We spent a few days at Poole Aqueduct over the Trent & Mersey Canal then finally it’s time to head in another direction. Two very keen boaters and their dog making an early start in the morning sunshine, but accidents can happen to the most experienced of boaters and usually when you least expect it. No more than a mile from our moorings, we were going under the bridge at Hardings Wood Junction and turning towards the Heart Break Hill locks to start a descent down onto the Cheshire Plain, when the tiller caught on the arch of the stone bridge and broke into two!
Not the best start to the day and with no tiller bar or handle, there was no way to steer the boat. So we moored up and calmed down, it was clear we couldn’t continue and needed help.
I phoned a local marina (where we’d actually moored the boat for the previous 5 years!) and pleaded with them to search their scrap heap for something to make a temporary repair with. Bless them! Not only did they devise a solution, but drove over to find us and fitted it.
Heritage Marina, at Scholar Green, are a hire base and a lovely bunch of people, we can’t thank them enough for rescuing us at 9am on a Sunday morning!
Then we got into the first lock and another near miss occurred! The water level in the pound (stretch of canal between two locks) was higher than normal and to exit the lock the boat goes under a low metal road bridge, except the gap was decidedly less than it should be- Ian had to quickly go along the boat and remove anything off the roof that was going to catch on this bridge- we fitted under-just!
Heart Break Hill locks are usually in pairs and are quite stunning. We stopped at the Red Bull Services to top up the water tank and get rid of all the rubbish before setting off again. This is an old wharf that for a time was the Regional Offices for the Canal & River Trust.
Soon after this, the dog fell into the canal! She was fine, it just hurt her pride to have a wet tail
We finally got going; we helped out other boaters, collected litter from the towpath, pulled weeds and branches out of the locks and generally had a decent chug along the 14 locks to the next mooring spot at Crow’s Nest Lock near to Elworth, Sandbach.
The new hinged brass tiller is on order, but they are rather special and made to order, so we will be steering the boat for a couple of weeks with our patented telescopic mop handle tiller! I love it x
The dog wasn’t the only one with injured pride. The broken tiller was my fault. But it was either the tiller breaking or Heather being squashed!
I suppose you’ll have to share the patent rights to the Telescopic Mop Tiller (patent pending) with the marina! Talk about a series of unfortunate events haha
Not at all! They supplied the rusty metal pipe and Ian stuck the old broken mop handle in it to make it longer! You know how he always keeps things- just in case!!
Well supposedly bad luck comes in threes so you are good for a while. Loving the updates BTW