Not having much luck

After a late start (waiting for a gap in the rain) we left Moore and cruised to Stockton Heath and stopped at Thorne Marine to do the services and fill up our heating tank with diesel.  This time last year we wouldn't have bothered filling the heating tank, but this year we are still lighting our stove to warm the boat.  E got talking to the very nice lady who runs Thorne Marine and she informed us of good places to moor and that this weekend was the Commodore of the Bridgewater Boating Club's first annual cruise and we probably wouldn't be able to moor at the rather picturesque village of Grapenhall.  She wasn't wrong - there were plenty of boats there - some adorned with bunting.

Whilst boating clubs maybe some peoples idea of fun, they aren't ours - we prefer to be able to decide when and where we want to cruise, rather than being told that X weekend we are all going to Y.

As we cruised from Thorne Marine we soon ended up behind another boat going the same way - unfortunately they were going rather slowly.  Now I know you can't rush on the canals (3mph is a fast speed), but this boat, well if he went any slower would have been stationary, so much so that our planned 2 hour cruise turned into a 3 hour one.  Why such a short day planned?  Well G has got the flu - and it ain't man flu, its real flu - aches, pains, no voice, coughing and spluttering.  I (thankfully) haven't got it quite as bad as G (yet).  We wanted to get to another of Cheshire's pretty villages - Lymm - and thankfully we got a good mooring there.  It is very probable we will stay for a couple of days until G is feeling more human.

But on one final note - we have all seen graffiti - but occasionally we find a bit of graffiti art that makes us smile

Finally Away

Annoyingly I've lost the photographs of when we were lowered back into the water last Friday evening - and I'll never get the chance to take them again as the marina will soon be closing.  On the Saturday we came up the Anderton Lift, and back onto the Trent & Mersey Canal.

The view from on the lift down to the River Weaver below can make the trip worthwhile.

We've spent most of this week getting many odd jobs done, including getting the car MOT'd (it passed) - and this afternoon we finally managed to set off up the Trent & Mersey Canal towards its western end at Preston Brook.

For an overall view of the navigable canals and waterways, I'd recommend looking at this site

http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/mwp.php?wpage=Inland-Waterways-of-England.htm

and for a brief history of the Trent & Mersey Canal see

http://www.tmc-mileposts.co.uk/tmhistory.html

Not far from Anderton (& its boat lift) is the village of Barnton (where I used to live) .  The canal goes around the village, which is on a hill above the canal.  A recent landslide however means one poor sole will be loosing his garden shed

Just out of the photo are the contents of the shed including an electric lawn mower.

The woodlands are springing into life with the wild garlic

and the bluebells

becoming more abundant.

Despite going through 2 tunnels today, Tonni is happy to be cruising - the second we moor up she was yowling to be let out and taken for a walk on her harness.

And a final thought - despite having two weeks of heavy rain (and hail), seeing the River Weaver rise by over a foot, and seeing some fields flooded, we are still dragging the  bottom of the canal - it isn't water levels that are the problem - its the lack of dredging being done.

Out the Water

The original plan had been that we would come out of the water on Saturday morning, but on Friday afternoon we had a phone call asking if we were down on the River Weaver and if we wouldn't mind coming out of the water that evening.  So we cruised into the center of Northwich, ready to have "Domino" taken out of the water.

In the past when we've had her taken out of the water a crane and a sling have been used, or a tractor and trailer, but at Northwich Marina, we came out sidewards on large wooden sledges.  Sadly at the end of this month the existing marina is to be done away with as part of the regeneration plans for Northwich.  Already the Marina's former neighbor - the Floating Hotel has been demolished.  The plans are for a new 40 berth marina, plus a Waitrose (for a town with Tesco, Sainsburys, M&S food, a large Co-op, and Aldi and a Lidl - so drastically in need of yet another supermarket) and other retail shops, in a town, like many others with empty existing shops.  Unfortunately these plans are set in stone now and the end of the existing marina and its unique (so I'm told) method of taking narrowboats out of the water is to come to an end.

The first task is to steer the boat so that she is parallel to the yard, and close enough so that G & I could jump off.  Using the front and rear ropes to pull Domino against the wooden sledges, the sledges are then mechanically pushed into the water and go under the boat.

With the skis fully under Domino, the wire cables are then are pulled back, bringing Domino up into the yard on top of the sledges.

The boat was then supported by further wooden wedges.  On Saturday we power washed the sides of the boats, and G ground the sides to remove rust and peeling paint.  Next I painted on some rust treatment, and then did the undercoat this morning.  Whilst I was doing the undercoat, G started grinding the section immediately below the gunnel (the section immediately above the water).  After about half and hour, he had to stop as his ancient Black & Decker drill finally died and began to smoke.  So we trekked off to B&Q, to fine that being Easter Sunday, they were closed.  But someone must have been looking after us, as on leaving the B&Q car park we saw a hand painted notice giving directions to a nearby local little DIY store - who were open and we were able to replace the drill.

Upon return we put the first coat of "black" on the sides of the boat.  For anyone who has never experienced blacking a boat, imagine using a masonry paint brush to paint thick black treacle onto art-ex - about 60 foot long and about 3 foot high - and 2 sides.  Yes we are very tired and we will be doing another coat on Tuesday, and maybe a third coat on Thursday.  So we decided to eat out.  We found by chance a recently renovated pub near Frodsham, called the Travelers Rest and had an excellent Sunday "Lunch" at 5pm.

And how does Tonni feel about having the boat out of the water?

     Where's the water?

Down to the River Weaver

The weather was kind to us, not blazing sun, but most importantly - no rain and no wind.  With a drop of 50 foot, being on the Anderton Boat Lift in the wind is an unpleasant experience.  But our decent was unproblematic.  Originally built in 1875, and fully restored, the lift re-opened in 2002 - it is one of the waterways major attractions.  Rather than boring you with a history lesson - if you want to read more about the lift go to these 2 web pages.

http://www.andertonboatlift.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderton_Boat_Lift

Boats travel up and down in large iron cassons - which can take 2 narrowboats each.  We shared our trip down with a pleasant couple who usually moor at Runcorn and have been boating for many years.

The above picture is of the boat we came down the lift with leaving the lift. After leaving the lift, they cruised off to Northwich, whilst we went in the opposite direction towards Fordsham.  We didn't want to cruise far as we would need to turn around and go to Northwich to be there by Saturday morning in order to come out of the water.  We found a quiet mooring called Barnton Cut Mooring - although Barnton seems many miles away.  She won't be getting off the boat whilst its out of the water, so our choice of mooring was really based on giving her a few hours outdoors time.  There are a few trees here - which had to be investigated by Tonni

Given the chance she would have probably climbed that tree and tied herself and lead up in the branches - for a 10 year old cat she still acts like a kitten.

Windy Night

We are thankfully moored up safely on the Trent & Mersey canal and have been unaffected by the winds.  However not far from us the Shropshire Union Canal is blocked in many places by fallen trees.  Tomorrow we are going down onto the River Weaver via the Anderton Lift - we hope the winds will die down before then!

We visited a friend today in hospital in Oswestry - no more than an hour by car away, yet the hospital and the hills around were covered in snow.  Its strange how only a week ago we were walking around in t-shirts, and today we needed thick jumpers.

Nothing stranger than British weather.

Slow Progress

As we are not due to come out of the water until Easter Saturday, we've taken our time cruising over the ever dreary Middlewich Branch (Shropshire Union Canal).  We've cruised that stretch so many times - and its always the same - windy!  Added to which the 4 locks on the stretch must be some of the heaviest paddle gear on the network.  The ironic thing about it is that the worst lock, Stanthorne Lock, had new gates and paddle gear only a couple of years ago - British Waterways (BW) (as was, they now have a new title that I can't remember) seem to have decided not to do anything about that lock - I've met plenty of boaters who say they've complained to BW about it.

Whilst I'm moaning about locks - Big Lock at Middlewich is another nightmare.  It was the first lock I ever did - back in 2001(?).  The gates have been replaced since then, but they still require an army of strong men to shift them.

I think the photo of Tonni below sums up the last few frustrating days.....

                                      "I don't like locking and I can't finish this crossword!"