English Wales Border to Ellesmere Arm

What a chilly start, but a beautiful sun rise as Mick got up to put the kettle on. The sun soon melted away the frost, only leaving the ground in Oleanna’s shadow white and crisp.

Wrapped up warm we pootled onwards. At the side of the canal there was plenty of free fire wood piled up, on the off side for most of our cruise . None of it was suitably sized for us sadly, long lengths of about 2 to 3 ft and most of it quite wide. Some of the logs would need some serious lifting onto your boat, so we sailed by leaving it all for others. We do have my Dad’s old electric chainsaw but it is in storage in Scarborough, not much good there.

At last we spotted a familiar boat NB Zelda. We’d shared locks through Wigan with them back in September and then our paths crossed again on the Trent and Mersey. We’d been wondering if they’d got through the stoppage on the Shroppie at Hack Green as we’d expected to see them further down the Llangollen. We waved our frozen hands as we passed and they waved from the warmth of their cabin.

This next section of canal we both remembered well from our cruise here six years ago. Large meres spread off first to the left and then the right as the canal weaves it’s way through tall tall trees. On NB Winding Down we moored up and I think had lunch on the banks of Blakes Mere. The trees were heavy with green then, today most were bare and spindly, quite a few looked dead. We’ll come back to explore properly and have a lake side mooring for a couple of days. But today we carried on with the sun twinkling through the trees.

Ellesmere Tunnel is only 87 yards long but harder going than most due to the flow of water coming towards you. Our chimney luckily fitted without scrapping the arch of the roof. Once through we only had a short distance to go before arriving at the Ellesmere Arm, which we turned down, winded at the end and found a mooring behind NB Intrepidus (the boat with the woofer that couldn’t wash itself). Both Mr and Mrs Intrepidus asked after Tilly, who came and sat against the curtains showing off to anyone who passed.

After warming up over lunch and getting tonights tea into the pot and onto the stove to cook slowly, we went to have a look round Ellesmere. First port of call the Post Office to check if they do Post Restante, they do, he even printed off their address for me. He said that it should be addressed with Post Restante before my name, suspect this is so that it is easily recognisable, we didn’t know that, but do now. Almost next door was a pet shop, so a spare collar for Tilly was bought. I may swap it over for her current one, the original bell was a bit too weedy so I replaced it with a bell from a Lindt Reindeer, now it is far too jingly! But Tilly doesn’t seem to mind being called Pancer Dancer or Rudolf.

A walk around town and it felt quite deserted, many of the shops closed. When we enquired if it was half day closing we were told that it wasn’t, just the cold keeping people at home. We were surprised at the limited shops but glad to find Vermeulens who make good pork pies. It was however a bit late in the day to buy one, so we’ll come back one morning. After a couple of hours we were frozen again so headed back to Oleanna where the aromas of chicken and spinach curry met us at the door. We only had a couple more hours of smelling it before we could sample it. A recipe we’ll be enjoying again based on the one in my Hemsley and Hemsley cookbook, a few adjustments for things we didn’t have. We also didn’t bother with the cauliflower rice, just brown basmati, yumm.

0 locks, 4.4 miles, 87 yards tunnel, 3 years worth of wood, 0 for us, 1 coal order placed, 1 right, 1 wind, 0 ITV 3, 0 old Coronation Street for Mick, 4 winter mooring spaces, 5 hours cooking, 1 yummy chicken curry, 6 clean bones.

Bridge 37 to Whixall Moss Roving Bridge 46

A chilly and windy start to the day, so with padded trousers and extra layers we pootled along. Hoping for a couple of phone calls I kept my phone out the back with us on charge to the socket on our Nicholsons shelf. The signal was very intermittent but I still had chance to make arrangements with my friend Jaye from Scarborough. The other calls we hoped for didn’t come.

Where we had moored last night was only 500m from the Welsh border, today we were to get as close as we could without crossing it. A line of trees showing where a stream runs is the border for a while. It swings around getting closer, 60m, and then drifts away again. At Tilstock Park Lift Bridge 42 the border joins the towpath. I’m fairly sure that as I walked up to the bridge I managed to stay in England, but any further on and I’d have crossed the border.

For the next kilometre we ran right along the border, the towpath now Wales but the water in the canal still English.

We are starting to make mental notes of road access at bridges, Finesse will be making us a visit at some point so parking and ease of reaching a mooring will be important. Platt Bridge was a possible, but just a short distance further on at Roundthorn Bridge 44 there was a perfect place. Here there are 48 hour moorings and even a layby right next to it. The road not too busy for us to let Tilly out whilst the chaps are with us. The only downside is that the bridge looks like a large slice of Emmental cheese at the moment. C&RT are carrying out repair works to it and have taken over quite a large part of the layby for their works, but there is still room for a van.

By now the wind was quite strong and biting, after an hour and a half we needed a warm up, so we pulled in to have some lunch. Once defrosted we pushed on some more, our hope being to reach the Prees Branch today. We were now surrounded by low flat land Whixall Moss which is part of Britains third largest lowlands raised bog. The 948 hectares are visible from space. There is plenty of wildlife here, but today was not the day to go off to see any as it was so bitter.

The long straight of the canal has one bridge that crosses it, Morris Lift Bridge. Is this a low bridge? Is it a bridge? It has no air only water under it. The roadway actually sits into the water and by eck it takes a lot of winding!

With the wind now quite strong and straight ahead any deviation from straight meant the bow being pushed off line, Mick had difficulty in straightening Oleanna up to come through the bridge. We were soon to arrive at the junction with the Prees Branch, as soon as we turned we would be pushed into the bank so progress wouldn’t be so easy especially with there being more lift bridges. So we decided to call it a day and pulled in at some moorings just short of the junction.

This outside had plenty of sheeps. They all kept running up to one end of the field and disturbing my friend hunting, then they would go back again! One of them had what looked like my harness on, but no-one was holding onto a lead. A while after we arrived so did another boat, this had a woofer with it. Once they’d tied it to the outside the lady gave the woofer a wash with a spray. This is just another thing that proves cats are far superior, woofers can’t wash themselves! Stupid!!

I would just like to say that Tilly’s views are her own and do not necessarily constitute the views of this blog writer. I apologise to any woofer dog owners for any offence caused.

0 locks, 4.08 miles, 2 lift bridges, 1km next to the border, 1 chilly day, 1 slice of Swiss cheese, 4 paw spa, 38 sheeps, 1 marker pen, 1 changed plan for Christmas, 8 snowflakes, 0 more wool, 4 pieces of sticky chicken on the stove.

Whitchurch Arm to Gridley Brook to 1/4 mile north Bridge 37

A cooked breakfast to start the day before we walked up to Sainsburys for a few bits. Pushing off we winded managing not to disturb the ducks. Today would be full of turning around.

At the end of the arm we turned left only to wind at the winding hole so that we could head back to Grindley Brook. Once through the lift bridge we cruised along ready to pull in to pick up some wood. But just as we thought, we’d been beaten to it.

Two boats were moored up along side the mountain of wood which was gradually migrating onto their roofs. We don’t often burn wood, but the odd log late on an evening is nice, so we were only wanting a bit, but we decided to leave them to it as they seemed to be better kitted out than us for log chopping and storage.

At Grindley Brook we filled up with water, disposed of rubbish, I had a shower and we emptied the yellow water tank before winding again at the top of the locks. All we need now is for the coal boat to come past so that we can stock up on diesel and coal. They are due to start their run up to Llangollen tomorrow, so we’ll see them in a day or so.

With all the winding done for the day we then carried on with lift bridges. Back through New Mills where a young lad was transfixed by Oleanna and wanted to know if the bridge was hard work. My answer was ‘Yes and No’. It’s not hard to turn the windlass, but after 49 turns you are glad to stop whilst your boat goes through, only 28 turns to lower it though.

Beyond the winding hole we managed to go straight on and pass Whitchurch Marina. Plenty of hire boats in and I made a note of their diesel at 88p domestic. We’ll be using the coal boat when ever we can, but knowing what else is about may be handy.

Further up another two lift bridges, but nobody to hold up. These bridges give access for footpaths or to moorings, so no big roads to hold up. The sun was starting to get low in the sky so we pulled in along a stretch of armco and let Tilly out to explore. I had a swift walk up and down with her to stretch her legs before she went off hunting somewhere. I wonder how far she would actually follow me if there were no dogs about. She quite happily gallops along behind or in front for some distance. But I turn round before I think I’m getting too far away so as not to encourage her to wonder great distances.

Our mooring is in one of those blind spots for mobile signal. These are likely to get more frequent the further we go. I received an answer phone message from my brother regarding plans for their Christmas visit in a brief glimpse of signal. My text replying took three hours to find another glimpse. Internet is also getting patchy. So if you don’t hear from us for a few days we will still be here, just not in the internet ether.

0 locks, 3.39 miles, 3 winds, 4 lifts, 1 done twice, 197 turns to go up, 116 turns to go down, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 1 clean pooh box, 0 bread, 1 rustic sliced white loaf, 2 scavenging boats, 0 for us, 2 hours in the dark, 1 freezer getting low, 1 margee email, 1 almost but not quite phone call, 5 snowflakes.

Whitchurch Arm

There was certainly the sound of sleet last night hitting the roof of Oleanna, but this morning it had turned to just cold rain and quite a lot of it. Tilly was allowed out to explore whilst we stayed inside by the warmth of the stove, Mick braving the elements for a newspaper. The dry stone wall by our mooring was very soon scaled (this is the cat who managed to climb the high wall in Marple last year) and the vista on the other side was heaven to Tilly. She was gone for hours only to return during a particularly heavy down pour.

The day gradually brightened up, so with some mince, onions and other things gradually cooking on the stove top we ventured back into Whitchurch. Sadly my thought of going to the Heritage Centre was thwarted by it being closed on Saturdays! So we decided to have a wonder around and loiter to see the Christmas lights get turned on.

Today we walked along Chemistry into town and through Jubilee Park. We then had a good look around the town finding the Heritage Centre that we’d missed yesterday (when it was open!). Whitchurch is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire.

Town was packed, today the Christmas lights would be turned on. There was a small fun fair. The local Rotary club had a wagon with a queue right across the street for people to visit Santa. I usually insist on calling him Father Christmas but when someone dresses up as him with a bad plastic wig and beard they become Santa. Being born on Christmas day Father Christmas used to make two visits to my house, one at the usual time when we were all asleep and an earlier one, to my birthday party. So I can tell a fake when I see one.

We soon found a charity shop that had some towels, so we now have a full complement for when Tilly comes in covered in mud. She refuses to wipe her paws on the mats provided and just jumps over them instead! Then we wondered away from the throngs to see what we could see. Some wonderful buildings and others not so wonderful. This is the first time I’ve seen a half pebble dashed house, I’m hoping it will be the last.

Wonderful windows of all shapes styles and sizes.

If you fancy a project there is an old pub that stands at the back of the church, currently it is unsafe so would most probably need pulling down, but what a great site. We stopped off to look in a couple of shops and un-secretly bought invisible things for in a months time.

Back onto the High Street we looked at stalls all showing their Christmassy wares. People were now starting to congregate for the lights. Looking around us we decided that we were unlikely to be amazed at the display, it wasn’t going to be anything like Newarks market square, that was special. Even the mulled wine didn’t entice us to stay another half hour. Instead we headed back to the boat leaving everyone else to have a good time and get chilblains.

More of my goods went on sale today on my friends Etsy shop. Two have already sold, so maybe we’ll be able to afford a duck for Christmas.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 cold wet sunny wet day, 1 dripping cat, 2 extra towels, 1 secret present, 7 hours cooking for mince, 1 crumble, 1 near ruin, 3 days a week, 11 snowflakes, 1 cardie, 2 pairs socks finished, 1 cosy boat.

Grindley Brook to Whitchurch Arm

The water tank was very low after all the washing we’d done yesterday, so Mick laid out our two hoses to top it up. As we’d had the central heating on for a while this morning I used the hot water and had a shower so that we could leave our mooring with a full tank and a clean me. Tilly was back on form as the bath mat was thoroughly murdered! The small amount of white fish had been picked out carefully from the rice she got for breakfast and so far it has all stayed in her tummy, fingers crossed that the system reset has worked. I think I’d like fish everyday from now on, pink food is nowhere near as good!

Before going to bed last night I had found my other type of double sided tape. I applied a layer of this on top of the original tape. The original had stuck very well to the porthole, but not so well to the carry mat. This other type didn’t look that different but had worked with the carry mat on our freezer. So foam layer applied we waited for it to pop off over night. It didn’t! The temperature had dropped over night and the foam had done it’s job. No condensation running off the frame, I just need to add some more bits to the brackets that the window rests on as these were dripping.

Time to move on. Not far, but onto new water for all of us, not much new water, but new. The sun was out making it a chilly but bright morning. We pootled past the Winter Moorers. A short distance on a dog walker was drawing our attention to a large pile of logs freshly cut. He was of the opinion that it was Ash but the tree surgeons further up said it was Elm, much harder to split than Ash. We may go back for some.

A mile on and New Mills Lift Bridge sat waiting to be lifted. This bridge sits at the end of the Whitchurch Arm which goes off to the left quite sharply, not enough room to turn Oleanna in. A short distance further along there is a winding hole where we turned and made our way back down onto the arm. We pulled into one of two gaps as a Kingfisher dashed overhead (our first sighting on the Llangollen), tied up and retired inside to warm up and have lunch before going to see what Whitchurch had to offer.

It’s about a mile walk along what used to be the old line of the canal. There are plans to extend the canal and build a basin on waste land, but this will no doubt take years to achieve. Plenty of new housing is going up. Opposite our mooring is busy with houses being built and then along the path further towards the town there is a new estate. Signs by one house suggest you should ask about the pumping station before you buy it! Maybe there are issues with water levels here.

We had a brief look round the town, sadly we’d missed the Friday morning market but there was still plenty to see. Half timbered buildings, new small arcade leading to Tescos.

Down Watergate Arcade there wasn’t much to see at first, a dog grooming parlour, but then a window that we couldn’t but help stop and look in. This was Powells Pies. Inside there were three people gradually working away making pork pies. A chap, grandson of the original Powell butcher, was raising the hot crust around wooden dollies. A lady sat opposite weighing out the pork then packing the correct weight into them. Another lady sat crimping the lids onto the pies. Ovens lined the back wall and cooling trays were crammed with a sea of freshly cooked pork pies. What a shop window! There was a small sales counter so it would have been exceedingly rude not to have gone inside and buy a pie.

Powells Pies sell mostly at farmers markets across North Shropshire and Cheshire and earlier this year won  a Bonze Medal for their pork pies at the Great British Pie Awards. Mick is looking forward to sampling his pie tomorrow.

Next we found a cross between Boyes and Barnitts (if you ever go to York Barnitts is worth a visit). Colour Supplies has almost everything under one roof, sewing, bikes, skateboards, gardening, diy, bedding, Christmas, paint, lights etc. We had a good look round finding some high ball glasses (down to only two now) and something else that Mick paid for but has immediately forgotten about (Christmas is only a month away!). It being Black Friday we got money off too.

Walking back we popped into the church on the hill, St Alkmunds Church.

In the late afternoon sunlight it glowed and the patterns on it’s large arched windows drew us in to have a look. It is the forth church on this site since White Church was founded in 900AD. It is the first neoclassical style church in Shropshire and was built in 1713. When first built all the windows were just plain glass apart from two crosses made from glass for the previous church. The Victorians had a love for stained glass, so parishioners set about filling the windows with colour. Warrington designed the windows which are very fine. One has been removed for essential restoration in Chester leaving a large scaff tower in it’s place.

A lady busied herself arranging flowers so that the church can look good for the Festival of the Crib tomorrow.

0 locks, 1.02 miles, 1 lift bridge, 2 rights, 1 wind, 1 full water tank, 1st Kingfisher, 0 soya mince, 1 of many pork pies, 6 for the price of 4 and 20% off, 1 chopping Christmas present, 1 much better cat, 2nd type double sided better, 1 dry window, 2 dripping supports!

Grindley Brook

This will not do!!!!!!

So I feel like I needed a bit of a lie in this morning, not feeling like I want to have much for breakfast. Well I didn’t get any anyway!

They said I needed a system reset, again! This meant no food ALL day!!!!!!!!!!

They were lazy, not moving the outside and leaving the inside sat on the services and it wasn’t even that blowy!

Normally when there is no outside moving I get to go out into it and explore, find friends etc. But today the doors were kept firmly closed, all part of the System Reset apparently. Well I don’t like System Resets they can go do one.

As this evenings ‘Ding Ding’ approached I couldn’t find my bowls, they had vanished. So I took their place and gave the floor there a good clean. There wasn’t much to be had just a pink biscuit tucked away right in the corner, a bit stale and dusty. How is an active cat like me meant to survive with no food!

Then she has the audacity to cook something that smelt incredibly nice right in front of me! The smell pulled my nose up into the air and my insides rumbled in protest. Apparently it was fish, I’ve smelt it before but today it smelt even betterer. Still a very empty space where my bowls live and inside me!!!

She said that I’d get to try some fish in the morning if my insides behaved better. Well my insides are starving and I am wilting. This is pure cruelty.

Only one thing for it. I need new crew. Please apply to this blog. Ding Ding serving and outside moving and door opening skills a must along with warm comfy knees and feet required to sit on. The ability to read my user manual is not required.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 boat bound cat, 0 food, 7 long sleeps, 1 tiny miniscule pink biscuit all day, 1 mouth full of fluff, 1 big bowl of fish, 0 bowls for cats, 1 twitching nose, 1 comfy knee to sit on, 1 warm box, 6am wake up, 1 cleaning of floor at least I missed the bed, 3 loads of washing, 2 loads of drying, 1 hire boat moving all day, £800 to hire it next week that’s with discount! 1 short walk, 1 fish crumble, 1 improving Tilly, 1.5 socks, 1/4 water tank, 0 exclamation marks left.

Grindley Railway Bridge to Top of Grindley Brook Staircase

Today started wet and windy, very windy. On days like this we normally have found a place to tie up without too many trees, shame we needed to move.

We gave ourselves plenty of time to move up to below the locks. Pushing off took both of us on the bow as the wind was holding Oleanna firmly to the bank. Below the locks a bridleway crosses over the canal, this is accessible by car/supermarket delivery van. The only down side is that to be able to moor you are virtually on the lock landing. We tied up to the last bollard and Mick found a ring for the stern. There was little likely hood of anyone coming up or down the locks as it was so windy, but we stayed alert should anyone need assistance.

Mick walked up to the garage to meet the delivery chap who was quite happy with our location, although he didn’t want to reverse up the bridleway. By the time everything was on board and stowed away I had done a full step aerobic workout and the delivery driver had decided that he’d go home and persuade his wife that they needed to buy a narrowboat.

Decision time, do we reverse or more likely pull Oleanna back to the visitor moorings we’d just come from, or do we go up the locks and moor above where there is water. We decided on the latter as tomorrow may well be as bad and the water tank was getting low.

It was strangely quite warm but despite the rain having passed over we put full waterproofs on, just in case, they’d at least keep the howling gales out. Two boats had headed up the locks yesterday late afternoon so we wondered how water tight the gates on the locks were. Lock 6 was full, water tight gates, the two above, 5 and 4, almost empty. On windy days like today the last thing you want to be doing is treading water waiting for a lock to be ready. So I headed off once Oleanna was rising to set the next lock and open it. Once open I’d walk back down to close the gate on the previous lock so that Mick could bring Oleanna straight from one lock to the next. But strangely enough it wasn’t the wind that caused the most problems, it was the mass of leaves in the water and the amount of water coming down the bywashes. Leaving locks was seriously hard work.

With Oleanna rising in Lock 4 I headed up to the staircase. There was nobody wanting to come down, not a surprise as no one in their right mind would be moving today! Each of the chambers was full, or just about. This was a bit of a surprise after seeing them empty yesterday. There had also been a comment on a Facebook group about someone having left a paddle up on them which had drained the water. The paddle won’t have helped, but we had suspected that the gates leaked. Maybe when the locks are full the gates seal better (more water pressure) than when they are empty.

The middle lock was actually so full that water was flowing over the bottom gates. Now that had to mean that water was coming from somewhere and sure enough there was a paddle just open, enough to keep the chambers topped up. Mick had now joined me so we set about setting the chambers, most of which was already done. We lifted a paddle on the top chamber to keep that topped up to the level of the pound above and then emptied the bottom chamber. To go up a staircase of locks, you need the bottom chamber empty, then the next chambers above to be full, each one in turn empties into the one below raising the boat so that it can pass into the next chamber when level with it, the last chamber gets filled from the pound above.

With everything ready Mick went back to get Oleanna, she’d been left in the lock below with the gates open. Two very short ponies came out from behind a fence to check what was going on, I wonder if in the summer they sit on the swing and watch the hire boats come and go.

We worked Oleanna up, when the water was level to move from the second chamber to the third it looked like it was a bit low, around 16 inches lower than when it had been full. Would this give us enough water depth to get over the cil into the top chamber? Not wanting to risk it I opened up a top paddle to let more water down and bring the level up. Mick kept an eye on the level and signalled when it was back to full.

Once up we went straight to one of the four water points. Washing machine was filled and the water tank filling as Oleanna rocked around with the blustery wind outside.

Up ahead there wasn’t quite enough space behind the last boat on the moorings for us, anyhow there were a lot of trees. Further along there was space but more trees. So not wanting to go far in the wind we decided that if we pulled back we could position ourselves so that there was space for boats at the pooh sucky machine and lock landing behind us and that we were a boats length away from the first water point. We couldn’t be classed as being in the way, especially as no one else was moving. The weather is meant to be similar tomorrow, we may stay put, but we’ll see.

6 locks, 3 of them a staircase, 0.52 miles, 100ft backwards, 0 25% off, 1 full wine cellar, 1 boat full of essentials, 0 cheese twists, 2 diddy ponies, 1 full water tank, 1 pair socks finished, 1 pair socks started, 3 hours playing in fields, 1 boat hoping not to be in the way, 1st Welsh accent.

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Middle of nowhere to Grindley Railway Bridge

With the weather set to get wet this afternoon we moved off quite early after emptying the yellow water tank. Not far ahead was Marbury Lock which was sat empty waiting for us. Just as I pushed the gates open a boat appeared up ahead meaning we could swap over once we’d ascended.

Just before bridge 24 there were a couple of chaps trying to haul a large branch out from the cut. A chop with a chain saw meant they could haul the section of branch out of our way. It looks like several trees are being felled along this stretch and piles of Boaters Gold are sat waiting to be picked up.

For the last week or so I’ve had an image in my head of a pub right by a lock with a car park on the off side, I couldn’t for the life of me think where it was. Well today we passed through it, Willeymoor Lock and Willeymoor Lock Tavern. Maybe we’ll pass by when it’s open on our way back next year and stop to sample their wares.

We must have been the first through the locks today as below each one was a mass of leaves, then above them there were more, leaf porridge. As I opened up paddles the leaves were sucked through and the whole of the lock became a mass of whirling leaves. Once the top gate was opened Mick fought his way out of the lock. No matter how much power he used Oleanna only just managed to glide out. Even blasts of reverse weren’t enough to clear the prop as there were so many leaves. I reckon we’d have been quicker bow hauling her out!

As the Grindley Railway Bridge came into sight we pulled over onto the end of the visitor moorings, the only boat on them again.

A walk up to the locks to have a look. We have a supermarket delivery booked for tomorrow and wanted to check where we were hoping to have it delivered to. The A41 passes through Grindley Brook and between the first two locks there is a petrol station with a gate that leads to the towpath. Our delivery details were for here, we would work our way up the first lock and wait, helping any boat that came through. But as we walked around a better place to wait was just below the first lock where a van can get to the side of the canal by a bridge.

Here there is a staircase of three chambers. Between April and October they are manned by a Lock Keeper and volunteers, but now they are unmanned. The bottom chamber was half full and the top two were empty. When I say empty I mean that we could actually see the bottom of them. Ideal for checking a bow thruster tube! We won’t be emptying them that much as we go up.

Outside a house by the bottom lock were two large boxes of wind fall cooking apples with a large note attached saying they were up for grabs. Not being greedy I picked up three hoping we had enough eggs to make a cake. The heavens then opened so we retired to the boat to let Tilly out and to bake. I decided to use gluten free flour which has worked out well, however the top of the cake caught just a little bit in the top oven. I don’t know if this was to do with the flour or our oven was just a touch too hot.

Staying indoors whilst Tilly got very wet we deserved a slice of still warm Dorset Apple Cake with a cuppa. Very nice it was too.

4 locks, 3.91 miles, 4 lots of porridge, 1 monolith of stock defrosting, 2 empty chambers, 1 shopping rendezvous altered, 3 apples, more if there’s any left tomorrow, 1 apple cake still warm, 1 soggy moggy.