Category Archives: Nature

Joining At The End. 24th June

Congleton Bridge 61 to River Dane Aqueduct

Despite not heading to York today the alarm had been set so that the hire car could be returned first thing. Mick set off to Macclesfield and I was soon out of the door myself.

Hope it wasn’t a time traveller who trod on this butterfly!

Our mooring was about a mile away from the bottom of the Bosely Flight so I walked up to take a look at the queue. The sun was doing it’s best to heat up the world very well. Yesterday Fountains had been along the towpath cutting the path and around the bridge holes but leaving everything else. Meadow Sweet, cow parsley and even more foxgloves lined my route.

The farm on the off side, Crossley Hall Farm, has changed somewhat since last we passed. It’s taken a look at Google street view and back through our old photos to see quite what.

The most obvious thing is that the seated painted cow no longer sits on the mooring watching for boats up the canal. All the barns have been done up, new windows, ventilation holes blocked with dark bricks. It looks like they may now be holiday lets. Then the Hall has been restored. The timber is far more elaborate than it used to be. The huge stone chimneys now look like giant lego bricks, all just a bit too clean.

Trains thundered over the rail bridge, followed by the calm of the Cloud.

Possible shady moorings looked appealing as I walked along. The day was forecast to be very hot, my recky was to see if we’d rather move up to the bottom of the locks where there is no shade or rather sit under trees for the day.

The old overflows take you back in time. Cobbles and a walkway so that you don’t have to paddle if the water level rises. Today just a trickle wet the stones, it may be a different matter tomorrow depending on the number of boats using the locks.

I soon reached the 48hr mooring. 2 boats facing away from the locks and 3 towards. A chap on the rear boat had his engine boards up, so I stopped for a chat. The lead boat has been here for a couple of days and the others had turned up yesterday. There was still plenty of room for at least three more boats before anyone would have to get a touch creative with their mooring.

One of the boats that passed us the other day hadn’t realised that the Marple flight was also closed until July, they were needing to be in Wigan before then, so managed to get C&RT to open the bottom lock so that they could go up one chamber, wind and come back down again. They are now making their way down the Cheshire locks.

Back at Oleanna Mick had returned and a short discussion followed. Stay cool and watch boats arrive that we’d be behind, or move up to the bottom of the locks and wait in full sunshine. We decided to move, closing all the curtains to keep the sun out.

We pootled on up and joined the end of the queue. I thought we’d be fourth but one of the boats facing away from the locks had winded to face them now. Was the chap just painting his boat, or waiting for the locks too?

Time for breakfast. Mushrooms and poached eggs, yummy. Tilly went off to check the area and seemed to keep herself busy for quite some time. We pottered away the afternoon not really doing much, Tilly was far busier.

Mid afternoon a boat pulled in behind us. He walked past and tapped on the next boats roof. We could hear the conversation, he was concerned that he might not make it through the locks in time tomorrow. Mick checked the email and went out to give advice. The bottom lock would be opened at 8:30am, last boat in would be at 1pm and the locks would be locked at 3:30pm. He still seemed concerned. He walked up to the front of the queue and asked the lead boat to move onto the lock landing to make more space, ‘three more boats would be arriving’ and there wasn’t enough room for them!

So the boat at the front moved up, the new arrival quickly moving his boat to second position, he thought he might be able to share the locks with another short boat up near the front.

A while later another boat arrived. This boat was being moved from Nether Heyford on the Grand Union up to Braidbar Boats for a repaint and the chap on board, Paul, was a boat mover. We all conferred and agreed that we’d all easily be able to get up the locks with plenty of time. Another boat came past and headed to fill the gap left at third position, he was very quick to let everyone know he wasn’t pushing in, just using available space and knew who he’d be following.

The day had been hot and the evening still was. We decided to make the most of the view and set ourselves up for a barbecue over looking Congleton Viaduct. Some lamb marinated with garlic and rosemary, a potato salad (still using my Nantwich veg box up) and some hallumi and veg kebabs. We had a lovely evening sitting out but refrained from staying out to watch the sun go down as we wanted to go to the theatre.

Tonight we watched Act 1 of Small Island from the National Theatre. It tells the stories of a man and two women. Hortense who wishes to move away from Jamaica where she is a teacher. Gilbert wants to become a lawyer after being in the RAF in WW2. Queenie yearns to leave her Lincolnshire roots behind.

Hortense and Gilbert marry just before he climbs on board HMT Empire Windrush and promises to send for her. Queenie meets Bernard and marries him, her route to a life in London. So many dreams that we know will not be fulfilled. We’ll watch Act 2 tomorrow after doing the locks.

0 locks, 1.06 miles, 2 mile walk, 1 car returned, 1 taxi, 0 cow, 4th in line, 5th in line, 6th, 7th, 8th? 30C plus in the pram cover, 1 Betty cat, 1 nosy dog, 1 very hot Tilly, 1 boat mover, 1 barbecue with a view, 1 more favourite mooring.

https://goo.gl/maps/sTgDwNFMDPz8PLwMA

Past The Point Of No Return. 22nd June

Tilly Railings to Stanier 1st Bridge 62

No shore leave this morning, this didn’t go down too well with the second mate, but at the moment we need to keep moving.

Mick made a phone call to Enterprise car hire. We’d booked a car from Congleton for two days to be able to get to York Hospital for an appointment on Wednesday. But yesterday we found out that the Congleton office is currently closed despite it suggesting otherwise on their website. The next few days have been planned like a military operation and our chosen mooring for the car was selected with locks, shopping, tea and hospital all in mind.

Our hire was moved to the Macclesfield office and luckily the chap today said that they would be able to drop the car off for us, but this would be sometime between 8:30 and 1pm. Returning the car would also have a similar window. This could cause problems on Thursday morning. We’d wanted to get rid of the car as early as possible to then make our way to the bottom of the Bosley flight to join the queue for the locks, a window of only a few hours! Two solutions were suggested, the keys could be picked up as early as they could manage, then the car would be retrieved when ever, or Mick could drive it to Macclesfield and get a cab back for which they would wave the fuel. Things looked more possible, time to move ourselves.

As we had our breakfast three boats went past. Will we be the last in line for the locks when we arrive on Thursday morning? Will we get through or have to wait until the locks reopen three days a week next month?

NB Cuba our locking friends from the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal

We pushed off saying goodbye to the huge bull and his diddy offspring in the field opposite. Before reaching Congleton we passed NB Cuba, was this the boat we shared the locks up to Sheffield with a couple of years ago? A quick look back at the blog and there was the same boat. Sadly no body was in view as we passed so we couldn’t say hello to Rob and Sue.

The foxgloves are doing well along here, sprouting out in gardens and long the towpath edge. Why is it that wild flowers such as foxgloves and rhododendrons are nearly always pink? I remember having white foxgloves in the garden in York.

It used to be a swing bridge as you can see from the curved stonework

Under Billy Tights Footbridge, does anyone know why it has this name? It used to be a swing bridge and the footbridge carries footpaths from one side of the canal to the other. But just who was Billy Tights? Answers on a postcard please.

Approaching Congleton we came across our first snake bridge, also known as roving bridges. These are bridges where the towpath changes sides of the canal and so that the rope didn’t have to be detached from the horse, the bridges snake round on both sides of the canal. You get them elsewhere, but the chaps who built the Macc did it with more style. However the first few of these bridges don’t flow quite so beautifully as those in Marple.

The curve up from the towpath meets the bridge at an angle, rather than continuing the curve, you’ll see what I mean in a couple of weeks when we reach Marple and I end up taking too many photos!

Across the aqueduct, a small version of the one in Nantwich, then the next snake bridge which is a touch more rounded, but still not quite there.

Bridge after bridge all different shapes and sizes

There then follows numerous bridges, high, rounded, square as you work your way past Congleton Railway Station. We took a train from here to Sheffield the day Oleanna got her name painted onto her side.

Then round the long bend with a good view of the viaduct, onto the long straight. Bridge after bridge after bridge line themselves up to pass under.

Alongside Buglawton gardens back onto the towpath, but each with a high hedge. One house looks like they have spent quite a bit of lockdown erecting new fencing on two tiers so nobody can see in or out!

About a mile further on we reached the last winding hole before Bosley Locks, the point of no return! If we didn’t make it up the locks on Thursday we’d have to reverse back to this point to wind, not an attractive proposition!

Before Stanier 1st Bridge 62 we pulled in, nudging back and forth to find suitably deep enough water for Oleanna to sit comfortably. Just a short distance away the busy A54 crosses the canal and here a handy layby to have a car delivered to tomorrow morning.

Tilly wasn’t that impressed as the sideways trees backed onto a track quite a long way down from the towpath. Alongside our mooring the water teamed with life.

The waterline was made up more of tadpoles than anything else all busy feeding on weed, we hoped they’d turn round and have a munch on the long growth on Oleanna’s hull. Some only had tails, others legs, stumpy tails, some already had markings despite being no longer then a centimetre long.

Then I spied something else below the water line. An armour plated alien creature. Checking on this ‘thing’ during the afternoon it must have turned round to show us it’s large clawed front legs. Was this a Signal Crayfish or a native crayfish? Only way to tell would be to lift it out of the water to check on colouring. Neither of us were too keen on doing this, so just let it be. If it had turned out to be a Signal Crayfish then we wouldn’t be allowed to return it to the water.

0 locks, 6.02 miles, 1 viaduct, 4 hours shore leave, 1 hire sorted, 1 order finalised, 53743 tadpoles, 1 alien about to chomp our toes, 3 masks finished.

https://goo.gl/maps/5X4HWxfojQqZJ9gLA

To The Top. 21st June

Townfield Lock 46 to Tilly Railings, Rownes No 2 Bridge 86, Macclesfield Canal

Today we were going to cover some water we’d covered six years ago to the day, but first we needed to finish climbing the Cheshire Locks.

The jolly summer house opposite Red Bull services

Two locks up to the water point. Almost as soon as I set off to set the first lock it started to spit, by the time I reached the lock it was raining. I lifted the paddles and then returned to Oleanna to get my coat before I got totally soaked through. Of course because I did this the rain passed and faded as we made our way up the lock!

A cruiser has positioned itself between the two water points at Red Bull, I realised that as the C&RT office here is closed at the moment they will only get spotted when a number checker comes past. Of course they may have a very good reason for being here, but maybe being on the 48hr mooring would be more helpful to steel narrowboats coming in to use the services.

Rising to nearly the same level as on the aqueduct behind Mick which will take us onto the Macc

Water topped up, yellow water disposed of and all the rubbish added to the bins, we were ready to carry on to the top of the Trent and Mersey Canal, only another three locks to the summit.

Over the last few days we’ve had boats pass us, all of these have been heading for Harecastle Tunnel and today we passed them all waiting for their bookings tomorrow. Normally at this time of year you just turn up at the tunnel, book in and wait for the go ahead, but currently you have to book for one of the four days a week that it is open.

At Plants Lock 41 we rose up to the summit, my new boating PPE gloves now well worn in and showing the amount of locks we’ve been through.

Coming up tothe summit of the Trent and Mersey

In the car park of The Canal Tavern was what looked like a fairground burger van, generator whirring away waiting to serve some customers. We wondered what is going to be built behind the hoardings along side the canal. What will Hardings Wood Junction look like when we next come past?

Time to turn right to turn left onto the Macclesfield Canal. Mick swung Oleanna round and under the bridge. People sat high in their gardens catching up with friends out in the open, hope they had brollies as it was just starting to spit again.

Now we were retracing our bow wave from six years ago on Lillian. Oleanna has never been on the Macc. We remembered our first time approaching Hall Green Lock on a hire boat, our Nicholsons guide warning us of shallow waters, would our deeper draught on Oleanna make it? Would we have to drink the boxes of wine in the cellar to lift the stern?!

Over the aqueduct and the Trent and Mersey Canal

One scrape was all we heard as we approached the narrow channel before the lock. I stepped off and kept my eye open for Woofer deposits, the culprit barking a welcome from the cottage barn door.

Up all 1ft 3″ and we were now on the Macc proper. Six years ago we had been on a mission, heading to Macclesfield so that I could catch a train back to Stone, walk to Aston Marina to pick the car up and then drive to Derby for the Production week of April in Paris. I would then join Mick in Manchester several days later ready to start our ascent on the Rochdale heading for Hebden Bridge.

Today we had other things on our minds. The bridges. Well not the first one, flat with pipes running under it, but soon the first curved opening showed itself. The Macc bridges are our favourite. We spent a winter up on the summit four years ago and fell in love with their curves in every direction. Here’s a link to a post of appreciation . I’m sure there will be many more photos this visit.

With purple flowers growing from the mortar lines and the curves worn by ropes the first stone bridge at this time of year is so pretty.

Then the first high bridge with the uprights leaning outwards the higher they get. Canalside gardens backing neatly up to the water. Numerous things to look at.

Up ahead we could see the very brightly painted NB Rosie moored outside what is known as Teapot Hall. Teapots hang everywhere and true to their word they were sitting outside with a cuppa chatting to a chap. Waves back and forth.

Soon we were passing Heritage Hire Boats. Several of their boats had signs on the back doors saying ‘Thoroughly cleaned’. We couldn’t see if all the mattresses were laid back down in place indicating that they were all ready to go out.

Ramsdell Hall still sits back behind it’s large green lawn, although along the canal edge it looks like the lawn has been used to off load dredging from the cut. Here along the towpath there are railings, black and white and really quite fine. To us these are known as Tilly railings and by Rownes No 2 Tilly posed beside them for our Christmas card back in 2016.

We’ve been lulled into believing that where we want to moor will almost certainly be free, due to their only being liveaboards on the move at the moment. But as we approached the visitor moorings our hearts sank, boats, would there be enough room for us too?

A couple of gaps, luckily the first one just long enough for us, phew! This is a favourite mooring and I’d had my heart set on being here for a night for days. We slotted in and the doors were opened up for Tilly to reacquaint herself with the area. A lady sat in the bow of the boat behind so we had chance to chat. They are also heading for the Bosley flight this week when the locks will be open for a short window.

We all settled down for the afternoon, I took some time to listen to a seminar held by the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians) on safe working practices that are being implemented in some theatres where sets are being taken down for storage and in other venues digital performances are happening.

Andrew Lloyd Webber the other day suggested that one of the new guidelines from the government for musicals would be that nobody would be allowed to sing! On the seminar they discussed opera singing that was being recorded at the Royal Opera House (Live from Covent Garden), camera men and other singers would need to be stood at least six meters away. Then there is the issue of how to deal with the brass and woodwind in an orchestra. Will all musicians be sat behind perpsex screens from now on? How will this affect the sound? All very interesting.

After eating Mick suggested we should sit outside to watch the sun go down. He’s never been romantic, so we’d be allowed to take our phones too so we wouldn’t have to talk to one another!

We did chat as the sun gradually sank in front of us over the next forty minutes. A rather lovely end to our first day on the Macc.

6 locks, 3.82 miles, 1 summit reached, 1 right to go left, 1 aqueduct, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish, 10 rainy minutes,5432738 cherries, 4 waiting for the tunnel, 37 teapots, 1 space just for us, 1 big Dad, 7 Mums, 7 calves, 1 set of colour coordinated railings, 0 Little Morton Hall view, 40 chilly minutes well spent.

https://goo.gl/maps/qZKbFB4QmepCggkQ8

Setting Up Office. 16th June

Bramble Cuttings

Last night we had more rain, thunder and lightening and when we woke it was still peeing it down! As we supped our cuppas in bed we could hear the boat behind us start up its engine and gradually pull away, when it came to taking a peek out of the side hatch we realised we were on our own, the boat in front of us had vanished. Oh well what a shame, Bramble Cuttings all to ourselves!

First job, after letting Tilly out, the yellow water tank. We tried to remember when we last emptied it and we think it was at Calverley! This job normally gets done every three or four days, we’d reached six days. No wonder it was making a slightly odd noise this morning! We considered heading up the canal to wind and return to make the job easier, but that could take a couple of hours and would our space still be here? So instead we pulled back to one end of the moorings with less overhanging trees and set the hose up over the top of Oleanna. The container we pump into had very little room left in it for even one rinse of the tank, the fullest it’s ever been.

The rain last night hadn’t been conducive to sussing out the phone signal. I remembered it wasn’t so good here and certainly in the cabin I only had Emergency calls. With the sun doing it’s best to show itself and the storm clouds having cleared I had a wander around the mooring to see if signal was better. First one picnic bench then another, a couple of faint dots appeared, hopefully that would do. Time to go to work.

Several of our shopping bags protected myself and the laptop from the very wet picnic bench. Then I was ready to make my call. Last week I’d caught up with the Director for Panto and today Helen the costume designer and I were going to have a designers huddle. Comparing notes and references, making sure that the two of us were heading in the same direction with the overall look of the show. After all I could have been heading down the Arthurian way and Helen setting the show in the 60s/70s. But both of us were on the same track. We shared a few ideas and decided which way to go with one character, both a puppet and an actor. Helen will design the costume then I’ll sort the puppet to match. A very good meeting and worth getting a slightly damp bum for.

Bramble Cuttings all to myself, well She and Tom were here too along with a few friends! Fewer now.

Whilst She chatted away I had a good nosy round, claimed all the benches as mine and enjoyed clambering up and down an old tree that had been cut short. Plenty of pouncing possibility. I soon found friends and brought them out of the friendly cover to play with. She wasn’t too impressed and I got taken inside on one occasion, ‘to give your friend a chance to run away!’ But I was soon back outside trying to track it down again. The use of a barbecue stand gave me extra height to see over the tall grass for any movement.

Next I had some thinking to do and an email to send. Yesterday my agent had been in touch regarding designing another show this year. With the theatre industry sitting on a knife edge at the moment this was quite a surprise.

In normal pre-covid and pre-boating days I’d have checked the dates seen that it fitted quite well with panto, said yes and started to pack my bags for another trip to Vienna. But life is not that way anymore.

Austria is ahead of us with Covid-19 and the Vienna English Theatre are starting to put together a plan to reopen later this year. I presume they have social distancing to deal with and then importing their actors, director and designer from England. The dates sit very close to panto and it would mean me being away from Mick and Tilly for a few weeks in a row. I’d return from Vienna and head straight to Chippy. Should the 14 day quarantine still be enforced I would not be able to do both. But if Panto can’t go ahead then it would be a shame to turn it down. So many factors no body knows the answer too. I sent an email to Chippy to see what the current feeling there is.

Mick checked the engine bay to see how much water had made it’s way down there yesterday in the storm. Only water where it is expected to be, the rest still dry, the drain around the engine board did it’s job well.

Early afternoon we were joined by a boat at the far end of the moorings, they proceeded to sand back to metal a portion of their gunnels, but after about an hour the world fell silent again and they pushed off heading towards Middlewich, leaving us all alone again.

The washing machine was put to use, but we didn’t dare hang it out as it would certainly get another rinse as late afternoon the sky started to rumble away again, this was soon followed by more torrential rain.

Thunder? What’s that?

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 empty wee tank, 1 office, 1 load washing, 2 designers in a huddle, 1 designer in a quandary, 2 dinky frogs, 6ft back to metal, 1 boat cat in heaven, 1 thunderous evening, 1 Tuesday roast of pork.

https://goo.gl/maps/WZMGP8SRNqi4NFzp9

Drenched. 15th June

Hannah’s Walk to Bramble Cuttings, Trent and Mersey Canal

It took quite a bit of persuading to get Oleanna away from the bank this morning, that grass at the bow was holding her in. Pushing off at the back and reversing out into the cut to give more room to swing her bow round eventually worked and we could head towards Wardle Lock.

A boat was just coming up the lock, I lent a hand and we chatted on opposite sides of the lock. This chap was travelling with three other boats from somewhere on the Bridgewater, heading towards Chester. He had an umbrella up over his roof and his dog was enjoying the shade it gave. His boat rose slowly as one paddle was wrapped in black plastic, but then this lock did always fill very quickly! Quite alarming on your first time if you didn’t heed the warnings on the gates.

We were soon in the lock and descending down onto the Wardle Canal, the shortest canal on the network all 154 ft of it. I didn’t bother heading to check if anything was coming, just shut up the lock and let Mick beep the horn instead.

Out of the Wardle Canal onto the Trent and Mersey. Left takes you to Northwich, Manchester, Liverpool, Lancaster even Leeds if you turn right at Wigan. Right takes you to Stoke, Stone, Birmingham, London. Straight on takes you to Carefree Cruising and Elton Moss Boat Builders.

Mick turned Oleanna to the left then reversed her back to the water point. Last time we were here this tap wasn’t in use, but today we thought we’d give it a try again. An adaptor was needed so that we could connect our hose then we waited for the tank to fill. Kings Lock Chandelers was open so Mick headed over to buy some oil for the next engine service. The sun was out and the aroma of chips wafted down from the chippy. Sadly Mick only returned with the oil, no bag of chips for lunch!

Just before we pushed off again a little boat popped out from under the bridge and turned towards the Middlewich locks, we’d be following.

The canopy over the Wharf was in the middle of getting a new coat of paint and several boats were moored on the off side. A new hire company has taken over the site, Floating Holidays. A look at their website and I realised that they are not a new company. For four years they have been based at Poynton on the Macclesfield Canal, but have taken the plunge by taking over the old Middlewich Narrowboats base. Really hope it works out for them after being stuck on the Macc due to lock closures over the years, we’ve also seen at least a couple of companies come and go from this site. If you fancy a boating holiday they are currently advertising a post covid discount.

They certainly are doing a lot of work around the place and signs are going up advertising their facilities. Even the dry dock was getting some attention as we passed.

There was a boat coming up in the first lock, so I lent a hand with the gate and offered a helping hand to the chap from the boat in front of us. Apparently another boat was coming up the locks so we should be able to swap with them, maybe these were two of the boats from the Bridgewater.

As the little boat came out from the bottom of the top lock the chap checked I’d be alright with the gates on my own. I said yes, my body weight most certainly twice his! The boat coming up was still in the bottom lock so Mick and I reset the top lock and waited for it to start ascending the middle lock before we lifted a paddle, saving water and stopping the pound overflowing into the dry dock where a chap was working.

Oleanna made it into the pound on the bend first. I left the gates open and headed down to see if I could help. The chap said he’d be another five minutes, no problem. We stood and watched the water gradually fill the lock, his centre rope getting tighter and tighter as the boat rose. He finally went to loosen it, having to pull his boat onto quite an angle to give himself enough slack. Then in single handing mode he pushed the throttle forward. The boat started towards the top gate, the levels still a good 6 to 9 inches different. Now, at tick over the boat would rest against the top gate until levels equalised, then the boat would help push it open. But this was not tick over, it had quite a bit more umph than that! As I lent against the beam the boat came crashing into the gate, almost toppling me and certainly giving the gate an unwanted ramming!

The chap then came to open the gate, not keeping his distance to which I just stepped away, saying ‘I’ll leave you to it.!’ The boat still had forward momentum and now the gate was clear it continued on it’s way out of the lock. He had to give the bow a push so as not to hit us where Mick had brought Oleanna into the side, giving him the widest turn possible around the bend. But by now access to the stern of his boat was blocked by the beam, ladder and paddle gear! He only just made it onto a gunnel to walk back to the helm before he would have rammed the dry dock! What a ….!!!

Now we could carry on down, in the safety of our own company, just so long as the top gate held.

All the Andersen Hire boats were breasted up three deep, awaiting holiday makers to take them out. We hired Bergen Fjord 12 years ago to celebrate Mick’s 50th and do the Cheshire ring.

The sun was making the most of the day and we were now really quite warm so we pulled in under cover of some trees. They looked really good, lots of climbing possibilities. But all they said was ‘No Tilly, not today’.

A stop for lunch and to swap jeans for shorts brought us into mid afternoon. We pushed on to Big Lock where the pub is surrounded by fencing at the moment, lots of work going. It’s changed hands several times since we’ve been coming this way.

The thin bridge that crosses by the bottom of the lock has been taken away to be strengthened and refurbished by C&RT. It used to have a weight limit to it, then it was closed which meant all pedestrians had to cross over the top gates of the lock. Now that the bridge has gone a temporary scaffolding structure has been erected to replace it. Higher than the original with far more steps people would still rather cross the lock gates. I had assistance from a young lady from a cruiser who was obviously itching to work more locks than sit with her Mum and Dad.

Onwards now to the recycling centre where we moored up and Mick managed to walk our rubbish in to be disposed of. Good job we’d checked the website and seen that it would close at 5pm, the gates were locked at 5:02! Plenty of cars arrived after this, all whom had to turn, in pre-covid days it was open until 8pm.

We sat and waited a couple of hours and just before 7pm we could hear the beep beep of a van reversing, our Sainsburys delivery, timed beautifully with a storm coming over head. The driver was new, he was a driving instructor until recent times. With shopping sorted for quarantine and disinfecting I stayed below with the spray bottle as Mick pushed us off. No need for the two of us to get wet!

Our aim had been to carry on to Croxton Flash, here Tilly would be allowed shore leave tomorrow to make up for today. The heavens opened, then opened some more. Blimey!! The rain was hitting the roof of Oleanna so hard it was bouncing back up under the mushroom vents and letting itself inside. I hurriedly closed windows and moved electrical stuff out of the way, then checked if Mick was okay.

Croxton Flash just about came into view, another boat had taken the mooring we’d been hoping for, nothing for it but to carry on and hope for a suitable place to show itself sooner rather than later. More and more rain, then some more for good measure!

To my surprise we seemed to be pulling in on the off side, Bramble Cuttings. There was space between a couple of boats and we slotted in nicely. It took a while before we were secure and the covers were up. Mick stripped off his top layers, jeans totally soaked through, all left to drip dry under the pram cover.

Bramble Cuttings!!! One of my favourites! Except She and Tom said it was too late. All those trees going to waste, Pah!

5 locks, 2.83 miles, 1 left, 1 full water tank, 1 camisole top, 1 fresh coat of paint, 1 pranging prat, 1 gate still water tight, 1 tempting offer, 1 young assistant, 1 long wait, 1 squashed pepper, 6 bags of shopping, 1 exceedingly wet mile, 1 space left, 1 drenched Mick, 1 cat with trees in her eyes.

Into Civilisation. 14th June

Bonfire Night Mooring to Hannah’s Walk, Middlewich

With a jar of sourdough discard in the fridge we enjoyed some pancakes for breakfast. I decided not to put any blueberries in them, especially the frozen ones as I wanted to see what they were like plain. I still haven’t found the best temperature to cook them at. They have a glug of maple syrup in them, so if the pan is a touch too hot this caramelises before the mixture has cooked sufficiently in the centre to flip them over. Too cool and they take forever to cook through and look anaemic. By the last batch of them I had the temperature correct, well that’s how it goes with pancakes!

Verdict? I prefer them with blueberries in them.

Pushing off just after midday we made our way to Stanthorne Lock. A Canadian Mother stood in the field across the way watching over her offspring as their heads just about bobbed up through the growing crop.

Bridges line up and large Cheshire farms proudly show off their black and white credentials across the fields.

We passed the line of moored boats where the posters in NB Grace’s windows suggest you should slow down, we did.

Soon we arrived at Stanthorne Lock which required filling before we could descend. Blimey it took forever to fill the chamber. Mick came along to help with windlass in hand after the paddles had been lifted.

A family stopped to give their dog a drink and take photos, they wisely decided to stop by the centre of the lock, meaning everyone could keep their distance.

I wound a paddle up on the bottom gate, all of a sudden coming to an abrupt stop!? The paddle wasn’t showing above the metalwork, why wouldn’t it go any further?

A closer look and the reason became obvious. A stop has been added limiting the height to which the paddles can be raised. This is to limit the amount of water coming out of the lock. This was the lock which had had all paddles lifted on it in March 2018. The amount of water overwhelmed the pound below and caused a breach which left a huge hole in the canal at The River Wheelock Aqueduct, leaving a boat teetering on the edge. Maybe the stops have been added in case someone ties to do the same thing again.

The crew from a boat came up to help with the lock, this is quite normal practice and sociable, but I wonder how much of this will happen in our new social distancing boating? The usual comments and questions, ‘Aren’t these paddles hard’, I’d just been remembering the first time we’d come through this lock on a hire boat and what a B***tard the paddles had been then and how easy they are now. ‘How far you heading today?’ The answer came back, ‘We came out from Nantwich on Friday so today we’re heading back’. I nearly followed on with ‘And then heading home?’

With the gates open and paddles wound down there was a touch of deciding where to stand to be able to keep our distance as I did the hurdles over the lock beams.

The short stretch of mooring below the lock at the breach site was full and it didn’t feel right hammering in spikes to where there had been such a huge hole, so we carried on round the first bend where Mick could see armco. We pulled in then had to hunt for the metalwork lying somewhere beneath all the grass, this took quite some doing.

Tilly was out, sussed we were in a built up area and headed straight through the nearest sideways trees. No point in hanging around on the towpath here!

This is the nearest we’ve moored to civilisation for a long time. Plenty of people on the towpaths walking, not going into single file to pass others. Conversations right outside. It turns out we’d missed seeing an extreamly large abnormal load going through Middlewich today. A giant tanker full of medical grade oxygen was taking three days to get across Cheshire from Ellesmere Port to Staffordshire and numerous roads were closed for it.

Have to say we both are a little bit on our toes being moored in Middlewich. We’ve never had any problems here through the years, but the town does have a bit of a reputation and with plenty of bored teenagers in the world right now! Tomorrow we’ll head back out into the countryside.

1 lock, 2.07 miles, 2 aqueducts, 12 pancakes, 1 town cat, 1 jungle mooring, 2nd coat, 1 hour catch up with London, 0.5 tin of tomatoes omitted! 1 last night on the Middlewich Branch.

Paw Shaking. 13th June

Bonfire Night Mooring

A touch blowy this morning, but I coped well with it. They had their Zoom meeting with all the Geraghtys so I left them too it, bobbing in to say hello to the youngest members as I try to each Saturday morning. No Sheffield or Bangladesh today.

Topics today included Lupins and the new bubble guidance for those who live on their own. This is a great relief for Kath and Sean who will now be able to see each other properly, better than the socially distanced walks in the woods they’ve had for the last few months. It was good to see everyone and hear that Marion is now back out enjoying walking along Beachy Head.

Mick then set off on his puncture proof bike to ride down to Winsford for a newspaper, some milk and bread. The undulating towpath wasn’t so good so he walked to the third bridge where a footpath heads off to join the roads. He returned with everything he’d gone for from a small corner shop. At one set of traffic lights he found it quite liberating looking at glass on the road and knowing he’d not have to avoid it.

The Bonfire night mooring with grass half way up the boat

The blowyness came and went. A few boats did too. One boat had difficulty keeping to the centre of the outside, the outside wanted it to tie up. The man in control wasn’t! Even I know that if he didn’t want to tie this outside up then he would need a bit more umph, even whilst passing Oleanna! But he didn’t. Tom said ‘I don’t think he touched us’. I said, ‘He bloomin well did!’ I stood on the towpath and shook my paw at him! A quick check along the freshly painted gunnel!!! Some feline expletives now accompanied my raised paw. She did say that having been through a couple of locks that the scrapes might not all be from the boat this morning, I think she’s being very nice when she should be seething!

Oy! You! She’s only just painted that!!!!

The boat carried on being attracted to the bank as he scraped his way along towards Middlewich. Wonder if he’s any paint left on his gunnel?

A touch too late in the day to do big jobs on the boat, but one thing has been on the list for years. The front doors.

A few months after picking Oleanna up the front doors stopped looking quite so good. The finish looked a touch patchy, not helped by the lack of a cratch cover for a while. I think the new wood had been varnished, but maybe the second coat hadn’t been applied quite as well as it should have been. So with assistance from the elements the varnish wore in places.

I’ve been meaning to do this job for a couple of years and have had a pot of Woodskin for as long.

After the door furniture was removed they had a sanding down. They had a good wash and hinges and keeps masked off.

Then a first coat of Woodskin. Maybe I should have sanded them a touch more before hand as I can still see where the original coats had worn off. But hopefully with another couple of coats these areas will fade in with the rest.

After one coat though I can definitely see the difference. Just before bed I put a thin layer of washing up liquid on the surfaces that would touch and loosely attached the door handle so that it could be closed again, keeping Tilly in.

Mick in the mean time took the fan from our composting toilet out. A couple of years ago we replaced the original fan with a silent fan. This now has started to make a noise, I’m very aware of noises when trying to get to sleep, so it’s noise may not be a problem to many people. We’d bought two fans so had a spare to replace it with. Job done.

Tilly took some persuading to return this evening only getting slightly distracted by the swans showing off their babies. Once we were all fed the skies turned darker and darker, a long low rumble filled the air. Tonight we had natures firework display, forked lighting chasing across the heavy clouds. We put the TV on pause for a while so we could watch the display. The rain that accompanied it made me glad I’d not varnished any more exterior woodwork.

The wonderful light just before the storm broke

Tilly didn’t bat an eye lid, or shake a paw at the thunder or lightning. She was sound asleep.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 paper boy, 8 zoom participants, 2 doors sanded, 1 tin opened, 1st coat applied, 1 pooh dust covered fan, 1 clean new fan, 1 scraping boat, 1 inspection required, 1 tub of paint at the ready, 3/4 hour rumbles and flashes, 1 pooped cat.

Waiting For The Fireworks. 12th June

Bridge 12 to Bonfire Night Mooring, Lea Hall Bridge 22

Warmer today, no need for coats, well until it rained, which we managed to avoid. Tilly was kept in so that after breakfast we’d be able to push off. The view we’d come for was just visible if you stood on the gunnels on tip toe.

Someone else had obviously thought the view was worth a bench over looking it at some point too!

As we rolled back the covers I realised that the boat at the other end of the moorings was familiar, the chap stepping on and off his boat was checking the paintwork. It had to be one of our Pandemic Mooring Buddies from the bottom of Hurleston. As we came along side the sign writing confirmed it was the chap who had designed the yellow bicycle from when the Tour de France went through Hebden Bridge. He spotted us coming and bob out to say hello.

His plans are similar to ours over the remainder of the year so our paths may cross a few more times before summer is up, although I suspect we will be travelling a bit quicker than him. We were able to pass on the information about the Macclesfield Canal that Lee on Halsall had given us, so thumbs up all round. Maybe one day we’ll find out this chaps name. He’d certainly got the best stretch, just off the end of the 48hr mooring and with a gap in the hedge and trees, he had the view!

On we cruised, another short day. We’ll have longer days at some point this summer but for now an hour and a bit is all we need to cover whilst we wait for locks to open.

This stretch is very familiar, the coach house, the stable block now a nice home for someone and the fields of cows which used to wear very bad toupees! Wonder if the Yankee candle shop will open this coming week?

Through the last wooded section our destination for the day came into view. Two boats already pulled up, but we headed for the far end, our usual spot. From this mooring over looking Winsford and the River Weaver we’ve watched fireworks on two Bonfire Nights.

The view at the far end was okay, but the trees at this time of year have leaves, not normally present in November and we weren’t expecting a firework display. The doors were opened and Tilly set forth to see who she could find.

Much to her disturbance she found a herd of milk cows who were very very vocal in the field below. So when we realised that the two boats behind us, in a better position for the summer, were moving off I called Tilly back. Last time we were here we nudged to the very far end when a boat moved off whilst Tilly was out. A very bemused cat sprung out from the sideways trees and wondered why I was on someone else’s boat. But due to the cows today I had no difficulty in calling her home before we moved the outside with her in it.

Right in the centre of the mooring we have views on both sides. To the east the West Coast Main line crosses in view, there are more trains than we expected, but not too many to be annoying.

During the afternoon I went out with Tilly for a little walk and Mick chatted with his friend Chris who has just signed up with a boat builder and hopes to be cruising the network shortly before Crick boat show next year. All very exciting.

This evening we have watched the final part of Noughts and Crosses, we’d saved it to watch in a week and what a week to have chosen to watch it in! It charts the story of Sephy and Callum who fall in love in a dystopian London where the black elite rule the white underclass.

Veg box peas added into a quinoa salad tonight

At about 9:30 this evening we could hear fireworks down below in Winsford. How lovely of someone to think of us on our Fireworks mooring, just a shame it wasn’t a touch darker so that we could appreciate them.

0 locks, 2.82 miles, 2 outsides 150ft apart, 1 railway, 1 blowy day, 0 tupees, 39 bicycle locks, 1 snake, 1 bunny, 2 black cats, 142 peas, 1 flash view, 9 firework bangs.

https://goo.gl/maps/NxzAsjnkG6QKh1iT6

PS. The queue today at Snugbury’s had a wait of 40 minutes and caused mayhem on the A51. The police in the end had to turn people away. Glad I wasn’t there in a cardboard car!

Second Turn On The Left, Straight On Till…. 10th June

Lockdown ‘Home’ to Calverley Services to 11ft 5 inches lower, Middlewich Branch

The Traders were ready to jump in our spot as soon as we moved, well that’s what it felt like as we’d been asked several times when we’d be leaving. Here’s hoping it’s a profitable mooring for them, although the weather the next few days won’t help.

Waterproofs were dug out from the cupboard, donned and we were ready to push off. Today we were most definitely going to be on our way, nothing to keep us anymore.

Straight on at Hurleston Junction, most boats have been heading that way to make the most of the canal before Hire boats come back out in their masses, but not us. This morning was to be a bit of a final farewell tour of the northern end of the pound we chose to sit out Lockdown in.

The fairys at the bottom of the garden are visible now their patch of grass has had a trim. Too early for the gardening boaters to say goodbye, but we waved anyway, the field behind their mooring looks like it will be maize as it is shooting up.

The pretty garden before Barbridge has a great display of blue Geraniums (that’s what our garden used to look like before a tenant thought they were weeds!).

Where the bins have been removed at Barbridge Junction, someone has decided to leave their bag of rubbish for someone else to clear up! It really makes me seethe seeing things like this, just because there used to be bins there!

Straight on at the junction. Past the services and on to the winding hole. No washing hanging out today, well it would only get another rinse if it was.

We waved to the people who live in the woods, Eeee’d with Yorkshire accents at the signs, waved to Dave and Brock from the Flag Bubble and wondered just how much longer NB Malvern would be sitting on the 48hr moorings.

At the services we came in carefully so as not to mark the new paint work, but it looks like Halsall left its mark the other day. Oh well that’s what rubbing strakes are for! The water tank filled up, our toilet refreshed, both solids and liquid. Plants watered and rubbish disposed of in an actual bin. The bin store was locked up with a C&RT padlock, presumably to stop house hold rubble from being deposited in the skips. We pulled along and moored up on the shopping mooring at the back of the Cheese Mill for lunch.

Diesel tank full, check.

Water tank full, check.

2.5 plus gas bottles, check.

Clean pooh bucket, check.

Clean pooh box, check.

Empty yellow water tank, check.

Freezer full, check.

Fridge full, check.

Fruit bowl straining under the weight, check.

Half a dozen eggs, check.

Rubbish disposed of, check.

2.5 bags coal, check.

Wine cellar extended, check.

Toilet rolls, check.

Second Mate, check.

But not enough porridge oats!

Mick soon sorted this out buying a 3kg bag from the mill shop. Now we were ready.

Back to Barbridge Junction, I stood as look out at the bow. A boat came out from the branch, no effort to move the tiller, just slowing down before they hit the far bank. Which way were they going? Straight on was not an option for them, but it appeared the chap at the stern really wanted to go that way! Back and forth, back and forth, I considered having a nap, but eventually they got round and headed southwards. Our way ahead was now clear.

Our time on this pound was nearly up. On the morning of the 23rd March we knew lockdown was imminent so we winded and headed up Cholmondeston Lock to a pound where we thought we’d manage better. Here we were 80 days later about to descend the lock.

New gloves and old faithful windlass at the ready I hopped off and walked up to the lock which sat empty. A refill required. Paddles checked on the bottom gates, paddles raised at the top.

The lady on her swing has had her garden trimmed the grass the last time we were here had grown over her head!

With the lock filled I opened the gate and Mick brought Oleanna in. The gate was stubborn and wouldn’t come out of it’s recess no matter how I tried, Mick came to help. Paddles raised at the far end and the water rushed out of the chamber, Mick and Oleanna descending into the full 11ft 5inch deep lock.

Oleanna has left Nantwich!

I got to do the hurdles as I opened the bottom gates, closed the paddles then had a request to leave the gates open as a boat was coming up. More hurdles and down the steps.

There were quite a few moored boats, so we pootled on to a reasonable gap where we could tell another boat had been, the long grass trodden at both stern and bow. Nappy pins were required and just normal fenders, no Shropie shelf to contend with here.

Ahead I could see that our nearest neighbour was NB Myrtle, hopefully the distance would be fine for two boat cats. Rules were read and Tilly was off exploring a new long grassy world.

As we sat listening to our leader on the BBC I saw Tilly charge past the boat. What the? Peering out the hatch I could see there was a towpath stand off going on. Tilly and Myrtle were stood a foot apart, backs arched and those strange noises just starting to happen before the sloooooooow manoeuvres. These two have had a stand off before in Nantwich. I decided to intervene, avoiding any possible vet bill. As I walked forward Tilly retreated. Retreated?! I had back up now!! Hardly retreating!!!! She wouldn’t be the queen of the towpath today.

1 lock, 2 straights, 1 wind, 2nd left, 8.54 miles, 3kg porridge, 1 boat ready to cruise, 3 crew members ready, 11ft 5 inches, 80 days, 1 new pound, 1 towpath stand off, 3 boaters on their way, 1 mystery left behind, 2 smiling boaters.

https://goo.gl/maps/r38hhu3Gx6uwjfo96

Home Baking. 9th June

Lockdown ‘Home’

She needed some quiet this morning for her important phone call, with an important man (who has a woofer apparently), so I obliged and made myself scarce for much of the day. Whilst we’ve been tied to other outsides, ‘Home’ outside has got fatter and greener. New friends have moved in so I’ve kept myself busy introducing myself to as many of them as possible today. There were far too many to bring home, after all we’re only allowed to meet up in sixes at the moment!

My meeting with David was good. He’d sent through a few photos of what he’d been thinking and I replied with over 200 I’d found. If you didn’t know Rapunzel is another name for Lamb’s Lettuce, Valerianella locusta. So I’ve been thinking maybe we might need a world based on giant leaves, the structure of which mirrors fan vaulted ceilings. Tall trees stretching into the sky, like ships rigging. Lots to think about and formulate. Questions like where to put the Musical Director? How to change the world into England on the Wold? How to make the wold more than just green grass and rolling hills? Can we fill the auditorium with Kabuki drop banners, or would that be a touch too much to re-rig for the stage management?

The Tradeing boats were on the move, some coming and winding, others pulling up in front of us, hatching plans for a weekend trading here. My dungarees came out and the starboard side got a coat of black. It’s so nice to have both sides of Oleanna matching, just before we start doing locks again!

Mick headed into Nantwich for some bread, sneaking in a visit to the butchers for a pie. My sour dough starter had done it’s thing overnight and preparations for some pizza dough were needed. A mix of flour, water and starter was set aside for a while whilst I ground up some chai seeds, added psyllium husk and some water to make a gel. This all seemed a touch odd to me. Adding more flour and some water gave me a very gelatinous blob that needed to rest for a while. I wasn’t holding out much hope for how it would turn out.

Mick spent some of the afternoon prising the second punctureless tyre onto the Brompton, we’d had it forwarded to Scarborough last week. I could hear the odd bit of swearing coming from the stern. The front tyre had gone on far too easily, but then it had had several hours sitting in the sun, today the sun hid behind clouds for much of the day.

It fought back, but Mick got there in the end

Whilst I waited for the pizza blob to prove I set about making a batch of cheese scones, a proper days baking, should have made a cake too, but didn’t! The oven being on helped keep the kitchen warm for the pizza dough and then provided us with a treat to have with a cuppa as we listened to the days news conference from Downing Street.

What toppings to have on our pizza? There was the last of the chicken to use up and a bunch of asparagus. The bases were stretched out into a suitable shape and then put on hot trays in a very hot oven for a few minutes before coming out to have the toppings added. They looked a little less gelatinous now thank goodness.

Garlicky tomato, some red onion, strips of chicken, then spears of asparagus with a scattering of mozzarella cheese and back in the oven they went. I hoped I’d moved them around enough to compensate for our zoned oven, but mine needed to go back in for a few more minutes. Verdict tasty, very tasty. A better base than the one I’ve made in the past and asparagus goes well on pizza. We accompanied our food with a glass of wine, or two, as this would be our last night at ‘Home’, our 48hrs will be up tomorrow and it will be time for us to start to head away from the area.

Today there have been two anniversaries. A boating one and a theatre one.

Today, fifteen years ago was the press night in New York of Alan Ayckbourn’s Private Fears In Public Places. The play was part of the Brits Off Broadway season at 59E59, the first time a production from the SJT had taken part. The show in England hadn’t made much of a mark, but it was a different case across the pond.

This was all just before I left the SJT as Resident Designer and Alan and Heather had invited Mick and myself out for a meal before I left. That evening coincided with the reviews coming out in New York, our hosts were late to the restaurant and came in with huge beaming smiles across their faces, clutching copies of the reviews. The show had gone down a storm, it had been a huge financial risk taking a show to New York but it paid off. Within hours tickets had sold out, a list of famous people were being turned away and our little show from Scarborough was THE show to see in New York.

Six years ago today, we pulled out of Crick Marina on Lillian to start our journey northwards for the Tour de France, our yellow boat had to be in Hebden Bridge for the race to pass through! We pulled out of the marina, beeped the horn and joined our friends Bridget and Storm on NB Blackbird, becoming a cruising duo, The Wasp. That is more or less the day we started out on our journey.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd tyre, 1 hour talking panto, 2 smart gunnels, 1 boat surrounded, 10 hours! 9 friends maybe more, 1 aborted nosy, 1 last Thursday photo (on a Tuesday), 10 scones, 2 pizzas, 11 spears of asparagus, 4 glasses on wine, 1 last night at Home.

PS. The dates went to Lee on NB Halsall, sorry!

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna