The Big Cruise Day 34: Heartbreak Hill

At Middlewich begins the long climb out of the vast Cheshire Plain (not much above sea level) up to nearly the top of the hill upon which stands Stoke-on-Trent. Altogether nearly 40 locks. The old boatmen christened these " the Cheshire Locks", also known as Heartbreak Hill. We take two or three days over it.

The scenery is glorious and we pass through several interesting villages whose Main Street almost seems to be the canal.

Here is one of our earlier locks at Wheelock. Many of them seem to have hardly changed since they were built 250 years ago. Reminds me of those old Hovis adverts on the telly.

[Explanation: Big Cruise Blips begin on 9th April [u](where there's an introduction)[/u] and last nearly 8 weeks with a break in the middle. I am catching up with the back-blipping]