Author Archives: pipandmick
A Path Of Yellow. 28th July
Saracens Head to Holmes Swing Bridge 10.
As we were about to push off this morning a boat appeared through the bridge behind us, so we clung onto our ropes and waited for them to pass. We had a boat to leapfrog the swing bridges with.
NB Tranquillity being ahead worked the first bridge which was all electric. We leapfrogged them and got to the next. I let a cyclist cross who was obviously being followed by another, they were together so I waited for them both to cross. It was a good job the wind had calmed down as I was making the boats wait. This panel slightly flummoxed me. I pressed the button to open it, lights barriers. It then suggested letting go of the button, but not until a bulb had light informing you that the bridge had unlocked, you then had to push the bridge into the open position. Mental note made, make sure whilst you wait for a cyclist to read the instructions before you start!
The next bridge had manual barriers, but was electric. The next for me was the old push and pull, no electricity in sight and a handcuff key to unlock it. I seemed to have picked the short straw as the final bridge of the day was electric too. I only got to stop one car, NB Tranquillity nine! Mental note for the way back, get the posher bridges.
Coming out of Maghull the canal turned yellow with masses of water lilies. A channel through them has been kept clear by the passing boats. Above the blue sky had been combed with cloud, suggesting a front was coming our way. Yellow trains crossed the railway bridge, we should have brought Lillian as she would have completed the picture.
As we approached Bridge 10 the gap in the lilies broadened so we pulled in to moor. This would leave us with the bridge to do in the morning and a miles cruise to reach bridge 9 which is operated by C&RT between 9.30 and 10.30. When we came into Liverpool on NB Winding Down we waited the night at bridge 9, but there wouldn’t have been so good for Tilly due to a busy road.
NB Tranquility pulled in too and after we’d both tied up we chatted away until the heavens opened with very large rain drops, so we retired to our boats leaving the rain for Tilly to enjoy for the rest of the afternoon.
During the afternoon, boats exiting Liverpool have come past, one stopping and so far another three boats have arrived presumably going into the docks tomorrow too.
We have both read the skippers guide to the link and I have found our paper copy from 2012 to have at hand tomorrow. Only one thing appears to have changed since then and that is the operation of Prince’s Dock Lock. Back in 2012 it says that this can only be operated by staff, now it doesn’t mention this, so maybe we get to do it ourselves. We’ll find out tomorrow.
0 Locks, 7.75 miles, 5 swing bridges, 3 done for us holding up 9, 1 held up by me! 1 yellow lined route, 2 yellow trains, 2 cathedrals, 1 soggy moggy, 1 boat waiting for the morning, 1 camera on charge, 1 loaf of bread rising on the bread shelf.
Three Men On A Bow. 27th July
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Improbable Fiction a play by Alan Ayckbourn where the actors have to change their costumes at the end of act one and all the way through act two very quickly! From modern day, to Victorian, to 20’s, to Science Fiction, to Goblin and Squirrel. Well worth seeing.
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Being Franked. Frank was the master carpenter and when he had built things I would paint them. Quite often I would be delayed.
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Just in case. When going to fit up a show at another theatre, the van would be packed and always include an amount of ‘just incase’ pieces of wood Frank insisted on taking. Just incase!
Pub Side Mooring. 26th July
New Lane Swing Bridge to Rufford Branch to Crabtree Swing Bridge 32
The rain was coming down stair rods this morning, so with only a short hop to do we had a cooked breakfast. Asda’s Turkey sausages aren’t bad, but not as good as Sainsburys. By the time we’d taken our time it had stopped raining so we decided to move. We pushed off and I swung Crabtree Swing Bridge managing to hold up two cars.
We’d decided to head up to the junction to wind as the mooring outside the pub is sloped, it would also mean easier access to the chimney too as that is on the port side. As we passed the closed pub car park we could see a sporty car that had seen better days, every one of it’s windows had been smashed! Were we being wise to moor outside the pub overnight?
NB Infinity had moved off so there was space we could take by the car park in Burscough. Tomorrow we are hoping to loose some of Oleanna’s ballast so getting the Finesse van as close to the boat is important. At the car park we couldn’t guarantee them being able to park closest to the boat and there was a barrier to keep motorbikes off the towpath which might have been awkward. So we carried on back to the junction to wind.
Oleanna’s doppelganger was sitting just through the bridge at the junction waiting for the swing bridge at the top of the locks to be opened. Mrs Infinity looked like she was having a bit of trouble unlocking the ground paddles to fill the top lock up. It would have been funny if we’d have shared the locks with them, shadow and mirror. Wonder if they are heading to the Lancaster?
After we’d winded the rain started again in earnest. My coat seemed to be doing it’s job well, rather than soaking water up it was running off it. This wasn’t so good when I came inside to find waterproof trousers as I dripped everywhere, a bit like the open windows. Mick pulled us in a little short of our chosen mooring and on the towpath side. This meant that Tilly could go off and explore the fields rather than the pub carpark and maybe we’d move across first thing in the morning.
The rest of the day has been spent having a good tidy and clean. It feels a bit like we need to show that we’re looking after Oleanna to the chaps tomorrow. The cooker top has had a good clean (Mick’s domain) even though it will be replaced tomorrow and under the back steps has had a good sweep and tidy ready for a hatch to be cut to aid ballast removal. As we cleaned Tilly would return periodically to sit and clean her filthy paws. Well you’ve got to look your best when going ashore! Once she was clean and dry she’d be off out again. I’m really not sure she’s a cat at all, cats don’t like rain.
As the day progressed the rain cleared away and boats started moving. With each boat passing we got nervous that they might stop outside the pub, so we decided to push across and take the mooring before anyone else did. Hopefully we’ll have a peaceful night and be up bright and early waiting with the kettle on for Finesse to arrive.
0 locks, 2.74 miles, 1 swing bridge, 2 held up, 1 wind, 1 doppelganger, 4 hours tidying and cleaning, 1 wine cellar in order, 4 hours field exploration, 20 muddy paws, 1 big deal about sitting on a towel! 1 boat ready and waiting, 0 pints tonight, 7.30 am ETA tomorrow!
Back In Swing Bridge Land. 25th July
Fishers Swing Bridge to New Lane Swing Bridge 31
The weather forecast isn’t being kind to us. Today has been a lovely day, starting off slightly damp, but progressing into another warm sunny afternoon. However tomorrow is meant to be a seriously wet day which has meant that a planned snagging rendez vous with the chaps from Finesse has been put on hold. They will need the stern hatch open for much of the day and without a pram cover Oleanna would get wet where she shouldn’t. So we are keeping our fingers crossed that Thursday the weather will be on our side.
With this in mind we had a late breakfast, trying out a recipe for oat and pecan pancakes. They were nice, but would have been nicer with a touch of sugar added to the mix or a big drizzle of maple syrup. They were a nice change though.
So our mission today was to find somewhere to meet Finesse, get their van as close as possible to Oleanna and still be on course to make our booked passage into Liverpool at the weekend. We’ve spent some time looking at google earth, tracing the canal from Wigan to Maghull. We have been this way before and had an idea of a couple of places that might be good.
First though we had a swing bridge to do, the first of quite a few to get us to Liverpool.
Then was Appley Deep Lock which is 12ft. We first came through here with our friends Frank and Steve in May 2012, it was peeing it down! A boat had just passed us so we hoped that it would be in our favour, which it almost was, only a couple of feet down, so I started to top it up. I quickly realised that I’d need all the paddles to do this as the bottom gates were leaking so much. However one of the ground paddles was chained up, out of action. A small cruiser approached from below and a lad of about 12 came up with a windlass in hand. He was very chatty and was a little bit old before his time, asking all the usual questions boaters ask at locks but with a slight naivety to them. He asked if he could wind a paddle for us when we’d got our boat in the lock as he’d be doing nothing otherwise. That would be great thanks. Mick brought Oleanna into the lock and was just getting off the stern to close the gate when the lad started to wind the paddle up! We both shouted to wait, he of course was only doing as we’d agreed, lifting a paddle when we’d got our boat in the lock, no-one had said anything about gates!
Unable to unlock the handcuff on the other paddle meant it was going to take time to empty such a deep lock. So we chatted away. He and his Dad had not had the boat long, they’d bought it in a car boot sale on line for £100 and were heading off on an adventure. He asked how much our boat had cost, which got the response of ‘quite a bit more than yours’. Boys like numbers no matter what age, so I gave him Oleanna’s vital statistics so far. Nearly 4 months old, about 650 miles and around 420 locks. As we pulled away from the lock I could hear him shouting these down to his Dad, I think we’d impressed him.
Our first possible meeting place was Parbold where there is a car park right next to the visitor moorings. There was space for us, not the closest, but still quite good, only down side was that they are only 24hrs, perfect for tomorrow, but not Thursday! We pulled in and went to the shop timing it well that the level crossing closed just after we’d crossed the rail tracks. Any excuse for Mick to watch trains! After lunch we toyed with the idea of carrying on a bit to see if other places were any good, if not wind and moor up to return later tomorrow. But this would leave us with quite a lot of miles to get under our bow, so we decided to carry on and see what else might be available, after all a couple of hours cruise for us is only a matter of minutes in a van for Finesse. This did mean though that the very good chilled medication shop by the bridge on the off side didn’t get a visit! We will be stopping here on the way back though! Can’t pass it twice without partaking.
At Bridge 35 we pulled over to add our rubbish to the mountain in and on the skip. Just after bridge 34 was another place we’d identified, another 24hr mooring! On past the Rufford Branch where we will be heading in a couple of weeks. We were now on water we’ve only done once in NB Winding Down.
Coming into Burscough Bridge at the end of a line of boats was Oleanna’s doppelganger. Well nearly. NB Infinity is an Aintree boat launched in December 2015. She has very similar colours to Oleanna, maybe a little bit brighter, but her stripes are a mirror image of each other, not shadows. Her owners were just opening up the hatch and we complemented them on their colour scheme, the lady didn’t twig to start off with. Behind them was a space and through the fence was a car park, we thought about it for a while, but the canoe portage sign put us off, we’d be in the way.
At Burscough Bridge the chandlers where we replaced a mallet and the good bakers have both sadly gone. Now in their place is a restaurant and bar, shame because the pies were very good. The next place was Long Term Mooring and not suitable for a cat to go out as the road was right beside it. The next swing bridge came into view along with what had looked like a boat yard on google earth. However it was a closed down pub, with parking in front right by the water and a 24hr mooring and there was space. If we stopped we’d be there for 48 hours, should we be bad?
Our conscience got the better of us, so we carried on to find the next place was also 24hr mooring and outside an open pub. There were still a few more places to try, but they were quite a few miles further on, so we decided to wind and moor on the towpath for tonight, a better place for Tilly and then moor up tomorrow at the closed pub. Fingers crossed that the weather puts others off from cruising tomorrow and that the open pub attracts any that do.
1 lock, 8.29 miles, 6 swing bridges, holding up 20, 1 twice, 1 wind, 1 straight on, 7 healthy pancakes, 12 year old old before his time, 0 chilled medication, 6 ripe bananas reduced for not being green, 1 mirrored, 1 shadowed, 2 many 24hr moorings, 1 hour, 27 goose grass seeds, 1/2 hr removal, 2 miffed magpies, 1 cat porn email, 4 black beauties waiting for homes.
A Spot Of Gardening. 24th July
Plank Lane to Fishers Swing Bridge 45, Leeds Liverpool Canal
A boat passed us this morning at around 7.20am heading for the bridge. Plank Lane Lift Bridge cannot be operated during busy times, 8-9.30am and 4.30-6pm, due to the amount of traffic on the road. So when we rolled up the curtains on the front windows we were surprised to still see the same boat moored on the bridge landing, they were only just moving off at a little after 10. We signalled to them that we were pulling out but for water, so they operated the bridge just for themselves and we took their place at the water point. Once the tank was topped up I turned the key of power in the bridge console and opened up the navigation.
Near Bamfulong a tree was hanging so far over the cut that we couldn’t see past it. Was there a better side to try to pass it on? No. Our chimney cap is only just balancing on top of the chimney at the moment so I wondered if it would stay put as we had to go through the middle of the branches. Mick slowed us right down and I delved into a locker to pull out our set of sheers. A major bit of pruning was required and we gradually cut an Oleanna sized hole through the tree. Hope it doesn’t grow back before NB Blackbird comes through in about a weeks time. With the cuttings thrown onto the towpath we carried on towards Poolstock Locks.
The two locks were our first for what felt like an age, only four days. A boat had just gone up in front of us and by the time we reached the second lock they were just finishing going up. They said they were turning left at the junction ahead and would wait for us in the next lock. We followed up and turned to join them. They had picked the boat up at Nantwich last Friday and these were their first broad locks ever. They were the boat that had been at the bridge this morning. When they had arrived they didn’t have a key of power to operate it, so one of them had got a cab to the C&RT office in Wigan to buy one and then got a cab back. One expensive key!
They were on a mission and we were peckish so we parted ways after the lock and pulled in outside what used to be the C&RT offices in Wigan for some lunch. The ground floor of the building is currently empty, the water tap still works and a boater has typically left a load of rubbish for someone to collect just because there isn’t a sign saying not to! The gates that used to keep this mooring secure are now even more so as the padlocks on them no longer open with a key of power. So if you pull up there, there is no way into town.
As we pulled into the next lock we could see that a boat was following us, so we waited so that we could share with them. NB Dolly was heading back to Crooke after a short cruise, so we could share the locks out of Wigan with them. The towpath is very high after this lock so I elected to walk to the next bridge where the canal turns a sharp left. The last time we were here this mile pound had been drained overnight and we had to wait for C&RT to let water down from the Wigan flight and close the Poolstock Locks so that every drop would come our way. Today there was no six hour wait to then crawl along the bottom, tripping on traffic cones and getting stuck mid channel. Our passage was very easy.
Approaching Ell Meadow Lock there was a boat in the reeds off side, they didn’t seem to be in trouble so as we passed Mick said that we were being followed by another boat. Most people would have sat and waited for their turn, but no they came out of the reeds and pulled in behind us. One boat was going down another waiting to come up, so there’d be a wait. I hopped off and went to lend a hand. The lady from the boat coming up wasn’t impressed by the boat that had been in the reeds. As they had approached the lock the reed boat closed the gates on them, ‘not enough room for two boats’ she was told! She didn’t know if it was their first time out or if the boat was very new. Whilst she and I worked her boat up I had a chap chatting away to me who had turned up on a bike. I first thought he was lock wheeling for a boat still out of view, but no he was just an enthusiastic gongoozler who wasn’t aware that he was encroaching my personal space! He loved the programme with those two actors, oh and that one with Timothy Spall, they need to have their boat a bit further back in that lock, etc, all as I tried to keep an eye on the boat coming up. In the end I suggested to the lady from the boat that she should hop on and I’d head over to close the paddles thinking that someone from one off the two boats behind us would come forward to help close gates. I was a bit too keen to get away from encroaching man so didn’t drop the paddles before I walked round. The step down was too high for the lady so she ended up walking round, dropping the paddles I’d left and then as still no-one had come to lend a hand she closed that gate behind Mick, who was just climbing up to do it.
I was obviously waiting for the reed boat and he eventually shouted asking if they would fit, ‘YES’. So he stopped bow hauling his boat and jumped on the back bringing it in alongside Oleanna. He and his wife stood on the back of the boat enjoying the experience. One of their fenders dropped into the water as they entered. I pointed it out to them, he fished it out saying that would teach him for leaving them down, lucky for him it floated. I closed the gate behind them and then walked to the bottom gates to open the paddles. There may be a reason that neither of them got off the boat to help, some medical condition that wasn’t obvious perhaps. But when she said to Mick ‘it’s harder work than expected these locks!’as I opened up the second paddle, Mick did his best not to laugh out loud. I had no intention of opening both gates, so conferred in a very loud voice with Mick. They smiled and watched as I crossed over the bridge AGAIN to open the gate in front of them. Well they had no-one to pick up so they might as well go first. They didn’t seem to understand that I’d need picking up, surely I was a lockie, there to make life easy for all. A chap from the boat behind then came and lent a hand with the gates. I just found the hole thing really quite funny, boy are they going to get a shock when everything isn’t done for them.
We followed them, both had a hand on the tiller. Luckily they pulled in at Crooke as their staff passed.
The M6 passes high over head just before the next lock, Dean Lock. A pretty setting with the bridge curved steps, the bywash and the old disused lock to one side. A fisherman sat by the bywash as two kayaks appeared below. They proceeded to climb out of the cut and haul thier boats up onto land where wheels were added to ease moving them to above the lock. These two chaps are heading to Hull by paddle power. We wondered if they would paddle between the locks up the Wigan flight or just walk up the whole flight.
As soon as the M6 was out of ear shot we pulled over with a great view over a meadow. Not quite as far as we were hoping to get today, but near enough.
7 locks, 9.72 miles, 2 hours to get a key, 1 lift, 27 held up, 1 blackbird sized hole, 1 chimney cap still, 1 left, 2 lots of newbies, 1 empty office, 2 bags rubbish, 1 favourite little man, 2 narrowboats will fit, 2 oblivious boaters, 150 plus miles to paddle, 2 hours means 5 right! 1 murder.
THE Bridgewater Bridge 23rd July
Swing! 22nd July
The above is a link to a video of the aqueduct swinging back across the ship canal. I’ve speed it up a bit to 8 times the actual speed. Warning if on limited internet it is around 45MB, the original was nearly 2GB and my arms ached taking it.
Determined Kink. 21st July
Lymm to Bollington Underbridge
Waterproofs were needed as soon as we set off today. Drizzle turned into rain pretty quickly. The gusty wind got stronger as we progressed slowly towards Manchester.
Water points and bins are not frequent on the Bridgewater Canal so after we’d passed the two boat yards on our way out from Lymm we pulled in at The Old No3 pub for water. Being exposed on an embankment with the wind blowing Oleanna across the cut meant it was hard to moor up. The bow had been brought into the side, but the wind was forcing it out. A couple of blasts of the bow thruster helped, so then I could get off and get a rope through a ring.
The water pressure was exceedingly poor so we both retired inside to wait for the boom from the tank. Mick later discover a kink in the hose which won’t have been helping matters. It’s a determined kink, determined to stay put no matter now much persuading Mick gave it. Once full it was time to move on. As soon as the ropes were untied there was no holding Oleanna in. So I stayed stood on the bow and slipped the loop of the bow rope off the T stud to then pull it through the ring, by which time we were half way across the cut.
That made our minds up to pull in at Dunham Massey. It was here or carry on to Manchester another three hours away which we really didn’t fancy. Tomorrow we’ll have to make up for two short days.
The wind has been rattling the doors and whistling around us. Tilly has had freedom down in the fields below for most of the afternoon whilst Mick has watched the Tour de France. Later on Tilly and I had a walk along the towpath. She chats as she walks, only occasionally getting distracted and then running to catch up. We only walked 500m, wonder how far she’d follow me? Maybe we’ll walk the towpath towards Manchester and see how far we get tomorrow. Only problem will be other towpath users and the occasional tree!
0 locks, 3.28 miles, 2 cheese twists, 1 full water tank, 1 very strong wind, 1 rendez vous for covers sorted, 2 damp boaters, 1 boat well and truly tied up, 2 tyres deployed, 0.5km cat walk a start, 259 miles walk for Tabitha!