Hello
Good morning
and welcome to
lovely
It is lovely.
When we left you we were just coming up to Waters Meeting at Preston Brook,
but we didn't tell you which way we were going did we?
[Laughs]
we did a right turn.
Still on the Bridgewater Canal, just,
but we had to stop at the chandlers,
because we needed a new stove great didn't we?
[Shaun] The jiggly one
because the old one snapped.
Yeah.
But the reason we're coming off the Bridgewater Canal
is that we're only allowed to be on there for a week,
or ten days, depending who you listen to nowadays,
because the Bridgewater is not owned by the Canal and River Trust, it's owned by Peel
and they own the Manchester Ship Canal,
but if you've got a CRT license you're allowed to have a week for free, but then you have to pay
and we spent nearly a week in Runcorn so we had to get
off the bridgewater otherwise we would have had to have paid for a license for there.
We had to run.
They do have this thing though, what's it called,
errrr,
not receptacle what you put your glasses in is it?
[Laughs]
Is a receptacle what you put your glasses in?
No, it's a glasses case.
responsible, rec. . .
errrr,
reciprocal.
they have a reciprocal agreement.
So people with CRT licenses can go on for a week
and they can go on CRT canals for a week.
That's right.
But because we tight and we've got no money, we had to come off.
So we called it the chandlers for the stove great,
then through Preston Brook Tunnel,
which is 1,239 yards long
and it's so tight in there you can't pass another boat,
unless you kind of grease each other up in Trex and slide past each other.
Trex?
but we have right we haven't go any Trex, we've only got Lurpak
so it doesn't work.
But it is lovely in there, the ventilation shafts there's one in the middle and
it's like this huge cathedral thing isn't it?
[Shaun] It's massive.
It really is nice and when you come out of the tunnel,
there's a sign that tells you that you're now on the Trent and Mersey Canal,
YAYY!
which is a clue to where we are now.
[Laughs]
on the Trent and Mersey Canal.
There's a stop lock called Dutton Stop Lock
and the Trent and Mersey Canal Company built it to save their water,
but when we passed it was a bit weird because it was all level wasn't it?
It was all on the same level.
Both gates just opened on their own.
So we carried on and it's not like the Trent and Mersey that we remember,
which is like Harecastle and Stoke and
Etruria down that way.
It's lovely here.
It is a completely different landscape
and that's where we are now.
We're in Dutton
which is about 30 miles north of Harecastle Tunnel but on that same canal
and you know I always like to moor where there's a bit of a story going on don't you?
Oh yes.
So if you want to go put the kettle on, I'm going to warm my Jackanory voice up.
OK then.
Go on!
[Music playing]
Back in September 2012
there'd been a lot of intense rainfall around Cheshire,
there was flooding everywhere
and even the groundwater table was rising to levels never seen before.
Here in Dutton, the ground was so saturated that it almost liquefied
and the canal collapsed
There was a major breach and it sent thousands of tons of mud and rocks
and nearly 25 million liters of water cascading from the canal down the bank
into the farmer's field below.
The crater left behind by the breach was so big
you could have fit 12 double decker buses in there,
it was huge
and the Canal and River Trust were scrambling to save 60,000 fish
that were trapped in the one and a half mile drain section of canal.
All the resources were focused on fixing the breach,
so money was diverted from other maintenance projects around the network.
It was originally expected to cost about one and a half million pounds,
the final total was over 2 million.
[Music playing]
The Canal and River Trust were desperate to get this canal reopened in time
for the spring season of 2013,
but they were having problems getting permission from the landowners
to get heavy moving equipment on site.
There's no roads anywhere near where we are at the moment,
so they had to come across the fields and it took over two months to get that permission.
Which meant that work didn't start on repairing the canal until late January 2013.
[Music playing]
It took just over seven months to carry out the repairs,
12,000 tons of stone was used
to strengthen and rebuild the embankment and secure the canal bed.
There's a new drainage system built into the embankment
so any excess water can drain away
and not start to liquefy the embankment again
and there's also this concrete wash wall, a 140 metres long,
it's been made into this gorgeous visitor mooring
and you can see on a clear day right over towards Ellesmere Port.
[Music playing]
The first boat after the repairs came down here
on the 2nd of May 2013
and there was a proper carnival atmosphere.
During the breach the milestone from the towpath was washed down the embankment
with all the mud and rocks and water
and it's a miracle that it was found, although it was in a sorry state.
But the Trent and Mersey Canal Society took it upon themselves
to restore it back to its original condition
and after some TLC and a bit of paint,
it's now standing back where it was
just a few feet away from where the breach happened and it's looking like new again.
[Music playing]
[Music fading]
[Sound of the boat engine]
Today we're making a relatively short trip, it's about four miles
from the Dutton breech site to the village of Barnton,
which is near Anderton,
also known as Jam Town.
[Shaun] Jam Town?
Do you know why?
Have they got jam butty mines?
Well actually it was said in the late 1800s that the people of Barnton
ate jam butties,
They have got jam buddy mines.
so that they can own not only their houses, but by their neighbours too.
WOW!
I don't even understand that.
That's weird.
I don't know, I think the people of Barnton were gargling in their own bong water.
[Laughing]
[Music playing]
Just down at the bottom of the mbankment is the River Weaver
and up until about the end of the last century
a lot of commercial boats, coastal boats with loads of seamen on it
and down the river delivering stuff.
There's a nice footpath down there and it starts all the way back
in Northwich, you can walk all the way up towards Frodsham, past Dutton Locks.
Once you get past Dutton Locks there's a lovely woodland owned by the Woodland Trust
and it's acres and acres and it's just really quiet, so quiet
i managed a few naked
walks up there this week, it's been lovely though and it's been lovely and sunny.
Yeah.
[Music playing]
Bridge 209 and according to the book there's some services there at the boat yard,
it's a hire boat company
and we checked it out and we gave them a call
and they're supposed to open at 9 o'clock today and it's
nearly an hour past 9 o'clock
and it's all locked up.
Water point's locked up.
And yeah, even the water point has got a padlock and a like an anti-vandal thing to
stop people using the water point, which,
I mean there's probably a reasonable explanation, but
it's not that helpful when you look in the guidebook and it says there's a water point
and diesel so you kind of prepare and plan
and then you get there and there's nobody there and they don't answer the phone
and everything's padlocked up.
That's the first water point I've ever known that's actually pad locked up, is it you?
Yep.
Oh well no shower tonight then
[Laughs]
[Music playing]
a lot of people have been asking us about the new boat build and when it's going to happen.
Well the reason it's been delayed is because of the restrictions,
we want to film as much detail of the build as possible
and that's, well we've not been able to do that because of the restrictions,
we can't get people that close together.
But hopefully in the UK, the roadmap suggests that towards the
end of June restrictions could be lifted.
So if that's the case, hopefully, fingers crossed,
we're going to be starting to build later this summer, July, August time,
So, keep your fingers crossed.
Yes
[Music playing]
I love the speckledy light, do you?
speckledy, ooooh!
We're just going up to Saltersford Tunnel
and it's one of three tunnels on this stretch from Preston Brook,
the first one, do you remember Preston Brook Tunnel?
I remember
It's a little bit higgledy-piggledy because it was the early days of canal building
and the skills weren't really there fully, so none of them are totally straight,
a bit like you.
[Laughs]
and the people who built the canal wanted them to be wide enough to take
wide beam boats and they're not.
That didn't work did it.
That didn't work either so it's not perfect
and there's no towpath through.
So the old boatmen used to have to leg the boat through the tunnel,
while the horses were walked over the top.
Do you fancy being walked over the top.
[Laughs]
Not really.
[Music playing]
Right in between Saltersford and Barnton Tunnel
there's this lovely pool where the canal widens
and when the sun's shining like it is today it's a mini oasis.
It'd be a lovely place to moor if we didn't already have plans for today.
[Music playing]
you might have heard us talking about the Trent and Mersey Canal being closed because of a landslip,
it happened back in January during Storm Kristoff
and the embankment collapsed
and hundreds of tons of rock and mud and vegetation
just fell into the canal blocking it
and the Canal and River Trust had to close it.
Well they've been working hard for three months to make it safe
and they have partially reopened just a narrow channel, just enough to get the boat through.
The thing that was most dangerous, is it happened right next to a gas main
that goes over the canal and that's why it's taken so long to try and make it safe
so we've got to go through as slow as we can.
Now, driving Miss Daisy here is used to that aren't you?
He says driving Miss Daisy, but he's always telling me to slow down.
Two mile an hour you've got to speed up haven't you [Laughs]
[Music playing]
[Music fading]
Well that was a short trip.
Nice to see so many boats out though.
No.
[Laughs]
No it's not.
You get used to it, well during lockdown and then over the winter,
so we've hardly seen any boats moving about
and they're all starting to come out again, it's a bit weird it's a bit like the Crick Boat Show.
[Laughs]
isn't it, just hundreds of boats.
Speaking of which there is going to be a live Crick Show this August.
Are we going?
Yes.
Are you going?
Are you? Oooh good, we might see you there then.
[Laughs]
We are moored right next to the Anderton Boat Lift,
which carries boats down onto the River Weaver that i was talking about earlier.
Might tell you a bit more about that next week,
if we go down it, we might just go past it.
Might do.
We could carry straight on towards Middlewich.
[Shaun] We've been there.
Yeah, but we haven't been from here to Middlewich.
[Shaun] No we haven't.
and we've got some friends near Middlewich that we want to see.
Yes we have.
so we might go that way,
or we might go the Anderton Boat Lift onto the River Weaver,
but we might not, I love a good coat hanger.
Coat hanger???
Cliff hanger!
[laughing]
What am I on about?
[Laughing]
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A fan of ours sent us a message the other day
with some lovely advice, Justine she's called.
Yes.
She's a looker as well
Oh she is.
No she is, she's gorgeous and she gives lovely hugs.
She does.
We got a hug at Crick didn't we?
We did.
And she says, if you don't like the video, the best thing to do is to hit the thumbs down
twice,
click it twice apparently.
Fantastic.
That's a great idea isn't it.
Right we're gonna
take some clothes off and catch some rays
and have a pizza and we'll see you next week, take care of yourselves, bye.
Ta-ra.
[Music playing]
Apparently back in the 1800s there was a saying
OK.
and I can't remember what it was.
That's a strange saying.
So they have got jam butty mines.
forgotten again.
and that's
we've not been able to. and that's not been possible
Bleaaah!
The next station stop will be Lundwood.
or Fartown.
[Laughs]
it's one of three tunnels on this stretch from Preston Brook down towards
Argghhhh!
What have i got to say?
[Laughs]
and until recently, recently, there was a lot of coastal boats full of seamen going up and down.
[Laughing]
What?
Going up and down the river,
not as much now,
errr, for the last couple of decades or so,
I don't know, oh I can't remember, you've put me off laughing now.
Stop laughing.
[Laughing]
Stop Laughing] [Laughing]
[Laughing]
Oh dear me [Laughing]
Are you ready? [Laughing]
Yes [Laughing]
Down at the bottom . . .
[Laughing]
just down the bottom of the embankment is the River. . .
[Laughing]
Come on, I'll stop.
Yeah?
you'd get a lot of coastal boats full of seamen going up and down the canal
[Laughing]
Right, I'm gonna wait while you've came down
and, errr, arrgghhh!
I keep getting stuck on that bit.
I'm not surprised.
[Laughing]
[Music playing]