Spring Adventure Week 6

Parbold to Overwater Marina

I am very excited to say that my daughter, Elizabeth, has taught me how to add a map to this blog, so at the end of this you will find a map that shows our route over the past 6 weeks and each of the places we have stayed at.  Clicking on each of the place markers will give you the date we visited and a photo.

Monday 11th April - quite a windy day so we set off unsure how far we would get.  

We followed the Pride of Parbold through the locks until they stopped for lunch.

We got to the first of the locks outside Wigan and couldn't get any further as the whole mechanism was locked with a padlock.  A phone call to CaRT established that they were padlocking this lock from 8pm to 8am and as it was 1pm they had to admit they had forgotten to unlock it!!  An hour later the padlock was undone and we were able to carry on.

We continued on through Wigan and turned right towards Dover Bridge where we moored for the night much later than we usually do!

Tuesday 12th April - today we had a leisurely start and cruised as far as Worsley.  We stopped for some shopping at Leigh and diesel at the Bridgewater Marina.

It was a beautiful day and as you can see from the reflection in the canal absolutely still.  Wonderful cruising!

Wednesday 13th April - carried on today to Lymm.  Another beautiful day for cruising.  We crossed the Barton Swing Bridge and looked down on the Manchester Ship Canal where we could see the road bridge, rail bridge and the canal bridge we were on!

Turned right at Waters Meeting towards Preston Brook, we had come from Manchester which was to the left, and carried on towards Sale where we decided to moor up at Waterside Square and do some shopping.

When we got back to the boat there was a notice attached to the boat from the Bridgewater Canal Enforcement Team.  It suggested we had broken some rules and if we didn't contact them as soon as possible we would be liable to have our boat removed and sold or scrapped!!  We were extremely worried and phoned as soon as we could and ended up paying £40 for a licence because we had returned to the Bridgewater Canal within 28 days.  As it stands we are still in discussions with Bridgewater Canal Enforcement Team about this.

One of the many herons we have seen during this trip.

We eventually arrived at Lymm and moored up for the night, I think this was one of the worst days cruising in the whole of our adventures so far!!

Thursday 14th April - today was a complete change from yesterday, cold and grey!!  We cruised down to the Preston Brook tunnel passing Claymore Canal Holidays on the way.

The very first boat we hired came from here, nb Ruby Tuesday, and we also hired nb Bridgewater Hall from them as well just before we bought shares in nb Minuet.

Once through Preston Brook Tunnel we moored up for the night at Bridge 211.  Here we left Toby on the boat and walked down to Davenport's Tea Room where we had the most amazing afternoon tea!!

We were so full afterwards, we didn't eat again until the next day!!   We did take Toby through the fields and down to the River Weaver, to walk off the extra calories!!

Friday 15th April - a fascinating cruise today, we went through two more bridges and then stopped to look at the Anderton Boat Lift.

The Anderton Boat Lift allows boats to pass from the canal to the River Weaver without using a series of locks.  It is an amazing structure but unfortunately we didn't use it this time, but we will in the future.

We also visited the museum at the Lion Salt Works near Northwich.  It was the last open pan salt works in the country and stopped working in 1986 and is now preserved as a museum.

We finally moored up in Middlewich just before the rain started in earnest and stayed on board in the dry!!

Saturday 16th April -  from Middlewich we turned right onto the Middlewich Branch and cruised along my most favourite of canals until we got to Barbridge where we turned left onto the Shropshire Union Canal.  We moored up outside the Olde Barbridge Inn and had our supper there too!!

Sunday 17th April - the last day of our trip.  We had a very pleasant cruise past the Hurleston Junction with the Llangollen Canal and on towards Overwater Marina.  Weather was very good to us and Dave turned Ella into the entrance of the Marina and into our pontoon with no problems at all!!

Six weeks aboard Ella, and a wonderful city break in Liverpool, an amazing trip!!!

Spring Adventure Week 5

Salthouse Dock to Parbold

Monday 4th April - today we hired a car so that we could visit places further away from the city.  I was a student in Liverpool in the late 70's and I wanted to find the house I used to live in.

This is the house in Devonfield Road, Orrell Park.  It is looking very smart today!!

Here is the railway station I used to use everyday to get into college, again looking a lot smarter these days!!

We also went to see the racecourse at Aintree where the preparations for the Grand National are well under way. We also went to Anfield and saw the Liverpool Football Stadium.

We finished off our day at Sefton Park where Toby was able to have a good run around off the lead!!

Tuesday 5th April - we have decided to extend our stay for two extra days.  Canal and River Trust have asked us to move the boat to another pontoon as our pontoon is booked by another boat.  So first thing this morning we moved the boat across the dock, filled up with water and then moored up for the next two days.

 

We spent the rest of the day visiting the two cathedrals in Liverpool.  This is the Anglican Cathedral where my graduation ceremony was held in 1980.  It is the largest cathedral in the UK and the 5th largest in the world.

We were able to go up the bell tower and these are the eleven bells with the largest in the middle only being rung at Christmas and other special days.

The views from the tower are spectacular and we were able to locate Salhouse Dock where our boat is moored.

We then went on to visit the Metropolitan Cathedral, a very different cathedral, but just as spectacular!

Wednesday 6th April - as promised it was incredibly windy today and we were very pleased that we had chosen to stay where we were.  We saw two boats arrive in the Salthouse Dock on Wednesday afternoon, nb Henrietta and nb Nomad Rush, and both were pleased that it was over and done with.  Quite a scary trip!  

Thursday 7th April - we decided to take another trip on the ferry across the Mersey and walk up to New Brighton and give Toby a really good run on the sands.  We had to wait until 1pm because it was too windy on the river, but it was great fun and Toby loved the sand!!

I managed to get a panoramic view of the river front from the ferry.  

Friday 8th April - today we began our journey home.  The weather was dry with a very light breeze.  We left Salthouse Dock at 8am and paired up with Bob and Mo Catterick on nb Majestic and Idyllic.  We were really pleased as it meant we could go through the wide locks side by side to avoid bumping around.  A third boat, Castlerose, a widebeam boat followed us up through the locks.

 Many thanks again to the team from Canal and River Trust, especially Sid who helped us up through the locks and swing bridges.

On our journey we spotted some nesting swans.  One was sitting on the nest and the other one was looking for food and bringing it back to the nest.  Real signs of spring!

We moored up after swing bridge 10 for the evening with a view of Aintree Racecourse where the Grand National is being run on Saturday.

Saturday 9th April - set off this morning following Mo on Majestic and Idyllic.  

Bob had got on a bicycle and was going to cycle to each of the swing bridges and open them for his boat and ours.  It made for a very easy journey for us, so a very big thank you to them and hope they enjoy their cruising over the next few months. 

We arrived at Haskayne where we are staying the night and both Majestic and Idyllic and Castlerose cruised on past us.

Castlerose is a brand new boat destined to be a boat stay berthed in Castlefield Quay in Manchester. 

Sunday 10th April - set off for Parbold today. 

Passed long lines of fishermen doing a fishing match.  They fish for up to five hours in the competition, they say it is better than working!! 

Called in at Burscough to put on water and buy some lunch and then continued on our way to Parbold where we are staying over night.

This then ends the fifth week of our voyage and marks the longest time we have spent aboard Ella in one trip.  You'll be pleased to know that we are still loving every minute and neither Dave or I are regretting a single moment.  Today we celebrate two years since our move to Market Drayton!!

Spring Adventure Week 4

Parbold to Liverpool Salthouse Dock

Monday 28th March - we chose to start a little later today as we were hoping to miss the remnants of Storm Katie.  Set off late morning and it soon began to rain very heavily indeed.  Dave was steering and the water was dripping off his coat!!!

Pulled over at the junction with The Rufford Branch in order to put on water. Unfortunately the water flow was very slow, so we sat for over half an hour waiting for the tank to fill!!

Cruised through Burscough where some enormous wide beam working boats were moored.

By the bridge in Burscough there is a full range of facilities for boaters - water point, toilets, showers, disposal points, rubbish disposal.  

On this stretch of the canal there are a lot of swing bridges and they all seem to work differently.  Some are fully automatic - put in the key, press the button and it all happens for you.  Some are semi-automatic, put in the key, but you have to close the road barriers, then press the key and it all happens.  Others are hand operated - unlock the mechanism and then push the bridge open.  It has taken us a while to get used to all the different methods!!

We finally arrived at Ship Bridge near Haskayne and moored up for the night.  A beautiful view from the boat - as it got darker we could make out the glow of the lights of Liverpool - our destination!!

Tuesday 29th March - set off this morning in brilliant sunshine.  The wind had died down and the rain from overnight had stopped.  

We passed Downholland Hall Farm and loved the great mullioned windows.  This building predates the canal by 40 years and was originally the venue of the annual Court Leet at which the Lord of the Manor would preside over matters of tenantry.  

Some swing bridges are left open and we can cruise straight through.

Some don't work and we had to wait for Canal and River Trust personnel to reset the mechanism.  Edith May had been waiting for over an hour when we arrived!!!

We pulled over in Maghull and visited the local shop to fill up our cupboards and then continued on our way to bridge 10 just south of the village of Melling.   Here we shall spend the evening before preparing for our final descent into Liverpool!!!

Wednesday 30th March - today we start  the final section of our voyage down into Liverpool.  

We set off for bridge 9 which is a swing bridge that can only be operated by Canal and River Trust (C&RT).

 



We were met by our team - Paul, Mike and Mike who stayed with us all through our cruise and worked all the swing bridges and locks for us.  They were fantastic!!

We saw the famous Canal Turn jump of the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree Racecourse.

 




Also spotted our first ducklings of the year as we were waiting for the swing bridge in Netherton to be opened.

Several old warehouses still line the canal as we make our through Bootle and Sandhills.  This is Bank Hall where water was taken from the canal to fill the tanks and tenders of the steam locomotives on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway.

This is the remains of the manure wharves where boats used to fill with human waste and take it to the farmlands of West Lancashire where it was used as a fertilizer.  Fascinating!!!

We then reached the four locks known as Stanley Dock Locks and we met up with our team from C&RT again.  These locks take us down onto the Liverpool Link, a new canal that was officially opened in 2009.

At the bottom of the locks there is the enormous tobacco warehouse which is still waiting to be renovated.  This warehouse is the largest brick built building in the country, nothing apart from bricks was used in its construction!  

We headed towards the hexagonal Victoria Clock Tower with clocks on all six faces, so that you could see the time from all directions.  The only other clock similar to this can be found in Russia.

The first glimpse of the Liver building with it's famous Liver birds on the top of the building.  The female bird faces out towards the Mersey watching the seamen return home and the male bird faces towards the city looking for the city pubs - or so they say!

We continued on our way until we got to Salthouse Dock where we moored up for the next week.  














The famous four - The Beatles - are all over the city of Liverpool.  I couldn't resist the chance to have my photo standing with them!!













These are two of the iconic buildings on the water front the Royal Liver building and the Cunard Building.

The third building is the Port of Liverpool Building and the three together are known as the Three Graces.

The new building on Tithebarn Street is part of the John Moore University of Liverpool.  It was originally Liverpool Polytechnic where I was a student back in the 1970's.










This is the original entrance to the Cavern Club where the Beatles used to play before they became famous.  It no longer exists - 

but 100m up the road is the entrance to the current Cavern Club where many famous bands and soloists have played.












The bunkering service from Liverpool Marina arrived to fill us up with diesel. Craig delivered the diesel on his boat and had a few problems coming alongside because of the wind in the dock. 







So far we have visited the Maritime Museum, Liverpool Museum, Tate Liverpool and taken the ferry across the Mersey.  We intend staying here until next Wednesday, but the forecast is looking very windy for Wednesday and Thursday so we might extend our stay until Friday.

Finally - Liverpool Salthouse Dock at night.