Mizzle and lots of locks

Friday, 07 May 2010 18:26

Not miserable and lots of locks - note!

Mizzle - wasn't it Francis the Weatherman that coined that word for drizzle and mist combined? It perfectly describes the weather today as we ascended the Trent and Mersey Canal.

As all good boaters should, we donned our wet weather gear from head to toe and set off. At least there was no wind and it was fairly warm, so actually the cruise was enjoyable - especially for me, as John did all the hard work!

John at Booth Lane Bottom Lock, through the mizzle

Mizzle can produce beauty though

Crows Nest Lock was our last lock before lunch, which we had whilst taking on diesel at Elton Moss Boat Builders (71p, £1.20 with propulsion tax, self declaration accepted).

Look at the bow on this old ice-breaker; we could have done with it in the Birmingham ice!

Wheelock BW services are just before the Wheelock flight of eight locks, a brief respite before the hard work began! These locks are double single locks - as you can see from the photo below. However, not all the locks are in use, so it is best to approach cautiously, until told which one to use by the "crew"!

Wheelock Bottom Locks (66)

The mizzle conveniently ceased for a while as we ascended the first few locks. Locks 66 and 65 are close together and there is room above for weary crews to moor their narrowboat for a break! But we still had a few more locks to do before we could stop!

For some of the locks we were able to choose which one to go in, as both were empty and mainly we used the lefthand or offside lock. The bump bar of the offside Pavilion Lock (62) was damaged and I had to keep Epiphany back to prevent her catching it. John reported it to BW and then also spoke to the guys who were working from BW boat Gailey below the next lock, who went to investigate straight away.

BW boat Gailey

Passing Malkins Bank Golf Course's 19th Tee at Cardboard Lock (61), we made for Longcroft Lock (60). We moored above in the pound with room for a number of narrowboats. However we were the only one, and the M6 was still in the distance! Lovely - tea and cake time!

Epiphany moored with Top Lock 59 ahead

Trent and Mersey Canal, Bridge 165A to above Longcroft Locks (60)

4 hours 41 minutes, 5.66 miles, 10 locks