Thursday 30th May; Swanley Bridge marina to bridge 12/13 below Baddiley flight
We awoke to rain but by the time I was leaving to drive to Northwich it had almost stopped. Sadly it wasn’t feasible to take Jessie so Dave stayed behind with her. It was a pleasant drive towards Northwich – rather than sending me by the main A road, the satnav sent me along the B road past Venetian marina and through Church Minshull. I drove round Middlewich, and saw signposts to various other canal-related places such as Hassal Green, Wheelock, Croxton and Rudheath. It was lovely meeting up with my sisters and cousins - as we always say at funerals it’s such a shame that one person couldn’t be with us.
Meanwhile, Dave had finished fitting the floor to the cupboard above the cooker and given the dog two good walks. As I arrived back at the boat soon after 3, he was using some magic stuff on the port side of the boat - T-cut Colourfast, a milder version of standard T-cut for black paint, apparently if you use it on light-coloured paint it stains! We left the marina just after 4 in sunshine and a stiff breeze, turning right towards Llangollen. A boat had passed the marina just as we left, so Swanley bottom lock was set in our favour. It was a slow lock though, as one top paddle was chained off and the offside bottom paddle gear was so stiff that the previous crew hadn’t realised that they hadn’t fully lowered it. In fact it was so stiff it took me two goes to sort it out.
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| In the bottom Swanley Lock |
The bywashes were very vigorous, because of the flow on this canal. Water is taken from the river Dee at Llangollen and flows down the whole length of the canal, being collected in the reservoir at Hurleston Junction for Cheshire water supply, and the rest keeps the Shroppie topped up. We saw a recently hatched little family, maybe her second brood this year.
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| Little fluffy snacks for pike |
We didn’t go much further – we moored between bridges 12 and 13, ready for Baddiley locks tomorrow, when we hope the wind will have dropped a bit.
Two Chas Hardern hire boats passed at about 8 o’clock. They must be on a tight schedule to be travelling so late.
2 miles, 2 locks
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