Today we went down onto the River Weaver. The purpose of this exercise is so that I can visit my old friend John Michel who is unfortunately incarcerated in an old folks nursing home. And he is 2 years younger than me! Anyway without this necessity to get to Winsford, we would never have gone. What a fantastic day!
Set off at 9.30 the short distance to the Anderton Boat lift. This was constructed in 1875 to lower boats 50ft from the Trent and Mersey Canal down the the River Weaver and remains a very impressive engineering construction. Boats are lowered in a huge caisson, which is counter balanced by boats being lifted from the Weaver in a second caisson alongside - all by hydraulic ram.
On the way there we came across another boat 'Nb Stardust' unmoored and right across the canal. Some dog walkers were knocking on the side of the boat in case anyone was inside, but it was empty. We put the boat in, and Annie ran up and, helped by the dog walkers managed to re-secure it. I hope they would do the same for us....
We arrived just behind Nb Odyssey and both wives went into see about booking to go down, whilst both men minded the boats in the 'waiting to go down' lay by. Apparently this is a mortal sin and you dont join the queue until 30 minutes before your due slot to go down. However we were the only 2 boats going down all day..... Yes we could go down - after the boys had had their cup of tea.
After a brief safety briefing Odyssey moved into the lift followed by Ceilidh. Richard, our Canal and River Trust 'Minder' talked us through each operation of the lift and slowly we were lowered to the river below. 5 minutes later Annie was helming us out onto the River Weaver - passed a trip boatful of frantically waving schoolchildren on a day out. The guidebooks do the River Weaver a complete dis-service highlighting its industrial nature. We found the journey to Winsford an absolute delight. We had to go through two huge locks - capable of handling 1000 tonne coasters. Northwich itself was great.
Arriving at Winsford, the furthest point boats can travel on the river is the Red Lion moorings. Another boat 'Nb Forget-me-not' was already on the mooring but advised they were moving off. We put a line ashore waiting for them but they appeared in some difficulty. Odyssey, wishing to get back through the locks couldnt wait and hooted a goodbye, reversing out. We moored on the bit of wharf available to us to find 'Forget-me-not' couldnt extract one of its mooring pins. Incredibly it seemed to have gone in into rubble and refused to come out. It took two of us nearly an hour to extract it, followed by a cup of tea to celebrate. Once Forget-me-not' had departed we moored properly and I walked into town to be at the home for 6pm, when 'feeding time' should have been completed. I found John in an excellent frame of mind and had a lovely visit with him for an hour or so. His sons are buying him an iPad and the home are getting WiFi so he is looking forward to re-connecting with the world.
Walked back to the boat and we returned to moorings just above Vale Royal locks - lovely and quiet.
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| Annie pulling in 'Stardust' aided by dog walkers |
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| View of the Anderton lift from top |
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| Ceilidh & Odyssey inside lift |
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| Other caisson came up as we went down |
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| At the bottom |
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| Richard our Minder - dont put my photo on facebook! |
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| Odyssey following is out onto the Weaver |
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| Hunts Lock |
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| Our next boat? I'm looking for a project |
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| A beautiful sunset on a perfect day |
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