Ulverston Canal

Don't get your hopes up - this is not navigable in the usual way. Though the canal is in water and is not only the deepest and straightest of our canals, this is also the shortest and leads directly from Ulverston in Cumbria into Morecambe Bay. Completed in 1796 it's 1.25 miles long, 15 feet (4.6 m) deep and 66 feet (20 m) wide.
It's also rather attractive, once you fight your way through the industrial buildings.

Apart from the curiosity value of this isolated short canal it is interesting for its unusual rolling bridge. Looking over the bridge (now a fixed footbridge) there are clear signs that this was once a movable structure with wheels and beams at an angle to the river edge. Yet it was only recognised as a rolling bridge quite recently.

Exactly how it worked I leave to others to explain (read this for example or the Wikipedia entry) but it evidently rolled, or perhaps swung, on its wheels to allow both rail traffic go across and water traffic go beneath.
The adjacent building was the accumulator house for the hydraulic movement that swung the bridge into a recess in the bank.
And by the way, though I gather the Ulverston canal may be straightest and shortest in England there must be a place for the Arisaig canal in Scotland (below), which is surely shorter than Ulverston, though it has a single slight bend. Which is the UK's shortest?

Towpath Walking in Warwickshire

As previously mentioned, and as described in Four Blokes Who Do Walks,  we have strolled in persistent rain along the banks of the Stratford upon Avon canal near Henley-in-Arden.
the Stratford upon Avon canal is a popular cruising route and one on which Tom Rolt and Cressy made a memorable voyage in 1947, paving the way to the rebirth of canal travel as we now know it.
Most interesting is the design of the split bridge, split in the centre with a cantilever from the bank to leave a gap so that, in earlier times, the rope from the horse towing the boat, could pass through without unhitching.

This is an early canal, started in 1796, though currently not all the boats on it are traditional .... 

... this one, Maid of Fibre, being described as "A sanctuary for knitters".
Elsewhere there are more traditional sights, such as this bridge notice ...

... at Wootten Warwen Basin ...

... and the famous aqueducts at Wootten Warwen ...

... and Edstone ...

... where the boat seen here at the far end of the longest canal aqueduct in England (145 metres) seems fearful of crossing and has swung into the bank in terror!
Not far from here is the Golden Cross Inn at Bearley Cross, where we had a fine Sunday lunch before continuing along the canal and to the station at Wilmcote.

Towpath walking in Staffordshire

We not only boat, we also walk and you can see where we walk and how we're progressing towards our target of walking all the English traditional counties at our walking website.

So it was that we found ourselves in Staffordshire, near the well known canal village of Stone and walking to Salt. Much of the walk was along the towpath of the Trent and Mersey canal, so this was an opportunity for us to compare our eastern region with the traditional Potteries canals.

In summary we like the history, the towpaths and the way boats simply moor up anywhere. Just don't try that on one of the tributaries of the Ouse ....

From a bridge near Aston by Stone

Trent and Mersey at Salt - parallel to the railway

Bridge at Goms Mill

Goms Mill Bridge from the other side

None of these mile posts on the Great Ouse ....

Bridge 83, Sandon, by The Dog and Doublet Inn

Sandon Lock

The Trent and Mersey is a cross country canal intended to to link the Potteries in Stoke on Trent to Liverpool in the east and Hull in the west, which, via the river Trent, it does, curving south wards almost to Lichfield and back up past Nottingham to the coast.

There is a fair smattering of liveaboard boaters here, living more economically than the summer boaters who, like us, have stored their boats in marinas at some cost.

Often liveaboards create their own mutual support communities, but I was warned in all seriousness by someone who knows the owner of the skull and antlers boat (above) that he takes no prisoners and hates people photographing his boat. Fortunately he was either away or asleep when I passed.

It makes for an alarming spectacle. I could see no name on the side. I didn't leave a note ....

How it all started

Just thought it was worth mentioning that, like many of the best things in life, this all happened by chance.
My daughter Sarah wanted to rummage around the Emmaus second hand warehouse near Waterbeach so I offered her a lift. When she'd finished we went for lunch at The Lazy Otter, a pub I'd seen advertised nearby but never visited. Arriving with time to spare we wandered down to gaze at the boats and saw a for sale sign. "How much are narrow boats?" asked Sarah. Not having a clue I pulled out my mobile and rang the number on the sign.
By chance the owner was on board and kindly showed us round.
That got my interest going and led in only a short time to a conversation with my friend John, an engineer now with some time on his hands who himself visited the boat. As it happened this boat was quickly sold to someone else, but he told us of another boat for sale just yards away and that is how Patience came to our attention.
All because Sarah needed a lift. And thanks to The Lazy Otter.

Ready for a Survey

We're now booked in a for a survey with a marine surveyor. We've set great trust in Alan who's selling Patience, but it's important to know the state of Patience's bottom (ouch!) and whether there is any serious maintenance required.
Alan and John will put her into dry dock for the inspection and if the results are favourable we can decide firstly whether to buy her and secondly whether she needs work, such as blacking her bottom. Depending on water conditions a narrow boat may need blacking every two or three years. We must also find out about her "sacrificial anode". This is defined as "An anode attached to a metal object, such as a boat or underground tank, to inhibit the object's corrosion. The anode is electrolytically decomposed while the object remains free of damage." So it sounds like a good idea to have one, though it's tough on an innocent anode ....
And if all that works out we might then get on with choosing a solar panel, changing the sleeping arrangements and winterising her for the cold days ahead. Not to mention paying for her mooring, insurance, cruising certificate and other things about which we currently know little.
But it makes it easier to suggest things for us this Christmas. A little something from the chandlery collection perhaps?