Canal Central to Ellesmere Arm

The rain lashing down on the roof this morning suggested that we were going to have a very wet day, normally we’d take our time over breakfast and see if the sun came out. But today there was no choice, with a booking to go back up Frankton Locks we needed to get a move on. Canal Plan suggested it would take us three hours and by the time we’d had breakfast and pushed off it was almost 9.30am.

Maybe we should have moved up to the services yesterday to fill the water tank to help bring the stern up a bit. But we had passed it by the time we realised that this might help. Crawling along especially through bridge holes we made slow progress. There were a couple of trees that had blown down over the last couple of days, but thankfully nothing major and both were passable with care. Branches did impede our progress getting caught on the bow and removing them took some time.

The rain dried up as we continued in our north easterly direction. Extra layers and full thermals were definitely needed today, clouds of breath were very visible.

The service arm was busy, two boats that had come down and another waiting to go up along with a C&RT work boat. There would have been space for us should we have wanted to pull up but by now it just made sense to carry on up to the locks.

The bottom gates were sat open and waiting for us, so I hopped off and we started to make our way up towards the staircase. The next lock had a paddle up keeping it empty for us too. Despite everything waiting for us the levels were not so good especially after emptying a locks worth of water out of each one, at one point Mick grounded in the pound below the staircase. By now the sun was out and two Lockies had appeared, one came to help us the other headed down the flight to help the boat that was now following us up.

Once above we stopped to carry on working our way through the cheese mountain, nearly all gone now, the Welsh Brie is especially nice. Then we turned right waving goodbye to the Monty and wound our way back along the familiar pound to Ellesmere, pulling in at the services to fill and empty. A quick rinse down of one side of Oleanna before I had a shower and then Mick pushed us over to the other side. Inside Tilly and I wondered why Mick seemed to be insisting on mooring us on quite a list. We had ground to a halt and then Mick was trying to pull us further onto a ledge. He hadn’t noticed. Instead we pulled into the arm where there was a space waiting for us. The thought had been to stay on the main canal in case the arm froze overnight, but hopefully we’ll be okay.

It being the 5th of January we then set about taking down our decorations. This always makes me a bit grumpy and with the light now fading we were on a mission to get it done before dark. A chap came along and was obviously wanting a chat, as boaters do, living life slowly. But he’d come across us at the wrong moment snipping at cable ties and hopefully not cables. I did my best not to be rude, but in the end he wandered off to get fish and chips leaving us to finish gathering up the lights. There is this really good bridge here, I can see home from right over the far side. Just a shame woofers came along and stopped my fun! Good job the bridge has a high wall that I could jump onto to get past them.

This evening we’ve heard the sad news of a dear friend of ours passing. Mick Hughes was a wonderful gentle man who was an internationally acclaimed lighting designer and ALD Fellow. For many years he worked with Harold Pinter and Alan Ayckbourn. His work in Scarborough is how we got to know him, the man who had to know everything about everything. I had the pleasure of working with him on numerous occasions and spent many an hour drinking wine in his company. He will be missed by friends, theatre practitioners and vineyards.

8 locks, 9.99 miles, 2 lefts, 1 right, 1 soggy morning, 1 Panda Cow, 3 hours slow cruising, 3 doors shut, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 4 sets of lights down, 3D stars packed away, 1 naked tree, 1 hamper away for another year, 3 woofers avoided, 5 days to use 46 GB? 2nd series of Line of Duty then, 3 sherbets of the Sauvignon Blanc variety raised in memory, 1 more bright star.

Maesbury Marsh Bridge to Canal Central

Originally we’d planned that today we would head to the limit of navigation on the Monty have a look around and then carry on back up the canal to the services on the arm at the bottom of the locks as we are booked to return up onto the Llangollen Canal tomorrow. However having checked the weather forecast last night it looked like the wind would be picking up again today, with gusts up to 45 mph this afternoon. This morning however was calm so after tea in bed we donned our padded clothes and pushed off before breakfast. We weren’t going far, just to wind and moor up for the day, which should make our cruise back to the locks around an hour shorter tomorrow.

We pootled down to Crofts Mill Lift Bridge where I hopped off and wound the bridge up. The road that crosses here doesn’t appear to be a busy one and with only a short distance before we could wind I opted to stay by the lift bridge ready to lower it should anyone want to cross, if not then I wouldn’t have had to turn my windlass 100 extra times. Mick pootled on, winded  and returned before any vehicle came, marvellous. We then retraced our steps just a short distance mooring up close to Canal Central on the 48hr moorings. Here Tilly had free run for a couple of hours whilst we had breakfast and pottered about. When she returned exceedingly muddy it was our turn to venture out to explore.

First we walked to the limit of navigation. In 2011 this was at Gronwyn Bridge 82 where stop planks cut off the navigation to all boats. Today this is still as far as powered craft can go, but the stop planks have been removed a horse drawn trip boat can now travel up to Bridge 83 where planks stop all boats. Redwith Bridge 83 looks to have been rebuilt to accommodate boats passing below, not the prettiest of bridges but with limited funds it does the job. The stop planks have a wedge under the top one to allow water into the next section which was about a foot lower.

We carried on with our walk, the canal banks steep down to a section or armco at water level. If this pound was at the current level of the navigable stretch then this armco would be below the surface. At Bridge 84 the stop planks did just that, they form a dam here.

The next section of canal is currently under restoration, work started here in 2015. A thick rubber membrane covers the cut with a layer of breeze blocks ontop, two large corrugated pipes sit vertically from the bottom. Work parties usually gather every first weekend of the month to continue the work of extending the navigation, which is due to reopen to the next bridge and a winding hole by 2020.

As we walked back Mick made a comment about the lack of 50 mph gusts. We wondered if maybe we should move back up the canal, but this was only short lived as all of a sudden we were buffeted by several strong gusts. Rain was in the air too and the sun shining through gave us a full rainbow. We could see from one end to the other, a rarity. The right end was almost certainly coming from Oleanna. Then we watched the wind rushing along the surface of the canal (video link), chivvying the water along. The buffeting was getting stronger so we headed back deciding that we should have a well deserved cuppa at Canal Central, if it was open today.

The front door was open and the couple who run it were sitting having a cuppa themselves. The thought of some homemade soup and bubble and squeak got the better of us. When I’d looked at their website yesterday I’d noticed that they have a self catering flat above the cafe, also a campsite which takes caravans as well as tents. On the canal there are moorings for about six boats. Apart from there not being a pub next door this all fits the bill for a place to hold a 50.5 Birthday weekend. The pub side of things could be worked around and the couple here seemed very accommodating saying that they preferred catering for organised parties. Two things don’t quite tick the boxes, to get here by boat in warmer weather means the very busy Llangollen Canal which is also a minimum three hour drive from Scarborough. The other is the small matter that I have passed the 50.5 mark now by just over six months!

Now before Mick’s sisters all make comments about a significant birthday that their brother will be having in a few months time, I’ve tried that one, he doesn’t want a party! Don’t worry discussions are still on going about what he’d like to do.

This afternoon Tilly has been back out reducing the local rodent population whilst a chicken and spinach curry has been gently simmering on the stove top. I was having such a brilliant day even if they didn’t let me bring my friend indoors. Then I get my collar removed. Wey Hey! I think. Only to realise too late that she was going to put that horrid stuff no my neck and make my fur go spikey! It tastes super revolting. Little did she realise that this morning added to her breakfast was a worming pill, which she seems to have devoured in one go, whole! I did notice it, it was actually quite tasty.

0 locks, 1.02 miles, 1 lift bridge, 0 held up, 1 wind, 1 late breakfast, 0.81km more navigable than in 2011, 0.44km more with water, 0.75km still to go, 1 full arc of colour, 1 engine 1 owl tea cosies, 1 bubble and squeak, 1 tomato soup, 51.5 worth celebrating? 60?! 1 immensely sulky cat with very good reason!

Maesbury Marsh

Expecting a rough night we were glad of our chosen mooring. Bang on 9pm and the first big gust of wind hit us. Mick was soon out checking that everything was well secured outside and that all the poppers were fastened on our covers. Moored on rings we knew we’d be going nowhere and luckily our fenders took much of the bumping out of the gusts that hit us. Only one thing that we should have done was remove the Christmas lights from the roof but by the time we’d moored up it was dark, maybe we should have done it in a lock when we could reach both sides of the boat. But fortunately they were still in tact this morning, just hanging down one side of the cabin.

I suspect the gusts continued through the night but all the fresh air we’ve had over the last couple of days had knocked us both out, so surprisingly we both managed to get some sleep. No need for an alarm clock this morning and we enjoyed our first cuppa in bed of the year with Saturdays newspapers. Once up Mick checked outside and all was well, we hadn’t been transported to the Land of Oz, we were still in Maesbury Marsh which was just as well as we were expecting visitors.

Delays on the A5 held our visitors up which was just as well as we’d just discovered that the handy pub across the way The Navigation Inn was closed for the next couple of weeks! Then Canal Central’s tea rooms were about to close for the day as the owner wasn’t very well. But The Queen’s Head was open and doing food all day, so we could have lunch that didn’t just consist of cheese again.

Bridget, Storm are our first visitors of the New Year and it was very good to see them both and get to meet Summer their granddaughter who we’d heard so much about whilst we were on the Lancaster Canal with NB Blackbird in August. Summer did her best to make friends with Tilly, but I prefer my friends to be furry or feathery and generally fit in my mouth. The two of them behaved very well with each other even if Tilly did end up finding a good hiding place very much under pillows in the end. Meanwhile there was plenty of news to catch up on. Works on Bridget and Storms house near Beverley were just about complete before Christmas and all three of us have an invite to visit.

The food at the Queen’s Head took a while to arrive, but at least their advertised gluten free burger did exist and was very tasty along with a local pint of beer. After a very chatty lunch and ride back to Oleanna it was time for them to head back to Wrexham. A lovely way to spend a very blustery day, in fact they saved me from doing my tax return!

Now that the towpath was clear I had a couple of hours outside. They had changed it to somewhere new, it needs exploring, hope we’ll be here for a while.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 very blustery night, 0 trees down, 1 boat still intact, 1st visitors of the year, 4 year old Summer being the youngest ever visitor, 2 landlubbbers, 0 escape, 2 pillows and a bung disguise, 1 pint, 2 halves, 2 soft drinks, 2 burgers, 3 pizzas, 3 hours catching up, 1 knitted waistcoat top awaiting new needles to finish, 1 tension square, 4 slices of beans on toast for tea, with cheese!

Ellesmere Arm to Maesbury Marsh Bridge 79

Another alarm clock start without tea in bed, but today we did remember to give Tilly her breakfast. At 9.15 we pulled out at the junction and pulled up onto the services. Water topped up, yellow water tank emptied and rubbish disposed of we pushed off again in no time. Ahead of us the first C&RT boat had pulled away full of railings for the work at New Marston Locks, we wondered if we’d catch them up, but there was no sign of them as we made our way back to Frankton Junction.

At times the going was slow, fighting the flow and the shallow bridge holes. But we’d given ourselves plenty of time for the journey which took fifteen minutes longer than it did yesterday going in the opposite direction.

We arrived at Frankton Junction at 11.15am and pulled in, a hire boat was already waiting to go down. The locks that take you down onto the Monty have to be pre-booked and we’d half expected to be the only boat today. The two hour slot for passage starts at midday, but the Lockie was already there with his dog Alfie. He set the top lock and walked down to chat to boats waiting to come up.

The top two chambers make up a staircase, so once full the hire boat came in and we started to lock them down. By now Chris the Lockie had returned and decided to let a bit more water down. This flight is manned to help maintain water levels and keep things in order for the staircase. By the time it was our turn the levels had sorted themselves and boats were appearing from below and another boat was waiting behind us to come down. Far busier than expected. We swapped locks with two boats on our way down and closed the last lock behind us. I hope the weather dries up before we return as when we last did this flight in 2011 I got very soaked in a thunder storm, today we were quite damp around the edges from the constant drizzle.

A short distance on and we pulled into the Western Branch where there are moorings and services. We’ll aim to moor here the night before we’re booked to go back up the locks as it is far more cat friendly than at the bottom of the locks. A break to warm up, dry off and have some of the Christmas cheese mountain for lunch before we carried on our way. Another boat arrived who’d come down the locks today. Both of us had a similar goal, to keep going until it either rained properly or got dark.

Another pootle onwards and we came to Graham Palmer Lock. This is a modern concrete lock which drops the canal by 21 inches. Traffic stopped on the canal in 1936 after a major breach at Frankton closed the navigation. It became a ‘remainder waterway’ and fell into disrepair until some thirty years later hundreds of volunteers started to clear the canal at Welshpool, official support followed with an Act of Parliament in 1987 to protect the canals route. Now much of the canal is reopened, but only a 7 mile stretch at this end. When restoration work was being carried out it was necessary to drop the level of the first long pound as the area had suffered from subsidence, hence the need for a  new lock, which was named after Graham Palmer the founder of the Waterways Recovery Group.

Having cruised here before we were aware that there are few places to moor. Much of the banks are reedy and overgrown making impromptu stops next to impossible. So we had decided to head as far as we could today where we knew we’d be able to pull up, strong winds are forecast for tomorrow, so we are unlikely to move.

The busy A5 crosses the canal at Queen’s Head where there is a pub and moorings, not ideal for Tilly or us. So we carried on to Aston Locks a short distance on. Each one was set against us, but this was only to be expected as we’d seen no boats since we’d done the locks.

Around Locks 2 and 3 there is a lot of ground work going on on the off side. Shallow brick water courses cross from the canal to what resembles the construction of a marina. Further on there are more pools which are similar. However a sign said that they are part of Aston Reserves Habitat Creation Scheme. In July this year funding was given for a three hectare wildlife habitat where rare plants and animals can take refuge and thrive. Along with this a further 1.25 miles stretch of canal will be restored due for completion in 2020. Brilliant news, it will certainly encourage us to return.

By now it was getting dark and the rain was getting heavier. Despite our Christmas lights looking more and more pretty as we cruised we really wanted to stop. So a mile further on when our lights started to compete with The Navigation pub we decided to call it a day. We stayed as far away from the road as we could, but pulled along away from any trees. If beyond the bridge looks better for Tilly in the morning and the wind allows we’ll move up, if not here will do us to sit out the storm, well there is a handy pub!

8 locks, 9.58 miles, 1 right, 3 lefts (1 reversed), 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 1 homeless chap waking up, 4 down, 2 up, 1/2 cheese mountain still to eat, 1 blue flash, 3 hectares and 1.25 miles of newness to come, 2 soggy boaters coats drip drying in the shower, 1 breakfast, 1 dingding, but 0 shore leave! 1 bored cat!!!

Llangollen Basin

After all the build up and excitement for Christmas we are now into that bit that lies inbetween.

Presents have been played with, homes found for them (especially important if you live on a boat) and old tired things sent to the bin or bagged up ready for the charity shop.

The fridge is still holding it’s breath in, crammed full of left overs.

The cheese that hasn’t been touched yet, gradually getting smellier each time you open the fridge door.

The empty bottles clinking their way to the recycling bins.

The realisation that you forgot to do pigs in blankets which means there are even more sausages and bacon in the fridge than you thought. Is it physically possible to eat sausages three times in one day?

Intentions of going for walks never materialising.

The tickly throat that started a few days before Christmas actually meaning it now and needing drugs at regular intervals.

The second Christmas dinner not using up all the leftovers.

A good tidy up so that when family arrive there might actually be space for them and their things.

Trying to find a home for the third fire extinguisher, still not solved. But instead realising there is a small leak coming from the shower tray.

A cat who despite being bored of it here would rather be outdoors than in.

Planning food for five not two and wondering where you are going to put it all.

Wondering if the forecast weather will put a kibosh on arrangements.

Boats have gone and more arrived, even in the dark.

Gold Licence put off for a year. But a booking to go onto the Monty made.

Llangollen Basin

The big man visited us during the night and left all three of us plenty of goodies to open in bed. Tilly wasn’t too impressed by the refills for the lint roller, but Father Christmas must have known what she was getting as her main present as her stocking was full of balls. I’m really looking forward to see how many friends I can attract with the fat balls in trees!

In London my nephew Josh had set up a motion detected camera on Christmas Eve to see if he could disprove the existence of Father Christmas. Unfortunately for Josh the batteries ran out before anything could be detected and recorded, or was this just the magic of the man in red!

Scrambled egg with smoked salmon accompanied by some Bucks Fizz went down well before we opened our Christmas presents.

This year Oleanna had joined in with the present giving. I never thought I’d be the sort of person who’d be pleased to receive a mop and sweeping brush. These have telescopic handles and quite easily sit under the gunnel in the bathroom. The broom is especially designed for narrow spaces, what more could you ask for.

Mick’s quandary on the socks and sandals front was solved and here he is wearing his warm Pip made jumper.

I got a box of holes! All apart from two are big enough to get my arms in. They kept putting balls inside it and I kept taking them out. Why would I want balls inside a box of holes!

Before we got settled into cooking we headed off on a walk to the Chain Bridge and Horseshoe Falls.

The Horseshoe Falls was designed by Thomas Telford and diverts water from the River Dee into the canal. The last section of canal is very shallow and only the horse drawn trip boats can now make it this far, they have slight V shaped bottoms which must just fit down the shallow channel. When Thomas Telford was appointed as the general agent for the Ellesmere Canal in 1793 he had no experience of waterways and together with William Jessop they came up with the engineering that makes the canal so famous today. As a result Telford became one of Britains most famous engineers.

Plenty of people were out for a Christmas morning stroll along the canal and despite the drizzle gradually turning into rain we enjoyed ourselves. A few boats were moving, NB Harnser came down to the basin to wind and wave.

An Anglo Welsh boat came to moor, but the gusting wind made manoeuvres very difficult for them. Plenty of people came out to offer advice, but in the end they had succeeded in winding so returned back onto the cut where there wasn’t going to be quite so far to be blown!

Our Christmas dinner was exceptionally tasty, the duck one of the best we’ve had. All the accompanying veg made a mountainous plate of food and we have more than enough to keep us going over the next few days. A lull with another glass of wine to watch Dr Who before it was time to open my birthday presents and cards and blow out the candles.

My cake, a Queen of Sheba Cake, was maybe a little bit under cooked, the recipe I have is really quite vague as to temperature and cooking times. The advantage is that it’s meant to be gooey in the middle anyway, just this time it was bordering on runny.

A lovely day all round.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 over full stockings, 1 horseshoe, 10 CD’s, 1/3 by Kate, 1 broom, 1 mop, 11 pairs socks, 1 tumblehome fitting tree, 19 holes! 5 balls, 1 very tasty duck, 27 noisy ducks, 1 new Dr, 4 empty bottles, 1 window vac, 2 overly full boaters.

The big man in red has successfully visited Oleanna for the first time and been very generous.

Happy Christmas

from

Mick, Pip and Tilly

xxx

Llangollen Basin

Today has been busy. After realising last night that we had no birthday candles, they had been culled when we moved boats, we had to buy some today.

Most of the day has been spent chopping, bubbling, stirring, baking, rolling, cutting, baking, crumbing, steeping, saucing, mixing, baking, cooling, eating, slicing and icing, with a little bit of wrapping up too!

The majority of time consuming jobs have been done, so tomorrow we should just have to pop the duck in the oven and roast it.

Happy Christmas from all three of us.

We are even ready for the big man.