New Mills Lift Bridge

Saturday morning we headed out to top up the food supplies and get our Saturday newspaper. We walked the road into town as the pathways looked like they would be rather muddy and icy in patches. Cutting through Jubilee Park we came out near Colour Supplies, the Whitchurch version of Boyes. Somehow in the last week our dustpan has lost some of it’s rubber lip which means that it is neither use nor ornament, so we wanted a replacement. Next it was time to choose which charity shop could have some bits and bobs donated to them, this done we wandered up the High Street to find a butcher that would sell us a joint for Sunday.

By now it was snowing so we called into Sainsburys and then made our way back to Oleanna.

The Whitchurch arm looked a little bit icy now with a layer of snow sitting on the surface. We wondered how ducks had walked in such a straight line across the surface at the winding hole, but as I noticed a drip from above the penny dropped. Not ducks feet, but telephone lines dripping!

The boat that had been behind us had moved off whilst we were out, so Mick pulled us back hoping that this might improve our TV reception. It didn’t! But Tilly had a slightly different patch to explore for the rest of the day, returning with very muddy paws. We now have towels to cover the dinette and sofa on such days with the hope that they may stay reasonably clean. However a paw bath across the stern and some highly absorbent matting wouldn’t go amiss. Well it’s exciting out there and I need to run around reliving my exploration and telling them all about it. Sometimes the best place to do this is on someone’s knee or newspaper!

Sunday came with sleet which then turned into quite large chunks of snow. The only one to actually step off the boat today was Tilly and she wasn’t too enamoured with it, returning quite quickly on numerous occasions. I had to keep checking on the outside as you never know things might have changed. The snow turned back into sleet and then rain, making the towpath even more sticky, sloshy and slushy. We got a touch bored of opening and closing the back doors for her!

I bet Richard on NB Mountbatten was glad to be on the home straight from doing his latest coal run.

All cosy inside I set about finding a few more knitting patterns to keep my fingers busy. The pattern I decided on involves some cabling which I haven’t done for a long time. When we were downsizing our possessions I went through all the knitting needles I owned (a lot!) and put together a full set of sizes, donating the remainder to a charity shop. Sadly amongst my set there was no cable needle (a needle with a V in it to help pass stitches to the back or the front of others), but after a bit of thought and looking around on the internet I realised that I could do without, using either a stitch holder or a straight double ended needle. I also learnt a new way to cast on which gives a stretchy edge, useful for hats and socks.

Meanwhile after Mick had finished reading the paper he decided to have a go at installing one of his Christmas presents. I’d bought him an Alde Discrete Room Temperature Sensor for our boiler. The thermostat is currently in the electrics cupboard which tends to be one of the warmest places on the boat (other than in front of the stove), so not a true representative of general temperature in the cabin. With a cable of around 1.5m his aim was to pass it from the control panel in the cupboard behind the larder drawers in the galley and out the other side.

First we had to sus out how the drawers came out, a little catch on the runners, one pushed up the other down and bingo space too work in. But would the cable get fouled by the drawer and it’s contents? Theatre Designer mind was engaged as boy looking wasn’t finding a solution.

A route through avoiding the boiler flue, not totally ideal, was found. From the control panel (A) the cable needs to pass through a gap with many others (B) to just under the inverter (C), here it can pass through two layers of 18mm into the top cupboard, then straight down into the space below where the drawers are (D but towards the rear of the cupboard). From here it can run along the underside of the cupboard and come out through a hole to a discrete position in the galley (E). There is enough cable for the run, but sadly we don’t have a suitable sized drill bit to be able to do it with! So the job was put on hold for the time being, at least one drawer got a good tidy and clean out.

Our joint of roast Pork with all the accompaniments was just the right way to round of a truly miserable weekend, aided by a couple of glasses of wine.

0 locks, 100ft backwards, 2 wet sleety slushy days, 2 cold damp boaters, 4 cold muddy paws, 4 cat sized wellies required, 2 new patterns, 0 cable needles, 0 10mm drill bit, 3 things learnt, 1 tidy clean drawer, 0 tv signal, 1 chink of phone signal, 25th 26th April hmmmm!

Grindley Brook to New Mills Lift Bridge 31

I enjoyed a bit of a lie in this morning whilst Mick obeyed the voice from Houdini’s phone and got up just before 7.30am. There were noises coming from NB Mountbatten soon after Mick showed his head out at the back of Oleanna. Lying in bed listening I really wish I’d recorded the noises.

Mountbatten’s engine took a while for it to get started, it was –1C. Then it gradually had it’s morning stretch and slowly got going, the chugging evening out to a constant rate. Richard brought her back alongside Oleanna, first a gas bottle (bumped and scraped into the locker at the bow), then what sounded only like one bag of coal (but Mick assures me it was four). She was then moved to the stern for diesel. He did his calculations handed over the bill and set off to replenish the stocks of a couple more boats in view and then carry on towards Ellesmere, Ruth hitching a ride to open up the lift bridges for him as he went before walking back to their butty Jellicoe.

Mick climbed back into bed with a cuppa at 8.15, job done and no missing cat this time!

Having been sat at Grindley Brook now for eight days we decided that a change of scenery would be good. First a couple of loads of washing were run through the machine and hung out around the cabin, followed by a shower and a top up of water.

We still have a week before a stoppage ahead of us is completed and we reckon it will take a couple of days to get there. Grindley Brook is the last water point before the stoppage so we didn’t want to move down stream just yet. Instead we winded above the staircase locks and pootled our way back towards Whitchurch.

The sun shone and as the bow of Oleanna passed Butty Jellicoe all the colours sang out. As I’ve had a few sedentary days doing accounts I decided to walk. The towpath was a bit slippy slidey so Mick and Oleanna managed to keep up with me and pulled into the off side moorings just before New Mills Lift Bridge before I’d had chance to cross it.

Here we have a view down across fields through twisted oak trees. The wind could do with changing direction as at the moment it is bringing all the traffic noise from the A41 with it. The noise doesn’t bother me! This outside is much better. A steep bank, plenty of friendly cover, big trees with no ivy so really good climbing. Tomorrow I’m going to see if I can spy on what they are up to on the boat from up one of the trees. But before that we’ll have a walk into Whitchurch to pick up a Saturday paper and top up with fresh veg.

0 locks, 1.03 miles, 1 wind, 2 loads washing, 1 Chinese laundry, 1 gas bottle, 4 bags coal, 29 litres diesel, 1 wave goodbye to Jellicoe, 1 muddy mile, 2 hours, well maybe 4! 1 torch assisted cat retrieval, 1.5 socks completed, 2 more patterns found, 2 turkey schnitzels, yum.

Grindley Brook

With the impending storm with strong gusts of wind expected we decided to move up the moorings and position ourselves between the water points and the pump out. Here only one tree would be a possible casualty and we managed to pull up hoping that it would miss us should it come a cropper overnight.

Over night we’d had a light dusting of snow and by the time we moved up and let Tilly out there were only patches of it left on the towpath. I did my best not to loose my paws in it, but decided that even though I wanted to be out it would be safer for my paws if I spent much of the day curled up on board in the warmness.

A good tidy and clean followed as we were expecting guests in the afternoon. Marion and John drove up from Eastbourne for a visit and to start on their museum tour for 2018. Their drive up had been an easy one and they very nicely arrived with a Clementine and Almond cake (Rick Stein gluten free!) for us to enjoy with a cuppa. This was very nice and we’re glad that it didn’t all go, so should last us a few days.

Catching up on news of their latest travels, Christmas and New Year took up much of the afternoon before we headed out to walk along the busy A41 to The Horse and Jockey. We’d visited here twice on our trip on NB Winding Down and had enjoyed the food and beer. Since then it has changed hands, but still served up a good meal for us all. The Tapas menu a great thing for veggies and gluten intolerant folk, being able to mix and match dishes. Mick had a pie and the rest of us Sea Bass washed down with a nice pint or two of beer.

Whilst in the pub it had started to rain, the precursor for the storm! We all settled down listening to the patter of the rain on the roof aiding drifting off to sleep. Before 2am however the gusts of wind started. Everything on Oleannas roof had either been tied down or stowed in the pram cover out of harms way. The poles on the racks vibrated as the wind swept across our roof. Mick had tightened the ropes earlier which meant we weren’t going to biff about too much, but we still rocked as each gust hit us. According to John the gusts reached 59 mph.

These were followed by a not so fierce gust, it was just constant, getting on for two hours of 39mph! Blimey!! This was really quite hard to sleep through. Mick checked that all was okay in the main cabin with our guests and then we both read as the boat slowly reverberated with the wind. From 4.30am onwards there were still gusts, but we managed to sleep through much of it. Not the best nights sleep!

We woke to pretty clouds and a calm world, almost as though nothing had happened. A check round outside and all was where it had been left and no signs of any trees down behind us.

NB Mountbatten was due to bring their butty down to fill with water, so we’d arranged to top up on supplies whilst they were here, our gas bottle from Llangollen having run out just after seeing Richard a week ago! But there was an offer of a day out with Marion and John, a trip to Ironbridge to tick off a couple of museums. Whilst Mick was composing a text to say we’d see Richard next week down stream Ruth called to say that they wouldn’t be moving today due to not feeling so good, so could they catch us next week down stream instead.

We all climbed into the car along with our empty gas bottle (not Calor, so none returnable) and called in at Whitchurch Tip to add it to the caged bottles. then onwards to Ironbridge.

The Ironbridge Gorge is a World Heritage Site, has ten museums helping celebrate the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution.

The main attraction is the cast iron bridge which gives the town it’s name. Built in 1779 and opened in 1781 it was the first bridge to be built of cast iron after Abraham Derby perfected the method of smelting iron with coke, allowing cheaper production and larger sections could be cast than previously. Down the banks of the River Severn coal and iron mines, brick and tile works, ship building filled the gorge with activity. Today the atmosphere is very different, quieter and cleaner, English Heritage are currently undertaking a huge restoration project on the Ironbridge. The whole structure is swathed in scaffolding and the sound of grit blasting below your feet can be heard as you walk over it. So sadly the elegant structure can’t be seen for the next year as the works take place to keep the bridge for future generations.

Owned privately there was a toll to pay to cross. This was set at a standard price, everyone would pay the same even if they were royalty and the prices remained the same from 1781 to 1950. A guinea would buy you an annual pass and the only persons exempt from paying were the ferrymen who lost their livelihood when the bridge opened.

After the toll house our first museum was The Museum of the Gorge. Here the star of the museum is a 20meter long model of the gorge laid out as it would have been when William V, Prince of Orange visited on the 12th August 1796. A team of people must have worked on the model, at first I thought it would have taken a month, but that is likely to have been how long it took to just assemble the pieces.

The scale trees and figures were almost certainly bought, but the number of trees must have filled at least a shopping trolley and a half. Each building has been made individually to match what would have been there at the time. Boats were bow hauled upstream, carts waited for goods to be loaded, inclined planes moved coal down from the canal to the smelting works. Apparently the model was damaged in the floods of 2000 and had to be reworked.

The rest of the museum is interesting giving a brief  history of the gorge. Views down the river to the iron bridge would be great if it hadn’t been for the scaffolding.

We then climbed back into the car to head for Blists Hill Victorian Town.

The museum recreates a town around 1900. Originally the area was filled with industry, consisting of a brick and tile works, blast furnaces and coal, iron and fire clay mines. It opened in 1973 and has been growing ever since as original buildings have been relocated to the site. It is similar, yet smaller to the Black Country Museum. The whole of the town is inhabited by Victorians and should you want you can exchange you £’s and p’s for £sd at the branch of Lloyds Bank so that you can purchase goods around the town. Most of the inhabitants play along with the theme quite well.

The conversation in the grocers seemed to be more 21st C and it wasn’t until a long while later that the penny dropped about the conversation going on in the Post Office between two women about how things would soon improve (Suffragettes!). At the bakers fresh bread can be bought (the last loaf and a roll to us), plaster motifs and cast iron figures are made and sold by craftsmen who are happy to talk about how life would have been.

One chap was powering down the steam engine that worked the lift down into the mines when we arrived. He demonstrated the mechanism and talked through all the different layers that the mine would reach, a small block of wood attached to a string showed which level the lift had reached, string technology from the Victorian era.

On the wall was a hand drawn map of the canal network leading to Blasts Hill. Mick had correctly guessed that they would connect to the Shropshire Union at Norbury Junction, quite a large network of canals did.

Two ladies were sat by the range in a house where the back rooms were rented out to the doctor who visited one day a week. Across the top of the stove sat a bacon carrot and lentil stew slowly simmering away. The ladies are wanting to try to get one of the ovens working on the range, but this will take quite a bit of experimentation as there are allsorts of variables to move hot air around the ovens. After we chatted for a while the ladies may start cooking jacket potatoes on the fire. We weren’t sure if foil was around in 1900, research suggests that tin foil was used, not sure if potatoes were cooked in it and it did leave a metallic taste to the food, hence we now use aluminium foil.

A squatters house further down the hill gave a hole different slant on life, few of the same home comforts of gas lighting and an indoor tap. Here a family had built the four walls and roof of their house in 24hrs to claim it as a squatters house. A small fire and thick walls did thier best to keep the cold out, along with a Delongi heater in the pantry!

Sadly the museum was closing it’s doors at 4pm so we had to rush back up the hill after a brief look round the Toll house from Watling Street. Another couple of hours and we’d have had time to see everything.

If you came to the gorge for a weeks holiday you could easily make use of the year pass at £25, cheaper if bought on line, which gives you access to all ten museums. A fortnight would make for a more relaxed history filled holiday.

Marion and John kindly returned us to Grindley Brook before they started their return journey south. As we walked up to Oleanna in the now fading light we could see that we had some new neighbours. Richard and Ruth had brought NB Mountbatten and the butty to fill with water in the afternoon. They planned on staying put overnight, so we arranged an early top up tomorrow before NB Mountbatten sets off on it’s last coal run upstream before bridges close on Monday.

0 locks, 0.09 miles, 4 paws still, 1 clean pooh bucket, 1 empty wee tank, 2 guests, 0 trees, 3 bass, 1 pie, 59 mph winds, 1 sleepless night, 1 change of plan, 3 museums, £15 for celebratory beer, 378 tons of iron, £2430 labour, £2 sundries, 24ft wide, 100ft 6inch inside span of arch, 55ft high, 20m long model, 1795 high flood, 1 loaf, 1 roll, 3 moody cast cats, 2 revolting women, 60ft of mine, 1 canal, 1 very good unexpected day out, 1 boring unexpected day in!

Grindley Brook

The last two days I’ve not stepped off the boat, the weather hasn’t been that inviting with strong winds and rain showers. Tilly however has enjoyed this as it’s meant that she can come and go at will and the staff have been on hand to open and close doors and hatches when required!

With Mick heading back to Shrewsbury to return the car yesterday morning I decided it was time to get my accounts up to date (well, for last year!) and do my tax return. Having very little income helps make this job a lot easier than it used to be. Long gone are the days of employing an accountant to do the job, one was only taken on so that we could get a mortgage as I needed an accountants reference, so tax returns don’t scare me. Much of the day was spent downloading bank statements and reconciling them, might as well do it properly. In the old days I’d have kept on top of my receipts but it would still take me a whole day to put those left into the computer, today a whole years worth took five minutes. By the end of the day everything was ready to fill out the form on line. This would have been done sooner if I hadn’t been on door duty all day!

After dropping the hire car off Mick was given a lift into Shrewsbury so that he could visit Maplins. Reception on our TV has been a bit hit and miss of late and he’d been wondering if it was the aerial amplifier. We still have the one from Lillian, but we didn’t have the right connectors for it. With new cables bought he caught the train back to Whitchurch and then walked back along the towpath. At least someone is getting some exercise round here. As I sorted numbers Mick tried sorting signal, but nothing seemed to be working for him. Maybe we are just in one of those places.

Today I spent a few hours on the Government Gateway inputting my small figures and getting nowhere near my personal allowance. No tax due for this year, just a matter of paying Class 2 National Insurance voluntarily to ensure getting benefits and pension in years to come. All up to date and paid. I may get the current year up to date if we have more bad weather, I quite enjoy doing accounts!

Micks task today has been to finish sorting out our emails. The poor chap has felt a bit like he’s been back at work, but doing the bits he didn’t enjoy. My domain that we used to get my email from is no longer available, so Mick has moved it elsewhere, which caused allsorts of problems. We could send emails from the laptop but not from any other devices. Then any email he sent looked as if it had come from me, not ideal. Once I had finished my accounts the boat had to be quiet again for Mick to concentrate this time. But by the end of the afternoon all seems to be sorted.

I’m glad they’ve both finished, maybe they’ll move the outside again. It was quite good here yesterday, but today I’ve started to use it all up! The wind has been blowing my bottom which gives me a Mohican and bushy tail, I don’t like that. Running around made more use of the outside, but I had to climb to the very top of the trees and dig holes to find new places to explore. I kept coming inside to give them the opportunity to move the outside, but that didn’t work, maybe tomorrow.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 times last year, 2017 tax return completed and returned, 0 tax, Class 2 NI paid, 1 TV being temperamental, 1 cat being loony lala, 21 door openings, 35 hatch openings, 20+ feet of tree top climbing, 4 hours of cat indecision, 2 fingers crossed that emails work, 1 button down hat completed.

Grindley Brook

A bit of a lie in with Saturdays paper and then we had to make full use of the hire car.

First it was a shopping trip into Whitchurch to stock up the fridge for the next week. Walking to the handy layby where we’d left the car (near the bridge over the locks) we managed to pass by a C&RT chap who was drumming up support for the trust by enrolling friends. We don’t have a problem with the Trust doing this, but with not a lot of income we feel that we give C&RT enough money as it is in our licence fee. Having come across this chap before and others, we know that once they start talking to you they do their darnedest not to stop until you give in. Luckily he was busy chatting away to a lady and on our return he realised that we were carrying heavy bags and were on a mission to get back to the boat. We stocked up on essentials but only got two boxes of wine! No 25% off deal and as it’s now January we are trying to have two days a week without alcohol again.

The boat in front of us had moved off to wind and head towards Ellesmere so as I stowed the shopping Mick pulled us forward to the end of the Visitor Mooring so that when we want water our hose will reach the tap without us having to move.

Next we thought of going for a bit of a drive, maybe to an interesting house or pretty gardens somewhere we’d not normally get to from the canal. However with Oleanna’s next service due soon Mick wanted to get a filter as we’d picked up oil on our way back from Scarborough. So we took a cross country route over to Nantwich to visit the chandlers at the marina. They of course are closed on Sundays!

So we passed under the aqueduct and turned left. Mick thought this would be the way to get to Barbridge and the chandlers at Medway boats. It was if we’d turned left almost straight away again or done a u turn! Instead we followed signs round Nantwich to reach the A51 which took us 6.5 miles anti-clockwise around the town, when a mile behind us was where we should have been. Now you could blame the navigator, but she blames our road atlas which has a lot of writing over roads and where junctions might be, so for local roads it is almost useless.

However we found our way in the end and crossed over the two hump backed bridges to the chandlery. At first it seemed like it was self service, no sign of anyone. The filter we needed was getting on for £4 cheaper than the last one we’d bought, so Mick picked up three. After having a good look round I eventually spied a lady sat in the warmth of a back office very much engaged in what she was doing.

By now it was too late to find somewhere to visit, but I was in need of a pit stop. We happened to know of some facilities nearby, so pulled off the A51 to use them.

It just so happened that across from the loos there is a rather good chilled medication dispensary. With the car having told us that there was a risk of ice we thought that we should partake, it would have been rude to use the loos and not spend any money. Hard to make up our minds what flavour but in the end Mick chose Cappuccino and I had Choc Choc Brownie, not quite as grown up as the Amaretto I’d had last time, but far tastier!

As we sat eating our medication a little girl attempted to fit most of her head into her ice cream cone at the table next to us. No matter what Dad said she wasn’t going to eat the cone, but was determined to get the last bit of ice cream out of it. A constant stream of people came in, they all stood concentrating trying to decide which flavour, their eyes lighting up at the choice and grins of anticipation crossed their faces. After we’d seen what a cookie sandwich looked like and one chap with a three scoop cone we decided it was time to leave.

Back before sunset Tilly got the chance to head off outside for the first time in a few days. Half an hour she said. Taking refuge from a passing woofer back at the boat was a mistake as the doors closed in front of me. Half an hour is no where near enough time! Tom stood outside for ages longer, so not fare!!!! Mick had got chatting to a couple from Melbourne who are wanting to cruise the canals. They had plenty of good questions, just hope Mick didn’t put them off by talking toilets too much.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 boxes wine, 8 turkey sausages, 12 eggs, 1 bag litter, 3 near misses, 1 nudge up, 6.5 mile detour, 3 for the price of 2 filters, 1 tub grease, 2 chilled medications, 4C just the right temperature, 30 minutes! 21 inches of hat knitted.

Old Man’s Bridge to Gridley Brook Visitor Moorings

On Thursday we made our way back towards Grindley Brook, where we thought it would be a good place to be picked up for a hire car. As we were about to untie a boat rounded the bend in front of us, this was to be the one and only boat moving today other than us. One of the chaps on board asked if we were about to push off and could they possibly borrow a windlass. He had just sold his boat and butty, but had left his windlass on the butty which was now about a mile behind and to be able to wind the boat they needed to be able to operate the lift bridge a short distance behind us. Mick routed through the lockers and found a spare that we had found sometime ago left at a lock. The chap said he’d find us to return it, but if this didn’t happen we wouldn’t miss this windlass.

So we pushed off to cover the two and a half miles to Grindley Brook, a greyer day than on Wednesday. We soon passed the newly sold butty awaiting it’s tow into a new life with new owners. Ahead were the two Hassell’s lift bridges. One of these will be closing for maintenance in ten days, I hope they don’t make it hard to work as at the moment it is possibly the easiest on the hole of the Llangollen canal to wind up and down. Then as we passed the Whitchurch arm we could see NB Mountbatten’s butty moored up, this looks like it will be the coal boats base for a while as locks and bridges close over the next two months.

Once the lift bridge had been wound up and back down again we covered the short distance to the water point where we filled one tank and emptied the yellow water before reversing back to the Visitor Mooring and tying up. Our windlass was returned as we walked down to the bins and then the petrol station shop for some plastic bread. It’s amazing what people put in the recycling bins.

Back on board it was time to try to sort Enterprise out. A few days ago we’d been invited to head to Scarborough for a sherbet (or several) to remember our friend Mick Hughes along with our Scarborough friends. So we’d booked a car from Enterprise as this worked out to be cheaper than the train for the two of us. To cut quite a long story short, the company that advertises that they will pick you up and drop you off didn’t seem too cover Grindley Brook, even thought their website suggested they did. Mick had been passed from one office to another but as we’d prepaid (making it cheaper) they couldn’t just transfer the booking! Rebooking the price changed first in our favour but as he clicked confirming the booking it jumped up in price. After checking that he would be able to get a pick up, he was then told by the next chap that we were too far away. Mick did his best not to have a Geraghty strop with the chap. It was getting to the point where I was willing to have  noisy dramatic weeping fit in the background about not being able to go to our dear dear friends funeral, but luckily my acting skills (not the best) were not required and in the end they agreed on a pickup!

Friday morning came and so did the pick up from Shrewsbury. Mick went off to get the car whilst I pottered waiting for his return. Every now and then I have a look at Lillian’s blog to see what we were up to a year or two ago. Since selling NB Lillyanne I have been surprised that everyday apart from two the blog has had a few viewings. However all of a sudden the views had shot up, 74 and it was only the morning! Blimey that was quite high for when it was our live blog. On the wordpress statistic page you can see where people have been referred from and there was a high proportion coming from Canal World Forum. So I clicked the link and found that there was a thread about lithium batteries and Brian from NB Harnser had posted a link to Lillian’s blog and then here.

As there seemed to be so much interest in our batteries (those who read this blog regularly know we don’t have them yet!) I thought I’d give you a very quick round up especially as we have had an update.

When Oleanna was being built we decided to fork out for Lithium Ion batteries. 2 x 24volt 50amp hour batteries in parallel. In case these didn’t give us enough capacity the battery tray was made to hold two with an extension should we decide we wanted to up our capacity to 3 batteries. Batteries were ordered but only one arrived, the other was on it’s way. The boat systems were tested with this one battery, but this was kept to a minimum hoping to keep the number of cycles down so that the battery bank when complete would all have a similar number of cycles. Sadly the second battery didn’t turn up, so we waited and waited and waited. After waiting getting on for six months one finally was manufactured for us, we really wanted our boat to be on the water with us on board by now and this was the only thing holding everything up. Others would most probably have given up by now and gone for more standard batteries, but this would mean changes in the engine bay which had been built with these batteries in mind. We decided to be patient.

In April the battery company lent us 2 x 12volt 100 amp hour gel batteries wired in series. These fitted our battery trays and meant we could move on board whilst we waited for the second battery to arrive. We soon decided that a third battery would be worth getting hold of, if it was possible! The ordering of this coincided with the second one arriving in Sheffield. So the waiting started again for a third battery. This arrived quickly in comparison and the other batteries were put on charge so that they would all be on a par when installed. However…. the original battery wouldn’t charge so was returned to be reset by the distributors. Before Christmas we heard that they hadn’t been able to reset the battery, so had ordered a new one which would be shipped from the States, hopefully to arrive early in January.

On Friday we had an update from Finesse (our boat builders) that they now had a date towards the end of the month when our new battery should arrive in England, it will then take a few days for it to be delivered to them. A rendez vous will then be arranged for them to come out to install the three batteries and alter the programming on our inverter/charger for the Lithium Ion batteries. Once this has happened we and Finesse will be celebrating the final completion of Oleanna. However we have been this close before, so none of us are holding our breath!

Back to our trip to Scarborough. We had a very grey trip over the Pennines and arrived as planned at our friends Dawn and Lee’s house. Here we caught up on the last month since we last saw them and had a very nice meal to fill our stomachs before what was likely to be a bit of a boozy evening.

The original plan had been to gather as many of the old production team of the Stephen Joseph Theatre from around the millennium to raise a glass in memory of Mick Hughes, a pub had been thought of. A production team would not be complete without the writer or director, so Alan Ayckbourn and Heather were contacted to see if they would like to join us. They very kindly offered the use of their conservatory for the evening where we all had enjoyed many a party in the past.

In all 21 of us raised a glass or several to Mick . Alan made a very touching speech which of course included anecdotes of how he had first met Mick in 1972. It was a very suitable evening to say Adios to Mick amongst friends from far and near, only a few still work at the theatre now. If Mick had known about our gathering I suspect he’d have been a little bit miffed at not being able to make it himself!

This morning we had a slow start, thanked our Scarborough B&B hosts Dawn and Lee (Yes Duncan we will stay with you next time!) and then called in at Fleur and Ruths. Here we had an hour catching up with Mick’s sister (my Mick) Kath who had come up from London for last night before we all needed to be on our way. A quick drive to see the sea and a pause at Halfords for some oil for Oleannas engine before crossing back over the country to Wales.

Tilly had looked after Oleanna well and the only casualties were items of underwear we’d left drying on the airer, most of these now on the floor. I really don’t know what they were expecting having left the climbing frame out for me. I had to amuse myself somehow! It took a while for the stove and central heating to raise the temperature of the cabin, but once the chill was gone we were cosy once more. Some sad gits chickeny things were enjoyed that we’d picked up on route from M&S along with another glass of wine.

0 locks, 2.57 miles, 3 lift bridges, 132 turns up, 89 turns down, 1 loaned windlass, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 1 gas bottle now empty, 2 inflated life jackets, 2 Enterprise offices, 3 different prices, 1 pick up finally agreed to, 351 miles by car, 74 then 94 viewings, 0 view from the A64, 1 magic food bowl, 1 party for 1,  21 present, 5 missing including Mick H, 3 soups, 5 litres Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil, 1 bottle of dipper for veg kebabs, 10 litres 15W40, 1 sister, 3 final Christmas presents, 1 salad to be grown, 2 films, 1 illuminating hat, 1 more mention of Duncan, make that two!

Whixall Moss Junction to Old Man’s Bridge 38

We were glad that we didn’t venture up the Prees Branch as when we woke on Monday morning we could see what we thought was ice at the junction and my it was cold outside. So we let Tilly out to explore whilst we enjoyed a cooked breakfast and I finally got round to writing some emails, there’s still the tax return to do but the tax man can wait a few more days!

Mick got the axe out and did gathering things and split more logs whilst Tilly hunted up and down the towpath for friends. When she decided that she needed a bit of a bath and came inside Mick and I set off for an explore of our own.

There is a walkway that leads to a viewing area overlooking the Mosses. I suspect the view is very different later in the year. Warning signs about Adders in the grass made me glad it was January and they would all be hibernating rather than Tilly finding a new type of friend to play with. The birds we saw when we came this way a month ago are likely to have been Hobbys and if the paintings of them are representative of their size then they are far smaller than I first thought. Apparently they catch Emperor Dragonflies which thrive here over the peat fields. Most of what we could see was all frozen and covered in frost hard to believe much life lies dormant here.

Further along the towpath is the England Wales border. So Mick did the honours and stood in both countries.

One foot in England, un troed yug Nghymru!

We could have walked further but decided to walk back and have a look up the Prees Branch.

The only boat we saw moving all day was a C&RT work boat that had turned up the branch. It did a good job of breaking the ice, we could hear it for ages as it fought it’s way through what looked like inch thick ice. Without a map with us we gave up our walk along the branch after reaching Bridge 3. There wasn’t much further to go as it turns out as the basin was only around the next bend. The workboat had also stopped here leaving the ice ahead untouched.

The house that stands at the junction has a lot of interesting signs about the place, along with several small lakes with either shepherds huts or old cattle wagons by them. Each lake had a bench by it and a life ring, I wondered if they are holiday lets.

In a garage behind the house were three ford Escorts all in matching paintwork just different colours. Two were wrapped in plastic to keep themselves clean. Who ever lives here certainly likes collecting things.

On Tuesday we decided to wait for NB Mountbatten, Richard was making his way to Ellesmere on a run. With staying put for the day in mind Tilly went out as we sat down for breakfast. I busied myself with emptying out the well deck and giving it a really good clean. All the mud and the coal dust had built up so today whilst it was almost empty was a suitable day before it got filled up again. The port cabin side got a good wipe down too and Mick managed to stow the rest of our logs in the engine bay to dry out some more.

At around 1pm we could hear the sound of an engine coming from the direction of Whitchurch, it could only be NB Mountbatten. Richard rounded the bend and slowed as we came into sight, we’d already put our order in via text. Chatting away he moved Mountbatten up and down the side of Oleanna by walking along her gunnel stopping where she was needed to off load coal and then to fill our diesel tank. I think he’s done this a few times before!

He’d been informed by C&RT that he would be able to get through at the stoppage at Bridge 47 as they would only be working on the sluice there. As he disappeared along the long straight we hoped we’d not see him later on reversing back, he got through, but did get stuck on a sand bar near the meres for a while until he fought his way off.

Mid afternoon Mick decided to put Tillys pooh box outside. We’d not seen her all day, does she not like coal boats? Last time this happened was last year on the Macc when NB Alton delivered to us. So just in case she’d got lost we thought the aid of her scent might help and I was starting to get a bit horse shouting for her. Look I’d been busy! There was so much to do out there. Those Hobbys are a right laugh and kept me busy. When I could smell myself I knew that they were starting to fret, so made my excuses and headed for home. This took a little while as there was quite a bit of water to wade through which was very cold. After a good long cat bath Tilly slept for much of what remained of the day.

I finished off my latest knitted waistcoat and started on a hat as we worked our way through four episodes of Series 3 of The Line Of Duty. Only one more of this series to go which we’ll watch tonight before our bonus internet runs out at midnight.

When we woke this morning fog surrounded us, but by the time we’d had our breakfast the sun was burning it’s way through revealing bright blue skies. A day for cruising, almost spring like.

Today we could see that the flow on the canal was back, as I lifted the first bridge a mass of debris held back by the bridge drifted by. Two lift bridges today, they are hard but a good cardio vascular workout for a few minutes. Suspect I’ll need to do a few more to work off the overindulgences of Christmas. Now we were skirting our way around Wales, the border moving along the towpath and then following Red Brook for some distance just a stones throw away.

Before we reached the next lift bridges we pulled in at a 48hr mooring. Here gaps in the trees gave us great views across fields on both sides. The sun warmed Oleanna up so much on the starboard side that neither bathroom doors would close fully, the difference in temperature from one side to the other must have been quite big. We sat for much of the afternoon with the side hatch and front doors open, Tilly coming and going frequently. Mick had a hair cut whilst Tilly climbed a hollow tree, both inside and out. What a beautiful day, well until our little thug returned to eat a friend she’d just murdered!

0 locks, 3.83 miles, 2 lift bridges, 3 days 3 boats moving, 2 countries, 0 dragonflies, 0 adders, 2 hermetically sealed cars, 1 icebreaker, 5 bags coal, 70 litres diesel, 1 bag kindling, 1 clean well deck short lived, 1 AWOL cat for 6 hours, 1 exhausted muddy cat, 1 left, 130 turns up, 84 turns down, 1 single duvet into yarn, 1 finished waistcoat cardie, 1 hat started, 2 swan near miss, 5 litres in Fleurs boot, 1 sky carpet of crows, 1 cauliflower, grade 3 haircut, 1 cat staying close, 1 beautiful day that makes you smile, 7 episodes in 3 days, 27 GB left to use today.

Ellesmere Arm to Whixall Moss Junction

A lie in Saturday morning, but not for too long. We headed into town with my welllies all parcelled up to return. Sat waiting for me in the Post Restante pile was a Christmas present to myself, some more knitting needles, one’s Father Christmas hadn’t managed to buy me. Then we picked up our Saturday newspaper before heading into Vermeulens. Well this is our last visit to Ellesmere for sometime, so it would have been foolish not to have stopped to see what was on offer. Mick opted for a pork and caramelised onion pie whilst I couldn’t help but get a slice of the very tasty looking bacon and mushroom quiche. Both went down a treat for lunch.

The afternoon we made a shopping list and then went up to Tescos. Over the next three weeks we won’t be anywhere near as close to shops, so we wanted to stock up somewhat. We may get a delivery to somewhere, but we’ll see.

A pork stew sat on the stove for a good few hours and stove cooked jacket potatoes accompanied a good portion of it for our tea. Our internet allowance seems to have increased this month, maybe Father Christmas heard our plea when we were first at Llangollen without TV. But somehow we have ended up with around 46GB to use within five days. So we’ve decided to try to watch the remainder of the box set of Line of Duty on iplayer. We managed two episodes last night and hope to do more tonight.

This morning another lie in. We’d considered going to have a look around the Antiques Market at the Town Hall, but once we were up we decided to make a move instead.

We pushed off backwards at around 11.30am. The arm had patches of ice and Oleanna’s cratch cover had a good layer of frost still on one side. Reversing up to the services took a little bit of effort but less than would have been going all the way too the end of the arm to wind. Water tank filling I had a shower and we disposed of all our rubbish and the contents of the yellow water tank.

Turning right we waved goodbye to Ellesmere for the last time on this trip. Our waists will be grateful for our departure!

The sun shone through the trees as we passed the meres, what a lovely day, crisp and bright blue sky. We counted down the bridges as we approached the Welsh border, keeping an eye on something else.

Oleanna was about to reach her 1000th engine hour. Just after we’d crossed back into Wales at 2pm, 999.9 became 1000.0. Luckily we’d passed a moored boat sufficiently for them not to have heard our cheers. The Christmas Cheesy Footballs came out to celebrate.

Not far now to the next impending stoppage. Today we’ve seen several boats moving to get to the side of the closure they want to be on, there were quite a few moored near it . Works on the sluice by Bridge 47 may not mean that the navigation closes fully for three weeks, but if it does and we were on the western side we would be on the Llangollen Canal until sometime in March, held up by stoppage after stoppage. Being on the east side we now just need to be through a bridge before Whitchurch by the 22nd and then sit waiting for a lock to reopen on the 26th, after which we’ll be able to return down onto the Shroppie. Our only problem is that there is only one water point on this stretch of canal, so we won’t be venturing too far away from Grindley Brook.

Along the long straight by the Mosses we crossed back over into England and decided to pull up just by the junction of the Prees Branch. Our mooring here is rather fine, high up above the mosses with plenty of sky. The sunset this evening was worth stopping here for. Another cold night ahead of us and we think that the flow on the canal isn’t as strong as it was before the new year, so chances of being iced in are higher. We’ll see.

0 locks, 6.68 miles, 1 reverse, 1 right, 1 tunnel, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 empty wee tank, 5 pairs of needles, 1 pie, 1 quiche (must start making my own again), 2 (yes only 2!) boxes of wine, 0 treat cheese left, 6 visits to Tesco in 2 days, 60% of cheesy footballs eaten, 2 borders, 9 months, 1000 hours, 3.7 a day, 1 anti-raked sheep, 1 cardie top blocked, 3 lengths of rib to go.

Canal Central to Ellesmere Arm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Maesbury Marsh Bridge to Canal Central

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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