Slow travel

From Ellsemere Port we head east,  a chilly but sunny day. Only 8 miles, about 2 hours, no locks, an easy cruise, time to absorb landscape, fauna, and to make the Cap'n a proper coffee, using the Johnstone's beaut coffee pot. At the basin below the city, abutting the Roman walls, we top up our water tank, have lunch, then tackle the 3 staircase locks taking the canal 33ft up to the level of the city. One of the thousands of cheerful volunteers on the canal network is on hand, kindly filling the top 2 locks while the Cap'n empties the bottom one. The 1st mate is on the boat, keeping Santiago back from the uphill gate, with its cascades, and forward from the rear gate, as getting the rudder jammed is not desirable. Also an eye on gongoozling children, in case one takes a dip. With bottom lock empty, in we go, deep, stone walls towering, pigeons roosting inside the gates. The gates close  behind, the water from the middle lock is released, slowly, into the bottom lock. 300...

For a canal nutter Ellsemere Port is heaven. It was developed over 200 years, as a major port on the NW coast, enabling access from the Mersey to the Shropshire Union Canal, linking the midlands, Wales and the wealth of Cheshire. It was built to  enable Chester to compete with Liverpool, which from the port is visible across the far side of the Mersey. By the 1920s competition from the railways meant traffic through the port had declined. The magnificent warehouses, slipway, pumphouses, dry docks, all 7 acres of 18th & 19thC infrastructure, were saved because of a competing canal, the mighty Manchester Ship Canal. This company bought the port, as the ship canal is directly adjacent to the port. Its facilities were of value, even though the old Shroppie was not. The port is now a major canal museum, preserving the boats, stories, equipment of the canal age, in a magnificent setting. It has a library and archive resource in which we were engrossed yesterday, chasing down some d...

To our knowledge in the last couple of years, several people have drowned in locks. The usual culprit is getting the back of the boat caught on the cill of the lock.  The cill is a ledge on the base of the lock gates, visible in an attached photo. As water is released to lower the boat, the stern can catch, if one is not alert. Last year a man drowned after getting his mother and dog off the sinking boat, jammed on a cill. He returned to retrieve her handbag, then couldn't escape as the furniture was floating, blocking the exits. Or you can get the front jammed in the gate- which we nearly did 2 days ago. As the water was being released, the large rope fender on the bow jammed into a space in the gate. One of us went to stop the water release, but then the boat, engine hard reversed, unjammed. Phew. In an earlier lock, the lock keeper warned us of protruding stones, which had recently jammed a boat as water levels were rising. Can I add slippery ladders, tripping ropes, and poo...

A fine mild day as we leave Manchester. Old bridges and wharves, new office and apartment structures. The juxtaposition from the water is striking. The cap'n manages a deft reverse from a watering point, before a wide beam tour boat with its complement of tourists performs its own reverse. Canada geese complain, but over a sole invading goose, not duelling boats. We cruise west to the Meeting of the Waters, the junction of the 3 arms of the Bridgewater, coming east from the coal of Worsley, west from the markets of Manchester, and north from the ocean trading routes via the Mersey. We turn south, heading towards Chester, As it is a fine Sunday, the scullers are out in force, creating delicate breakable unpredictable obstacles for a 20 tonne steel boat. First we veer left, then head towards the willows on the right, before swinging into mid stream. And the 3rd scull's crew smile nervously up as Santiago passes. Phew, dodgems on water. Now moored near the wonderful Trust proper...

18/10/2017 Manchester, like Leeds and Liverpool,  is a delightful city, a mix of architecture, an energy and purpose.  New buildings under construction everywhere.  A down side to this sense of a thriving lively place is the number of beggars. Today a contemporary craft fair, with 151 exhibitors ranging from joinery to textiles, jewellery, glass,  leather, sculpture.  Just as well transporting things home is an issue. On a recommendation from an exhibitor (demonstrating a laser cutting machine) we went on the hunt for a coffee shop, behind the Deansgate station, an unprepossessing alley. There a roaster shop, unpretentious, excellent coffee. En route we watched some young men practising wall jumping, no other onlookers, just their own entertainment,  and ours! Such young athletic confidence. Further up Deansgate is the John Ryland Library, built and donated to the people of Manchester by the widow of said John Ryland, who made millions in cotton manufact...

13/10/2017 Actually, we turned right, weaving north west through the huge docks, devoid now of large ships, only the odd tour boat. Regeneration of enormous warehouses, and we climb 4 locks away from the Mersey - which we had thought to cross, to reach Chester, but defeated by the increasingly strong, gusty winds. Our pilot recommends a crossing in an earlier season...maybe next year? And so through flat muddy Lancashire fields, green with leeks and cabbage, towards Wigan. Another right turn, moving south east, towards Manchester. Tonight, we are moored where the canals began, in the 18th C coal mining territory of the Duke of Bridgewater. Two photos are attached showing rope cuts in a stone bridge, and a bollard, evidence of the effect of the grit encrusted ropes,  pulled by horse, hauling laden barges. The canal transported coal, as well as people on the Packet' boats.

13/10/2017 Here in Worsley, just 6 miles west of Manchester, is where the canal network began. The 3rd Duke of Bridgewater had coal mines here, with a water problem. His elegant solution was to turn the water drains ('soughs') into underground canals, 46 miles eventually. When his coal reached Manchester, it reduced the cost to half. Now that's an improvement we can hope for. Two of the exit tunnels can just still be seen, behind tatty green 'keep out' netting. The water still running out leaches iron, and the canal here is tea coloured. An attractive town, with dry docks hundreds of years old- the canal opened in 1761. Yesterday, fine even sunny, we walked through Worsley woods, under the M60, along railtrails, some 5 to 6 miles, lovely to stretch our legs after the 2 days of solid cruising from Liverpool. Now off to Manchester for a few days, including the treat of the 'Last night of the Proms', suitably held at the Bridgewater concert hall. ...

12/10/2017 This city has amazed us with its rich maritime history, music,  architecture, museums. Unexpected gems in the 4 National Trust properties here, 2 the childhood homes of Lennon and McCartney, the others a Tudor period estate, and a 1950s home and studio of a photographer. All so different, engrossing. Walking the waterfront, the heritage warehouses and docks, the Mersey fringing the city. Listening to music in the basement Cavern. Learning something of the slave trade,  ship building. That the Tate's founder was a sugar baron. Tomorrow we muster at the Mann Island lock, for the experience of orienteering in a canal boat,   as we follow the Liverpool Link route back through the city, and north east towards Manchester .

2/10/2017 From our mooring outside Liverpool, near Aintree racecourse, we start the scheduled  run of about 10 miles into the city at 9.30am, when the locked road bridge is swung to allow us through. For about 6 miles the canal is a green channel, slipping past homes, fields, gardens,  towards the city centre. The canal terminus is in Stanley Dock,  with a link opened in 2009 to the lower docks on Mersey side.  The massive brick Tobacco Warehouse lies at the dock, now being renovated for use as units, offices etc - carefully, as peregrine falcons are nesting. We descend the 4 locks from Stanley Dock, beginning a canal experience we have never had before. The route tracks directly towards the river, then turns 90° to traverse multiple docks, ducking into tunnels, following buoyed channels, stopping for a tidal lock. A last sweep from Albert Dock ( the Tate, maritime museum) and we're in Salthouse Dock,  the oldest dock in Liverpool. JJ manages a tricky reverse m...