We’ve taken a little detour so that Ian could climb up the nearest hill! This time we had to negotiate the Bunbury staircase and scoot past Chas Hardern Boat Yard, once the terminus of the Chester Canal (previous name for this stretch of the “Shroppie”). The hill, or rather the rocky sandstone crag, is the…
Maureen’s Lock and a tsunami
We’re heading west and need to get to the Shropshire Union Canal. From here the only way west is the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union. Originally planned in 1760 this canal branch wasn’t built until 1827. It’s 10 miles long with 3 deep locks (at least 3m) and stretches from Barbridge (north of Nantwich)…
Salt on your fish?
As a youngster, I used to think that salt came from the sea and was very confused to learn that salt was being mined in nearby towns in Cheshire, and had been since Roman times. I wasn’t completely wrong, just 220 million years out of date! The local towns lie on fault lines in the…
Heart-break Hill and the local millwright
We’ve been heading down the flight of Cheshire Locks also known as “Heartbreak Hill”. I’d love to tell you a sad love story of how this nickname came about, but apparently it’s a relatively new name given by leisure boaters due to the sheer never-ending effort of navigating the hill. It stretches 12 miles from…
We love this canal!
We have been cruising – off and on – along the Macclesfield Canal for over 30 years (I feel old!!). We were both born and brought up next to this canal. Our early years involved many walks along its towpath. When we were in our twenties, we started out as hire boaters. Our 2nd ever…
“That must be painful”
“Aren’t they cold?” “Are you on a pilgrimage?” “You’re a proper boatman!” “Why…” I’ve heard all these comments and more this year – the last one from Heather. This is the story of how I accidentally became a barefoot walker. Living on the water for a long, dry summer probably helped. I’d stopped wearing…
Frozen!
“Hurrah!” we said, CRT (Canal and River Trust) had lifted the stoppage further up the Macclesfield Canal which meant that we could escape up on to the Peak Forest Canal and head to Whaley Bridge and a favourite mooring spot at Bugsworth Basin. We got the Christmas decorations up, stocked up with provisions for about…
Vloggers and Bloggers
As a “new” blogger (not sure someone who has been doing this for a year can be called new – Ian), I’m perhaps a bit late to the party, but I’ve been genuinely surprised by how many people there are out there who are blogging or vlogging their daily lives on the British Waterways (yes…
The last dash
We’re still heading north aiming for home ground on the Macclesfield Canal for the winter. Heather now has a date for her knee operation and it’s the middle of November. The final deadline for stoppages that we needed to get past along the Trent and Mersey canal was 7th November. The last one was for…
What’s the rush?
If you’ve clicked on the location tab, you’ll see that we’ve suddenly moved north, why the dash? What’s the rush? Back in September we were on the Kennet and Avon Canal and wondering where to spend the winter season with the boat. The original plan was to stay in the south and explore the smaller…