Many Meetings: Heartbreak Hill?

Wednesday 27th April 2022 at Hassall Green.

While M did the usual daily "domestics" (ie: chores), R took himself back to Lidl for milk, orange juice and bread.

There is a railway line close by and, to our astonishment, we both heard the unmistakable sound of a steam engine approaching. Clouds of steam and the engine's whistle sent the sheep in the field opposite into a panic but, sadly, a large earth embankment prevented us from seeing the locomotive, just its steam rising into the sky.

Later we saw a post that indicated that it had been LMS "Duchess of Sutherland" on her way from the National Railway Museum in York to south Wales.

A family of nine ducklings were perfectly camouflaged in the orange tinted water. M tried to lure them closer with a little bread but Mummy Duck told the ducklings to stay where they were and she came closer on her own to get the bread.

The first lock of the day.

This long flight of locks was known to the old working boat people as the "Cheshire Locks", more recently however, it is known as "Heartbreak Hill", although we have never found it to be a problem. Many of the locks are duplicated with two locks side by side.

About half of the duplicate locks still work but some have been filled in, some are just temporarily out of action but this one was completely overgrown and clearly has been unused for many years. It seems that the (newish) Canal & River Trust felt that a shiny new notice warning people not to use it was a priority. Good thing - as who knows - without the notice we might have been tempted to try to use it! Yes, there is an old lock under the forest on the left.

The blossom has been very prolific this year, particularly the cherry and apple blossom. Could it be another "Must" year?

We had a very "good road" today with every lock either in our favour, or we left one lock as another boat left the lock below us. Really nice to see this working boat still plying his trade on the waterways. In this case delivering fuel to regular customers and narrowboat liveaboards.