It was just a mile from
Westport Park to Harecastle tunnel. There were three narrowboats
waiting to go through, and another joined the queue behind us soon
after we arrived. It was good timing. Traffic is one-way through the
tunnel, so there's a timetable, scheduling craft times to enter in
alternating directions.
The tunnel is 2926 yards
long, the fourth longest on the UK canal system, and it has something
of a reputation for being tricky because of stretches of low roof
about half-way through. Sadly, there was a death last year, probably
caused by the man hitting his head on the roof, and falling backwards
off the end of his boat. There was no-one with him at the stern at
the time. Needless to say, CRT are now very much more sensitive to
safety issues here now. Before our entry, all waiting boaters were
gathered together by the duty Keeper, and given a sheet of safety
instructions, which he gave to us orally as well.
There are actually three
parallel tunnels at Harecastle, needed to deal with the volume of
traffic which once went this way. One was a railway tunnel. But two
of these have been closed over the decades since, and only the one is
in use now. Built by Thomas Telford in 1827.
After a convoy of five or
six boats had emerged from the gloom of the tunnel into the sunlight,
our keeper beckoned our group in, one by one. He urged us to maintain
normal cruising speed. And to mind our heads! Unfortunately, however,
the front boat went very slowly at times, and this is a problem in a
narrow tunnel like that, because at very slow speeds it becomes more
difficult to steer boats, and no-one wants to bang their shiny boats
against the rough brick walls.
But all went well, and we
duly drove out unscathed about forty minutes later. A striking
phenomenon here is the striking change in the colour of the canal
water. Where it had been normal greenish-brown at the eastern portal,
it is now bright, rusty yellow. From iron ore in the ground.
Several boats were
gathered here, waiting to take their turn in the other direction. I
waved to working boat NB Halsall, a Twitter contact of mine I'd never
seen before.
Almost immediately after
the tunnel comes Harding's Wood Junction, where the Macclesfield
Canal turns left off the Trent and Mersey, runs parallel for a
hundred yards, then turns sharp right onto an aqueduct over the T &
M, to head off north-east while we continue north-west.
The aqueduct carrying the Macclesfield Canal |
Five more locks now, the
Red Bull flight, nothing at all to do with the energy drink, followed
by another six at the start of what is known by some as Heartbreak
Hill. It's not that bad,
really!
Most of the locks from here
on for several miles are twinned narrow locks, like those at
Hillmorton.
The sign says "Lock Closed" - that's the one, on the left, with all the reeds growing in it! |
At one
of the locks, a vollie was training a man with no previous canal
experience. It was his first day of training, and his instructor was
giving him masses of detailed information. He looked over at Grace
bringing Kantara into the lock.
“And
this young couple”, he told the learner, “are quite clearly not
without experience. The gentleman holds his windlass the right way
up, and the lady brings the boat in without bashing into anything!”
The countryside has become gently hilly, and there are beautiful views from the canal.
Anyone know what make and model this fine old car is? |
After
the six locks, we were in Church Lawton, the village we'd designated
as the place for our mooring at the end of the day. But we'd made
faster progress than we'd
anticipated, and it was only one o'clock, so we had a bite to eat and
moved on another ten lock-miles to a beautiful countryside spot below
Pierpoint Locks.
Cows and donkeys chewed grass contentedly in
the field opposite, the
weather was good, the scents of wild flowers filled the air, the
coffee was superb. This couldn't
be beaten!
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