Stone

Mick hopped on a bike this morning to go down to the moorings below the locks in Stone to see if there were any spaces. There were, but it was really quite windy, so we decided to stay put at the top.

The Food and Drink Festival starts tomorrow and even though it doesn’t go on late the moorings at that end of the town may be just a bit too public. Tilly was allowed out, but she chose to stay indoors for much of the day, she really doesn’t like it when it’s windy.

I have spent much of the day ripping up more sheeting for some more bags. It takes forever to rip, twist and wind my home made yarn and then a few hours on an evening to use it all up. But hopefully I’ve now got enough for the next bag. A few boats have passed us today, but most have pulled up and moored to take shelter from the gusts of wind.

A walk into town for a bag of salad has broken the day up a bit. We have paid in advance for tickets to the festival saving 70p each! So tomorrow we’ll go and see what it is all about and make the most of our entrance fee. Saturday there is a Farmers Market in the main street which will be worth a look at, then we shall move down the locks and out into the countryside. Bagnall Lock looks like it is being manned by volunteers for a few hours a day, so we may not get held up for long.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bike ride, 2 blowy!!!! 1 rain shower, 1 bag salad, 3 colours ripped and ready, 1 mackerel and potato bake bubbling in the oven.

Brook House to Stone Top Lock

Everyone seemed to have woken up at the same time this morning, as we joined in we were at least third in line for Meaford Locks, another boat about to untie said he’d leave it half an hour before setting off. At The Plume Of Feathers the lead boat had stopped to pick up a newspaper, so they then became third.

Pulling in behind NB Campanula I went to help set the lock and see what I could do to help the lady single hander down. I had a feeling I’d met this lady before on this flight as I had deja vu. With her boat lowered she opened her gate and climbed down the ladder to move it on to the next lock. However my gate hadn’t done the little sigh indicating that it was almost ready. I pulled, I pushed, Mick came to help, two bums better than one. Back and forth we giggled the gate but it was well and truly stuck at the bottom. Nothing could be seen, looking down, nothing obvious behind the gate like a log. A third bum was needed before we would have to call C&RT. Mrs Campanula climbed back up and all three of us managed to get the gate to move a little bit. We then closed it again and opened it, our combined force had got what ever it was shifted. Crew from the following boat at first thought that I must be a wimp ‘the beams are short, makes the gates heavy’. But he soon realised that hadn’t been the problem.

The three boats made our way down the four locks with no-one coming up. The lady from behind closed up our lock so that I could walk ahead to close the gates behind the single hander. By the time I got to the last lock, she was down and closing the gates and returned to lift a paddle for us. Very good team work.

We decided to stop for some lunch before working our way down through the Stone locks and by the time we’d finished it was nearly 3pm and the gusting wind was a bit stronger. So instead we stayed put, went for a walk around the town, checked to see if the chandlers stocked an air filter (they do Barrus not Beta). The Co-op were selling butter at a price we’d not seen for around six months, so we stocked up.

In several shops and pubs there were signs up about Stone Food and Drink Festival which is this coming weekend and in Westbourne Park large marquees were being erected. It looks like it might be worth hanging around for, good job we’ve already had our two days alcohol free this week!

To reach our current destination would take us 21 hours and we have ten days to do it in, so we can afford to take things slower and maybe loiter with intent in Stone. When we got back to the boat there was a C&RT stoppage notice saying that at Bagnall Lock there was a broken beam, which until mended would mean that the canal was closed. So there is no point in rushing along, Oh dear!

4 locks, 3.06 miles, 3 boat convoy, 1 stuck gate, 3 bum power, 2 puzzle books, £1 for butter! 1 inoperable gate at Alrewas, 2013 our last hire boat, 1 disappointing mooring!

Westport Lake to Brook House Winding Hole

We wondered what time Harecastle Tunnel opens in the morning as we lay in bed listening to NB Valerie quietly pull away, this is something that doesn’t normally concern us as we rarely do early starts. Heading southwards we pootled the next couple of miles. Passing Stoke Boats we wondered how Oleanna would have turned out if they had built her, they were a very close second choice. Past Middleport Pottery which now seems to be thriving with it’s tea shop, guided factory tours and it is where The Great Pottery Throw Down is filmed. One day we’ll actually stop and go round one of the potteries.

Arriving at Festival Park Marina we pulled onto the pub moorings. Mick made his way to B&Q for a bumper load of kindling whilst I walked up the hill into Hanley, just over a mile. Once past all the modern retail I realised I’d been here before years ago whilst working at the New Vic, their costume and furniture store is off on one of the side streets. Every now and then a building would stand out from the masses. The Quality Hotel looked like it had recently had a coat of white paint, soon followed by one building not needing any paint, the terracotta Telephone Buildings. Built about 1900 it replaced the original telephone exchange (handling 200 subscribers) and by 1904 it had over 2000 subscribers. It was itself replaced by a standard concrete exchange just beside it.

My visit was to buy some more fabrics and wool at my third Abakhan shop. This would the last heading south. But it seems that the population of Hanley would rather knit with acrylic than wool, so none of the yarns I was after were stocked. I did however manage to pick up a couple of new colours of sheeting for bags and three foam pads so that I can add a more substantially comfortable top to our stools on Oleanna.

Taking a slightly different route back to the boat I passed a wonderful, uncelebrated 30’s shop front and then found a good art shop which was surrounded by graffiti.

Back at Oleanna we decided to head straight on down the T&M. Our original plan had been to turn up the Caldon canal where there is a stretch of low bridges for Chimney Test 2. There being no winding holes close by should we not be able to continue, lack of bow thruster and the gusting wind all added up to this being a bad idea. Maybe we’ll have time when we head back north in four or five weeks time.

With hand cuff key in hand I hopped off to work Summit Lock, however the locks have been removed. There only being a couple of feet of water in it I set it for a boat coming up the lock below. NB JoJo were out for a weeks cruise, making the most of holiday from work, they are on the verge of becoming full time live aboards, but just need to take the final leap and hand in their notice at work. The lock below had been left for us with top gate wide open. As our lock was emptying I saw a lady come and she was just starting to lift a bottom paddle when I shouted for her to hang on, she quickly noticed and closed it again. We’ve all been there, every lock set against you, only two more to go before you can put the kettle on and have a sit down. It turns out that Mr Celtic May reads our blog and I think our paths may have crossed once before when we were yellow and they were brand new on the Leicester Section after Crick Boat Show last year. Enjoy the Four Counties.

We continued to work our way down through the locks meeting several boats coming up. The house (with barking dog) at the last lock seems to have an epidemic of cars. When we first came through Stoke there were one or two, then a couple more, now at least eight which spill out onto the road. Past the familiar sights of Shufflebottoms and the ‘Tackle and Bait, Air Guns, Archery, Boats and Engines, Country and Western Line Dancing’ Do they use the dancers as moving targets on the shooting range we wonder?!

At Trentham Lock we caught up with a hire boat that was having serious difficulty moving out of the lock. They had what seemed to be a duvet around their prop! A volunteer greeted us, very jolly young chap who reset the lock and helped us down. We’ve not seen a Lockie here before, he said that he likes to move about and had his bike beside the lock.

As we passed the Wedgwood Factory I tried taking a photo of the knitting I’d been doing out the back, but sadly without getting into serious camera settings and sitting still it wouldn’t work, not enough depth of field (I think). To honour the Potteries and especially Wedgwood I’d started on some blue wrist warmers, in Wedgwood Blue.

This evening Tilly has been very busy, her hour of shore leave turned into four! I got really quite worried as I could hear a fox constantly not that far away. It was only making that stupid noise because I was on it’s case and wondering if I could carry that much back home!

6 locks, 8.15 miles, 1 straight, 1.5 hours turned into 3, 1 hour turned into 4, 1 blog reader, 8 cars, 1 new front end, 1 jolly Lockie, 1 cat wary fox, 1 big mouth full.

Red Bull to Westport Lake

It still being very calm by the services we planned to move on today. But first we had our shopping delivery, the chap turned up bang on 9.30am the start of the slot.  Now everything just needed stowing! The back steps had to come out (time the cellar had a sweep) so that I could make the most of the available space under there. We are now back onto trying to have two dry days a week so our supplies should last us a while.

After another load of washing was done and dried in the services, yellow water tank emptied, I’d had a shower and we’d topped up the water tank we were ready to move onwards. Above the first of the last three locks it was quite blustery, we must have been quite well sheltered below.

At Red Bull Top Lock Mick pointed the bow of Oleanna to the port side lock, even though it was full. Below the two locks is a road bridge which slopes, the port side lock having the lower opening. A few years ago we came down this lock on our shareboat NB Winding Down and had to quickly put the breaks on as the chimney was too high to get under the bridge, Mick removed it and we carried on. So today we wanted to try out our new fixed chimney here.

With the cap removed from the top it is just about level with the horns. These sailed through with inches to spare as did the chimney. Chimney Test Part 1 PASSED.

If we have enough time we’ll divert our route to check on other low bridges that we’ve come across. If we get stuck we need to have enough time to be able to reverse to a winding hole, which of course are not close by!

Once we were up the other chamber we carried straight on to Harecastle Tunnel, resisting the lure of the Macc. Soon a boat came towards us, had we timed this well? The tunnel is one way traffic and the direction of travel is controlled by C&RT tunnel keepers. With the chance that we might be able to go straight through I grabbed our life jackets and big torch so that we could be ready. One boat was just starting to enter the tunnel and the keeper walked up to meet us. He could see that we’d been through before, he checked our tunnel light and horn were in working order and then asked us to pull up in the mouth of the tunnel. Even though we were prepared and had been through before, he still needed to go through what to do in an emergency, make sure it was fresh in our minds. He did complement us on our perfect timing, any earlier and we’d have had to moor up and wait, our arrival gave us just the right distance to the boat ahead so that we could enter. Any later and we might have had to wait for any boats coming the other way.

I’ve written about the tunnel a few times before, so here is a Link to Wiki about it. With our new super doper torch on at the back we are seeing things that we’ve never noticed before in tunnels. Today we saw the skeleton and Hull Rag Week graffitti, nothing new there. But on our port side we noticed what looked like tiles in the wall marking every hundred yards, counting upwards towards the southern portal. The meter marks are on the starboard side and count up to the centre point and then back down again. The lighting wasn’t good enough to be able to get a photo. Stalagmites of different colours hang from the ceiling, the best looking like they’ve been made from black treacle.

Once back in the sunshine we cruised on to Westport Lake where there was plenty of mooring free. We managed to tag onto the end of the 48hr VM. Once settled I realised that the boat in front was green, could this be Jaq on NB Valerie? Earlier in the day I’d read her latest post which said that she had moored here but would be moving off. A quick look at her blog to find a photo, the plants and wind chime in the well deck were hers. On his way back from sussing out the services Mick got chance to say hello and have a chat. Hope your trip up onto the Macc is a good one Jaq, enjoy the bridges, sorry I didn’t get chance to say hello myself.

With the stove lit tonight we made full use of it, jackets in next to the coals and a pot of chicken stock gently simmering on top. I think this is our first go at jackets with our Bubble stove, next time we’ll leave them for longer or have a bigger hotter fire going. It takes a while to get used to a new stove.

3 locks, 3.68 miles, 1.68 miles underground,  8 boxes, 1 load washing, 2 new fans, 1 empty yellow tank, 1 straight on, 1 blustery day, 2nd and last in the tunnel, 2 many people, 2 much grass not enough friendly cover, 2 jackets, 1 homemade pie, 2 glasses water, 1 bag base crocheted.

Red Bull

Today was a very very good day. They only moved the outside a little tiny bit after the boat in front had moved off, this was something to do with being nearer the tap. The stove was warmed up and as they settled down to a cooked breakfast the back doors were opened up and I was given the morning to explore. There was still plenty to see, pounce on, climb, smell and scratch. Whenever I came home I was allowed a few treats, today though they weren’t Dreeeamieess, today they came from a pot with ears just like mine. They were very tasty, so I made sure I came home often to get some more.  If this is what Birthdays are like then I’d like to have one every day please.

Whilst Tilly spent much of the day outside we celebrated her 2nd (or is it 24th?) birthday by having a cooked breakfast. A walk up to Tescos got us out, mainly so that we could get a green vegetable to go with our roast this evening and buy the Birthday Girl a present. There wasn’t much to chose from, but three new brightly coloured mice were rolled on, licked and killed before Tilly was back out reducing Red Bull of their real mice population.

We had been expecting a storm today, but it never seemed to arrive. Not much rain and only a couple of gusts of wind that might have caused difficulty moving a boat. Maybe we had found a sheltered spot and a few miles further north it was blowing a hoolie! But with shopping arriving in the morning we weren’t going to move anywhere.

Mick didn’t bother getting his waders out. Even though the towpath is on the right side to check out the bow thruster tube the bank side is very high. When we arrived there was getting on for a two foot height difference between the orange water and the towpath, far too high to be able to get out. The levels on this pound fluctuate quite greatly. This morning we could open our hatch, but by mid afternoon the level was two foot lower again.

Our bedding has all been washed and then dried in the service block here. The tumble dryer was very efficient as it only took one go to get everything dry. I finished off my second pair of socks and then started to rip up more sheeting for the next bag creation.

0 locks, 60 ft, 2 or is it 24 year old second mate, 8 hours! 4 lots of treats!, 1 girl mouse, 1 boy mouse, 1 transgender mouse, 1 load washing, 2 pairs complete socks, 3 colours ripped and ready, 2 deep for waders, 2 ears fresh corn, 0 taste! 3 monthly wormer and flea postponed til tomorrow.

Thurlwood Bridge to Red Bull

Mick got a bike out this morning and cycled up to the shop at Rode Heath for a newspaper so that we’d have one at breakfast time. It was quite damp, but by the time we were ready to move off it had dried up.

At the first lock we had the choice between two chambers, here we checked Oleanna’s width in the narrow one. Boats over 6ft 10in wide should not use this lock as it has quite a few bows in the sides. We took it steady, just in case but ended up not having to breath in at all, which we knew anyway. So we should fit through the bottom lock onto the Llangollen later in the year.

The water from the next lock being emptied announced that there was a boat on it’s way down, so we left the gates for them but I was too late to attract their attention to leave the gates for us. Thurlwood Lock isn’t one of my favourites as it has a gate paddle that is surrounded by a very large metal box, this makes it cumbersome to cross the top gates and when one of your hands doesn’t grip how it used to I’d now rather walk round. But today it gave me another reason not to like it.

I opened the bottom gates, once Oleanna was in I went to close them. They are angled in such a way that they need a good pull/push to get them past their balance point (for want of a better term) to be able to close them. I pulled, then climbed over the gate to push as the beams overlap the lock bridge. I pushed and thought I’d just got it, when it decided otherwise. The damp wooden bridge and my walking shoes repelled each other. I had enough time to wonder if trying to regain my footing was worth while or would that just create a Wile E. Coyte moment. Then more pressing thoughts of getting limbs and arms out of the way of  bridge railings and lock beam took over. Leaving the slippy bridge slightly cleaner than when I arrived I escaped with only a soggy bum.

At Lawton Locks I set a chamber for us and then topped up the one next door for a boat coming down. I opened their gate and they did ours and then one boat rose as the other went down, a perfect use of these locks with both boats helping each other. As we reached Halls Lock 49 we considered stopping for Mick to try the bow thruster again. We’ve moored here twice before. The first time was on a hire boat in 2008 with Mick’s sisters Kath and Ann for company. We woke in the morning to snow, so today we decided we carry on and avoid a chilly night.

Church Bottom lock was full with a boat coming down the top lock when we arrived. There is a short pound between them which you may or may not be able to pass in. We helped them down and left the top lock ready for us. Soon after we’d started our ascent a lady appeared above, looking puzzled at what we were doing. With no other boats around it made sense to us. Then as we moved from one chamber to the next a boat appeared below, the crew waited to man the bottom lock for the next boat to come down. More boats arrived, whether it was best to do one boat up, one boat down, or a few in one direction was up to them. The pound above was very high, brimming over the towpath in parts.

As we passed the dairy farm and NB Mellow, I took my usual photo. We love Oleanna but this photo will never ever be the same as it was with Lillian.

Clearing the last but one lock to Red Bull I could see that major works were happening at one of the locks, so only one chamber would be in use. As I walked up to check on mooring space above the last lock I could see that a boat was stopped and moored in the entrance to the working chamber. It was a Middlewich Hire Boat, just what were they doing? It turned out that they were waiting to tow another of their hire boats that had broken down on the Macc which was just about to be pulled into the chamber to come down. With plenty of space by the C&RT offices we moved up to the next pound. Here we could moor on rings and weather out the forecast storm, do washing, top up with water and get it dry at the services and have a supermarket delivery.

Whilst outside it rained for most of the afternoon we did our shopping, chased and caught a Tilly friend, moved Tilly’s towel from seat to seat to minimise muddy paw prints, lit the stove and stayed cosy.

11 locks, 2.82 miles, 1 near Looney Tunes moment, 0 anti slip on bridge, 0 damage done, 0 snow, 4 in the queue, 0 yellow anymore, 1 boat on tow, 4 soggy brilliant hours, 1 friend trying to get cosy under the sofa, 4th sock complete, 1 wine cellar needing sorting, 25% off wine!

Anne’s Bridge to Thurlwood Bridge

The aim for the day was to start climbing up the Cheshire Locks, Heartbreak Hill, with the hope of reaching Lock 49 Halls Lock where the tow path changes sides. Here Mick would be able to check out the depth of the canal before deciding whether to don his waders again. Yesterday, as there had been nothing noticeable around the bow thruster prop with a pole, Mick decided to try another fuse in the bow thruster. A quick blast of a second worked, but when he tried using it for the third time it didn’t sound so healthy and blew the fuse again! So what ever is stopping the bow thruster from working hasn’t disappeared by itself. We only have one last fuse left.

A couple of boats passed us in the rain as we had a leisurely breakfast, we had no intention of getting wet. The rain stopped around 10am and the skies were brightening up by 10.30, so we pushed off. Wheelock water point was full with a boat, pulling another boat that was pulling another boat. Glad we didn’t need water so we could be ahead of them in the locks as it looked like they would need two. A short distance on was NB Seyella, they passed us last year on the Leeds Liverpool when we were on Lillian. Geoff was about and we wished him good luck running the Manchester Half Marathon next month.

We gradually worked our way up the locks. Obviously there was a boat or two ahead of us as even though the locks are mostly paired they often were both full. But boats soon appeared coming down resetting them for us. One Viking Afloat Hire boat had a crew with yellow t-shirts on to match the livery. Maybe they always hire yellow boats. By now the sun was out and extra layers were not needed, a good day to be doing the locks.

One boat coming down told us that three single handers were following them, so leaving a gate open would be helpful to them. I passed this onto Mick as it would be him closing up the locks after Oleanna had risen, as I would have gone on ahead to the next one. We don’t mind leaving gates for boats that are in view, but you never know if people have stopped for the day or a pint. A helpful chap walking the towpath in Berko once told us that the coal boat and butty were on their way, so to leave the gates for them, they turned out to be half a mile away and winding when we got to them. As I walked ahead I said I’d signal if someone was on their way down, but no boat was insight so Mick closed the gate.

By lock 59 you can see the M6 ahead. The red shoulders of the helmsperson in front of us could just be seen passing under the bridge of stationary traffic. These were then replaced by white shoulders coming towards us, so I topped up the lock next to ours and opened the gate for them, by the time Oleanna had risen the second of the single handers was arriving, so at least we helped them there. At Lock 58 two more single handers were working their way down, so I closed the paddles and gates for them both so that they wouldn’t have to stop. Mick has never believed me that there is a pink church here, so here it is in it’s corrugated glory.

The cafe/shop/house at Lock 57 has been sold since we last passed and the 57 varieties tin sign has gone. Pausing for some lunch we decided that we should stop earlier than planned, the second mate didn’t get to go out yesterday so we could try to make up for that today. Another two locks before a long pound, our ideal mooring had already been taken. Second choice ended up being rejected on Cat Health and safety grounds, then we managed to get into the side a short distance away from the next lock. We could have carried on to Rode Heath where there is plenty of mooring, but there are also plenty of dogs.

Just as we got the pram cover up and opened the doors for Tilly the heavens opened, sideways. Tilly rushed back in to inform me of the situation leaving her damp paw prints everywhere before turning and venturing further afield. I then gave the floors a good wash.

This evening I had a message from my friend Julia saying that she would like some more bags as the three I sent have all sold to one lady in Dallas. Good job I got some more fabric in Manchester, looks like I’ll be ripping it up sooner than originally thought.

12 locks, 4.28 miles, 1 leisurely breakfast, 0 puppies, 2 questions answered, 3 familiar boats, 4 single handers, 0 mph on the M6 eastbound, 0 varieties, 3rd mooring lucky, 4 whole hours! 3 bags sold, 1 sad gits squash risotto, 1 fantastic sunset.

Bramble Cuttings to Anne’s Bridge

A slight mist in the the cutting this morning gave it an ethereal feeling. But Tilly was more captured by the squirrels busily hoarding the acorns to take in the atmosphere. I’d just like to point out that Max can only stay here for two days, where as I can stay here as long as I like.

Surprisingly we weren’t kept awake by too much falling on the roof over night. Luckily any apples that fell missed us, however the roof had a good covering of leaves that needed sweeping off before we got going for the day. The apples were tantalisingly close, so Mick tried to pick some with the aid of the boat hook, sadly those that he dislodged just fell into the cut to gradually drift by.

We were soon below Big Lock and filling with water after dropping off rubbish at the recycling centre. A boat came past, but as we didn’t know how long it would take to fill the tank they carried on up without us. Big Lock had to be closed last week for them to mend paddles, this must have been what held Blackbird up, apparently tempers frayed when a boat seemed to try to queue jump. However today there were no queues and we soon got moored up to be able to go shopping. The fridge and freezer were just about empty and with only one apple and an onion we desperately needed to restock. So we filled four bags at Tescos and plan to have a delivery somewhere in the next few days.

The Middlewich Locks were manned again by volunteers. We had to wait for one boat to come down before we could start our journey up and swapped each lock passing a boat in each short pound. When we reached the top there was another hire boat waiting to go down with another boat pulling in behind. This boat was very familiar. I walked up to say hello to Pat and Roy AKA Mr and Mrs Blue Boat. Our paths have crossed over the last couple of years on the Huddersfield Narrow, Stainforth and Keadby, last winter up on the Macc a few times. They of course didn’t recognise us as we are no longer yellow. At first Pat thought we’d had Lillian repainted, but then the penny dropped that we were on a new boat. A quick chat and introduction before we were on our way again up to the junction.

Here is very familiar territory to us. The junction was quite quiet for a change. There was a boat treading water in front of Kings Lock who moved out of the way for Oleanna to come past, it turned out that it was Pablo who had been the caretaker at Bugsworth Basin last Christmas when we were there. It being a sunny afternoon there were plenty of people watching at the lock with pints in hand and the queue at the Fish and Chip shop had already started even though they weren’t open yet.

This next stretch is the one that we did most on our shareboat just after picking her up from Elton Moss. All very familiar, but something was missing. The swans! There used to be a huge mass of them in this next pound, a fence was erected to keep them off the road, but today not one! Well there was just one a short while further along. The Thai Restaurant at Rumps Lock is actually open now. The building was having scaffolding removed. Over the years we’ve seen most of the building reroofed and have various makeovers, reviews seem to be good for the food, I wonder if any boaters have eaten there?

On up past the new housing estates to Nice Lock. Lock 67 was more often than not our first (and last, nasty!) lock on picking NB Winding Down up from base. So it was time to introduce Oleanna to a lock. They seemed to get on well.

It was now getting late and did we want to risk reaching Wheelock and there be no room. The towpath opposite the old Carefree Cruising base  is being upgraded and is closed, so we decided to push on further. The moorings all look rather sad on the off side and a static caravan sits where the office used to be. At the end of ‘Arties backyard’ now stands his new house/mansion, with circular lawn and upright swimming pool. All very smart, just let down by the overgrown surroundings.

We pulled in a bit of the way after the railway bridges and the line of mooring rings. We’ll sit the rain out in the morning before starting to make our way up the locks.

9 locks, 6.9 miles, 1 straight on, 1 last broad lock this year, 0 apples, 21th, 2 boxes wine, 1 blue boat, 1 caretaker, Lock 67! 2 introductions, 1 mansion, 7m circular lawn, 1 sad old base, 1 wild mooring, 4th sock started.

Marston Bridge to Tilly Bramble Cuttings

As we passed the chemical works this morning it seemed as though they were dismantling parts of it. A large crane was waiting patiently for the next section and a large gap had been cut through the pipe filled structure. Last time when we passed there were chaps painting one of the pipe bridges and there was still plenty of steam rising, so it is still operational.

At one of the flashes work was continuing on building a new marina. Pile driving for pontoons was happening and there was the start to a building. It seems to be a one person development, so no wonder progress is slow. In years to come this section of the T & M will change, with HS2 and a new marina. We’re glad to have known it as it was and enjoyed mooring over looking the expanse of water that will, eventually, be filled with boats listening to the high speed trains.

Up ahead we could see a boat that seemed to be having some trouble in the wind. He had plenty of revs on, but was making very slow progress. Maybe something round his prop. At the next flash Mick put his foot down and passed with ease, dawdling in the wind at tick over was proving tricksy. The chap said his boat had a poorly engine but didn’t need any assistance, really hope they aren’t heading far as it’s going to cost them a fortune in diesel!

Under Bridge 177, Murder Bridge, and around a few twists. There was Bramble Cuttings, two boats were moored up leaving a space for Oleanna in the middle. We pulled in and looked upwards. Three trees overhang this mooring, an Ash (no problem), an Apple (tasty) and an Oak (full to the brim with acorns!). I’ve not really noticed the amount of Oak trees on the northern part of the T & M before, but at this time of year they remind you of their existence. Cruising along we’ve had acorns plopping into the cut all around us. At the stop lock you couldn’t help but crunch them under foot. Here they will be dropping on our roof.

We filled the afternoon quite happily. Tilly was in heaven, plenty of trees to claim, friendly cover and holes to put her arms down. I collected some kindling to dry out before returning to some knitting and Mick decided to have a go at clearing the bow thruster.

Now that we are moored port side in, it is easier to reach the prop of the bow thruster as it is off centre in the tube. Mick lay on his back to undo the nuts that hold the grill in place, looking like he had a problem. His tongue was working very hard! How he wished we had a weed hatch for the bow thruster. With one nut undone and the other partly undone he could move the grill out of the way to gain access to the tube. Using the prop mate he couldn’t feel anything around the prop, getting closer would help. Time for the waders!

Now I did ask if he’d like assistance with them, I could see a life jacket moment coming, with twisted straps, but he said he was okay. They did look odd, then I realised that he’d got the strap that stop the braces from slipping down your shoulders at the front instead of the back. He checked the depth of water, really quite deep, sat on the edge, but then stopped. If he got in would he ever get back out again? Would he have to walk to find somewhere shallower to be able to climb out? Would the depth of water mean that as he leant over to access the tube that the waders would fill up with water? All these questions, only one solution, that was not to bother today. Maybe we should head back to the Lancaster where the depth of water wouldn’t be a problem at all.

By late afternoon it started to rain, we lit the stove and spent the evening listening to the pitter patter of rain on the roof along with Donk, Donk! DONK! from the acorns!

0 locks, 5.99 miles, 1 driven pile, 1 slow boat, 0 woofers at the cutting, 1st pair of socks, 5 hours, 79 trees climbed, 32 holes explored, 1 bow thruster hole unsuccessfully explored, 1 pair waders, 2 nuts, 75537499 acorns on the roof!