Sunday 6th April 2014 - The Shropshire Canal
We go up, or is it down(?) the 8" through Autherley
Lock and along the straight cut of the Shropshire Union Canal!! Happy, happy days!!
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| Yes! We've got here! Now the cruise begins.... |
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| Looking back onto the Staffs & Worcs canal while we go up the little lock onto the Shroppie |
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| What lurks the other side of this bridge? |
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| Its the men in the biggest pole competition! |
Were now in wide open countryside, green grassy fields
and beautiful blossom.
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| What on earth?? |
It's windy now, but the rain hasn't arrived like it
was forecast.
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| There's concrete blocks under the surface by the bank... they're there to annoy you! |
The banks of the canal are rocky and blocky, just under the
surface so you rise up as you hit the paving slabs and rocks! This canal was, all them years
ago, dug out of rocky hills and built up on embankments over the valleys. the
canal mainly goes in a straight line, anything in the workers way they just
went through it, or over it! Normally canals go round a huge hill, these guys
dug out, by hand, the whole length! All credit to those men!
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| There's lots of pretty little bridges like this one! |
Makes it a pretty special canal when you see what we've
seen! There's a couple of very narrow sections where there's only room for one
boat through at a time, you can't get over to your side because of the huge
rocks on either side!
Mooring is limited to designated mooring places as the
hidden rocks and concrete ledge, also under the water, makes it impossible to
pull in just anywhere.
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| Onwards we go, trying to find somewhere to stop |
On we go, rain imminent as the skies get greyer by the
hour. We do about three miles and in the distance there's a boat moored up,
looking good as we know we can get in there too! Turns out it was one of many
48 hr moorings on this canal. So we slowly approached the side of the canal now
aware of the concrete sills below the water and got in fine, tied the boat up
and had crumpets and a cuppa. We'd made it back out in the country, you don't
know how relieved we felt! Peace and quiet and solitude.
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| We moor up with nothing but one more narrow boat near us, peace! |
The whole time we were in Wolverhampton we only saw
one boat moving, coming out of the locks, we didn't see any at all going
through Birmingham. Seemed like the canal was ours! But since we've been on
this canal there's boats coming and going, all the hire boats are out to play,
and they're playing fast! It's 2pm, grey and cold.
After lunch we go and explore, Jack is 'smiling' once
more, he's free as a free dog and his tail is definitely wagging faster than of
late! He's back in the open countryside where he should be, and he's enjoying
every minute!
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| We leave early, we want to be on our way.... |
Back at the boat we light the fire (still using free
wood) and the skies open! Down comes the rain but we don't care! Were now safe
and dry and warm in our cosy boat once again, and back in the countryside where
we belong!
On Monday 7th April we woke up super early, we wanted
to make an early start as the weather was forecast winds and rain in the
morning and strong winds and heavy rain in the afternoon! So by 8am Paul and Jack
set off up the towpath to Brewood, our destination for the day, only two miles
away!
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| It's a grey day here out on the water |
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| The rocks are still just under the surface, ready to tilt you over if you get too close |
It didn't take long to get there once I had avoided
the rocks all along the edge of the canal. I had to keep to the centre of the
canal and luckily there was no one else around! The towpath was boggy most of
the way, the steep cutting meant there wasn't any sunshine getting in to dry
out the path.
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| Its very pretty here, Paul and Jack walk the towpath to Brewood... |
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| Trees line the canal, some fallen ones too |
Tall trees on either side of us in the cuttings
towered over us like lanky giants with mighty arms and hands!
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| Paul and Jack walk off up the soggy towpath |
We get to the 48
hr moorings at Brewood, there's plenty of other boats and here we moor up in
the cutting just before the Bridge Inn pub.
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| In amongst the tree lined cut, the towpath is soggy and muddy |
It's just started raining so we had breakfast (it's
still only 8.40am!) and peered out of rain splattered windows.
After a while we venture out and take the 10 minute
walk into the village of Brewood to stock up on groceries.
After a late lunch it pours with rain again, right up
until 4pm!
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| "Come on you two, how we gonna tackle this mud then?" |
There's not a lot here, we find a couple of nice
fields without public right of way and risk getting caught and walk round them!
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| Moored up at Brewood, the view from the bridge. We're third in the line of boats |
There's a lovely woods walk down the towpath a mile
which we go and explore, it's soggy and dark but Jack loves scampering about
chasing squirrels back up their trees!
Tuesday we ventured out into Wolverhampton on a bus
that turned up 15 mins late. In Wolverhampton Paul went his way and picked up a
pot of paint we'd ordered from Black Country Paints. I went off on the train to
Northampton where Lyndsey kindly came to pick me up to have an MRI scan in the
local Clinic.
After a day of traveling about and a lovely day spent
with Lynz I eventually arrived back at the boat by 7.15pm. It had been a long
day so we all walked to the Three Stirups pub and had a dinner for two for £10!
Bargain!
We had a lovely quiet night, dark and silent!
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| Setting off up the canal.... |
Wednesday the sun was shining once again, which meant
its a wonderful day for cruising! So after jacks walk we set off about 9.30am
and enjoyed every minute of it!
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| A heron watches as we cruise on by... |
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| This man isn't a giant, he's just got a very small boat! |
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| We cruise on over embankments, there's an aqueduct we go through with a road below us |
We went through some amazing countryside, we travelled
high up on tall embankments with stunning views all around, and we travelled
low down in damp red rocky cuttings, tall trees reaching for the light high as
high, meeting in the middle like a canopy.
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| Tall trees not yet with leaves tower over us along both sides of the canal |
The sunshine makes long shadows between the trees, glistening
in stripes along the still waters as we made our way under tall beautiful bridges
along the 10 and a half miles to our stop over.
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| Tall bridges all along here, we're in a cutting now |
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| This boat cruises on by with two large dogs on the back deck, not much room for the steerer! |
At Wheaton Aston we come to our only lock of the day
and as we approach a boat is coming out! So straight in and down and were out,
that quick!
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| Leaving Wheaton Aston lock |
We pulled over at the water and rubbish point and the
water pressure was so slow it seemed to take forever! We set off again under
Tavern Bridge and immediately we spotted a sign that said diesel was 72.9p per
litre!
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| Filling up with cheap diesel, only 72.9 pence per litre! |
We've been paying between 82p/94p per litre so this
was a bargain! Well we couldn't go past an offer like that! So a quick reverse
and we'd tied up. Turns out it was a garage on the bridge that sold petrol and
diesel for cars etc and they also sold diesel by the canal for boats! After
filling the tank up we set of again chuffed with our find!
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| We set off again on our lovely cruise in the sun over embankments... |
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| .... and into cuttings with tall bridges |
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| It's so pretty here with the sun shining |
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| Looking back at the beautiful trees lining the canal |
We head on through familiar cuttings and embankments
in a straight line and we get to Cowley Tunnel, just a short tunnel but it's
got a long and narrow section just before it. As we head through were hoping no
boats come our way, the wall it tall and hard on our right, red rocky surface,
the trees tower over us on our left!
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| But it's getting narrower all the time, just hope there's no boats coming towards us! |
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| This is such a pretty entrance to the tunnel |
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| And inside you can see it's just dug out of the rocks |
We get through the cutting and the tunnel with no boats
coming towards us and as we exit the dark damp tunnel we come out into another
beautiful wooded cutting!
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| Leaving the tunnel we enter a wonderland once again |
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| As we leave the tunnel tall trees and rocky sides are the order of the day |
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| What a beautiful place to stop for lunch! |
So nice we have to stop! It's 1.30 pm and it must be
lunch time! Jack has a lovely play on the towpath and up and down the banks
while we relax with pork pie!
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| Leaving our little lunch spot, the sun's still shining through the trees |
After a short while we were off again, Jacks had some
fun, we've filled our bellies and it's time to cruise ... well it's 2.15pm, any
time is cruise time!
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| This is all just too stunning for words.... |
We cruise on 2.5 miles over tall embankments and down
in deep cuttings ... past the hilly landscape all around us.
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| Moored up on the embankment near to Norbury Junction |
Our next stop was Norbury Junction, the 48 hr moorings
were on a steep embankment, just over an aqueduct that went over a river and a road.
The mooring spot was nice, quiet all except for the lovely bird songs we're
being treated to. But we don't mind that sort of noise!
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| Some sort of project under way to restore a moat wall.... |
We go and explore around finding a good walk for Jack,
discovering a restoration project going on, a walled moat being rebuilt, and
some lovely fields for scampering about.
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| Its so beautiful here as we go off to explore |
It was a long walk and back at the boat we chilled
out!
After a quiet night we walked Jack over the fields
again and finished the walk in the Chandlery where we bought a few bits and two
pints of milk!
After breakfast we set off once again heading out of
Norbury junction, on our way to the unknown!
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| Leaving our little spot and heading towards Norbury Junction |
We cruise at a slow speed past lines of moored boats
till finally we are out in the land of nothing once more!
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| We can always find a bit of room for our surprise visitor on the back deck |
A surprise visit from Jack makes our day! He never
comes on the back of the boat, but he asked to come up today. He sat there for
a while, wagged his tail and bottom, looked about for a while and then went
back indoors! He's not been on the back of the boat since he fell off when he
was a puppy!
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| We cruise on through deep tree lined cuttings.... |
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| Under tall and weird bridges... |
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| .... and high up on tree lined embankments |
There's no one about, there's no people, cars,
buildings, houses, nothing! It's wonderful!
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| Rocky canal edges, they lurk under the water too! |
The canal is still very straight,
going either through deep, deep cuttings or high embankments again, beautiful
tall bridges and red crumbling rocks show how low we are to the top of the cutting
around us.
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| And along straight narrow parts which don't seem wide enough for two boats to pass |
Theres two miles of very narrow tall cutting, hand dug
from the hills all those years ago, tall tall trees growing out of red rocks
that make up the sides of the canal.
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| Going down the straight and narrows... |
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| .... the top of the cuttings high above us |
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| ... The odd rock slide is inevitable here, the rocks are really crumbly |
After 10 miles we decide to stop above the Tyrely
locks on the 48 hr visitor moorings. It's quiet here, we got the last spot!
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| We stop at the top of Tyreley locks, Jack has his nector from the canal, he prefers the canal water!! |
We went for our Jack walk and found some lovely reed
fields, tall reeds grown for thatching, perfect for mouse and bunny smells! We've
got a happy Jack!
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| Jack's loving his explore around the tall reed fields |
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| Looking down on the canal from the top of one of the tall bridges, it looks so small |
On Friday we walked Jack amongst the reeds and we set
off to go down the five Tyrely locks.
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| Leaving the first of the Tyreley locks |
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| At the next lock its just as stunning |
Paul and Jack went first and set the locks while I
glided the boat into the locks with precision! As we go down the locks they
enter another cutting, red rocky sides with tall walls either side... stunning
once again!
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| ... and it just keeps on getting better! |
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| Looking down the cut from the last of the 5 Tyreley Locks |
The countryside opens up to rolling hills and were on
top of an embankment as we approach Market Drayton. We pull over onto the 48's
here and as it's still only 10.15am, we have a bit of breakfast.
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| Approaching Market Drayton, moored up on the left... |
Fuelled up we were then on a mission. We went off to
find the laundrette, Busy D's, in Market Drayton, Paul says just over a mile, it's
actually over two miles! Struggling with washing in trolleys we made it after
about 40 mins, best laundrette ever, cleanest, friendliest, loveliest one yet!
When we told them about our marathon walk they offered
to do the drying for us and deliver back to the canal by 6.00pm! For a price of
course! But they would have picked it up too had we called them! We'll know
next time, hey!
So we walked back to the boat, calling in at the
chippy on the way!
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| We're moored up just above the river and road aqueduct! High up hey! |
When we got back to the boat I took Jack out for an
explore and Paul went off to find a doctors for his asthma inhailers.
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| Jack and I go for an explore under the road aqueduct... |
Walks were fine, more reed fields, more brilliant
smells for Jack! Paul got sorted too after a second visit to the docs that day!
But mission nearly completed, tomorrow is shopping day.
The birds are singing happily and the sun is still out.
It's a beautiful evening.
It's Saturday and it's a day of food shopping and
tidying up! The day is cold and windy and grey, there's a chill in the air that
goes right through you.
After our walk we head off to Asda, only a mile away
this time! Great shop, cheap as chips here!
Dragging our trolleys and bags we headed back to the
boat, walked Jack and did some jobs around the boat. Pizza and Britains Got
Talent sorted out our evening, we had a lovely quiet night.
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| The views around as we leave Market Drayton |
Sunday the weather was slightly better, it was bright
but chilly with strong winds. After a quick walk we set off slowly along lines
of moored up boats until we finally were back out in open countryside.
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| More beautiful countryside |
It's a long straight 3 mile bit of the canal, mainly
embankment all the way until we get to Adderley locks.
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| Adderley Locks, our next set of 5 |
There's five locks to go down and each time we came to
the next lock there was a boat coming out! It's very busy here, it's Easter
holidays now and there's lots of people out and about, on boats and not on
boats.
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| A boat leaves the lock in front, its all ready set for us! |
We made pretty good progress at the Adderley locks, we've
now got one mile to go till we reach the next set of locks, the 15 Audlem locks.
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| We only had a mile to go till we got to the next set of locks, there's 15 of them to come! |
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| We get to the locks in good time, but it seemed to take ages to get through them |
But it turns out the good progress from earlier was
not to remain! We had to wait for two boats in front of us to go down the locks
first, queuing at every lock till lock 11.
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| It's all go here, one out, another in |
We were following Mr Numpty, who was
making lots of wrong moves, and behind us was Mr Muppet, also cocking
everything up as he went through!
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| They're very pretty locks though so we dont mind hanging around waiting |
There were hire boats everywhere, loads of little life
jacket wearing people all wanting to 'help'. I even pulled a soggy wet holiday
hire dog out of the canal for the distressed owners after it tried to jump onto
the boat and missed!
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| It's all happening behind me |
It took us ages to get through the first 11 locks,
only then did we decide we would stop for lunch and let Mr Numpty and Mr Muppet
get on out of our way before a disaster occurred!
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| We just about managed to squeeze into this spot |
After a great bacon buttie and a hot cuppa we were on
our way again, a clear run this time for our last 4 locks of the day.
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| We had a clear run for the last 4 locks of the day |
That's 20 locks and 7 miles today, were all knackered,
Jack's been out all day at the locks with Paul but I bet he still wants his
walk later tho!
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| Just the other side of bridge 80 is where we choose to stop for the night |
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| In the distance is Happy Daze, moored up with nothing and no one around! Perfect! |
We pull over by bridge 80, peaceful and quiet away
from the holiday makers and hire boaters. After a great walk with Jack we get
home only to have hire boaters bash against the side of us, three times in total!
It's sunny and windy, few boats are still moving.
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| "If I give you my paw will you give me a biscuit please?" |
Monday morning and I was out with Jack nice and early
over the grassy meadows while Paul pumped out the loo into the containers ready
to dispose of in the services station in Nantwich.
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| Jack had a great time playing in the hilly grassy fields! |
It was sunny and windy again today, you could see for
ages across the fields and meadows, it's really flat around us now. We cruised
on a couple of miles until we got to the first of the two Hack Green Locks. We
go straight into the first lock but there's a two boat queue at the next one.
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| This Nuclear Bunker is so secret its signposted along the canal! But don't tell anyone because it's a secret! |
Soon through we make our way through lush green
countryside to Nantwich, high embankments ensuring we get great views of the
countryside.
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| We're on a high embankment with loads of great mooring, but we're not ready to stop yet! |
We continue on the embankment as we get into Nantwich,
(in fact, all the mooring is on the embankment) there's loads of mooring here but
were not ready to stop yet.
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| And just around the corner, over the aqueduct that goes over a road.... |
Around a tight left hand bend and there's an aqueduct
over the road here.
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| ... we fill up with water and dump our poo! |
We carry on the short distance to the services where we
stop and get water and dump the contents of our loo. After what seems an age, we set off again and were
heading to stop near Barbridge.
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| The sign at Hurleston Junction pointing out the way, we carry on towards Chester |
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| The start of the Llangollen Canal, it begins with 4 locks with warnings to take down your side fenders! |
We continue past Hurleston junction which takes you to
the Llangollen canal (that's the next canal we're cruising but we're waiting
until the school holidays are over ... less holiday hire boats) and a little
way up from bridge 99 we pull over and tie up.
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| This is our little place for the next couple of days... |
Bacon sarnies on the menu for lunch, and then we head
out and explore the walks around. Lovely grassy meadows and Jack ran to his
hearts content. Great walks, lovely grassy fields, and we spotted some great
firewood too!
Back at the boat and the boats on the move keep coming
thick and fast.
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| Its a busy stretch of canal here ..... |
This is a really busy canal, there's boats almost
every two minutes! And they don't stop when it's dark either!
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| ... with boats coming and going all day and into the evening |
Tuesday is a jobs day for us. The sun is shining and we've
got work to do. There's a lot of painting to do, small jobs but they all need
doing, Paul scrubs the front
cratch cover getting rid of the green tinge that appears on it every winter! We
collect and chop wood, walk Jack in the glorious sunshine and generally enjoy
our day!
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| Our view from the front of the boat - what a beautiful evening.... |
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| ... and I think Paul agreed! |
We did the same on Wednesday too, more painting and
cleaning but it wasn't such a great day, windier and chillier than yesterday.
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| Each evening there was a stunning sunset |
On Thursday 17th April we set off again, only moving a
few miles today.
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| Leaving the mooring spot on a grey windy day |
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| Cruising past the Middlewich Branch at Barbridge Junction - we're heading this way later.... |
It was grey and cloudy, windy too. We went past the Middlewich
Branch junction and onwards up the Shroppie. It was straight and long, a three
mile stretch that was quite dull.
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| Industrial units to our left.... and a busy road to our right. Not the best of scenery here |
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| Heading under the busy A51 road bridge on a very tight bend |
The A51, a really busy road, runs right alongside us
one side and business units and work yards the other side.
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| Guess we must be somewhere near Wales then... |
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| Calverley Services... we pulled in to dump some rubbish in the skip bins |
We pulled in to Calverly services station and dumped
some rubbish and were immediatly on our way again, under the Calverly road
bridge and we pulled up on the 48 hr moorings just the other side.
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| We settled into our little mooring spot on the Calverley 48's |
Once settled Paul whizzed off on his bike the 2 miles
to the local Co-op in Bunbury and got a few essentials while I rubbed down the
black rain spoiled gunwale and put another coat of paint on.
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| The sun came out and so did the sander and paint brush! |
When he returned we discovered we had a problem we had
to sort out immediatly! The tin of red oxide Paul put away in the top box had
all leaked out and covered everything in its path!
We ended up balancing on the gunwale in our socks, in
the strong wind, trying to mop up about 2 litres of paint! It was everywhere!
Eventually we got most of the paint mopped up, cleaned what we could and threw
away what we couldn't clean. Not a great afternoon!
Another few bashes from another hire boat and we were in for the evening, after picking up things off the floor that fell off the shelves!
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| The next day there was a beautiful calm morning.... |
Good Friday and we stayed put. Did a bit more painting
and had an amazing walk over the fields with Jack into Bunbury to get an ice cream,
must have walked 5 miles!
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| .... and the mist was rising from the water |
On Saturday the sun was out and we were raring to get
going.
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| Leaving the Calverley 48's on a sunny morning |
By 9.30am we were ready and set off to the double staircase locks only a
mile away.
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| Jack waits at the top of the Staircase locks |
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| Oooh! That's handy, a lock keeper at the Staircase locks... |
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| .... and just to make sure, here's how it should be done |
We were joined by another boat called Sandlewood making our locking much easier!
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| Sandlewood leaving the lock behind us |
The countryside is beautiful here, rolling hills and
lovely wooded areas. In and out of the next lock and we spotted high on a steep
hill the remains of Beeston Castle, built in 1220. Looked amazing!
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| The hills all around us, the scenery was lovely and a surprise around every corner |
We got to the two Beeston locks and both boats descended
together in the first one but the second lock had a few subsidence problems and
it was advised that only one boat go down at a time. (Boats had been getting
jammed going down normally side by side)
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| A bright red sign denotes danger.... only one boat at a time through the dodgy Iron Lock |
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| Once in the lock you could see the problem, the walls of the lock had leaned inwards |
So we went down first, and Sandlewood followed.
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| A boat enters the Iron Lock, the sides of the lock leaning in just ready to jam in two unsuspecting boats |
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| Beautiful bluebells carpet the floors of the beautiful woodland as we made our way onwards |
Before
the next lock we pulled over to stop for lunch, Sandlewood going on ahead. It
was a lovely spot, we could see the old ruins of the castle and the sun was out!
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| Our view as we ate our lunch, Beeston Castle high up on the rocky hill |
After our lunch we went on through the last lock, and on to Christleton (just outside Chester) which was another 8 miles on!
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| We cruised on past Sandalwood, they'd stopped off at the Shady Oak pub |
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| The countryside opened up so we could see for miles |
We cruised on going over embankments and through cuttings,
beautiful tree lined canal and rolling hills all around. The bluebells have all
started to flower now making a wonderful purple carpet under the shade of the woodland
floors.
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| We carried on, making our way to Chisleton |
We can also see the welsh mountains in the distance over
to our left, stunning!
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| There's two miles of moorings here at Golden Nook Moorings, the Welsh mountains in the distance |
We cruise on past lines and lines of moored boats at
Golden Nook moorings and on through Waverton with the wonderfully huge and posh
houses with their enormous gardens backing onto the canal.
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| Huge gardens backed onto the canal, the massive houses way back in the distance |
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| Another massive house, and garden |
It's a lovely area, well to do! We arrive at
Chistleton and there's a row of moored boats on the 48hr moorings and we join
the back.
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| We moored up here for the night, not quite so picturesque as some of our mooring spots |
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| The Cheshire Cat, we enjoyed a fat burger and chips here! |
The pub here had been recommended to us to pay a visit
so after our walk with Jack we all went there for tea! Nice, pretty expensive
but nice! Back at the boat we lit the fire and watched Britains Got Talent, had
a really quiet night here.
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| We pulled over to get water, the grey boat moored on the water point made it difficult to get in properly |
Sunday we moved off and went the half mile to the
water point and filled up. We joined another boat in the first lock. The woman
only had three teeth and he was a rep for a swimming pool company, weird
couple, didn't talk much!
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| The grey boat leaves the lock while Paul shuts the gates up after him |
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| It's right nice here, the canal looks beautiful as we cruise between the 5 locks, our approach to Chester |
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| We made our way into Chester, Paul walked the locks with Jack |
We descended the 5 locks with the grey boat, the area
is really nice, no graffiti, no rubbish, lovely gardens, even the ones belonging
to the council house brigade!
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| Tall, old buildings line the canal on our approach to Chester |
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| We left our grey boat companions here at the Tescos moorings |
We left our grey boat weird people at the Tescos
mooring in the centre of Chester which actually looked safe enough to moor for
the night!
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| The city wall flows high above the canal here.... |
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| ... and people look down on you as you cruise on round the city wall |
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| The canal is cut out of the hard red rocks one side, and the city wall is the other |
We continue another mile through the canal, it's
pretty amazing here!
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| Deep dark moss covered rocks tower the canal on both sides now |
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| Looking back up the canal, the houses are built above the canal! |
The canal has been cut out of the red rocks, it's a
really deep cutting, the city walls tower high above us! It's narrow and trees
tower over us.
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| Fences block the towpath to the top lock of the staircase |
Soon we arrive at the 3 Northgate Staircase locks, I
have to drop Paul off at the lock entrance as the towpath has been blocked off
for repairs. The top lock is full and Paul opens the gate and I go straight in.
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| Waiting in the top lock, the second of the three was mighty deep |
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| .... I take the boat to the second, the water's drained out and it's still mighty deep |
After a bit of head scratching we work out the lock
system and slowly let the water out of the first one, which fills up the next
one, gates are opened and I go in, and do the same for the third one.
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| Down the bottom of the staircase locks there's a boat waiting to come in |
Once down the bottom were quite relieved, we've made
it down with no problems! The locks were really deep, wide and quite scary!
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| We go round the corner and the canal opens up into a big wide basin |
We go round a tight right hand bend and were in the
big wide basin of Chester. There's 48 hr moorings here so we slot into a spot
in between other boats.
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| We tuck ourselves in to a little spot on the 48 hr moorings |
Then it really starts to rain hard! People are milling
about here, looking at the boats and walking their dogs, it's a lovely area, a
pub on the opposite bank and building works going on opposite us too.
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| Looking down onto the basin in Chester from the City Wall |
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| We walk Jack along the tidal River Dee, he's not too impressed! |
After lunch we go in search of our Jack walk with not
much success. We eventually find a walk along the banks of the river Dee, it's
straight and tarmacked, not ideal but it's a walk!
We had a quiet night here, there was no
traffic or people noise and this was near to the centre of Chester! The basin
is full up with boats now, it's a busy place!
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| County dog Jack isn't to happy on his tarmac walk |
On Easter Monday the sun was shining once again and we
went for our sterile river walk with Jack.
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| We walked the City Wall in search of Tescos, it a rickety path that surrounds the Cathedral and city boundry in Chester, dates back .... well a long time.... very impressive! |
We went off in search of Tescos
along the City Wall, high above the canal we walked until we found Tescos.
After a good shop we walked back laiden with goodies!
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| Leaving Chester we go past the historic boat yard, still in working operation today |
We set off on the boat then, crusty ham rolls and a
cuppa for lunch, out of Chester and onwards up the Shroppie.
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| Back out into the countryside we head now, not an area of beauty I must say! |
It's ok here, not a bad area but not particulary
pretty. We're aiming to go four miles out to moor up at a recommended spot by Chester
Zoo.
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| We go under the big huge railway bridge |
It's still very much in the countryside, we've left
the houses and businesses behind now and are back amongst green fields and beautiful
bird song.
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| We had the place to ourselves here... |
The zoo was by bridge 134, there were 48 hr moorings
there, no other boats at all meant we had the place all to ourselves. So after
tying the boat up we went to explore the walks with some success! Jack was
happy running and scampering in amongst the fields and hedges getting filthy in
the marshy meadows.
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| Look at the name on this boat... and it's spelt the same way too! |
Tuesday came and so did the rain, all day! We stayed
in most of the day, we'd got jobs to do, only ventured out of the boat for our
dog walks. There was one other boat pulled on the moorings, nb Legend. So we weren't
on our own any more, we had neighbours!
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| We left the moorings, and our only neighbour for last night, Legend |
On Wednesday 23rd April we set off early in the
sunshine after walking Jack. We were on our way to Ellesmere Port, the end of
the Shroppie. After Ellesmere Port was 4 locks that led you to the Manchester
Ship Canal and then the River Mersey and we certainly didn't want to go any further!
It was only 8am but the weather was changing later and
we wanted to get back to Chester before the rain and wind came. We had 4 and a
half miles to get to the end, and another 8 back to Chester, no locks!
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| Flat open fields all around here, in the distance there's industry everywhere |
The canal was quite wide here, the smoking tall
chimneys of the port dominated the skyline, factories and sewage works around
us.
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| This is the huge sewage works, right by the canal and the wind was blowing the stench towards us!! |
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| And so to the Port of Ellesmere... industry at its best! |
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| Jack joins us on our back deck for only the second time ever! He still looks a bit nervous tho! |
But it's still pleasant enough, not much graffiti about,
grassy areas and tree lined canal banks.
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| We head under the last bridge on the Shroppie, Ellesmere Port is through here |
After an hour and a half we went under our last bridge
and the canal opened up to a basin, there was a canal museum here, it's like we've
gone back in time! People stood around watching while I turned the boat around,
all went well, there were a few old boats about, old lock houses and warehouses
used long ago.
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| And this is the end for us, we've done it.... this is Ellesmere Port |
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| And this is the view towards the Manchester Ship Canal, and the River Mersey |
After our turnaround we went the way we'd just come,
back towards Chester.
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| We cruised on past our last night's mooring, past nb Legend with their bunting flapping in the breeze |
We cruised on past the 48hr mooring spot by Chester
Zoo, waved to the nb Legend and continued on the next 4 miles back to Chester.
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| Our journey took us back through the countryside to Chester |
We approached Chester and pulled in and tied up on the
48hr moorings in the basin once again, the same spot we had before only this
time we were facing the other way!
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| ... And we're back in the basin in Chester, facing the other way this time! |
It was still only 12 noon, the rain and wind
had started so we sat in and had lunch.
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| The Fudge Boat, Sanity?.... could not ever resist their tasty fudge! |
The boat in front of us, called Sanity? was the Fudge
Boat! Omg! Well, 4 bags of homemade tablet fudge for a fiver .... has to be
done!
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| They sold lots of different flavours, but the vanilla is definitely the best! |
Munching on delicious fudge we ventured out for our
walk and this time we found a field that Jack could run in, and we also found a
stack of lovely hawthorn that we carried the mile and a half back to the boat!
But it was worth it, beautiful burny wood!
We'd spotted a B & Q earlier and decided to walk there,
that was two miles away! But we got some stuff that we needed, and some we didn't!
We got back to the boat, the basin had filled up by
then and our previous neighbours from the zoo had arrived too! So theres a full
up basin, the pubs noisy tonight, but we were cosy here in our little boat!
Thursday it was a beautiful day. We decided we'd go and explore Chester a bit before we left, so after walking Jack we set off to walk the City Wall.
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| Looking through one of the City Wall's arches at the street |
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| High up over the canal we walk the boundary wall |
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| Posing while a tourist takes a picture of us being tourists! |
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| High up on the city wall the canal way down below... |
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| There's two layers of shops here, and a very busy street too! |
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| Chester is such a unique town with such amazing buildings... the city wall runs over this bridge over the high street! |
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| And how about this for a roof top garden? Don't think much of the view! |
Chester is an amazing city, tall tudor buildings with
two layers of shops! The wall goes right round the city centre with steps down
at frequent intervals. The shops are really individual, lots of unique shops, and
there's a Primani!
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| What a great way to get to town and back! |
After a quick visit to Tescos again we headed back around
the city wall, back to the boat.
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| View from under the bridge with nb Legend in poll position for our accent up the locks |
We chatted to our neighbours, Dave and Ann-Marie on nb
Legend, such lovely people. It's still a beautiful day and sitting outside is a
must on a day like this.
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| This plaque was on a bridge over the canal.... interesting |
After a towpath walk and a ball chuck for Jack we
settled in for the night.
Friday 25th April and it was 8.30 when we got back
from our dog walk. We had arranged to go up the locks with Dave and Ann-Marie,
so we all set off together, Ann-Marie and Paul went off with the windlasses to
set the locks, Dave and I on the boats.
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| Two boats side-by-side makes life a lot easier when locking! |
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| Entering the second of the three locks, looking back at the full up bottom lock |
The staircase locks were so much easier when there's
two boats in a lock together and we soon got to the top.
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| Going back under the high bridges, the moss covered rocky walls tower over us once again |
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| Moored up at the Tescos mooring.... we've got maggots to buy! |
A small cruise back
around the city wall, through the cutting and we were at the Tescos mooring. We
all pulled over, D & AM going to Tescos, Paul going to the maggot shop
(which it turns out was closed!) and I went to the bank which I forgot to do
yesterday.
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| They don't half breed large families around these parts... |
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| How many heads in this brood of chicks then? |
After coffee and cake we all set off to do the next 5
locks together.
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| We leave Chester in our two boat convoy... |
Out of Chester we went, side by side up the locks, Paul and
Ann-Marie setting the locks, Dave and I taking the boats in and out, chatting away
to each other.
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| Dave brings Legend out of the lock while Paul and Ann-Marie shut the gates behind him |
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| Going up the locks out of Chester, Ann-Marie waiting to close the bottom gates |
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| The beautiful flowers on the front of Legend brighten up everybodies day |
We got to the top of the locks and our new friends
pulled over to get water, sadly we all waved goodbye and we were on our way.
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| We get ready to go our separate ways at the top of the locks... |
We cruised on past the Cheshire Cat pub, out through
Christleton and Waverton, past all the posh houses and gardens and back out
into the countryside once again.
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| Two miles of moored up boats make this a long and wet cruise to our overnight mooring at Beeston Castle |
It started raining; we cruised past Golden Nook
Moorings, two miles of moored boats, at little more than 1 mph in the rain under
umbrellas feeling quite keen to stop somewhere now.
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| A kingfisher sits watching us as we cruise on by |
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| ... and we spot this mooring by the aqueduct, we'd had enough of the weather by then! |
We spotted a walk going off under an aqueduct and
decided we'd had enough today, so we pulled over, tied up and went in and lit a
fire to dry off. We'd done 8 locks and 9 miles today, most of it in the rain!
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| Jack had a lovely run in the meadows... we walked for miles! |
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| This waterfall was just a run off from the canal but it looked lovely as it had worn out the rock pool below |
We put on our wellies, waterproofed and brollied up,
we went out with Jack. It was now 4pm and he couldn't wait much longer. It was
a lovely walk, he enjoyed it so much, we walked for miles over fields and
rabbit infested meadows! It's so quiet here, not a soul about, we slept soundly.
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| We find a great walk under the aqueduct... |
Next day, Sunday 27th April we set off really early
after another lovely Jack walk. The weather is changing this afternoon and were
going to see the ruins of Beeston Castle.
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| Leaving the moorings we head for the ruins of Beeston Castle |
It's only a couple of miles further, past the Shady Oak
pub and we pull over on the 48hr moorings, right by the castle on the hill.
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| We moor up on the 48hr moorings and have breakfast... we're off soon to explore |
We have our breakfast, it's still only 9.30am, and go
for our second dog walk of the day. It's a lovely walk over the fields to the
castle, the sun is sort of out and Jack's having the time of his life.
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| The view to the castle from the boat... there's not much left but what there is is pretty impressive |
At the castle we discover you have to pay £6.60p to go up the
hill to the ruins, dogs must be on leads at all times but the sun was out and were
here now, so we decide to go explore.
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| One of the views from the top... |
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| and another... |
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| and another... |
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| The boat is somewhere down this side... |
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| Jack has a great day up high on the hills |
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| Posing for the camera, see if you can see our boat now! |
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| Jack keeps an eye on Paul as we finish our picnic... |
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| And there may be some left if I sit here and guard the bag! |
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| High up on the hill.... |
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| Wouldn't this be a great view from a bedroom window? |
But boy was it good! Loved the views across to Wales
and Liverpool, loved the beauty of it, lots of people about, we had a lovely
time walking about, sitting on the grass eating ice cream, we looked down on the
birds flying below us on the tall rocky hill.
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| We let Jack off his lead to have a run around the boundary wall, there's no one about here! |
We walked the perimeter of the castle mound and as
there was no one around there we took Jack off the lead so he could finally run
around!
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| Dave and Ann-Marie arrive while we're out, what a lovely suprise! |
Back at the boat the rain started.
But we noticed we'd been left something on the roof of our boat! It was a pot
of Hedgerow jam and two 'mug hugs'! As Ann-Marie knits the mug hugs, here's
only two people they could be from, Ann-Marie and Dave! And they were moored
two boats down from us!
So we walked down to their boat proudly hugging a mug
of coffee/tea, and had a lovely afternoon chatting to them and putting the
world to rights! Lovely lovely people, hope to see them again one day, really
hope so .....
Back at our boat we settled in for the evening, only
lighting the fire at 8pm!
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| Setting of we go through beautiful countryside once again |
Monday we woke to glorious sunshine. We walked Jack,
had breakfast and went and said a sad goodbye to our new friends, Ann-Marie and
Dave.
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| The second of the Beeston Locks there were C&RT workers there hitting the paddle with a hammer, trying to mend it! |
We finally set off at 10am for our 10 locks we were
doing today. The first 6, all on the Shroppie, were big, deep and tough. We went
up the locks with another boat, nb Megan Rose, Mike and Sue's boat. They were
from Burnley, had weird accents!
The second lock we had to go through on our own as it
was the Beeston Iron Lock, warped lock sides meant only one boat could go in at
a time as there was a chance two boats would get stuck!
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| We cruise past the Anglo Welsh hire boats, not much room left for us to get past! |
After 4 locks and the most beautiful surroundings ever
we got to the Anglo Welsh Hire Boats by the double staircase lock.
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| We get into the first of the double staircase locks with Mike coming up from behind |
Through we went, with Mike and I at the tiller and Sue
and Paul working the locks. At the top we carried on past our old mooring at
Calverley and pulled over at the services to get water and dump rubbish.
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| The busy A5 runs right next to the canal here |
We were soon on our way the 4 and a half miles to the Hurleston
junction where the Llangollen meets the Shroppie.
The day is lovely, the canal still and calm but with a
busy road right next to toad heavy thundering lorries trying to get somewhere
fast.
We cruise on past Barbridge junction where the
Middlewich Branch canal meets the Shroppie and only a mile and a half later we
had got to the entrance with the Llangollen Canal.
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| We waited in line to get onto the Llangollen, boats everywhere at the junction |
There were boats dotted about, all seem to be queuing
up to get through the first lock of the Llangollen canal, so we pulled over to
see what was going on.
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| The sign says turn right for the Llangollen, so we did! |
It seemed there was a queue, quite normal here
apparently! So we waited till it was our turn, we only had to wait for three
boats to go in before us, then we were away!
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| The entrance to the Llangollen Canal, signs by the lock say 'Lift your fenders in the locks' as they're all narrow |
A sharp right turn off the Shroppie and I took the
boat into the first of the narrow locks of a brand new canal .... We were on
the Llangollen canal and heading for Wales!
.... to be continued... 28.4.14 - The Llangollen Canal, not one to be missed!
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