 A
short but concentrated bit of canal boating over the earliest Easter
period for years has left quite a tangle of emotions in its wake. The
job was to tow the restored Shropshire Union narrow boat Saturn
from her winter mooring to the historic boat gathering at Ellesmere Port
for Easter, and then return home to Ellesmere proper with the Canal
Junction tug Greenman.
The trip started well in cold but bright and promising
weather. With an enthusiastic bunch of lock-wheeler friends joining us
near Whitchurch the first day saw us tied up at Wrenbury with a good
supper and nice beer at the dog-friendly Cotton Arms. The only minor
drawback was that we couldn’t tie up in the most convenient visitor
moorings because they were full of empty hireboats overflowing from the
base in the canal basin opposite. Do they pay for inconveniencing
everybody else? We’d met very few boats, seen a couple of kingfishers
and I had been particularly struck by the seemingly timeless scene of a
group of cattle standing in the water on the offside of the canal,
stoically watching us float by in complete contentment. Ah, the rural
idyll and spring coming too, surely? Lovely, although we were very glad
of the cabin fires.
The next day was considerably colder, a bit windier
and a bit more difficult, but very satisfactory nonetheless. We slipped
down the remaining Llangollen Canal locks without trouble, enjoying the
peace and the countryside, although the newly commissioned Swanley
marina gives cause and pause for thought. As one passes this huge
acreage of new boats and jetties one wonders what will happen if even
half of them decide to go boating on the same day sometime in the
summer. It will not be fun for anyone -- private boaters or the paying
customers on the hire boats on this most popular holiday canal in the
country. How will it be regulated? Will you have to book your passage
through Hurlestone locks for a particular time on a particular day? What
happens if you’re late? Shades of Heathrow frustration loom ahead. When
will someone say enough is enough, that this canal is now full?
No such worries after Barbridge for the all pervasive
A41 depresses the adventurous spirit for the first few miles, and long
lengths of online moorings slow progress to a bore. At Bunbury there is
the base for another successful hire company, so successful that they
completely occupy the towpath, with boats breasted up right from below
the lock to the first bridge. This makes it difficult for a deep draught
boat to get by and impossible for the sort of barge width craft that the
canal was originally built for (or for a pair of narrow boats breasted
up.) Do they pay for the privilege of messing it up for everybody else?
If so, do they pay enough? Bunbury to Bates Mill is still a delight and
our second evening saw us tied at The Shady Oak under the dramatic gaze
of Beeston Castle ready for the descent into Chester on the morrow.
Maunday Thursday launched a full northerly gale at us
with occasional flurries of sleet for extra interest, but at least it
was a head wind most of the time, keeping the boats roughly in line with
the canal. Towing a butty in a cross wind is always difficult and at
times impossible in a gale, especially if you try and go slowly and
politely past the miles of linear houseboat moorings but we arrived at
the locks without incident. Urban Chester provided some shelter from the
wind as we worked down to Tower wharf below the Northgate locks to join
a clutch of other historic boats gathering for the final assault on
Ellesmere Port and the museum on the following day. But we had
effectively turned right on coming into the basin and the wind howling
straight up the Dee estuary gave us all a bumpy night. However, at least
it seemed to constrain the activities of the late night yobbos for which
Chester basin is becoming unfortunately infamous.
The last stretch into Ellesmere Port is only eight
miles or so – a short morning’s boating normally – but arrangements had
been made for Saturn to be horse-hauled on this last leg to the museum,
to arrive triumphantly and historically into the bank holiday afternoon
crowds, creating much interest and publicity. Unfortunately it was still
freezing cold and blowing a gale and we had some doubt initially whether
Buddy the horse would be up to pulling the boat fast enough to
counteract the ferocious cross-wind. But we stripped Saturn down
for action, removing topcloths and rolling down the sidecloths to reduce
windage and an heroic crew and the gallant horse completed the journey
in fine style to arrive exactly as arranged in the afternoon.
Unfortunately the public we wanted to impress weren’t there because of
the weather and our sense of achievement was rather undermined by the
lack of an audience. If a tree falls in the forest and no-one is around
to hear it, does it make a sound? But that has to be the luck of the
draw, gambling an event on English weather this early in the year.
The weekend went well for those that were there – much
boat gossip, beer and socialising – but the hoped-for museum customers
generally stayed sensibly at home, in the warm in front of the telly.
Monday morning saw an early start for the Greenman, the beginning
of a very smooth three-day trip back to the sanctity and sanity of
Ellesmere with a deepened appreciation of the qualities and contrasts of
our extraordinary canal system. It felt like a steady climb towards the
light, escaping the motorway noise, the rubbish strewn water and the
urban dereliction and development of Ellesmere Port and Chester into the
quiet Shropshire countryside again. The weather improved as I worked
uphill and I had the bonus of travelling in the early spring with only a
scattering of other boats about to disturb the calm. But I started to
worry about my timeless cattle for on this, the busiest holiday canal in
the country, there are very few stretches now that are not steel piled
to protect the banks, with livestock firmly fenced away from the water.
Difficult to remember that Rolt found it impossible to get up this canal
for rushes and reeds in 1947. Now the last few rushes will soon have to
be protected from the boats.
©Tony
Lewery,
The Brow,
Ellesmere,
30th March 2007
(Except top 4 photos © Paul Higson Canal Junction)
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