Day 28 and we have now done 107 locks and 195 miles and we are moored just above Wharton Lock on the Shropshire Union canal going towards Chester. Outside our port hole is the impressive Beeston Castle which stands on a 500ft sandstone hill
As they say the weather over the last few days has been a game of two halves- Thursday and Friday has been a mixture of cold, wind, rain, sleet ,heavy rain, hailstones and really really strong winds. Today Saturday has been the ideal Bank Holiday boating weather- warm and sunny. In fact yesterday was so bad we only managed 2 miles and 2 locks before we moored above Cholmondeston Lock after being helped through by the Shropshire Union Canal Society who were fund raising for their work in keeping their moorings in good condition. Anne rang her cousin Helen and husband Mervyn who came over and took us out for the afternoon which was very good of them thank you
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| View from Beeston Castle towards the Welsh Hills |
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| View from bridge108 by Wharton's Lock, our mooring is in the distance on the right. |
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| Beeston Castle from the canal |
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| Tilstone lock which is in a lovely setting. The round building is where the lengthsmen used to keep their equipment |
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| A replica Bridgewater "Little Packet" steam tug (built 1998 but not steam powered) |
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| Bunbury staircase lock( 2 locks joined together in that they share the middle gate) with the lock keeper on duty getting the boater going up to dance around the two smaller boats coming down. It does speed things up but you do need to have somebody around to organise it. |
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| Barbridge Junction, we have just come under the bridge from Middlewich and are now going up the Shroppie towards Chester |
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| The locks on the Middlewich Branch are deep this is Minshull Lock at 11ft deep |
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| Middlewich Junction - The Shroppie's Middlewich Branch leaves the T&M under the bridge on the left |
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| This was our mooring last Thursday evening -in strong wind, just past Wheelock on the T&M |
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| Going down lock 58 on the T&M ready to go under the M6. The lock has it in for us as last time we went through it in 2008 we hung in it -that's when the boat gets stuck. We had to close the paddles and make sure the boat was free before continuing to empty the lock. This time a bolt holding the gate in place was sticking out and tore a hole in the cratch cover! |
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| This picture should be with the Middlewich junction one- you enter The Wardle Canal under the bridge before going into the first lock on the Middlewich Branch. It was one of those things between two rival canal companys to ensure they clearly knew who owned what |
