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           
                                      
                                                                            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 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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