Going down

In the morning, Chris had made great progress for a few hours painting

I am amazed at the way he can paint freehand, and still have room for all the letters.  More amazing is that the boat is in the water and bobbing up and down as he paints.  What a skill!

I got the train to Wigan to pick the car up (having remembered where I had left it), then headed over to Burton-on-Trent for the evening as it was Charlies leaving do.  A great evening, and great food.


When I returned to the boat in the morning,  the basic lettering was done.

By afternoon the highlighting was also done.

Both sides

I had to move out of the marina for the weekend, as it was mad busy with all the hire boat changeovers.  I decided that I would go down the Anderton lift.  I went into the offices, and simply booked on the next passage down.  Free of charge to license holders.
  I entered the lift, side by side with another narrowboat.

You can appreciate the vertical lift once you are in the caisson.

 Then the barriers close...

  ..then you start the descent...

..passing the rising boats at half way...

..and then you are at the bottom!

  I was now on the River Weaver, and turned east to head towards Northwich.

You enter Northwich under an old iron bridge which is quite impressive.

And there are a lot of new flats at the side of the canal

However, Northwich seems to be closed down pubs and fast food, so I decided to turn around and head towards Acton Bridge.

Passing Anderton again.

 

 

   ..and some huge industrial mammoths...

 

 ..and some idyllic moorings.

 Having exhausted the phone battery, I couldn't take any pictures of the immense Salterford Lock, where I felt completely dwarved, or the lock keeper jumping up and down because England had just got Australia all out for 60!
I pulled up at Acton Bridge and walked 200 yards up the road to find the Trent & Mersey, which I followed back to Anderton to pick the car up before a couple of pints in the Leigh Arms

What! No Marshmallows!

It's scary in the dark

I left Lymm and headed out further into Cheshire down some nice secluded canals.

This was so peaceful that it seems like a different world

Even the wildlife seem indifferent to me passing by









Then suddenly, there is the M56, and the junction with the Runcorn Branch.











I carried on, past Midland Chandlers and left the Bridgewater canal just before Preston Brook Tunnel

I've never done a tunnel before.
     It looks dark
     It looks narrow.
     It looks scary

 I'm not scared of the dark, so off I go, tunnel light on, into the void...

It is a lot darkey than I expected, and the tunnel light just lights up a small bit of the ceiling. Soon I could see the light at the end of the tunnel - big mistake.  Watching the light at the end of the tunnel is fine, if the tunnel is straight.  I was just getting confident when there was a huge crash, as I hit the kink in the tunnel.  You would not believe the noise it made, it sounded very bad.

I reached the end of the tunnel and pulled over, expecting the worst.  It turns out I have put a small scratch in the side of the boat, and broken the glass on the Port Nav light.  It sounded so much worse from inside the tunnel.

Antway, back in daylight, I passed through one of the stupidest locks - Dutton Lock with a rise of about 2", and carried on down the Trent & Mersey, which is narrower and has a completely different character to the L&L and Bridgewater.

Next came Salterforth tunnel (hit starboard front)

Then Barnton Tunnel (hit both sides)

 

Finally, I squeezed through the last section of Trent & Mersey to Anderton Marina where, as soon as I arrived, Chris Bruce started chucking paint about

Yellow water

I sailed down past Pennington Flash and all the disused mining areas of Hindley,

Then after sharp turn, I was at Worsley, which is an extremely pretty spot, with Worsley Packet house and the Courts overlooking the canal.

I then passed Worsley Dry Dock, which I believe is the oldest dry dock in the country.




Once beyond Worsley, the canal turned yellow!




At the next bend there is the Waterside pub/restaurant and opposite is a lighthouse.  I have no idea why a lighthouse is needed on the Bridgewater.

Then, the ironwork looming in the distance was the start of the Barton swing bridge over the Irwell.

This is a stunning sight, with the control tower on the central island.

Once over the Irwell, the canal turned into an area of greenery that I was not expecting for Stretford.




There are three bridges over the junction that leads from the Irwell into Manchester.

The canal into Manchester will have to wait for another day.     I moored up outside Stretford marina for the night, but struggled to get pins into the rock hard bank.



Monday morning, and I reversed DnD into the marina for the fuel polishing.  This is a neat bit of kit that filters the fuel, returning clean fuel to the tank.
   
 

I can see the sludge and water that has been causing problems.

A new fuel filter, Tank full of diesel and I'm away!




 Once past Stretford the Bridgewater is a long, long straight line, with many derelict industrial buildings.

  The canalside buildings suddenly change to the modern urban style.

 Then the canal turned more rural as I headed out towards Lymm

There is still signs of Industry though, almost every road bridge seems to have a crane by it


I arrived at Lymm and found a nice quiet mooring just past a great pub, a brewery Tap, and a great Chippy - perfect!

How to sink a boat

The Leigh arm was re-opened on the Saturday, but I decided to leave it until the Sunday and let the rush die down.  Sunday morning I came up Henhurst lock and turned right onto the Leigh branch.

At the first lock, I shared with nb Cwm-something welsh.  When we arrived at the second lock, there was an impatient boat coming up.  We had just got into the lock when they lifted the paddles fully.  My rudder hit the cill, and despite me putting full forward, I was stuck.  The conversation went a bit like

  "DROP THE PADDLES"
 "What ?"
 "IM ON THE CILL, DROP THE PADDLES" - at this point another boater opened the top sluices and gates to try to refill the lock)
 "We are in a hurry, we need to get to..."
 "DROP THE ****ING PADDLES!!"
 "But..."
 "IF I SINK YOU'RE GOING NOWHERE!"

At this point the other boater had rushed to the front, oushed the imbeciles out of the way and dropped the paddles.

The front of my boat started rising again.  I got to the front of the boat, and the well deck had flooded to just before the front door.

All of this happened so quickly I am not surprised that boats can get hung up and sunk, especialy when people rush.  I was lucky in that someone at the top gates was quick enough to open the top gates and close the bottom in the same time it had taken me to climb on the roof and reach the ladder on a rapidly tilting boat.

I left the lock, pulled over and put the kettle on!