Left Tattenhall Marina and now at Hack Green and its Nuclear Bunker

Despite it taking 7 hours to get home last week the wedding of Mark and Maria on the 31 May was a fabulous day made even better by the weather.

  

The lovely bride and the now more relaxed groom

Anne and the mother of the groom Janet

Our other event at home was to celebrate the 60th birthdays of Bill and Clare on the Sunday. No rain but the sunshine was diluted with a very chilly wind but a good time was had by all celebrating them  joining the 60 club!

A much better journey back to the boat and after returning the car to Enterprise in Wrexham we finally restarted our journey by leaving the marina on Wednesday lunchtime. The weather has definitely got warmer as no fires in the evenings which compares to May when we only managed two evenings when we didn't light the fire.

We are heading back down the Shropshire Union and this is our mooring on Wednesday (5 June) evening just before bridge 104 at Calveley

The old warehouse showing its heritage at Bunbury Staircase Locks which is now used by Anglo Welsh hire boats 

Locks are usually brick built but Beeston Stone Lock is built from substantial stone blocks

Couldn't resist this old signal box on the Crewe/Chester line which appears to be still working. Most of these are now gone replaced by some remote super power box

This is Hurleston Junction where the Llangollen Branch of the Shropshire Canal leaves the main part of the Shropshire Union Canal on the right. We are heading south through the bridge 

A lovely canal house over looking Barbridge Junction 

An old working horse sculpture by bridge92 at Nantwich

We moored on the embankment near the aqueduct which takes the canal over the Chester Road.

We are moored tonight just past bridge 85 at Hack Green famous for its Cold War Underground Nuclear Bunker

It is some place and worth a visit if in the area if only to realise what might have happened and also how much planning and money went into the cold war.

A We177B 400 kiloton nuclear bomb. Reading the stark descriptions of what may have happened we wouldn't have had a chance of survival

Into Tattenhall Marina

The weather has continued to be bad with the occasional bit of good- but not a lot so we decided to go into Tattenhall Marina last Sunday. We have to go home for Anne's nephews wedding - Mark (Janet's eldest son) this Friday. The marina is in a lovely setting on the Shropshire Union Canal as it makes its way across the Cheshire Plain towards Chester.

 

I had made arrangements to hire a car from Enterprise on Wednesday so yesterday we decided to go into Chester by bus - although very wet it was still a very good day which included a walk around the city wall.

 

There will be a short break whilst we go down south- the journey will continue next week. Totals to day 32 are 108 locks and 205 miles

 

 

A view from BB moored in Tattenhall Marina- Beeston Castle on the left

This lovely Thames style launch is moored next to us in the marina

Some willow work on the side of the canal

A close up of the outcrop of rock on which Beeston Castle is built

 

A view of the Shroppie which follows the wall into Chester. The narrowboat has just come up the Northgate staircase locks. It shows the Bridge of Sighs near the North Gate entrance to the city

A view of the Northgate staircase locks

Telford's warehouse at Tower Wharf now a restaurant. Northgate locks are through the bridge on the right

A view of the old Shropshire Union Canal's steam powered saw mill which is on the site of Taylors Boatyard.

Covered dry dock. The whole site of Taylors Boatyard is Grade 2 listed and the current owner is in the process of restoring it. It will be a very long project but well worth the effort as it will really enhance the area and provide a real link to its industrial past. The bridge on the left leads to Northgate Locks and the lock on the right goes down to the River Dee although the branch is currently closed.

Beeston Castle on the Shropshire Union Canal

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

 

 

View from Beeston Castle towards the Welsh Hills

View from bridge108 by Wharton's Lock, our mooring is in the distance on the right.

Beeston Castle from the canal

Tilstone lock which is in a lovely setting. The round building is where the lengthsmen used to keep their equipment

A replica Bridgewater "Little Packet" steam tug (built 1998 but not steam powered)

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.

Barbridge Junction, we have just come under the bridge from Middlewich and are now going up the Shroppie towards Chester

The locks on the Middlewich Branch are deep this is Minshull Lock at 11ft deep

Middlewich Junction - The Shroppie's Middlewich Branch leaves the T&M under the bridge on the left

This was our mooring last Thursday evening -in strong wind, just past Wheelock on the T&M

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! 

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

Lack of water in Heartbreak Hill Locks

We set off early this morning to tackle the locks and made good progress to start with despite the cloudy/misty weather. We arrived at lock 47 to find one boater waiting with the news that the pound below lock 48 was completely empty. A call to CRT and the water man arrived very quickly. The committee of boaters now collecting  thought that the cause could have been a boater who went through late last night who probably left a paddle or lock gate open. A hour and a half later we were allowed to start going through with a fifteen minute delay between each boat to allow further water to be run down the flight, otherwise we would have emptied the pound above lock 47

 

 

 

The empty pound below lock 48 which used to be double but the one on the right although still there is not now used. and the exit is all silted up.

The next lock down No 49 which is a working duplicated pair of single locks

One and a half hours later there is enough water for the 8 waiting boats to start going down

Anne has just brought BB into lock No51 which has had the other lock filled in, lock No 50 behind is a working pair of locks. All the locks were duplicated under instructions from Thomas Telford in the 1830's although some have now been singled

Houses in Rode Heath look over the canal by lock No 53

Red Bull Services - back on the Trent&Mersey Canal

We had a prompt start and cast off at 08.15 and cruised through to Congleton with very few other boats about, another cloudy day, not cold and no rain so that must be a bonus this year. A quick stop for shopping and a cappuccino in town and then away to finish our visit on the Macclesfield Canal which has been excellent. I was thinking as we came down the last section that you can compare canals to our modern roads. In which case the Macc is like a lovely Devon country lane and the Trent & Mersey could be your A303 fast and furious ( a lot of boats rushing around on the 4 Counties Ring) but some really interesting places coming up. The Grand Union Main Line would then have to be the M1 - its been around for years, very wide and very busy.

 

We this time turned left as we came to Hardings Wood Junction onto the Trent & Mersey Canal heading north, dropped down two locks and then went under Pool Lock Aqueduct which we had gone across 45 minutes before.

 

We are now moored at Red Bull Services just past bridge 134 where there are visitor moorings near the old warehouse which is a Regional Office for CRT.

 

Its day 23 of our trip and we have done 69 locks and 168 miles. Tomorrow we start on Heartbreak Hill (the old boaters name) although we are going down hill onto the Cheshire plains to Middlewich - we have 13 miles and 31 locks to do. As it's downhill Anne will do some of the helming so that I can have a go at locking-it should be fun! 

 

 

 

 

Last time we passed Crossley Hall I was not quick enough to get a photo-only of the blue cow near the canal! 

We have just come through the bridge on the left (Hardings Wood Junction) and are now waiting for the lock on the T&M to fill

Red Bull Services and offices in the old warehouse next to bridge 134

Pool  Lock Aqueduct - the T&M passing under the Macc

 

One of the lovely stone mileposts used on the Macc

Ah bluebells spring must be here!

"Macclesfield on Canal" and now below Bosley locks Day 22

 

We left Bugsworth Basin last Friday on another chilly day and started our return to the Macclesfield canal which is lovely with some magnificent scenery, although mooring can be a pain and its a bit shallow in parts-all part of the fun of boating. Saturday again dawned chilly so we decided to have another go at mooring in Macclesfield so we could explore the town and get a coffee. We did manage to moor between bridges 39 and 40 which is only a short downhill walk into town from bridge 37. Its worth persevering as the town is well worth the effort.

 

 

 

Macclesfield town pedestrian street

Side street

walking up from the station

View from bridge 37 towards the Hovis Mill, there are 2/3 visitor moorings on the left but it is shallow

Our mooring between bridges 39/40 on Armco which is deep enough to get the boat in

As we left Macclesfield these lambs were having a great time running and jumping along together

 

Going back to my post on Bugsworth Basin I didn't say why it had been built. The basin dates from the late 18th century and is the only remaining example of a canal/tramway interchange in the UK. It was the largest inland port on the narrow canal system. The Peak Forest Tramway ( a tramway usually used only horsepower) linked Bugsworth Basin to the limestone and grit stone quarries in Derbyshire from where material was transported to the growing industrial area around Manchester. It fell into disuse in the 1920's.

There was a great diorama of the area around the basin- this is part 1- I couldn't get my software to join them together.

Part 2 of the diarama

Bugsworth lower basin the entrance under the footbridge is in the distance

A view from the footbridge of the lower basin

Our mooring tonight below Bosley Locks looking towards The Cloud which rises to over 1000ft

Looking back to our mooring at Bosley tonight the railings are on the Dane Aqueduct

Anne at the helm and coming out of lock 8 of the Bosley flight in lovely warm sunshine- I was down to a t shirt and we managed our first BBQ this evening.

Although the aqueduct doesn't look much from the towpath, walk down the foot path and its something else

Interesting spillway, which has its own walkway as the water flows right over the towpath.