Maesbury Marsh

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ellesmere Arm to Maesbury Marsh Bridge 79

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Llangollen Basin

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

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

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

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

The empty bottles clinking their way to the recycling bins.

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

Intentions of going for walks never materialising.

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

The second Christmas dinner not using up all the leftovers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Llangollen Basin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A lovely day all round.

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

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

Happy Christmas

from

Mick, Pip and Tilly

xxx

Llangollen Basin

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

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

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

Happy Christmas from all three of us.

We are even ready for the big man.

Llangollen Basin

The sunrises here are rather wonderful, as the sun starts to rise above the hilltops it casts an increasing golden glow across the western hills. A wonderful sight to wake up to.

We knew that some shops would be open tomorrow, but the really important one wouldn’t be. We also had to make sure we got our Saturday paper for the TV guide.So after our cuppa in bed we headed into town to finish our food shopping. The shops we wanted were all close together and busy. First Dee Valley Green Grocers. A small shop that had taken over much of the pavement and a couple of parking spaces opposite and orders lay in boxes waiting to be collected up the street. Certainly a popular shop, one lady was disappointed that they had no fennel, but that was the only thing missing that we could spot. That was our first heavy bag on the bike.

Next Porters Deli. Some gluten free oatcakes and then which cheeses? I ended up going for two favourites, Cornish Yarg, Mature Wensleydale and then an unknown Mature Caerphilly. Thinking about it I should have got some Shropshire Blue too, but we can’t let the cholesterol levels get too high.

Mick popped into the bakers whilst I stood in line at Gwyn Davies, the butchers. The counter was heaving with meaty goods. I had my list and was going to stick to it, just the choices of smoked bacon or not and which sausages to get. I wonder if they bring the retired butchers in for such days with their knowledge and patter. Most customers were known and when my duck was brought from the back it was accompanied by two more for those spotted waiting in line. Once the butcher had my name he made sure he used it, ‘Is that duck okay for you Mrs Leckenby?’ ‘That’s a nice piece of gammon Mrs Leckenby’, ‘Just four rashers of smoked Mrs Leckenby’, ‘They wouldn’t be a secret recipe if I told you what was in them Mrs Leckenby’. My Mum, the Mrs Leckenby would have loved him, this Miss Leckenby did too. Another heavy bag to add to the bike and we were done and back at Oleanna for a late breakfast an hour after we’d left.

Mick set about getting sooty and swept the chimney for the first time. Taking the baffle out of a Bubble stove is far far easier than on a Squirrel. The hole stove got a good hoover out before he laid a fire for this evening. I set about rationalising the kitchen. We are both as bad as each other, things don’t always get put away and the worktops were getting quite cluttered. So things went back into cupboards and plenty of space was made for all the cooking that will be happening in the next couple of days. I even decided to reclaim the cupboard that was the Finesse cupboard, most things found new homes and some bits went in the bin, hope we don’t end up needing them!

Next I set too sorting out the dinette bed. When Oleanna was built we asked for this to be able to turn into a small double, which it does very easily. Only thing is that one section of the back support was fixed, leaving one end of the bed six inches narrower than the other, very awkward to get a sheet around if nothing else. I’d had a look at it a few weeks ago and bought a piece of foam to plug the gap.

The back support was fixed in with two screws at the top, then a couple more at the bottom which went into a piece of 2×2 which was in turn fixed to the base. I’d originally thought we’d need to add a spacer behind the support to hold it in the right place. But because it was cut to fit at an angle all it needed was to be rescrewed to the 2×2, which was now loose, this all fits back where it came from and stays put without being screwed into position.

Next I cut a six inch piece of foam to fit the gap, using my trusty 33 year old bread knife. It is slightly raggerdy edged, but this is liveable with. It fits the gap nicely and who knows I may even cover it someday to match the dinette cushions. Next I fitted a fitted sheet onto the cushions and pinned where a new seam was needed. With the dinette back in sitting order and my sewing machine out from the depths I then ran a line of stitches on the sheet to hold it into it’s new slightly narrower size. We can now have guests to stay. Good job as we’ve got some next week!

Tomorrow there is lots of precooking to do for the big day, including Christmas sausage rolls, Christmas biscuits and my birthday cake needs baking. We half expect to see our friend Frank turning up as he used to in Scarborough, timing his arrival just as things were coming out of the oven!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 late breakfast, 1 bag King Edwards, 2 lemons, 12 brussels, 5 onions, 2 red, 1 tree, 1 red cabbage, 5 carrots, 4 parsnips, 14 sausages, 1 gammon joint, 1 duck, 4 streaky, 4 thick smoked, 1 black pud, 1 loaf, 24 oat cakes, 3 treat cheeses, 1 Saturday paper! 1 load of washing on the whirligig, 1 chimney sweep face, 1 pair white gloves, 1 galley sparkling, 6 inches makes a difference, 1 complete 4 foot bed, 1 outside well and truly used up, can we move on now, pleeease!