Anderton

Here I am Rune

Distance 2.9 miles

Total 3665 Locks  232 Tunnels

Running total mileage 5489.5 miles

After a pleasant weekend in Northwich we had a short river cruise up to Hunts Lock before returning to the Anderton Boat Lift for the return passage to the Trent and Mersey canal. As when we came down, the slot we got for the return trip was the last one of the day at 3.45pm but since we were only going to moor in Anderton anyway it made no real difference to us.

It’s an interesting structure to come up in and quite impressive given its age and the weight of the caisson (250 tons). Reading the history of it, apparently the way it is now operated is the way it was originally designed, with two hydraulic rams raising and lowering the caissons. The overhead structure with the multiple gear wheels were brought in when the operation was changed to electric power. The problem with the hydraulic rams was that instead of using hydraulic fluid (oil) as is used today, they used canal water which rusted the structure.

Before coming up from the Weaver we sorted out our usual domestic stuff, filled the water tank, emptied the elsans, which is just as well since the elsan at the services on the Trent and Mersey at Anderton are out of use and have been since 27^th June. The next one is at Wheelock by all accounts, which is about 15 miles away.