A rant...moored boats on landings, terrible state of our waterways and lack of dredging!

 26th July

For once, we were ready to leave at the same time as M&D. Bevan was going to steer Waka Huia, Marilyn was going to be on hand to take over should anything untoward happen. She couldn't have chosen the more challenging bit of canal to teach him on. It was difficult for me, if he managed the next few miles to Frogall without incident, hats off to him!

We went ahead, Waka Huia would understandably be going at snails pace, well just until Bevan had got the hang of it. My statement above about this being a challenging canal was not an exaggeration, narrow, shallow, bridge oles obscured by foliage and vegetation almost touching from one side to another. A couple of such photos now but tomorrow my blog will mainly be a photo blog of how this canal will one day become derelict if nothing is done about it soon.

 

 The arrival at Wood's lock of Waka Huia had Bevan still on the helm. Marilyn was still instructing her pupil, he was making a good job of it.

 

A decision had to be made as whether we proceed onto the river or wind top side of Oakmeadowford lock  The gauge showed we were good to go but a conversation was needed with the McDonald's to see if they wanted to proceed.

With the lock empty we thought we may as well fill just in case we got the thumbs up. Well, could we equalise the water? No, couldn't understand why the lock was not filling completely. Both bottom gate paddles were down it had to be leakage from the bottom gates. Ah, no wonder, more water gushing from under the gates than coming in through the top paddles. 

 

 

While waiting for Waka Huia to turn up I thought it best to empty that lock again, and Ian agreed we should then be able to swing the bottom gates to see if anything had been trapped on the cill. Just at the moment when we opened the bottom gate paddles, a boat heading in our direction from the river turned up. Quite fortuitous for them as they were able to stay on the boat as we locked them up.

Eventually Waka Huia appeared. We had managed to dislodge what ever was caught on the bottom gate cill and the levels equalised. Bevan was still on the helm, he appeared to be in complete control.
 

The thumbs up came to proceed so we descended first.

Gosh this river was narrow and not just vegetation intruding along the banks but trees over hung the width making it difficult to see what was coming. I’m making it sound as if I hate this section. I don't, the tranquillity is second to none but I do think novices would really find this all very daunting. 

There also was the added bonus of being in the right place at the right time. Ian heard the whistle first.  It was the steam Loco of the Churnet Valley Railway leaving Consall Forge. So we stopped midstream at a section where we could clearly see the tracks.

 The river continued past the Lime Kilns, through a very low bridge

 and past Consall Forge station with the platform overhanging the river. It's pretty neat, lovely to see and worth the effort of coming down just for that.

Time was marching on. There was still a good mile and a half to go to get to Froghall and with a planned meal at the Hollybush tonight, we felt it best to wind at Flint Mill lock. On arrival another inconsiderate boater had not only moored on the lock landing, but was slightly impeding the winding hole too. I had nowhere to stop FS other than on the offside but nothing to tie to. So holding the rope while waiting for the McDonald's to turn up was my lot. And I got stung by a wasp as I pulled the rope in! A good thirty minutes later Waka Huia finally arrived. Prop judder was their problem and three times they had to stop to go down the weed hatch. The agreement to wind was unanimous so they went first.

Now we were following Waka Huia, slow going but this bit was impossible to speed up at. Passing Consall Forge station again we came across them. Bevan and Mad's were hanging over the side, it was obvious why. The boat was stuck in the mud! Rocking the boat from side to side while Marilyn put on a bit of power seemed to do the trick but this is a classic example of why there should be some sort of maintenance program. Dredging clearly hasn't been done for years and yes I know this is a river, and yes there can be silt build up on bends, but I still feel there is no excuse for CRT to ignore the people who use their waterways. They are Canal and River Trust after all, but they seem to think more of the cyclists, fisherman and even support HS2 by allowing them to take water from our reservoirs! No wonder we have a water shortage problem!

And Marilyn had a bit of difficulty in getting through the low bridge again. 

Going back toward Cheddleton Ian heard the whistle of the Loco again. From Wood's lock there is a decent, but far view of the line and again we got to see it thundering past.

Looking back at Wood's lock

Finally arrived at the Hollybush moorings and we just about managed to fit in behind Waka Huia. There was a story attached to this. Marilyn had asked the boat in front, who was leaving what Marilyn calls a 'Git space', to move up slightly, she offered to help and do it for them. Well the chap was good as gold but then the wife appeared. She was not a happy bunny, said she wanted to use rings and didn't like using chains or cladding pins. Gave poor Marilyn quite a hard time too. The boat was moved so we could get in but as protest only tied the centre rope to a bollard. This meant the boat swung every time another boat went past. How petty was that!

 The meal wasn't all that good. We waited ages for the main course, starters had arrived in a decent time but you expect to have the mains a short while after. Anyway I had greasy Scampi, Ian's Ham and eggs were luke warm and Bevan's Ratatoui was ultra hot and lacked seasoning and as a chef, Bevan should know! It's only all our opinions though, please go and try it yourselves but I don't think we would recommend this place to anyone.

And seen on route

And while waiting at Flint Mill Lock