Canalboating Manchester 2018

Description

This was originally meant to be the  Cheshire Ring,  a diverse loop with both urban and rural portions.  Problems and delays with the Marple Locks meant that the Cheshire Ring was no longer possible.

We decided to sort of do it anyways, going halfway round and then back.  Hopefully this would still provide the urban and rural variety.  The possible negative was that if we hated going through the Manchester slums, then we would be doing it  twice!

Links to other pages:

  • The Planning page is HERE. It includes last minute emails and events which affected our trip.
  • The Schedule page is HERE.
  • The Booted Eagle page is HERE.
  • The White Hart in Wroughton page is HERE.
  • The Hook Norton Brewery page is HERE.
  • The Park Royal Q-Hotel page is HERE.
  • The Anderton Boat Lift page is HERE.

Summary

  • 5 different canals (all of these, and back again):
  • Manchester locks are different, with lots of water pouring over the top of them.   So much water that it made the bottom gates VERY hard to open, as the lock continued to try and fill as you were trying to drain it using the bottom paddles.
  • Urban is fun, even the grotty parts.
  • The Ashton Canal is beautiful and clean.  Apparently the recent problems are “gangs” of 14-ish year olds who terrorize and vandalize any boats which attempt to moor up.  Sad because it is very pretty and well maintained.
  • It is hard work pushing through 27 locks in a day (to avoid having to moor up in bad section):
    • with a small crew
    • with anti-vandal mechanisms on the locks
    • with a late start
    • had to do this twice!

Our Boat

This time, our boat was called “Booted Eagle” (ABC Eagle Class),  66 feet long and 6′ 8″ wide.  The major difference from our previous boat was that this one had a rear galley and kitchen.  Last time we found that the forward kitchen/galley split the boat into two groups of people.  We much preferred the rear gallery, pretty much a necessity with only 3 of people.  Nice to be closer together.

Photos and more comments on our boat are HERE.

 Our Route

Route planning was greatly assisted by this website  ( Nick’s Canal Route Planner, Thank you, Nick).  We pretty much did the straight run to Marple Locks and back route, and also found the the time to do an extra little loop across the Barton Swing Bridge.

Our route was (To Marple and across the Barton Swing Bridge).

New photo by Warren Long / Google Photos

Getting There

Friday we left Saskatoon and Orlando almost simultaneously, arriving Saturday noon-ish in Gatwick.

Saturday  we picked up a very cute Citroen C3 at the airport and then spent an evening at the White Hart in Wroughton with Peter’s cousins.

Sunday we visited the Hook Norton Brewery on our way  north and then stayed in the Park Royal, a very elegant spa/conference hotel outside Warrington.

Monday morning we visited the Anderton Boat Lift and then headed to the marina to pick up our boat at 2:30.

Monday April 30 – Day 1 – The Beginning

Goal: Get on to the boat and motor 3 hours towards Preston Brook.

  • We looked incompetent enough leaving the marina that one of the employees walking home decided we need help.  He pointed out the we were going to have very few dinner options.  Which made us re-think our plans.  Therefore, an earlier stop than expected.
  • We passed the top of the Anderton Lift a couple of minutes later.  Historic.
  • Saltersford Tunnel has a time limit and we arrived barely in time..  The little lock before it (5″ water level difference) slowed us down a bit, but we stil went in and proceeded through a long, almost straight tunnel.  I say almost because the many little zigzags made it almost impossible to not brush up the sides at regular intervals.  I relaxed and let Peter do all the driving.
  • Only one semi-convenient pub for dinner.  This pretty much mandated how far we could go as we weren’t prepared to cook our own dinner.  We arrived to discover that a lot of boats were already moored up, forcing us to continue on a farther than we wanted to go.  And we had to use our “gangplank”.   The walk down the hill took us a long time, but the Leigh Arms was excellent.  We made  it back to the boat as darkness fell.
  • We phoned Joyce via WhatsApp, and it actually worked!

Tuesday May 1 – Day 2 – To Sale

Goal: Get close to the edge of Manchester, but not too close!

  • I wouldn’t claim that the radiators in the boat made it hot, but was plenty warm and cozy enough.  We all noticed that the comforters on the beds ware REALLY nice.
  • Cold in the morning (4 C) and a little windy.  But the rain in the forecast had changed it’s mind and the rain was now expected to hold off until the evening.  But London was going to get flooded.
  • We made good time going along the Bridgewater.  Different having all of the bridges named instead of numbered.  We preferred numbers as it was easier to figure out where you were on the map.
  • Google Maps showed us that we would be passing near a Tesco, so we decided to stock up on some more groceries and alcohol.  I was extremely amused to discover that this was the SAME Tesco we have driven to a few days ago.
  • We decided to stop at one of the water stations: always good to keep your tanks topped up.  But, strong crosswinds made it very hard to hold the boat close to the bank, even with 3 of us (me and 2 other boaters who offered assistance) pulling on the too-short rope.  Eventually, we gave in, let the boat swing across the canal, and then backed up and started over, this time tying the bow up first.
  • Had to go SLOW past 100’s of permanently moored boats.  We probably spent 1/3 of the day at tick-over speed, being excessively polite.  Many of these boats were not in good shape.  In fact, most seemed to be surrounded by junk, and didn’t look like attractive places to settle down for months at a time, as most of these people were obviously doing.
  • Met up with a kayaker, who chatted with us, and convinced us to moor up close to the King’s Ransome.  He was a regular in the area, at the bar, and also had done lots of paddling all over the world, including Canada.
  • We enjoyed the King’s Ransome, food was good, and based on the number of TVs, specialized in football.

Wednesday May 2 – Day 3 – Across Manchester: Rochester and Ashton Canals

Goal: Get across Manchester.  Lots of locks to do, and no overnight stopping until done.

  • It rained HARD overnight.  It is wonderful to be in the boat at times like this.  And breakfast was warm and dry and good.
  • But one of us knew that we had a big day ahead of us, so I went out into the rain and drove for a few hours in the drizzle, which tapered off to nothing by 11 or so.
  • Castlefield Basin was a trendy place.  We stopped and had a quick wander around.  We made a promise to visit again on our return journey.
  • Today we would be on 3 different canals:   Bridgewater, Rochdale and Ashton

Rochester Canal

  • The Rochdale was different: Anti-vandal keys make things a lot slower, especially when you only have one key and that key has to visit 4 paddles to unlock, and then 4 paddles again to lock them up again.  Tedious and slow.  Next time we need to make sure that we have at least 2 keys.
  • The locks had a lot of water to flowing over the top of them.  I knew about keeping the front doors closed tight and latched, and was the one who suggested we just put our bow in to the flow and hold position while I got the gates opened.  But I hadn’t given enough thought to the quantity of water vs. the size of the drain holes.  A foot of water in the front deck meant that a lot of water worked its way through the doors and vents, soaking the carpet all the way back to the kitchen.  We had to live with it for 4 more days.  Ooops.
  • A lot of the locks were buried under bridges with just enough headroom for the boat: low, wet ceilings and dark, dingy corridors.  One of the gate controls even had the beginnings of a stalagmite growing on the top of it.  Some were unsavory enough  so that we delayed as little as possible while down in the dark.
  • Some parts of the canal were tight and dirty, and others were upscale and trendy.  Frequently the two were only 100 meters apart.

Ashton Canal

The Ashton Canal was unexpectedly pleasant and clean. More like a stroll through a large park. Lots of greenery and none of the grottiness that we had experienced elsewhere in Manchester. I could not understand the bad press it seemed to get.

Our experience was wonderful. But after the Canal & River Trust (CRT) guys helped speed us through the last 8-ish locks, I came to understand that they REALLY didn’t want us to moor up overnight on the Ashton. Fifteen years ago it was bad. Then, five years ago, it was considered good. Now it is back to “avoid if possible”. Apparently there are gangs of 15-ish year-olds who go around in the evening and pelt moored boats with rocks etc. Hard to tell if this is true or not, but CRT made sure that we weren’t around to find out.

Thursday May 3 – Day 4 – U-Turn at Marple

Goal:  Go down the Peak Forest, turn around and get back to the edge of Manchester

  • We leisurely left Droylsden Marina, motored for less than an hour and then pulled a sharp hairpin bend, turning onto the Peak Forest canal as we crossed a very pretty aqueduct.  The Peak Forest turned out to be small and pretty and shallow.  Many people who said “Hi” from the banks mentioned that we were the first boat that they had seen this season.
  • At Romiley, we attempted to get a meal, only to discover that the only real pub, the Spread Eagle wasn’t going to be serving food until much later in the day.  We got ready to carry on.  BUT…
  • We met another boater (full-timer who lived on board her boat) who told us that she had just had a nightmare time less than a week before.  She had gone down to the Marple aqueduct, only to discover that it was closed.  She had had to drag her boat backwards for 4 miles, through 2 tunnels and was NOT happy about it.  This would have been a full day’s back breaking work.  Narrowboats really don’t go backwards for anything more than 10 feet.  This induced mild to severe panic in our group, as without that winding hole, we were faced with a similar problem, since winding holes big enough for our boat were nowhere.
  • Several panicked phone calls to Anderton Boats, and the Canal & River Trust convinced us that Marple Aqueduct was now open.  In fact, it had just re-opened (the day before?), and we were probably have been the first boat across.  We pulled our U-turn and returned to Romiley for dinner at the Spread Eagle.  As always, great food.

Friday May 4 – Day 5 – Across Manchester To Castlefield Basin

Goal: Start EARLY, get across Manchester and stay in Castlefield Basin.

  • Dad and I put the boat in gear at 6 am, and motored peacefully towards the Ashton Canal.
  • 27 locks in a day is easier when  you have just recently done them.
  • Going down the Rochdale locks is much easier.  They were almost always pre-set in this direction,probably caused by the over-the-lock-gate flow filling the lock when all paddles are closed.  Nice.
  • Got stuck in the middle when our prop was fouled by some of the typical garbage in the canal.  In our case, it was mostly a sleeping bag and pair of khaki jeans.  Approximately 3 hours of work got us going again.  Other boaters gave us a razor-blade knife, and a call to Anderton Marina told us about the baby hacksaw on the boat.  Next time I want some sort of custom blade.  It was messy and cold and very hard to cut what you can’t see.
  • The vibration of the engine coming to a sudden and violent halt also damaged one of the charging systems on the boat, creating a viciously squealing fan belt.  This required us to manually flip the battery isolation switch back and forth every day.  Not a big deal, the squealing fan belt was by far the most annoying aspect.

Saturday May 5 – Day 6 – Barton Swing Bridge and On To Sale

Goal: Cross the Barton Swing Bridge and stop in Sale

  • We took our time waking up, and Dad and I went down the first lock while Sandy was still in dreamland.  Dad huddled at the back of the boat, sprayed by the waterfall over the lock, and also by the morning cleanup crew, hosing down the bar after the previous evening’s party.
  • Since we were essentially ahead of schedule, we had time to visit the Barton Swing bridge.  Really impressive, and hard to believe that this 100 meter long (a soccer field!) chunk of canal can be closed off and rotated out of the way.  We pulled a U-turn at the first opportunity, visited a grocery store, and then went back across.
  • We stopped in Sale for lunch.

Sunday May 6 – Day 7 – To Anderton

Goal: Get close to Anderton and have a nice “Roast Carvery” at some pub near Anderton.

  • Tunnel timing is important.  Going south, you can only enter two of the tunnels for 10 minutes, starting at from half-past the hour
  • We were early for the first tunnel, and had time to chat up a couple who had just bought a small fiberglass cruiser.  Turns out that it had just died on them while in the tunnel. Some nice narrow boaters had driven into the tunnel to pull them out.  A lot of banging and bumping happened as the narrow boat reversed its way back out of the tunnel towing the  little boat.
  • By the  time the  clock ticked over and we started into the tunnel, we were at the head of a little convoy of 3 or 4 boats.  We went through slow and steady, and got glared at by an over eager  boater at the other end when we came out a minute late.  I think the twit was trying to compensate for the fact that he  didn’t blow his horn before  entering the tunnel.
  • We ended up WAY too close to our final destination.  We really didn’t want to moor up in the marina, so tied up in the canal 100 meters away, feeling a little foolish.
  • We moored up so that it would be only a short walk to Stanley Arms.  We arrived and saw a big outdoor party happening in their beer garden.  But, we also discovered they had stopped serving food some time ago.  And then the xxx at the Anderton Marina turned out to also be closed.
  • Luckily we had a car…  Or would, once Sandy has scoured the marina for someone who had keys to the parking compound so that we could actually get the car out!
  • Sandy REALLY wanted her “Roast Carvery”, so we pulled out Google Maps, selected what looked like a nice place and drove…  for miles… We got to the “Clock Tower” in Northwich just after the carvery closed.  Ordered and got a nice meal anyways.  Watched soccer on the multiple big screens.

Monday May 7 – Day 8 – Return the Boat

Goal: Return boat before 9:30 a.m.

  • Really nothing to do except wake up and drive the boat around the corner.  Inside the marina, the tight U-turn and fragility of a fiberglass curiser moored up alongside the U-turn area, prompted Martin, an Anderton Marina employee  to run out and give me lots of advice, most of which was to back out and start again! 🙂