Sunday 8th July 2018



After visiting the booking office at Anderton Boat Lift for information on booking the lift and navigation on the River Weaver, we had a slow, uneventful cruise to Rudheath, stopping at the Broken Cross pub and calling into the Anderton sanitary station to dump rubbish, empty the toilet cassette and take on water on the way.






At the Broken Cross we met up with Martin, Michelle and Abbey who had just returned from their holiday in Kos and had been for an experience helicopter ride over Crosby. After another lovely Sunday dinner here we went for a short cruise down to Billinge Green flashes and back. Martin stayed chatting to me on the back end while Brenda and Michelle sat up the front watching the world go peacefully by. And drinking all my gin.



Day Total: 0 locks; 4 miles; 0 Tunnels; engine running hours 2.9

Overall Total: 99 locks; 169 miles; 8 tunnels; engine running hours 100.1



We also heard today, that the canal south of Middlewich, between Rumps Lock and the Crows Nest Lock is dry of water and they are to shut this section of canal. With the breach on the Middlewich Branch, all the water now comes down only from Stoke-on-Trent and the Macclesfield Canal. The Macc is fed by a number of reservoirs, all of which have been used to fight fires on Saddleworth Moor above Manchester which is now leading to severe water shortages on the canals. This can only get worse with the hot, dry weather being seemingly endless.

Since we moved onto the boat at the end of May, there has only been one night of rain, the hot weather being unbroken otherwise apart from a few mornings on the run to Middlewich when fleecy’s had to be worn first thing but it being hot again by 11am.

Our options are becoming limited and the longer we have to hang around waiting for these repairs, the worse it is going to get. The Marsh Lock exit from the River Weaver is out so the only passage onto the Manchester Ship Canal is via Pomona Lock in Manchester and a £100 passage. Liverpool is out because of a breach at Burscough which also puts out the Rufford Branch and the Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal. The Wigan Flight is out on the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Marple Locks are out and there are now stoppages at Bosley. Now the locks beyond Middlewich are out. So the only routes out of the area are via the Rochdale or Huddersfield Narrow Canal.

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