minimoman

Wednesday 1st August - Pierpoint locks to Church Minshull Today also could have been called ‘Canal blockage’, or ‘Ruffled Feathers and 2yr old behaviour’. A long day seems to bring more interesting events. 19 locks completed today, not a day to repeat too often – hard work and this is supposed to be a leisurely pursuit! Who are we kidding? After casting off at 7am, we watered up at Wheelock around 11am. I blithely stick the nozzle of the hose in the brass waterpoint on the boat, and stands up letting go, not realising that this tap actually has some pressure. It was like one of those snakes that the wildlife experts show us on tv – wildly writhing around on the end of a stick…….. only this was whipping around on the end with me trying to catch hold of the it and once grabbed it, showering me with water leaving my face dripping… (linty) oh how I wish I’d had my camera handy, only I doubt I could’ve held still long enough from laughing to take a photo of the hose getting violent. Alex takes a grip again. You would think he would’ve learned, and held on, but no. So it got violent again!! Stopping for lunch at Ettily Heath, on a hot sunny day again, we had left the towpath side blinds down to help keep the boat cool, so were sitting facing closed windows. Lynne stood up mid lunch to really shout at a hireboater going past to ‘SLOW DOWN!’ This one really did have some welly on, more than we’ve ever seen in the past. He shamefacedly did do so, half way past our boat, so we returned to our lunch. I went to put our dishes in the sink, and realised that the bank on that side should have been at the other side of the canal, not so, it was right next to the window! While innocently eating lunch, the hireboater had gone past so fast, he had snapped the loop on the mooring pin, and pulled us off our mooring allowing the stern to drift across the canal, completely blocking it. Quickly coiling the stern rope onboard, I restarted the engine, and gently used the front mooring as a pivot to bring us back to the bank. On examination, the mooring pin loop had been completely snapped off, leaving the pin still in the ground. No wonder they get a bad name – the hire companies don’t seem to give enough advice on what slow past moored boats means, and just why they should. We were lucky. Impatient boaters seem to abound today. Earlier in the day we had been followed by one lady tutting because some of the twin locks reverted to single ones slowing things down, and we’d gratefully left them behind waiting for a boat coming up to use our water first before they could continue down behind us. Then, I think it was Booths Lane locks where Lynne regressed to toddler hood. As we approached, we saw a boat leaving the lock and thought oh good it’s set for us, as they left the gates open. A moment later we spotted bodies rushing madly round shutting the gates. We couldn’t believe it, they were shutting the gates to empty the lock for their boat to come up, too impatient to wait a couple of minutes for us to use the lock and let the water down for them to come up. We moored and Lynne got off to wait for them to complete their task. Lynne being Lynne couldn’t resist saying something ‘‘Didn’t you see us coming (how could they NOT, we were that close!) that was a bit of a waste of water and effort’’ - not at all rudely, just a quiet question and matter of fact. The woman almost – almost – exploded…… red faced and puffing from exertion, she said ‘WELL!!!’ and turned away from her. As they left the lock and she reboarded her boat a comment drifted past – “behaving like a two yr old, SHE knows who she is!” said loudly so that everyone could hear… erm pardon said Lynne, who is the two yr old???? and commented quietly back yes she does and she just wasted a lock full of water…. Oops I think Lynne ruffled some feathers there, mind you they needed ruffling. Ignorant boaters and NOT hire boaters at that! For the rest of the day we played tag with the following boat, Pollyanna, crewed by Dale and Kathy. We had a chuckle over the previous events, and contentedly helped each other winding paddles – either them helping let water down, or us staying behind a few minutes to help them fill.. as there were no other boats in sight coming up. Kathy had glimpsed our layout and wanted a closer look, so we invited them both onboard for a cuppa once we reached Middlewich and turned onto the Shropshire Union. We received some good advice on moorings up ahead, as this was their home territory, and we wanted to carry on a bit further since it was such a lovely day, and it would make our following day just that bit easier to complete time wise. Carrying on, we reached Church Minshull around 7pm after great excitement of spotting various flashes of blue from a bird flying low up ahead, disturbed by our approach. This was the sighting of our first kingfisher!

Thursday 2nd August – Church Minshull to Swanley Bridge Final day of the EPIC journey, we awoke to more sunshine.. wow, can’t believe it.. both the sun and the end of what’s been a brilliant summer of travel. Setting off at 8.15 with a mere 6 locks ahead, although advised by Dale and Kathy that it would probably take about 6hrs, we knew we were on schedule to achieve our aim to arrive in time to sort things out in order to travel the following day down to Cornwall. We know where the bobbies were this morning, about 6 of them anyway eating bacon and eggs at the café at Venetian Marine! On exiting Cholmondeston lock (how DO you pronounce that? Is it Chumston? As Cholmondley becomes Chumley? A bit of a mouthful anyway) we spotted Ivor Batchelor, one of the few working boats on the cut supplying coal, diesel, logs etc…and obtained coal, a couple of bags of logs and diesel topup. 10:55 saw us move onto the proper Shroppie and we reached Hurlestone Junction an hour and a half later. Whilst waiting our turn to go up onto the Llangollen through Hurlestone lockflight, a hireboater approached the bridge carrying the towpath. His son was stood on the roof. You know what I am going to tell you by now.. yes, he knew the bridge was there, but misjudged the head duck, looking away at just the wrong moment.. We heard the loud crack as his head smacked the bridge.. then the scream. He was lucky not to be knocked off the boat. As his dad carried on cruising past, “I told you bridges were hard, you won’t do that again will you?” we shouted across – “is he alright??” An offhand yeah he’s ok, followed by mum appearing to lead her son down below. We sincerely hope he was ok, it was one hell of a crack. All our fenders completely off for these narrow locks, had tales from the lockie of many a boat that has become stuck. Some good boatnames – Onion Bargee, IDIDIT, Light Relief – crew surname Light, and waiting to go up Hurleston locks ahead of us, The Saucy Mrs Flobster. We also passed a number of L&J boats, but didn’t get time to say more than hello in passing. 1.30pm - Great excitement !! The office building on the corner of the turn into Swanley Bridge marina came into view. End of the journey… well for the time being anyway! This is definitely NOT the end. We will without doubt have another epic ahead of us for next summer! In summary, this is our first year’s cruising in our own new boat, and its been anything but boring. Almost everyday something of note has happened, sometimes funny, sometimes annoying, sometimes frustrating, but we wouldn’t have missed one moment of it. We look forward to next year’s planning over the winter, but will in the interim, hopefully have the opportunity to complete the journey to Llangollen itself during the autumn, in a more leisurely fashion.

Tuesday 31st July Congleton to Hassall Green Shopping called for first thing – so we didn’t get going till 11am, but that allowed the sun to warm us up a bit first. We were really appreciating the warmth. Travelling down the Macclesfield we were again loving this part of the countryside with the Friesian cows in the fields, farmers tedding hay, and gathering in the silage. If we can get a mooring here on the Macclesfield, that would be heaven. Down at the aqueduct on the end of the Macclesfield, Lynne stepped off in order to take photos of the boat as it passed over the Trent and Mersey underneath, whilst we waited for a boat right on the apex to complete a 180 deg turn. Looking back, and seeing Alex at a strange angle mid canal, Lynne realised the prop was fouled and hotfooted it back to assist in mooring up to clear it. We took opportunity to have a bite of lunch at the same time, then with Lynne walking the towpath again, and me driving, we rounded onto the Trent and Mersey canal proper. At the first of the Red Bull locks, a woman and her young son were standing watching us enter the lock and stood explaining what she thought happened. I had waved Alex to the far one, as there was something floating in the water on the approach to the nearside one. Whilst Alex was fishing this out to avoid anyone else snagging it, we had begun chatting. She asked “could I be really cheeky and ask if my son could ride down this lock with you?” I looked at Alex, and he agreed Okay that will be alright. Next thing two other youngsters with parents in tow, arrived. The woman’s sister and husband and children. Before we knew it, we had 3 youngsters on board, told to sit still, behave etc etc… excitement clearly showing. Whilst Lynne was walking down to set the next lock, she chatted to the woman and it transpired that she was a single parent, and was struggling to find things to do to entertain her son during the holidays and they were having a day out by the canal. Lynne didn’t mind as she has an 8 yr old grandson who she would dearly love to take on our boat, but am not able to do so. It was a pleasure to be able to do this for someone else. Alex reported afterwards, that the young lass had told him – ‘I’ve not been on a boat before, and I’m not scared, look I am standing up. This is mint!” Two locks later (!) we let them hop off and left them to a bankside picnic. That was the first two of 13 locks that we would complete today. We stopped at Rode Heath to get some milk, and after being watched whilst mooring and wondering why, we showed a couple how to tie off as their ropes kept coming undone. It was her dads boat, and they were scared stiff of damaging it. 7pm - after our late start we’d had enough and moored just before Pierpoint Locks for the night. With the sun still shining, slightly breezy and still warm enough, we hung the washing out to dry. We had a phone call from Lauren that evening telling us that she and her husband had completed packing their caravan and were setting off early next day for Cornwall. We told her we were now putting all efforts in to join them on the Friday with the weather having improved so much.

16th to 30th July This last week, we had many phone conversations regarding our plans for the next fortnight, mostly revolving around what the weather was doing – RAIN or NO rain? It had importance because we could either decide to move the boat at a leisurely pace or crack on. This was the last fortnight Lynne has off to join me in order to get the boat to the marina for electric hookup before our long planned for holiday to China, and Lynne’s daughter had expressed a desire for us to journey down to Cornwall the following weekend for a mediaeval fair – which meant us camping out (!) and would mean definitely cracking on with the move. It would also mean a long drive through some of the worst of the flooded areas affected by the horrendous downpours during June/July, and if the forecast was bad, they’d be affected again. Plus, neither of us was keen to campout in the rain, if we could avoid it. We’re not old, but our bones feel like they are sometimes!! Anyway I like our king size double bed! In order to do the Cornwall trip we would have to get the boat sorted by the Thursday. Dilemmas. The move, in the time, was just about do-able but would include a couple of long days, and that would be absolutely NO fun at all in the miserable weather. We watched the reports like a hawk. One day, we were saying, no good, it’s going to be wet, the next.. hmmm might be ok. In the end, the decision was to prepare as if we were going, and decide whether we actually were going to go for it on the Monday when Lynne arrived at the boat. It also involved my old navy mate, who had offered to let us leave Lynne’s car at his place and had kindly said he would provide a ‘taxi service’!! – this was the only way we would achieve things in the timescale. After Lynne had meticulously used the Canal Route Planner with various options and what-ifs, we knew we could do it, if everything else fell into place as planned. 30th July. ‘A UTOPIAN attitude?’ Monday morning, saw Lynne driving across the Pennines, missing the morning rush hour both through Hull and the approaches to Sheffield, arriving at the boat mid morning. A decision to go drop some stuff off first, meant I would have a chance to chat to Dave and Sue before we set off enroute again. We did have a momentary worry when there was no answer on their phone as we neared Audley, but he had just popped out to see his dad, phew! Everyone, friends and family, have our big thanks for all the help they’ve given with car parking and the ‘taxi-ing’ during this summer. We’d not have achieved it so easily without their assistance. To name but a few – Dave & Sue Myers, Dave & Sue Lovatt, Jason & Jane ????? THE MOVE! 13:30 Trumpets should sound, fanfares………… WE ARE ON THE MOVE again!!! - after nearly 9 weeks on the Macclesfield Canal. (original plans were only 3 days for visiting!!) A cloudy day, but bright we were all excited again at being on the move. Fools Nook swing bridge opened as we approached – was this an omen for things falling into place? Hoped so. We arrived at Bosley Top Lock and the services mooring was empty, allowing us to slot in neatly for emptying the elsan etc. As I waited for Alex to finish, a boat moored opposite at the water point and started to water up. As we were casting off, ready to start off down the locks, we moved back to manoeuvre around to approach the lock, when the woman from the boat opposite legged it down to the lock gates, and the man pulled his hose off the waterpoint without finishing, threw his hose on deck, just so that they could beat us to the lock, how pathetic! Not a word to us about do you mind if we go first, or even the courtesy of recognising we were on the move first. We re-approached the bank, and held the boat whilst they used the lock, Lynne hopped off and closed up the waterpoint cover they’d left open in their haste. The boat was called ‘Utopian’. Hmmmm not such a utopian attitude. We passed them moored at Bosley bottom lock, with plenty of space still, so it gained them nothing anyway. Rather a petty minded attitude, as we had the same opportunities for locks being set for us, as they did, with the number of boats coming up. We carried on to Congleton Wharf arriving at 7:45pm and stayed the night in the exact same spot we’d had on our way up way back in May, even the same swan pecking at our boat and fenders, this time with cygnets in tow.

I couldn't agree more, the forum is for discussions - if only! When I first joined I posted and was totally ignored until I mentioned that there is a certain clique who just use this forum as if its for them alone. That got a reply and agreement. I have watched it happen to a lot of people since. God help a newbie if he/she asks a question that is to any experienced boater basic knowledge, out comes the clique to harrangue. Discussion dosen't come into it. It would help if the forum HELPED newbies and encouraged discussion instead of just ridicule. Some things just don't change, if you don't believe me then watch the answers to this and you will see the response!!!!!

not a very good picture but you can see the viking head with helmet which we use as a tiller pin click on the picture to enlarge growing old is unavoidable, growing up is optional

Hi Alan I have just had two of these fold up bikes delivered. They arn't the most compact in the world but do fold down enough that we can keep both inside under the breakfast bar and they don't intrude to much into the living space. 20" wheels, 6 speed shimano gears, bell, dynamo lights, sprung saddle. They do come from germany as I said in an earlier post. They ride really well and feel very stable on the tow path - recently used them from Lyme Green to Bosley bottom lock and back again. Used the lights on the return journey, very good.....and all this for the princely sum of £132.00 plus £30 postage. A deal I am very pleased with. The only comparable one from the uk, all the bits like, lights, bell etc were extra's on a price of £170 odd. A no brainer really. If your interested pm me and i will send you all the details. Oh forgot to say it also has a folding pedal..

10th to 21st July Lynne went back to work and left me to take the boat from Lyme Green to Bugsworth Basin to pick her up on Friday 13th July when we had arranged to meet Angie and Steve for a days pootle down the Peak Forest Canal and back. I won't bore you with the journey up other than to say this was the first time I have done lift/swing bridges single handed. My very first lift bridge on the Peak and all big headed, thought 'hey I am experienced now so this should be a doddle', so I dropped to tick over and gradually closed on the bridge, into reverse until I was just about making headway, into neutral and a quick dash down the gunwhales to get the bow line. Ah, clever clogs hadn't realized that the bridge side was higher than the front fender, so when it should have just tapped the bridge and come to a standstill, it didn't! Because the bow is nicely rounded it pushed the bridge up and over the prow THEN it stopped! Numerous curses later I had raised the bridge, moved the boat through then closed the bridge before inspecting for damage. Apart from paint missing and scraped down to bare metal, the damage was minimal, just needing a quick rub down, priming, undercoating then top coating. So the first lift bridge claims another victim. Lesson learnt, next three bridges went like clockwork, swollen head went down to normal size, inflated ego has gone into hiding.. Oh almost forgot, the weather! Whilst beforehand it had only rained once maybe twice a day, that day it rained, then rained some more with the occasional heavy downpour interspersed with more rain and when it wasn't raining, it was pissing down! So much for Friday 13th - who said it was unlucky? 14th July Saturday Our friends duly arrived and a great day was had by all, the weather for a change actually gave us some sunny periods when it was almost like summer, warm with a light breeze. Both enjoyed the cruise down and back again admiring the wonderful scenery highlighted by the sun whilst of course enjoying a small glass of the amber nectar or wine depending on one's tastes. The day was finished off with a cracking meal cooked and served by Lynne followed by a mouth wateringly delicious sweet of crushed meringue folded into whipped double cream with fresh strawberries mmmmmmm !!! the day went far too fast and before we knew it, it was 10pm and they had to leave with promises to visit us again as soon as possible. Another pair of converts to the canal life! 15th July Sunday What can I say ........ its raining again! Lynne had to return to work today leaving me to get the boat down to Bosley Locks for the 30th July where I will pick her up again and continue on our way to Swanley Bridge Marina. 16th July Monday I don't know what happened to me this morning but I woke up at 5.00 but I mean - woke up - so fully awake that you just can't lay and relax, tried to for half an hour and then gave up and got up. (LINTY:- I know why, he is missing me !!! grins) And just for once it was a glorious morning, didn't last of course, the rain was just hiding round the corner waiting to catch us off guard. Ah ha, but I knew its little tricks and was all prepared with the waterproofs. By 06.00 I had watered up etc and was on my way back down the Peak. 17th to 20th July Nothing of particular note to mention, just slowly making my way down towards Bosley locks. 21st July Left Macclesfield after filling up with diesel 140 litres, I think maybe I was cutting it a bit fine there, getting down towards the fumes at that point, but that's now all sorted. Got a pump out, filled up with water, and emptied cassette so I am now all set for the final trip to our mooring. Left Macclesfield about 12.30 and had only just got out of site of the Marina and saw 'Blackbird' Carrie's boat so of course I just had to stop and say hello. We knew she was in the area as we had passed emails back and forth keeping each other informed of our whereabouts, unfortunately Lynne who had wanted to meet Carrie was back at work for her 3 weeks of shifts. (LINTY:- Very disappointed to have missed meeting Carrie - tried to arrange a quick hi after leaving Bugsworth by car the other weekend, but the weather was so bloody awful for driving, I just concentrated on getting home, I'm afraid - hoping I can rectify this sometime in the near future!) I Put the kettle on while Carrie sorted out her dog who wanted to stay and take part, we then spent a very pleasant hour or so chatting about all and sundry. It was great to finally meet a Forum member and found Carrie to be a very nice and friendly person, its just a shame that Lynne was away at work as she had wanted to meet Carrie as well. Considering that we have been on the move since April, Carrie is the first person from the Forum that we have actually met and talked to though we have seen two or three boats belonging to Forum members, sadly not onboard at the time. Surprise surprise, as I continued on my way the rain still held off until I arrived at Lyme green, when I had just got moored up before the heavens opened. I will be staying here a couple of days before heading off towards Fools Nook prior to Bosley Locks. p.s. Sorry no pictures at the moment as Linty has the sd card.

Posted by Alex & Linty. ‘NEVER trust a woman’ – evening of Sat 7th July Moving back upto what’s become a favourite mooring at Lyme Green (near my mum’s) and experiencing the SHOCK of some SUN!!!… we decided to get the bikes out and take a ride out to Fool’s Nook and just beyond, to the winding hole to see if it really was a 60’ one, and allow us to turn there. (We’d not taken much notice of its actual condition on the way up, and sometimes they get a bit clogged with flag iris and become rather more constricted than the stated length). I said ‘it’s not far’ and in actual fact, we’d walked it on the way up, mooring at Fools Nook and walking down to my mum’s bungalow for a cuppa when we first came up the Macc. Alex took note of the swing of the swing bridge in case he decided to come up on his own and have a go at solo working while I’m back at work. It was still gorgeous and hot, so I said let’s go on to Bosley locks,’ it’s not far and its too nice to go back yet’. I think my idea of ‘not far’ and Alex’s differ somewhat. Lynne’s idea of not far, is somewhere vaguely over there! We were both, however, suffering somewhat from numbumitis by Bosley toplock! We hopped off, gingerly restoring feeling to those parts that Heineken is required for (!!) whilst chatting to some canoeists, also resting - about our bikes and their electric powered canoe, and much discussion on the benefits of ebay followed, as both modes of transport had originated via that medium. We decided to go on a short way to see if the bywashes had much water in now, after the rain. Riding past some moored boats and boaters preparing a BBQ, I couldn’t help but jokingly remark that they may well get some additional guests if the smell was anything to go by! We carried on only a short way to the road that crosses the canal and decided to set off back as the further we went now, would require some uphill work on the return, and I’d probably have to walk those bits. I have to add here that this was the inaugural ride on our folding bikes – and apart from one very brief tryout up at Bugsworth when we put them together, my first bike ride since falling off my mountain bike and tearing my cruciate ligament and I’d had 3 ops and taken the last 2 and a half years recovering, so it was a decent test! I have to add here that this is also my first time on a bike for a long long time, so wear and tear on those parts best not mentioned was somewhat extreme! Coming back up the locks, we approached the moored boaters and had to get off to go past, since the towpath was now mostly taken up by the BBQ and chairs. As we dismounted, one of them asked if we would like a drink, probably taking pity on our slightly out of breath state. Probably the pained look on my face! Lol. We looked at each other, and it was a no brainer…….. of COURSE we would! Actually quite grateful, and even water would have done, but no, some lager was forced on us, plus chairs to sit on, although Alex preferred to stand for a while – not sure why!!! Strange that, as she had only just adjusted her attire because of the affects of many ‘bum miles’. We were invited to stay for the BBQ – it never ceases to amaze me, how friendly the boating community is – even to complete strangers. However, having said that, we have always felt we’ve had to help out or offer hospitality in the same way – is this attitude some hidden bug that you catch? Whilst cooking and sampling of lager carried on, a walker commented on a boat broken down with a snapped gear or throttle cable further down the lock flight – we missed quite where. One of the BBQ boaters, by now we knew them as Mal, Bruce, Alan and Anne – said he had a spare cable, if that’s what the problem was. We offered to bike down and find them and let them know, actually cycling to the bottom lock without finding them, but mentioning it to all we saw, including some towpath walkers. Let me point out again, Lynne volunteered us to go down the locks! I would have been quite happy to just stay and not have to sit on that item of torture yet again! Or even walk down! On our way back up, we passed the same walkers, who laughingly told us ‘we found them, walked to the BBQ, collected the cable and delivered it to the broken down boat’ all in the time we’d taken to ride to the bottom lock and back. I can only guess that he’d been down below with doors and windows shut with the appearance of no-one home when we passed, but at least we tried, and in fact our efforts and passing on of the problem had allowed the walkers to provide the required assistance. We were offered more liquid refreshment we couldn’t possibly refuse!! And enjoyed some lovely company – followed by sausages, ribs, herby minted potatoes and couscous salad. YUM. This was followed by musical entertainment. We had actually happened by ‘HALF CUT FOLK’ who had a ‘jam session’ on the towpath. Brilliant. They informed us they’d just been up at Swanley Bridge playing, which is where we are now ultimately heading for. They played some known - and unknown to us - irish folk songs, with Mal on guitar, Anne on accordion, Bruce on squeezebox and mouth organ, and Alan on various whistles to accompany the singing. I’ll never forget the Duck song, written by Mal, having been encouraged to join Bruce and Alex in a mad circling jig! Another couple from a boat moored further up came down and joined the audience. What a lovely evening, and a rather better finish after the unpleasant start to the day. It came forcibly to an end by a sudden short downpour, but it made us look at our watches, and realise we still had to cycle back to Lyme Green. At the boat we looked at our watches – 10:30 - and realised it had taken an hour to ride back along a darkened towpath, and we were suffering another bout of numbumitis and bed beckoned very forcibly. Out of curiosity I looked in the route book in the morning, and discovered the distance between Lyme Green and Bosley bottom lock was listed as 4 ½ miles. So we’d enjoyed/endured? a 9 mile round trip. Alex said he wouldn’t trust my ‘not far’, ever again. Need I say anymore? He says in bum miles it was a LONG LONG way. Oops. My only consolation was that I was not the only one to be suffering….lol.

Posted by Alex & Linty The many uses of a toothbrush – morning of Sat 7th July Cleaning teeth? Normally, yes. Using an old one to get into those nooks and crannies when house cleaning?….mmmm yes. Cleaning jewellery? …mm on occasion. Testing a macerator on a toilet? Not usually, but yes it happens. At least to us. Blundering about in the middle of the night on a necessary visit, AFTER using the loo, and flushing I hasten to add, I knocked a couple of items off the shelf in the bathroom. Picked up what I thought I’d dropped without really looking and returned to blissful slumber. Morning arrives, Alex does his usual morning visit, flushes and an interesting clattering/crunching sound. Much muttering of unmentionables under his breath…Well, that just put the tone on the day – Alex would have to dismantle the loo and investigate the noise. When it came time to clean his teeth, it became apparent just what may have caused the interesting sound. No toothbrush head. It must have fallen down the loo. Mumbling that I just love giving him these little odd jobs, with a grimace – he got dressed and got the toolbox out. Me, well I was heading home to a hospital appointment. (phew, how fortuitous!!!!) Later in the day, hospital appointment done, cleared and signed off completely after my leg op. earlier in the year, I rang to find out what had come to light after the loo dismantle. After much much sympathetic noise from me – of course!!!! - commiserating on the awful smell he’d had to endure…. Alex informed me that it was his toothbrush that had clattered. Didn’t look like it had actually damaged anything as it was still intact. Needless to say he didn’t immediately rush to brush his teeth though. I magnanimously offered the use of mine, gosh that was so generous of me wasn’t it, least I could do though in the circumstances…… grinning from a safe distance! However, although having had to endure a smelly job, he was actually grateful that it had forced him to investigate. Our loo hadn’t been performing too well since we’d been travelling from April, and it was a job he’d been putting off. It had blocked a few times before. It came to light that yet again, it was another fitment that our boat builders had bodged. I am not interested in badmouthing someone, but this was just too much. For the simple effort it would have taken to put an extra rightangle bend pipe (elbow joint?) to join two pieces of pipework properly, we’d endured months of ‘will it flush, or won’t it?’ They’d forced a premoulded bend to straighten, kinking the pipework and constricting the flow to about 25%. Contacting the builder to send someone out was easy, actually achieving that end was impossible. No way could we leave it as it was, and fortunately Macclesfield Canal Centre came to the rescue. I cannot praise them highly enough. Ged, allowed us to moor up for the day, even offered the use of his tools, and let Alex have free access to the toilet he was about to fit into his own boat which was the same make and model fitted to ours. He would sort out replacements and what we owed him later when he could contact the suppliers, this being a weekend. (Our own boat builders had informed us that they wouldn’t be able to send anyone out for the next fortnight. Good customer service???) What a difference in attitude. Our boat builder could take some much needed lessons in after sales service. Not a lot to ask of our builder, but apparently to him, it was. Customers to him seem an inconvenient necessity – which was a remark he’d said we’d actually had reported to us. The actual repair work was minimal, just requiring a bit of innovative use of jubilee clips to hold the kinked hose to avoid it ‘remembering’ it’s previous unnatural bend, adding the correct elbow etc and replacing the loo itself into position amid breaks for gasps of FRESH air! We’re still in the year warranty period, I hope to goodness we have no other faults that appear. (We have previously had them fit a missing battery – asked for and spec agreed for 5+1 batteries, but we discovered after a power problem we’d only had 4+1 fitted). I think the name boat builder is a misnomer, he is a fitter only, of shells bought in. When we refer to our ‘boat builder’ we use the term extremely loosely. If it wasn’t for the fact that he inherited some of his skilled factory workers, when he bought this company, they would not now be in business, and if he continues in this fashion with his appalling customer relations reputation spreading, maybe he wont. I’ve yet to speak to anyone who has a good word to say about him, having all suffered the same obstructive and awkward attitude in some way. I must say, we do have 95% of the boat we wanted, but only after numerous arguments. WE have made errors, but as lay people, you’d expect the builder to correct or advise on what is practical and what is needed. We didn’t get that. Expert advice from someone with no technical or practical experience, from someone who was originally going to buy a tearoom in the Dales, has been thin on the ground. I wish he’d achieved that aim instead. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I have to agree with that one.

25th June- 1st July Rain, more rain, downpours and Marple festival - Posted by Linty We returned to the canal centre through torrential rain, after my daughter's pagan wedding, though flooding on many roads requiring detours before we reached the boat. We didn’t mind too much, we were in no hurry. However, I did contact my neighbour at home to check the house was alright. We were fortunate, more so than some nearby under 3ft of water, as our bungalow is raised up and the ground slopes away slightly. We moved the boat and car back nearer mums, and went round the following day, Tuesday, taking advantage of the dry spell to thoroughly weed her garden while the earth was wet enough to work – she has thick clay soil. We promised to take her out on the boat again if it remained dry, but the weather has not proved favourable so far in keeping that promise. We decided to move back up towards Marple the next day, mooring up and staying over at Higher Poynton, as there were a couple of museums that I thought Alex might find interesting, and at least we’d be under cover. Foiled again by them only being open on Fridays and the weekend - we did enjoy the walk though, taking an overgrown footpath back towards the canal. Strange weather we are having, torrential downpours but when it stops it’s SO warm. Our ‘Jack Murphy’ long raincoats, might look a bit ‘hooray henry’ but they don’t half keep you dry from head to toe! Thursday we travelled on past Marple in the pouring rain, including filling up with diesel and pumping out along the way. One of the few remaining working boats operates in this area, and passing him we took advantage of the unexpected opportunity to top up with cheaper diesel and empty the poo tank. We couldn’t have passed until he’d completed servicing another boat due to the shallow depth of water, and with us there, we completely filled the channel. We moored up at Buxworth basin by Whaley Bridge, this time with enough spare time to stay and explore a bit more fully. Again, the weather continued to be a bit of a mixed bag – next day, we walked over the hill through into Whaley Bridge itself looking for a cycle shop for a bike pump, cycle clips and bits, through dripping trees and heavy showers. I say hill, but it was a tad steep ! The showers stopped as we reached the town, so having found the relevant shop, we returned the long way via the towpath, and it was entirely more enjoyable. We happened by chance to walk by a marquee and stopped off to watch some ladies painstakingly pressing flower petals into trays of clay for a well dressing display due that weekend. Slowly stripping off the weather proof layers, then jumpers – we arrived back at the boat in sunshine! Alex heaved out the two large boxes housing our folding bikes, and we put them together for a test run. Bit apprehensive on my side due to it being 2 ½ years since I’d last been on one and fallen off to tear my cruciate ligament, but grinning ear to ear, almost – I managed a brief circuit of the basin without mishap and stopped to feed the ducks. I didn’t fall off, this time either!! We re-arranged our furniture so that we could stow the bikes in bags aboard with easy access. Easier said than done, though as Narrow boats are a bit limited for space! Our friends due this weekend for a two day visit were unable to make it now, as Paula has become ‘Poxy Pol’ – her words, not mine! Catching chicken pox at 58 !!, she has been a little bit poorly, and of course, infectious and therefore confined to indoors. We shall re-schedule this visit for another time later in the year. During our time at the basin, one of the British Waterway staff let us know there was a festival on at Marple celebrating the re-opening of the lock flight. A last minute arrangement to meet two more friends on Monday and Tuesday, meant we were heading down that way on the Saturday and we hoped we would find moorings available. We arrived around lunchtime and I hotfooted it around the bend and under the bridge to check, before Alex brought the boat round. A boat just coming through the bridge altered course for the watering point leaving one space just the right size for us on our favourite spot. How lucky was that! We wandered upto the bridge and watched an historical horse drawn narrowboat mooring up, but wondered at the lack of other visiting boats, thinking this might have been a washout due to the weather forecast, especially after taking a walk down the lockflight, and finding no boats on the move - but this morning, were pleasantly surprised to find things busying up. People on the boat opposite started putting up bunting, and the boat behind opened up his side doors revealing his pristine and well looked after Lister diesel, with traditional boatmans cabin behind. Our boat is definitely not traditional in any way, but we do appreciate the history and those that have that interest in preserving these historic boats. A tidy around, and we decided we’d leave our blinds up to show our modern layout in contrast, whilst we took a walk to see what was going on. Canoes were busy manoeuvring in the junction of the Peak Forest canal, hastily shifting as narrowboats came down and around the sharp bend to the Macclesfield canal providing a colourful display. We waited and watched the horseboat move down the first few locks towards the park alongside the lockflight - I hadn’t realised how fast the horsedrawn boats can move, and spectators were quick to shift out of the way of the horse, Queenie, tacked into traditional harness, with helpers and workers in traditional old costume. The park was now full of gazebos and marquees – traditional canalwares being displayed and demonstrations of crafts. On the way down we passed some other old boats and we, or rather, me… seeing someone painting castles and roses, became tempted to purchase an example, and picked a set of mugs on a mugtree – blue background to match the boat of course! Here we are, moored midst bunting waiting for the heavens to open up once more.

Hi Alan. I had a brompton and though very good the 16" wheels are a real problem, what is much better is 20" wheels that make it ride more like a 'real' bike. There is aslo the problem of the bike folding up on you if your are not very careful - happened to me once, and it hurt. There is a guy who sells mainly for canal users and the quality is very good, 6 gears, 20" wheels, aluminium frame, steel forks. I believe he is known as AS bikes. I have also just bought two folding bikes from Ebay, the supplier is in Germany but they look really good, 20" wheels etc but they also have lights, stand, bell, 6 speeds and look to have a much better riding position. Only just bought them - not arrived yet - so cannot say definitely how good they are. Will keep everyone informed if interested. The address is: Nagel & Viedts Arnd Nagel Wetterndorf 2 21720 Steinkirchen Deutschland website: shop@klappfahrrad.com Hope thats of help to you all.

June 9th - 50TH BIRTHDAY. I know I said I wouldn’t add anymore to the blog until we were both together again for the next 2 weeks but after seeing the pictures of Moreton Hall, well I just had to mention it. As you can see from the pictures that it was another gorgeous day, the house is quite stunning. It is amazing to see how people lived in the Tudor times and how some of the words we use today are derived from the things they did then. We went on the guided tour so got a lot more information and satisfaction from our visit than just walking around by ourselves, even though it was very well posted with information in each room. Did I mention that it was Lynne’s BIG BIRTHDAY on that day? Well she has now joined the ranks of the 50’s club – no looking back now - !!! I had arranged with a friends of ours for them to arrive in the early evening and go for a birthday meal, unknown to Lynne of course. Well they arrived and Lynne lived up to her name of ‘CHEZ’ – the Cheshire cat – grinning from ear to ear. We went for a meal at a local pub cum restaurant called the “Hanging Gate” which sits on a hill with fantastic views of the surrounding countryside. The food was first class as was the company. Lynne sat there with her balloons behind her chair still grinning, absolutely chuffed that her friends had made a 3 ½ hour journey to be there with her for her birthday. The only downer is that I totally forgot to take any pictures, so we have nothing to look back on to remind us of the great time we had. Birthday cake back on the boat. Tallu & Simon with Lynne blowing out the candles, the cake made by Tallu, and delicious it was to.

1st June Another cloudless sky, couldn’t ask for more on our next leg up to Bugsworth Basin. Started at 07.30 as its was such a gorgeous day. Peak Forest Canal, what can I say? I thought the Macclesfield Canal was narrow and shallow enough but the Peak is something else! The narrows were narrower and the shallows shallower, it was about now that I wished I had gone for a plastic cruiser. They were steaming away with no problems having such a small draught. We must have got stuck at least five times when passing other boats, but with a little throttle in reverse we were soon on our way again. On our journey up the Peak the views were really magnificent – We also saw some more interesting back gardens - and some interesting boats - Bugsworth Basin, now that is some place! Plenty of moorings and plenty to keep you occupied provided you are into the history of the place, if not then the views and walks available are just as amazing. The ‘Navigation Inn’ is steeped in local history and provides a very welcome and very hospitable resting place before going any further – walking or canaling! The food is first class and certainly not expensive and the people are very friendly and helpful. The weather is superb and both of us are sporting lobster tans! We only gave ourselves a couple of hours as we needed to be back to Lyme Green for Sunday as Lynne had to return to work for her three week of shifts. We will definitely be doing Bugsworth Basin again before we depart from this area and next time will allow ourselves at least 48hrs to investigate the surrounding countryside. Whaley Bridge was a complete disappointment and we will certainly not waste our time going up that last part again. Apart from there being boats moored for the whole length they were also moored up in the winding hole and water point, giving us nowhere to moor even if we had wanted to. Thank god the winding hole was a decent size regardless of the moored boats! On our travels down the Peak we spied John Orentas boat ‘Squeers moored at Furness Vale Marina, unfortunately not at home so we continued back to Marple and a night at the ‘’FLICKS’’! to watch Pirates of the Caribbean Worlds End. I use the word ‘flicks’ because it’s a real old fashioned cinema right down to the INTERMISSION and ice cream lady! Brilliant!! Only thing missing is the organ. Lol. Well worth a visit if you’re in this area. 2nd June to 6th June Returned to Lyme Green stopping at Lyme View Marina to see if they had any spare moorings, unfortunately not! Again I am on my own as Lynne has gone to do her three weeks of shifts, leaving me to pootle up and down the Macclesfield in all this glorious weather. I am trying really hard not to get a fantastic sun tan as my life will be hell when Lynne gets back if I do. Lol! I am sure you don’t want to hear all about the Macc again and again so suffice it to say I am getting plenty of practice going single handed and getting a sun tan……ooops! I am also seeing plenty of plonkers making some really stupid manoeuvres, some hire boats and surprisingly quite a few private owners. Not managed to make any cock ups yet myself but give it time and I am sure I will be able to make a real lulu! More to follow after 26th June.

27th to 30th May On my own on the boat for a few days, so, did a bit of maintenance plus fitted a few more bits and pieces. Beginning to feel like our boat now and not just a new boat that we are on. Not much to report really, as I am just moored up or pootling back and forth between Lyme Green and Macclesfield while waiting for Lynne to return from work. 31st May Lynne is now back on board and we are moving up to Marple before going up the Peak Forest Canal to Bugsworth Basin. Weather is improving all the time now and today although cloudy the sun is coming out more and more. Moving out from Macclesfield we started our journey and within five minutes Lynne had the camera out and was clicking away merrily until she shouted ‘’Alex look at that bird on the cows back’’!! To begin with it did look like a hawk or kestrel but as we got closer it was just the cows tail being held up which looked like a bird from a distance! Why on earth is it holding its tail up in the air like that? As we got closer still we saw some hooves sticking out from its ….. mmmmm …. Lets just say rear end. Now it was obvious why! This cow was moving around, laying down, standing up, laying down again, straining, standing up and so on with no further luck in birthing its young. By this time we were getting well past so did not see the happy event. A rather dour Yorkshire man a little further on walking his dog described this event as ‘’your roast dinner being born!’’ ah, a deep and knowledgeable man! The rest of the journey to Marple was uneventful although colourful, with some back gardens that were very impressive. – perhaps I had best mention the landscape as being breath taking with such wonderful panoramic views over the Cheshire countryside – otherwise no doubt SWWBO will add some scathing comments later. We did see some interesting boats worth a mention, one of them being ‘Nautilus’ Marple at the junction of the Macc and Peak . Our mooring at Marple. We were moored up behind a small n/b that was selling fenders and after chatting to them for half an hour or so we bought two 8ft rope fenders for the bows, and two heavy duty side fenders to cater to BW’s brainwave of having a ledge 6’’ below the waterline!

Hi, we moored there a couple of days ago, good moorings. The info is on our blog - watch out for the herd of cows with calves! We heard afterwards that the farmer is deliberately letting his cows block the path if they so wish - and is at odds with the National Trust providing access points from the canal. The hall is open Wed to Sun during the afternoon, and open daily from 23rd June for the summer season. We will be visiting ourselves in a few weeks, it is well worth trek across the fields. Linty and Alex - Minimoman

24th – 26th Macclesfield and environs Today, 24th, we moved down to Armco moorings by the side of an industrial park, just half an hour from Fools Nook, obtained some oddments for the boat - shoe storage, hose attachment, white spirit, funnel for when we do an engine oil change. Then moved on to the Macclesfield Canal Centre, completing watering up, emptying the cassette toilet, pumpout for the other toilet holding tank, and got rid of trash and recycled glass – wine bottles…… hic! (That was Alex while I was working.. and teetotal….!! ) *grinning*. Yet another welcoming marina, the chandlery well stocked, and staff friendly and helpful. We had a chat about space to book temporary mooring for a couple of days during the next month, and we were fortunate to find that a boat had just left for summer cruising and we can have a slot anytime from now till 17th June for the battery work to be completed. This suits us just fine, as that should enable this to be done during the time I have to commute back to work for my 3 weeks of shifts. We have notified our boatbuilders and will hopefully hear back shortly with a firm date. We moved over to the opposite side of the canal to the official Visitor Moorings, being lucky enough to get the one spot that allowed us to get right next to the bank rather than 2ft away and having to use a gangplank like the next boat to moor up. This afternoon we walked downhill into town to obtain travel information for me, but also with the intention of me showing Alex some of the local history. So we then headed up 108 cobbled steps to the market square, looking back over our shoulders to a view of the Hollins hills. Macclesfield was a silk weaving and printing town, and we intend to try and visit the heritage mills museums while we are here. During the past it also had a visit by Bonnie Prince Charlie when he was attempting to claim his throne back, and I have inherited some woven silk pictures depicting this. I showed Alex the old market cross near the very impressive Town Hall, after wandering down the cobbled terraced streets. As you can probably gather, there are some steep hills, so our journey down then up, meant the opposite coming back to the boat, only this time laden with bags. We just HAD to buy items from a deli in the indoor market, appletopped pork pies, chicken liver pate with cranberries, fresh salad, and cinnamon apple juice…mmmmmmmm. Very welcome when we sat down! 25th – We decided to explore a little onwards from Macclesfield, having decided that the weather looked a bit too iffy for my mum to be comfortable. We passed the rear entrance of my old school where the school used to have its own canoes, and sixth form PT took on a whole new meaning … (very convenient pubs with lenient landlords at the time!!!), we moved on past some lovely canalside gardens, the owners having invested time and money in landscaping with the weather improving by the minute. Reaching the next available point to turn the boat, we decided to retrace our steps and collect my mum for a trip down the canal. I have been keen to give mum this opportunity to see the boat as she is getting rather frail, and showing early signs of Alzheimers. Her 75th birthday looms mid June and this is close enough for her to consider it a lovely present. She had a wonderful day, interested in all the passing boats and scenery, standing a lot of the time in order to see better (being only 4ft 10ins!), spotting a stationary heron on the bankside, and fascinated by the waterside flowers. We were all amused by a very fit canoeist actually overtaking us going far faster than we could ever manage on these narrow canals! I think Mum slept rather well last night! We had walked her home from the point nearest her home, and decided to stay put for the night. 26th – The weekend’s weather forecast is not good, and in fact the promised rain became very heavy showers as we moved on down to Macclesfield and the visitor moorings again, in order to be nearer the bus station for my return home on Sunday. They were all full, so we stopped off at the Canal Centre, and asked if it was ok to pull into a vacant slot as the pontoon normally used for visitors was occupied. Chatting to the marina staff, across the water, we were offered the opportunity to stay overnight here with electricity hook up! They are doing some mooring renovations which won’t start till tomorrow, so there was a vacant space. Good timing or what! We put some more tokens into the meter, and have taken the opportunity to recharge the batteries to full capacity, do all the washing and drying etc! Not all boring stuff, once that was set off, we walked into town and headed for the Silk museums and Heritage Centre. We spent the afternoon engrossed in the history of the silk weaving industry, imagining the noise of the looms clacking. The afternoon was well finished off by mocha coffee and sticky buns before returning to the boat. The boat is in fact moored right outside a restored mill, now converted into apartments.

May 22nd / 23rd - Congleton to Fools Nook VM POSTED BY LINTY Watched a swan defending his missis and babies against a yappy dog last night. Just too late with the camera to catch that, but did get the family once things calmed down. The Macclesfield Canal is noted for being narrow – built so it was just wide enough for two boats to pass safely in the centre of the channel. As time passes, though, the margins become overgrown with weed, and encroach on this channel - rafts of beautiful yellow water iris mostly. This provides great wildlife habitat for all sorts of birds, but does not make it easy when other boats approach and decide to pass by on the very narrowest bits. Our draught (depth of boat) is a little more than some, or so it seems, and we have scraped and grounded a few times. Each canal seems typified by some architectural feature. Macclesfield Canal is noted for the shape of the bridges and the changeline bridges. These allowed the horsedrawn boats to continue to move without the horse being unhitched when the towpath changes sides. The bridge holes give little more than 6 inches clearance each side. Our biggest challenge today was the flight of 14 locks below Bosley. The canal skirts Bosley Cloud following the contour lines with, at times, a steep sided valley on one side. Some spectacular views of railway viaducts from an aquaduct we crossed and typical Cheshire scenes of Friesian cows in the meadows, bordered by dry stone walls. Every lock bringing us closer to familiar territory, and I kept my eyes peeled for the first glimpse of the Post Office tower atop the hills which has always been the sign I am almost home, when growing up. The locks themselves were not too arduous, we were lucky only to have to fill two locks on our upward journey as we encountered great timing with water levels, passing other boats coming down so that the water was set in our favour for the majority of the time. This speeded up our passage and we achieved the top lock in two and a half hours, 30 mins less than the average time given. The sun was shining and it was fairly hot work, but with water bottles at the ready, we both enjoyed it in full, turning to look at the differing views of Bosley Cloud as we climbed up to the Cheshire Plain. The swing bridge at Fools Nook is British Waterways key operated, and no trouble at all. We had hoped to use the Visitor moorings before the bridge but these were all taken by boats travelling in the opposite direction overnighting before continuing down to Etruria for a boat festival. We passed the bridge and found safe moorings just the other side, early enough to take a walk. Half an hour later and we were knocking on my mum’s door, grinning, saying – get the kettle on, mum! A bit of a surprise for her, as she hadn’t quite expected to see us so soon. Later on, we made a call to an old school friend of mine, and arranged to have a 35year !!!! catchup the next day. Would I have recognised her in the street? No. Nor she, me. But we were made very welcome, and both me and Alex had a lovely day, and were treated to an excellent evening meal. We shall return the hospitality sometime next week, and Gill and her husband and 7yr old son will be welcomed to the boat for a trip down the canal.

Monday 21st May. Bovine encounters of the muddy kind. After a brilliant visit with 'Muppet' and Sue - old Royal Navy Friends - who looked after us royally while we were here. Lynne being dropped off and collected at the bus station and us also ferrying us both around - a big thank you! Lynne arrived back today after being dropped off by 'Muppet' at 10.45 grinning from ear to ear as she walked down the towpath to meet me, a true Cheshire Cat! After a suitable greeting we got down to work in preparation for moving on. I am not saying anything else. We planned to visit Little Moreton Hall today, with it being just a short way ahead. Although Lynne has lived in this area and not to many miles distant, she has never actually seen the place despite knowing all about it. Little Moreton Hall is a moated Elizabethan house just full of character and well worth a visit, it is now maintained by the National Trust . We knew there were moorings nearby and a public footpath down to it. What a gorgeous day for a walk, makes a change from all the rain we have been having lately. Half an hour later we reached the mooring, and set off on foot climbing over stiles onto a farmers track between fields. We saw a group of about six cows further down, a bit straggled out. I did the manly bit and stepped between Lynne and the cows. We were going to pass a bit close. Only as we reached the furthest group did we realise that there were calves. We had heard tales of how cows can get very aggressive defending their young so we sidled past very carefully so as not to alarm them and were somewhat relieved to reach the next stile and safety. Walking through the fields, dodging cowpats, we found the Hall, only to find it shut. Damn. Open Wednesdays to Sundays. However, we took a couple of photos of the outside and determined to visit on our return journey back down the Macclesfield Canal in a few weeks time. Little Moreton Hall. Carp in the moat against the reflection of the Hall. Once again dodging cowpats we retraced our steps. Reaching the farmers track, we found not six cows, more like 26! We watched for a few minutes and realised the cows, bellowing and mooing were calling to their calves. Rather like lambs do, they were gambolling in the next field having gone under the electric fence and become separated from mum. They really looked a bit belligerent, and no way were we going anywhere near them. Cowardice being the better part of valour, we decided to go over the electric fence –Carefully – and skirt around them We walked down the other side away from the cows. The fence seemed rather a flimsy barrier and even so they watched our progress, one did lower its head, and I wondered whether the fence would have stopped them had they decided we were a threat. Fortunately for us, they were more interested in their calves the other side. Nearly at the canal the flaw in my plan came to light, we had to cross a rather boggy area and stream! Nothing for it but to try hopping from tussock to tussock avoiding the worst bits. Again I did the manly thing and went first holding Lynne’s hand, finding the best route unfortunately Lynne didn’t have enough balance to hop from tussock to tussock or the agility, since it was not that long ago she had her leg op. First the squelch, then a sucking sound, then no help for it but to sort of hop leap……. And……. She missed the dry bit! Completely covered up to the ankle in MUD! Trying not to laugh to loud myself and with her laughing, I helped her out and we were almost home. Why does that sort of mud smell bloody awful? Yuck. Now we were stuck with climbing over the electric fence again. Looking around we found a place where the wires had been stretched and lower, so once again to the rescue. I put my foot on the top wire and pushed them both down, Lynne stepped over safely, now my turn ….. OWWWW……. Wet trainers don’t provide insulation! Laughing we climbed the last bit and dripped onto the boat. Lynne stripped off on the back deck just disappearing down the steps as a walker came into view. Good timing! Lunch and a drink and we moved on upto Congleton visitor moorings, because once again we needed to do a bit of shopping. Hot days need salad stuff, so we are now sorted for a couple of days. Tomorrow should see us through Bosley locks and into Macclesfield which is where Lynne grew up. She has promised me a tour of the countryside and her favourite places plus visits to her mum and friends.

Week 5 day 2 – Tuesday 15th May – Bridge 138 to Kent Green Never, never mock other people getting wet! We were up early 6.30 so that we could top up with fuel/coal/logs from Ivor and still get off at a reasonable time as we needed to move to a mooring for me, while Lynne went back home to do her 4 day shifts before returning to the boat. We were hoping to get on to the Macclesfield around Kent Green area as there were facilities just a little bit further on that I could reach easily single handedly. Paying Ivor for the goods. Goods on sale. The weather was a bit drizzly but not too bad as we fuelled up, so opted for rain proof jackets instead of ‘Driza-bone’. Bad mistake as fate was now having her revenge for us gloating over other boaters getting soaked. Leaving Ivor after hearing a tale or two about the cut and waterways world, we continued on our merry way unaware of how bad the weather was going to get, but not for long. After the first of the Red Bull locks the rain just fell down in buckets and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees, ok maybe not, but it felt like 10 degrees! Looking and feeling like a drowned rat. Just a rather dank and dismal day. After the first four locks I was frozen but Lynne was not to bad as she was walking between locks and obviously working the locks, so we did a swap. I did a bit of power walking to try and get warmer and loosen up all the joints that had seized up, after a couple of locks I began to feel a lot better. More locks, more rain, colder still and more miserable by the minute and not enjoying it at all, we were relieved to finish the last of the locks and find that a swing bridge was in fact for pedestrians and should be left open for boaters. Just needed to find a nice mooring and then we could get WARM! Although not shown in Pearson’s there are rings just after the swing bridge so opted to stop there and get inside to a nice cosy fire and warm dry clothes, and maybe some consoling red wine. Needless to say, a change of clothes, a nice hot fire and a consoling drink, we felt considerably better and the world seemed a nicer place. Then fate had the last laugh - the rain stopped and the sun came out!

Week 5 day 1 – Monday 14th May - Kings Lock to Hassal Green Got up early so we could go into town to stock up on groceries, found a Tesco express then moved on to Somerfields and finished getting what we needed. Weather not to bad and looks to brighten up later. Had a good start with the weather improving slowly and completed ~Booth Lane Locks ~ by 10.45 arriving at Wheelock at 11.45. Topped up with water again – I really don’t know where all the water goes because we don’t appear to be using very much, but each time we top up it takes an age before we are full – is the boat sitting deeper in the water? Is it listing more to one side? Mmmmm ? are we filling up more than the water tank? These and other questions are floating around my mind as I fill up. Oh well, if it begins to sink I will know won’t I!! LOL Before arriving at the bridge before Wheelock the weather was bright but cold, after this bridge it was like going to another world, the sun was out, no wind, and really warm! As we started topping up with water we also started stripping off the layers of warm clothing we had on, until we were both just in T-shirts – oh and trousers of course! It was just after we had left the facilities [which are very good by the way] when the wind caught me out on a bend and was pushing me towards a moored boat, on went the welly, over went the tiller, but this bloody boat just got closer and closer, so I resorted to the only other option – I closed my eyes and hoped!!! Ha ha and we missed, but only just. As this was happening I looked up and saw a cyclist all kitted out in day glow yellow watching us with great interest, that’s all I needed was a know it all telling me what I had done wrong! You can imagine my surprise when I realised it was an old buddy of mine from the Royal Navy, as I shouted out ‘’MUPPET’’ Lynne looked shocked, thinking ‘what’s he doing?’ not knowing who he was having never met him before and not knowing, that was his nick name. Hands waving and grinning from ear to ear we pulled over and moored up. Hand shakes and salutations all round, his bike went onto the roof, he came onboard – another willing lock slave to assist our passage. Bike on roof enroute to first lock. Muppet on his first lock. Giving the lock gates the old heave ho. Talk about a coincidence though, apparently he had been following our blog and decided to cycle down the tow path in the approximate area we should be in, but he had got totally confused and completed almost a full circle before finding the tow path, not where he intended to be but on a bridge just a couple of hundred yards from where I had narrowly missed the moored boat. 2 minutes later and he would have missed us!!!!! With his help we sailed through the next set of 10 locks in lovely warm sunny weather finally dropping him off at Hassal Green with the promise to see him and his wife the following afternoon. As it was still nice and bright and quite early in the afternoon we decided to push on to Bridge 138, as while at Wheelock another boater had recommended this spot as being nice and tranquil and a good place to moor. On waterways world they showed this man and his wife who had a working boat and butty selling coal, logs, diesel and other sundries to the boating community. Yep, that’s right, just where we were going to moor there he was, already moored up, and us wanting coal, logs and diesel – ah fate must be on our side today. I said to Lynne ‘’shall we moor in front or behind them’’ oh, before – no – after, we don’t want to be to close to the bridge, mmmm we could moor up in front there is room!!!!! It was at this point that I gave up and made the decision that we would moor up in front, the only problem being we were now alongside them! Putting it in reverse to stop and then move backwards, I realised that the fates were not smiling on us, as the prop fouled and the front started swinging towards Ivor Batchelors boat! Frantically trying to clear the prop by going full ahead then full astern, I could see the front getting nearer and nearer to hitting his boat so resorted to using the bow thrusters to stop the collision. The noise they make was enough to cause Ivor to stick his head out of the side doors to see what was going on. After some sage advice on how to clear the prop – exactly what I had been doing – the damn thing DID clear. Don’t you just hate it when it does that ? Anyway we moored up just as it started to rain, so maybe the fates were being kind to us after all

Week 4 day 7 – 13th May - Bramble Cutting to Kings Lock. ‘Bloody Fishermen’ The weather although cool was quite bright with the sun breaking through occasionally making the trip to Kings Lock and the various locks a nice relaxing pootle, arriving at Kings Lock quite early. Once there at the Kings Lock moorings we decided to do the last lock and moor opposite the Pub of the same name. On our exit we found 3 boats already on the Visitor Moorings and the one space left fully occupied by fishermen mid fishing match... and grumpy as hell! As this was an official match there was no way they should have taken up Visitor mooring spaces for fishing pegs. But try shifting them once ensconced, forget it, the only thing your likely to achieve is a mouthful of abusive language. A boat was just leaving the space by this fisherman and managed to cut his line, and then churned up the water (on purpose) on leaving due to his aggressive attitude. Why set up close to the end mooring ring when you KNOW boats have to pull alongside - that's what beats me. The canals are for sharing but who pays the larger share of the fees? WE DO. ! Lynne deciding to have a polite word with him about us wanting to moor there did not improve this mans attitude - so we decided to reverse and use a short area of the space allocated for the lock - still leaving over 70ft of boat length free for boats waiting to use the lock. Mags and Bill were on their way already to meet us, and we had no alternative place to meet up by this time. A helpful chat with a man walking his dog earlier this morning, had given us the information that a pub near the town centre called ‘The Narrowboat’ had an ex Naval chef, and provided excellent food. He was right. Mouth-wateringly lovely it was, and by the time our friends arrived we were starving and did the meal full justice! We are really pleased we stayed put today as it absolutely heaved it down all afternoon, and we have gladly watched others negotiating the lock wet through whilst we are snug and dry. We won't gloat too long, tomorrows forecast is for more rain!

Week 4 day 6 – 12th May - Saltersford Tunnel to Bramble Cutting. (oh God save me from hire boaters) Early start yet again! Up and making tea at 06.15 and ready to go at 7.30, so I like to take it nice and slow – that’s what being retired is all about. Lol. As we had plenty of time we took a quick walk down to the River Weaver and Saltersford Lock. Huge locks, you could get four or perhaps five narrowboats in it side by side. Had to wait until 08.00 for the tunnel as it’s a timed entry. Lovely tunnel, today the engineer who built it would be hung, drawn and quartered. Its about as straight as a snake! Beautiful countryside just pootled along to the Anderton Boat Lift. Moored up and took a walk intending to have a long walk around it but the BW operator said that if we came along now, we could go straight in, turn around and come back up and see it properly, better pictures etc. Good idea, so that’s what we did. There was another boat waiting so we went down with them. If we had not arranged to meet some of my friends tomorrow at Middlewich we would have gone for a trip down the River Weaver instead of just turning around and coming back up. For once the weather was on our side and the sun shone for the whole time, black clouds threatening, but NO RAIN!. A very well organised and pleasant site – we have now DONE THE ANDERTON BOAT LIFT YEHAAAAA!!!! Anderton Sanitary Station just after the Boat Lift was a welcome sight after the lack of facilities on the Bridgewater. Very clean with two water points and room enough for two or three boats together. Did all the necessary (no need to mention it again) took the time to make a cuppa and a quick bite to eat before moving off again. Took our time and just enjoyed the whole experience. While going through Broken Cross we saw mooring rings so decided it was time for lunch and did a quick stop and moored up. Or so we thought, just as we were putting the stern line across we noticed a sign saying that it was a BW mooring, luckily there were some more about a hundred feet further back, situation saved! Weather looking decidedly dodgy now but being the hardy types we continued on with waterproofs at the ready. We are also getting close to a couple of boat hire places, so we are seeing a lot of hire boats with the attendant problems, main one being, not slowing down. This is most noticeable at narrow bridges with a blind entrance, we sounded our horn and received no return toot and assumed the bridge was clear, WRONG! Good job we were going slowly so had plenty of time to react. At the first bridge it was in fact not a hire boat but a privately owned boat, which came steaming through – but with super speedy reactions I stopped and got out of their way, but at least he said thank you. Started again only to see a hire boat coming through this time! So backed off yet again, getting perilously close to a moored boat before I could get going. Next bridge saw a very tight turn into it, so I slowed down to only a tick over, sounded the horn (twice as long this time), again no response so proceeded through – blow me if it didn’t happen again! Yes you guessed, a hire boater! Don’t they tell them anything before they let them loose? This time I did tell him to slow down and to sound his horn when coming into a bridge where he could not see what was coming, what good it will do I don’t know. This happened at two more bridges before the heavens opened and the rain just fell down, right in the middle of nowhere with nowhere to stop – thank you Lynne for having two sets of waterproofs! Just prior to the above events and just after, there are two flashes where you go off the channel at your own peril. Didn’t see anyone actually stuck but there was an old rotting boat in one of the flashes. Quite impressive to look at really but I am not mad enough to test out just how far we could go before grounding! Lol! Maybe I could convince a hire boater that its safe to do and watch to see how far he gets??? Wicked? YES! Finally got to our destination right in the middle of a real downpour, rushed the mooring so we could get inside, just as we were hanging up everything to dry – it stopped raining. Just to add insult to injury the bloody sun’s been shining ever since, it’s a lovely evening!!! Note: Bramble Cuttings is a very secure mooring as there is no access except from the canal.

Posted by Linty on Alex's blog - Friday 11 May – Lymm to Saltersford/Barnton tunnels The Bridgewater is touted as a lovely canal. That may be so, but for me Worsley stood out, as did Lymm; with the latter fairing better in my opinion – picturesque gorge up the middle provided an evening walk before our Chinese meal. Other than that, the canal was remarkable only for the poor condition of its facilities for boaters unless you are a private moorer. This morning, setting off at a civilised time of 08:45 would see us completing the Bridgewater Canal. Our first stop of the day was just past Midland Chandlers, as we were just too late for the timed tunnel passage at Preston Brook tunnel. We were still on the Bridgewater canal at Preston Brook; and the stop meant taking a short walk towpath side to the bridge as we - or rather me, dithering, decided we needed to visit, except I made my mind up just after the mooring point … oops! Bought a vent for the inverter cupboard to aid cooling, and a chimney cap – fair number of low bridges has meant taking the chimney down, and the weather is not being too friendly with showers!. Back at the boat, we just made the next ten minute slot from half past the hour - at 12:39. The Trent and Mersey Canal begins just after Preston Brook tunnel, and a welcome sight the sign was too. The stop lock gates were shut, saving water. Alex decided I should negotiate this as he is very protective of my health, and my leg is not upto pushing any heavy gates as yet. So left to steer, I waited for him to push the gates open, as the levels between the two sections were very close being just a Stop lock – inches in fact. Leaving on tickover I headed for the bank and pulled alongside perfectly, coming to a complete stop with the whole boat length parallel next to the coping stones not needing to jump off with centre rope and waited for Alex to complete the closing of the exit gate. Just luck or an innate skill? - time will tell. I relate this, as Alex asked ‘HOW did YOU do that ??’ Coming alongside techniques have been annoying him of late – the front end always seems to swing out - or the rear… Of course, I have to keep reminding him of this. However, it was perfectly still and no wind when I did it so well - so I won’t rub it in, unless I continue to have the same success.. (grinning here) Preston Brook was the scene of our first visit to an IWA festival in 2005, although we seem to have passed the spot without realising it – but it brought back some good memories. We recognised the railway arch in the distance from the canal and that was about it for the site itself. We are unable to make either Crick or the IWA festival at St Ives this year, partly due to the boat move and partly due to my work commitments – but we have just spotted Etruria canals festival date 2/3 June in Towpath Talk newspaper - and that is awfully close to where we will be, so we may just have to attend with or without boat! Outside Lymm, although the countryside was pretty, with a wisterior covered cottage being particularly of note, it was far more attractive this side of the tunnel, but then we’ve also passed into Cheshire today which is my home county, and I am biased!!! There were a few old wooden boats passed today on our journey, under restoration – and travelling along the Weaver valley we kept getting occasional glimpses through the trees of the river itself on our right. The sun kept trying to break through today too, and the coats and hats only went back on inside Saltersford tunnel – guards against the cold drips down the neck! Too late for our timed slot here, we moored and waited half an hour watching two other boats exit the tunnel before we could negotiate this tunnel which has more than one bend inside. We were first in a queue of 3 and emerged to rain on our exit. This decided us on our mooring spot for the night – in the pool between Saltersford Tunnel and Barnton tunnel. We are very close to Anderton and the boatlift here, so tomorrow will be ideal for us to spend some time sightseeing, and hopefully watching the lift in action. We will then head off for Middlewich, possibly mooring up alongside Bridge 176 before Middlewich itself, depending how long we stay at Anderton, we will be ready to tackle those locks first thing on Monday. We plan to meet up with Alex friends on Sunday, so probably won’t tackle any but the first lock – there is a visitor mooring just after that, and we want to chat and have a nice Sunday pub lunch somewhere.