Heading for Wales!

This update to our blog takes the story on from the Anderton Lift onto the Llangollen Canal where we are now heading west towards Wales.

On Friday (30th August) we came up the Anderton Lift back onto the Trent and Mersey Canal and turned south. A few miles on we stopped and spent the afternoon at the Lion Salt Works on the outskirts of Northwich. Here brine was pumped from deep in the ground and evaporated in large pans heated by a furnace below to produce salt. Above is a picture of one of the large salt pans.  Corrosion was a persistent problem and the pans were made of plates so new bits could be riveted on. This one has holes in as you can see.

Having raked the crystals out of the pan and rammed them into moulds, the salt was left to dry and the salt is shown here lying on top of flues from the furnaces to finish the drying process.

The large tank with the lettering used to hold the brine before it was piped into the works for evaporation. The "open each day ..." message dates from while the works was manufacturing salt. It closed in the 1986 but the proprietor was well known for finding extra ways to make money and one was to charge visitors to see what was going on.

We were surprised to find this boat moored outside the museum. This is Pas Meche which used to belong to our son David and his girlfriend. We spoke to the current owner, Andy, who was enjoying living on a boat.

Friday evening we moored on one of the flashes along the Trent and Mersey towards Middlewich. It was nice to have open water next to us and it seemed to be the place where a family of cygnets were trying out their new grown wings with short bursts of taking off and landing.

On Saturday we carried on south into Middlewich. On the way we crossed the Croxton Aqueduct over the River Dane. This is only about 8 feet wide and so provides a barrier beyond which no broadbeam boats can go. In the picture Jabulani with our friends William and Daphne is going first and we are following.

Jabulani stopped on the outskirts of the town where there is an incredibly convenient recycling centre which even takes used engine oil, a real boon for boaters. In the picture we are above Middlewich Big Lock. We came through this with another boat Dawn Flight. The following three locks up to the junction are narrow locks but are quite deep at 11 feet each.

Above the third lock the heavens opened and we came in torrential but short-lived rain to the junction shown here. Straight on leads to King's Lock (seen under the bridge) and the Trent and Mersey heading south. The King's Lock pub can be seen by the lock. To the right is the entrance to the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal and our route lay here. Just under the bridge is the first lock. Technically this is a separate and very short canal called the Wardle Canal, just 30 yards long and joining the Shropshire Union to the Trent and Mersey.

This is Wardle Lock with the lock keeper's house beside it. For many years until 2012 it was the home of Maureen Shaw one of the last of the characters from the trading days of the canals.

And here you can see Leo and Jabulani moored a short way above Wardle Lock.

Middlewich is not the country's most exciting town but it does have shops including several supermarkets and a good hardware store.  This is the Town Hall, one of few distinctive old buildings in the town.

On Sunday morning Ian walked down into town to buy a Sunday paper to discover that at 7.20 am the papers had not arrived in Middlewich. However the papers did arrive later and we set off up the Middlewich Branch. The new concrete along the canal in the picture marks the site of a major breach when a 70m long section of the embankment collapsed on 15 March 2018. The canal only reopened on 31 January this year.

There are three further locks on the Middlewich Branch and they are all deep narrow locks.  Stanthorne Lock shown here is the first.

Jabulani followed us through this lock but it was here that we said our goodbyes to William and Daphne as they were visiting a marina and then heading to Chester whereas we turned the other way.  It has been fun travelling with them for a couple of weeks and we hope they enjoy the rest of their cruising this year.  We hope to meet up somewhere on the waterways next year.

The Middlewich Branch passes through pleasant rural Cheshire scenery with lots of cows. No doubt these produce the milk for Cheshire cheese.

We crossed the upper end of the Weaver valley on a high embankment.  Through the trees you can just see Winsford Top Flash which is just a mile or so upstream on the Weaver from the Bottom Flash where we had been a few days ago.

The houses and church shown here are at Church Minshull, a pretty village which nestles just below the Middlewich Branch and beside the upper River Weaver.

We moored on Sunday evening in a quiet spot above Cholmondeston Lock and today (Monday 2nd September) we came to Barbridge Junction shown here under the bridge.  Turning right leads to Chester and Ellesmere Port but our way lay to the left on the main line of the Shropshire Union for a mile or so to Hurleston Junction.

Here is the sign at Hurleston Junction.  We turned right here onto the Llangollen Canal.

Right by the junction four locks lead up the Hurleston flight. The bottom one has had problems for years and is now so narrow that it will no longer take ex working boats of 7 foot beam. Ours and most leisure craft are 6 foot 10 inches in width. CRT are planning to close this lock over the coming winter to rebuild it.  There was a boat in front of us here, so we had to wait our turn.

Here we are in the third lock heading up the flight. There were plenty of CRT folk helping boats up the flight.

And we passed a couple of boats coming down.

Soon after the top is a house with a lovely twisted chimney.

After a few miles we came up the two Swanley Locks and here we are in the top one. The curious concrete box holds stop or stanking planks which are used to create a barrier in the canal to allow a section to be drained for repair work. The planks slide into slots either side of a narrows and build a wall to separate one part of the canal from another.

We are moored tonight above the Swanley locks and tomorrow we will continue our westward way towards Wales. We intend to also explore the Montgomery Canal which branches off the Llangollen after Whitchurch. The Llangollen Canal was designed partly as a feeder canal bringing water down from the Welsh mountains to supply the Shropshire Union canal. Consequently it has a very distinct current which is against us as we go up the canal. It also brings water into Hurleston Reservoir at the top of the four locks to provide drinking water.