Cheryl – Page 11 – Narrowboat Firecrest

Almost there

Getting through Wigan was proving to be a game of chance, will there or won’t there be water in the locks, or inbetween the locks for that matter. So we formed a queue at Scotsmans Flash with several others to await the go-ahead.

At the time the Wigan Flight was just about still open, with daily updates and horror stories about boaters reaching the top few locks only to have to reverse all the way back down. As I write this, I fear the maintenance of the system is just so overwhelming that the powers that be will just give up and close sections like the Wigan flight permanently. But it’s not a black and white issue and I’m glad I’m not the one making the big decisions. And to get back to our journey, we made it through at the second attempt. Past the iconic Wigan Pier

I have to say, I’ve seen bigger and better, but this one always makes me smile

We do like the section between Wigan and Burscough, there’s some nice peaceful moorings.

And if I’m lucky I’ll see my favourite trade boat – the wool boat

For most of the way there’s also the railway within walking distance of the canal, so I took the opportunity to hop on a train and head up to the Lakes to see Mum,, actually it’s where my dentist is, but don’t tell him about the icecream

Whilst I was there, the Westmorland County Fest show was on, I was expecting to see sheep

But we got giant Madagascar tortoises as well, who live on a farm in westmorland

From Burscough through to the Stanley Flight is a bit more tedious, the canal ploughs through the cottage garden of the North, but instead of bridges, the fields are crossed by swing bridges. It’s not too bad working through these with a crew, but I feel for the single handed boaters, negotiating overgrown landings and inconsiderate boaters who tie up on the bollards is hard work.

But we made it through to Litherland, staging post for the Liverpool link

what’s the rush

What’s the rush,

I’ve been somewhat distracted over the past month or so. Now we were on the Bridgewater it felt like Firecrest was within touching distance of its final destination, Liverpool. So close to the Mersey, yet from Preston Brook to Salthouse Dock, it is 74 miles and another 14 locks and we had a whole month to complete our journey.
We have cruised the Bridgewater before so we knew roughly where we wanted to stop. We enjoyed a day in Lymm but behaved ourselves so we didn’t get locked in the stocks,

We explored the house

and grounds of NT Dunham Massey

We stopped for breakfast at the fabulous https://www.waltonperk.co.uk/ Walton Perk NB cafe and enjoyed a Bridgewater special, basically a bacon butty but in a toasted teacake with gherkin and mustard.

Before we crossed the incredible feat of engineering, the Barton Swing Bridge

And we were lucky enough to snag the prime mooring spot with an uninterrupted view of the Packet House in Worsely. And whilst it might be a stunning 18th Century building, it’s effectively was just the ticket office and station platform for those wanting to travel along the Bridgewater into Manchester

Ive always fancied a house with a garden mooring

Whilst we were moored in Worsley we took the opportunity to walk to the newly opened RHS gardens, making the most of our years membership that we purchased last year whilst we were on the River Wey at Wisley. Being end of May, the gardens were dominated by Alliums and Iris. The gardens is obviously still being developed over its huge site, so it will be fun to return in years to come and watch it grow. We added a comment to the suggestion box…. Where’s the visitor mooring! It might only be a mile from Worsley, but its practically a mile to circumnavigate the car park from the towpath.

and I’d like a garden with flowers like these

With our 7 days of permitted time on the Bridgewater, it was off up to Scotsmans Flash on the Leigh branch for a few days

Although with the recurrent lack of water issues at Wigan we did fear we might get stuck there until monsoon season returned but another Pondstock Lock is invariably drained overnight, vandalism or leaky gates, who knows, we were able to get through and into Lancashire, only 35 Miles to go

Bluebells, Breaches and Bridgewater

Back in 2012 the Trent and Mersey suffered a significant breach in its structure at Dutton, the T&M society have a very interesting summary with some dramatic photos.

the Dutton Breach, photo taken from the T&M society website

And whilst the plaque marking the spot is understated,

the consequences of the repair are some of the best moorings in the vicinity, with views over the Weaver valley and the impressive rail viaduct

And if you’re lucky a rainbow as well

A few hours earlier the sun had been cracking the flags and we took the opportunity to walk up to the Bluebell Cottage nursery, a small family business, that also opens up the garden on Wednesdays to Saturdays in the summer.

And yes there is a beautiful bluebell wood

We’d booked our passage onto the Bridgewater canal from Monday so on we went.

The Bridgewater canal is owned by Peel Holdings, rather than managed by Canal and River Trust, so we had to doff our caps and book a week’s passage before we were allowed transit through the tunnel.

Sweet and Salty

Aren’t they sweet,

Our journey from Middlewich took us through Cheshire’s salt heritage, a merry mix of beautiful countryside and gentle cruising,

I think this swan wanted to see us off his aqueduct over the river Dane

Although when we saw those black clouds rising we made straight for the next available mooring

We still got drenched in the minutes it took us to stop and tie up.

It didn’t last long but we didn’t trust the clearing sky

It didn’t look that much clearer when we reached the Tata Chemical factory at Northwich, although some of that is steam not cloud

It feels a bit alien travelling through a site like this

The site now includes the UKs largest carbon capture plant recycling 40,000 tonnes of CO2 opened in 2022, I wonder if they will need a new bridge symbol

It’s not that much further on to the Anderton nature park, one of our favourite moorings

Two day mooring at the Anderton nature park, time to take down the coronation bunting

We didn’t decend the Anderton Boat lift this time

But descended on foot and walked into Northwich along the River Weaver,

Last time we were here Firecrest’s generator had suffered a catastrophic malfunction and due to a number of reasons we ended up stranded in Northwich Marina for 8 weeks, (lovely marina though) and missed out on exploring the river. But Northwich has several millenia of providing salt for the country so we thought it only right to enjoy a bowl of salty popcorn

And a little more sweetness

Heading for the Kings Lock

Just as the coronation takes place a while after the accession, likewise this blog rarely gets written the day it happens. first we said goodbye to Reginald

And picked up some sound advice about our planned route up past Braidar on the Macclesfield- don’t bother it’s already desperately short of water and closures are expected. Mind made up, it was through the tomato soup tunnel, aka Harecastle tunnel.

Strong tea, tomato soup, or just plain old Iron deposits

And instead of turning left onto the Macc, we would carry straight on, staying on the Trent and Mersey.

Sadly the Macclesfield canal will have to wait until there’s a bit more water

The added advantage would be knocking 20 locks from our route, but we would have to descend “heartbreak hill” the 31 locks between Harecastle and Middlewich.

We’re never quite sure what this stretch has done to deserve this title, because it really is a very pretty section

and there’s plenty of of opportunity to moor up over the 12 miles. Which is what we did at Lawton, just below the Red Bull bottom lock.

Firecrest was suitably adorned in its finery, complete with a knitted golden crown

And we settled down to watch the coronation

Before taking another few days enjoying the cheshire countryside

And moving on to Middlewich for King’s lock fish and chips, deceptively good.

And finally through Kings lock

A few days of treats

We enjoy several spring time birthdays in our family, so declare whichever days are appropriate to celebrate a royal birthday, any excuse to eat cake and see family.

We picked up ‘Rito and Nova in Stone and set them to work doing the locks,

And we rewarded them with yet more ducklings

Can you ever see too many ducklings? What a daft question

No cygnets yet though

But we did see our first goslings in Etruria

We stopped to fill up with water under the watchful eye of James Brindley at Etruria junction

And moored up outside the Middleport pottery.

Where we had the good fortune to meet up with Reginald on her(?) way down to the Crick show, we might be biased but, it’s a beautiful boat, and full of some very clever innovations, not to mention James exceptional woodworking skills.

Always a nice treat to see friends and family,

Spring in our step

Time to push on. After two lovely days enjoying James and Helen’s company we set them off Firecrest as we reached the Meccano Bridge so they could walk home along the Valley Park footpath.

The Meccano Bridge over the disused railway

we were passing through some lovely rural countryside, through Penkridge, (great butchers and bakery), up through the Tixall wides and onto the Trent and Mersey canal

although it did get a bit narrow in places, even the ducks thought it safer to stick to the towpath, hope we don’t meet anyone coming the other way

But it wasnt all narrow, sometimes we had to duck as well

we met some thirsty cows

and some frolicking lambs

And some wagging wagtails

We also encountered a very aggressive swan at Weston, it chased us off its patch for over quarter mile, it even tried biting Eric’s leg. Funnily enough, we had the same thing happen 2 years ago in exactly the same spot. It must be the same swan-athough they all look alike to me,

If he’d asked nicely we’d have given him a lift

We seem to have settled into spring at last

we had a night on the Tixall wides but with it being a bank holiday weekend we decided to take the first available mooring, which was peaceful and just as pretty

Meeting at the Manor

Would you like to come to our house? Our friends Helen and James asked us as we travelled north up the Staffs and Worcester, well not actually their house but their local NT property and only 5 minutes walk from the canal. And so after a mornings cruise together,

we moored up at Wightwick Bridge Visitor Mooring

and strolled across to the Manor.

Built in the late 1880’s, Wightwick Manor, was built for Theodore Mander and his family. They were inspired by the Arts and Craft style so lots of William Morris and Rossetti to see. It was also a period known as the Aesthetic movement -basically art for arts sake.

The family still have an apartment in the house and are known to enjoy Christmas there, although I’m not sure if they still use the dining room.

But I bet they are tempted to play the odd frame of snooker

As always you can’t visit a NT house without a visit to the bathroom, and in this case the sluice, containing a collection of slipper bedpans, not all that dissimilar to the sluices and bedpans in the hospital where I did my nurse training and that was in 1983.

Lots more laughter as we enjoyed the gardens

Definitely a property I’d visit again. Even if just to walk around the garden.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/wightwick-manor-and-gardens

A few days of firsts

We could happily have stayed a few days soaking in the tranquility at the lower end of the Stourbridge canal. But we were ready to continue our journey north.

just four more locks before the junction

And onto the Stafforshire and Worcestershire canal.

This canal was built in the 1770’s to service the potteries around Stoke on Trent. However trade declined when newer canals provided a more direct route between Liverpool and the South. In order to remain competitive the canal company increased the lock opening hours and reduced the tolls. Now there’s an interesting idea. It’s a very pretty canal that cuts through the red sandstone rock in places, and follows the meandering rivers and Smestow Brook.

Within minutes of turning north, the smell of wild garlic hit us, so I leapt off to gather a bunch to make pesto our first spring foraging treat.

You just need to harvest the leaves, but make sure you identify what’s garlic and what isn’t, everyth8ng looks lush and green right now

Our next first was seeing our first ducklings of the year, 24th April. Out of interest I looked back to last year and my first duckling photo was on 23rd April.

there were another 5 who were a bit camera shy

And another first, this time for James Brindley in 1770, as he managed to combine a lock and road bridge in one crossing.

And whilst we were ticking off firsts, we realised that this was the first time we had done the Bratch Locks in sunshine. It was raining so hard last time we had to bribe the lockies to leave their toll booth to help us

It’s an amazing feat of engineering, originally a staircase lock of three, the water level changes by over 30′. Although technically its now individual locks it still needs to be treated as a staircase and there’s usually a lock keeper on duty to make sure no one sinks. Sadly James Brindley died a few months before it became operational.

The locks are fierce and powerful, we often chat to the families watching at locks and always remind the children never to play close to the edge because of the undercurrents. We had never seen a whirlpool as big as this one at a lock

The vortex was between 8 and 12 inches across.

Finally something we’ve come to enjoy peaceful mooring

Stourbridge Glass Museum

We have a special affinity for all things glass in our family, as our daughter is a lampworker- that is someone who works with glass heated by an oil lamp, (or for the past few centuries a gas torch, but the name stuck.) As opposed to glass blowing which is heated till molton in a furnace. She specialises in glass beads which she makes into knitting accessories. So when we realised we were cruising right through the traditional heart of the English glass industry it would have been a pity not to visit the museum.

Set over 2 floors there was a collection of historic glass dating from Roman times following the transformation of utility functional pieces through to the highly decorated cut glass crystal. And if I’m honest that section didn’t excite me, but upstairs I was overwhelmed by the modern colourful art glass. Which begs the question, museum or gallery?

Very hard to do justice to the glass on a phone camera

Either way, in our dreams, if we weren’t already living it, we would live in some fabulous architect designed house, with huge windows letting the light shine onto our white walls setting off beautifully displayed pieces of art, like the glass we were looking at today. And of course because this is fantasy land, it would never need cleaning, although I’m sure this piece that made us chuckle, wouldn’t mind the flick of a feather duster

The contemporary glass really did cover a huge range of styles and techniques

Although I was particularly impressed by this artist who included her love of knitting into her glass

Emmy had been featured on the BBC Make it At Market show earlier this year and consequently had sold out of these quirky little bowls otherwise I’d have been tempted to buy one. However there is an artist in residence who regularly gives demonstrations. Although he wasn’t demonstrating when we visited, we spent quite a while chatting to Alistair. Glass production is one of those industries that seem to have slipped through the support network dealing with fuel price rises. His gas bill has risen from around £4000 to over £70000 in the past 18 months and he is currently installing solar panels and replacing his gas kiln with an electric one.

Alistair at work (photo from museum website)

It wasn’t a difficult decision to decide to buy some of his glass, the difficult it was choosing just one piece

Next to the museum is the Red Cone museum,

Its undergoing some renovation work right now so we could only look through the open doors, the furnaces are in the centre with coal fires underneath and the cone shaped chimney to draw the flame and gain the searing 1000° temperature needed.

We got our timings wrong so didn’t get a chance to do the full walking tour of all the glass in Stourbridge, but I’m sure we will make the effort to do so next time. But until then I’m sure Heather will give me an impromptu lesson in her studio.