Starting Heartbreak Hill…

The weather forecast for today was for a clear morning, with showers this afternoon, they were wrong!  We left our mooring in the middle of nowhere in persistent drizzle. We officially joined the Trent and Mersey at Hall Green stop lock, then negotiated the very weird junction at Red Bull, where the canal crosses the T & M on an aqueduct, then turns left, left and left again to join the T & M proper, then 2 locks carry the canal down and underneath the aqueduct, these two are our first on  Heartbreak Hill. We worked twelve locks before we decided to stop for the day at Rode Heath, and treat ourselves to a Chinese Takeaway tonight.

Ramsdell Hall – still on the Macc

Ornate railings separate the towpath from the fields below the Hall

Mow Cop, with it’s castellated ruin, known as Wilbraham’s Folly.  The Folly dates from 1754 when it was erected to be seen from Squire Wilbraham's Rode Hall, a couple of miles away on the Cheshire Plain.

From the aqueduct carrying the canal over the Trent and Mersey

About to turn onto the T & M proper

The 1st lock of Heartbreak Hill – brown water, due to ironstone colouring the water

The aqueduct from below

Many of the locks are duplicated, which cuts down on queues

But a few of the duplicate locks have fallen into disrepair and been closed.

Approaching Rode Heath

7.0 miles and 13 locks