Grappenhall

 Wednesday 15th July. 

You will recall that yesterday we had a walk along the canal to sus out the facilities further along, well, it was a nice walk but unnecessary. Talking to the boater behind us I told him what we were planning to do and he said: 'You know there's an Elsan disposal place in the pub carpark opposite? Not many people know that!' Well I didn't. It's not on the paper or digital map. 

We had a walk around Lymm and here's the ancient cross and stocks. 

In the centre of the old town is this lake formed when the river was dammed. It's a lovely village with many old houses around the centre. 

Needless to say, we did some shopping and then cast off only to move to the other side of the canal to attend to the loo. Luckily, when nosing around the pub carpark, I asked a chap who was sweeping away where the Elsan point was. He pointed us to an unmarked door, opened it with a flourish and there it was. No wonder people don't know where it is. 

We then set off for the winding hole about 200yds the other side of the bridge. 

A look at the house just after the bridge.

And here on the right even more houses going up. 

We pottered all of 3 miles down to Grappenhall and, as you can see, found ourselves a nice shady spot. 

In the old part of the village the street is still cobbled. 

We tried to get into the church but it was locked. Fortunately, as we were walking out a lady came in to 'lock the church.' She couldn't understand why it was locked and she let us have a brief look round. One of the windows contains glass from the 13th century. 

Next to the church, the pub. Where else would it be? 

Another warm evening on board. 

Off to Lymm

 I woke up rather early and saw that the canal was covered in a layer of mist. 

Needless to say, I went straight back to bed and got up later at a more reasonable time. 

Our first challenge of the day was the Preston Brook Tunnel, or so I thought! I'd forgotten all about the stop lock just before the tunnel. Here we are at 2 minutes to 11 just starting to go through. Not a problem under normal circumstances but the entry time for the tunnel was on the hour untill 10 minutes after. 

Just by the skin of our teeth we managed to enter before the curfew. 

Once through and the sign informs us that we are now on the Bridgewater Canal. Our C&RT licence allows us to stay on the Bridgewater for 7 days only. 

Suddenly the canal is much wider and we pass some modern apartments.

Ahead is the M56. 

And off to the left the canal off to Runcorn which, in the old days, once locked down to the Mersey. This is now a dead end. 

An imposing landmark, the Norton Water Tower. It's quite amazing that I found out the name of the tower using Google Lens. Sometimes AI really is a blessing. 

We had a brief stop at Moore to pick up some milk and a homemade pie from the canalside shop. 

Noticed the heavy-duty crane behind the narrowboat which is there to lift heavy timbers to act as a stop lock to block off the canal if there is a breach. As happened New Years Day 2025 which is why we will have to turn round after Lymm. The breach has still not been repaired. 

Canalside des res in Warrington. 

Followed by the M6. Oh dear, civilisation rearing its head again. 

Moored up in Lymm and this is our view over the old town. 

Went for a walk along the canal and by the bridge a little passageway leading to some quaint houses. 

We walked up to Oughtrington to sus out the Elsan facilities and to find out if we could turn the boat around once there. All looked ok but it wasn't easy to see where to stop from the canal side so we were glad to locate everything before driving up there. And, yes, we would be able to turn there. 

Back to the boat, supper onboard and then to bed. 

A day late again

 By Sunday I had managed to get the blog up to date. However, I seem to have slipped behind again. 

A last look at our overnight mooring as we set off towards Preston Brook. We managed to cover 5 miles today (Monday) which included 2 tunnels. We only stopped when we did because just round the corner was a third tunnel which we thought we would leave for tomorrow. 

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves. 

Here's the entrance to the Anderton Lift. Obviously closed off for the time being until funds can be raised for the necessary repairs. 

We worked our way through Barnton Tunnel, no problems there although it does have a twist or two and is one-way only. 

This means you have to give way if someone is already coming through. 

The second tunnel, Saltersford Tunnel, operates on an hourly cycle, our way on the hour with a 15 mins window, the other end on the half hour. 

We had to wait before we could enter but this gave me time to top-up the greaser. For those of you who don't know, the greaser forces grease into the hole that houses the propeller shaft. It effectively bungs up the gap between the inside and the outside of the boat and stops water flooding in. 

Not such a bad place to have to wait for the tunnel. 

At Bartington Wharf we passed all the Black Prince hireboats getting ready to go out again. 

Lovely views over the Weaver Valley and somewhere down there is the Weaver Navigation which we tackled 10 years ago when the lift was working. 

And here we are for the night. 

But, before that, how about a nice walk? 

And then back to the boat to cook roast chicken, our planned Sunday lunch before we went out instead. 

PS blog still not up-to-date since the WiFi signal in Lymm isn't that good. I'll have to wait until things improve. 

Anderton Boat Lift

 We had a quiet night in the trees, the temperature being a little cooler than previous nights. We set off at about 10 o'clock along this very beautiful canal. However,  once again, neither of us remember the canal at all. 

Along this stretch of canal are several 'lagoons', each with warning signs about keeping to the main channel because of shallow water elsewhere. 

On the approach to Rudheath within the space of 1 mile we passed 3 marinas, one was newly built when we came this way 10 years ago, and another having been built since then. 

Now passing the Broken Cross pub where, apparently, we moored 10 years ago. 

Now coming into Northwich past the massive salt works. 

This pub, the Lambs Wharf, is reputed to be the oldest on the Trent and Mersey. 

Unfortunately we got stuck behind a wideband boat which was pootling along enjoying the scenery. He was going slowly but it did give us time to charge the batteries. 

We arrived in Anderton and moored in the shade opposite the marina. 

We decided to go out for lunch at the Moorings. We're glad we did because we were here 10 years ago and the owners are retiring this September. The food was as good as we remembered from before. 

After lunch a walk round to the lift which is out of commission at the moment. C&RT are trying to raise funds to get it back into working order. 

Spent the afternoon reading and watching tennis. A typical Sunday afternoon. 

On to Murder Bridge No 177

 Today started off well with me waking up at 5 o'clock! I tried to get back to sleep but gave up in the end and made some tea for us both. 

Here's the captain bringing the boat along to Kings Lock after me telling her that we spent the night moored in a winding hole. The canal is very wide at that point and I would have moved the boat had anyone needed to turn round. Luckily none of that was required. 

Because the lock was against us I helped a single hander through before we took our turn. 

While waiting for the lock to fill I thought that a picture of the fish and chips shop would be an excellent reminder of the wonderful meal we had last night. 

All around Middlewich various bollards have been decorated with knitted cosies. Must have taken ages. 

I'm back on the boat as there was yet another boat waiting to come through and they were happy to work the gates for us. 

Immediately after the lock is the Wardle Canal the shortest canal on the system being only 154ft long. 

Not all narrowboats have roses and castles on the doors, this one has icons. 

And a nostalgic photo for us of what used to be Middlewich Boat Hire. We hired several times from them. 

We then went through 3 more locks and stopped to go to Morrisons for even more food for the pantry. Including, of course, steaks as it's Saturday. 

A cormorant, which you're lucky to see as it kept diving every time I went to take the picture. 

After that we only went on a little further, found a nice shady place and stopped for the afternoon and overnight. This is a really lovely part of this canal and an opportunity for the captain to watch Wimbledon all afternoon. 

Oh, and it's just past Bridge No 177 nicknamed "Murder Bridge". It was named after the unsolved October 1967 murder of a Middlewich solicitor whose body was found in a shallow grave nearby. 

No sleep tonight then!