The writing's on the bridge

I love bridges with old advertising slogans on them. One I remember from when I lived nearer London is the Ferodo bridge; and there were one or two motorway bridges on the M6/M1 with graffiti messages which seemed to be immune from painting out, lasting for years. OK, not advertising slogans, but memorable. So memorable that I can't now remember what they said!

Of course, bridges with words on tend to be photographed more than otherwise similar bridges unadorned by text. No-one cruising the T&M through Burton-on-Trent can miss the Marston's bridge.


And here's a less ostentatious inscription: if you want a bridge that will last, buy it from Mr. Joseph Butler's iron works of Stanningley. 160 years old when the photo was taken, and still (presumably) going strong. This is on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal near Burscough. At least, I think that's where it is: my logging is not very good.


Another bridge from our 2008 cruise on the L&L is Oaklands Mill bridge, Wigan. Not a good photo, and the paintwork on the bridge is very faded.


You can just make out the last three letters of "OAKLANDS", and the word "MILL".

A couple of locks

4th April 2009


My log records that we left our Shardlow mooring at 0745 (must have had a lie-in). It also records that Weston Lock is fierce! Many of the locks at this (Trent) end of the Trent and Mersey have metal flaps which hang over the top gate sluices. I suppose their function is to direct the flow downwards to avoid flooding boats.


(In the interests of accuracy I ought to point out that although the top photo is of Weston Lock no. 4, the bottom photo must be Aston Lock no. 3.)

Sweden in Shardlow

When we stopped at Shardlow back in April I noticed Sweden tied up on the towpath. Its owner, Colin, told me a little about the boat: built of wood for carrying salt. I'd misremembered the date as 1929, but both Jim Shead and the HNBOC give the date as 1926.




Appropriately, the boat is tied up outside a former salt warehouse. Perhaps not quite as iconic as the Clock Warehouse (visible in the bottom picture), but a beautiful building in its own right.

Did Colin tell me that he'd converted the boat himself? Sorry, that's another thing I can't remember.

London's hidden motorway...

... according to Robert Crampton is the Regent's Canal. In a feature on cycling in The Times last Saturday, and on the website, he writes:

The Regent’s Canal is the hidden motorway of cycling London. Well, not so much the canal, as the towpath alongside it. The towpath is quick, convenient, safe and surprisingly rustic. In large parts of the stretch I know best — the four miles or so running from Islington through Hackney and the East End down to the river at Limehouse — you could be in the countryside. Well, countryside with the occasional gasometer, anyway. But I like gasometers.

Cycling is the most efficient way to get around London. Study after study proves it. But many potential cyclists are put off by fear of negotiating traffic. For such people, and the already committed who fancy a break, the canal system is the answer.

He goes on to list a few destinations and routes, and praises the British Waterways Board (sic) for being one of the unsung heroes of urban regeneration throughout the land.

The paper version of the article is accompanied by a picture of a cyclist pedalling through a bridgehole. I wish I could read the sign on the bridge: I wonder if it requests cyclists to dismount!

Two letters from "home"

On 3rd April we cruised from Loughborough to Shardlow. After a week of seeing few boats - and even fewer moving - we found ourselves looking for somewhere to tie up. We got a good spot opposite a boatyard: that's Shadow on the right, by the warehouse. This is probably the nearest our boat's name gets to a canal place: just insert an "R" and an "L".

The nearest I'd been on the Trent and Mersey was Fradley, so, at last, I would be completing the whole of this canal. Shardlow is full of canal interest with its pubs and warehouses. An overnight stop simply isn't enough: one day I will return. We didn't even have time to look round the museum.


Two more letters, R and D, feature on something considerably older than our boat. This is one of the original cast iron mileposts made by Rangley and Dickson of Stone. Phil Myott has a website devoted to these mileposts, yes, there's a photo of all 93 of them.

Probably famous

Continuing my rather haphazard write-up of our "Easter" cruise: after passing Red Hill on 3rd April we were soon turning left on the wide waters of the River Trent. This steamer, with its gloriously bright red funnel, just had to be photographed.


I have only just noticed the viaduct in the background - probably very famous, but I've turned it into an afterthought...

Top Thirty, 2009 week 25

Here is this week's snapshot, taken at 0850. There are 72 entries in Tony Blews's chart. Ten Bob Note, which has hovered around the number 5 position almost from the beginning of the chart in January, has disappeared - voluntarily or forcibly? Clicking on the link gets Error 404.

Update: Alan of Lazy Days reports that he bumped into Ernie today: he has given up the Ten Bob Note blog as it was taking too much time.

1 Jim Shead's Waterways Information (=)

2 Pennine Waterways (=)

3 JustCanals.com - Forums (=)

4 Granny Buttons (=)

5 Canal Photos (+4)

6 UKCanals Network (-1)

7 Retirement with No Problem (=)

8 CanalPlanAC (+8)

9 Jannock Website (-1)

10 nb Epiphany (+1)

11 Narrowboat Gypsy Rover (-1)

12 Derwent6 (+1)

13 Narrowboat Bones (+1)

14 Waterway Routes (-2)

15 nb Lucky Duck (=)

16 Tony Clayton's Canal Photographs (-)

17 Seyella's Journey (+1)

18 nb Warrior (-1)

19 Narrowboat Debdale (+1)

20 Takey Tezey Tales (+1)

21 Water Explorer (+7)

22 UK Waterways Ranking Site (+2)

23 nb Kestrel (-4)

24 Khayamanzi (-1)

25 Google Earth Canal Maps (+1)

26 Working Boat Hadar (-4)

27 nb Piston Broke (+2)

28 Lazy Days (-)

29 Captain Ahab's Watery Tales (-)

30 Herbie (-)

The figures in parentheses denote the number of places moved since the previous week; (-) denotes new entry or re-entry.

Halfie is at number 37.

Why Red Hill is so called

On 3rd April we cruised past Red Hill on the River Soar. This year's IWA National Festival is to be held near here on the last three days of August; I don't yet know if we'll be going. The white bits of cloud in the photo are actually from Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, a 2GW coal-fired plant.