April 12, 2019. 5 Locks, 16 Bridges and What Do You Get?

Posted on April 14, 2019April 14, 2019 by Pete Schloss

Answer: Pints at the Badger Pub.

After breakfast, our Boar’s Head hostess Liz drove us to the local market where we bought provisions. Mostly breakfast and lunch fixing as our plan is to conclude each day with a pint and meal at some canal-side pub. Shopping accomplished, Liz then took us to the Andersen Boat yard where we loaded our belongings and supplies aboard Salten-Fjord, our 61×8 foot “home” for the next 3 weeks.

Items stowed, Ryan and Pauline conducted our vessel and lock orientation. We all received the overview of vessel systems and safety. Thereafter, Chris and Kris received training on operating the canal locks and I attended to my crash (no pun intended) course on piloting the narrowboat. These instructions required our absolute attention, so sorry but no pictures. The entire orientation took an hour after which the vessel was ours!

I remember the day my father “taught” me how to drive. I was 14, the car was a manual shift 1961 Plymouth Valiant, and he handed me the keys and said “drive”. It was a solo experience on the rural roads as he merely walked away and left it for me to figure out the details.

Today Ryan handed me the keys and helm of Salten-Fjord. His instructions were infinitely more compete than those provided by my father 53 years ago. Also, I was sharing the responsibility with 2 very competent women. Nevertheless, that old conjured memory hints at the insecurity that I was feeling. We survived the initial locks and navigational challenges, quickly acquiring confidence.

The newness of the experiences kept us on our toes, but we were able to relax enough to gain awareness of the extraordinary sights that were unfolding before our eyes.

Kris had the presence of mind to take a 3 minute video from the bow that gives some sense of the experience. Here is a link to the video: 3 Minutes on the Shropshire Union Canal

Over the course of 3 hours we successfully navigated 5 locks and 16 bridges. We arrived and made our mooring near the town of Church Minshull, home of the highly regarded Badger Inn and Pub. No sooner than we had securely tied up and Christine and Kris were pouring over the charts for tomorrow’s passage.

The Badger was reached by a perilous walk quarter mile down a narrow country lane. The road was without a shoulder, often presenting blind turns, and the cars approached fast and heedless of our presence. A pint and an excellent Steak and Ale Pie were my reward for a day well and safely done. This is a 45 year dream realized. Although the dream has been mine, the enthusiasm and wonder are shared equally among the 3 of us.

I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the interior and exterior of Salten-Fjord. They appear at the end of this post. We are traversing a rural landscape and finding that internet service comes and goes. These posts my be delayed for that reason.

Tomorrow we continue on towards Llangollen in Wales and the world renown canal aqueduct.

Peace Everyone. Pete

April 11, 2019. Liverpool. A Magical Mystery Tour.

Posted on April 11, 2019April 11, 2019 by Pete Schloss

Our second day in Middlewich provided us with an opportunity for an excursion to Liverpool and gave me a distraction from all things “canal”. Our B&B hostess, Liz, drove us to the rural train station and 30 minutes later we were walking the streets of Liverpool England.

The Albert Dock area was amazing and steeped in the histories of the 18th Century slave trade, the 19th Century Irish Potato Famine, the loss of the Titanic, the sinking of the Lusitania, The War to End All Wars (which it did not), World War 2, and of course the events surrounding the births and careers of Liverpool’s most famous sons, The Beatles.

Liverpool deserves a full day or two to do it justice. We were constrained to a half day, so after a bit of walking and abbreviated museum visits we signed up for the two hour “Magical Mystery (bus) Tour.

We had been urged by a number of folks to do this. Kris and Chris were excited but I confess that I was less enthused, expecting nothing more than “kitch”. I was wrong and now stand counted as another proponent of the tour.

We visited the childhood homes of the “Fab Four”, drove through the neighborhoods they loved, and learned the biographical backgrounds of a number of their iconic hits such as “A Day In The Life”, “Strawberry Fields”, and of course “Penny Lane”. There was so much more, but well beyond the scope of a blog post. Should you come to England then make certain that Liverpool is on your itinerary.

Returning to Middlewich we again walked the canal until we came to a lovely canal-side Pub, The King’s Lock, where a setting sun, picnic tables, and proper cask ale provided an opportunity to relax and make new friends.

The friends were David and Jerri, a couple from a nearby community who are a year from retirement. In preparation they have purchased a motor home and are embracing dreams of monumental travel. Hmmm… sounds familiar!

Finally, at the recommendation of David and Jerri we walked to another canal-side pub, The Big Lock, where excellent food and service provided the perfect end to a perfect day.

Our canal adventure begins tomorrow.

Peace Everyone. Pete

April 10, 2019. Arrival England and Middlewich

Posted on April 10, 2019 by Pete Schloss

As transatlantic coach flights go, this one was less than torture and more than uncomfortable. Imitation seats, imitation food, imitation everything except that the flight crew was genuinely kind, attentive, and able to make the best out of mediocrity.

Happily, our bags were where they should have been and Andy of AK Hire was on time to deliver us to Middlewich.

Middlewich immediately impressed with its small town English charm. It is home to a number of pubs, a very old church, and the intersection of two canals that date to the 1700’s.

We will be guests for two nights at the Boar’s Head Inn, a classic pub/restaurant/Inn where our room for 3 will set us back 75 Pounds a night, including “Full English” (breakfast).**

We arrived at the Inn at 9 a.m., and although check-in was not until the afternoon we were given our room immediately and provided breakfast as well!

Tomorrow the proprietors are driving us to catch a day train to Liverpool. Friday there are taking us shopping to help us provision food for our canal journey. Remarkable hospitality that one would never find under a Hilton or Holiday Inn marquee.

Kris Ashton wasn’t expected until the afternoon and my Christine was suffering an acute lack of sleep. Breakfast done, Christine headed for bed and I headed out to explore.

I found myself drawn to the canal like a magnet! In a matter of minutes I was visiting with the staff of Andersen Boats and viewing our 61 foot long “home” for the next three weeks.

One piece of bad news: A lock on the Cheshire Ring Route has been closed for emergency repairs. However, there is a silver lining to this “cloud”. The alternate route I have chosen includes the Llangollen canal that is world renowned and a designated World Heritage site. It was the canal featured in the July 1974 issue of National Geographic that originally inspired me to Britain’s canals.

I then proceeded to walk along the canal that will be our departure route on Friday. In less than 30 minutes I had struck up conversations with the crews of two vessels and was lending a hand with the locks for Martin and Mary, owners of the narrowboat “Otter”. If half the people we meet are as friendly and fun loving as they seem to be then there will be more journeys like this in our future.

Our friend Kris arrived in the afternoon and happily she is as excited for this adventure to begin as we are. She joined me for my third walk of the day along the towpath. Walk #2 was in the company of Christine. In all, I put in 5 miles “pacing” the canal today like a caged animal. I will let my pictures at the end of this post express the beauty of the day more eloquently than my words can.

Our day concluded with real English cask ale, a marvelous beef stew served with Yorkshire pudding, and a packed pub cheering Manchester United on in their efforts against Barcelona in Premiere league play.

Peace Everyone. Pete

**PS. A full English breakfast at the Boar’s Head consists of juice, coffee, a fried egg, potatoes, two sausages, baked beans, sautéed mushrooms, a generous serving of ham, and (my favorite) black pudding… which is a form of blood sausage.

6 Weeks in England, an Overview

Posted on April 7, 2019April 7, 2019 by Pete Schloss

In 48 hours we depart for a 6 week journey in the United Kingdom. It could be an interesting time from the standpoint of current events, given the evolving Brexit controversy and the eagerly anticipated arrival of the newest “Royal”, possibly on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s 93rd birthday (April 21st). We plan on inoculating ourselves from all things political, and most things “celebrity”. It is our intention to spend each day absorbing the countryside and embracing the hospitality of England’s “commoners”.

An overview of the coming 6 weeks may be helpful for you who wish to follow us. I have borrowed liberally from internet images to provide some visual insights:
We depart Kansas City for a 15 hour transit, including connections and layovers, to Manchester England.

Manchester, pop. 500,000+, is located in northwest England, 35 miles east of Liverpool. It was founded in 79AD by the Romans as a military outpost. It is the third most visited city in the UK after London and Edinburgh. We will reserve a real visit of Manchester for our canal passage through the heart of the old city.

A 30 minute taxi ride south to Middlewich will deposit us at the door of the Boar’s Head Inn where we will enjoy 2 days in residence prior to taking the helm of the Salten-Fjord, our 61 foot narrow boat.

Middlewich is known for its historic salt mining operations which also date to the time of the ancient Roman occupation. Our good friend from Colorado, Kris Ashton, will be with us in Middlewich and for the first 8 days on the Canal. We met Kris in 2013 while walking 525 miles across Spain.

In previous posts I have given an overview of what we may experience following the 90+ mile Cheshire Canal Ring and 100+ mile Four Counties Canal Ring routes. It promises to be a physical endeavor as the two routes present nearly 200 locks that we will have to operate by hand as we navigate the slow waters of 250 year old transportation system. Here are links to the earlier posts:
“A 45 Year Dream Nears Reality”
“Our Coming Canal Journey”

After Kris departs, Christine and I will solo cruise for about a week. We will then be joined for the final week aboard Salten-Fjord by our good Canadian friends, Tom Shillington and his wife Nanci Burns. We met Tom and Nanci while walking 150 miles from Porto Portugal to Santiago Spain in 2018.

Once the 3 weeks on the canals are concluded we will travel to Chester England for 3 more days in the company of Tom and Nanci. Chester, dating back to the Roman occupation, is one of the best preserved Medieval walled cities in Britain.

It is a virtual certainty that we will day-trip to Liverpool, the birthplace and shrine of the Beatles.
Christine and I will wish our Canadian friends farewell as they depart for Italy and we train south the Cardiff, Wales.

In Cardiff we will be joined by our dear Welch friends Huw and Nina Thomas.

Our friendship dates back nearly 20 years and includes a number of adventures, not the least of which were the London Subway bombing of 2005 and a driving tour of Ireland in 2018. We will spend 3 days together in the England Cotswold’s countryside.

Huw and Nina will then see us off in Portsmouth England for our ferry crossing to the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey.

Guernsey achieved recent fame as the subject of the 2008 bestselling book and excellent 2018 movie, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

The Channel Islands are located in the English Channel, near to the French shore. They are small self-governing British Crown dependencies that were occupied by the Nazi invaders throughout the Second World War. Our visit will include 3 nights on each island before an overnight ferry crossing and return to Portsmouth.
Once back in Portsmouth we look forward to visiting the remarkable HMS Victory, the 104 gun 18th Century “Ship of the Line” that served as Lord-Admiral Nelson’s flagship at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar.

Another highlight in Portsmouth is the museum that houses the salvaged remains of the “Mary Rose”, King Henry VIII’s warship that sank in 1545 and was razed in 1982. Her recovery is one of the most complex and expensive salvage operations in maritime history.

From Portsmouth we will spend 4 days returning by train to Manchester for our flight back to Kansas City. On our way back to Manchester we hope to include nights in Winchester (home of Winchester Cathedral) and Oxford England (home of its namesake university, the oldest University in the English speaking world).

We look forward to sharing our day by day journey with you!
Peace Everyone! Pete

Canals of the UK. Our Coming Journey

Posted on March 24, 2019March 23, 2019 by Pete Schloss

Omitting the British canals of the Roman era and those of the Middle Ages associated with the construction and support of castles and monasteries, the dawn of the “modern” UK canal system dates to the mid 1700’s. It coincided with the Industrial Revolution, but whether the Industrial Revolution gave birth to the canals or the canals were the progenitor of the IR is in the realm of what came first, chickens or eggs.

By the end of the 18th Century construction of a remarkable system of connected waterways was well underway. It was the 18th and 19th Century equivalent of the United States Interstate Highway system. At its zenith the canal network of the United Kingdom extended to over 2,000 miles of inland waterways providing the efficient transport of coal, raw materials, and manufactured goods throughout the realm. It was a technological tour-de-force in its day and remains a marvel in the 21st Century with parts of the system declared as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Steam rail service in the late 19th and early 20th Century became the chief rival of the canal system. Train operators undertook to purchase segments of the canals and then raised canal fees to a level that made them uncompetitive. The death knell for the canals was struck in the Great Winter Freeze of 1962-63 when the entire system closed due to ice. Rail service had won its century long battle for supremacy.

Visionaries and conservationists believed that the Canals might again find relevance… not as networks of commerce but purposed as a recreational windfall. In the 1960’s the Inland Waterways Association was founded to restore the canals. This effort was later passed to the management of British Waterways. Finally, an act of Parliament placed the ownership and management of the canal system into the hands of the newly formed Canal and River Trust, a not-for-profit that has been responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the system since 2012.

On April 12th Christine and I will take the tiller of a 61 foot long, 8 foot wide “Narrowboat”, the Salten-Fjord. She will be our personal magic carpet upon the waterways of England for three weeks. During the first portion of the journey we will be joined by friend Kris Ashton of Denver. The final days will be with our Canadian friends Tom Shillington and his wife Nanci Burns.

Narrowboats are… NARROW! Here is a diagram of the Salten Fjord’s interior:

I have borrowed liberally from internet images to present an overview of the canal experience that we hope to embrace.

The interiors of the vessels provide accommodations for sleeping, cooking, bathing, and relaxation. These boats are powered by small inboard diesel engines that are designed to propel the narrowboat at the canal speed limit of 4 mph. Interiors are comfortable if not spacious.

The canals wander across country, connecting villages and cities alike. England is not flat. In order to accommodate the undulating landscape engineers of the 18th and 19th Centuries had to devise systems of locks to climb hills and descend valleys, hundreds of locks. Most are human powered by the narrowboat operators (us!). In some locations there are “flights” of locks, as many as 21 in a 3 mile stretch! There will be no lack of exercise for any of us.

Where the hills were too daunting tunnels were dug, the longest of these being over 3 miles long, pitch dark, and taking over 3 hours to transit from end to end.

In the pre-diesel days of the 1800’s men would hire themselves out as “canal walkers” to propel the vessels through these tunnels using their feet against the tunnel walls and ceiling!

The Anderton Boat Lift, constructed in 1875, still lifts narrowboats 50 feet from one waterway to another. Its 21st Century equivalent, the Falkirk Wheel, looks like a huge Ferris Wheel and lifts boats nearly 80 feet to the connected canal.