Anderton Lift to Higher Walton on the Bridgewater

Early start today as we wanted to get through the three tunnels we had in front of us.. These tunnels are one way and you get a passage every hour or half hour depending on whether you are travelling north or south. We had been told they were low and very tricky, so the chimney was removed before we set off.

It was a nice cruise up to our first tunnel the Barnton tunnel, it is only 60 yards long but you can only just see the other end for it kinks inside.. 

We had to wait 15 minutes as we could only pass on the hour and 10 minutes after.

We took a slow approach as it did look low and tight, it was a bit of a challenge, but we got through safely, with no damage.

Our second tunnel was Saltersford tunnel and this one you can's see the other end on entry, but is only 424 yards long.

This has a very tricky kink right in the middle, as when built it didn't meet, and they had to make some adjustments. On the roof you only have a foot to play with and it does strain your eyes looking at the arch of light the lamp makes on the roof walls, where normally you can use the chink of light at the end of the tunnel, to guide you straight.

It was then a nice pleasant cruise for an hour to the last tunnel and the end of the Trent and Mersey, where there is a stop lock which is only 6 inches deep.

We noticed this little fella had got a bit lost, but found his mum with a little help from his friends.

This is Preston Brook tunnel and you can also only go through on the hour. We had timed this one to perfection and lined up to go through, it looked very pretty with the house over the top of it.

The tunnel is 1239 yards long and takes about 25 minutes to get through, this was also low and tight and very tricky in places, and as it got lower and thinner concentration levels had to be high. There was a sigh of relief when we come back into daylight and we were now on the Bridgewater canal.
The Bridgewater seemed wide and also deep as we got to the Runcorn arm, which we decided not to do this time.

We stopped at Midland Chandlers where we picked up some Oderlos for the toilet and then carried on past some fantastic scenery.

Strange we saw this crow with a fish he must have stolen.

We took things nice and steady looking at all this new territory to explore.

We soon got to Moore where we stopped to post a letter at the post office.

Then we made our way up to Higher Walton where we thought we would call it a day.

Oh and Tooty, Yep he was back to his old ways of mice catching, yep he was in his element..