Tag: middlewich branch

New Directions

Despite some lovely cruising and fabulous scenery, we hadn’t really wanted to return to this part of Cheshire for a while. But when we realised our portholes were leaking last October, (almost the first heavy rain we’d had since Firecrest was repainted in the March) Nick drove out to see us and assess the problem. Between us we came to the conclusion it was to do with the lacquer Eric had used to polish the brass adhering to the sealant. The solution would be to remove the portholes and clean off the offending compounds, and reseal them. A job best done at the Paintshed, Uplands Marina. So this has been our first destination of the year.

Not a scratch on that beautiful paintwork

At this point we’d like to stress that we in no way blame poor workmanship for the problem. Nick and his team have been nothing but helpful and have our absolute confidence. Lessons were learnt by all of us, and the team patched us up beautifully in just a few hours.

Very important discussion in progress, probably about the solar panels

With our necessary maintenance seen to, it was decisions time. Plan A was to be on the Leeds and Liverpool by April, going via the Macc, through Manchester and back onto the Bridgewater before hitting the Wigan Flight. But it was now May and we’d already “enjoyed” a dryish April so what with our slow pace we were  unlikely to get to Wigan before end of May. Plus I’ve got some commitments which will restrict our cruising in June. With those time constraints and the Leeds and Liverpool being a canal that invariably suffers with low water levels, our conclusion was that we’d missed the boat. We almost certainly would be able to get onto the L&L but would we be able to get off later in the year? A risk we weren’t willing to take this year.
We would turn right onto the Middlewich branch and aim for the Shroppie

Goodbye T&M, hello Wardle canal, aka the Middlewich branch

I love this stretch of canal it’s quite wide, and theres some pretty moorings with good views.

Those clouds look like they’ll test the new seals …. and they did and all was good.

the locks are easy, although in previous years, I recall us being in a 10 boat queue to get up through Minshull lock

And the locals are friendly. Mr Toad’s self defence is to freeze, which although I had no intention of eating him, or kissing him for that matter, makes him easy to photograph.

Ribit ribit.

Everyone wanted to watch the world go by, the crow was happy to watch while I worked the lock

I always have to look up the difference between a crow and a rook. Crows are all black around their heads, Rooks have a band of grey feathers on their face

And the cows were triptrapping over the bridge.

Moo to you too

But the funniest bird of the day was this swan, who tailgated us for about 15 minutes. It became very obvious he was enjoying riding the wake, if Eric moved the tiller, swanny would move to the otherside where the water was more turbulent.

One happy swan

And when we cruised past Ventetian mariana, their famous big fish were basking in the warmth at the surface. They looked a bit like koi carp, probably 20 inches long and 20lbs and were enjoying being fed  by someone from the cafe.
We’d taken 3 days to do this 10 mile canal, and reach the Shroppie, we’d planned to go south….

Yes there is room for us to squeeze through

Hampered or Enhanced

In the true spirit of Britishness, the weather continues to dominate our cruising plans, yet no matter how carefully we study various forecasts nothing beats looking out the portholes for accuracy. The bad days have been so awful we’ve battoned down the hatches and stayed snug inside. With no photos to prove it, yet the good days have seen blue skies and dramatic  clouds that have done nothing but enhance our love of this out door lifestyle.

We were to spend the next week travelling down the 10 miles of the Middlewich branch,

Minshall Lock

Autumn hadn’t quite arrived when we were here mid October, and the garden at Minshall Lock still held some jewels.

Stanthorne Visitor Moorings were a nice place to stay for a few days

Stanthorne Visitor Moorings



And our local family came to say hello

Kevin Jane and Bob the dog

5 minutes after they’d left the view changed dramatically  and the heavens opened

it looks like autumn now

Whilst we were moored at Stanthorne we were puzzled by what looked like a stationary boat approaching the bridge. Curiosity got the better of us, two boats had had their mooring pins torn out and were floating free in the middle of the channel. We were able to do our good deed for the day by asking a passing boater to nudge them close enough to the bank for us to get on, and rescue the ropes which thankfully still had the pins attached. The ground is so soft with all the rain it’s hardly surprising the pins didn’t hold.

that’s not a good place to drop anchor.

The moral of this has to be. If you can’t moor on rings or armco, use a cross pin to brace the rope holding pin, use a springing line to help hold the boat still, and always thread your rope through the pin ring and most importantly SLOW DOWN past moored boats, infact throttle down before you reach the moored boat so that you are actually going slowly when you pass them. Apologies for getting on my high horse there, but it really does matter.

Swan Patrol reporting back

And back onto the Trent and Mersy at King’s Lock Middlewich

Middlewich junction

Branching out, waters new

We love taking Firecrest onto waters new, and we had no idea what a lovely stretch we were joining.

Starting on the Middlewood branch


The Middlewich branch is a 10 mile route that joins the Shropshire Union canal to the Trent and Mersey Canal. We started to look for an overnight mooring half way along but got caught by infamous “Shroppie shelf”. This is concrete ledge about a foot below the surface, which makes mooring difficult. The small tyres that we use as fenders aren’t quite big enough to stop us being bashed against the edge if (when) boats cruise past too fast. However, there’s some beautiful scenery and we managed to get in near to Stanley s bridge below Minshul lock.

A perfect cruise

One of the things that makes me happy on the canals is looking at the worn stone steps at the locks and imagining the history. How many feet have trudged up and down.

Well worn steps

But I doubt the working boats would have had to queue like we did at Minshul Lock. When we arrived, we were number 8 waiting to ascend,

Eric, making good use of the long wait to polish the brass port holes, (we have to maintain Braidbar’s reputation )


An hour and a half later, when our turn finally arrived, we had one side of very well polished brass port holes, and there were at least 10 more boats behind us. I don’t know how many more were beyond the bridge, I couldn’t see that far. Yet very few boats waiting to descend.

Now that’s what I call queuing for a lock

I was surprised at how few boaters joined in to help working each other through. Ok I don’t expect boat number 10 to leap into action, but you would think that by the time you are 2 or 3 from the from of the queue, it would be to your advantage to help. So I wasn’t very impressed having assisted several boats myself, by the time our turn came I had to set the lock and open both gates myself. My ladylike decorum was put to one side and I yelled down for some assistance, which to be fair did come running. Many hands make light work, and its far more fun chatting and encouraging each other. Less than a mile and a half on, the following lock was at above Venitian marina, which had the benefit of 2 volockies. But even so we had had enough by then and took advantage of the pleasant visitor moorings.

Venetian visitor moorings

And woke the following morning ready to move onto the Shroppie