LIVELY LIVERPOOL

 

The Captain, Norman and me

Our journey into Liverpool took up most of the last blog and I missed a few bits out. We had a couple of maintenance problem on the way to Litherland. The first was the engine started to over rev, and the Captain wasn’t happy as it was putting extra strain on the drive plate and gear box. We pulled over and he attempted a quick fix, but it wasn’t to be so we limped on a little further. When we had moored up for the night, and the engine had cooled down, he was able to find and fix the problem. Our other issue was our automatic bilge pump started running continuously and the Captain had to switch it off. He concluded that the sensor that controls it must have been blocked by the grease and oil in the bilge water. This made it think there was water in the bilge, hence it needed to run. The seals on the stern gland also needed changing, and this was causing water to drip into the bilge as well. Once we were moored in Liverpool the Captain changed the seals and sorted out the pump, ordering a new one to be picked up in Wigan. He is definitely a handy man to have about.

Not so a boater we met, I could see what I hoped wasn’t smoke, coming from a moored boat with no one in sight. Then a guy popped out of the boat, thank goodness. The smoke turned out to be steam, the engine had overheated, we asked if there was anything we could do, but he assured us he would be fine and thanked us for our concern.

The bird life has been quite interesting on this trip, and I know I haven’t really been keeping you up to date on what we have spotted. The most unusual for me were Oyster Catchers in the fields as we cruised by, we normally see these birds on the side of rivers and round lakes, with their bright red beaks and legs making them stand out from the crowd. Reed buntings have been plentiful, and I spotted a lovely reed warbler singing his lyrical song as I walked by. We have also seen a couple of kingfishers darting down the canal, their bright blue bums glinting in the sunlight. A strange looking Muscovy duck caught our eye amongst the more run of the mill Mallards and Canada geese. And the odd Lapwing here and there. Also one of my favourite birds, a sleek snowy white Tern.

Muscovy Duck

Right back to our adventures in Liverpool, our friend Norman who lives in Liverpool came to visit the first afternoon we were there, and it got messy. But before we set off on our pub crawl with him I caught up with Liz and Finley, her lovely dog off NB Adaigo. We had met on the Weaver when I asked if she wanted to come for a pint with us, but her friends were already in the pub so it was not to be. We chatted for a bit and I invited her to join us, but once again she had already made plans, maybe one day.

So off we went with Norman starting in the Baltic Fleet, a very good real ale pub near the docks. It was then on to the Post Office, a rowdy rough locals pub, and finally the Cornmarket, a great place with Theakstons Mild on for the Captain. As I said it did get messy.

Next day and a quiet start before we headed off to meet the Captains daughter Hannah her husband Simon, and kids Stanley (6) and Olive (8mth) for a meal at Mowglis, which was lovely.

https://www.mowglistreetfood.com/menus/liverpool-water-street/food/

We finished the afternoon in the Cornmarket before they headed off home to watch the footy, and we headed back to the boat to do the same. We played well but lost, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

It was an early start to leave Liverpool next day, the infamous Sid was at our boat before 8am seeing if were ready to set off with the 4 other boats leaving that morning. We paired up with a single hander on NB Peace at Last for the journey, and with the help of Sid and the volunteer lockees we had a quick uneventful trip. Sadly we did find out that Sid is retiring at the end of the summer, a true canal character, he will be missed.

Our return journey to Wigan was a lot faster than our trip in, as the Captain wanted to be back in Wigan (or at least near a railway station), for Thursday to go to his friends funeral in Manchester, so it meant a few long days for us.

We did stop at Parbold for the night and tried the 2 pubs there, The Windmill and the Stock Tavern, there were no darks on for the Captain so he made do with Tetleys, the beer was better in the Windmill, but neither pub really inspired us. They both do food but I can’t comment on it as I didn’t see any come out.

Wigan Pier

Just before the last lock of 5 locks for the day, I started chatting to a lady on NB Time for Wine from Doncaster, she was moored on the pontoons in Wigan with another boat, NB Professor Pat Pending, but wasn’t happy with the area. She asked me how far until what I thought would be safer moorings, and unfortunately I had to tell her Crooke, which was 2 locks and a couple of hours cruising. As she had done the Wigan flight already that day, she wasn’t impressed with the thought of more locks. I had to leave her with her dilemma of did she stay or go, as the Captain was waiting for me to do our last lock of the day.

We moored up and headed for Wigan Central for a well earned pint.

I had a quiet day when the Captain went to the funeral, I didn’t know his friend so decided to stay with the boat. He went with Neil, and then they both came back to the boat for a late tea.

Neil and his daughter Rosemary offered to come and help us do the 21 locks of the Wigan flight, which will be great.

We had a couple of days to kill in Wigan, so I decided to be brave and go and get weighed at the local Slimming World meeting, I was sure I would have gained, but lo and behold I lost ½lb. As long as I am not putting it on I’m a happy bunny.

Eddie, the Captains old boss had arranged to visit us, but had to cancel at the last minute due to grandad duties, and his visit was rescheduled for the next day. Unfortunately he was unwell so didn't make it, we will have to catch up another time.

The Wigan flight is notorious, and many boaters have found the experience a nightmare, us included. Our first visit in 2015 was blighted by low water and horrible things round the prop which took over an hour to remove, it took us about 8hrs (you can do it in 4 if everything goes to plan). With this in mind, I posted on the Wigan Flight crew page on Facebook to see if any other boats were heading up on Sunday, this handy page gives out helpful information and tips about the flight, and boaters use to to find out if any other boats are heading their way. It appeared we would be joined by at least 2 other boats, so fingers crossed another will turn up on the day so we can all pair up.

36 miles, 11 locks, 14 bridges, 3 tunnel and 1 canal.

THE THUMB OF POWER

 

Salthouse Dock

Things have got busy for me on this route as there are more locks and swing bridges to do. But I am not complaining at all, the exercise will do me good after all the beer we had in Wigan, and are planning to have in Liverpool.

The Leeds Liverpool has more swing bridges than any other canal I believe, and its a mixture of how you open them. The ones I like the best are the all electric ones, and this is were the ‘power of the thumb’ comes in, because you simple press and hold in one button to bring the barriers down to stop the traffic and open the bridge, and another to reverse the process. It also means I have the power to control the vehicles using the bridge, and this gives me a feeling of ultimate power.

Other bridges, which tend to be pedestrian or access to fields for farms, are manual and don’t have a barrier, and after unlocking the restraining mechanism you simply push them open, well you try, some can be a bit on the heavy side. But there are all sorts of variations on this theme.

First day and I had 5 locks and one swing bridge ahead of me. At the 3rd lock we stopped, and I headed to a recently built Lidl which was about 7mins from the canal. Shopping done and we set off again. At Dean lock we stopped to put water in and a boat arrived to come down the lock. NB Knot So Fast, and her very Liverpudlian Captain and crew. We helped them lock down and followed them once our water tank was full, this meant they got to do the swing bridge, and we sailed through first. They must then have moored up, as we were joined at the next lock by a yoghurt pot (small fibre glass cruiser). The Captain is not fond of sharing the locks with this type of boat, as a 16ton narrowboat can do a lot of damage to one if something goes wrong. However its Captain assured him everything would be fine and they joined us in the lock. Everything was fine. Even better, a widebeam boat was heading for the lock so we could leave the gates open, or so we thought. Unfortunately my gate wouldn’t stay open, so I had to lean on it until the widebeam was in, its all about being helpful.

We moored for the night at Parbold and resisted the urge to go to the pub.

Just before we left next day I recognised the boat coming towards us, NB Ebony and its Captain and crew Steve and Anne, we had met them in Wigan a few years ago on their anniversary and had a few pints together. We had a quick catch up which was great. They have a Facebook page about living on Ebony, I have included the link below

https://www.facebook.com/groups/491339448840055

Next day we passed the junction of the Rufford branch which takes you to Tarleton, and the Ribble link onto the Lancaster canal, which we cant do as we are too deep drafted.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/canals-and-rivers/rufford-branch-leeds-and-liverpool-canal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribble_Link

We had 5 movable bridges to navigate which took us through Burscough, a place we usually like to stop as it has a large Tesco, and a bar called the Thirsty Duck, which is great, but we kept going as we were planning to go to the pub the next night to watch the football, England v Netherlands in the semi final.

https://www.facebook.com/thethirstyduckUK/?locale=en_GB

The Ship Inn was our chosen pub for the football, but when we got there we found in impossible to moor. There was a widebeam moored outside the pub so we decided to moor in front of it, only to discover that the moorings were permit holder only, the sign was very confusing, as it had arrows pointing in both directions but there was not obvious start or finish point for the restriction, so we kept going and decided to watch the match on the boat, it was another squeaky bum match, but we won, so on to the final on Sunday when we will be in Liverpool.

After we moored up in the MONW we were joined by NB Tui, who then shared the rest of the journey into Liverpool with us, and the swing bridges. Very helpful.

A second night was spent in the MONW before we reached Litherland. This is were you spend the night before cruising down the Stanley flight of locks and into Liverpool.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Stanley_Lock_Flight

The moorings are on the offside, as are the services, which we needed to use to do a pump out. When we got there we could see the moorings were full, boats were moored on the towpath side and there was a queue for the pump out. A single handed boat was using it as we arrived and NB Yesdear was waiting, so we tied up against a CRT work boat and waited our turn. The moorings here are restricted to 2 days because as I have ready explained, everyone stops here before going in to Liverpool the next day. However, and really not surprisingly, the boats moored had been there some time and the boats on the towpath were the ones going into Liverpool. This is really annoying when boaters are so inconsiderate. Litherland isn’t considered to be the safest place to stop for the night, hence the offside secure moorings.

After NB Arcona and Yesdear were done using the pump out we pulled forwarded and emptied our tank. The Captain then made the decision to pull back and spend the night brested up against the work boat. In fact all the boats on the towpath side moved across and brested up with other boats.

We have never been to the pub in Litherland, the Red Lion, but after talking to a local I found out it had been refurbished and decided it was worth giving it a try. As we headed out we stopped to talk to the Captain and crew on Yesdear, Jan and Dave, who had moored on the service point with Arcona on the outside and they decided to come with us.

The pub was a noisy locals pub with a pool table and dart board. I recognised the 2 guys playing pool, they were Mark and Nick off NB Ellis and NB Distraction who were brested up in front of us. We sat near the pool table and Mark and Nick soon joined, us as did Jan and Dave, and we had an amazing jolly time. I discovered that Mark on Ellis ran a hotel boat, Nick was a friend and they travelled together. Such lovely fellas, but they weren’t due in Liverpool until Sunday.

https://www.narrowboatellis.com/

After a great night, luckily we didn’t need to set off to early next day, as you cant go down the Stanley flight until 1pm unless the lockees tell you to. NB Tui set off just in front of us as all the other boats had already left. When we reach the first lock at around 12, Yesdear and Arcona were already in and waiting to go down, but it wasn’t going to happen until 1pm as there were swimmers in the water going into Liverpool. Not a problem, we could have some lunch and just chill out.

Of course this didn’t happen as we got chatting to a couple of gongoozlers. An interesting couple who were having a boat built to live on, but had very little idea of boating. We chatted and explained how the locks worked, and the gentleman was very impressed with the Captains mooring skills as he fitted the boat neatly into a space that was only just big enough. The lockees then declared we could go early, and off we went to help the first 2 boats down the first lock. I showed the lady how to wind the paddle, and the Captain invited the gentleman to come down the first lock with him. I hope we gave them some useful tips and that they enjoy their life on the water.

Tui had joined us in the lock and we completed the journey into Liverpool together, mooring up around 1.30pm ready for the fun to start.

The Way into Liverpool

36 miles, 11 locks, 14 bridges, 3 tunnels and 1 canal

SURPRISE MEETING IN MANCHESTER.

 

Johnny and Beverly

We had a quiet first night in Manchester but were busy the next day. The Captain headed off to visit his friend in hospital and I headed out to meet Chris, a fellow boater who unfortunately sold her boat when she couldn’t cope with it on her own after a relationship ended. She really misses boating and we keep in touch.

We had arranged to meet at Sinclairs Oyster Bar, a Samuel Smiths bar on Deansgate in the centre of Manchester.

Sinclairs Oyster Bar

https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/long-turbulent-history-behind-manchesters-22170130

It promised to be a messy afternoon, and when there was no one serving in Sinclairs we decide to try the Old Wellington next door, it was very expensive in here so back to Sinclairs, much better. We started to catch up when we were joined by Roger, Chris’s drinking buddy, after a couple in Sinclairs they took me to the Victoria Tap on the platform at Victoria station. We had only walked a few yards from Sinclairs when I spotted a familiar face, well familiar to me, the actor and comedian Johnny Vegas, and his PA Beverly. I don’t usually like to approach people, but on this occasion I just couldn’t help myself, I am a huge fan of his. However Chris and Roger had no idea who he was, and thought he was another boater. He was very generous with his time and I got a hug. Made my day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Vegas

We had a drink in the Victoria Tap and they took me to The Beer House, another bar on the station, not for a drink but just to look at the amazing doomed ceiling, it was part of the original station and was surrounded like an oasis by the new buildings.

https://thebeerhouseuk.com/locations/manchester-victoria/

The Beer House dome.

https://www.instagram.com/vic.tap?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D

Time was getting on and I contacted the Captain to find out he was on his way back, so we agreed to meet back at Sinclairs. To get there we walked through the Glade of Light, a memorial to the victims of the Ariana Grande bombing in May 2017, it was very moving.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glade_of_Light

The Glade of Light

We had a couple more drinks and then parted ways. I found out we had a Neil, the Captain old work colleague and friend visiting us later on.

As I said it was a busy messy day.

On a sad note the Captains friend he had visited passed away next day, it was not to much of a shock as he had been in a very bad way, but still so sad.

We left Manchester next day and cruised past Old Trafford and the Trafford centre on our way out. At the aptly name Waters Meeting we turned right and headed towards Wigan, and back on to CRT water at Leigh.

Our journey took us over another of the wonders of the waterways, the Barton Swing Aqueduct, which carries the Bridgewater canal over the Manchester ship canal. Opened in 1894 it replaced the original 1761 stone bridge when the Manchester ship canal was built to allow tall ships passage along the Manchester ship canal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barton_Swing_Aqueduct

Barton Swing Aqueduct

We had a quiet night moored on the offside just past Worsley.

On to Leigh next day and the Captain had some seals for the prop shaft to pickup, unfortunately he missed judged the distance from our moorings and had a good mile to walk, the exercise did him good and I had a walk round Leigh, calling in at the excellent Leigh indoor market, which unlike most markets is thriving. Unusual for us we didn’t head to the pub, although we know there is a good micro pub in Leigh called the Bobbin

https://www.facebook.com/TheBobbinleigh/?locale=en_GB

This part of our journey has been in the main lock free, but it wasn’t to last, and we start with the big double locks next day as 3 took us into Wigan were we were staying for the weekend. I had forgotten how heavy these large gates can be, and the good ship Avalon Two looked quite small, but not as small as in the huge river locks on the Weaver.

As we approached the first lock a boat was just leaving it, which was handy for us as they left the gate open for us, we only need one gate. We recognised the boat NB Wee May and its captain and crew, Paul and Paula Lumsden. Paul is the singing boater, and has a vlog called Narrowboat Natterings

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCauWvgidp4Q4o268-TAXznw

We have met them a couple of times, we shouted greetings and he recognised our boat through this blog.

In fact our luck was really in when we met boats coming towards us at both the other locks, this always helps because as one boat exits the other enters, so I don’t have to open and close the heavy gates so many times.

At the last lock into Wigan I could see there was plenty of room to moor and we were soon in and off to the pub.

Wigan has a number of great real ale pubs, and this time we tried the Swan and Railway first, a beautiful old pub with an air of a gentlemans club, and in the bar a Victorian railway waiting room. It won an award a few years ago for its sympathetic refurbishment, and even has a screen showing the trains arriving and departing at the nearby Wallgate railway station.

It also had 3 dark ales for the Captain to try, a rum porter called Dark Flagon by Wily Fox, Dark Mild by Bank Top and a stout.

https://swanandrailwayhotelwigan.co.uk/

After a couple in here we headed to Wigan Central, a micro pub in the railway arches. Another great selection of beers including a real favourite, Dark Drake by Dancing Duck brewery from Derby.

Wigan Central

https://wigancentral.bar/index.html

https://www.dancingduckbrewery.com/

It was the England v Switzerland quarter finals next day (yes the footy again) and we planned to watch it in the pub. But first we went to help our friends Pete and Dawn on their newly named and part painted boat Rosie O’Leigh up the final lock into Wigan. They had been into Liverpool, and were heading up the Wigan flight and onto Leeds, but not until Monday. We had a chat and invited them for Sunday dinner. Then we headed to the Raven to watch the football, a mild on for the Captain so he was a happy bunny. It was squeaky bum time again with the match, but we won. Yippee.

Sunday dinner went well, and we chatted put the boating world to rights. Then off to Wigan Central for us again (Not on plan at all, sorry, Tracey at Slimming World) but we had good reason. We were meeting up with Fiona and Karl the Captains daughter and partner. James one of the grandsons came along as well. It was great to catch up.

We left Wigan quite early (around 9am) for us next day, but that’s for next time.

21 miles 3 locks and 2 canals

TUNNELS

 

In the Tunnel

Our journey from Anderton to Manchester, involved 3 tunnels. Now, some of you might not know this but the Captain is not that fond of tunnels. However sometimes they are a necessary evil. When the builders of the canals met a hill that could not be scaled using locks then it had to be a tunnel. Some tunnels are wide enough to allow 2 boats to pass (the Captain hates these the most because we always meet an on coming boat at the worst possible place, and end up scrapping the side of the tunnel with the boat). But the ones on the way to Manchester are one way working, if its not possible to see the light at the end of tunnel (sorry for the pun) there are instructions at each end of the tunnel telling boaters at what time they can enter the tunnel.

Anyway back to the start of this journey, we shared the boat lift with NB Two Ducks from Aylesbury, and had a great time chatting with its Captain and crew. On leaving the lift you have to turn right even, though we were going left, there is a winding hole right by the lift and this is were the Captain turned us in the right direction. Unfortunately disaster struck when the rudder hit something in the water and was lifted out of skeg cup (or that’s what we think). The skeg cup is, as it sounds, a cup shaped part that the bottom of the rudder sits in and allows the rudder to turn, bit like a ball and socket joint. We still had steerage but need to try and get the rudder back into the skeg, so after we had winded we pulled over and the Captain tried to rectify the problem. After a bit of pushing and shoving he managed to improve the situation, but he is now of the opinion that there is something else causing the issue, as the tiller is very stiff to move. He will try to find out more when we get to clearer water, or wait until we get to Langley Mill and take the boat out of the water for blacking.

Hope this helps

We moored up before the first of the 2 tunnels for the night.

Barnton tunnel and Saltersford tunnel are quite close together. Barnton is the first and 572yrds in length, and yes, you can see the light at the end, so straight through this one. Saltersford is slightly shorter at 424yrds, but has more kinks than a kinky thing, so you can’t see the light at the end and have to wait for the right time to set off (half past the hour until twenty too the hour). Bearing in mind the instruments that the builders had to use over 200yrs ago, (none of the fancy stuff available today) its surprising there aren’t more kinks in the tunnels they built. But we made it through unscathed due to the Captains excellent steering.

Preston Brook Tunnel is the start of the Bridgewater canal, at 1239yrds its the longest tunnel and is another timed tunnel. It took us about 15mins to transit so not to bad. In 2 days we had spent 2235yrds in tunnels that’s 1¼miles approx.

The Bridgewater canal is one of the few canals that is not controlled by the Canal and River Trust but is owned by Peel Holdings, so is not covered by our license. However there is a reciprocal agreement between the 2 companies which allows us to use the canal for 10 days for free, 7days outward journey and 3 days return within 1 month and it has to be booked.

The Bridgewater canal was considered to be the 1^st canal built, although the Sankey canal opened in 1757 followed by the Bridgewater in 1761. However, it was the Bridgewater that caught the publics attention. The 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, Francis Egerton had it built to transport coal from his mines at Worsley to Manchester.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Canal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sankey_Canal

An old picture of us at Worsley

We passed the junction that takes you down to Runcorn, we have been down this branch before and enjoyed visiting Runcorn itself, we moored at Moore and took a walk to the pub, The Red Lion. Not much real ale on so the Captain had to make do with John Smiths. A lively locals pub with a decent menu and the food we saw looked good.

https://www.redlionatmoore.co.uk/

Our next port of call was Stockton Heath, and Thorne boatyard as we required a pump out, we were told it would be best if we came on Saturday as Friday was their turnaround day for the hire boats. So we arrived Friday afternoon ready for Saturday. After shopping at the near by Aldi we headed of to the London Bridge pub for a pint. This is a J W Lees pub, but only had a bitter and 2 pale ales on. The Captain plumped for the bitter but it wasn’t to his taste so we so headed back to the boat.

One of the big problems for boaters on this route is the lack of bins. On CRT waters the last bins were at the Anderton Boat Lift, and the next are 57 miles away at Burscough. There are no boaters bins on the Bridgewater, and you are expected to use the bins at marina’s and boatyards. So I asked as we got a pump out if I could get rid of our rubbish, the guy was very apologetic but said the bins were full, and he even had bags of rubbish that he couldn’t get in the bin until it was emptied. He did tell us we could use the bins at Stretford Marina, which was handy to know.

We stopped at one of our favourite places Lymm for the night. It is home to a number of pubs, a Co-op and Sainsbury’s local. The best pub, well for us, is the Brewery Tap, home to the micro brewery Lymm Brewing, and its sister brewery Dunham Massey. The Captain was not disappointed, with a choice of a mild and a porter.

https://lymmbrewing.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/dunhammasseybrewing/?locale=en_GB

Sunday and we headed for Sale, but didn’t make it, and stopped off at Altrincham. On our way we stopped for water and were joined by NB Leo, the Captain started chatting with Helen and Ian and it turned out they were related to our good friend Keith, (runs Swan Lane Wharf). Its a small world at times.

At Altrincham we did a little more shopping, another Aldi close to the canal, so handy, and the Captain picked up a delivery from Amazon.

And unless you’ve been living in a cave it was the football, England v Slovakia kick off at 5pm, so we headed to pub yet again, the Old Packet House. We managed to get an excellent seat even though it was packed, and it was definitely squeaky bum time, but the lads managed to pull off a last minute win and the pub exploded. The pub didn’t have a great choice of ales for the Captain and he made do with lager, but the food looked great.

https://theoldpackethouse.com/

And we won, yippee

We stopped at Stretford marina and the Captain decided to get some diesel so I didn’t feel so bad about using their bins, and then into Manchester with fingers crossed we could find somewhere to moor. The Captain had discovered that the usual visitors moorings were closed, as they were setting up a stage for a concert the next weekend. They never seem to bear the needs of boaters in mind when doing these things. At first it looked like we going to have to moor a little awkwardly against a high wall, but the Captain took a walk, and after chatting with a couple of the local boaters, he found we could use the empty permanent moorings whilst the visitors mooring were closed. Also rather worryingly, they also told him they had heard that Peel Holdings want to do away with all boats in Castlefields, don’t ask me why, very strange and short sighted in my opinion.

31 miles, 1 lock 3 tunnels and 2 canals.

CHANCE MEETING, OLD FRIENDS AND NEW.

 

A Narrowboat post box topper, how sweet

The Big Lock is just that, big, well compared to the single locks we have been doing. As we set of I walked down and was very happy to see another boat waiting, 2 boats in the lock going down and one waiting to come up. So there were plenty of people to help. I chatted to the crew off NB Mr Moonlight, it turned out they moored on the Erewash and came from Ilkeston. When I got a good look at the boat I remember seeing it on its moorings when we have cruised the Erewash.

The weather was definitely improving, and it was nice cruising in the sun without the cold wind that has been with us for the last few weeks.

The Captain spotted some great moorings between 2 boats, and I instantly recognised the first one NB The Rum Wench, Heidi Manning’s boat, we have met Heidi a few times over the years. She trades as The Pirate Boat. She also has a vlog that the Captain watches.

https://thepirateboat.co.uk/

Heidi, Bonny and me

As we moored Heidi appeared with her dog Bonny and the couple off the other boat. Of course we had to have a chat, Dan and Sara are roving traders too, and sell handcrafted wood & leather goods.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560379432761

We had settled down for the afternoon when Heidi came calling again, she had heard that Oakwood marina, which we had just passed, had a pizza and pint night that night, and would we like to go. Never to pass up a pint or a pizza we said yes.

https://www.oakwoodmarina.co.uk/

Dan and Sara joined us too, we had a great night, the pizza was really tasty and the Captain didn’t even mind having to drink lager for the night. The bar was quirky and housed in an old boat. We swapped stories and just had a wonderful time, I was very sorry when we had to wend our way back to the boats. Hopefully we will see them all again at some point.

Off to Anderton and we had hoped to moor before the lift, but it was not to be, and we had to make do with mooring just beyond it, this meant the Captain would have to reverse past 2 boats next day to access the lift. Not a problem for him at all.

Mid afternoon we took a walk just in time to see Heidi pulling in so we went to help. She was mooring in front of another boat I know, Barge Inn Booze, and as the name suggests this is a floating bar which sells a variety of beers and spirits including a range of Titanic brewery bottled real ales. Which makes sense as the boat is usually to be found around Stoke, the home of the Titanic Brewery. The owner of Barged Inn very helpfully pulled back slightly to allow Heidi to moor. Her plan was to trade next day and the day after, Sunday.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/137056690271893/?locale=en_GB

As we chatted a hire boat turned up with a stag party on board, the music was loud and the beer flowing. They were booked on the lift but were about 15mins late (the lift operator had already been to look for them), we helped them pull in and told them they would need to see the operator before going under the bridge. Surprisingly they were allowed in the lift, I just hoped they stayed safe on the river.

It wasn’t an early start next day as we weren’t booked on the lift until 2.15pm. To break up the day, after lunch we took a stroll to see how Heidi was getting on, she was trading steadily and the footfall past her boat was good.

We were joined in the lift by a sea otter called Green Jewel, sea otters are small narrowboats made from aluminium, and had a crew of 3 youngish lads on board, but a lot more sensible than the stag party.

Out of the lift and we turned right, away from Northwich. The Captain had decided to spend the night at Acton Bridge, the sea otter was heading for the delightfully named Devils Garden mooring which was further on. They joined us in the only lock of the day. Now these are huge river locks and are manned by lockees so I had nothing to do.

We found great mooring at Acton Bridge in front of NB Adagio and chatted to her Captain Liz, she told a nasty tale of being driven off Devils Garden by some very unpleasant characters, who turned up in camper vans claiming to know the owner of the land. As a single lady boater she felt very intimidated, even though there were other boats there too.

There is a pub at Acton Bridge, The Leigh Arms, so we asked if she would like to join us for a pint or 2, she was very happy to say yes. But then blew us out as some friends were already in the pub, not a problem.

It was lovely to sit in the sun with a very very happy Captain, not only were there 2 darks on the pumps, they also had Old Tom in bottles. He started with Luna stout from Unicorn brewery, and was so happy with it he didn’t bother with the Robinsons Dark or the Old Tom. I checked the menu out and it looked great, as did the food we saw brought out.

http://www.leigharms.co.uk/jml38/

it was so good we had 4 pints, yes 4.

We headed back to Northwich next day, and just before we set off 4 narrowboats and a wide beam passed us. When we got back to the big lock they were all in and waiting for us. The widebeam and 1 narrowboat first, then we brested up with the other 3 narrowboats and the lock still wasn’t full at all. That’s how big it was. Chatting to the other crew it turned out they were on a weekend jolly and heading back to their marina, which turned out to be Oakwood (yes, the pizza and a pint place) and the lady on one of the boats was the lady who had served us earlier in the week. They were a very friendly bunch. But had had the same experience at Devils Garden as Liz and weren’t happy about it at all.

Unfortunately when we got to Northwich the pontoons were full and we had to make to with mooring against a wall on the opposite bank, luckily the wall wasn’t to high so I could get off quite easily.

Monday and we headed into the town to do the bits needed before lunch. Then off to the Salty Dog for a pint at teatime, the Captain was again very very happy with a choice of 3 darks. He choose Dark Magic a 4.8avb stout from Merlins Micro Brewery. It was also only £2.50 a pint for real ales. Bonus.

https://salty-dog.co.uk/home

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054231681902

We decided to stay out for tea and tried Northwich Tandoori, and it was amazing. One of the tastiest curries I have had in a long time. I tried the Chicken 65, hot, spicy and sweet all at once, mmmmmmm yummy.

https://northwichtandoori.co.uk/

Our time on the Weaver had come to an end and we headed back to the Anderton lift and back onto the Trent and Mersey next day.

Another change to our plans we are going to head into Manchester for a couple of days.

But that’s for next time.

22miles, 3 locks 1 canal and 1 river