Today started out great. We woke up a bit earlier than usual, ate breakfast, and was underway by 9 AM. We arrived at the first lock of the day just 5 minutes after leaving our overnight mooring. There is nothing like a lock first thing in the morning to get your heart pounding. We were in and out of the lock smoothly, and continued on this beautiful morning.
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Check out this mama duck. There are 17 ducklings….must be duckling daycare, because there is no way all those babies are hers…or are they?
The beautiful canal.
At this intersection, we continued straight, but in a few days we will return here and continue to the Trent & Mersey Canal to finish up the Cheshire Ring.
Here we are at Harecastle Tunnel. We went though this tunnel last time we did a narrowboat holiday, so this time, we were much calmer and not as nervous since we know what to expect. Check out the photo of the sign for data on the tunnel.
The tunnel is too narrow for boats to pass, so there are tunnel keepers who tell you when it is safe to enter. We only had to wait a few minutes and then they let us in. We entered at 9:54 AM and exited at 10:28 AM. It only took us 34 minutes! We beat the average time of 40 minutes. No…we didn’t win any prizes.
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There was a water point right outside the tunnel, so we took the opportunity to top up.
The canal cuts right through Middleport, a place that was famous at one time for pottery. Here are some of the remnants still standing along the canal:
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Some action shots of me captaining the Fjord Princess:
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We arrived at Etruria Junction and made a let up towards the Caldon Canal. We are going to go up the Caldon Canal to Froghall, 1.5 days up, and then turn back to here and continue on the Chesire Ring.
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As we were turning a curve to enter the Bedford street Staircase Lock, some guys on the shore said that the lock was closed. We delayed and I looked at the website that shows closing and didn’t see it listed, so we continued.
Check it out. It is a staircase lock. The photo of the sign tells you about it. The locks were set as they are supposed to and we entered the bottom lock.
Check it out. It is a staircase lock. The photo of the sign tells you about it. The locks were set as they are supposed to and we entered the bottom lock.
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I then closed the gates and filled the lock as the top one drained. We got the the top of lock 1 and I went to fill lock 2 but there were padlocks on the gates. WHAT?!? We called the Canal & River Trust and they said that the Caldon Canal is closed. Their website is so bad that I couldn’t find the information. So, I emptied the lock and Tim had to back up the boat for about 100 yard, which isn’t an easy thing.
We went back through Middleport, and was forced to stop there at 1:40 PM because we need to go back through the tunnel, but you can only do it between 8 AM and noon. Oy…a lot of time wasted. Oh well. I had some work to do to plan our trip to Greece. We are flying there on 30 April and I have’t made any lodging arrangements yet. I know…our crazy life…as we are on this holiday, I am planning our next.
So, I did some planning, we ate dinner (mushroom tortellini & garlic bread), then headed out to a brewery about a 1 mile walk.
We went back through Middleport, and was forced to stop there at 1:40 PM because we need to go back through the tunnel, but you can only do it between 8 AM and noon. Oy…a lot of time wasted. Oh well. I had some work to do to plan our trip to Greece. We are flying there on 30 April and I have’t made any lodging arrangements yet. I know…our crazy life…as we are on this holiday, I am planning our next.
So, I did some planning, we ate dinner (mushroom tortellini & garlic bread), then headed out to a brewery about a 1 mile walk.
After the brewery, we stopped at a market to pick up a few things, then returned to the boat. After some blogging, we went to bed. Our plan it arrive at the tunnel just before they open at 9 AM and try to get through it quick, and hope to make up some time.
Until then..
Until then..
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