Electrika show

Today we made use of the car to drive down to Brinklow Marina for the Electrika show, which focuses on electric and hybrid electric boats.  It was incredibly hot, and I suspect the heat kept a lot of people away, because it seemed rather quiet.  However, we saw quite a few people we knew, and I did a load of interviews for a podcast episode.  The drive home took rather a long time, even coming cross country to avoid problems on the M6.  The boat was absolutely roasting when we got home, even though we’d closed all the curtains to try to keep the heat out.

Shropshire (wind)lass: Day 7

I opened the side hatch first thing this morning while I got the breakfast things ready, and could hear a sort of crunching noise.  It took me a long while to spot a squirrel in the hawthorn bush on the towpath, hanging upside down from a branch munching away.

I’d been feeling a bit migrainey last night and this morning, so we were a bit slow to get going.  We set off as the church clock struck 9, with Adrian walking up to the lift bridge.  He then signalled that there was a boat coming the other way.  It turned out to be Alex and Alan on the Braidbar boat, Hollingworth.  It meant Adrian didn’t have to use the key of power to raise the bridge.

Even with two boats going through, there was only one vehicle held up in each direction (albeit there are three directions).  As we approached the three Baddiley Locks, it became clear that a moored boat was loose at the bow.  Adrian jumped off to try to sort it out, while I continued in order to get out of the way of a boat coming the other way.  In the end, they helped push it back in, and Adrian was able to re-tie it.  Fortunately its chain was still in the piling, and there was more rope wrapped round the T-stud.

As the other boat had just come up, the top lock was in our favour.  Then we met boats at each of the other two locks.  Before the Swanley Locks, we passed the latest in a series of glamping offerings, a little holiday hut on the offside.

There’s an even nicer one on the other side of the bridge, with a shady terrace on the end where this week’s occupants were finishing up breakfast.  We met boats at Swanley Locks too, then carried on to moor before Bridge 1 and the Hurleston Locks, in exactly the same spot we had a week ago (but facing the other way).  We hadn’t been here long when a familiar boat appeared.  What A Lark moored behind us, and we have a drinks invite a little later this afternoon.  In the meantime, we walked up to get the car, and Adrian popped to Morrison’s for a prescription.

6 miles, 5 locks.  (57 miles, 30 locks)

July Braidbar visit

The main reason we moored where we did last night was because it’s close to our friends who are looking after the car.  This morning we walked along and picked it up, and drove up to Braidbar.  There’s been more progress and we made more decisions.  More detail on the Kingley Vale blog.

We had lunch in a cafe in Poynton and took my watch into a jewellers in town to see if they could repair it; the minute hand moves randomly, and you can no longer adjust the time!  Then we drove back to Nantwich and did a big shop at Sainsbury’s as we can get the car quite close.  Then we dropped the car back and walked back to the boat.

Cheshire, eventually: Day 14

After I’d posted the blog yesterday we had a call from Carol and George (ex Rock’n’Roll and Still Rockin’) in response to a message we’d sent earlier.  They came round for a cup of tea — and volunteered to combine their morning walk today with helping us down the remaining Audlem locks.  Of course the help is nice, but more than anything it’s lovely to see them, and give them a proper canal fix!  This morning the first boat headed down the locks before 7am, and before 8 another couple had been past.  We set off at about 8.15, thinking we should get into the procession before any more boats came along.

George and Carol parked by the Shroppie Fly and walked up to meet us, bringing their own windlasses.  Carol worked ahead, often joining the crew of the boat in front, while George and I stayed at the lock we were in.  We were also chatting a lot, so the only photographic evidence I have that they were here isn’t very good!

Audlem is always a pretty flight, but unusually the notorious bywashes were hardly running at all today, and some of the pounds were even a bit low.

For most of the run, we’d caught up with the boat ahead, and they’d caught up with the boat in front of them.  Then the lead boat moored up after Lock 11, and at Lock 12 there were boats coming up.  We still had to turn the one by the Shropshire Fly, though.

There’s a water point below that lock, and an Andersen hire boat which had been using it pulled off as we came down.  That meant there was an extra boat between us and the next lock, so the last couple seemed to take quite a while.  When we got to the bottom, we moored up, put the kettle on, and plied our helpers with chocolate biscuits to say thank you.  Then we said our goodbyes; I’m sure we’ll see G&C soon, because we’ll be in this sort of area for a while now.  Before setting off again we got the washing machine going, and waited for the wash part of the cycle to finish.  By now the sun had really come up, but there was a very stiff breeze which had a bit of an edge to it.

We had lunch on the move, then arrived at Hack Green Locks.  This always seems to be a place that never goes as smoothly as it should, and today there was a bit of hanging about while a CRT man prodded at the wooden buffer on the cill of the top lock, which is at a jaunty angle.  We were also following a hire boat down.

The wind was ridiculous at times, but at least it was mostly head on.  I would have lost my hat several times if I hadn’t had the chin strap deployed.  We reached Nantwich and crossed the aqueduct.

After the aqueduct the canal turns a right angle, and suddenly the wind was from the side, meaning I had to put some power on to avoid being blown sideways into the moored boats.  As the water point was free, we stopped to top up the tank and also use the handy recycling bins.  We then had trouble getting away from the side, which seemed odd as the wind had been blowing the other way earlier.  Immediately after the water point is the bridge which marks the end of the former Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal; beyond it is what used to be called the Chester Canal.  It’s all the Shroppie these days.

We’d originally planned to moor just before Hurleston Junction, but going up the locks at the start of the Llangollen would be more convenient, so we decided to do them.  Adrian jumped off at the junction bridge while I brought the boat round.  You have to take quite a wide arc here, and the wind was now sideways on.  Fortunately the bottom lock was empty and Adrian got the gates open quickly, and I was able to let the boat be blown level with the lock, at which point I gunned it into the chamber.  The only photo is from once I was in there.

There was a hire boat coming down the second lock, so we could swap — although they had to go back and re-open one of the gates which had swung shut.  The first member of crew to come down to my lock explained that the strong wind was blowing their boat onto the side; I did feel like asking what she thought it was likely to do to me.  Anyway, I managed to get round them and into the lock.  The next two pounds were very low, as much as 18 inches down, which made crossing the pounds tricky.  At the top, there are fantastic views across to the hills of east Cheshire and north Staffordshire.

There’s also a sign above the flower planters, which suggests there’s been an issue.

We moored up through Bridge 1 at the top of the locks at just gone 4pm.  It’s been another long day, but with good company and a couple of stops thrown in.  It’s been one of those rare trips where the number of locks exceeds the number of miles, and by quite a margin.

9 miles, 19 locks.  (113 miles, 139 locks)

Wending to Wales: Day 11

Much to our surprise, it rained it the night and was still raining this morning.  It also turned out that the rain had brought down with a covering of dust, which was on every surface.  We knew we had a much shorter day today, so had a more relaxed start.  We also started the washing machine before we set off.  We got going at a little after 8.30, with Adrian walking up to Stanthorne Lock while I brought the boat.  It’s been a while since the sky at this time of day has looked so murky.

The converted stables by the canal at Church Minshull are still for sale, at £795,000.  I think the property has been on for a while, so maybe that’s a bit too much.

Minshull Lock had a boat going up and another to come down when we got there.  The lock has a nice cottage alongside.

A boat turned up behind us, and the chap on board saw we had a Braidbar boat and said he’d fitted our shower room!  Apparently he worked on all the boats built in the Ian Bryceland era.  We swapped with boats at Cholmondeston Lock, and then pulled onto the water point.  It wasn’t a very fast tap and the tank was fairly low as we haven’t filled up for a few days and had just done washing.  We had time to wash the dust off one side of the boat, and have lunch.  We then continued to the end of the arm and turned left on the Shroppie, being passed on the way down to Hurleston by a boat going the other way at an incredible speed, and with an enormous wash.  At Hurleston Junction we turned right onto the lock landing.  A boat had not long come down, so the bottom lock was empty for us.

We haven’t been on the Llangollen since 2010 when we had a share in Debdale, so the journey is going to be like new to us.  We don’t think Briar Rose has been up here at all, as it’s not one of the plaques left by the previous owners.  We swapped with a boat in the first pound, and with one in the much shorter second pound.

A couple of lock keepers were also on hand, and had been running water down to improve the levels.  We got to the top in no time, and moored up just beyond Bridge 1.  It’s not the quietest mooring because the road behind us is the A51; but we are meeting up with Bill and Sheila Saner this evening, and they live just us the road so it’s the ideal place.  This afternoon, we tried to walk across the fields to the Snugbury’s ice cream place, but found the path no longer exists.  It meant we had to brave walking down the A51 instead — but the ice cream was worth it.  Adrian had a combination of Snugtella and Honeycomb, mine was raspberry pavlova.

We also walked down to see the farm’s straw creation, which have become something of a landmark round here.  This year it’s a giant bee.

Even though the sun only came out this afternoon, it’s still been swelteringly hot again.

11 miles, 7 locks.  (145 miles, 99 locks)