Hurleston Locks

A quite beautiful start to the Llangollen Canal

A quite beautiful start to the Llangollen Canal

I fell in love today AND I found another canal to explore (Author’s Collection).

It may well have been the heat playing tricks with my mind. You could also point to the illegal cigarette perhaps or the dehydration after my longest amble along a canal to date. It could have been the six miles (seven?). It may well have been the tremendous fun I had with “Tony” at the safe house at the top of the Locks or it may very well have been the blood rushing back to my aching feet as I finally sat on a bench in the middle of Hurleston Locks. But this place, and on an afternoon such as this was something else indeed, and I may have fallen in love yet again.

I knew beforehand that the Llangollen canal begins its outward journey from here, but I never imagined it being so beautiful. The evening before I had dashed to the south end of the Shropshire Union Canal to capture Autherley Junction and an altogether different Stop/Lock junction that turned out to be. Whereas Autherley Junction was cramped, confined, dated and devoid of life, this morning’s canal stroll took me much further north and ultimately Nantwich and, as I knew the Llangollen canal commenced not three miles further, well I had to find out for myself.

And I fell in love.

It turns out “Tony” (I’m sure he was called this by his three fellow volunteers) and I shared a common link, my hometown of Portsmouth. His parents, like my own and indeed your humble narrator, were all born in this southern coastal city of England and our jokey, smile filled conversation was a highlight of my brief stay. Brief only because I was six miles (at least) into a round trip of twelve and with three miles to go later, I was hanging. But that was for the future.

Hurleston Locks and the beginning of the Llangollen Canal is a beautiful throwback to a more simpler and nostalgically beautiful past. I’ll leave you with Tony’s first words to me:

“Not a bad place to be on a day such as this eh?”

What follows is a “Special Edition” picture heavy representation of Hurleston Locks yesterday, a sun filled afternoon of 8th July 2022 in the beating heart of the English countryside. Whereas I normally paint these pictorials in a strict fashion and in the continuance of the canal as if you were walking it with me, here is a free for all and all around view in keeping with the spirit of a tired and weary man crossing Bridge 97 and just saying to himself “Wow”.

I hope you agree with Tony, and it’s not a bad place to be for a few virtual minutes.

First, my disclaimer:

As per my previous articles on the canals in the picturesque UK county in which I live, I don’t claim to have any experience of either a canal boat lifestyle or the inner workings and trials and tribulations of life on a houseboat/canal boat or narrow boat (whichever you prefer). I just find the peace, tranquillity and the quirky nature of an almost bygone way of existence and determination to live your life in this way, and in a floating house too, endlessly fascinating. I also bask and prosper in the sunshine, love the sights and sounds of canal life juxtaposed with the earthy nature and countryside that surrounds it, and simply discovering a new piece of the canal waterways puzzle never fails to raise a smile on my face. Guaranteed (Guaranteed) to receive oodles of smiles and “Hello’s” and “Good Afternoon’s” from the human beings you meet and watching dogs leap into a canal in search of a well thrown stick or ball can’t fail to amuse the child in all of us.

So much for all that.

*All images captured by me today, 8th July 2022*

The end of a six mile walk from Hack Green (Bridge 86) to Bridge 97 and the “Hurleston Roving Bridge” that greets you for your onward journey to Chester and ultimately Manchester or, left, the beginning of the Llangollen canal along the border between England and Wales.

Bridge 97 or “Hurleston Roving Bridge”.

View from atop Bridge 97 and a perfect summation of the walk unseen until this point, as well as the walk to be seen that follows. “Perfect Timing” moments. The bending nature of this winding stretch of canal in Cheshire. The glorious nature of the now more favourable weather. The wide open nature of the countryside that surrounds this little piece of beautiful. A time capsule of an incredible past.

View from atop Bridge 97 and the commencement of the three mile walk to Nantwich or six miles to my destination of Hack Green, site of a “secret” nuclear fallout bunker.

As Tony said, not a bad place to be on a day such as this!

Shall we go on the Llangollen canal?

A magnificent throwback to a bygone age.

Hurleston Lock Number 4 and a rather beautiful beginning to the Llangollen Canal.

View from atop Lock Number 4.

The first image that greets you as leave the Llangollen canal to join the Shropshire Union Canal.

The first of many beautiful “Perfect Timing” moments from a very busy set of Locks, all manned by volunteers.

View from Lock 3 back toward Lock 4.

View from Lock 3 up toward the final two Locks and the long beginning stretch of the Llangollen Canal.

Another view from Lock 3 and a pleasing image I couldn’t resist capturing.

A final view from in between Lock 3 and the steep incline to the final two Locks of Hurleston.

Lock Number 2 at Hurleston Locks.

View from Lock 2 to Hurleston’s final Lock. My new found friend Tony can be seen leaning on the door of the white Lock Keeper’s House.

Lock Number 1 and easily one of my favourite captured images of recent times. I can see why Tony enjoys himself here and volunteers with the others. Quite beautiful indeed.

Lock Number 1 at Hurleston Locks.

View from Lock 1 and another treasured image captured this afternoon.

Another view from Lock 1 showing the scale of downward slope of the canal with all other Locks visible if your eyes haven’t been dragged to the wide open countryside and perfect weather surrounding this beautiful afternoon.

View from Lock Number 2 at Hurleston Locks.

Another view back towards Locks 3, 2 and 1 at Hurleston Locks.

One more as this particular image pleases me so and a rather lovely memory.

Lock 3 in full working service!

From the final Lock of Hurleston.

Magnificent view back toward the next three Locks of Hurleston and the reservoir hidden behind the hill to your right.

Another pleasing view from the final Lock as you depart from the Llangollen Canal and left, north and onward ultimately to Manchester or right, south and ultimately Wolverhampton.

A firm and favourite image captured this afternoon.

A final view from Lock 4 at Hurleston Locks in the direction of Chester and ultimately Manchester.

A final image from beside Bridge 97 or “Hurleston Roving Bridge”.

Bridge 97 or “Hurleston Roving Bridge”.

A glorious final view from atop Bridge 97 north toward Chester.

A final view from atop Bridge 97 south toward Nantwich.

A final very pleasing image of a beautiful stitch in time in the sun.

Your humble narrator at the 15th and final Lock in Audlem Mill, Cheshire, at the end of June 2022.

Thanks for reading. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this bumper edition of images and a brief moment of time I’ll cherish for a long time to come. Below are three of my most recently published editions within this series of articles on the canals snaking through county as well as country borders, here in the UK:

High Offley to Norbury Junction
Saturday 2nd July 2022medium.com

Audlem to Baddington
via a secret nuclear bunker (yes, really!)medium.com

Autherley Junction
A stop Lock start to the Shropshire Union Canalmedium.com