TeeELL

Sat 5th Sep 2009 Dear reader, please accept my apologies for missing a day – where we moored there was no phone signal and, in addition we went to the pub and drank far too much!! But that was later, first we had to get to the pub. We left the mooring for our run down to ‘The Rose of Lancaster’ at 09.00 prompt, still in the company of Ann and John on nb ‘NELLIE’ and guess what – it started raining. By 10.00 we were aground, so much water but still the sides of the Rochdale are shallow, too shallow for us. We pressed on reaching the motorway at 12.00. I understand that the lock immediately after (Blue Pits New Lock no 53) is the one where the farmer kept cutting off the gate arms and dumping stuff in the lock! The day remained fairly miserable and, as a consequence I have few notes – we moored in lock 59 at 13.30 – for lunch, yes I know but ‘what the heck’ no-one was going to arrive from either direction. We moved off at 14.00 and arrived at the aqueduct just short of the ‘Rose of Lancashire’ about an hour and half later. We decided to risk using the last of the water for a shower each before going to the pub, John and Ann came to the boat for pre-dinner drinks. We retired rather late after rather more bottles of wine than was good for us. Sun 6th Sep 2009 Dear reader, thank you for your patience and perseverance, I am actually scribing this on Monday – once again due to our travelling companions insisting that we go to ‘Arthur’s shed’ restaurant, we didn’t drink to excess but, as you will discover in ‘todays’ tale we were very tired. As ever, I don’t think Terry Pratchitt, J K Rowlings or Bernard Cornwell have any fear of my overtaking them as an author but here goes anyway: 07.00 and a tired and slightly hung-over crew cast off for our run to lock 65 and down through Manchester; the Nicholson guide tells us it will take an hour so we should get there with plenty of time to spare. At 07.30 we reach our first obstacle, lock 64 – the weather forecast on Radio 2, you’ve guessed it RAIN!!! Shortly after the lock the second obstacle ‘Grimshaw lane vertical lift bridge’ even at this early hour there was a fair number of onlookers including several cars – all amazed at how the bridge operates having never seen it work before. Well, a note for your ‘Nicholson’ (other guides are available!) it takes more than an hour to run from ‘The Rose of Lancashire’ to lock 65. We arrived with just 5 mins to spare – as we approached a body in a hi-viz vest arrived and unlocked the gates. Melissa from BW was our duty escort although her normal area of responsibility was the upper stretch of the Rochdale. She explained that she would be assisting the boat coming ‘up’ as there were only 2 people – could we cope OK? Well the 4 of us had managed up till then. No denying there was some trepidation about this part of our journey – although Melissa was just a young slip of a girl and was not at all fazed at working the locks through. She told us that the average time through the flight was 6 hours and the fastest time 4hrs 30min – no challenge there then! Thus, at 08.30 we started our descent of the 19 locks to Ducie Street Junction. I drove ‘ELE’ and closed my side upper gate, John or Ann drove ‘NELLIE’ and whichever one of then not driving operated the paddles and gates. Mo was locking ahead so as we exited each lock the next was ready with gates open. All quite slick really. Up until 09.25 and lock 69 where it all ground to a halt – that lock was still padlocked!! A call to Melissa revealed that we were making better time than she had anticipated and that she would ‘be there in 10 minutes’. I don’t know about you but I don’t expect a pub to be open at half nine in the morning and patrons supping ale but…… we declined the offer and had a cup of tea instead. If my record is correct this was the first encounter with chain & pulley operated gate operating gear, something that would be a regular thing down this flight. We left our drinking companions at 09.35 (Melissa is very precise with her timing estimates) and continued, using our tried and tested system. At 10.15 as we had just entered lock 71 I called Mo on the radio to find that she was down at lock 74!! So, I hear you ask, what is the environment like? To be honest it is nothing like as bad as the reputation suggested, admittedly we are descending on a Sunday morning (guess all the thugs and druggies are at church) but the kids we encounter are encouraged to help open the gates and Mo (Ann is now locking ahead) is giving career advise to a young lass who wants to be a nurse. At 10.45 we, once again, grind to a halt. Lock 75 is set against us and the upcoming boat is in the lock below – to be honest, we would have had time enough to work the lock and meet the other boat at ‘their’ lock. But we waited, and waited and – even when they were finally at the top of lock 75 – we waited!! Now, we are not in a hurry but folk ‘faffing about’ instead of ‘getting on with it’ can be a little frustrating. Still, no problem, we continued on our way at 11.10. Just though I would record our passing ‘Anthony’s lock’ at 11.35. We exited the final lock on the flight at 13.10 and a BW man arrived to ‘lock up’ ie padlock. He seemed very impressed with our time down the flight and the fact he would finish early. So we had descended through the flight in 4 hrs 40 mins with a total delay of 10 mins at lock 69 and 25 mins at lock 75. Subtract those times and we descended the 19 locks in just over 4 hours. If only we knew what was ahead of us. (John and Ann did but not quite what we would actually encounter). We moored for lunch in Piccadilly basin before continuing on our descent of the ‘9’ at 2PM. Moments before we moved of a ‘share boat’ cast off from the lock moorings ahead of us. Oh dear! John ended up (in fact at various times we all ended up) helping the crew. The ‘Rochdale 9’ can best be described, for those of you that know it, as a broad lock equivalent of the Farmers Bridge flight in Birmingham (yes I know there are other differences but it is a fair analogy). The amount of water flowing down through this flight made, what is normally a difficult flight to operate, all but impossible. John went ahead to reduce the levels (and flooding) in the lower pounds and we briefed the 2 boats behind not to open their lower paddles until we had the upper gates opened and the boats in and descending. All in all, a very challenging and tiring experience – the ‘share boat’ crew making heavy weather of locking he making all sorts of noises when she kept banging the boat in and out of the locks – some of the side washes were particularly violent, especially with the additional flow. To give you some idea at times the depth of the flow over the upper gates was some 4 inches. We passed along Canal Street, no clues whatsoever as to the ‘area’ of Manchester through which we were passing!! All very friendly and lots of questions about our journeys etc. At 17.10 we finally reached the bottom of the flight – Castlefield Junction – we went to the sanitation point before reversing and turning into the moorings. Lots of hire boats around and lots of other boats who have had to review their cruise plans due to the breach on the ‘Huddersfield’. We are staying put for a day ‘cos we can, our travelling companions (with whom we had a very nice meal at ‘Arthur’s Shed’ last night) had left. As I finish typing this, Mo has cleaned the shower room, tidied one of the cupboards and cleaned the porthole glass on one side. We are now off to the city. That’s all for now folks. Mon 7th Sep 2009 Having caught up with the cruise report this morning we headed off to the city centre and did the tourist open top bus thing, back to the boat for some lunch and deposit the dog before setting off to look round the shops. We returned at about 7PM and Mo is now doing a stir-fry with turkey that has been marinating since yesterday evening. I’m now going to see if I can obtain a WiFi connection, otherwise it is back to the trusty mobile phone – had to buy it a new battery, the NOKIA shop didn’t have one (phone far too old) but the assistant suggested we try Clas Ohlson – a sort of IKEA for ‘everything else’.

Friday 4th Sep 2009 A grey day, another grey day, fortunately our weatherproof gear was dry and our fun captions recharged. We were up early once more ready to make our ‘transit’ time and at 08.50 the lockie arrived to ‘check us in’. Once again I’ll not give you a blow by blow account of our transit – again ‘cos pencil, paper and rain are not a happy mix. Thus we continued our climb to the summit, at 09.35 we had to present our documents at the Yorkshire/Lancashire border and we had to swap the ‘blanks’ covering our red roses to the white roses. Once cleared, we proceeded to the top lock that we reached at 09.45. However, it was 10.10 before we were on the summit pound due to a misunderstanding (on our part ie the crews of the 2 boats). So now we had reached the highest part of our journey 600ft above sea level and, after all the rain, no shortage of water. The western end locks claim to be the ‘highest broad locks in the country’; we couldn’t understand why it wasn’t a shared title with the equally high eastern end locks? Must be the tilt of the earth or continental drift or something like that! We encountered ‘flood protection’ measures applied to several locks as we started our descent – the one of each lower paddle being padlocked. It made things difficult on occasion because the flow of water over the upper gates was greater than the flow out of the lower paddle. Despite this excess of water 11.30 found Mo and ‘ELE’ aground on the side of the pound between locks 39 and 40. I had to drop the paddles and get up to the previous lock to let some water through; ‘ELE’ was listing at a fair angle. (Part of the problem was that the locks 40 and 41 had suffered subsidence and could only take one boat at a time and we were the second boat) 13.00 saw us at lock 48, which Mo had gone ahead to prepare (lock 47 was another one at a time lock and we had gone through first), 13.45 and we were still waiting for the lock to fill!!! Strangely there was no evidence of the lower paddles or the doors leaking, only one paddle available to fill the lock but plenty of water flowing over the gate, all in all it took over 55 mins to fill and a little over 3 mins to empty. What we didn’t realise is that the sanitation station above lock 47 was the last source of water or cassette emptying until well into Manchester Ooops. (or should that be pooops?) We moored at 2PM a little way beyond lock 48 adjacent to ‘Waterside Bar & Restaurant’. As a ‘just in case’ measure I also bought another 25ltrs of finest white diesel – boy am I going to have some interesting math to do with the next upload of red. (Only had a couple of hundred yards to walk to the garage Doh!! wish I’d known that yesterday I could have done 2 journeys today in a fraction of the time it took me yesterday). That, Dear reader concludes our adventures for today, a little disappointed that the Pennine scenery wasn’t quite as picturesque as we had hoped but, nevertheless, a journey worth doing it’s just been a shame about the weather. Tomorrow we continue our descent to moor by the ‘Rose of Lancashire’ before we undertake our BW ‘escorted cruise’ down through Manchester. Until tomorrow ……..

Thur 3rd Sep 2009 Dear reader, good evening – we do not often envy you but tonight we will make an exception – more anon. Before I offer you our report for the day let us roll back a day to Wed. A day off, we wandered around Hebden Bridge but that evening, with rain pouring down we decided that the Tai restaurant across the canal would be a most suitable venue for an evening meal. And so it was, a most delicious selection of dishes, fully satisfied we returned to the boat and watched a DVD before going to bed. We spent the night listening to the rain drumming on the roof of the boat why? we have decided that it must be due to the monosodium glutamate used in the Tai dishes!! We had set an alarm for an early start, we had a fair way to go for our ‘summit’ rendezvous. Now, I’m not going to give you a blow by blow account of today because dear reader, for once you will be most grateful that you voyage with us in a virtual world. We don’t!!!!! Today has been a challenge made more so by the weather. An enormous amount of rain has found its way into the Rochdale canal and we had to forge our way ‘upstream’ and through some 20+ waterfalls, sorry locks, no – waterfalls - more accurate. 08.10 and we set off, our 10-minute delay being due to the need to find our most waterproof of waterproof clothing, nevertheless we set off in good spirits mindful of our ‘if the rain is that bad we go inside and read a book or watch TV’ approach to inclement weather. But we have a schedule to keep and a summit booking. At 11.45 we had a pretty major indication of things to come, although a fairly recent renovation the Rochdale has been open long enough for things to have broken (or perhaps maintenance not to have been undertaken??!!!) thus we arrived at the waterfall known as Lob Mill lock. The rate of flow of water over the upper gates was far in excess of the capacity of the single serviceable paddle of the lower gates, thus it was that against my ‘normal’ instincts I was obliged to employ ‘ELE’s’ 45HP to ‘assist’ in opening the lower gates even so it proved very difficult. We did finally get through and pressed on to Todmorden. It was 13.00 when we arrived at Todmorden an Mo took the opportunity to scoot off and buy us some wellies – the rain had demonstrated some serious short comings in our waterproofs (they weren’t!!). By coincidence the crew of nb ‘NELLIE’ arrived (they had been to Liverpool, by train, to see ‘wots his name?’ – Brian Wilson? from the Beach Boys in concert). Thus, after a quick lunch, we joined forces to tackle the next umpteen locks. We pressed on, on at least one other occasion requiring ‘assistance’ from both boats to crack lock gates (seriously folks the cascades of water – most impressive). We needed an uplift of water; by agreement with the other crew we decided to have a refreshment break at the next water point (situated between locks 28 and 29. I took the opportunity to check our fuel state – we had planned to uplift a tank top-up but the boat yard in the Nicholson had no signs of diesel storage, delivery or even signs of life! So when I checked the fuel I realised that it would be prudent to find a garage and get a bit of a top-up of white. Ooops, I had a 4mile round trip back to Todmorden to find the nearest garage – there was down hill, back was uphill with a 25liter container of fuel on a trolley. Note to self: check fuel state when near large town – journey time to petrol station 10 mins rather than 80 mins. Funny thing though – when I asked for a 60/40 split at the SHELL garage, they looked at me kinda strange! Still, ‘ELE’ should fly through Manchester with posh expensive diesel on board – expensive did I say, less than the price of ‘propulsion’ red diesel. We set off to climb our final handful of locks at 18.50, by now our enthusiasm was waning as the cold and wet was reinforced with increasingly spiteful bursts of rain. It was such a shame that the scenery we had come to see was shrouded in cloud and rain. It was 19.55 when we finally tied up – on the lock moorings (I don’t care – no-one else is going to be dumb enough to want/need them before tomorrow morning). We pulled off our sodden clothing, had hot showers and feasten on one of Mos wonderful creations – sorry I’ll have to try and remember to tell you what it was tomorrow – I’m kna*%ered. 09.00 is our booked time across the summit, don’t think a shortage of water is going to be an acceptable excuse. ‘Till tomorrow, stay warm and dry, good night from Tony and Mo. PS. The Dog fell in the canal – but not fully immersed, his lead on to his harness wasn’t quite long enough for him to get anything but his paws wet. I couldn’t understand the gesticulations coming from Mo on the bridge/lock/waterfall I was approaching!

John, many apologies for our not being able to stop, in any other circumstances we would have broken our journey to 'catch-up' with you. As it was we were in company with a boat on a bit of a tight schedule who was benefitting from our experience (and our hand spike!!). Next time we will endevour to stop and get together - whenever and wherever that may be! Tue 1 Sep 2009 What ho! Dear reader, welcome to today’s report on our progress. The day started with a long hard study of CanalplanAC in order to determine the timings of various parts of our journey, particularly the time from Hebden Bridge to the Rochdale summit (Longlees lock) and the time to Lock 63 from west summit lock. Those of you familiar with the ‘Rochdale’ will know that the ‘summit’ and part of the run through Manchester have to be booked (albeit for different reasons!). Thus armed with timing I called BW and booked our summit transit for Friday and our Manchester transit for Monday. I cannot deny that we find these limitations on use of the waterways a little unsettling (perhaps a slightly stronger word than I mean). Ho hum, it all adds interest – or something. Well, we finally got our act together and moved off moorings at 10.15 with bright sunshine (a welcome surprise having listened to the rain beating down on the boat overnight). D’you know, no sooner had we started our cruise than the wind, which has plagued us since leaving Longwood, returned – so it looks like Mo will be doing the locks again today. We cruised the few miles to Sowerby basin where we stopped to buy a bottle of gas, like most of you this is an easy operation as there is nothing else in the gas locker but the 2 bottles …………mmmmmmm s’funny but I recall the gas locker being empty, but for the gas bottles, not 2½ weeks ago for the BSS! As we were about to leave another narrow boat arrived for diesel and water so we decided to wait to ascend the Tuel locks with them (and the rest). Mo made some sweet chilli chicken and salad wraps; which we ate whilst awaiting the arrival of nb ‘NELLIE’. At 12.10 we started our ascent, but at 12.40 it was engines off whilst we awaited the return of the lockie for the lock 3/4. For those of you who are, like us, Rochdale virgins I’ll explain: once there were 4 Tuel locks but, when the high street was widened a single replaced the 2 upper locks – this is 19’ 8” deep. When it is emptied it causes a rise of some 2ft in the pound through the tunnel. A phone call to the lockie and we were advised that he would be with us at 13.15. Spot on time a rather jolly lockie arrived, announcing himself as Rob – he gave us the MOST thorough briefing imaginable and quizzed us to make sure we understood. Probably the most unusual part of the brief we the signal to proceed through the tunnel to the prepared lock – a whistle blow! Quote “ if you think you hear a whistle – that’s not it, you will be able to hear it even if a fire engine is passing”. Now this is absolutely true: I thought I heard a whistle, we chose to ignore it, then truly an ambulance passed by with blues and twos followed by 3 very, VERY noteable whistles echoing through the tunnel. We entered the tunnel and into the lock and up, high above us, was Rob. It was 13.40 when we finally left the lock complex at Tuel having exchanged pleasantries and introductions all round with Rob. I had to tell him the story behind ‘ELEMIAH’s’ name. We were but minutes out of the lock enjoying the changing scenery when the clouds burst, without warning. We went from sunshine to drenched in less time than it has taken to type this. Nevertheless, the Rohdale canal was starting to take on the persona of a Pennine canal, shrugging off most of the heavy industry and into the more reflective rural scenes. That’s not to say that around corners were the decaying evidence of industry even up beyond Sowerby. If any evidence were needed of the past then Edward Kilner lock demonstrated it – due to subsidence only one NB at a time can pass through the lock (by now it was 14.50 and we were wet and cold). Pennines had, temporarily lost their attraction!! We reached Hebden Bridge at 16.50 and both boats decided enough was enough, ‘NELLIE’ moored whilst we went to the sanitation point for water after which we maneuvered back across to moor for the night. We took a turn round the town before returning to Mo made fish pie and vegetables. We are looking forward to visiting HB tomorrow when it is open. I may not post anything tomorrow as we are not planning to move on until Thur when you are welcome to ‘join’ us for the final stages of our climb into the upper levels of the Pennines, showing tantalizingly through the trees ahead of us – dry stone walls and heather. Tell then we wish you a good night.

Mon 31st Aug 2009 Hello, hello, hello and greetings from the depths of wildest Yorkshire. The natives appear friendly and the supply of beads and necklaces seem to be appreciated. We were up in good time for me to trudge over to TESCO for our very essential supplies. I cleared the shelves of 5 one-litre bottles of their finest pale cream sherry. We can now tackle the Pennines without fear of the dreaded scurvy – crew will have to be more carefully rationed. We departed our overnight mooring at the rear of Sainsbury’s at 11.45 and had but 20 mins travel before encountering Ganny lock. Things went seriously wrong here; firstly, a cruiser had decided to stop on the lock moorings and have a cup of tea, when he subsequently tried to start his engine – nothing!! So dropping Mo off was an interesting manoeuvre – cruiser in the way, strong wind blowing and a bit of a weir stream. Things got worse, when Mo opened the paddles I couldn’t maintain control of ‘ELE’ – we (I) ended up inside the overhanging branches of a very mature willow. It took considerable effort to extract myself without loosing everything off the roof. At 12.25 we, thankfully, bade farewell to the lock. Initially, the Rochdale canal has features of any other semi urban canal but as we ventured further west it took on a character of its own. Interesting waterside architecture is hidden in slowly maturing woodland and, through the trees are tantalising glimpses of spires and towers in villages of the surrounding hillsides. We though to stop in Elland but decided to press on and take advantage of the brightening afternoon – we did see, in the distance, what appeared to be a statue of Neptune? on the front of a building. It was 15.40 when we made out the superstructure of Salterhebble guillotine lock. Quite a slow mechanism, it was over 15 mins before we exited that lower lock and another 30 mins before we cleared the top lock. Immediately out of the top lock the turn is 90deg left – with the wind blowing from – you guessed it – 90deg left. Funnily enough, an audience had gathered for this manoeuvre – anyway, with some effort, the turn was completed. Shortly after the rail bridge we moored for the evening. A short report today, tomorrow I will phone BW to clear our passage over the summit and negotiate our assisted passage down through Manchester. We may well stop for a day or 2 at Hebden Bridge, we will see. That’s it for now so from me, Mo and Scampi good night.

Thanks Sue, it is great to have someone comment. It is all well and good to have 900+ people look at the topic but so much more satisfying when one of the readers takes the time & trouble to scribe a comment (be it positive or negative). I'm sorry we are so far from your neck of the woods Sue. D'you know, unlike last year, we have met no one from CWF with whom to share tiffin or beer or wine!! There must be some who exsist 'oop north'!!

Sun 30th Aug 2009 Hi everyone, firstly a very happy birthday to Mo’s second born Maria, 20 years old. We were woken this morning at 08.20 with my phone ringing persistently – a number I neither recognised nor was able to call!! So we got up and, after breakfast set off on today’s journey at 09.25 (PS any mistakes tonight are purely alcohol induced – more of which later!!) Within moments we were at Broad cut lock, the first of the short fat locks we would encounter today. Bye the bye, the morning started bright and sunny with a slight breeze and reasonably warm (for an English summers day!!) Throughout the cruise we have noticed an increase in weed cover on the canal stretches, no more so than today when it was more like tackling the W&E. At shortly after 10AM we passed Horbury bridge and the disused lock – couldn’t see signs of the lock until, by chance, I looked into Horbury basin – there it was. 10.35 saw us at Figure 3 locks (there are 2 ‘figure’ that out) it took us 30 mins to complete that pair. Now I have been posting our progress on the Waterthingy website and had noticed that nb ‘EPIPHANY’ was somewhere ahead of us, at 11.45 just before Dewsbury Double lock we passed nb ‘EPIPHANY’ and had a brief conversation (a very brief conversation). 12.10 saw us away from double lock (and yes there are 2 of them) the second provided a challenge as we, at 57ft, didn’t quite fit in the lock and the gate had to be forced passed our ’button’. We had planned to stop for Sunday lunch at ‘Perseverance’ public house – please amend your canal guides – it is closed, very, very closed. So we pressed on to Mirfield (is this the home of Legarde Boats, the builders of nb ‘The`Milly M’ ?) Anyway we moored opposite ‘The Navigation’ at 13.55; walking round to the pub we chanced upon a local boater who informed us that ‘The Navigation’ doesn’t welcome boaters – so cross that off your guide as well (as it turns out this is fortune playing a part!). So we resumed our journey at half 2 having bought some German white in the adjacent LIDL’s. 14.45 it started raining, a problem because we had done 2 loads of washing and it was in the cratch drying. At 5 to 3 we arrived at Bathyforth lock, very leaky – bye the way Mo had had chance to use the ‘Yorkshire cricket bat’ (handspike) on the locks. Throughout the day we had cruised either river or cut, turning off the river always meant a tight turn into the lock so only once was I able to ‘do’ the lock rather than steer the boat. At 16.50 we took our turn right for ‘the Rochdale’. We had spoken to one boat that had turned back from the Huddersfield narrow due to severe water shortage – confirmed by other, subsequent boats. So we ventured on to the Kirklees cut. At 17.00 we arrived at Brighouse (Terry Wogan and any signs of a floral dance not to be seen) we worked through the locks and took on water. The rain started in earnest and, having had a quite long enough day, we decided to move 100yds to the moorings outside the rear of Sainsbury. I mentioned that we had planned to have a Sunday lunch, thwarted by circumstances. So, having moored, we changed into smart clobber and set off for town. Now for those of you who are in to seriously good – no seriously great – Italian food, pay attention. Nicholson suggests the ‘Barge & Barrel’ so we set off only to find ‘youf’ standing outside the entrance smoking and the lights or gaming machines reflecting from inside – Yuk!! So we went in search of something better, and we didn’t have far to go. To the left and immediately behind the Pub we found an Italian restaurant ‘La Romantica’ Wow, seriously WOW!! We cannot recommend this place highly enough, great menu, great service, super atmosphere and the food was truly wonderful – bye, bye WeightWatchers. We had truly the most superb meal, which we savoured at length, and the bill – ridiculously small given that we had had beer, wine and liqueur coffee. We paid £45 and that included a massive tip well in excess of 10%. As far as we are concerned this quality of restaurant needs widespread awareness – so you, dear reader need to take advantage of this knowledge. If you are anywhere near Brighouse divert there to sample superb Italian fare. Further details at: www.laromantica@hotmail.co.uk. Sunday night and the place was very busy – what more can we say. Peeps, with a very full stomach we wish you a good night and heads spinning from Peroni beer, Italian white wine and Tia Maria liquer coffee. Oh, whilst I remember, we have seen a TESCO about a 5 min walk away so, whilst Mo does the essential shopping in Sainsbury I will do the very, very essential shopping at TESCO, we figure 6 bottles of sherry (1 litre ea) should see us to Chester but I’ll get 8 ‘just in case’ – scurvy is a dreadful ailment you know!!

Saturday 29 Aug 2009 Greetings dear reader, today we will venture on to the Calder and Hebble and break into the Nicholson Waterways Guide No 5. But to begin – we had a bit of a lie-in not intentionally I have to admit, the weather sunshine with some cloud cover but with quite a cold breeze (well wind actually). We cast off at 10.15 with the intention of finding somewhere to obtain a ‘handspike’ – required for some of the locks to the west of Wakefield. For the first part of our journey we are cruising along the river, the ground is undulating and reminiscent of parts of the upper Thames, an hour later we reach Woodnook lock, strangely the two Tupperware boats behind us didn’t want to pass despite me waving them to do so. Thus I had to drop Mo off to work the lock, I was delighted that ‘ELE’ behaved impeccably in the lock whilst the 2 tupperwares where all over the place, ropes snagging below the water etc. Mo helped them sort out their problems. It was 15 mins before we left the lock as it is 13ft deep. As we left the lock we entered the Calder and Hebble – a ‘canal’ part of our journey but still massive in dimensions. 12.05 and we reach Kings Road lock and are joined by nb ‘STOCKINGTOP’ plus the 2 tupperware. The flotilla continues together to Birkwood lock to Stanley Ferry where the 3 other boats moor for lunch whilst we stop at the sanitation point. We left SF at 13.30 to press on to Wakefield, we reached Fall Ing lock 45 mins later – it took us 25 mins to negotiate this lock but 10 mins later we moored at the Barnsley Road visitor moorings, Wakefield. 10 – 15 mins walk away for the town centre and shopping precinct, we wandered around a fair bit of the town before finally doing essential shopping in Morrisons. We succumbed to a bottle of Morrisons Pale cream sherry!! We drew pins at 17.40 and continued on our way, we wanted to get out to some ‘countryside’ to moor. At 6PM we encountered Thorne lock, it took 15 mins to just get into the bl***y lock, even a 45HP push couldn’t persuade the gate to open. At 18.25 we bade farewell – never expected to find locks that would ‘better’ the difficult ones on the K&A. Oh, forgot to mention that I obtained a handspike at Stanley Ferry chandlers – very nice, too nice to use!! So why don’t I work the locks and let Mo drive I hear you ask – well the wind has made negotiating the locks ‘interesting’ so I have, in fact, been tying up and helping. The locks are now becoming shorter, I would think a pair of 60’ boats would be snug. 7 o’clock and we negotiate Broad Cut Low lock and then, 30 mins later moor at the visitor moorings near ‘The Navigator’ Pub. Tomorrow we plan a relatively short cruise to find a pub lunch and then, maybe, a couple of hours cruise in the afternoon. That’s all folks. We bid you a good night. Ooops, forgot to mention; Morrisons sherry has kept the scurvy at bay but it isn't a patch on TESCO's. Unfortunately we have a way to go before we find that fine emporium of quality pale cream sherry

Friday 28th Aug 2009 We woke bright and early to a sunny but cold morning, at 08.00 prcisely the lock gates swung open and we entered Sykehouse lock. Unusual but not unique, the lock has a swing bridge across the middle, so as not to get caught on the cill I steered to the front of the lock, whereupon the lockie was able to close the swing bridge. Big? well yes the lock must be 300ft long so would easily accommodate 8 70’ narrow boats. With a drop of just 5 ft we were soon on our way reaching the next lift bridge at 08.15 – difficult to negotiate this bridge as there is no lifting mechanism, it is in fact a swing bridge (c’mon Nicholson it’s always been a swing bridge!!) We passed through the final lift bridge on the NJC another 15 mins later – whereupon Mo disappeared below to make sausage, egg and bacon butties. At 08.50 we turned west off the NJC and on to the Knottingly & Goole Canal (Aire & Calder) heading, once again for the Pennines. During the cruise we are going to have a variety of vistas but in terms of waterways we are on the M-ways of canal development. By comparison the BCNS and even the GU are dated turnpikes and B-roads. As we proceed west there are flat plains to the north reaching out to the PowerStation cooling towers, to the south trees and hedges block any distant view – ahead of us the Ferrybridge PowerStation and the foothills of the Pennines are, in fact, a vast spoil heap that has been planted upon. Throughout this first part of the morning the clouds have been building and the southerly wind increasing – the wind would play quite a part when locking throughout the day non more so than Pollington lock where the wind held me firmly against the lock mooring point – thank goodness for 45HP. Once again the locks encountered are quite different – this one having gates ‘halfway’ along the lock, usually in use, - which reduces the water loss. We left the lock at 09.45 and 30 mins later, just as the heavens were about to open; we made the executive decision to moor. We closed the hatch with seconds to spare and waited out the deluge. At half 12, with the worst of the weather passed we decided to bravely press on. The wind, continuing to play havoc (we were cruising ‘nose onto wind’ angled across the canal) made negotiating the massive Whitley lock another interesting experience but, despite it, we escaped at 13.20. At about 14.15 we were approaching a bridge and a blind corner when a long hoot could be heard, we slowed and manoeuvred to try and get a look around the corner – out of the bridge ‘ole appeared one of the 600 Ton fuel barges going like the clappers ‘RIX PHOENIX’. He called out that there were no others behind. I turned into the wake and we accelerated back to our 2 or so MPH reaching Fernley Green Jn 15 mins later. A left turn (still heading west) took us through Knottingly, the character of the canal changing again with stone embankments and industry and new housing developments. 15.05 saw us arrive at Ferrybridge flood lock, there was a film crew, so we have been captured on tape – but for what or why we do not know! It took 15 mins to pass through the lock and we pressed on to Bulholme lock, arriving at 16.45, where the lock gates opened as we approached and out spat a ‘SLUg’ so, having dropped Mo off I entered the lock. All progressed well until it was time to close the gates having exited the lock. The automatics failed leaving us no choice but to phone the emergency line (the operating box won’t let go of the BW key until the gates are closed and paddles down). At 17.30 the engineer arrived and, from the control tower, released the key mechanism and we where able to continue on our way. The sky was darkening ominously once again so another executive decision – we drove for the towpath and, at 17.30, moored on the 28hr moorings of Castleford and, once again, made it inside as the rain came down. We had our evening meal and, with the weather fine once more, went for a stroll around town. Mmm, can’t say it was the nicest experience walking along the high street at 7PM, shops all shuttered and an uncomfortable feel about the place. Nor did we fancy taking a pint in any of the pubs we passed. I think we will take this place off our list of towns and villages to revisit. People, we are in crisis – scurvy is likely to hit the good ship ‘ELEMIAH’, we have run out of TESCO pale cream sherry!! We are desperately hoping to be able to make an emergency upload in Wakefield but have yet to find if the local store is nearby. If absolutely necessary we may have to buy a bottle of Croft to tide us over. Beer stocks are OK but the red wine is nearly depleted and white wine levels are also reaching criticality – this is a very serious situation and need to be addressed really soon. So, today has been a fairly long one, we have cruised for 91/2 hours (with a 21/4 hr weather break) and have covered approx 18.5 miles and 6 locks. Don’t know what tomorrow will bring, we don’t intend starting particularly early – but who knows. Good night to you from the crew of ‘ELEMIAH’

Thur 27th Aug 2009 We woke to a bright morning with a light breeze – but cool. Our spirits lifted by both the weather and the waterway we set forth at 09.15. We encountered our first bridge just 10 mins later, a very unusual sliding railway bridge, apparently one of only 3 in Europe. Shortly afterwards we encountered our first manual swing bridge. Looking beyond the banks of the canal the countryside is flat in every direction with the horizon broken occasionally by the cooling towers of power stations. To the north, a railway line hugs the bank of the canal and will do so for the next few miles – no trains due to subsidence just £6M being spent on the repair. In the vast field (about 30-40 acres in size) castles of straw bales break the view of the horizon. At 10.40 I elected to ‘do’ the bridge while Mo steered, no sooner had I turned my back to walk to the bridge operating gear Mo and ‘ELE’ decided to turn back!! ‘Wind’ says Mo, ‘rubbish’ says I, we’ve had no beans in days! Not good when a swing bridge is open and the boat is trying to get back to the Trent – still we got sorted in the end and it made the railway workers laugh. At 11.45 we approached Mauds swing bridge – opened by the BW crew of a dredger moored nearby. Just 20mins later we reached Moores swing bridge. The first lift bridge appeared just 15mins later an Mo operated the bridge while I did my best to cope with the increasing wind. The foot bridge at Thorne proved to be the most challenging so far – what was not obvious was that the key needed an extra turn to make things work. Shortly afterwards we moored at the visitor moorings for a wander into town – if you are passing through Thorne keep going!! At 14.40 we set off and reached the lock 5mins later – a ‘regular’ charity boat crew helped us with the Thorne lock and bridge, 10mins later we stopped at Staniland Marina for fuel – just £1.06/litre (88p for 60/40). At 15.15 we continued on our way. The character of the cut changed, instead of views to the horizon the hedgerows enclose the canal – strangely it is now similar to Fossdyke, so a relatively new canal is remarkably similar to a 2000yr old one. The canal is about as straight as it is possible to be(but not as straight as the one we about to join). 16.45 saw us at Bramwith bridge and afterwards we stopped at the sanitation point for water, 20mins later we set off again and 10mins later we arrived at the rather unusual lock – twin sets of gates down stream. It was strange driving in to a wide but short lock; I guess that a pair of 60’ boats would fit but nothing longer. 17.30 saw us at the junction and we turned right to head north. On the horizon to the east we could make out the foothills of the Pennines. The first thing we encountered was the guillotine gates of the aqueduct an impressive piece of engineering. The canal we are on is 5 miles in length, straight as a die and wide – I reckon a 60’ boat could ‘wind’ almost anywhere. By now it was getting on for ‘well beyond sherry time’ so we moored, finally, above Sykehouse lock. The ‘lockie’ has promised to have the lock ready for us at 08.00 – ‘is that too early for you’ he asked!! (Hell yes we thought but I guess we will be moving on at 8 o’clock) That’s all for now peeps, more tomorrow.

Firstly - Yoda, I'll get Mo to fill out the recipe for the giner and orange pud - it is really, really great!! Here then folks - our latest episodes, nothing too exciting but we are now back on the canal system, relief!! Tues 25th Aug 2009 I’m going to cover both today and tomorrow (I am, of course writing this tomorrow!). We departed Lincoln ‘visitor moorings’ at 14.30 – having overstayed by 4 hours!! I really do think that Lincoln/BW need to review their idea of ‘visitor moorings’, fact is that the 24hr mooring on which we stayed would be 7-day moorings in any other village, town or city, so for away from the city as they are. Howsoever, we ‘wound’ in Brayford Pool having decided that the delights of passing through the ‘Glory Hole’ would keep for another time. We retraced our steps along Fosdyke Navigation, the Romans did a good job, but not a great job – they didn’t built too many pubs along route! We returned to Saxilby at 16.30, uplifting water before crossing to the moorings. Surprise, surprise we encountered the ‘I’ll leave just enough space not to fit a boat between me and my neighbour’ approach to mooring – we moored right next to ours. Wed 26th Aug Today we ‘hit the tidal Trent’ big time. It is raining - really raining, the sort of rain which we normally don’t bother boating in BUT we are booked through Torksey and Keadby, locks, so it is on with the waterproofs and press on regardless. We left Saxilby at 09.25 and pressed on to Torksey, we really cannot recommend this route unless you feel the need to visit Lincoln. Arrived at Torksey at 10.50 and confirmed our bookings with the ‘lockie’. Just as well, for some reason the Keadby lockie (who had recommended we transit down on Wed) had us logged in for tomorrow. The 13.00 lock down to the Trent actually happened at 12.20 – 12.35, although I did have time to pop down the road to a caravan dealer to buy some ‘blue’ and ‘pink’ at special offer prices rather than chandler prices. If you are ‘into’ the Trent then my apologies – if I never cruise this stretch of water again it will be too soon, a more boring aqua environment I cannot imagine – even the Severn was marginally more interesting. I have to say though that at 2200 RPM we were making only 3MPH initially but as the tide turned this increased steadily to 8MPH. As we passed under the M180 a call to Keadby lockie confirmed that the lock was ready for us, we reached the lock at 17.15, passed it and turned – wow what a difference in speed, I had to use 2500RPM to make any headway. Nevertheless, it is the only way to stand any chance of getting into the lock. Still proved very difficult – as the nose went into the still water of the lock the stern was still being influenced by the fast flow of the Trent, I think a few more practices would be required to make a ‘neat’ entry. With a sigh of relief we roped up in the lock (fore and aft roping is required and ropes have to be at least 25ft long to reach up to the bollards and back). We entered the ,Keadby and Stainforth canal, at 17.40, transited through the immediate swing bridge at 17.45 before mooring at 17.50 for water and then moved down to moor for the night. The weather had been variable from the heavy rain of the morning to the watery sunshine however we had strong wind throughout the journey. It was quite a sight to see narrow boats coming up-stream with the tide at a fair lick, crashing through the waves being blown downstream by the wind. Water was cascading out of the foredeck drains and plumes of water were spraying out from the bows – mini corvettes. We were going with the flow so it was nothing like as dramatic (mind you at one turn the wind heeled s over).

Sun 23rd Aug 2009 Hello Dear reader, thank you for your patience in waiting, with baited breath, for this latest instalment of our epic cruise. Unfortunately, I don’t have very much to tell you (the Trent thus far is quite the most boring of rivers!) – give me a ditch to crawl along any day. Weather glorious but windy (I am nursing sunburn as I type this!!) A call to the Headby lock keeper confirmed that the spring tides were abating during this next week and he recommended that we wait until Wednesday before proceeding down river. So we started off at 10.40 to cruise down to Cromwell lock and the start of the tidal Trent. Arriving an hour later we had a 25-minute wait before being allowed into the lock with 3 other narrow boats and a cruiser. The expected Dutch barge never arrived. We exited the lock at 12.15 with our next event being Torksey lock. We decided to cruise to Lincoln and spend 2 days there. As we beat our way down stream we passed nb ‘FAIRIES WEAR BOOTS’ with a briefly shouted exchange (about 12.50). The cruise to that point and subsequently was centred on a river with flood banks above the sight line of a narrow boat steerer. What we have found is that, unlike the Thames, the cruiser folk are friendly and will often wave first!! Note that you snooty Thames cruiser owners. The occasional water ski club and the waves thus generated made for interesting moments on the tiller but, apart from that the remainder of the cruise on the Trent left much to be desired. Oh, at some stage the Dutch barge cruised past – with a fair turn of speed, spoke to the owners later and discovered that after owning it for 6 years they are selling up and going back to a narrow boat. We used the Trent navigation guide (purchased from the Cromwell lockie) to keep clear of the sand and gravel bars – couldn’t use the echo sounder, ‘cos we haven’t got one. We arrived at Torksey at 15.35 and entered the lock at 15.50 – a rather strange lock, they have extended it under the bridge to increase the capacity. At the top of the lock we stopped for water and after a slow fill left at 16.30 on, probably, the oldest piece of man made navigation in the UK – some 2000 years old. We decided that Lincoln was probably a bit too far away and word was that the City visitor moorings are few. We moored under a massive willow tree on the Saxilby moorings and drank to excess with the two folk of a cruiser moored in front of us!! Monday 24th We left the Saxilby moorings at 08.35 feeling a little rough, we had an engagement with a friend of mine – coffee at 10.30. At 09.25 a Red Arrows Hawk flew overhead en-route to RAF Scampton. At 09.50 we arrived on the outskirts of Lincoln to meet with boat after boat all on their long-term moorings. Finally we found the ‘public moorings’ wow, what generosity for such a large city – you can fit about 3 70-footers and that is it. There are more available beyond the glory hole but again not many and clearly not favoured as there are no ‘bridge hoppers’ or similar there. So we ‘did’ Lincoln, somewhere Mo hasn’t visited since she was a nursing Sister at the RAF Hospital Nocton Hall (I of course was here a month or so back for the RAF Waddington Air Show – stayed in the student accommodation about 100 yards from where we are moored). Sorry, that is it for now. We will start back for Torksey tomorrow, probably stopping at Saxilby again. So stand by for the next thrilling instalment.

Fri 21 Aug 2009 Hi there, and welcome to the next episode in our journey – today I will take you down the Trent to Hazelford (just on the northeast corner of Syerston airfield). We got our act together finally at 09.40 and started our journey, didn’t last – I realised that I hadn’t a ‘route map for the next many miles’ so we turned and went back to Sawley marina chandlers – d’you know, neither did they!! At 10.00 we passed the start point of the morning and reached Sawley lock a short while later going down with nb ‘CRAZY & DAZED’. At 10.30 we negotiated the confluence of the Trent/Soar/Erewash and Cranfleet Cut and met with nb BRASS BUCKLE’ and cruiser ‘WILD GOOSE’ to descend the Cranfleet lock. No sooner were we on the river stretch than the heavens opened so out came the brolly – with the rain came a quite dramatic drop in temperature. At Beeston lock we returned to the canal and with it returned the sunshine. The Beeston canal is a pleasant and clean stretch of cut with clear water in parts. We passed by the Castle Marina (they did have a Guide) and moored outside Sainsbury at 13.00. A brief shop for genuine essentials and we were back on the boat for a salad lunch. (Today we broke with the low calorie breakfast and indulged in egg and bacon sandwiches - not quite Mo’s specials but a pleasant change from cereal nonetheless). A very young couple with slighty younger baby!! Sought my advice on the costs of living on a boat – as many of you will know this is a bit like asking how long is a piece of string. I advised them that it was something that needed to be thought about carefully and outlined the requirements. We left the youngsters at 14.40 and continued on our way through Nottingham. At Meadow Lane lock we returned to river cruising the Trent, if you haven’t done the Trent (but have done the Severn or latter stages ie Oxford and westward of the Thames) then the river is as interesting or boring. Funnily enough the heavens opened again as we cruised this stretch. Our plan was to stop at Gunthorpe – we had bee advised that the moorings were good, BW pontoons, but somehow these had been populated by boaters and had become ‘private’. We pressed on and reached Hazelford lock, the mooring here are one, what amounts to an island. We walked the dog and picked blackberries before returning for a supper of tagliatelli with a white wine mushroom sauce with green beans and carrots. Sat 22nd Aug 2009 First and foremost – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MO !!! Sorry for not submitting yesterdays report but the signal was insufficient for internet access. Today we set forth at 09.50 dear reader, with Hazelford lock ‘coming to life’ as we approached. The morning was bright and clear and promised a really nice days cruising. We saw not one but 2 Kingfishers. This will be a short report because we have only done a small amount of cruising – we reached Newark Town lock at 11.40 and had a long chat with the ‘lockie’ who presented us with a guide to Newark (well several guides to Newark in fact). We moored at 11.50 opposite Newark Castle and decided to spend the afternoon ‘doing’ Newark. Mo and I went to ‘Via Italiano’ restaurant for a truly splendid birthday meal. If you like Italian and you are passing thru’ Newark give this restaurant a visit (it is in the Newark Good Eating guide). At 15.25 we moved off to visit Kings Marina for diesel, diesel and a long chat with the retailer delayed our departure until 16.10 and moments later we were at Nether lock it was ready and we moored just below the lock at 16.30. The mooring can be quite ‘formal’ on the Trent – the lockie advised us that another narrow3boat had booked the mooring – in fact there was room for both of us. Tomorrow we are off to reach the next lock at midday and, due to extremely high tides early this coming week, we are going to divert into Lincoln. That’s all for now folks (because we had a great lunch this evening’s meal is very light).

Thur 20th Aug 2009 Well dear reader, today was shaping up for a bit of a late start but a quick look at the map rather suggested that we have a bit of work to do if we are going to cover the route planned!! Thus we got underway at 09.15 no blue skies just a grey but warm(ish) morning. Didn’t last, at 10 it started to rain which continued on and off until midday. Just as we were approaching Willington we spotted our first Kingfisher. A short while later we achieved our next ‘first’ – spotted a cannabis plant!! At 11.05 we achieved our 3rd ‘spot’ – a ‘SLUg’ (ie a wide beam ‘narrowboat’ Squat, Large and Ugly). We found the countryside a bit ‘boring’ initially – rather plain and ‘Lincolnshire – like’ things did improve and the canal side meadows etc became more like the K&A fields of Wiltshire – mind you we still had a railway as company. 11.15 saw us through Stenson lock and at 12.25 we moored just short of Swarkstone lock for lunch. Off again at 13.10 and the lock reached just 10mins later, we reached Weston lock at 14.25 and Aston at 15.20. At 16.00 we arrived at Shardlow lock and moored to let ‘Boat-John’ take a look at the engine fuel run, to see if he might identify the cause of the rough running when at lower fuel levels. After a 30 min consultation the engine cover was replaced with neither of us any the wiser. Thus we joined a ‘Canaltime’ boat (they masquerade as hire boats these days) for the next couple of locks down to Sawley. At Derwent lock the 2 daughters on the Canaltime boat decided to run on ahead and join the boat later – a lot later!! They didn’t realise that the lock was the last opportunity to re-board the boat. The luckless skipper was obliged to cruise on before turning back for the 2 girls. We moored at Sawley Marina – tomorrow morning I will turn back and pick up fuel even though we have only used a third of a tank (I don’t want any fuel issues whilst negotiating the Trent). Tonight’s menu: Highworth sausages in red wine and onion gravy Mashed potato and carrot Steamed Broccoli and cauliflower Pudding will be tropical fruit salad A brief report this evening – we are going to watch a DVD. So I will bid you a good night (well good evening actually)

Wed 19th Aug 2009 Good evening everyone (anyone?), I am scribing this report outside the Mill House Pub by Br 29A. This morning, on the Terry Wogan show the weather report was for a fine sunny day – as I peered out of the rear hatch it was overcast and cool (but the radio was correct in the end – it has been a lovely day and I am suffering the ‘glow’ of mild sunburn). We set forth at 09:03 and didn’t get very far, Mo had mentioned finding a farm shop to get some fresh eggs and vegetables and behold – a narrowboat advertising such wares. I guess we had travelled for 5 mins tops so we moored alongside and our order was placed. The woman then said she recognised us (funny I thought – we’ve never travelled this way before) so we talked through various options only to realise that we had both been members of Longwood Boat Club and had attended the Christmas function 5 years ago. Well, of course that was it – we had a guided tour of the smallholding and caught up with the news of LBC. If you are passing that way we can recommend you stop for produce it is: Joanne and Rob Willow Wharf Farm Daisy Lane Alrewas The Boat is green and red moored at the smallholding on the offside bank approximately halfway between the lock and the pipebridge. Tell Joanne and Rob we recommended them. 10.00 and off we went – with freshly dug potatoes, parsnips, carrots and freshly picked lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, spring onions – oh, and of course eggs. It was just 10 mins to Bagnall lock with a bit of a queue and precious little mooring space, so I did some judicious ‘holding’ mid stream – I was quite impressed, hardly moved position at all. Had to remind the crew of a hire boat the use of the ratchet pawl as a safety device! (Lots of Shakespeare line boats about). 10.45 saw us through Alrewas lock, 12.55 Tatenhill and 13.30 Branston. Parts of the river/canal are reminiscent of the K&A very peaceful, and then of course you encounter the A38 and the roar of traffic. No Kingfishers, in fact very little of the usual wildlife. At 14.00 we moored just outside Shobnall Marina, duty bound to go into the chandlers and spend a fortune, goodies duly deposited back in the boat we walked the mile or so into town, we wandered through the various shopping precincts and picked up a few items – then it was the long slog to TESCO (amazing, they haven’t built it by the side of the canal) the uplift of 3 litres of their finest pale cream sherry vital to ward off scurvy on the voyage (oh yes it does – we’ve been drinking it regularly and haven’t had any sign of scurvy!!!!) I have to say that the slog back to the boat was a trial – even with our ‘wheeled’ shopping bags. It was getting on for 6PM by now so, although time for sherry, we chose to have a cup of tea and a scone with jam and cream. We had used the ‘studio’ washing machine having anticipated uplifting more water, I realised our error when I checked the water level, so it was start up and cruise down thru’ Dallow lock to Horninglow basin to take on water. We arrived at 18.40 having left at 18.00 and were there for the best part of 45 mins (sloooow water supply). Having extracted ourselves using forward and reverse gears we continued on our way to find somewhere away from the A38 – The Mill House Pub fitted the bill – it seems relatively quiet. I’ve used ‘Navvygator’ today with the laptop sat in the rear cabin (or ‘utility room’) and the GPC receiver on the hatch roof. It is OK but I prefer my own digitised versions of a well known canal map running on Memory Map. (It is time consuming though and I haven’t done the route we are on) For you gastronomes, Mo presented the following: Pate on Melba toast Grilled ‘corn fed’ Organic breast of chicken in a paprika cream sauce Farmhouse mash of organic parsnips and Desiree potatoes Steamed organic runner beans and carrots Washed down with tonic water No pudding tonight though. That’s all folks If any of you are on our intended route, please let us know, a couple of days ahead of time, through the forum. I am now convinced that the 'engine problems' encountered on days 1 & 2 are fuel starvation when the tank reaches about 1/3rd full and the 'head' of fuel is reduced. I will invest in a basic 'demand' fuel pump (similar to the one that supplies fuel to the 'MORSO'), until that is done I shall maintain the fuel at 1/2 tank or more - certainly for negotiating the Trent.

Christine, I remember well our all too brief meeting, you were passing as I was undertaking the '600 hour' service on my boat engine. Next time let us hope we can meet and partake of a cup of tea (or whatever) with some of Mo's home made sweetmeats. Yoda - sorry but Mo is a one man woman! Mo will send you a recipe or two if you like (the ginger pudding is really, really great - unless you don't like ginger!!!)

http://www.waterexplorer.co.uk/locimage/Lo...AEFA&type=1

Tue 18 Aug 2009 Hello peeps, last night we decided that we would set off whenever we were ready (I know, bloomin’ obvious really) but, by that, we meant not setting an alarm. As it turned out we were up at 06.30 and breakfasted and ready we caste off at 07.40 once I had persuaded the engine to start. Today I will fill the fuel tank and test my theory that a ‘head’ of fuel is required – if that is, indeed, the case I may invest in a fuel pump to shift the diesel through the filters. We kept the engine running enough to reach the Curdworth bottom lock by 08.30 and chugged through the Warwickshire? countryside with few boats around. We turned in to the Fazeley Mill Marina for fuel. Am I out of touch with red diesel prices? Is £1.02/ltr for propulsion and .59 for heating expensive? I’m sure ASDA is flogging white diesel for £1.02/ltr – I know I can’t ask for ‘heating’ discount – but all the same…… Anyway, would the engine start – NO, however, after a few turns of the started she finally decided to play ball. Hasn’t missed a beat since, so I am inclined to think the additional fuel pump is a good idea, mind you with my recent engineering successes I wonder if I should get a ‘real’ engineer to fit it. Having refuelled we pressed on reaching Fazeley Jn at 10.05 turning left (west) for Fradley Jn. On this stretch of the cut we encountered a significant increase in boats passing, inevitably at bridge ‘oles or by moored boats. We passed Huddleford Jn at 12.45, last time we passed this way the railway bridges were being revamped and there was traffic light control on the cut. Huddleford Jn is part of the Wyreley and Essington – which may, one day, reopen – that will cause an issue with the Lichfield Cruising Club who use the arm as their moorings. It took us until 14.25 to reach Fradley Jn, turned right (east) and onto the heralded ‘new waters’. We had a bit of a queue going down out of Fradley and at the third lock encountered a ‘tupperware’ boat coming the other way. What a performance, 2 people on board and it took both of them to ‘hold the boat’ whilst muggings here operated the lock for them – ‘he’ didn’t lift a finger, looking back at them as they approached the next lock he was running about without a windlass – they will loose favour on the cut if they continue in that manner. We passed through Common lock at 15.40 and decided to moor rather than travel through Alrewas – roads/rail etc starting to close in on the cut again. Looks like our idea was a good one as, all of a sudden, lots of other boats are mooring along the same stretch of the cut. For those of you who read this only for the culinary supplement – lunch was a ham and egg salad eaten on the move and washed down with Golden Champion. This afternoon Mo made scones – wonderful, this evening she has plans for baked salmon with crunchy horse radish topping, garlic new potatoes, mange touts and baby sweet corn – fresh strawberry ‘french style’ flan. If you are reading this this evening then we have a mobile signal, if you are reading this tomorrow then I havn’t! We will be stopping in Burton-on-Trent as the Tamworth shops were too far from the cut.

Mon 17th Aug 2009 Hi dear reader, a quiet day today, in that we haven’t moved the boat. We decided to cycle to ASDA this morning, we felt it time to exercise the ‘LandRover City light’ fold-up bikes. So after breakfast we left the Dog & Doublet and rode to Minworth, initially on the A466? and eventually on the towpath. Minor purchases done we ventured back along the road to the M6 Toll roundabout at which point we dived back onto the to path. Quite the most challenging part of our return to the boat is getting the bikes back into their storage bags!! An art in itself we are convinced that the maker specified a bag that ‘wasn’t quite’ big enough! But we shall not be defeated – we managed to pack the blessed things away. 2 hours cycling and we felt suitably justified in indulging in the Dog & doublet steak and ale pie – with chips washed down with Guinness. Mmmmmmmm The afternoon started with a hectic sleep for an hour – bliss. Then it was an odd jobs afternoon, I attempted to identify the wiring for the automatic bilge pump device – failed, I checked the slight fuel leak that I had nipped up – seems OK. Meanwhile Mo was busy cleaning and polishing one side of ‘ELEMIAH’ she gets all the difficult jobs. One issue we are having is the engine cutting out – it runs perfectly for ages then coughs and dies, all the fuel filters etc are new, the only thing I am wondering is whether relatively low fuel states cause the engine fuel delivery issues? (We are currently about 1/3 full). Tomorrow we shall fill up and I will see if that makes any difference. I might consider a pump to ensure delivery pressure through the filters if this proves to be the cause of the symptom. I can’t offer you a hint of Mos culinary delights for this evening, our lunch has left us pretty full so supper was melba toasts with pate and cottage cheese, we had some of the ginger and orange pudding left so indulged ourselves with that. Tomorrow we will set off for Fazeley Junction – refuelling on route, might have to ‘do’ Tesco as we are down to 1 bottle of sherry, then on to Fradley Junction to turn east and on to waters new. I bid you, dear reader, a good night – until tomorrow.

15th August 2009 and despite my best efforts to generally abuse and try to sink the boat we are planning to set forth today. I’ve allowed myself to tighten the main alternator fan belt (the ‘starter’ alternator being OK), of course it was only after I’d put everything back together and all the tools away that I realised I had forgotten to retighten the bracket securing bolts. I really should pack my bags and return to land – I’m certainly questionably competent at this boating lark!! Anyway, we made it from the Club mooring across to the water point, transferred the last few items from car to boat and vice-versa, filled the water tank and bravely set-off. Well not quite, we decided to have lunch before tackling ‘Moss’ 2’ and the ‘Ganzi 7’! At 14.05 we finally set off, with only a little trepidation, fingers crossed that we would make it to the second lock without sinking. Those of you in the midlands will know that the afternoon was bright but breezy making for a pleasant cruise. The Rushall Canal was weedy (despite 26 boats coming up on the Friday) and required regular selections of idle reverse to clear the prop. We reached the top of the ‘Ganzi 7’ at 14.50 with no incident but still to relax into the holiday. It took us a gentle 65 mins to complete the 7 locks and we reached Rushall Jn on the Thame Valley Canal at 16.20 whereupon I displayed incompetence beyond belief in my attempt to negotiate the turn (I really hope I ‘sharpen up’ in the next day or so). Our plan is to stop for the night at the top of Perry Barr flight and we reached that point at 17.30 – a couple of welcome stiff sherries the order of the day. I had bought a couple of fillet steaks from my butchers in Highworth and, having grilled them to the requisite degree (something I can get right) we had them accompanied by backed potatoes, garlic mushrooms and peas. All washed down with a Banrock Station red. A passing cyclist reports that one of the pounds is empty so off we set to sort that out, it is getting on for 21.30 and dark before we have the pound refilled and all is set for the ‘morrow. 16th August and we are awake bright and early, we have Albert ‘the Hobbler’ Harmon coming to help us with part of the flight and ‘kick off’ is 08.30. )*.20 and Albert is arriving just as Mo sets off to ‘walk the dog’. We set off on time and, as is the way of the world – the prop gets fouled in the first lock – so after much fettling plastic and stuff is removed from the prop and off we continue (I do hope the rest of the holiday isn’t going to be like this otherwise our 8 weeks is going to become 8 months). We last another 1hr 50 mins before the prop is fouled again, this time it is a weedhatch job and a shirt is removed from the prop and shaft, it is lock 11 and Albert must leave us (he didn’t want the shirt though). At 11.15 we bade farewell to the Perry Barr flight (no brass plaque for this flight) and cruised on towards the Spaghetti Junction. We encountered a boat in the distance – a ‘Springwood Haven’ Valley Cruisers boat turning up towards B’ham at Salford Jn west – they’ve done well to make it this far in 2 days hire. We reach Minworth Top lock at 12.30 exiting no3 at 13.10, this is a ‘strange’ bit of canal a sort of ruralised industrial bit. Quite desolate in places but roads and commercial premises never very far away. One of our Longwood Club members recently sold his boat, having ordered a replacement – and, shortly after passing the boat inn we encountered him in his new boat. Curdworth – the spiders – tunnel followed and then it was ‘the anglers’ mile after mile of long black poles stretched across our path. (Sometimes I wish a load of cyclist would make an appearance – then what would happen? But that is naughty! – after all they pay expensive licence fees to support the canal). Those of you familiar with the Birmingham & Fazeley will know that we are now in very rural Midlands with just the motorway to keep us company!! We started down the Curdworth flight at 13.55 – hard work considering, the gates seem unusually heavy and the paddle gear stiff (maybe we are just weak). The fields are being ‘combined’ so any hay fever sufferers are going to find the area a struggle as the machines are working next to the cut. 15.45 Sunday afternoon and the moorings near the Dog and Doublet are fairly vacant (NB ‘POLLY’ looks like a permanent fixture on the 48hr moorings!!). We’ve had some rough running and the engine cutting out in idle (much to the amusement of some of the anglers) so my plan was to investigate the problem – “NO DON’T DO IT” I hear you cry, I didn’t!! I had so many people ask about the boat etc plus a share boat with bilge pump problems that I didn’t get fix my own engine. Tomorrow morning I will investigate so it is bound to be raining! That’s it for now folks – it is 22.40 and I’m shattered (forgot to mention that Mo created a Cod in mushroom and garlic sauce with wild rice, fresh carrots and broccoli followed by chilled ginger and orange pudding – really yummy and we have enough for some more tomorrow). Fazely and Fradley Junctions call tomorrow and we will be turning west at Fradley on to a previously un-cruised part of the inland waterways – truly the start of our 2009 adventure. Good night all PS, apologise for the mixture of 'tenses', fatigue to blame.

Saturday 15th of August and this years cruise begins – at last. Actually the events leading up to the cruise (and I mean events) really started about 4 years ago……… BUT FIRST, the good news, ELEMIAH passed the BSS with no significant problems, even though I had forgotten to remove the LIDL additional fire extinguishers!! Roll back to 2004 and ‘ELEMIAH’ has been painted and the electrics ‘sorted’ at Springwood Haven, Nuneaton. During the electrics ‘sorting’ phase it is established that my Stirling 3KVa Inverter is not working correctly – at this stage the inverter is well over a year old (although it has been in its box). So it is a quick trip down the M5 to Stirling where, without batting an eyelid they tell me it hasn’t got the ‘soft start’ so “you’d better have this brand new one sir”. Sure enough – when fitted, the electrics work like a dream. * Keep this in the back of your minds whilst you read on. The boat has worked well during the intervening years (including post internal fit-out when the electrical system had a radical rearrange) – well enough to lull us into a false sense of security!! Now, many of you reading this will know that, in a past life, I was an RAF pilot. In the Services we have a system whereby it is possible to ‘confess’ to misdemeanours in order to inform others thereby hopefully preventing a recurrence. I am about to confess some misdemeanours so you don’t fall into the same situation. I mentioned the new Inverter, factory setting is charging GEL batteries – I had Lead acid (posh, expensive lead acid to boot!). Surprise, surprise when a numpty owner doesn’t check his electrolyte levels and ends up pouring 2 litres of distilled water into the shrivelled remains of his leisure batteries, the clue is in the Inverter settings. So, if you don’t want to follow my expensive example – check, both your charger settings and your electrolyte. This then led to my next misdiagnosis! Knac***ed batteries make great demands on the inverter charging circuit – on the Stirling the charging circuit indicator also doubles as the AC current indicator (I didn’t realise that – although it IS clearly marked thus) so there I am thinking the inverter is providing max AC with no appliances running. You are now beginning to realise that I shouldn’t be let loose with a Tonka toy let alone a narrow boat!!! Anyway, to cut a long story short, a check by Stirling found the Inverter performing perfectly and a chance comment by Pete at Stirling gave me the clue as to the problems. With 5 bu$$ered leisure batteries it was time to hit t’internet, apart from Jason12345 of CWF the next cheapest source was Lime Kiln Chandlers at Wolverhampton, but a chance conversation revealed a much closer source (and significantly cheaper even) just a mile from the mooring so £300 lighter I walked away with 5 new leisure batteries. No problem, soon have the batteries swapped (despite the hernia op!). But no, as the first battery came out, the bottom of the battery box was full of fluid – bubbling gently. First thought – acid, fortunately not though, having removed all the batteries the battery box was found to be immersed in water from the bilge (the cabin bilge where no water is supposed to be!!!). Sorted that out, we WILL get away before the end of August!! Batteries all back in and everything fine. Now, my Boat Club is on part of the Wyrely & Essington and we get lots of weed and plastic – my visit to the water point (a journey of 50-100yds) required a visit to the weed hatch. Having removed the plastic etc I replaced the weed hatch, ran the engine in gear to check all was secure and returned to my mooring. Imagine my surprise therefore when I opened the engine bay to find water everywhere!! It took some considerable time for the bilge pump to clear the ‘normal’ bilge area, the secondary pump to clear one of the other engine bay bilges and a portable pump the clear the remaining 2!! Perhaps a Tonka toy is even too advanced??? So I have learnt several salutary lessons, and this before setting out on this years adventure. In the end we did, finally, get away on 15th and that is another story. I’ll elucidate tomorrow (make that Monday). For now I’ll bid you a good night – now where did I put my boat insurance details and Canal & River Rescue membership?

Hi everyone, looks like a slightly sticky start to our cruise is on the horizon. My 3KVa inverter has decided that, without any loads applied whatsoever (ie nil, none, zilch consumer unit cbs all selected off) to 'deliver' its full load with the strip-meter up in the red zone!! I hope Mr Stirling can help, I'll be back at the boat mid week to try and solve the problem as I have my BSS on Thurs!! Still I've done a major job that has been outstanding for 3 years and several minor ones that have only recently appeared on the radar. It's fingers crossed for a start on Friday, otherwise I can see us being delayed until early the following week. (We have to make the 'Dog & Doublet' at a sensible time to get a good mooring!!) Bye for now

Well, our initial plan was to go up to the L&L via Nottingham, across the Pennines to Liverpool then round the Chester, up to Llangollen and home vis Stoke. Canalplan AC tells us that we have bitten of more than we have time to chew!! This year we want to pace ourselves so we can sightsee (fortunately NOT the insides of GW Hospital, Swindon ) so we have allocated only 4 or so hours cruising per day - although we have tweaked the times to ensure we get to Chester Mid Sept 'cos Mo has to take her youngest off to Uni. We had thought to do the Standedge Tunnel, and we might yey, we will see how we progress and phone BW well in advance to see if any tunnel transits are available. Provided, of course, we can get there on a day when boats are allowed through! I have to say that we are really looking forward to this years trip. I am particularly keen because I can do some of the hard work that I simply couldn't do last year (I can even clear the weed hatch - no steroid induced belly in the way and no high risk of infection due to no immune system). As per last year, we plan to stay in touch through this topic, subject to internet access. Please, please look out for us and as I've already mentioned, you are very welcome to step aboard for a bit of hospitality. To and Mo

Wow peeps, it has been so long since I ventured on to this site that I didn't recognise many of the avatar names in the various topics - although I see members ability to go 'off topic' with a vengance remains (ie stolen narrowboat Que sera sera!!). So it is great to receive your wishes. I have heard that Bottle now, finally, is on his boat so I'll keep a weather eye out for him - the old divil drinks you know !! This year I am some 2 stone lighter thanks to a combination of Weight Watchers and regular attendance at my local gym - not felt this well in a long time. We are still pondering our exact route although we have had to modify our 'ideal' cruise as it was going to take several days longer than our 8 weeks!! So Liverpool will have to wait 'till next year. I will do my best to make our journey a bit more readable - trouble is it takes an hour or so to type out the days adventure - that at the end of a long days cruising and a longer evenings drinking .

Hi everyone, Mid August is rapidly approaching and so too our 8 week cruise. This year we plan to go anti-clockwise from Walsall through Nottingham, over the Pennines down to Chester, Llangollen and home either via Stoke or Wolverhampton. Our usual invites are, once again, extended to all/any members of this Forum.