Flashes

26/4/2019

The Trent and Mersey canal traverses WNW from the midlands, through salt extraction territory- with the salt being transported by canal before road and rail eclipsed canal transport.
The consequences of the thousands of years of extraction can be seen in the landscape. Open cut extraction has formed pools, even lakes, called 'flashes', while the underground mining causes subsidence.

Part of the canal had to be relocated in the 50s when it collapsed, banks have been built up, and signs 'low bridges' are frequent. The bridges have sunk, so the boater ducks low, and hopefully removes the aerials and chimneys before the bridge knocks them flying.

When the adjacent river flooded in the 90s when we were boating on the T and M, some craft could not fit under the bridges as the river was flooding the canal. On a humble hire boat at the time, we scraped through. I recall the excitement of ferry gliding along the canal, to counter the current of flooding across the canal and into the water meadows. The latter are called 'ings' in Yorkshire.

We left the T and M today, at a 3 inch stop lock . These tiny differences in water level were to stop the next canal company from stealing your water. Tolls were levied as craft moved to the next canal. Now it was just a short hold up, as we moved onto the Bridgewater canal.

The Cap'n took the tiller to take us through the 1 km Preston Brook Tunnel. Like most tunnels, it only takes one boat at a time. Some tunnels have a traffic light system, others are short so you simply put on your headlight and go for it if no oncoming boat is visible. Today's tunnel has a simple time allocation- north bound, enter from the hour until 10 minutes past. The south bound boats from half past the hour etc.

My apologies for no photos - the blog program is playing  up.

Comments

  1. wishful thinker'29 April 2019 at 03:22

    Another fantastic blog post. Looking forward to seeing your photos. Xx love from the valley and M2.

    ReplyDelete

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