On and on up Heartbreak Hill

Tuesday 18^th July; Paddy’s Wood to Rode Heath

Well, it wasn’t raining when we woke up, or when I took the dog out, although it looked as though it might.  But it didn’t.

Rather gloomy, first thing this morning

I walked with Jess along the towpath to the Wheelock services, a little over a mile.  The air was damp, but it wasn’t quite raining.  The towpath seems to be following the line of an older edge to the canal, with short stretches of raised wiggly ironwork along the path.  Some public-spirited person has painted them red so walkers don’t trip on them.  Brian from NB Harnser writes; 'The red bits are the ground anchors for the tieback irons that hold up the piling, if you look you will see the nuts in the piling line up with them.'

The services mooring was empty, so we pulled in for the water point.  After dumping the rubbish and recycling – all good except for the total lack of glass recycling, which is beginning to build up a bit!! – Jess and I went over to the Pet Store.  We have been here before and I was glad to see it is still there – a treasure trove of lovely things for dogs, cats, horses, small furries …. Jess was happily hoovering up spilt titbits while I got some gravy bones and sausage rolls (aka mini markies) from the self-serve bins.  I also bought a ‘filled bone’ – not a messy bit of bloody real bone, but a bit of cleaned, hollowed out cow marrowbone filled with something tasty but not fresh bloody bone marrow.  You used to be able to get proper marrowbones for dogs for 50p from butchers, but now of course bone marrow is a premium ingredient in posh restaurants.  This turned out to be an excellent buy.  That was followed by a quick trip to the little shop for some milk while Dave finished filling the water tank.  We were sorry to have missed the Italian restaurant last night, but we were a little far out on a wet evening – you win some, you lose some.  Next time, maybe.  We started off up the Wheelock flight.

To start with, all the locks were paired.  |As Bonjour rose up the first lock, I went on to ready the next, and to my delight there was a boat behind us and their crew closed up for Dave – so I raised a paddle for them on the other lock in the pair I was working.  This was good for a few locks, then there was a pair with one side out of action, which messed up our flow.

Chained up

On we went, the weather damp and very warm but not actually raining.  Several more locks were singles, so we didn’t see our ‘partners’ again till they passed us as we had lunch above Hassall Green locks.  I hope they spotted the orchids along the way.

Below Hasasal Green locks

Once, we had a lovely birthday lunch for Dave at the Lock 57 cafe, at the top of Hassall Green locks.  That's long gone, as is the little Post Office next door, though the post box is still there in the cottage wall.  How far would we get this afternoon?  Up Pierpoint locks, with the unusual arrangement at the top of the bywash.

It wasn’t likely to rain, but we were getting tired – there are a lot of locks, some of them are quite heavy, and they were mostly against us meaning more effort for me and more time spent waiting around for Dave.  So we decided we would stop at Rode Heath.  There were some lovely flowers along the way – the restricted towpath cutting is yielding dividends in some areas though it’s not so wonderful in other parts.

The afternoon had turned chilly and windy after a hot and sultry morning as we moored at Rode Heath.  We relaxed with a cup of tea for a bit, and then went to the Broughton Arms for a very nice meal.  It’s dog-friendly, and we met a lovely local couple with their dog, and another couple with a small child rather than a dog, and it was all delightful.   I had a delicious macaroni cheese, which I never make at home because Dave hates it, so it was a real treat!  Jess had walked/run a lot today, helping me work the locks, so she didn’t get another walk till afterwards, when Dave took her off down the footpaths through the woods  and meadows of the old salt works of Rode Heath Rise, right by our mooring.  A really nice place to stop overnight.

5 miles, 14 locks and I know why they call it Heartbreak Hill