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Published: July 17th 2013
Rabbits by last night's mooring.
Hattie watched them, they froze and watched Hattie. Then a rabbit twitched and Hattie was off on the chase.0 locks, 305 in total – I thought it was cheating somewhat to count the Anderton Boat Lift as a lock.
An exciting day today; some history first though. The Trent & Mersey Canal transported mainly salt, cheese, Staffordshire pottery, coal and flint to and from the Mersey via a branch of the Bridgewater Canal. The R. Weaver also transported a variety of goods to the Mersey but often in larger boats, and was keen to protect its trade.
At Anderton, the T & M canal is just 50' above the Weaver, so salt was shovelled from narrowboats down a shute and straight into Weaver boats, which would move slowly along so that the salt filled the holds evenly. Needless to say this practice would not be suitable for other goods so in 1875 they built a counter-balanced hydraulic lift. There were 2 water-filled caissons, one at canal level and one at river. Boats would enter each caisson and with a combination of gravity, hydraulics and judicious adjustment of water in the lower caisson, the 2 boats would be lifted and lowered simultaneously. The canal boats had
a much quicker run to the Mersey and it was certainly easier than shovelling the salt.
After a few years the whole lift structure became prone to problems – the motive force was chemically contaminated water which caused corrosion - so a new scheme was put forward to remove the hydraulics and raise and lower the caissons electrically using pulleys and gears, independent of each other. This worked well from 1908 until about 1983, when lack of maintenance over a sustained period caused irreparable damage.
Local activists rallied and funding was found and in 2002 the lift was reopened in it's original hydraulic design but this time using oil as the motive force. All the cogs of the Mark 2 electronic pulley version are still there, as is the ungainly supporting structure but only for show!
We went down to the Weaver and back again, just because it seemed a shame not to! Quite an experience.
Showers today (as in bathroom) and I think I'm getting the hang of this public shower
lark. This time I remembered my towel, didn't leave shampoo and conditioner behind for the next lucky user and didn't scald myself trying to turn the hot tap down!
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Salli
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From Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
The lions are about tonight so it is classed as dangerous. If they know where they are then I want to see them, but apparently it is not allowed, we are confined to the lodge!! Enough of that - what a fascinating day you had, all that engineering, I hold have loved it. Have been avidly reading the blog, even here, where dinner has been a drawn out affair owing to the frequent power cuts. However, when there is electricity, there is free wifi!!