From ce16@iclnet.co.uk Thu May  6 21:40:55 1999
Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 11:25:15 +0100
From: ce16@iclnet.co.uk
Reply-To: canals@blacksheep.org
To: canals@blacksheep.org
Subject: TRIP REPORT Pt II: Easter to Ellsmere

   Trip report Part II

As it was the week before Easter, we decided to just stay in the
Middlewich Branch for a while.  The weather wasn't all that wonderful
and looked like being worse as the week wore on.  We'd have not even
bothered going to Chester if it weren't for one thing.  Well,
half-a-dozen really.  Historic narrowboats.  Every so often as we'd be
sitting and enjoying a cup of tea, or just looking out the windows, the
view would be blocked out by a massive bow.   Some of the old boats seem
as if they go on forever when they pass, their old engines slowly
pounding away.  It's the most incredible
sound, and for me the most evocative one on the cut.

So, after watching the 'Themis' and then later the 'Lindsey' with her
butty in tow, and a number of other wonderful old boats pass us in the
Branch, we started to get itchy feet.  The weather wasn't _quite_ that
bad, really.  By Thursday, we had all the books out, and the maps,
checking the route to Chester and Ellsmere Port.  A quick call to
Venetian Marina ensured that we could get a short-term license for the
BW stretch.  Another call to Ellsmere and the Boat Museum assured us
that there'd be mooring space available.  We packed up and in half an
hour were on our way. By the time we made it to Venetian and paid for
our one-week cruising license (42£, by the way), the wind was picking
up, but we figured that if everyone else was heading for Ellsmere, we
could make it too.

Up through the last lock and then on to Barbridge Junction.  We'd never
been down the Shroppie that direction, so it was all frosting on the
cake for us.  Or frost, as the weather seemed less nice than before.
Since we'd only been out on the Four Counties ring and spend a majority
of our time on the Bridgewater, the only double-wide lock we'd ever
encountered was Big Lock in Middlewich.  Friends of ours had told us
sufficient horror stories about the Chester staircase to make us at
least cautious as we approached Bunbury, but the wonderful scenery along
the Gowy made up for any
anxieties we might have had.

At Bunbury, we negotiated the lock alone, there was little traffic out
that day.  Although the lock was wider than we were used to, and being
neophytes at them, I took the extra time to open both gates, rather than
making Mike try to work through one gate for starters.  The locks are a
reasonably quick set, and with them out of the way we set off for the
next part of the trip.  The scenery along this entire stretch is simply
wonderful, parts of it feel more like being on a placid country river
than a canal.  When you reach the point along the canal when Beeston
Castle appears above the horizon, the scenery moves from being beautiful
to absolutely stunning.  We passed through Beeston Stone lock, where
there's a wonderful lock-side house with ice cream, home-cooked pies and
the like, and through Beeston Iron lock, with the remains of the cattle
market still standing on the towpath side across the railway from the
canal.  The weather was getting less and less agreeable, so (obligatory
pub review alert...) we moored for the night near bridge 109 and the
'Shady Oak'.  Landing was
tricky as the wind was, of course, blowing across the canal.  We got our
pins in and everything set for the evening before heading across the
bridge to the pub.  The houses across from the pub are lovely, the river
has been widened into a watergarden at one point with beautifully
landscaped gardens around it.

The 'Oak' is a reasonable and friendly place to stop, the landlady told
me about her trip to the US, and played a Patsy Cline album when I
admitted that I liked her music.  We had a pint or two and then off to
the boat to stoke up the fire and plan the next day.

Unfortunately, 'Good Friday' was anything but.  The wind was horrendous,
and once past the bridge the towpath was so bad, where it existed at
all, that once we started there was no place to stop this side of
Chester that seemed safe to try.  The stretch along the canal from
Bridge 110 on past Egg Bridge and Rowton Moor was simply hideous. Not
the scenery, you couldn't see any for the wind and driving rain.  The
estimated times in the Pearson guide was about 3 and a half hours for
the stretch.  We made it in four, going into the wind, heads down and
cursing the cruiser stern on the
boat.  Lines of moored boats made the going even worse as the choice to
slow down past them had to be balanced by the need to go fast enough to
not be blown into them.  If there had been anywhere to stop, we would
have, but the entire length had nonexistent towpath.  It was a case of a
rock and a hard place, for sure.  Finally, we made it to the Christleton
lock, and stopped for a break.  The longest either Mike or I had been
able to stay out driving was an hour at a time.  Cold, miserable and
hungry, we tied up at Christleton and grabbed some food while the
weather settled down a bit
around us.

At least there weren't any crows trying to strangle each other in this
weather.  The only one I saw all day was hanging onto a fencepost and
giving me a look as if we'd both lost our minds.

Part III on Tuesday, Chester to Ellsmere.