Trent & Mersey Canal

The Trent & Mersey (T&M) Canal is 93 and a half miles long and has 70 narrow locks and 6 broad locks.  It connects the River Mersey (via the Bridgewater Canal) to the River Trent.  Whilst we have done the T&M before, we've never done it from one end to the other in one go before.  If you were to do the trip by car, it would take you about an hour and a half - but it has taken us just under a month to do it via boat.  We could have done this quicker, but we have taken days off from cruising:-

1.  to avoid rain (we are fair weather cruisers), 
2. to explore towns and villages we've come across en-route,
3. and to nurse failing body parts

 When I last left you on 8th May 2012 we were moored near the Wedgewood factory.  From there we cruised to Stone - which is arguably one of the nicest towns along the T&M, and certainly one of our favorites, and is the home of the best Pizza take-away we've ever had.  From there we cruised to Great Haywood, which is a small village with a grand name on the outskirts of Shugborough Hall, the home of Lord Lichfield.  We've stopped here quite a few times in the past, and there are too many dog walkers for Tonni to get off the boat, so we only stopped here for one night.

From Great Haywood the canal goes through a few little hamlets, the town of Rugley and through Armitage (where the toilet factory is still going).  Along this stretch of canal British Waterways have introduced new handrails to old bridges that cross the locks.  The main reason for this is due to a teenager riding his bike over a bridge with no handrails at Stourport and falling in to the water and drowning.  So Health & Safety now decrees that we must have handrails on all these little bridges that have been safely used for 200+ years.

This bridge isn't one of the worst - some have been designed without thinking about the boater and boat going underneath the bridge - with large metal bolts protruding downwards ready for the unsuspecting boater to hit his or her head on.

Rant over!


At Fradley Junction the T&M meets the Coventry Canal.  In the past we have often left the T&M here and cruised along the Coventry Canal, heading South - but this year we are finally braving the North, so we continued straight on.  Fradley Junction is a popular place with gongoozlers, it has a very old and well known pub - The Swan Inn, also affectionately known as the Mucky Duck.

This is the view down to the junction, the pub is opposite the junction and in the middle of the buildings on the left.

After Fradley, the T&M continues to another lovely village - Alrewas, where we enjoyed a very pleasant nights stay.  A must for any visitor to Alrewas is a trip to the butcher - we had a great pork pie, some pork, asparagus and Stilton sausages and some delicious duck breasts from him - three great meals.

From Alrewas, we cruised to Willington - where we stayed for a few nights - holed up against the rain and wind.  And from Willington we cruised through to Sawley, which is very near the end of the T&M, and here we stayed for 3 nights due to sore body parts.


And finally for today....

This is the first time we've seen a boat take a wheelie bin - do the bin men come and collect it?

Heartbreak and Handcuffs

Well when I left you last we were at Wheelock, which is at the bottom of a flight of locks, popularly known as Heartbreak Hill or by the old boaters as the "Cheshire locks".  Unlike many lock flights which have a certain number of locks so close together that you cannot moor between the locks, Heartbreak is made up of a number of little flights, which given the weather over Bank Holiday weekend meant we only got wet a couple of times and we were able to stop half way up at Hassell Green.  One of the nice things about Heartbreak is that most of the locks are in pairs, one beside the other.

In theory having pairs of locks should reduce the need to queue for locks, but in a few cases the second lock is in a state of disrepair, or has been done away with altogether.

The closer to the summit we got the more we noticed a change in the colour of the water from muddy brown to orange due to the ironstone mine workings.

Once we reached the summit of the 26 locks (and after a quick dash to the nearby Tescos), we reached the Harecastle Tunnel (for all the facts and including the tale of the ghost of the tunnel see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harecastle_Tunnel ).

Above is a picture of the entrance to Harcastle tunnel.  At each end of the tunnel is a BW tunnel keeper whose job it is to let you know when you can enter the tunnel without  meeting a boat coming the other way.  They let through a maximum of 8 boats at a time from one direction and when they leave the tunnel, the keeper at the other end then lets up to 8 boats go through the other way.

On leaving the tunnel we enter the outskirts of Stoke-on-Trent.  Now I have no wish to offend anyone from Stoke, but the City does nothing to encourage the boater to want to moor up and explore the area.  From derelict and abandoned warehouses,

To graffiti,

To the use of hand-cuffs on the locks (anti vandal mechanisms)

So we didn't stop in Stoke, but instead cruised on just over 9 miles and did another 6 locks and moored up near the Wedgewood factory.

And so for my final choice of a photo that makes me smile - well there are 3...

 My wonderful husband.....

 My little cat.....

& need I say anything else?

Through Middlewhich - pass the salt?

We've postponed our trip up the Leeds Liverpool canal and its heavy double locks due to a heavy dose of the lurgy.  So after a week recuperating at Anderton, we set off last Thursday and headed towards Middlewich.  On Friday we met our first locks - Big Lock at Middlewich (so called for being the only double lock on a canal of single width locks) - a notoriously heavy lock that almost killed us.  Incidentally, Big Lock is the first lock I ever did - and every time I've done it since I am surprised that that first experience didn't but me off locking!

After Big Lock, we did another 8 locks, although these were all single locks.

Here is G with Domino leaving the first in a flight of 3 locks imaginatively names "The Middlewich 3".

After the Middlewich 3, the canal splits - off to right is the "Middlewich Branch", towards Wales and Chester, or straight ahead towards Stoke-on-Trent.  (We carried straight on).

King's Lock pub is a popular stopping place with boaters, and on a sunny summer's day the beer garden gets very busy with on-lookers.  Opposite the pub is an excellent fish and chippy, and in days gone by we've enjoyed fish & chips by this lock.

Middlewich, like Northwich, Leftwich and Nantwich are all connected to the salt industry.  At Northwich for example there are 2 salt museums (although one is undergoing substantial works to make it safe).   As we cruised along the canal, leaving Middlewich behind, we passed British Salt, which is sold as the Saxa brand for putting on food.

 Eventually we reached the small village of Wheelock, where after 9 locks we moored up and collapsed, exhausted and took a day to recover.

And for those of you wanting to see how Tonni is doing.....