TRIP REPORTS : THE YEARS BETWEEN BOATS

THE CHESHIRE RING AND THE LEEDS & LIVERPOOL

August 1984

Part 1 : Kent Green to the edge of Manchester

This was our second year "between boats". In '83 we'd hired a boat from Dyecraft at Kent Green on the Macclesfield Canal for a fortnight and done the Four Counties Ring with a few side trips [Click here to read that trip report.]. We'd liked the boat, and Frank Dye, proprietor of the hire-fleet, so we came back the next year and hired their biggest boat The Cloud. That fleet has changed hands a couple of times since Frank's retirement, and is now owned by Sherborne Wharf.

We were six-handed for the trip. With Wendy and me were Ian, a colleague and former co-owner of our old boat, Peter, another colleague who'd done a lot of boating with us, and Jill and Jason (mother and teenage son), members of a drama club in which we were all involved. Jill and Jason had done some narrowboating on the BBC boats when Jill's husband had been alive, but Jason had been too young then to learn any of the skills. So five of us knew what we were doing. Our aim was to do the Cheshire Ring and as much as time allowed of the Leeds & Liverpool.

THE CLOUD

There were various delays in arrival : Ian mislaying some luggage at Euston & Jill injured from a nasty fall the day before, which delayed her and Jason's arrival by an hour. Ian and Peter left the train at Kidsgrove to take the luggage to the boatyard. Wendy & I stayed on the train to Congleton to shop there (much better shopping than Kidsgrove, where we'd shopped the year before, and a generally nicer town) and lunched at Ye Olde King's Arms (Marston's). Arriving at the boatyard we discovered that Frank Dye's assistant, Jack, was a former skipper of Cowburn & Cowpar's Seagull, which is now with Mike Porter at Aylesbury.

We were away at 16:03, enjoying good weather and scenery. Jason had his first lesson in steering from Ian. We saw Royalty-class William (unconverted) on the move and Hadley (once co-owned by some friends of ours) at her mooring in new white undercoat.

At 18:06 we moored at Biddulph Valley Railway wharf, a pleasant spot we'd discovered the previous year. This time we were in company with The Merchant of Little Venice, a boat we'd known in London some years before, when it was owned by Ray and Hazel Dunford.).

Rowndes Bridge

The old coal wharf

Biddulph Valley Railway aqueduct

Near New Mills

We made a fairly typical start at 06:44, by roping the boat off the mud, shortly followed by shafting a drifting BW mud-lighter out of the deep (allegedly - it's been dredged since then) channel. Bosley locks were busy, unsurprisingly on a sunny Sunday, but nonetheless enjoyable. A pleasant run to Marple junction brought us to the Peak Forest Canal and we headed towards Whaley Bridge after stopping for water. At 19:03 we moored somewhere past bridge 21 and barbecued at a very pretty mooring surrounded by horses. We played a remarkably foolish game of "Boxo" afterwards.

As yesterday's running had been slow, we decided not to press on to Whaley Bridge. We set off at 06:48, with Jason steering very capably to the winding hole near New Mills, when we turned. This section was beautiful with banks of harebells & scabious, but winding and shallow. (It was very much the same when we were there last in 1998). We saw a kingfisher.

In Marple locks

We were back at Marple junction just before 10:00 and Wendy & Jill shopped while the rest of us started down the locks. They were, and are, a lovely flight. For the last few locks, Wendy & Jill were sitting in the well deck "taking tiffin" in a stately manner while the menfolk worked the locks.

Marple aqueduct & railway viaduct

Teatime brought us to Dukinfield junction, and the Ashton Canal, where we were moving among dark satanic mills, but with several new buildings - including one complex which looked like sheltered accommodation for the elderly - using the canal as scenery rather than shutting it off. We saw lots of geese & goslings. We gave a ride to some kids in order to get on the right side of the protection racket that Frank Dye had warned us about. At one of the locks kids were "playing chicken" by swimming in the locks when the boat was almost in. The kids suggested that if we moored by a pub just before Beswick top lock they'd "see the boat was alright" , so we moored there at 18:56 and had another barbecue. I managed only to lose one chicken leg while cooking!

Dukinfield lift bridge	Dukinfield Junction	Guide Bridge, Ashton-under-Lyne
Droylsden	Fairfield junction	Clayton locks