Previous Year : 1994 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 1996

1995 - The Cheshire Ring & Worsley.

Crew : John & Chris, Ernie & Jennifer, Pete, Dave, Colin, Stan.

Boat : Windsor

From : Anglowelsh , New Mills.

Route : New Mills > Bollington > Congleton > Rode Heath > Middlewich > Marston > Thelwall > Lymm > Worsley [w] > Patricroft > Manchester > Stalybridge [on foot from Lock 1W of HNC] > Marple > Whaley Bridge [w] > New Mills.

Coverage : 92 Locks and 114 miles.

Notes: From New Mills we went round The Cheshire Ring clockwise. We stopped to look at the then virtually derelict Anderton Lift. There seemed little prospect of it being renovated at that time. We also developed a bent rudder at Middlewich and thus encountered our first ever manifestation of "The Middlewich Triangle". We were fined for non-payment of the Rochdale Canal Licence. We cruised out to Worsley and we took a trip on the Thelwall ferry. We also visited the then still derelict Buxworth, [..or is that Bugsworth..] basin on the final afternoon. We also suffered our first, and so far only ever "total immersion incident" actually in the boatyard while mooring up on the Saturday morning.

Windsor - and the crew waiting at Preston Brook Tunnel.

Saturday 20th May

Lunch : New Mills. We had agreed to meet up in The Queen's Arms near the boatyard. After a few pints here, we loaded up the boat and set off.

Afternoon : Marple, but not quite... We attempted to moor up near Marple Junction for a quick pint, but found we couldn't get the boat right in to the bank. This may well be where the rudder first got damaged, but no-one was aware of this at the time. We left Marple without having had a pub stop and continued on towards Bollington.

Evening : Bollington. We moored up in Bollington close to The Aqueduct and we went to The Meridian. Quite by chance, we met up with an old acquaintance, John Portlock. Several of us knew him from our times with Ebor Morris at The Alford Weekend with Grimsby Morris. He'd been to Wembley to see his beloved Manchester United get beaten 1-0 by Everton in the FA cup final. He was therefore both inconsolable and just a little the worse for wear. In a vain attempt to cheer him up, the pub landlord did keep offering him Everton Mints, but this didn't seem to help much. Eventually, Pete went back to the boat to get his & John's melodeons, and John P went home to get his melodeon. We then had an impromptu music session and a lock-in where we eventually drunk them out of Boddington's Dark Mild.

Sunday 21st May

Lunch : Congleton. We stopped near Congleton and went to The Moss Inn. This was a Marston's pub, which surprisingly had Bateman's Mild on, and a load of it was drunk.

Evening : Rode Heath. We moored up right outside The Broughton Arms on the pub mooring. We had a meal and plenty of beer. This is where the famous [..or should that be infamous..] "Ernie's teeth" incident occurred. John was talking about his time working behind the bar in The Spread Eagle in York. He told the story of how a regular in the pub would put his false teeth into his beer to stop anyone else taking it while he went to the toilet. Taking the hint, Ernie then put his teeth into his beer and went to the toilet. John then put his own teeth into his own beer and swapped glasses to see if Ernie would notice. He didn't - though fortunately, we did manage to stop Ernie before he drank John's teeth. This pub would henceforth always be known as The Ernie's Teeth Pub.

Monday 22nd May

Lunch : Middlewich. On the way to Middlewich, we decided to call the boatyard out to have a look at the increasingly stiff rudder. The quote from narrowboatrepairman to Stan when he got the rudder off was rather understated. He took the rudder off to find a serious kink in it and just said, completely deadpan.. "it's bent, sir" . We had to wait in Middlewich for several more hours until narrowboatrepairman had taken it away to a specialist to be straightened, returned and refitted. In the meantime, we went to The Tut & Shive to 'wait'. Unbeknown to us, this would be the first of many manifestations of "The Middlewich Triangle", where the boat would break down in Middlewich.

Approaching Middlewich

The famous K8 and Methodist Chapel.

Evening : Marston. We left Middlewich somewhat later than we usually would have done for a lunchtime stop. We pushed on as quickly as we could to try to make up some of the lost time. We got as far as The Salt Barge at Marston, where we ate and stayed for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday 23rd May

Morning / Lunch : Anderton. We stopped briefly to visit the great meccano kit known as The Anderton Lift . It was derelict at the time, and had been partially dismantled even though there were no immediate plans to renovate it due to the cost. We had a good look round the site, then set off for Thelwall.

The Anderton Lift was being dismantled.

The 1920s electric winch system had been removed, and was laid out ready to be taken away for renovation.

All in all, it looked to be in a pretty sorry state.

Even the cassions were overgrown.

Lunch : Thelwall. We stopped at Thelwall, but no one can recall the pub at all. After the pub, we took a trip across the Manchester Ship Canal on The Thelwall Ferry despite our probably contravening most of the ferry bye-laws. As we just wanted to 'crank' the ferry, the ferryman agreed to take us across and back however, at the other side there was a real fare-paying passenger in the form of a man and his bicycle waiting to come across. With the ferry boat now overloaded to the tune of one man and one bicycle, we crossed back and somehow even managed to get BTS1 to pay the "tuppence per person per trip". We did however have a whip-round for the ferryman, and he probably got about a fiver out of it !

Crossing the Manchester Ship Canal on The Thelwall Ferry.

L to R: Pete, Colin, Jennifer, Dave, the ferryman, the passenger with his bike & Ernie.

We probably contravened most of these bye-laws in some way or other...

Who pays the ferryman ? Dave does !

Stan had to be photographed inside a K6.

After our ride on The Thelwall Ferry, we continued along the Trent & Mersey Canal to Preston Brook Tunnel, where we found that we had apparently just missed our timed passage and we would have to wait over an hour for our next time slot. Because the tunnel is too narrow for two boats to pass, boats should only enter the tunnel at specific times - so we waited... However, re-reading the sign with the benefit of hindsight, it appears that the restrictions did not actually apply to us then, as Tuedsay 23rd May was NOT a Saturday, a Sunday or a Bank Holiday - so it appears that we need not have waited at all.

Preston Brook Tunnel

Re-reading it carefully, we need not have waited !

Finally entering Preston Brook Tunnel

Evening : Lymm. We had a Chinese meal followed by some beer in The Spread Eagle. There was the sense that the village seemed surprisingly full of ill-behaved noisy youths on bicycles, though the beer and food were fine.

Wednesday 24th May

Morning / Lunch : Worsley. We set off from Lymm quite early off-route for Worsley. We arrived and winded there just before the pubs were open. We had a short look round at where it all began - The Duke of Bridgewater's Mine entrance, which leads to about 46 miles of underground canals and coal mines. We had a few quick pints before we set off back. We went into a Greenall's pub where Pete rather unusually had Guinness as he'd refused to ever drink any more Greenall's beers due to their recent illegal demolition of The Tommy Duck's pub in Manchester. There had been a temporary preservation order on the pub, but this had apparently expired at midnight on Friday 12th February 1993. The pub was demolished in the early hours of Saturday 13th February, as the brewery knew that the council offices would be closed, and that a renewal could be not therefore be obtained before Monday 15th February. Greenall-Whitley were reportedly fined only £150,000 for a now empty site which would have sold for millions. A six storey Premier Inn now stands on the site.

Approaching The Barton Swing Aqueduct

Worsley. The water really is orange, caused by iron salts (ochre) from the old mine workings.

Afternoon : Patricroft. On the way back from Worsley, we stopped at Patricroft and went to The Stanley Arms for some Holt's Mild. Dave & John decided that they would also like to visit The Lamb at Eccles. This is a CAMRA National Inventory historic pub about a mile or so further up the road, and the Holt's there was also a penny a pint cheaper ! They duly set off and walked to The Lamb for another pint and thus saved their penny, while the remainder of the crew stayed in The Stanley Arms. Due to a sudden heavy rain shower, John & Dave then had to get a taxi back to The Stanley Arms, which probably made it the most expensive penny they'll ever save.

Evening : Manchester. We continued back toward Manchester, crossing The Barton Swing Aqueduct again. We went past Old Trafford, through Castlefields Basin and straight on up The Rochdale Nine. By now, it was raining heavily - proper "Manchester stair rods" as they say - so much so that it even went straight through Pete's waterproof jacket. Despite starting the ascent in good time, we ended up locked in the top lock of the Rochdale Nine and found that there was no-one available to pay the licence fee to, nor to release us from our captivity. The top lock of that flight is really not the nicest place to be held captive in a boat ! Stan went to the car-park attendant's office to pay, but no one was there. Ernie eventually released us from our captivity, as it appeared that the chain around the lock gates was only secured with a D-shackle. Despite there no one being around to pay the fee to, someone somewhere did record the boat's name & number as we went passed up the flight. On our return to the boatyard on the following Saturday, we were summoned to the office and informed that we had been fined for non payment of the Rochdale Canal licence fee. We eventually moored in Piccadilly Village and went to The Jolly Angler for some beer and then on to Chinatown for a Chinese meal.

Thursday 25th May

Morning : The Ashton Flight. We set off very early at 07:00 - rather than the more usual 08:00-ish to climb The Ashton Flight as there have always been numerous rumours of trouble with the local kids. We saw no-one at all.

Lunch : No one can recall if or where we stopped for lunch.

Early Evening : Portland Basin. We moored up as far toward the then disused Huddersfield Narrow Canal as we could or dared go. We winded in and then moored opposite Donkeystone Wharf, just below the first lock, Lock 1W of The Huddersfield Narrow Canal. We then walked the couple of miles into Stalybridge where work was under way to reinstate the Huddersfield Narrow Canal right through the very centre of the town. We had a look at some of the works then went into a couple of pubs. We eventually ate in The White House (Hydes) in the town centre. We then made our way to The Stalybridge Station Buffet for the remainder of the evening before the long walk back to the boat.

Friday 26th May

Lunch / Afternoon : Hyde and Marple. We stopped briefly in Hyde and went into The Cheshire Ring for a quick pint or two before pressing on to Marple and going to The Hatters Arms for a late-ish lunchtime session.

Evening : Whalley Bridge. We left Marple for Whalley Bridge. We winded in Whalley Bridge by the trans-shipment shed and moored up further back along the canal. We walked to the then derelict Bugsworth [..or is that Buxworth..] basin, then back to Whalley Bridge. We had a curry in the curry-pub overlooking the railway line, and then went to The Ancient Shepherd where we decided to 'retire hurt' even though they were still serving. Yet again, BTS1 lost his shoe. He seems to be making a habit of this.

Saturday 27th May

Morning : SPLASH ! Due to a surfeit of beers on the previous evening, Pete decided to walk most of the way back in order to work the one remaining swingbridge and attempt to sober up. This was also the only time so far that we have ever suffered a "total immersion incident". Whilst we were manoeuvring the boat into the boatyard, John was on the front ready to fend off if necessary. Unfortunately, he lost his footing and fell off the boat. Colin shouted "I've just seen John go past the window - horizontally !" John later said that after hitting the water, he made some big strokes to try to get to the surface - before he realised that he could actually stand up and the water only came up to his waist. We hauled him out of the water by his trouser belt. He then went for a shower and had to change into some old clothes as he didn't have any clean ones left to change into. The only thing he says he really remembers is the taste of diesel in the water.

Previous Year : 1994 The Bona Boater's Trips Following Year : 1996