Victor continues around the Four Counties

THE remainder of the Main Line of the Shropshire Union Canal presented no problems, and so on to the Middlewich Branch, and to see that Venetian Marina has had a major makeover, will new long jetties.

This enables moorers entry to either end of their boats, and can be a blessing when having to moor with the normal entry facing away—in our case due to strong wind—or wanting to clean the whole boat.  I only wish our marina would do the same instead of the pathetic short jetties on every pier. Being part of Cart, it spends thousands on other things, with us boaters it seems way down the list.

Middlewich Branch

Anyway, back to the Middlewich Branch and an extra effort to get past the much newer marina, but could not find its name, with no mention in our edition of  Nicholson's. Eventually, after passing it and discovering it is the Church Minshull Aqueduct Marina, I managed to find it's website. It tells us it is near Nantwich on the Shropshire Union Canal, but no mention of the Middlewich Branch. Yet another example of sloppy journalism telling you everything but what a new customer would want to know, and thus would have problems finding it.

The need to get past was because when we took the boat along the Branch a couple of years ago on a Sunday we had the hell of a queue of boats at its nearby Minshull Lock, who took ages to get through.  And it would be Sunday tomorrow.

Worst lock of all

Going up through the lock last time was a pain, but this time it was worse coming down, and I rate it the worst lock of all to date.  One of us just could not wind one of the bottom paddles at all it was so stiff, and the others were not much better, with the lock gates too needing some tender winter maintenance—in April!

Though we always get back on board at the lock mouth, it was impossible here, as the wall had completely disappeared with struts across held by rope, that then left you at the mercies of the bywash until you could gain access.

Allowing a lock just a few hundred yards from the entrance to a major marina to get into such a state of disrepair is totally unacceptable, and I wonder if the marina people have complained to Cart about its condition.

Anyway, way past the marina and we found one of those delightful Shropshire Union Canal Society's picnic sites with seating and barbecue facilities—and a wood for the dog!

Anderton flyers

But before long a tidal wave went past—She Who Must, etc, etc describes the Anderton Marina hire boat causing it crewed by a bunch of lads as going 'Like a bat out of hell!'.

And then another!  I heard it steaming towards us at very high revs and even faster than the first, obviously trying to catch up, but we just held tight whilst it passed, very nearly putting us on the bank, again a bunch of lads and again an Anderton hire boat.

But I was ready for the third—yes, the rate of knots it was going was a dead give-away, it was another Anderton hire boat, and again crewed by lads. I put my head out of the hatch and told them that 'you are supposed to slow down past moored boats', at which, the steerer volubly apologised, and though a little late, actually slowed down.  At  least they seem a better class of booze cruisers at Anderton!

Where we were moored there was piling protecting the banks, but further towards Middlewich itself there was little such protection, and the way those boats speed out of Wardle Lock with their bow waves slamming the banks there is every possibility of a breach in the offing.

Hangover?

But not the end of the story.  With it being Sunday we were having an easy day, so stopped just before Middlewich, and would you believe, all three came back past us—slowly!  It had obviously been a Saturday night race to a pub, and they were suffering the consequences!

It was not only Anderton hire boats that passed us on that Saturday night, but two of a similar name, Anderson of Middlewich, whose crews had been well educated, slowing down as they should.

On to Heartbreak

The handy Tesco at Middlewich is easily reached from Bridge 30, so we stocked up, and then it was yet again on the Trent & Mersey Canal and Heartbreak Hill.

The locks here were undoubtedly in a better condition than those on the Shroppie, for where those had leaking bottom gates, and so emptied, those on Heartbreak Hill held their water.  Possibly because the top gates leaked more than the bottom ones! So this time we had to empty them before we could proceed. We had definitely taken the wrong way round!

We found a very pleasant mooring near Church Lawton just below Lock 46, with a path past the church into the very extensive Lawton bluebell woods that pleased both Rusty (the Ridgeback) and Jan.  One dashing about up and down the hills and the other adding to her collection of wild flowers.

We often wonder, as people intent upon doing the Four Counties Ring in a certain time, only stopping at the towns and such like for provisions, miss the attractive country walks through the many woods that border the waterways.

Declining maintenance

There has been quite an amount of comment recently about the declining amount of maintenance that is taking place year upon year, and I often wonder if this is partly due to the vast increase of the cost of, say, replacing lock gates.

It was being on Heartbreak Hill that reminded me when we first worked these locks there was a green-jacketed British Waterways crew replacing one of the twin lock gates on a drained lock, that simply had a steel RSJ supported on 'A' frames with a pair of pull-lifts supporting the gate. Access into the lock was by ladders. There was a simple fence around the workings and a work boat nearby with facilities.

Compare that with today's health and safety regimented working.  First of all a facilities cabin has to be brought in.  Double rigid fencing surrounding the working area. A proper 'staircase' into the lock—with of course safety railings all round, then a crane to handle the gates. Pictured is an example of today's working.

Then when all is done, everything is taken away. This means that a job previously lasting a few days now stretches into over a week, multiplying the cost, resulting in only a fraction of the maintenance being accomplished for the same spend.

Gates replaced

This is obviously the reason for the present state of the locks, but I see there have been a couple of locks with their gates replaced on Heartbreak Hill, and as I mentioned the last time I was this-a-way, those lock beams near the up-market Church Lawton were still very nicely painted, something alas that does not extend to either locks or railings in the 'sticks', that get no visitors.

Alas there are still too many broken paddles 'missed' by the winter maintenance, with the state of the covering of the one in the picture clearly showing it had been in its sorry state for many a month.  The problem is that leaving only one working paddle means that should that fail, then it is yet another stoppage that will he foisted upon the long suffering boater.

Coir rolls

I see the many coir rolls that were installed along many parts of the Four Counties have gone the way of all flesh.  These we were told would grow weeds that would encourage insects, though as I have mentioned previously, the waterways are surrounded by endless vegetation already.  But I did not notice any that had actually served their purpose, with a couple leaving rather dangerous spikes sticking out of the water.  Yet another money-wasting scheme.

Eventually Heartbreak Hill was conquered yet again, and into Harecastle Tunnel. But things have changed since the steerer fell from his traditional stern boat and drowned, for we had a more extensive leaflet handed to us as well as a talk from the tunnel keeper, and an urge to get boaters to wear life jackets.

Upsetting the 'trad' lot

At the risk of upsetting the traditional crowd, I do see the sense in such a precaution when there is absolutely nothing protecting the steerer from falling in from a trad stern, as did the steerer who drowned.  The Cart man also pointed out that the quicker you go the more easy it is to keep a straight line, something the steerer behind obviously did not comprehend, as he fell further and further back, and we could see his light swinging as he obviously hit the sides. The Cart man at the other end told us we did it in 31 minutes—with Jan steering—then shut the doors again as the one following was far behind.

So into Stoke and a lesson learnt not to cruise too close to homes with balconies overlooking the waterway.  For as we approached a block of flats out came a baby's steel cot from the top floor of the one pictured, straight into the man's obvious 'rubbish bin' of the Trent & Mersey.  He did bother looking to see if there was a boat, just slung it from the doorway without looking.  We were hoping that the baby had been taken out.

So through Stoke and to the obviously rebuilt lock by the railway station, and it was so slow emptying a paddle must be blocked.  However, Jan reckons the gates were the best hung of any so far—swinging with just a touch.  So obviously someone can get it right!  And as can clearly be seen they are nowhere near little gates, as it is a deep lock, possibly the result of two being turned into one.

All aboard!

Just how many people can travel on one of those fairly new little boats that Cart use to push its work boats about?  How about seven?  All the people in the picture arrived at their destination outside Aston Marina on the boat shown!  Depositing three on the towpath and four on the work boat.

I see that following in the footsteps of Mercia Marina, Aston Marina is extending its already many facilities again, with a new building going up.  When we visited a couple of years ago it had a farm shop and a bistro and other things, so I had a look at its website and clicked 'what's happening' to find out what the new building was going to be.

Useless information

Alas, another whose facilities do not include good web information, for all it told me was that Father's Day was on 21st June, Christmas Day—would you believe—was on 25th December, and the last item that Boxing Day was on the 26th December! Wow!

Then alas Jan had some very bad news and Thomas was left alone below Stone, but notwithstanding dire threats not to move, he tried his hand at single handed working down to Haywood Junction, thoroughly enjoying himself in the process.  Then alas, others took over bringing the boat back.

Finally

So what of our latest cruise?  I make no apologies for my constant complaints about the lack of maintenance, it really is dire.  Cart should surely attend to its core responsibility and attend to the upkeep of its waterways, as British Waterways did when we first started boating 22 years ago, and not the many unrelated activities  it now delves into that turn out to be little more than a waste of money.

In those far off days, everything would have been put right at the start of the season and not left until it failed.  There really is no excuse for leaving locks with only one paddle working on gates at the very start of the cruising season, this guarantees stoppages, and not only very inconvenient for boaters, but must be hell for the struggling hire companies attempting to get their boats back to base.

I had great hopes when the new man, Richard Parry took over as Chief Executive, but I am afraid those hopes have been sorely dashed.

Victor Swift

[Updates will commence on Wednesday.  In the meantime emails cannot be attended to, sorry.]