Tag: Breach

Once more unto the breach dear friends

On New Year’s Eve we had sat planning our cruising route for the upcoming year, “let’s go north along the Bridgewater and do the Leeds and Liverpool West to East….”
Well that plan sprung a leak didnt it. A great big one, when on New Year’s Day the Bridgewater sustained a catastrophic breach at Little Bollington. It wasn’t rocket science to know this wasn’t going to be fixed in a few weeks, more likely a few years.

Taken from the IWA website

Fellow continuous cruisers and prolific Vloggers, Taylors Aboard, had the misfortune to be moored close enough to be directly affected by this breach. They provided some excellent drone footage of what they woke up to on New Year’s day, and the ensuing aftermath documenting it in real time. It was a horrific experience and we can only thank God that no one was actually injured or worse killed that day.

Plan B, we’ll go via the Macclesfield, through Manchester and bypass the breach, until, guess what….on April fools day, just above the Bosley locks, the Macclesfield breached as well. Not quite so catastrophic as the Bridgewater, and will probably only take a few monts to repair. But somewhat more frustrating as CRT had been aware of the potential problem and had executed a temporary repair back in November.  I’m not going to cast blame because it’s not straightforward, but we can’t help but wonder why “they” let this happen.

The 2025 Macclesfield breach (photo from Manchester evening news)

We’re still not totally sure what Plan C is, but as we left Uplands Marina, we decided to turn left and take a few days heading towards Lymm, about as far as we can get before the breach. Despite it coming up to Easter Weekend, the canal was quiet, which is a good thing as the Barnton tunnel is one way and relies upon boaters not entering if someone else has got there first. And with awkward angles entering the tunnel that’s not easy. Luckily, the oncoming boat travelling south realised just in time and didn’t hit us while we were inside.

Unfortunately we weren’t quite so lucky  when we passed through bridge 211. I’d hopped off so I could take another photo of our lovely shiny boat,

Forgive me, it’ll be a while before I stop posting gratuitous photos of Firecrest

When we saw another boat coming towards us,

Umm, that looks like a tight squeeze

Although Eric steered to the side, it was shallow, he grounded and couldn’t move,

No it’s not a contact sport….

And yes we sustained our first scratch. Oh well it had to happen sometime, just wish it hadn’t been on day one. And to be fair, it was accidental, not malicious.
We moored up for the night at the site of the 2012 Dutton Breach. And while I enjoyed the lovely evening view, Eric got the touch up paint out and got rid of the scratch.

Looking down towards the River Weaver and the rail viaduct


And we saw our first ducklings of the year.

A month ago

A month ago….

we had made it down the Bosley Flight, and we both rejoicing and bemoaning to be heading south… straight into the morning sun.

We meandered our way into Congleton. I met up with one of my many knitting friends scattered around the country. Gilly introduced us to fantastic little place, called the Wonky Pear, wine bar/pub/coffee stop just up from the canal off Park Lane, they don’t usually do food, other than cake, but they had a pop up evening of Thai Street food. And if we were local, we’d definitely make if our local. But we were on a mission, so set off as soon as the sun rose, we ignored the dire warning from the red sky in the morning and the frost on the ground (it was still the end of february)

looking towards the railway from the Congleton Aqueduct moorings


And we set off, but it was cold cruising, so we stopped near the Ramsdell Railings and went for a brisk walk up to Mow Cop which certainly warmed us up.

Mow Cop


This old ruined castle is actually an 18th century folly where the gentry came for picnics. You can see for miles and it’s the intersection of the counties of Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. It’s also the first meeting place of the Primative Methodists, a breakaway revivialist group wanting to refocus on the socialist aims of Christianity, caring for the community, being part of the trade union movement and taking an active role in women’s emancipation. I offered my prayers of thanks for such a  place and we carried on journeying south. Where we also gave thanks that the culvert breach from Mid December had finally been fixed

And onto the Hall Green Stop Lock at Scholar’s Green

Before our travels came to an abrupt stop at Kidsgrove

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

Dutton Viaduct

And if you’re lucky a rainbow as well

looking over towards the Welsh hills

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.

A beautiful garden


And yes there is a beautiful bluebell wood

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

Preston Brook Tunnel

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.

Preston Brook wharf,