Back onto the Trent & Mersey

Friday morning saw us heading into Lymm, with stops for water and Elsan on the way. We had to wait a while for water. Another boat had beaten us to it, and the flow from the tap wasn't best. The crew of the other boat had found a lay-by café van at the side of the nearby main road, and were filling their faces with the hugest breakfast baps I'd ever seen. I walked up behind one of them, and asked him how long he thought they'd be, unaware of the fact that he was eating. When he turned around, he simply couldn't speak because of the bap.

“It's OK,” I said, “we're in no hurry.”

We moored in Lymm, not intending to be long. We needed a few things from Sainsbury's there, and would look for some DVDs in the charity shops. TV at the moment seems to be all Olympics, Proms and repeats. 

The shopping took us longer than we'd anticipated, so we had lunch at the San Fairy Ann narrowboat café before continuing our journey.

Most excellent ham, cheese and tomato toasted sandwiches, chased by first-class cappuccino and tea. Fare which matches easily that served at Braunston's Gongoozlers' Rest.

It was very windy all day long, becoming particularly gusty mid to late afternoon. So we got blown down past Grappenhall and Thelwell, Stockton Heath, Moore and Preston Brook. There were far more boats about today, the GRP cruisers finding the wind rather hard going. Grace was now enjoying this rather more varied and interesting stretch of the Bridgewater Canal, having largely disliked it before.

Surely, moored boats CAN'T slow down!

At Preston Brook Tunnel, we joined NB On Reflection whom we'd met back at Plank Lane. They were waiting to go through, and we joined the queue behind them. The skipper's an interesting guy, having cruised a lot of the UK system, including the Ribble Link and Lancaster Canal - which I think we might well travel, now he's put our mind at rest about the rather scary-looking River Ribble! He and his wife live in an old lock-keeper's cottage that they bought at auction. It needed a lot of work doing to it, but they love it.

We had half an hour to wait for our allotted time for passage through the tunnel. Two boats emerged from the opposite direction in the last ten minutes, then through we went.

There's a shallow stop-lock at the other end that's a bit of a mystery. It's wider than a single lock, but too narrow for two boats to go in together. Very odd!

At this point, we were back on the Trent and Mersey Canal, leaving the Bridgewater behind. We hadn't been chased by Peelers, or stopped and fined. Grace breathed a sigh of relief.

After a search for good mooring at the end of the day, and after a couple of failures where the bank was too rocky or the water too shallow, we tied up in Dutton, between bridges 212 and 211.

Making our way off the Bridgewater Canal

 Moving on from Pennington Flash on Thursday morning, we hurried through Leigh, which is less beautiful. Worsley is a colourful, characterful corner of the Bridgewater Canal, and almost the only part of it Grace seems to like! We stopped to get milk here. There is one shop. A newsagent, though it does sell a small range of other stuff. Including milk. Very small bottles only!

Just across the canal from where we moored is a boatyard advertising that it sells Calor Gas. We drove across, and I bought a bottle, swapping it out with the empty one from the deck of a barge 50 yards further on, with our prow sticking out rather obstructively into the centre of the canal. It was another quiet day on the water, though, so we inconvenienced no-one. We only met four boats in the whole day.

The result of too-late a cuppa?

Not easy to see, but this juvenile heron has a rat in its beak!

We were on the look-out for a Bridgewater Company employee noting our presence on their waters, and today we spotted him, photographing us with his phone and tapping in details – our name and number, no doubt. Would someone now flag us down and demand payment for having returned to their canal before the required 28 days had passed, or would my email conversations with Head Office have persuaded them not to press charges?

We passed again over the Manchester Ship Canal, mighty but shipless. How often do they have to swing this bridge to allow the passage of big ships? we wondered.

The Trafford (shopping) Centre

The canal through Trafford Park was a potential stopping-place for us, but as we cruised along, it became clear that is was less desirable than we had hoped. The concrete canal edge and footpath was a major part of the problem. How would we actually tie up the boat? We moved on, bearing right off the Leigh Branch at the junction with the Manchester junction, and down through Stretford and the sprawl of Sale. 

Beyond Sale, the canal winds out into lovely, welcome countryside, and we moored for the night at a beautiful spot in Dunham Massey.

Still no problem from the Bridgewater Company.

Liverpool Thursday and Friday

Thursday and Friday have been quieter days, with nothing pressing us to be done or to be seen. We had food shopping to do, since it'll be quite a few days before we get to any decent shops otherwise. And we "did" the Museum of Liverpool, too, because it's there, and we didn't want to discover after we'd left the city that it really is unmissable.

A pristine 1983 Ford Escort, 163 miles on the clock.

  

Model of the original design for Liverpool Cathedral

And we had another leisurely walk around the whole docks area.

They're more recognisable in profile than eye-to-eye

Back by the boat, the water was swarming with tiny fish enjoying the sun.

And some of the swans were out for a paddle.

Surprisingly, there are almost as many empty berths in Salthouse Dock than there are moored boats. We're wondering if people have been put off by the Bridgewater Canal license issue.

So, tomorrow we set off early - we have to be at the Mann Island Lock by 8:00 to start our assisted ascent to Lock 9. We'll probably moor at Lock 10 at the end of the day, as we did on the way down. We now have 20 days to get to Pelsall for the IWA Water Festival, but there's a stoppage at the lift-bridge this side of Pennington Flash which may cause us problems. We shall see!

Farewell, Liverpool. It's been good to know you!