a popular mooring spot as there is a good view of the Weaver Valley with no trees blocking the view and on a day like today it had a nice breeze too.

This is what the breach looked like just after it occurred.

Photograph courtesy of  http://www.towpathtalk.co.uk/news/paving-the-way-for-dutton-repairs

We stopped at Black Prince at Bartington Wharf at 16:10 and the place was closed up. We will have to get it from a marina tomorrow just before we descend to the Weaver. The next highlight was the Saltersford tunnel 424yds. This is another timed tunnel as although it is short it is also very bendy and not wide enough for two boats. This time it was from thirty minutes past the hour to ten to the hour for going south. We just scrapped in without having to wait. The pool at the end was busy with moored boats and one waiting to head north. Very shortly came the Barnton Tunnel which is longer, 572 yds, but straight enough to be able to see through to the other end to check if anything is coming. Again we headed straight through.

Coming out into the daylight at the South End of Barnton Tunnel. It wasn't very long afterwards that we moored up for the night just west of the Anderton Boat lift.