Manchester Ship Canal

The long awaited day had arrived. We were due to leave the River Weaver! There are two routes on and off the river. Anderton Boat Lift, the most popular, takes boats to and from the Trent and Mersey Canal. It has been broken since 3rd January 2025 and it's going to be well into 2027 before it is operational again. Marsh Lock gives access to the Manchester Ship Canal, from where narrowboats can travel to the Shropshire Union at Ellesmere Port or the Bridgewater Canal at Manchester. It has been out of action since 12th September owing to electrical safety concerns and there is no estimate as to how long it will take to fix. There was a special manual opening, early in December and we'd booked Rainboat in to the only other opportunity on Wednesday 7th January.

We'd originally planned to travel along the Ship Canal to Manchester but the journey was too long to do in the daylight this time of year. Instead we'd arranged to return to where we'd come from; the Shropshire Union Canal at Ellesmere Port.

Over the last 3 days we'd driven a 5 hour journey back from Northumberland with four furries in a hire van and fought our way through ice on the river to get to Marsh Lock. Today we faced winds of 17mph with gusts of 33mph. We usually don't pilot Rainboat in anything over 15mph as her long sides and shallow draught mean she gets blown all over. We'd broken through thin ice to arrive at Marsh Lock that morning only to find the floating pontoon we were planning to moor at was half sunk. Improvising, we tied Rainboat half in and half out of the lock entrance.

It wasn't long before the CRT lockies arrived. Vicky was in the middle of washing up when they asked said they were opening up early, so she piled the plates up as best she could and Will reversed Rainboat out to make room for the lock gate to open. We'd expected to be part of a small flotilla. As it turned out we were the only boat leaving the river but there were five travelling from Ellesmere Port to the Weaver. The lock operators took it in turns to wind the massive handle opening the gates into, then out of Marsh Lock, warning us that it was very blustery out there. We needed to cross the River Mersey in order to reach the Ship Canal. The full force of the wind battered us together with side-on waves as soon as we exited the protection of the lock walls. Our adrenaline spiked and a crash from indoors was heard as Rainboat lurched to one side. It was pretty hairy! Luckily the only casualties were a couple of plates, a bowl, a kilner jar of Seville marmalade Will had just made and a chipped floor tile.

Things became easier once we'd crossed the Mersey and were heading into the wind and waves of the Ship Canal. We were grateful for Rainboat's 42bhp engine as she ploughed ahead, white spray crashing off her bow as she cut through the peaks. We met the other narrowboats half way. The sun was in our eyes so we didn't realise it at the time but the first couple were piloted by Matt and Rebekah Parrot who owned Northwich Dry Dock and had blacked Rainboat in September!

The wind and waves were a lot gentler when we reached Ellesmere Port. Despite having been there before it was very difficult to see where to turn in to the port. We ended up going past the entrance and turning back into it. This made it easier to avoid the bow being blown into the wall. Our hearts sank when we turned the corner and saw the Swing Bridge across Whitby Lock was closed. We'd needed to wait over an hour for the council to send someone out to open it in the summer and feared the same now. We were cold and knackered and there was nowhere to moor but in the lock under the bridge 🤦‍♀️ Vicky got on the phone to CRT who were in charge of our booking and after 15 minutes a lockie arrived to tell us the bridge operative shouldn't be long. Around half an hour after we'd got there we were backing out, ready to be worked through into the boat museum marina.

A further two narrow locks lay between us, the start of the start of the Shropshire Union and a place we could moor. As we wielded our windlasses for the first time in 6 months and winched open the gate paddles, Sue from the CRT turned up to check we'd got through the swing bridge- she'd tried to call Vicky back but there hadn't been any signal. It was very nice of her to check on us personally.

Feeling exhausted but exhilarated we finally tied Rainboat to the towpath mooring rings just a few hundred yards outside the boat museum. What an adventure. It had been exciting but we were very glad to be back on safe waters once again.Read more