Bartington to Moore (Bridgewater Canal)

This morning we set off in a blustery wind, timing our departure so that we arrived at Preston Brook Tunnel in good time for the 10 minute window for entry for north-bound boats at 10am.  We didn’t allow, though, for that rarest of breeds, a hire boat that went along in tickover all the time!  You’d have thought that the queue of 4 boats up his a**e might have alerted him to the fact that he was going a tad too slowly, but no!  We arrived at the stop lock just before the tunnel just on 10 o’clock, and with 3 boats ahead of us, we knew we wouldn’t make it.  Oh well, the ‘best laid plans, etc.’!  By the time we got tied up we only had 35 minutes to wait, just time for a coffee and a natter.

The entrance to the Preston Brook Tunnel, and the end of the Trent and Mersey

Inside the tunnel, looking back at the boats following

Exiting the tunnel, we are now on the Bridgewater Canal, the first canal to be built

The world renowned Science and Innovation Campus and laboratory at Daresbury, overlooking the canal.

Wide stretch of canal by the Campus

We would have liked to have moored at Daresbury, which has connections to Lewis Carroll.  His father was curate at the church there, and characters from Alice in Wonderland, and Through the Looking Glass are depicted in the stained glass windows.  We were thwarted, however, by the Lymm Cruising Club, who had taken over the visitor moorings. The wind had become really strong by lunchtime, so we  moored just outside the village of Moore.  We trundled across a field to the Red Lion, the village pub, for lunch, and very good it was too, although Rog’s Beef Madras was rather milder than he would have liked.

5.6 miles and 1 lock