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!

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!!!