Descending the Anderton Lift

 We are now down 50 feet from the Trent and Mersey on the River Weaver after coming down the Anderton Lift this afternoon. So I thought it would be interesting to share some photos of our descent. Normally the lift has two caissons each capable of holding a wide beam boat or two narrowboats. Usually one caisson goes up as the other goes down. However at present only one caisson is working so passage is restricted and you need to book passage rather than just turning up and waiting your turn. However we booked our passage only yesterday so there didn't seem to be much problem, indeed a phone call after our arrival gave us the option to go down an hour before we had booked as there was a cancellation. We have however also booked our return for next Monday, so let's hope it's still working then!

Here are some pictures of the process. You have to arrive on the waiting moorings at the top half an hour before the lift time.

Here is the view of the lift from the River Weaver below. The level approach to the right at the top connects with the Trent and Mersey Canal (Anderton is between Middlewich and Preston Brook).

Once we were given the 'all clear' we turned into this level section passing under the first of two gates seen here. The industrial works you can see to the left of the lift is in fact on the other side of the Weaver below.

Once we were through the gate we stopped, waiting for the cabin cruiser that was supposed to come down with us. For some mysterious reason he missed the turn (how embarrassing is that) and after waiting some time, we went down alone. Beyond Helen on the bow and at water level you can see the barrier that needs to be lifted before we can move forward into the caisson.

This view is taken looking back and shows the gate descending and closing off the access to the Trent and Mersey behind us. Presumably this is so that, if something goes wrong then the lift does not drain the canal.

Here is a view looking down to the River Weaver some 50 feet below us. The view is looking upstream towards Northwich.

Once the water gate in front of us was raised the lift attendant beckoned us into the caisson. A gap between the double gate behind us was then emptied of water and the two linked gates separated so that the caisson with its water can be lowered. Here we are still at the top - notice the white railings to our left and compare that to the next photo.

This photo is taken part way down and you can see the white railings are now above us. The movement is extremely smooth and slow and it is easy not to notice that you are going down. I did try to post a video showing just how slow the descent is, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to work on Blogger. It takes about 10 minutes to go down but that is a lot quicker than 5 or more locks.

Here is a view looking up once we were near the bottom of the lift at River level. Through the grill overhead you can see the gear wheels that used to work the lift when each caisson was suspended by cables from the top. The lift started life as hydraulic and was later converted to electricity with cable suspension because the river water corroded the hydraulic rams. Finally in 2002 it was converted back to hydraulic power with high tech ceramic rams below each caisson. It appears that erosion of the surface of the ram is once again causing problems and is the reason the west caisson will be out of action for the rest of this season.

Here again looking up you can see the gear and pulley wheels.

I took this view looking back as we drove Leo out of the lift at the bottom, having waited for a similar double gate to be lifted. You can see the right hand caisson is open where we have just left.

And here once more is the picture from down below showing this wonder of the waterways with its Victorian engineering.

So we hope that was interesting and now look forward to a few days on a river. We've been on the Weaver before and it is certainly worth a visit. After we return to the Trent and Mersey we will be heading north to Liverpool.

Caldon Canal Delights and Challenges

 We've now explored as much of the Caldon Canal as a narrowboat can. People often ask us which is our favourite canal? Well the Caldon Canal must certainly be in the top three. It has so much variety - a staircase lock, two tunnels (one barely navigable), an intriguing junction, beautiful contryside and places of interest nearby. It is however quite a challenging canal and should not be cruised if you are expecting an easy time. It is often narrow and shallow and the offside is badly overgrown (or at least that has been so in 2022). So here are some photos of its key features with information added.

The day we arrived (Sunday 5 June) was the second day of a canal festival at Etruria where the Caldon Canal turns off the Trent and Mersey near Stoke on Trent. Lots of historic narrow boats were moored two abreast making it difficult but not quite impossible to navigate through to the Bedford Street Staircase Locks.

Bedford Street is a staircase of two locks which rises nearly 20 feet.

Once up the staircse the canal continues on the edge of Stoke. Two bottle kilns have been left in a modern housing development, so you know you are in the Potteries.

After a further lock we came through Ivy Lift Bridge, fortunately electrically controlled. Though the advice is not to moor overnight in Stoke on Trent the towpath was closed above this bridge and so we decided to chance an overnight mooring. It had been a very wet morning as we came up the five deep locks at Stoke and we needed to stop. In fact we only saw one person pass along the closed towpath and had no problems.

Here is a view of the stones forming a wall of one of the five Stockton Brook locks. The star shaped mark is a mason's mark when this lock was built in the 1700s. Fascinating to think of a man 250 years ago inscribing his mark for the future.

Approaching an old canal arm at Endon there is a small roundabout in the middle of the canal. Boats are directed to the left and clearance is very tight. So why is this curious obstruction there?  The answer is that this was a pivot for a railway swing bridge for a mineral line that crossed the canal here to reach the main line. The canal arm is now the home of the Stoke on Trent Boat Club.

We moored on Monday evening near Park Lane Services and walked around local villages. In Endon Bank we found the well dressed for the well dressing ceremony over the weekend. The patterns are formed of real flowers.

Endon Bank also had a Jubilee decorated phone box!

On Tuesday morning we cruised on to the junction at Hazelhurst. The photo is of the signpost. We had come from Etruria and the two branches go to Leek and to Froghall. To go to Leek you turn right and then swing left to cross on an aqueduct the branch to Froghall which by this point has dropped down 3 locks to pass underneath. Like a few other canal junctions it is most similar to modern motorway junctions.

We took the Leek branch first and near the end of this branch is a short tunnel.

From the end of the Leek branch there is a steady climb to visit the attractive town of Leek. It does however have an excessive volume of heavy and noisy traffic. This view up Church Road shows some of the historic buildings.

This view looking back shows a very tight turn coming out of the very narrow bridge on our return along the Leek branch.

We moored on Tuesday evening on the Leek branch close to the Hazelhurst Junction. It was a lovely spot with a fine view opposite.

Wednesday saw us turning sharply right at Hazelhurst junction to drop down the 3 locks on our way to Froghall. Here we are going into the top lock.

And underneath the Leek branch on an aqueduct built by John Rennie in 1841.

We soon passed the Flint Mill at Cheddleton. Here flints were baked in a furnace and then ground by a water mill to a powder used in the pottery industry.

A few locks further down the canal which follows the valley of the River Churnet we came out onto the river itself for a mile and a half or so. The river is fairly fast flowing and has a series of sweeping bends. Keep to the outside of the bends if the river level is low to avoid beaching on a shingle bank.

As the canal continues down the valley the Churnet Valley Railway accompanies it. At Consall Forge where the canal turns off the river it passes under the railway. We were so lucky to find that a steam hauled train arrived at the same time.

The passengers on the train waved to us on the canal below them. A little further on the platform of Consall Station is actually cantilevered out over the narrow canal. This is one of a number of sections where the canal is too narrow to allow two boats to pass each other. Fingers crossed there is no boat coming the other way!

This bridge is called Cherry Eye Bridge. Its arch has a rather novel shape. The name comes from the ironstone miners here who used to rub their eyes with red stained hands giving them cherry eyes.

Near the end of the Froghall branch of the Caldon Canal is a tunnel which we think is the second lowest on the system. It is only 76 yards long but is so low that most boats cannot fit through. We had done it before so we knew that Leo would fit through but it is very tight even so. At the last lock before this point - Flint Mill Lock - there is a gauge below the lock that you can use to measure whether your boat will then fit through the tunnel. The gauge is slightly pessimistic. To get through we turned the engine off and pulled the boat through using hands on the roof of the tunnel. Doing this means with Helen on the front and Ian on the back we can talk to each other and take action when the rails at the top of the boat are close to touching. This photo is taken in fact on returning through the tunnel but it does show how close the clearance is. In fact we picked up a few scratches on the way through and none at all on the way back, but we did fill with water before returning and put the anchor on the foredeck and two water filled toilet cassettes in the well deck.

On the other side of the tunnel you can turn right through a lock which lets you down to a delightful canal basin that would hold 8-10 boats. Because of the difficulties with the tunnel we were on our own! In fact the lock and the basin formed the first part of the Uttoxeter Canal which used to go to the town of Uttoxeter about 13 miles away. Much of the course of that canal now has a railway track along it and there is little prospect of it being restored beyond this point.

So there you have it - the Caldon Canal. It is certainly one of our favourites.

Our first blog for 2022 and a new approach to blogging for this year

 We have given some thought to how often we update this blog and what we put on it. Over the years we have been boating and now that we have covered nearly all the inland waterways in England and Wales updating the blog is not always the pleasurable occupation it once was. So this year we will be trying some new approaches. Mainly we will focus any blogs on significant days on the canals particularly on less frequented waterways. For instance later this summer we hope to cross onto the Lancaster Canal using the tidal Ribble Link and that will certainly feature on the blog. But on more routine parts of the system which are well travelled by others we will likely just put up some nice photos on Helen's Facebook Page. I hope this link will lead you to that page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010379438009.  I think you will need to be a member of Facebook before this will work.

In the meantime here are a few photos of our last two days on the River Trent. This year, we have started out rather later than usual principally because we have spent nearly 3 weeks on a car trip to Orkney.  So it was not until yesterday (Thursday 19 May) that we set off from Nottingham to go out on the river Trent and downstream towards Newark:

Here we are, having left the marina cruising the Nottingham Canal into the city.

The first lock of the year was Castle Lock

After two locks we are now out on the River Trent about to go under Lady Bay Bridge and heading downstream out of Nottingham. As is apparent we had a lovely day for the start of boating this year.

After a night above Holme Lock where we could see brave canoeists on the white water course alongside the lock, today was not such good weather but we have carried on downstream to Fiskerton. In the picture we are about to go under Gunthorpe Bridge, the only road bridge over the river between Nottingham and Newark.

So there you have it, a brief introduction to this blog for 2022.

Through Leicester, and on to Nottingham

 I have been remiss in not updating this blog before. We are now home having left Leo for the winter. I was planning on doing two more updates to our blog, but time has marched on so you have a bumper edition covering our last couple of weeks boating for 2021. This update then covers our cruising to and then through Leicester to Trent Junction and down the river Trent. It is always a bit sad coming to the end of cruising for the year, but nights are closing in, leaves are falling and it is time for us to go back to being landlubbers for the winter. In the meantime here is the last update from us for this boating season.

Our last update took us to the bottom of the Foxton Locks. We moored on Thursday 9th having just turned onto the Market Harborough Arm. This takes a winding course for about five and a half miles into Market Harborough. The arm was originally built to be the main route of the canal with the idea of going to Northampton. It would have been a broad canal allowing wider vessels to gain access to the canal system heading north. But it never happened and now the arm is a dead end. Why the picture of a cow? Well, as we were pottering along, we spotted something brown appearing round a tree and then disappearing. It proved to be this cow.

Here is the basin at the end of the Arm. Hire boats are based here and there is ample space to turn as well as services to the left.

Having moored, we walked into town. This is the Symington building which used to be a corset factory but is now the headquarters of the town council and also has a cafe where we had lunch, and upstairs is an interesting museum.

In the musuem were extensive displays of finds dating to the early Roman period which were part of a hoard buried at Hallaton, south east of Leicester. The photo is of an ear protector of a Roman soldier's helmet.

Market Harborough is on the river Welland which flows out into the Wash close to the mouth of the river Witham near Boston. This overgrown water channel is the river Welland in the town.

The road from the basin to the town is a broad street with some fine old houses along it.

We liked the peacefull Leicestershire countryside. This photo was taken on Saturday after retracing our way to Foxton and turning right to head north. From here the canal is on the level to Saddington Tunnel and then starts a gradual fall down 24 locks to Leicester where it joins the river Soar.

Just before the entrance to Saddington Tunnel is this feeder channel which supplies water from a reservoir nearby. We moored and followed a footpath close to the feeder to.....

.....Saddington reservoir. The water level seemed a bit on the low side, but we haven't had a lot of rain this summer so perhaps that's not surprising.

On Sunday 12th we cruised through the half mile Saddington Tunnel and soon came to the first of the locks leading down to Leicester. This boat, Thomas Henry, joined us down the locks. Here we are sharing the first - Kibworth Top Lock.

This is Wistow church near the canal. There is a lovely mooring here which we have used before but on Sunday we carried on for several more locks.

This is a wide angle view of the wall of Bumblebee Lock. Clearly there is some work to do here to repair the damage. We did alert a CRT maintenance man to the problem which could catch a boat rising in the lock.

On Monday we carried on through Kilby Bridge towards the centre of Leicester. This lock (shared with Matt aboard a boat called Tinker Too) is called 'Double Rail Lock'. The origin of the name is obvious in this picture and it is like this because a footpath crosses these lock gates and the double set of handrails gives more protection to passing pedestrians.

Having stayed the night near Glen Parva we cruised down to Leicester on Tuesday. It was a very wet morning. We are pictured waiting to go down King's Lock. Below this lock the canal joins the River Soar for the first time. The Soar has a reputation for rising very quickly but the mornings rain did not cause us any problems.

This picture is of Leo waiting to go through Freemans Meadow Lock. As the photo shows there is a huge weir above this lock which, in flood conditions, would pull boats towards it. To the left of the weir and out of sight is the ground of Leicester City Football Club.

We moored at the good floating pontoon at Friars Mill in the centre of Leicester and after the rain stopped later on Tuesday afternoon, our friends Tim and Dianne on narrowboat Kingfisher arrived from downstream. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up with where we had each been this year over tea and cake (including apple cake made that morning by Dianne) . This is Tim and Dianne leaving on Wednesday morning to go upstream while we set off by bike to visit the National Space Centre a couple of miles downstream.

Behind this novel model of a cat climbing out of a spacecraft you can see the characteristic shape of the Centre. The tall 'bubble' protects the Blue Streak and Thor-Able rockets inside.

This is taken from near the top of the bubble building. The foreground shows the nose cone of the Thor-Able rocket. Through the inflated plastic material of the space centre, you can see the building and tall chimney of a pumping station which is also now a museum and which we shall have to visit another time. The National Space Centre gives a good introduction to the space race as well as presentations about the planets and the wider universe.

On our way back to Leo we cycled through Abbey Park where the foundations are all that remains of Leicester Abbey. This is a modern memorial to Cardinal Wolsey who died here. It is in what is thought may be the site of his grave in a side chapel of the Abbey church. The quote is from Shakespeare's Henry VIII.

This is a view from across the river of the Friars Mill Moorings. Leo is in the middle of the three boats.

On Thursday we left Leicester heading past these painted panels towards North Lock. There is much redevelopment going on along the canal and the otter hides a building site.

This mural is next to Limekiln Lock.

Below Belgrave Lock we got a good view back over the weir to the National Space Centre.

An oddity of the route to the north of Leicester is that the canal cuts across from the river Soar to its tributary the river Wreake. In this photo the Wreake comes in under the bridge to the right. The Wreake used to be navigable upstream to Melton Mowbray and from there by the Oakham Canal to Oakham.

We moored on Thursday night on the Wreake above Junction Lock. In the afternoon we walked into the village of Cossington past some lakes and saw this Little Egret. These birds used to be rare in the UK but are becoming increasingly common.

The following day we came down Junction Lock and soon came to the confluence of the rivers Wreake and Soar. This photo was taken looking back and shows the Wreake to the left where the arrows point and the Soar straight on where the boats are moored.

We moored overnight at Barrow upon Soar. In a basin near our mooring were all these fun boats, mostly pedalos, ready for hire.

This boat viewed from the town bridge has come down Barrow Lock towards the left, which at over 9 feet deep is a big one, and is rejoining the main river before going under the bridge.

Our route on Saturday took us down Barrow Lock and soon to this flood lock close to Pillings Marina. A flood lock normally has both sets of gates open (as this one does if you look closely) but during floods it can be closed to protect the canal beyond from flooding. So normally you just cruise straight through without stopping.

It was a nice day on Saturday (18th September) as we came through Loughborough. In this photo we are just coming to the T junction where you can turn left for Loughborough Basin or right to continue following the Soar. We turned right and didn't stop in Loughborough though we have visited the town before.

Kegworth Deep Lock lives up to its name. It was built to replace two locks and is about 12 feet deep. We met old friends Jen and Jim on 'Dire Straits' coming the other way. It's a shame that you don't get much time to chat on these occasions.

Coming down the last few miles of the Soar we kept our eyes open for the familiar sight of the huge cooling towers of Ratcliffe Power Station seen here.

On Sunday we had a spell of quite heavy rain as we went through Ratcliffe Lock. Here are the remains of the old lock shown here alongside the new one.

Here you can see more clearly an open flood lock, this one is at Redhill just before the Soar meets the river Trent.

And finally here is the meeting with the Trent. The arrows point left which is advisable as the huge Thrumpton Weir lies to the right. You can just make out the sail of a small dinghy to the far left of the picture. There was so little wind that this dinghy had drifted downstream and was being towed back to the sailing club at Trent junction.

On Sunday we moored overnight on the floating pontoon at Trent junction. There was a magnificent sunset. Trent junction is a major crossroads on the canal system with the Trent navigation crossing from west to east, the Soar to the south and the Erewash Canal to the north. We had come through here back in May and had now come full circle and have travelled all four branches this year.

On Monday (19th September) we completed our journey for the 2021 boating season. First our route took us along Cranfleet cut (to avoid Thrumpton weir) and through Cranfleet Lock which had this fine lock gate garden.

This view is taken looking back below Cranfleet Lock where the route rejoins the river Trent. The lock is where the arrows point on the right of the picture.

We had a lovely day for our last cruising. The Trent is wide and was quite low with relative lack of rain so we were on the look out for shallows.

Here we are approaching Barton Island where the navigation route is to the left of the island.

 

So that brings us to the end of our boating for this year. We have left Leo in a safe mooring in Nottingham.  We hope you have enjoyed the account of our travels and wish you all a happy winter. Next year we have vague plans of going north but we have plenty of time to think about that. Thank you for reading our blog.