Turning my phone on this morning I came across two messages, both about rendez vous. I was expecting one, but not the other. Location and planned route were passed on to one, and current location to the other. No time for a full cuppa in bed this morning, we were about to meet up with NB Cobweb. Last night they were moored only a mile away and Vicki was checking to see if we were still on the Weaver as they were heading that way.
Dribble!
Tilly was allowed some shore leave whilst I washed the Fertan off the grabrail and roof. Fertan does the job, but it can also leave a horrible streaky mess! The dew this morning had done it’s worst! Maybe some Bar Keepers Friend will help.
At last the boats and owners get to meet up
One of our neighbours moved off a short while before NB Cobweb arrived, perfect. Vicki and David have had NB Cobweb for a couple of years now, we passed the boat last year on the Leeds Liverpool, but no-one was on board. Vicki used to work front of house at the SJT in Scarborough, her daughter was also part of the youth group Rounders, she is now a very talented musician. Early last year there had been a comment made about the annoying Princess Ann’s swing bridge in Thorne on Facebook, I noticed a reply from Vicki who was moored in Thorne at the time, they were preparing to move aboard. Well we’ve been trying to meet up since and Vicki had sponsored a pair of socks, which I’ve been hanging onto in case our bows crossed.
Socks handed over
After about an hour of chatting it was time for both of us to move on. They hoped to be on the boat lift this afternoon and we hoped to be through Middlewich. Good to see you Vicki, enjoy the Weaver and yes we’ll meet up for a drink when we’re all back in Scarborough this winter.
Approaching Big Lock
It was nearly midday when we pushed off. Back towards Middlewich, two boats just entering Big Lock. I went up for a chat with Sabrina as the lock finished, at last we’ve met and not just given each other a wave as one of us has passed. Once we’d risen ourselves we pulled in as close to the little Tescos as we could, a few items required and it was time for lunch.
Lots of water coming down
As ever through Middlewich we timed our departure ten minutes late, the bottom lock of the three was over topping as a boat was coming down the lock above and we were in a queue with Baked Onboard the Pizza boat in front of us. At least we’d not been another five minutes later as there were now another two boats behind us.
Up she comes
No volunteers in sight, but the lady from the boat behind came up and helped. I worked the locks, wimping out of turning the corner. We helped the pizza boat up, then she helped us up the first lock. We swapped with another boat coming down at the corner, and then once we were up the three we lifted a paddle for the boat behind.
Reaching the junction
The junction wasn’t as busy as ten days ago and King’s Lock only needed a touch of emptying before we could go in. Our chosen route back to Yorkshire would be back up the Cheshire Locks.
Kings Lock in the sunshine
We soon found we were following a hire boat who were following a single hander, the going was a touch slow. At Lock 67 I went up to set it for us and chatted to the hire boat. They didn’t want to start up the Cheshire Locks today so were looking for a suitable mooring, I suggested where we’d be pulling in and a couple more places before Wheelock.
Following
A young girl was busy asking Mick questions, she came to see how the lock worked, it was scary! But it was still way more interesting than watching her family fishing just above the lock. She also helped with the gates which was great.
Two different fonts and dribbly
One day, when I’ve retired from boating, I would like the job of repainting the numbers on lock beams. It feels as if each canal used to have a style of numbers, but as you can see on the lock at Middlewich that style has now become a dribbly mess. In comparison the faded number at lock 67 is just wonderful.
I love the faded one on the left
We pootled on back to the moorings after Rookery Railway Bridges, the hire boat had already pulled in there. Tilly was miffed as it was already after cat curfew time!
9 locks, 6.8 miles, 1 straight on, pair 33 handed over, 1 hour apart, 20 years ago, 0 volunteers, 0 free pizza for helping, 1 long day, 1 miffed cat.
Baron’s Quay to Bramble Cuttings, Trent and Mersey Canal
Fog! Who ordered FOG!!!
No choice, we needed to move today. Thankfully as we pootled down to the lift waiting mooring the skies started to clear, still grey but not cloud filled. Tied up half an hour before our booking we could see the caissons were on the move, the chap up top could be seen chatting to a boat that had just gone up, it took ages before we saw the hat of a boater moving towards the aqueduct towards the canal.
Boat Lift
A C&RT person walked round to see us. A few instructions to follow when we got into the lift, and they were ready for us. Round and into the caisson, stern rope tied up, engine off. Time to chat whilst two boats came in from above into the other caisson. Today was the lift operators first day going solo. Having just finished three years at University they were hunting for a job, had worked on the trip boat before and now was working part time on the lift. The occasional glance at a sheet of paper to make sure everything was being done in the right order.
I wonder if the spiders prefer the gate being up or down?
This morning the caisson we were in had had a slight problem. The gates that open to let boats in and out have shot bolts that hold them in place when they are open to boats, one set of them hadn’t been working properly.
They are a safety device, so should anything happen to the winches that move the gates the bolts will hold the gate in place. Anyone who’s ever worked back stage at the SJT will understand this problem very well, as the Round stage is a big lift and every now and again the shot bolts would need a good old hit with a hammer!
Once the two boats were in the other caisson, water drained out from the gap between the gates behind us, we were good to go. That slight judder and we were on our way up.
When originally built in 1875, the lift was operated with hydraulics, water from the River Weaver was used in it’s operation. The caisson going up would be drained just slightly to make it lighter than the other one. The heavier caisson would then sink pushing the water into the other side of the hydraulics and push the lighter caisson up. However the water being used was full of salt from the river and the pipes corroded. In 1882 one of the cast iron hydraulic cylinders burst whilst a boat was at canal level, the caisson descended rapidly, but thankfully water escaping the cylinder slowed the descent and the water filled dock at river level softened the impact!
Cogs right at the top
The hydraulics were replaced by winches above the caissons, extra structure was added to the lift to cope with the extra weight. The winches lifted and dropped the caissons powered by electricity. The conversion happened over two years , but the lift was only closed for 49 days, reopening fully in 1908.
The shiny pole is the hydraulic ram that pushes the caisson up
This worked for quite some time, but commercial boat traffic declined and rust set in. In 2000 major refurbishment was carried out, new hydraulics installed and this is how it works today. The caissons can be moved individually, we think that is what happened 13 years ago, but it is actually cheaper to use both caissons whether there are boats in them or not, the counterbalance meaning they use less electricity. To book your boat on the lift it costs £5. It takes three members of staff to work the lift and if it wasn’t for the trip boat the lift would loose hundreds of pounds a day.
Next year is the boat lifts 150th anniversary. After the summer season it will close again for some more restoration, closing it for 12 to 18 months.
As we reached the top, the lift slows down for the last foot or so. The operator at the top greeted us and gave us our instructions. Once the lift had come to a stop, the gap between gates was filled with water, then the gates open, we move onto the aqueduct. Gate close behind.
Then the gate onto the canal can open. A thumbs up from by the bridge meant the way ahead was clear. A turn right, the only way you can turn out from the lift and we were back on the T&M.
Us
Rubbish needed disposing of so we pulled in behind a boat that had just started filling up with water. I said we were only there to use the bins, ‘They’re getting rid of them!’ came the response. Well this was correct and wrong at the same time. The bin compound as we talked was being dismantled, the biffa bins already gone. However the new skip is there and replacing the bins. Once the compound has been dismantled the skip will be positioned where the bins once were.
Compound being dismantled
We got chatting to the C&RT chap who was wielding a hammer and saw dismantling the bin compound. Recently there have been occasions when one bin was full and someone had put their rubbish bags by that bin, another two bins were empty. Other boaters arrived and just assumed the bins were full and left their rubbish on the floor too. This escalated until Biffa refused to empty the bin as they couldn’t get to it. There is also frequent use by non boaters as a lot of the local tips are now either closed or you are limited in your use. The pump out also gets misused, a new end to the sucky pipe costs in the region of £1000 every time. He said that the services here were ‘this close to being closed for good’ due to misuse.
More power station
Onwards, now on the flat, retracing ourselves along the long pound. At the power station progress was obvious from a week ten days ago. A fifth fan had been added to the sci-fi Swiss chalet structure. We counted the cranes, many different sizes, now 12 of them.
Hi Andy, Nichola and Jez
The sun was out, time to take off our precautionary waterproofs. Was that bow who we thought it was? Were those notes on the bow? A quick exchange of hellos with Andy on NB On A Fiddle, Nichola down below as we passed them.
All mine!
Time to hope for a space at Bramble Cuttings. At 2pm would there be space? Yes! we had the whole mooring to ourselves! A perfect shore leave location for Tilly. I stepped inside gave her the rules and opened the doors straight away, 4 hours! Yeh yeh!
A late lunch for us and self catering for Tilly. With the weather due to be fine for the next few days it was time to attend to a leaking mushroom vent and whilst I was at it scrape off all the rust along the port side grabrail and gunnel! Gosh there was plenty! I also spotted a couple more little bits where the grabrail had caught in Froghall Tunnel.
Mick got busy in the engine bay, an oil change. Tilly was just BUSY!
Down the hole!
Soon we got another neighbour who pulled up right at the far end, no woofer visible. Then an hour later a second boat came in to moor. Mick chatted to the chap and I miss heard thinking it was a boat we’d met a few days ago with a woofer, but there was no dog. Tilly could continue with her shore leave in safety much to the dislike of the squirrels.
Fertanned
Once the worst of the rust had been scraped off, a couple of patches on the cabin side too unfortunately, my knee was starting to complain. I’d really have liked to given things a go over with the attachment of doom, but that would take too long and it also felt wrong to do it at Bramble Cuttings. So instead everything got a coat of Fertan rust inhibitor. Hopefully that will stop things from getting worse before I can attack it again. As it was a lovely warm afternoon I dug out a spray bottle and filled it with water so I could keep the Fertan damp, helping it to do it’s job for longer.
Hooray!!!
Tilly had had a very good afternoon. Plenty of trees climbed and lots of pouncing. I’d had to rescue a few friends and then did my best to persuade Tilly to come in for her dingding. I could tell she was tired as she was doing that belligerent toddler thing of I’m not tired! Look I can do this and walk away from you. This tree hasn’t been climbed yet, so I’ll just do that first. She soon gave in, came inside, had a lick of her dingding and flaked out.
One lovely sunset too
0 locks, 1 boat lift, 9.3 miles, 1 right, 2 many patches of rust, 9.5 litres oil, 4 whole hours! 1 big pan on the roof, pair 37 yarn selected, 12 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.
Vale Royal Visitor Mooring to Odeon Pontoon, Northwich.
The locks on the River Weaver are open at 9am, we were wanting to get a mooring back in Northwich for the day, so ideally wanted to be on our way as soon as the locks opened. As we pushed off from our mooring Mick made a phone call to the lock, we were on our way from their top side.
We had less than half a mile to cruise to Vale Royal Locks, so took our time. On arrival the lock wasn’t ready, the swing bridge was still across the lock chamber. Was there anyone in sight? It took a while to spot someone in a blue t-shirt, he didn’t seem to be coming to work the lock. Mick checked his phone. Ahh he’d called Hunts Lock not this one! Who leaves Mick to make arrangements and bookings? The chap popped out of the little hut, a volunteer arrived, we got a wave, they were on their way.
8th swing bridge over a lock
The swing bridge had it’s ropes removed that hold it in place and then one of the chaps stood on the end of it as it gradually turned from over the lock, no winding of handles. On closer inspection later we noticed an electric drill was used to rotate the bridge.
We were joined by a boat that had stayed in Winsford last night, they’d had a peaceful night and were now heading into Northwich to moor for an hour or so and visit the market that was meant to be on today. Market! Did someone say Market? I looked for information online. The second Saturday in the month there is an Artisan Market in Northwich.
Spooky faces
We followed them down Hunts lock, then led the way in towards Northwich. Spaces on the wall where we’d moored on Sunday, we pulled up close to a boat already there, our locking partners pulled up close to us. Then Mick spotted a space on the pontoon, that would serve us better, we moved over, thanking the other boat for mentioning the market.
Straight to see what was what. The market stretched for most of Witton Street. Bakers, sausages, cheese, olives, macaroons, gin, beer, scotch eggs, lots to choose from and then stalls of things nobody actually needs in their lives.
There is no point in rushing in to the first stall that has something that looks nice, best to walk round everywhere, see what’s on offer then pounce, or as was the case today, join the queue!
The butchers window
A big sign behind one queue was for a gluten free bakers! Pies, pasties, numerous cakes, we’d certainly be coming back to this stall. Infact other bakery stalls didn’t get a look in. I joined the queue my eye s set on an egg custard, not had one for years. The amount of things people were buying, one chap requested 2 of these, 1 of those, a slice of that cake, a vanilla slice (my ears pricked up at that one), that scotch egg. The lady behind me made a very audible sign, she’d had her eyes on that scotch egg. She asked the baker if there were any more, ‘Sorry last one’ ‘No point queueing then’ She made sure she had words with the chap who had bagged the last scotch egg!
Our edible swag
The pies! Which one? Chicken ham leek and dauphinoise potato .The Sausage rolls, which one of them too? Pork and Black pudding. Oh dear was that a small custard and a vanilla slice that snooked into my bag too! Mick decided he’d see what C Webb and Sons had in the way of pork pies, they had a queue out of the door too. A warm pork pie and a sausage roll. Next we headed to the HS Bourne Cheese chap. Two wedges of treat cheese, some blue Cheshire and some clothbound Cheshire. That was enough edible swag for one day.
This afternoon we walked up to the station, from here we caught the train into Manchester. The London Leckenby’s had arrived in the afternoon with a very full car load, Josh was moving into Halls in Fallowfield at the University. Andrew and Jac had booked into the Ibis Hotel, once The Portland Hotel where I stayed in the early 90’s whilst working on props for the touring version of Phantom of The Opera.
Leckenbys
Big hugs all round, we then walked into the Northern Quarter to find a pub Andrew knew of, this took some time to find, but we got there in the end, it took a while longer to find a table. Beer and wine and lots of loud conversation were had before we then headed to Sweet Mandarin a few minutes walk away. I’d heard very good things about Sweet Mandarin as they have an extensive gf menu, a rare thing for a Chinese Restaurant. The food was very yummy, no-one noticed the lack of gluten. We drank, ate chatted away and had a very good evening.
Now Josh headed off to meet with a friend from Hackney who had also moved to Manchester today. His new life starting as he headed off on the top deck of a bus doing his best to ignore his mothers loud waves! They are seeing him again in the morning for the final goodbye. Another pint in a pub near to Piccadilly Station before we said goodbye to Andrew and Jac. A lovely evening celebrating Josh starting University.
Josh’s first night living in Manchester
2 locks, 3.1 miles, 1 right wrong number, 1 swing bridge, 4 rowing boats, 2 sausage rolls, 2 pies, 2 treat cheeses, 2 pudding yums, 2 trains, 13,893 steps with a pole, 1 new Mancunion, 2 Londoners, 1 old student trying to remember, 1 new student with places to discover, 1 great Chinese meal, 2 many glasses of wine, pairs 51, 52, and 53! 1 cat totally forgotten about!
Blind mans stretch to Winsford to Vale Royal Visitor Moorings
Some shore leave for Tilly as we did our morning routine, she was gone for quite a while but returned before we’d finished breakfast, the doors firmly closed behind her. Time to move on, we’d got the rest of the Weaver to cruise even though it would have been nice to be moored up for a day. Boats had already started going past, NB Lyndsey Jane had pulled onto the pontoon below the boat lift. As we rounded the next bend she could be seen winding and heading back to go up the lift, their time on the river over.
Back to Northwich
We soon caught up with a boat ahead of us, this was Sabrina on her electric boat. She pulled into the moorings in Northwich, there was chance to say a hello, we were carrying on.
Mick tried calling ahead to Hunts Lock. We had two phone numbers, neither of them worked! We’d have to hope someone would see us. First we were to cruise past Northwich dry dock. Here many old boats are moored, including Tyseley, Mikron’s boat, there were also several boats that used to moor in Stone. Two boats sat high up on a sideways slip (not sure what they are called) and boats were most probably in the dry dock under the viaduct which is reached from above Hunts Lock.
Approaching Hunts Lock
Activity could be seen at the lock, this and Vale Royal Lock are both manually operated, lots of handles to turn just like the clown at the end of Camberwick Green. A boat was coming down, perfect.
Our turn, we passed our rope up to the Lock Keeper, he tied it round a bollard and then as we rose up he passed it back down. Mick mentioned about the phone number not working. Apparently there had been a problem with the mobile used at the lock so a new sim had been got, this came with a new number. At the lift we were meant to be given a leaflet, I suspect they’d not bothered as it would have disintegrated in the rain last Sunday. We checked the number, his phone rang. He’d let Vale Royal Locks know we were on our way.
£400,000 click photo for details
The Lock Cottage with it’s immaculate hedge is for sale, it comes with a mooring and it’s garden reaches the end of the lock island.
Now we passed old boat yards on the west bank, several boats sat out on the hard, some under cover. A couple of old fire engines too and a wooden boat shrouded under weather torn tarpaulins.
The number of boats along here has thinned out from 13 years ago, we remember quite big ships.
Is it really round here?
At Vale Royal Locks the lock was waiting for us, we just couldn’t see it as it was tucked in between the bigger lock and a weir that was bobbing us about. Rope passed up, gates wound closed behind us and up we came. Here our discussion about locks with swing bridges over them continued. We are now up to 8 locks with this layout across the system, we’ve been through all of them except Jesus Lock on the River Cam.
We might come back to there
Now the top reach of the river to cruise. We passed a nice stretch of moorings soon after the lock, a good amount of space should we want to come back to it.
The oldest working mine in the country
What was that up ahead? An enclosed pit head? Yep Winsford Rock Salt Mine. A Looooooong conveyor stretched along the bank of the river to one of those salt igloo shaped buildings. It produces on average 1,500,000 tonnes of rock salt a year, used to grit roads in the winter months. The mine was first opened up in 1844, a down turn in the rock salt market forced it to close in 1892 but it reopened in 1928 when another mine near by was subject to flooding. The mine has over 160 miles of tunnels and still has reserves that are estimated to be able to last until 2076. In some of the empty tunnels documents are stored, the National Achieve have over 20 miles of storage.
Mounds of spoil or is it rock salt line the banks, behind trees more industrial units hide. Then the first mooring at Winsford showed itself, sadly with a burnt out narrowboat on it. Under the two bridges then round to the right then a hand break turn into the small basin which faces out onto the flash. We held back as a boat reversed out, then we tried mooring on the side away from the car park, but would have needed long legs to reach the bank. The other side was better and we settled down for a late lunch.
Winsford Flash
Some supplies to see us back to at least Middlewich were needed. The nearest supermarket Morrisons. Only down side was that we seemed to have to cross what felt like a bypass several times. We avoided it by staying on the river, but then had to cross at the next bridge to find a crossing where we’d not be run over. Another dice with death at a round about, Winsford is not intended for pedestrians!
We hadn’t realised we’d been off CRT water
We quickly made a decision that our mooring might be noisy this evening. Several vans were parked up and it had the look of a good place for deals to be done, add to that the number of geese and swans, it could end up being quite a noisy night. Oleanna was backed out, winded and we returned to the nice stretch of moorings above Vale Royal Locks, sadly after cat curfew!
This morning I’d started to write yesterdays blog, I finished it at lunchtime, just needed to be proof read. I logged in to do so, only to find three quarters of the post had vanished! The IT department couldn’t find it, I always click save, it just hadn’t! How annoying now I’ll have to write it all again!
2 locks, 11.6 miles, 1 U turn, 1 flash not investigated, 2 wrong phone numbers, 1 right one noted, 160 miles, 3 speedy roads, 43 swans, 25 geese, 1 cuddly toy goose, 1 slice of white sliced on our solar, 0 cat shore leave, 1 lovely mooring, 0.75 blog post vanished.
Devil’s Garden to Runcorn and Western Canal Junction to Marsh Lock
Tilly awarded the Devil’s Garden a stamp of approval this morning despite it peeing it down for most of her shore leave. A boat we’d passed yesterday came past and pulled in next to the other boat on the field. This is such a lovely mooring, hope we have time to stop here again on our way back.
There’s a devil out there!
A lull in rain gave us the impetus to push off at 11:30am. The chap who’d pulled in asked if we’d got a brolly, well on Sunday we discovered our brolly was destined for the bin! It wouldn’t have helped today as it was very windy plus we were heading into the wind!
There they go
Soon we came across a rowing eight and rescue boat, everyone as soggy as we were. They had soon turned and could be seen gaining on us. Their cox wasn’t altering their course any and they were destined to meet with our stern fender. What to do? Hold our course, they were still gaining on us! Mick decided to pull over to our port and slowed down with the aim of them continuing straight on. This didn’t work as they also slowed right down and looked at one point as if they were about to turn again and head up stream. We carried on returning to the correct side of the river, after a while they came past us to port.
Here they come again
There was a space at the end of the moorings at Sutton Swing Bridge, but we wanted to continue further today despite the rain, maybe we’d stop here on the way back.
Daniel Adamson
On the other side of the bridge sat the Daniel Adamson, were they on the water point? We spotted a pontoon just after them and pulled in to dispose of our rubbish. This is the boats home mooring, hooked up and filling with water. A chap came and asked if we’d like a look round. Silly question! Of course we would. A cruise on the Danny was on the list of possible things to do for Mick’s 60th birthday a few years ago.
The Danny (originally named the Ralph Brocklebank) is a steam tug which was built in 1903 in Birkenhead. She was built to pull long strings of barges laden with goods from Cheshire and the Potteries to Liverpool. She also carried passengers between Ellesmere Port and Liverpool this continued until 1915. During WW1 she had a short stint for the Royal Navy patrolling around the Liverpool coast.
Ropes
She was purchased by the Manchester Ship Canal in 1922 for over £3000, she still towed barges and carried passengers along the Ship Canal including VIPs around the inland docks. In 1936 she was given a radical refit was renamed after the Ship Canals chairman Daniel Adamson. The wheelhouse and bridge were raised, she got an upper deck and two saloons. The interior decor was done by Heaton Tabb and Co who were owned by Harland Wolff Ltd and had worked on the grandest of Atlantic liners. The interior was renovated in the modern Art Deco style.
Curves
Trade on the ship canal and the docks changed through the following decades. With the rise in container ships Manchester docks could not compete and were closed in 1982. The Danny was retired and in 1986 she was towed to Ellesmere Port Boat Museum where she’d started out her life 83 years earlier.
Her upkeep dropped, she fell into disrepair due to funding cuts, she was vandalised and set fire to. By 2004 she was earmarked for the scrap, but word got round, and Mersey Tug Skipper Dan Cross set up the Daniel Adamson Preservation Trust and soon he’d bought her for £1 from the Ship Canal. By 2015 the Heritage Lottery Fund had awarded the trust £3.8 million to restore her to full working order, by which time volunteers had already given over 1000 hours of their time.
Beautiful woodwork
Gordon showed us round, what a treat. The saloons were restored to how they would have been in 1936 with beautiful wood, glowing with warmth, graceful curves and deco steps.
Fancy
The steps up to the bridge have brass fretwork on them. The wheel is the original still with steam powered steering. The love for this boat shone through as Gordon told us the history.
The boiler has three fires
We’d noticed the standard hose pipe to the water point. It takes them three days to fill their tank and tonnes of water is needed as ballast! She has a coal fired boiler and the volunteers are now grateful that the coal arrives in bags as they have ten tonnes to shift at a time and get into the holds.
Steam powered steering
Mick asked how she was to steer. Gordon’s reply was ‘Pig comes to mind!’ From the bridge you can’t see the bow due to the canopy over the deck below, so they use the Jack mast to steer by. Four turns of the wheel, then you wait to see what she’s doing before you have to compensate.
Not only does the water tank take three days to fill, but it also takes that time for her to get up to steam for a trip. If she’s moving two days in a row firemen have to stay on board overnight to keep the fires going.
Thank you Gordon
Thank you so much Gordon for showing us round, what an unexpected treat when only wanting to dispose of our rubbish.
Chemicals
Under the M56 and onwards towards the Ship Canal. Blimey it was getting windier and windier. Now we cruised past the start of Koura Global a massive chemical works, followed by INEOS more chemical works. This continued on right up to Weston Lock where the Weaver navigation meets the Manchester Ship Canal and the River Weaver. We then turned to follow the navigation to the north for about another mile still accompanied all the time by chemical works.
Last lock on the Runcorn and Western Canal
Along here a narrow strip of land keeps the navigation from the ship canal, we couldn’t see it from onboard Oleanna sadly. At the far end the current navigation stops at Weston Point. Here there used to be three sets of locks.
Six inch 1888-1915 map
One towards the Ship Canal to the west. A lock to the north which led to another two locks and then out onto the Ship Canal. Then to the east a lock up onto the Runcorn and Western Canal which finally led to the flight of locks up to Runcorn. The bottom lock gates of the later lock are still visible, today with a heron guarding them.
A rare moment of sunshine after we’d winded
We’d heard that it might be possible to bang spikes in here, but we couldn’t work out where. So instead winded and headed back to Marsh Lock where there is a pontoon. We’d been warned the other day that the pontoon has lost it’s access to the bank. Mick later in the afternoon managed to haul himself up onto the bank and go to have a look at the lock and across to the Ship Canal, the Mersey not far away either.
Marsh Lock looking out onto the Ship Canal
White horses and rain continued for the majority of the day. Tilly resided herself to sitting in front of the stove. I joined her to do some knitting. News came through later today that Hunts Lock on the Weaver has been successfully repaired and is now open for navigation. An adjustment of cruising hours now required to reach the other end too in the time we have.
Our mooring for tonight
0 locks, 6.4 miles, 1 swing bridge, 2 pairs of gloves, 1 guided tour, 1930s deco, 3 days for water, 3 days to get enough steam, 10 tonne coal, 1 stove lit, 1 cosy cat, 1 very wet and blustery day.
Forge Brook Aqueduct to opposite Northwich Quay Marina, River Weaver
The first boat to pass today
The alarm was set early, well you just don’t know when a coal boat might arrive. It turned out we could have had some more time tucked up in bed. Having a booking for the boat lift and we were going to be joined by our friend Lizzie for the day meant we’d be moving today no matter how hard it was raining!
The Geraghty zoom covered subjects such as Clare Baldwin, ping pong, the 70’s BBC drama Canal Children, Ballet Shoes and tuna. We kept an eye out in case NB Halsall arrived, but there was no sign of them. A message came through, it would be mid to late morning. Oh well, we’d got half a tank of diesel and a bag and a half of coal, hopefully we’d be okay.
A skip
Covers were rolled up, full waterproofs on we set off around 11am. At the Anderton Services we wanted to drop off some rubbish, but there were a couple of hire boats there. One lady offered to put our bags in the bins for us, which we accepted whilst hovering at the end of the services. Recently there have been several posts on social media with photos of mountains of rubbish around full bins here. Today the main bin area was cordoned off, instead there was a big skip, far more capacity for all those boats coming off the Bridgewater Canal where bins are almost none existent.
Halsall arriving
We made our way to the lift waiting moorings, pulling in behind another boat also booked for the 12:15 passage. Lizzie arrived too, everyone starting to drip a bit from the amount of rain. Mick went to see if he needed to check in, there are cameras so they know when you’ve arrived. Just as he was walking back to the boat NB Halsall was pulling up next to us. Mick was informed by the lift staff that we’d not be able to fuel up if we wanted to go down the lift, there were other boats coming up and there simply wasn’t time. We explained to Rachel on Halsall maybe we’d be able to see them elsewhere in a week or so. Then a more amenable chap came and asked if we’d like to change our lift booking to the next slot, there was space. Brilliant, thank you! We could now top up on fuel and coal and maybe even have a warming cuppa before our descent.
Rachel brought Halsall close again, we tied up. Brolli in hand the diesel tank was filled to the top and three bags of Excell were popped onto Oleanna’s roof. We were their last customer, they pushed back to wind and head back the way they’d come. £1.06 delivered in the rain, you’ve got to love coal boats.
The soggy three
Tap on the roof, waterproofs back on, it was time to descend the lift.
This would be Oleanna and Tilly’s seventh and final wonder of the waterways. Mick and I had been down the lift on NB Winding Down back in March 2011! (our blogs were a bit different back then) Back then it was unseasonably warm, today it was seriously WET!
We followed NB Lyndsey Jane onto the aqueduct that leads to the boat lift. Under the gate that cuts the rest of the Trent and Mersey Canal off from the lift. This then closed behind us.
In front we waited for the two gates to lift that would connect the aqueduct to the lift caisson. Once cleared we could proceed into the caisson. Stern ropes attached to the side and tied off, engines off.
Gates closing behind us
The gates behind us came down. One gate seals off the aqueduct from the lift, the other seals the water into the caisson. Once these are closed the water in the gap between them is emptied out.
Hello over there!
We then had a bit of a wait for things to start to happen. Then slowly the caisson started to descend, a very slight shuddering could be felt as we lowered. A boat was ascending in the other caisson, passing halfway as you’d expect. Looking upwards it felt a lot further than the 50ft we’d travelled between canal and river.
Another wait for the gates out onto the river to lift. The chap on board NB Lyndsey Jane said we could go first, he’d rather wait for the mud to finish dripping off the bottom gates. We obliged, any mud would very soon get washed away by the rain.
A blast of our horn as we came out onto the river and turned left. We pulled onto the 24 hour mooring where there was a good amount of space. With the covers back up we quickly retired inside to attempt to dry out and have some food. The shower was filled with coats and life jackets on hangers, some drip drying required.
Whoops!
What to do with the rest of the day? We walked up to the visitor centre a good look at all the information about the lift, I’m going to save that for when we go back up. There was also a really good collection of vintage arcade games. Why I don’t know. We refrained from exchanging money for tokens to get them working, but just looked instead. One box was filled with puppets around a house where accidents were waiting to happen. I’m fairly sure this chap shouldn’t have been balancing on the banister rails like he was.
Soggy at Anderton
Back at Oleanna we decided to head on to Northwich. It was still raining, we were still wet, might as well carry on being wet for a while longer. The river is quite rural on the way to town. There are a lot more moorings than there were in 2011, a new pontoon was chocka block. We carried on hoping there’d be space for us somewhere. Thankfully between the two bridges opposite the new (to us) marina there was a space just big enough. Phew!
A dry off, mick lit the stove, we had a glass of wine whilst we decided what to do for food. The nearest place was Relish Tandoori , just behind the flats we were moored infront of. They do a Sunday Buffet which seemed to be popular, we opted to join in.
Yum
Poppadoms, followed by a selection of starters, then six or seven main courses, all help yourself. Fresh nana bread too. Everything was very nice, better than most take aways we’ve had over the last few years. Only criticism was it all could have been just a touch hotter, they needed better candles! For the three of us with a drink each it came to just over £50.
Here we waved Lizzie goodnight as she headed back to her hotel. What a totally soggy day, but a rather good one. Thank you Lizzie for joining us.
Oleanna has now travelled the seven wonders of the waterways.
* Jim Shead’s Seven Wonders of the Waterways I think were slightly different, if anyone can remember them please let me know as the website no longer exists.
0 locks, 2.8 miles, 1 left, 1 lift, 7th wonder of the waterways, 4 siblings, 1 on the metro, 82 litres diesel, 60kg Excell, 3 very wet boaters, 1 very bored cat, 4 moorings in a day, 6 dripping sleeves.
Some shore leave before we moved on today, with the rest of the locks through Middlewich to work through we didn’t want to be too late leaving and Tilly obliged by returning in good time.
Bee and clover
Such familiar water this stretch. by the railway bridges there used to be a winding hole just long enough for Carefree Cruising boats to wind in before returning to base by Elton Moss Bridge, but now you’d be lucky to be able to turn a 40fter there, so overgrown.
Nice Lock
Nice Lock 67 had a boat just leaving it, if there was going to be one lock I’d operate on the Cheshire Locks this would be the one. I hopped off with a windlass, Mick closed the top gate and I wound the paddles up at the bottom end. This was quite often the first lock we’d go through on NB Winding Down, hence it’s Nice name, but it also was likely to be the last lock too, then it got named Nasty Lock! But now it’s always Nice.
Knitting as we cruise
Down the Booth Lane Locks meeting a couple of boats heading up. The last of these boats had a hobbling lady walking the towpath, she should have caught a lift as they were only going to have to wait at the next lock for the boat ahead of them to go up.
Statics avoiding looking towards the canal
More new houses going up and some static caravans are also being plumbed in right beside the canal, no canal view though as very few of their windows faced the water.
Mick as blue as the sky
What a glorious day to be boating. Sun blue skies and not too hot. Should we have a mooring today where we could have a bbq what would we eat? There were some sausages or mince, both frozen. Maybe we should see what the new small Morrisons could provide for us.
King’s Lock
We pulled in close to the fish and chip shop, two houses along the way for sale. Well except it was quite hard to pull in. A new length of armco looked appealing, but either there was a sunken vessel there or a ledge, we tried further along, and again. Finally we made it close enough to the bank. The gate to the road leads just that straight onto the road, no pavement just a little gravellyness then the busy road. Morrisons was out of various items, but there were some burgers and a bag of mixed peppers. I checked the free from items. That bread looked nice, ah no wonder it was Rye Bread, first ingredient, Wheat! No wonder they had quite a lot of it!!
We’d originally not planned on stopping in Middlewich, but to carry on straight through, but now we were moored up we had lunch. With one boat just ahead of us when we pushed off again we waited to use King’s Lock. This boat was going onto the water point then up onto the Branch, we had another two possible water points to choose from.
winding a 70fter
Just as I was about to bring Oleanna out from the lock a 70ft hire boat arrived, were they turning up to Wardle Lock and the Branch, no just winding. With a boat on the water point and a CRT work boat the other side of the junction this limited their turning circle. Their wind taking ages, but they managed it in the end. We followed them down to the Middlewich three.
With the opportunity of there being volunteers at each lock I decided I’d like to work the locks as I’d only need to do half the work. However there was a long wait. Another hire boat was under tuition coming up the locks so we and the boat ahead had to wait. The volunteer wasn’t going to let anyone through the lock until the uphill boat had cleared, both boats could have gone down in that time.
I let Mick bring Oleanna round the bend towards the middle lock
The 7/8 chaps on the hire boat in front seemed to know what they were doing and were soon on their way. The volunteer I suspect was a touch deaf as I asked if I could fill the lock. ‘NO!’ He then gestured to wind a paddle up! We were soon on our way down, I checked that there were other volunteers at the locks, ‘Yes’ marvellous! That was until the other two volunteers walked up to the top lock and said the middle lock was filling. Even my walking pole didn’t suggest we’d need assistance, they then vanished into thin air. Oh well the first time I’d been looking forward to having assistance at the locks and it wasn’t going to happen.
Last of the narrow locks for a bit
I opened up the middle lock, the chaps from the boat ahead lifted a paddle to refill the bottom lock for us. I worked us down the middle lock then Mick and I swapped over for the bottom lock, I could do no more.
Yarn bombed posts
We pulled onto the next water point and toped up the tank, emptied the yellow water and then made ready to push onwards. Big Lock had just been emptied, but we were soon on our way down. We’d totally forgotten about Middlewich on an afternoon, especially on a Friday, we’d thought we’d be through by early afternoon, but that pause for lunch! Saturdays it’s shareboat central at the junction, Fridays seemed to be hire boats! Mental note for next time, avoid certain days, avoid afternoons and the volunteers will clock off as soon as either the chippy opens or after the last hire boat is through.
Big Lock
It was getting quite late, we’d thought of heading on to Bramble Cuttings, not that much further, but on a sunny Friday afternoon there was likely to be no room for us. So when we came across Croxton Aqueduct and the towpath widened out and there was plenty of space we pulled in. Tilly was given an hour whilst we got ourselves ready for a bbq. The burgers I’d bought were really quite fatty and sent big flames up from the coals, charring everything. I gave them a few minutes rest away from the fire before finishing them off which seemed to calm them down a touch. A lovely evening sat out none the less watching and eating as the sunset.
Just about ready to start cooking
9 locks, 5.9 miles, 1 straight on, 1 new edge too shallow, 1 nice lock, 1 knee still able to do the T&M hurdles, 3, 2, 1, 0 volunteers, 1 closed council tip, 4 fatty burgers, 4 pepper haloumi kebabs, 1 bowl coleslaw, 1 sunset.
Well that new detector! It’s position on the ceiling directly over my head whilst in bed was a problem last night. Around the big test button is a ring of green light which flashes every 30 seconds or so. All detectors tend to flash, but this one was SO BRIGHT that it felt like the aliens were invading. Yes I tried turning over and I did have my eyes closed but the light flashed through my eye lids time after time after time! I’m aware that I was awake trying to ignore it for at least two hours, thankfully then I fell asleep.
Byebye, see you again somewhere sometime
We couldn’t be tardy this morning, we’d something to tick of the ‘Next Time’ list. A quick chat with Mike on NB Alchemy before we pushed off. It was really good to be able to meet up, until next time, happy cruising for the remainder of the year.
As it says, Middleport Pottery
A mile and a half to cruise and we pulled in on the visitor moorings at Middleport Pottery, with a booking for Harecastle Tunnel this afternoon we hoped there’d be enough time for us to enjoy the pottery. You can wonder around the site for free, but if you pay then you get to go inside various rooms and workshops, if you pay more you can get to go round the working Burleigh Pottery Factory. We opted for the Heritage Trail. With green stickers and a key fob we could guide ourselves round the pottery.
What a great model
Middleport Pottery was the first pottery to be designed by an architect, the whole process of the factory taken into account with the products flowing through from one area to the next. In came the clay by boat, off loaded, it was cleaned, made ready for which ever process it was destined for, slip for casting, put through a pug mill for Jiggering, Jolleying and pressing into various shapes and patterns. Drying. Biscuit firing in bottle kilns, patterns applied, glazes painted or dipped on, dried again, then into the Glosting bottle kilns for their final firing, then packed up and loaded back onto boats to head of to be sold.
Dane returning with a hold full of people
Here in Stoke they had both clay and coal, the canal alongside aided the more reliable transportation of the finished goods. Dane normally sits outside the pottery, but today it was on a cruise through Harecastle Tunnel. Those on the trip were on board from 10am, we passed them coming back a little after 2pm.
The last remaining bottle kiln
There’s a wonderful model of the factory how it originally was, made in ceramic (what else!) this shows the seven bottle kilns that used to be in the factory. Three for biscuit firing (the ceramics could be stacked close for firing) then four for glost kilns (the ceramics needed more space once glazed so as not to stick together in the firing). When the clean air act came in in 1956 new methods of firing were found, gas taking over from coal, tunnel kilns were developed to save having to stack everything up around a bottle kiln, blocking the door and then lighting fires to raise the temperature to over 1000 degrees. Six of the original bottle kilns were demolished, the one that remains does so as it was a part of another factory building and not stand alone.
Hi there
We saw the old offices. Phones rang as you walked past, if answered you’d get the story of an office worker. We watched a film about the factory processes making all the pottery, then looked at examples of Japonica tea sets, Churchill Toby Jugs, other fancy items.
Rooms now taken over by independent studios
Round past various independent studios we had the opportunity to look round a quarter of the moulds used which had been stored in roof spaces around the factory.
Commemorative plates, Toby Jugs, vases all sorts, an amazing collection of jelly moulds too. A mould could only be used so many times before a new one had to be made from the master.
Looking upwards between the brick walls of a bottle kiln
The Placing House and Bottle Kiln were next. In the placing house Saggers (rough clay containers used to protect the finer pottery whilst in the bottle kiln) were meticulously packed to make the most of the space, then they were carefully positioned in the bottle kiln, piled high one on top of the other right to the top. More delicate items such as plates would be packed nearer the centre of the kiln. Then once full the door would be bricked up and fires lit around the outside of the inner skin of the kiln, ramping up the temperature to a maximum of 1000 to 1250C, this was maintained for two to three hours before the kiln was allowed to cool down. As soon as it was possible to enter the kiln, the men would start to unpack it dressed in many layers to protect them from the heat. Pay was based on the quality of the goods coming out of the kiln, so if a firing went wrong the wages weren’t paid.
Sinks
The bath house has a wonderful line of sinks, just enough room to stand in front of them, no elbow room. A deep deep bath tub sat in another area. Was there just the one between all the workers, or several? During WW2 the bath house was one of eleven areas earmarked as air raid shelters, it could hold 38 of the 500 employees, thankfully the shelters were never needed.
The Lancashire Boiler produced steam to power the steam engine next door which kept many things moving in the factory.
Cuppas
Time for a break and some lunch. We could have had oatcakes, we could have had some Lobby (a beef stew) but we opted for jacket potatoes and a cuppa each obviously in suitable cups. Very nice and better than the potato wedges we’d had at Shugborough a few weeks ago.
Boots
Next we just had time to look round the Lodgekeeper’s House. A two up two down house with projections of people telling stories of their lives in Stoke. Very interesting, but the rooms lacked a little bit in atmosphere.
It was now 2pm time to push off, we’d the tunnel booked for 3pm. We’d enjoyed the pottery, however it still sits on the ‘Next Time’ list as I’d now like to do a factory tour and have a peruse around the independent studio spaces. The seconds factory shop was still WAY too expensive for anything to be purchased. I’m glad that around 30-40 years ago I visited the factory when it was closed and riffled through skips with a friend, we were students at the time. Items that were not too faulty in our eyes were pulled out and later I was allowed to visit my old school and give them all a clear glaze and fire them. Not the most expert job, but it did give me a set of Burleigh ware bowls and various other items which today would have cost me several hundred pounds.
Following
We pushed off. At Westport Lake a hire boat pushed out in front of us. They went slowly, we followed at tick over, would we make it to the tunnel by 3pm? Thankfully yes. They pulled in ahead of us and a Tunnel Keeper came to talk to them. This took quite a long time as their English wasn’t so good, getting them to shine their head light and sound the horn was testing the keepers patience a touch. As soon as he’d decided that they’d understood everything he came to talk to us.
Can you show me your light and sound the horn? Please?
‘Your lucky!’ Why? We’d booked. ‘Your not in the book’. But we booked. I checked the confirmation email. The Tunnel Keeper and Mick were both correct. We had booked and we weren’t in the book for today because Mick had booked our passage for the 11th! We were lucky as someone else had booked and we could tag along behind them, phew!
More head room than at Froghall
We whizzed through our safety briefing and were let into the tunnel a few minutes after the hire boat. Our normal speed would be reduced by their normal speed, go too slowly in a tunnel and you loose your steering and end up biffing the walls. Once we’d cleared the portal the doors closed behind us and the loud drone of the big fans kicked in to help ventilate the tunnel. It took a few hundred meters for us to be able to hear each other again.
Around 50 minutes later we emerged at the Kidsgrove portal. The tunnel Keeper here doing his best to keep a group of school kids off the CRT boat. The kids then turned their attention to us, the usual ‘Can I have a ride Mr, I’ve never been on one before’ ‘How much did it cost?’ ‘I could run and jump onto your boat from here’ We talked to them, suggested it would be a bad idea, hoping that we knew they’d not try, but you never know. They soon walked up the steps towards the station and forgot about us as we did about them.
At the junction
The hire boat had tried turning long before reaching the junction, but managed to get round after a bit of faffing leaving the way ahead clear for us. We dropped down Plant’s Lock 41, the first from the summit pound, and chose where to moor up, easy as we were the only boat in the pound.
Down Plant’s Lock
A visit to Lidl was required, then Mick headed to Tescos for bits Lidl don’t do and to pick up a prescription whilst I set about preparing cruising sustenance for a busy day tomorrow.
1 lock, 5.5 miles, 1 tunnel, 1 pottery finally visited, 0 shore leave AGAIN! 2 jackets, £15 for a 2nds cup, 11th September, 2 lucky boaters, 1 straight on, 1 batch short crust, 1 tin of oaty apple energy, 1 folded bit of card over the flashing green light!
Below Engine Lock 4 to Bridge 118, Trent and Mersey
Last night a cow had kept mooing. It moood a long time. Could we help it in any way at midnight? Hopefully what it had been complaining about disappeared not too long after we got to sleep. How would you find out which farmer the cow belonged to?
Twit twoo
No shore leave much to Tillys disappointment this morning. We knew we were already following at least one boat towards the locks back down into Stoke, coats on as it was quite grey we pootled onwards. It’s a long pound to Planet Lock, terraced gardens come down to the canal. Someone had been out to trim the sprigs from their neatly sculpted bushes, we wondered how they reached over to trim the edge nearest the canal. An owl watch us go by, guarding the door at the bottom of it’s tree stump.
Just as we approached Bridge 16A Oleanna started to list, a long scraping noise came from below, Mick knocked Oleanna out of gear. We’re used to scraping the bottom in shallow bits, but this was different. I made note on What3words and got ready to report it to CRT. Twitter used to be handy for reporting such things, but I’ve erased it since it became X. On the CRT website there was a chat function where you can report things. I decided to give it a go.
Lift!!!
Within a minute I got a reply asking if the canal was blocked, partially or fully. We got through, but someone else might not. Could they pass on the information and my details to the local team? Yes, I was kind of hoping you would. Very quick and easy to report and the answers that came didn’t feel like it was a bot replying.
Bride 9, low for some
It was first day at Stoke on Trent College for many, masses surrounded buildings with welcome flags flying, that will be Josh in a few weeks time. So many young people moving on with their lives into new directions.
We passed a couple of boats heading up the canal, thankfully not on big bends. The lift bridge I only caught one car and a pedestrian. We considered stopping for supplies at a handy Lidl, but that could wait for tomorrow, there were other things we needed to buy today.
CND Meow
Planet Lock was almost full thankfully as only one top paddle is working. Then Mick walked ahead to the staircase whilst I brought Oleanna along slowly behind. A lady filmed Oleanna going past out of the window of a restaurant, I waved and she laughed, nice to make someone’s day.
In at the top
The staircase only needed a touch of topping up and was ready with the top gate open for me. The bottom chamber must leak as that was already empty, just how we’d found it on our way up. Downerty Down.
Out the bottom
Was there any room by the Museum? No and not enough room for two boats. Extra space required today. We paused to dispose of yellow water. There were several CRT people busy with items they’d pulled out of the canal, shopping trolleys put onto vans. A lady in blue said hello to us, very jolly. She said a friend of hers had named her daughter Oleanna, an unusual name. This is only the second time someone has made comment on the name knowing of it previously, makes a change from ‘Are you Oli and her Anna?’
This is a rubbish outside, please tie up a different one
Mick told her about the object at bridge 16A. She was surprised at there being something so far along the canal, but they’d take a look. Now reported twice we knew something would happen.
A notice on the services door. Events for Heritage Open Days. Through September there are places that are not often open, that you can visit for free across the country. We’ve been to quite a few over the years. This year it looks like next weekend will be an interesting one at Etruria with all sorts of steaming things going on. Why oh why do we always miss things here?!!
With Oleanna pointed northwards we were now on the hunt for a mooring, one where hopefully there’d be space later on for a second boat. The towpath was empty from the services, but that’s quite busy, we hoped for a little further along. Outside the Toby Carvery was just about full, a couple of rings nearer the bridge, but we’d have been in the way. Just through the next bridge are rings, we’ve paused there for lunch before, no other boats, perfect.
Lunch, an email of our location sent, time to do some shopping. First Mick headed off with the Brompton, over the canal into the retail area near Bet365 for some engine oil. Then the two of us headed to Festival Park which is a bit of a walk away.
New detector
A few evenings ago our CO and smoke detector in the bedroom started to ‘bip’ at us. Mick spent some time with it, gave it a new battery, then tested it. It wasn’t happy, time for a new detector. Having had a couple of these before and they suggest they last for ten years we decided to go for a different brand. Mick came out of B&Q with a FireAngel detector.
She’d better like beef in the 7+ boxes
Then we carried on up the hill, Morrisons for a loaf of bread, further uphill to Pets at Home. Time to restock on wood cat litter. We used to get it delivered with shopping, it only comes in 10 litre bags from supermarkets. Pets at home works out cheaper at 30 litre bags and the pellets are better for our needs. It’s used both by Tilly in her litter tray, and by us in our compost toilet. They also had pink food at a reduced price, Tilly stocked up for a while.
Oleanna and Alchemy
Back at the canal we’d been joined by a very green boat, NB Alchemy. We stowed our shopping then went over to say hello. Alchemy looks very smart after a recent repaint. Mike and Christine invited us onboard for a cuppa and a chat. We’ve only managed to chat in passing in the past, so it was nice to have a good catch up with them whilst not looking over our shoulders in case another boat was approaching.
How did she know I liked Webbox?!
Christine wanted to come and meet Tilly. This very nice She came and gave me an ear rub and then some Webbox! My favourite!!! She is allowed to visit again. Thank you.
Mick, Mike, Christine, Pip
As I got food ready, chicken and leek macaroni cheese, Mick set about fitting the new detector in the bedroom. It’s footprint on the ceiling slightly smaller, but we shouldn’t notice the screw holes. Yarn was selected for the next pair of socks and the first toe cast on in front of the TV.
There was no point in putting things back on Oleanna’s roof yesterday as we’d be going back through the tunnel today. Well the chimney went on in case it rained overnight. The mooring had been quiet apart from what sounded like a distant dog kennel, one with lots of hounds.
Not CRT bins!
Yesterday we’d wanted to dispose of some rubbish. CRT signs suggested that the bins were theirs, but another sign said there were not and there would be a £600 fine for anyone using them, they belonged to Hetty’s. Mick popped over this morning to check on the situation. Apparently CRT removed the bins a while ago, Hetty’s then took over the contract with Biffa, so they are theirs. The chap at Hetty’s said we’d be okay popping one bag of kitchen waste in them before we left.
A very green lock
Time to make our move. Mick headed off to set the lock, no need to as there was no chance it would have filled up overnight. The chap from the waterpoint yesterday was walking his dog and came for a chat, at least someone other than us had now seen that we’d made it through the tunnel. Blimey the lock was like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon when empty, so much plant life. Up Oleanna rose, we then pulled onto the water point to top up the tank again.
Chatting funding and bins
Not such a powerful tap and I suspect it was connected to Hetty’s as the pressure varied. A CRT fundraiser came over to chat, full of the problems to do with funding. He confirmed the bins were no longer CRT’s, maybe someone should remove the CRT sign.
Nice click photo for details
Opposite the lock is a rather nice building containing several holiday lets. They have their own swimming lake behind them. A lady came out to wave at us as we passed, heading back to the tunnel.
Can we do it in 2 minutes this time?
It took a while to line up with the tunnel again. Then we plunged back into the 75 yards, repeating yesterdays slow progress, only a little bit quicker this time, 7 minutes instead of 10 for Mick’s head to pop back up at the stern.
With all the covers removed it made sense to me to give the roof a much needed wash. Mick wasn’t so keen and busied himself putting nav lights back on and reassembling the horns. I however was determined to finally give Oleanna a wash, sick of the green and grey the cream had become.
Revolting!
With other items removed the roof needed a prewash and rinse to get rid of the worst of the muck. Then followed with a soapy wash and scrubbing brush, rinsed down. Mick ran out of jobs he could get away with, he really hates washing boats, doesn’t see the point in it! So I got him to do the prewash and rinse on the off side. Where the coal lives on the roof both sides got the full works the rest of the offside could wait for us to be moored later on.
So much better
Oh finally the cream was back with us. Unfortunately it did mean that I’d got to see just how bad the grabrail had got close up on the port side. Last year I’d prepped the starboard side for painting, then ran out of time. The port side didn’t get a look in. I’m going to have to find the time this year along with knee stamina to stand on the gunnels to get the job done. Washing the roof was at least a start.
Back under the railway
As we had lunch a boat came past. Where had it come from? It had come from the tunnel, we’d not seen it go past earlier. Mick said he’d spotted it down an arm when he went into Hetty’s. So when we came across a boat heading to Froghall, thankfully not on a narrow section, we could confidently tell the helm that there would be no-one heading towards him as there were no boats behind us. We kept sounding our horn, just in case, but met no other boats.
Just by the water point at Consell Forge there was aFor Sale sign. Not much of a river frontage, but hardly surprising as the house was up a track away from the weir and river. If you like a good pint and heritage railways along with a bit of seclusion this is your house.
Back off the river
Back up the river, back onto the canal. No Bob or Rob to help at Wood Lock, but that didn’t matter. We now wanted a mooring. A hire boat and CRT boat occupied the first length. The boat from the water point yesterday sat on the next mooring opposite The Boat pub. We pulled in behind, tucking in as close as we could, with boats moored opposite we didn’t want to be in anyone’s way. It did require some creative mooring, but we got there in the end.
Pheasants? A touch pale though
Time to put Oleanna back together again. I finished off washing the roof, the offside no longer off, whilst Mick put the cratch cover and pram hood back on. Except there was a vital bit missing from the pram hood. An end that connects the end of a piece of frame to attach it to the cabin sides. When we’d taken the frame off it had been stored inside, last night it was put on the roof out of our way, then back inside again today. We hunted high and low, inside and out. Tilly was questioned in case she’d found it interesting and batted it under the sofa for safe keeping. It was not to be found, we needed some means of attaching the frame to the roof.
Boy things kept for what? But that broken thing might just…
In amongst the things that have been kept for some reason was a broken bit from the tv aerial pole. A rubber end to it and a broken metal prong. It fitted into the frame leaving the prong which we might be able to clamp into the connector. Mick played around with it for a while, cable ties and for now we have a way to attach the frame when it’s up, it always gets folded down for cruising no matter. A new connector will need ordering next week.
Not the quietest of moorings. Plenty of dog walkers and noisy drinkers at the pub. This was then followed by a lot of cars coming and going. We’d be able to cope with it for a night and before there is any boat traffic in the morning we want to be moving.
4 locks, 4.8 miles, 75 yards of tunnel, £750,000, 0 boats behind us, 1 year of grime, 1 sparkling roof, 2 sides still to do, 15 patches of rust, 1 noisy mooring, 2 dogs to get along, 1 bored cat, 1 missing end, 1 broken bit repurposed.
