DISCOVER ’s Fifty eight feet of freedomfreedomfreedomfreedomfreedom Slow travel, digital detox and perfectly bite-size walks: why a boat adventure is the greatest family escape you never thought of…

WORDS: NICK HALLISSEY PHOTOS: NICK JONES

he point where we realised it was all working fine was when we forgot TTT that Molly was driving. Molly is 14 and coping with everything a 14-year-old is coping with. Her normal refuges are Nirvana, the PS4 and slightly alarming artwork. She’s usually terrified of human contact, especially when it’s people she doesn’t know. And yet, as I sat with my wife Liz on the foredeck sipping tea and watching the Cheshire countryside float past, we had to kick ourselves to remember that Molly – child of the digital age, bundle of insecurities, emo in training – was at the tiller of a 58ft , cheerily greeting other boaters, and relishing the idea of a walk wherever we stopped. This was a win. She even summed it up with a Nirvana lyric: “I think I’m just… happy.”

I could try claiming that, with a photo: CHANNEL 4 14-year-old and her ten-year-old sister Rosie, we have ‘children at awkward ages’. But I’m  ON DECK, ON According to the Canal & River Trust, there pretty sure if you asked any parent, whether their FOOT, ON TELLY are 2000 miles of canal network in the UK. child be two or 16 or 35, they’d probably say the Nick’s been listening Our manmade waterways enjoyed a brief but to Cat Stevens’ Tea same. When is not an awkward age? But it’s an for the Tillerman; the spectacular working lifetime – conceived as especially acute situation when it comes to Hallisseys in Marbury the ultimate fast transport network, making walking. Fourteen and ten are the ages when the Country Park; and millionaires of industrialists from Somerset offspring really start to know how to rebel against Timothy West and to Strathclyde, before being swiftly superseded the proposition of ‘going for a walk’ (even though Prunella Scales on by the railways. Now they are leisure highways you know they’ll start out complaining but love it one of their Great and conservation hotspots; a means of touching Canal Journeys. before too long). So parents sometimes have to work our heritage in a unique and instant way, and harder to sell the concept of a holiday with walking. just slowing the heck down. This is how we hit upon the idea of the canal boat. Originally an Narrowboating has become a TV phenomenon LET’S GET It’s so beautifully simple: a slower, older way of abusive slang lately. BBC Four’s ‘slow TV’ phase kicked off with GONGOOZLING travelling, disconnected from the road network, term used by a real-time journey along the Kennet and Avon Nick and Liz (aft) pilot with almost limitless options for pausing for canal workers Canal; Channel 4 gave us the endearing adventures their 58ft narrowboat a circular walk. And even more helpfully, for idlers on the of seasoned ‘’. Timothy West and through Anderton, a permanent footpath by the side of the boat towpath, now Prunella Scales; and Channel 5 is teaming up u while Molly and Rosie embraced by (fore) soak up the whenever you just want a stroll or a game or a jog celebrities as varied as Pete Waterman, Anne See the video at boaters such as sights and sounds or some time to yourself. And particularly for Tim and Pru. Diamond and Bill Oddie for canal tours blending walk1000miles/ of waterway life. the kids, just Something Different. light heritage and comic banter. u canal june 2020 Country Walking 73 DISCOVER Cheshire’s canals

 ALL THE COMFORTS OF HOME Lazy times on board Kathryn. Top: A game of Oh Hell in the living area (shortly before it became violent). Above: The girls chilling out in their bedroom.

Those names could all be described without any offence being taken as ‘veterans’. But Liz and I had a feeling that canal boating could easily be a young person’s game too. And so it proved. It’s so beautifully For our adventure, we settled on the gentle river “ country of mid-Cheshire. Two reasons for that: simple: a slower, older way 1) According to our hosts Black Prince Holidays, the Cheshire network is calmer and quieter than of travelling… with almost most of their other bases, and less labour intensive: limitless options for pausing the county being substantially flat, its canals don’t need too many locks. This makes it a great for a circular walk. introduction for novices who might not want to ” deal with a lot of boats coming the other way, and tricky flights of locks. , a 93-mile waterway  STEADY Black Prince offers five itineraries from Acton you feel excited’. True 2) Though we’ve been away for many a year, which opened in 1777, linking the River Trent in AS SHE GOES Bridge. Four are week-long cruises, connecting enough in a car, mega-true Cheshire was home to Liz and me for around 20 Derbyshire with the Mersey at . It was an Left to go right, right with other canals to head either to or in a canal boat of which to go left: getting years each, and it’s where we met and married. industrial super-route, moving everything from used to the strange Wigan, or to complete more complex circuits like you’ve been in command So this was a chance to inflict particular torture coal and limestone to pottery and beer across the world of the canal the Cheshire Ring. But we opted for the shorter for only an hour or so, when on the kids by saying things like “and over there region and on to , and Leeds. boat and its tiller. four-day tour, which heads to and the tunnel is only slightly is where I sat my GCSEs, how about that?” Another of its major cargoes was , and salt , before branching west on the canal’s wider and slightly higher Black Prince’s Cheshire base is at Acton Bridge, is the story of our journey. Cheshire sits on vast  GIN O’CLOCK Middlewich Arm to reach the Shropshire Union than your boat. two miles north-west of Northwich. It’s on the deposits of brine at an easy-to-reach depth. After a stroll on at Barbridge, then turning for home. Thankfully our first the towpath, Liz The Romans mined it extensively; soldiers of does what every But that assumes constant daytime cruising. We encounter – the 424-yard Saltersford Tunnel –  LIFE IN THE UNDERWORLD the empire were paid in salt as it was a prized self-respecting planned instead to pause for walks and attractions, takes some of the fear factor out. From the top of preservative (hence the word ‘salary’), so Cheshire would which meant we wouldn’t get as far as Barbridge. So the hour to 20 past, it’s northbound-only. There’s Steering Kathryn do at this time. slowly and carefully was like the Royal Mint of Roman Britain. The we set Middlewich as our turnaround, and planned then a no-entry gap of ten minutes, and from half through the epic y industry has continued ever since, on a greater or in walks for the way out and the way back. past to ten to, it’s southbound only. Obey the Saltersford Tunnel Even more amil lesser scale. The towns of Northwich, Middlewich, On the first afternoon we made for the village timings and you won’t meet anything coming the just outside Barnton. and are still known as the Salt Towns. tellingly, of Barnton, getting used to Kathryn and managing other way. This concept is common to any tunnel Middlewich’s And this canal linked them all. our first few meetings with oncoming vessels. But with a bend inside it which means you can’t see Roman name So after a briefing and a lesson at the marina from was Salinae. before long, there was a bit of excitement: tunnels. the exit from the entrance. expert boatman Danny Coleman, we were off on the Two of them. The next one, 572ft Barnton Tunnel, is dead salt superhighway, chugging towards Northwich In the early days of the internet, I remember a straight and thus isn’t timed. So we just had to on the stout vessel Kathryn, a 58ft Duchess 4 thing doing the rounds that would now be a Buzzfeed make sure there was a) light at the end of the tunnel, narrowboat with a double bed for me and Liz listicle. It was a list of things that are ‘100% true’, and and b) it wasn’t the light of an oncoming boat.

Additional Hall photos: issey F and twin beds for the girls. one of them was: ‘Driving through a tunnel makes In both tunnels, the atmosphere was richly real. u

74 Country Walking june 2020 june 2020 Country Walking 75 DISCOVER Cheshire’s canals The wonder of being in a boat, in a tank,“ that’s being lowered between the Cool, damp, full of echo and across Budworth Mere. The park is bordered jet-black of a titanic slice of drip; it was fun to reach out by the Northwich Woodlands, a thriving green iron legs and touch the slime and space that has been reclaimed from industry. Victorian bombast is inescapable. mortar of two centuries as So we walked for hours, heading beyond the ” that arch of light at the end of Marbury bounds into Anderton Nature Park the void got larger and larger. and up to Haydn Pool, previously all part of As we passed into Barnton, the chemical empire. Extraordinary. an immense scene unfolded The second half of our day involved climbing. to the right. Here the canal When I first moved to this area as a lad, the hugs the edge of a high ridge Anderton was a rusting hulk, drooping above the valley of the River in a vast basin opposite the smokestacks of Weaver. And dominating . Happily today, this Victorian marvel the valley, glittering in the is one of the great restoration stories of our time. gloaming, is the vast sci-fi Opened in 1875, the lift linked the Trent and clutter of Winnington Mersey with the , its two 91-tonne chemical plant. wrought iron caissons lifting and lowering salt Sounds hideous, right? barges up and down the 50ft drop between the  AYE AYE, But go easy; this place has great history. Founded two waterways. Like a vertical Suez Canal, CAPTAIN by benevolent moguls John Brunner and Ludwig it opened up a transport network spanning Molly at the tiller, as Mond, the site set records and trends for chemical hundreds of miles that would otherwise have she was for most of the journey through production for over a century. It was one of the been stymied by this single cliff at Anderton. the sweet Cheshire founding sites of ICI, and under the Brunner Mond They called it the Cathedral of the Canals.  CATHEDRAL countryside. banner, the company looked after its workers in The lift served its purpose for over 100 years, OF THE CANALS the same spirit as Cadbury, Wedgwood and initially powered by hydraulic rams and later The Anderton Boat Leverhulme. The manufacturing process for by electrically-powered pulleys, until it fell into Lift is an engineering The other is the polyethylene (such as you’ll find in your tent or disrepair and closed in 1983. But after a mammoth marvel. Rosie rucksack) was discovered here by accident in 1933. 20-year financing push by local trustees and (briefly) took the on the Forth And to me it has always looked like something out volunteers, it reopened in 2002, and it is now wheel for a trip in the lift; later we and Clyde Canal of Frank Herbert’s Dune novels or Fritz Lang’s one of only two working boat lifts in Britain. which opened in climbed into the Metropolis, and that’s not too much of a bad thing. Much to the girls’ excitement, we took a down-up 2002. That was upper workings to hear how this a good year for The kids weren’t too bothered by any of that, ride on the lift. Not in Kathryn, as it’s not part of elegant machine boat lifts. of course. But when we moored up and took an our route, but in one of the tour boats run by the evening walk along the canal to gawp at it all, under adjoining visitor centre. I mean it about the transformed the industries of the the fading light of the blue hour, a calmness set excitement; yes it was a delight for a middle-aged north-west. in over us that said we were onto something here. geek like me, but the wonder of being in a boat, in The next day was all about walking. Firstly, a tank, that’s being lowered between the jet-black  WALKS FROM a proper long walk around Marbury Country Park, iron legs of a titanic slice of Victorian bombast THE MOORINGS which (over and above my local-boy prejudice) is inescapable, whatever your age. Opposite below: I think of as one of the best country parks in the Even better was to come. For a small extra fee, Following Witton land. Situated beside the canal in the grounds of those with a head for heights can ‘walk the lift’ – Brook, an adjunct a former estate that was modelled on the parkland a tour into the uppermost mechanisms of the beast, of the River Weaver, on a tranquil walk of Fontainebleu in , it’s got lime avenues, weaving through the former control rooms and the into the Northwich an arboretum, hidden pathways, an outdoor cogs of the old pulley system, and popping out Woodlands. swimming pool and sudden sweeping views on the upper inspection deck for one of the most dramatic industry-in-the-countryside views I think it’s possible to see. I still rank this as one THE MOVEABLE FEAST of my best climbs of 2019, up there with Pen y Fan On the second morning, we and Suilven. If you’re going to scramble up a hit upon another advantage manmade mountain at some point in your life, of the narrowboat holiday. make it this one. Our usual holiday format is Bidding farewell to Anderton, we boarded self-catering cottage rental. Kathryn, left behind the industries of Northwich It’s wonderful of course, but and puttered out into the fields. Here Molly took we can often spend hours over, happily weaving us past the reedbeds and in the morning getting under bridges as we sat, read, dined and chilled. everyone up, showered and Everything was green; the canal like a watery tree breakfasted, tweaking plans tunnel, the neighbouring showing off in and getting out. Here, you crazy meanders. If we felt like pulling over to let one can do all of that while you’re actually moving. or two of the team go for a walk along the towpath, First person up makes tea and starts the engine, second up helps we did so; leapfrogging or waiting as either the boat cast off, and you’re away, making breakfast and freshening up as or the walking party needed to. What a joy this you head for the next horizon. It’s got to be the only self-catering boat-bimbling was: organic, whimsical, fun. I love format in which that works; you can’t do it in a cottage, campervan the word gongoozling but this was something else. or motorhome. Just a thought. Gonmozying. Trampoozling. Gonglezambling. I’ll work on it. u

76 Country Walking june 2020 DISCOVER Cheshire’s canals

 FOLLOW ME  DOWN Rosie normally takes a lot Even if you’re unsure of of persuading on a walk, your lock technique, other but this is Canal Rosie. boaters will always help. Plan your trip walk here SPECIAL OFFER: Country Walking industrial museums in the country. It was the last fleetest of interests in marsh helleborines and dingy For a gorgeous canalside walk readers can claim 10% off a 2021 open-pan salt-making site in Cheshire, and it now skippers, but this was a place to run, sit, babble, hide, in our footsteps, download Lion Salt Black Prince holiday. Choose from tells the whole story of the county’s saline empire. (It seek. For me and Liz it was just headspace. Works at lfto.com/bonusroutes. nine locations and boats sleeping has also won a clutch of awards for the way it does so.) In the evening we went back through the tunnels, You can also find walks at other between two and 10 people. Visit Three of the original salt pans have been restored. ready to hand Kathryn back next morning. The locations including Neumann’s black-prince.com and enter code You’ve no doubt seen recreations of more common handover was bittersweet. We were sad to Flashes by going to visitcheshire. WALK21 at the checkout. Enjoy! com and searching walks.

Mu s eu m orks industries like coal mining and cotton milling on disembark (at least one member of the crew where to your travels, but this is something else: vast square suggested stealing Kathryn and sparking some Getting here eat & drink W alt pans in hot, smoky, low-roofed sheds, with salt being kind of low-speed boat chase) but in love with Northwich is on the A556 Beside the boat lift is the Stanley raked out of a foul briny brew by mannequins (and the boat-walking holiday. We had planned to do between and Chester; Arms (01606 77661, stanleyarms the odd actor), then dried and cut into blocks ready another this spring, bringing the grandparents Acton Bridge is two miles anderton.co.uk) which has a

Li o n S P hoto: for transport to the tables of the world. It’s a this time, until you-know-what happened. We still north-west of the town. canalside beer garden. Serves pub remarkable story, made all the more beguiling by the intend to do it again on the other side of all this. classics like ham, egg and chips  HEAVEN ON Eventually signs of civilisation returned and the fabric of the buildings: a hotch-potch of sandstone This was a trip that turned a Nirvana-dwelling for £11. In Middlewich we loved THE WATER market town of Middlewich built itself around us. brick, weathered timber and corrugated iron, teen into a cheery tillerwoman; turned two the Kinderton (01606 834169, Top: A towpath stroll We passed through the Big Lock (our major lock with the smell of the centuries locked within them. squabbling sisters into friends who walked hand thekinderton.co.uk): pub classics, through the marina posh nosh and the frankly at Anderton (a view endeavour of the trip) and moored up near As Liz said: “It makes me feel ashamed to have lived in hand when they thought we weren’t looking. jaw-dropping Kinderton Kebab that hasn’t changed a Rosie-sized play area. in Cheshire all that time and not to have known this A trip where we rediscovered home turf, saw with spiced fries (£15). much for more than Next morning, we swung the boat round (with story.” That’s a museum that has done its job, I’d say. it afresh, then slept soundly on the water like a century.) only a minimum of farce and faux-swearing) Our final walk was down amongst the leftovers the Gyptians in Rosie’s book. VISITING Above: The and headed back. It was glorious: Molly near- of the salt industry: Neumann’s Flashes. A flash is I’m still working on a pleasing word for boat- The extraordinary scene inseparable from the tiller; even Rosie having a Cheshire word for a body of water created by the walking. I’ll let you know when I get one. Just (canalrivertrust.org.uk/anderton at Salt Pan 1 in the a go in between chapters of Philip Pullman’s collapse of a salt mine, such as when (in the 18th needs a bit more research. BOAT HIRE boatlift) is worth at least half a day Lion Salt Works at We booked with Black Prince of any canal trip, with its superb Marston. Northern Lights, which, as she rightly pointed and 19th centuries) the brine beds of Northwich out, “has lots of canal boats in it”. were so overmined that they flooded and collapsed, Holidays (01527 575115; black- visitor centre and boat trips. We moored up at the Lion Salt Works in Marston, later being used by ICI to store leftover lime waste. prince.com). The company has nine Likewise the Lion Salt Works (01606 bases around the country; others 275066, lionsaltworks.westcheshire which again in my time was near dereliction but That’s all over now, and what’s left behind is an include Ely, Chirk, Lower Heyford museums.co.uk): hands-on is today one of the most implausibly fascinating extraordinary set of habitats. The salt attracts and Falkirk. Our boat was storytelling as it should be. seaside species like knotgrass and sea campion, flawlessly comfortable, and the When we moored up and took while the alkaline soils from the lime beds nurture introductory briefing and lesson more information rarities like fragrant orchid, marsh helleborine clear, concise and friendly. Prices i For more about the UK canal an“ evening walk along the canal… and ploughman’s spikenard. It’s a stronghold for for our trip (based on four people network visit canalandrivertrust. the dingy skipper butterfly and legions of waders, in a Duchess 4 in school summer org.uk and for general tourism a calmness set in over us that said including broad-billed sandpiper and whiskered holidays) are around £1075. information, go to visitcheshire.com we were onto something here.” tern. Again, Molly and Rosie might have had only the 78 Country Walking june 2020 june 2020 Country Walking 79