The last post ended somewhere around the first few miles of the Trent & Mersey Canal starting from Preston Brook. To get back to London the fastest way would have been to go all the way down the Trent & Mersey and then around Birmingham to the East. As I didn't want to go back the same route (and definitely did not want to do the Harecastle Tunnel again!) I took a detour to branch off the Trent & Mersey onto the Shropshire Union Canal (aka the Shroppie) to go south and then come back to the Trent & Mersey later.
This post covers the journey from the Anderton Boat Lift on the Trent & Mersey to the Shroppie main line.
Anderton Boat Lift
Not far from the three tunnels at the beginning of the Trent & Mersey there is another wonder of the canal world to be found: the Anderton Boat Lift, the only working boat lift in England.
The boat lift connects the canal with the River Weaver Navigation 15m down in the valley below. Before it was built, chutes were used to transfer goods between the river and the canal, but this was slow and inefficient. Construction of the boat lift started in 1875 and it was opened after only two years. It consisted of two big troughs (called caissons), connected via a hydraulic system. When a boat entered one of the caissons, it would push out as much water as its own weight, so that the two caissons would always be balanced. Then a bit of water would be pumped out of one so that it would get a bit lighter. Because the caissons were connected with hydraulic water pipes, this one would rise up and the other one would go down.
A simple principle but it turned not to work very well. One of the big industries in this area is salt mining and the salt in the water corroded the hydraulics so quickly that there was constant repair required. In 1908 there was a major overhaul and the hydraulics were replaced by counterweights for each one of the caissons independently, which were now operated electrically. The boat lift operated with this method until 1983, when it was closed as the canals were not used commercially anymore.
It fell into disrepair and was almost abandoned for good. As the canals were revitalised in the 1990s a bid was launched to restore this industrial monument. The boat lift was restored to its first version with the hydraulic pistons, but instead of water oil is now used. The boat lift opened again in 2002 and is now used by narrowboat leisure traffic and trip boats as a major attraction in the area.
I did not go onto the lift myself but just watched a cycle of movement from the side. There were boats queueing up on both sides. It is surprisingly fast, my guess is about 10 minutes to move a caisson up or down. The people on the boats seemed to have a lot of fun.
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| The boat lift seen from the side |
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| Boats going into the top holding area preparing for entry |
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| Everything is controlled by computers of course |
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| Caissons on the move |
Below is what it looked like when it was first built. The big steel reinforcements around it today were added when it was converted in 1908 to support the extra weight of the steel counterweights.
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| Original look |
Journey to Middlewich
From here I continued down the Trent & Mersey to the junction with the Shroppie Middlewich Branch, which would take me to the Shroppie main line running roughly parallel about 10-20 miles west of the Trent & Mersey.
But first the canal goes through a massive factory, which looks dystopian and smells pretty bad, too: the Tata Chemicals Works which are located on both sides of the canal at Northwich.
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| The Tata works |
But by and large the canal is very beautiful here, quite winding and overgrown like a jungle. In parts it widens almost into a lake. This is caused by subsidence due to the salt mining in the area. The lakes are shallow and the canal bank is still there submerged, so I took care not to stray off the towpath side too much.
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| A lake due to subsidence |
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| Overgrown towpath bank |
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| In the jungle |
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| These flowers look like little orchids. They were everywhere in early August. |
The Middlewich Branch
The first locks are in Middlewich shortly before the junction with the Shroppie Middlewich Branch. I arrived in Middlewich on a Friday afternoon and was caught up in hire boater rush hour. There are three hire boat bases in Middlewich and it must have been a change over day as the locks were extremely busy. Fortunately for me, they were all going in the opposite direction, so I had help from a different crew at every lock. It was marvellous for me, but for them it wasn't so great as there was a queue of at least 10 boats at the top lock.
In one very short lock pound with the locks set at right angles, we had three boats trying to each go their way. There was I exiting the bottom lock, one boat waiting to go into my lock and down and another boat exiting the top lock to go into waiting position in the pound. That boat had to come out before I could go in but it couldn't come out, because the boat waiting for me to come out couldn't move. You get the idea. It was a bit like Tetris and took a while to work out, but we managed without banging into each other, which was quite surprising. Sadly no photos as I was busy trying not to bang into anything.
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| Lock in Middlewich with boat exiting just as I arrived |
The most "interesting" part of Middlewich was the junction of the Trent & Mersey with the Middlewich Branch. The junction is at a right angle under a bridge with a lock directly after the bridge. It was a very windy day with a tail wind, which didn't matter so much until I tried to turn to the right and it became a strong cross wind. Narrowboats generally don't take to cross winds very well. In a strong wind it can happen that you "crab" along the canal more or less sideways. The effect here was that I couldn't really turn enough, but instead was pushed over into the bank straight ahead, which unfortunately had a boat moored right there. OK, reverse (and don't get grounded on the off side) and try again. Same result. I tried three times until a guy with a very long pole took pity and actually pushed my bow round enough to make that bridge. He said that this was the third time he had done this that day, which made me feel a bit less incapable.
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| The junction is under the bridge to the right |
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| I hit the white boat ahead three times trying to turn |
So I finally managed it, moored up not long after and went my way on the Middlewich Branch the next day. Then it wasn't as crowded anymore, I guess because the hire boat bases were changing over boats.
The Middlewich Branch was lovely. I considered it only a connection to reach the Shroppie, but it was really worth it in its own right. The country side was lush and green, with a lot of grazing sheep and cows. And the ever changeable weather made for some dramatic back drops.
Guess what happened next after the picture below. The answer: nothing! In expectation of a massive downpour I moored up to take a lunch break. Once I had tied the lines and looked up, this scenario had disappeared and I was able to move on.
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| I think it might be raining over there |
After less than a day's travelling I reached the Shroppie main line. Below is Barbridge Junction. I love the curvy bridges that often span canal junctions. They are shaped like that so that the lines on the horses don't snag on anything.
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| Barbridge Junction |
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| Barbridge Junction |
On to the Shroppie next!
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