Last night we heard the bells of All Saints, Church Lawton as we were readying ourselves for the night, and as we stared out this morning discovered the church just around the corner hiding behind huge trees!
The Red Bull Locks - five of them - were monsters, raising us 54 feet and taking us through the junction of the Trent and Mersey and the Macclesfield Canal. It is quite an engineering feat with the branch to the Macclesfield turning off to the right, back past two of the locks and then itself turning right over the Trent and Mersey. We stopped here and strolled over the bridges, as it was a trip down memory lane for John and myself - we had taken 'The Macc" after starting our Cheshire Ring trip from Middlewich five years ago. Today we were to travel on south down the Trent and Mersey.
John and Stan standinmg on the bridge looking down to the T&M
The village where the Macclesfield branches off is Hardings Wood Junction, which is half a mile short of the portal to the Harecastle Tunnel. We arrived at the portal and were met by the lock-keeper who told us there would be an hour's wait, so we had breakfast while we waited.
The Harecastle Tunnel is described as one of the great waterways adventures, almost a 'rite of passage' one could say, for those who consider themselves narrowboat men/women. The brief histoiry is that the first tunnel, designed by James Brindley, was built in 1777. Because the tunnel is only 14 feet wide, groups of boats could only travel in either a southerly or northerly direction at one time; so the tunnel became a serious bottleneck on the system. Thomas Telford designed a second tunnel which ran parallel to the first - this new tunnel was opened in 1827; these two tunnels were used until the early 1900s until Brindley's tunnel was abandoned due to subsidence. The tunnel used today is Telford's adapted with forced ventialtion which keeps the diesel fumes to a minimum. The tunnel is just under two miles long and takes around 45 minutes to travel through.
The reason for our wait was that a boat had just started out from the southern portal. Once the boat came through and we had received our instructionbs from the lock-keeper, off we set with three boats behind us.
It was a great experience - not at all claustrophic - and one to be remembered.
The hour from the end oif the tunnel to Stoke through the ruins of the pottery factories and the giant ironworks was a sad one as one could imagine the hive of activity that used to happen in this great industrial area.
We moored outside the Black Price Marina and walked into town to Morrisons supermarket to buy the provisions we need for the next few days. The walk back to the boat was interesting as one member of the crew was sure of a short cut. It took twice the time to get back to the boat as it had taken to get to the supermarket!
Leaving the marina in the early afternoon we travelled south about half a mile and then turned left onto the Caldon Canal. The plan is to do an "out and back" as far as the Black Lion (pub) in Consall Forge where there is a 70foot 'winding hole' where we can turn and return. We have to be back in Stoke on Thursday afternoon so that Stan can catch an early train back to Manchester Airport for an 11.00am flight.
The Caldon is a beautiful little canal, opened in 1779 to carry limestone down to the Trent and Mersey. Pearson makes the sad observation that the Caldon was the death of James Brindley - he caught pneumonia on a survey trip and did not survive.
We moored for the evening in woodlands outside the village of Stockton Brook and walked in to the local pub - "The Sportsman", but as they did not offer food, we walked on to to the Cibo Ristorante, where, obviously, we ate Italian!
As I write, we have heard the nightingales singing in the woods next to the canal - what a sound to lull us to sleep!
PS. This one is for Elly - her man dry and smiling - taken up the road from the Ristorante
I really enjoyed my ride with you, up to the big tunnel - it felt so quiet and peaceful, as if I were with you. Did you check on the time, and change your watches? I think you are now 2 hours behind us.
ReplyDeleteEllyB - I met Stan and he looked very dry!
Suzanne, J was really looking good.