Today, it rained. No I mean it really rained, proper rain. But we’ll get to that later.
I woke to a misty morning. It was also a little cooler. Decided to get a reasonable early start. I needed to do some shopping in Middlewich for fresh stuff. Getting on to the visitor moorings in Middlewich can sometimes be a challenge. They can often be full. So getting there by late morning would maximise chances of getting a spot.
It’s a gentle cruise past yet another one of those random personal landmarks. Yes, we are back on familiar territory. At Weaver Bank there are some former canal horse stables that have been converted for residential use. I have never quite worked out whether it it one dwelling or several. If it is several, they are pretty small. Perhaps they are for holiday lets?
Soon after the stables, we passed another formal mooring spot. The ground falls away very steeply into the valley, giving you impressive views down over Top Flash on the River Weaver. We’ve never moored there, but we really will have to try it soon. The only problem is, it looks popular.
Before getting to Middlewich, we had to negotiate Stanthorne Lock. The CRT Volunteers were out in force, with 3 of them already at the lock and a boat load just arriving below. This was a working party intending to repaint the lock. It certainly looked like it needed it. But by now it hadn’t started to rain. This wasn’t proper rain. It only lasted 10 minutes. Just long enough for them to work me through the lock. Thanks! The locks on the Middlewich Branch are all pretty deep, and this one leaks quite a lot.
I pulled in at Middlewich before Wardle Lock, and did the necessary shopping. Then I took advantage of being close to one of the best canal side Fish and Chip shops around. A bit of an indulgence, but they don’t do pudding and chips in the south. Heathens!
After lunch, I sat there for a few minutes trying to decide whether to stay there or to push on. The Middlewich visitor moorings are OK for urban moorings, but it was sunny, so I decided to go. That turned out to be a bad mistake, but not immediately.
First we went through Wardle Lock, again helped by volunteers who were actually painting (not for long). There is a plaque next to the lock to commemorate Maureen Shaw, who lived in the lock cottage. She would often be seen leaning on her fence, acting as an unofficial lock keeper, giving passing boaters advice. As she lived most of her working life on canal boats, she knew what she was talking about.
The tiny section of canal below the lock, but before the junction bridge used to be known as the Wardle Canal. Exorbitant fees were charged for boats to transit the Wardle Canal. All part of the rampant competition between canal companies. This junction is often really busy. Today wasn’t any different. Boats coming north and south, and one taking on water by the junction. Having just descended Wardle Lock, now heading south on the T&M, I had to ascend Kings Lock. As the chip shop is right next door, you get some enticing aromas at lunchtime. Not a problem for me as I had already indulged.
Now, the clouds started to look quite ominous. Of course, now I was on a section of canal that you don’t really want to moor on. It’s right next to a main road. I was now committed. And now it really started to rain. I started to get quite wet, so the phone and camera got put away, so no pictures of this deluge. It was the sort of proper rain that made you wish you’d put shorts on because its easier to dry skin than it is to dry clothes. It was the sort of proper rain that makes you stop bothering with the umbrella because you’re so wet it isn’t worth it. It was the sort of proper rain that soaks through everything except your underpants. And then it rained even harder, so hard that you need the umbrella again just to see what you’re doing. It rained so hard that Sam the roof dog begged to be let back inside the boat. And every time you thought it was going to stop, it didn’t. It did let up briefly at Crow’s Nest Lock so I could take this sad photo.
And then the hardest rain came down just as I was leaving the lock. I needed to get another half mile down to get to a reasonable place to moor.
Of course, as soon as I pulled over, the rain stopped.
