Saturday 22nd
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
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 and to stop the flow
coming down the canal from the next lock up. When they came to dam the site
off, the wrong type of pump had been delivered and then took a week to find a
replacement and the flow had not been stopped. It then took CRT 2 days to stop
the flow and apparently, it was one of their engineers in a chance conversation
with one of the guys on the ground, who told of the sluice valve above Tilstone
Lock.
We had a lovely breakfast in the Lock Coffee House beside the canal
next to Nicks workshop. After breakfast we dropped the front cratch seating
boards with Nick who made templates for the covers. While having our breakfast,
Halsall passed through the lock once it was properly opened. It was like a scene
from a bygone era with a working, working boat passing a lock.
When then dropped down the lock and presently came to Wharton’s Lock,
where the 34 long Sandstone Trail running from Frodsham to Whitchurch crosses
the canal. We felt we were travelling over fairly familiar ground.
Beyond Wharton’s there is the 8-mile lock-free pound, before the locks
drop the canal down into Chester, including the 2-mile stretch of privately moored
boats along the canal at Hargrave.
There is a lot to explore along this stretch, but we have decided to
leave it until the return run. It was a very breezy day and steering the boat
was challenging, especially along the long line of moorings. It was here that
we passed Halsall fuelling another boat that was already double breasted and
blocking the canal.
We stopped at Christelton right outside the Cheshire Cat pub. Once
again, the section of towpath we are moored on is a quagmire, we are fed up of
mud.
Weather: dry but very breezy.
Day Total: 2 locks; 9 miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Lift
Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; Day’s running hours 4.8
Overall Total: 879 locks; 1541 miles; 53 tunnels; 61 Swing Bridges; 17
Lift Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; total engine running hours 1031.7
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