From Croxton Lane Bridge No 173 to Anderton Marina, a distance of 8 miles, 7¼ flg.

Back to Anderton Marina and then home

From Rode Heath Bridge No 141 to Croxton Lane Bridge No 173, a distance of 10 miles, 6 flg and 22 locks.

Shopped at Hassall Green Top Lock No 57 and had coffee. Sunny with cold strong wind. Moored for night past Middlewich Big Lock.

From Bosley Bottom Lock No 12 to Rode Heath Bridge No 141, a distance of 12 miles, 4¾ flg and 14 locks.

Back onto Trent and Mersey at Harding’s Wood Junction. Inspected Thurlwood Steel Lock. Moored for night at Rode Heath and played Monopoly

From Bosley Top Lock No 1 to Bosley Bottom Lock No 12, a distance of 16 miles, 5 flg and 12 locks.

From Bosley to Macclesfield where we shopped, then to Bollington where we turned for home in pouring rain. Then it snowed and thundered! Moored for night at bottom of Bosley Looks.

From Church Lawton Moorings to Bosley Top Lock No 1, a distance of 12 miles, 5¼ flg and 25 locks.

Reached Harding’s Wood Junction, and turned onto Macclesfield Canal. Worked all up Bosley Locks after tea and moored as it went dark. Very wet off and on all day.

From Stanthorne Lock No 3 to Church Lawton Moorings, a distance of 11 miles, 4¾ flg and 21 locks.

Reached King’s Lock and rejoined Trent and Mersey.Headed South. Watered at Wheelock Wharf. Michael hit head on bridge 139 (Cherry Lane Bridge No 139 ). Played Cluedo at night.

NOTE : There is no indication of where we stopped for the night so the overnight here is an approximate guess.

From Middlewich Visitor Moorings (main line) to Stanthorne Lock No 3, a distance of 22 miles, 2½ flg and 9 locks.

Boys up early and out exploring. Brought back some teasles. Went through locks onto Middlewich branch of Shropshire Union to Hurleston Junction. Llangollen canal closed due to a lock collapse, tunnel ¹ closed on route south, so big conference on what to do. Turned back. Pouring with rain, bought kagoules and waterproof trousers at Venetian Marina, boys stayed on deck and steered all the way back to Stenthorne Look and loved it. Moored for night.

From Anderton Marina to Middlewich Visitor Moorings (main line), a distance of 9 miles, 4¼ flg and 1 lock.

Left Anderton Marina after conducted tour of boat and crash course in boat handling, mooring etc.

Went round a few corners then practiced mooring so we could have a cup of tea ¹. Reached Middlewich Big Lock No 75 where Reg from boat yard had said he might be to help us through, but no sign of him so muddled through ² then moored for the night.

Our first canal holiday happened after we’d had several poor holidays by the seaside… one day we were walking along the canal bank near Arley Bridge No 64 and we got talking and so a week long holiday was booked as a trial.

Starting at Anderton Marina and finishing at Anderton Marina with overnight stops at : Middlewich Visitor Moorings (main line), Stanthorne Lock No 3, Church Lawton Moorings, Bosley Top Lock No 1, Bosley Bottom Lock No 12, Rode Heath Bridge No 141, and Croxton Lane Bridge No 173. A total distance of 104 miles, 5¾ flg and 104 locks.

We had planned to do the Llangollen Canal but we found when we got there that it was closed and so had to make alternative plans….

The details in these entries is minimal… hey I was 13 years old…. what more can I say. Mum made some changes when she typed things up several years later but left out some important details … like exactly where we stopped each night. So some of the overnight stops might not be quite right.

The boat we hired was “Sutherland” from Masterfleet at Anderton Marina:

Layout of Sutherland