nb Bridge Street

Monday 24 th February 2020 It was a foul night with heavy rain and high winds. We left it until after the rain had stopped and moved off after 11am although it was still quite windy. At the water point above Christleton Lock, we watered up, did a wash and availed ourselves of a bin. The grass between towpath and canal was an absolute muddy mess. We are fed up of mud. We then began the descent into Chester down the five wide locks, meeting Halsall at the top so all were then in our favour. All the locks on the Chester Canal are wide beam as the canal was built to accommodate River Dee barges, although, with no other boats moving, we had to tackle the locks ourselves and Brenda found the gates particularly heavy. It is always better, with wide beam locks, if they can be shared with another boat. This conserves water and the workload is halved if everybody contributes. The descent into Chester from Christleton is a nice run. The scenery quickly changes from countryside

Sunday 23 rd February 2020 It was a night of very heavy rain and windy. The towpath was made much worse and, with a slight downwards slope, it was a controlled slide down the bank before stepping on the boat. Quite dangerous. Harvey allowed us a lay-in, a very rare treat, and by the time we woke, the boat behind us had left and so we roped the boat down the towpath to where the side is level and grassy. We had a lovely Sunday roast in the Cheshire Cat, the entrance off the towpath to which is directly opposite the back of the boat. Afterwards we sat and watched the England – Ireland rugby match on TV. An unexpected win for England. Weather: heavy rain and winds overnight. A nice afternoon once the wind had died down.

Saturday 22 nd February 2020 I took the dog out at 7:30 this morning and already the dam team had removed the dam below the lock and were half-way through removing the one above. The dams consist of triangular scaffold type poles we are all too familiar seeing on the news reports of flooding lately, covered with tarpaulin sheets.                                                                                                               Dam below Beeston Iron Lock                                                                                                                               Removing the Dam above the Lock The contract company these guys work for have just two dam teams that cover the whole country and CRT, Network Rail and the Environment Agency are their biggest customers. CRT are their worst. The supervisor visited the site last year and told CRT they needed a certain type of pump a

Friday 21 st February 2020 The towpath this morning was atrocious. We left it until noon and then moved the short distance down the canal to Tilstone Lock. The towpath here was even worse having been churned up with the comings and goings of the workteams. No sooner had we tied up that they let us know the lock would be opened within a few minutes. Thankfully the lock still worked and we were the first boat through. One of the staff did tell us that Beeston Iron Lock would not open until tomorrow but we decided to move down as far as we could and leave the mud behind us. The pound below Beeston Stone Lock was in water so we passed through the lock and were able to moor just off the Iron Lock moorings. Although it was only 2:30 the workers had already finished for the day and we just caught the last two. They told us the work was now finished but the dam team were due tomorrow morning. The work had dropped behind schedule due to Storm Dennis. The Monday after the storm on

Thursday 20 th February 2020 This morning the list was worse than ever and the water level has dropped on both sides of the boat, so she is proper grounded. I walked down to Tilstone Lock to see how they were getting on and ask when the canal would be refilled. Fortunately, I arrived at the same time as the local lengthsman who was shocked to hear we were moored in the pound above. Apparently he had checked there were no boats just a few hours before we dropped down through Bunbury Locks and had since only been checking the Anglo-Welsh hire boats at Bunbury Locks. He had come to shut the drain valve anyway so now, slowly, the level should rise.        Work in progress at Tilstone Lock Jim, the CRT Lengthsman, closing the Sluice Valve Tilstone Lock though, is not due to reopen until Friday evening, whereas normally they aim to reopen at noon on the stated day. The lock is still dry although the gates are in place. Tilstone Lock is interesting a

Wednesday 19 th February 2020 Bunbury is about 14 miles from Middlewich and yet, apart from driving through, once trying to visit the watermill and passing a few times on the canal, we had never visited the village itself. This is part of this life we enjoy, being able to get off and explore places you would otherwise, never visit. With rain again forecast, we walked into the village just over a mile away. Bunbury was bigger than we had expected, with many older timber-framed buildings and quite a lot of new builds, some extremely expensive looking. Despite this, the village retained a nice friendly feel to it. It is actually split between Bunbury and Lower Bunbury. That we saw, there are no less than 3 pubs, a Co-op, a chippy and a butchers’ business that was established in 1924.       Buildings in Bunbury We first called into the Parish Church of St. Boniface a place absolutely full of history and

Tuesday 18 th February 2020 After a visit first thing, to Venetian Chandlery, and a chat with Susan, we moved off. Rain was forecast for the afternoon and we had, for us at this time of year, a busy day ahead. Barbridge Junction, just 1 ½ miles away, brought us to the end of our slow transit, exploring the Middlewich Branch. The 10 miles and 4 locks from Middlewich, had taken us 10 days. Although weather was a factor, we had thoroughly enjoyed it and had stopped in a number of places we had not previously visited. At Barbridge the Middlewich Branch joins the main line of what is now known as the Shropshire Union Canal. However, the Shroppie, as it is commonly known, has a complex history and, originally, the section between Chester and Barbridge was built as the Chester Canal between 1772 and 1779. As originally planned, this canal was to connect the port of Chester with the Trent and Mersey Canal at Middlewich, with a short branch leading to Nantwich. The build

Monday 17 th February 2020 It was an uncomfortable night with the high winds buffeting the boat, very violently at times. There is a shelf below the waterline on the bank where we are moored, which we kept being knocked against. We have three different types of fender: the tubular type that we hang from the sides all the time, these save the paintwork in locks and fender on a flat sided bank; the brick type fender which are thicker than the tubular type and tyre wheel style that, at almost 12” in diameter, usually fender the boat off a shelf. Not this time though with the wind and at 4am the front ropes had to be tightened. The morning turned out fine, although cold and the opportunity was taken to blacken the starboard side before we moved off. This would be a lovely mooring in dry weather but the towpath had become very muddy. The views in the direction of Church Minshull are extensive, looking out towards Chester and the Wirral, the lights of which could be seen in