Captain's Blog Nb-Blackstone

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2011-12-24T19:41:00.001Z

The crew of Blackstone would like to wish everybody a very merry Christmas and happy cruising during 2012.

Lets hope Santa brings you everything you wished for.

Licence time again and praise for BW licence team.

2011-12-23T17:24:00.001Z

So it is time to renew our boat licences. They run out on 31 December. As we moor on the Bridgewater canal, we have to have a Bridgewater licence. As we do most of our cruising on BW waters, we have to have a BW licence as well. Luckily we get our BW licence at a concessionary price, making the cost of the two licences £60 more than the cost of a full price BW licence. If we had to buy both licences at full price it would cost £1,115.00!!

We could just get short term licences from BW whenever we want to cruise their waters, but in the past we have found that they worked out more expensive. Plus you have got to remember to buy them in advance. It is more convenient to have a full yearly licence – we don’t have to plan in advance.

This year, our Bridgewater licence has gone up by 5%. However our BW licence has gone up by a whopping 44%! Unfortunately the short term prices are only published for the period to 31/03/12, so we cannot work out whether it would be cheaper to use short term licences this year. Who knows how much these will increase from 01/04/12? If we don’t renew our BW licence at the same time as the Bridgewater licence, we don’t get the concessionary rate. We will just have to make sure we get our money’s worth next year.

When I came to send the renewal forms to the Bridgewater Canal Company, I found that I had not received the renewal notice from BW. I telephoned them to ask for a duplicate. I was worried that it would not arrive in time due to the Christmas holidays, so I asked if they could email it to me. The very helpful lady at BW printed the form, scanned it and emailed it to me so that I could print it off and get it in to the Bridgewater Canal Company in time to miss the late payment penalty. I have often read about the problems people have with BW, but in this instance I have to say a big “thank you” to BW.

Back On-Board

2011-11-06T22:58:00.001Z

Saturday 5th November.

Hooray, we are back on board Blackstone.

We have not cruised for over a year due to personal circumstances and a partial refit of the boat. Everything is now sorted out and we are able to use Blackstone again.

This weekend we had a short cruise to Dunham and back.

We set off from the marina at 9:40. There was plenty of cloud, but at least it was dry. The sun came out just before lunch time and it warmed up a bit. However, by mid afternoon the temperature had dropped considerably.

We saw several bonfires along the way. The one at Ye Olde Number 3 is huge. Unfortunately we could not see their firework display from our mooring.

We stopped twice to check the water trap. We have diesel bug and want to keep the water trap cleaned out so that the muck doesn't get through to the filters and stop the engine. There wasn't as much muck as we expected. Fingers crossed that we are finally getting rid of the bug. We have put enough diesel bug killer in over the last year!

I gave the galley a good scrub out. The work surfaces were covered in dirt, dust and varnish. It looked like they had been used as work benches while the saloon was fitted out.

We cruised past Dunham to turn round and then back to moor on the non towpath side by the underpass at 15:15.

Lit the fire and made a mug of hot chocolate. Had pizza for tea and sat listening to the radio for a while. There were lots of fireworks. We could hear more than we could see, but there were some close enough to see including some actually on the towpath as we were going to bed. We put the TV on at 21:00 to watch Taggart, but we decided not to watch it all and went to bed at 22:00.

View from the side hatch Saturday evening.

Sunday 6/11/11

Carl got up at 6:40 to take Maccs out. It was frosty and foggy. Liz got up about 7:20, when they got back.We lit the fire again and the boat soon warmed up. We had bacon barms for breakfast. Blackstone in the mist

Turned the engine on about 8:30 and set of at 8:45 into the mist. I love this time of year with the frost and the mist in the mornings and the sun trying it's best to break through.

Setting of into the mist

The mist had cleared by 9:30 and the sun was shining. The sky was soon a beautiful shade of blue with hardly a cloud in sight.

Stopped at Thorne Marine to buy coal, peat and diesel bug treatment.

Why are some boaters in such a hurry? Laughing Tam came right up behind us and sat on our tail until we pulled over to let them pass. It's not as if we were going particularly slow. They were travelling so fast that they pulled a Claymore day boat’s pins out when they passed.

We moored for lunch at 12:20 just through Walton. Had lunch and set off again at 13:25. Got back into the marina and moored up at 14:40.

Beautiful sunny day on the Bridgewater canal.

Nice shiny paintwork

2010-10-27T22:54:00.001+01:00

26 September to 10 October

Blackstone went into the dry dock at Worsley for two weeks for painting. The painting was done by Bernard Todd from Chorley, with Carl blacking the bottom and helping out with the preparation work. After the stretch she had a big red patch, so everyone knew that she had been stretched. When she came out of dry dock, there was no sign of the stretch! She is looking very pretty now.

Big red patch

After the stretch, Carl intended to paint over the red patch at our berth in the marina.

However, as the weather was so unpredictable he only got as far as undercoating it before we decided it would be quicker and easier to hire the dry dock.

First job was to power wash the bottom ready for blacking

Then she was rubbed down and undercoated.

Then two coats of gloss.

Next the lines and scrolls...........

the fancy work on the bow........

then the signing..........

and she is finished.

Look - no red patch!

To the dry dock for painting

2010-09-26T21:01:00.012+01:00

Since getting Blackstone back from Swanley Carl has been trying to paint the "new" bit. Every time he went to the marina to work on it rain stopped play! In the end he was so fed up with not getting anywhere we decided to book the dry dock at Worsley and have the whole boat re painted.

Carl cruised up to Altrincham to meet Liz on Friday afternoon. We have been having trouble with diesel bug this year and the fuel pump filter regularly needs changing. Carl changed the filter on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, when he put the fuel pump back on the engine a wire sparked and fell off. We were without a fuel pump. It was five o'clock, so we had no way of getting a new one until Monday. We resigned ourselves to missing the dry dock.

Everything related to the stretch seemed to be jinxed. (We broke down on the way to Swanley resulting in a large bill for labour from RCR even though we are members; the washer on the shower tap went, resulting in lots of water in the bilges and the shower being dismantled; there was a problem with the windows fitted at Swanley so we had to order and fit new ones when we got back; the engineer at Swanley dropped our boat keys in the canal and despite fishing with the magnet we could not find them; we broke down twice on the way back from Swanley; we missed our slot with the boat fitter because we were stuck at Swanley for so long; we got the diesel bug; and now we had broken down again!!!)

While Liz was sorting out her dad on Saturday morning, a couple passed on their boat, Ariel, on their way to Castlefields. When Carl told them our problems, they offered to detour to Worsley and give us a tow. They set off before Liz got back, so she had to run along the tow path to catch up with them! We could not believe our luck. It is wonderful how helpful boaters are to each other.

Liam on Ariel towing Blackstone

We got to Worsley for lunch time Saturday and went into the dry dock about 10.00am on Sunday. We are all ready for the painting to start on Monday. Lets hope nothing else goes wrong.

Safely in the dry dock.

Ouch!

2010-05-06T22:52:00.002+01:00

Blackstone is still at Swanley Bridge Marina, waiting to be finished off. It's nearly done, but there is a problem with the windows that still needs sorting out. The Boat Safety Certificate needed renewing and we got a nasty shock when we got the bill. We knew that the cost of the certificate had gone up on April 1st, but we were not expecting to pay £140 - this was almost twice the cost of the last one - nasty shock for the wallet. Yet another boating cost that has risen well above inflation.

The Stretch

2010-04-01T15:59:00.015+01:00

The saloon all stripped out ready for the stretch, just the floor to take up.

Out of the water, into the workshop.

Windows out, ready for the cut.

The inside sealed up to keep the rest of the inside clean. Strengthening bars in place so that the boat doesn't warp when it is cut.

First cut, through the roof.............

..............and then the sides

Very neat cuts. Staggered to add strength.

The stretch begins.

Getting longer................

.................and longer.....................

.............. almost 3 metres longer!

The base plate and one side in place.

The other side goes into place.

One side of the cabin.

Both cabin sides and the roof supports.

Waiting for the new roof.

Roof on, windows in.

Bottom blacked, primer applied and back in the water.

Blackstone is now almost 52 feet long - I'm not sure we can see that far!

Inside painted. All ready for fitting out. What a lot of extra room!

Blackstone is getting longer!

2009-10-17T21:27:00.003+01:00

Oops, I forgot to post this one!!

Thursday 1 October 2009. Preston Brook to Bramble Cutting

Well, after much discussion, research, costing and checking of savings, we have decided to take the plunge and have Blackstone stretched. I know we should really leave the savings alone for our retirement, but what the heck. Live for today. The way things are going, the government will have us all working until we are 100 before we can retire!

The man from Swanley has been to see Blackstone and given us a price on the steelwork and said he would start week commencing 5 October. So here we are on our way to Swanley. Lets hope that canal time does not make the work run over as the winter stoppages start on 2 November. We would like to be back before that.

We are having an extra ten feet put in just past the galley. This will give us room to have a dining area and extend the saloon a bit. Carl has spent time stripping out the interior woodwork from the saloon area as the more we do, the less it will cost! We haven't yet finalised the plans for the refit as it is hard to visualise when you look at plans drawn on paper. We intend to draw on the floor, which will give us a better idea of the space everything will take up.

On Wednesday, Carl went to check that everything was OK for our short cruise to Swanley. He checked the engine etc and when he went to wash his hands, before returning home, there was no water in the water tank. Strange - he was sure that we had left the tank with water in it. On investigating further, he found that there was a lot of water in the bottom of the boat! We usually remember to turn off the water pump when we leave the boat, but we had forgotten the last time we were there. There must have been a leak somewhere and the contents of the water tank were now in the boat.

We arrived at the boat on Thursday to sort it out and set off. Carl pumped out the water and we made sure that the water was turned off between the tank and the pump and that the pump was turned off. We filled bottles with water to see us through until we could sort out the leak. We then checked the tunnel light as we had three tunnels to go through. It wasn't working. We began to wonder if Blackstone was trying to tell us that she did not want to be stretched! Luckily it was just a blown bulb, which we replaced at midland Chandlers.

We were finally on our way about 10:30. This of course meant that we missed the passage through Preston Brook tunnel as it is on the half hour for ten minutes and we were about 15 minutes away from it. Never mind, we were not in a hurry, we just waited until the 11:30 passage. While we were waiting at the tunnel, Carl checked a few joints in the plumbing. He couldn't get at them all as some of the screws were so rusty, they wouldn't shift. Something to sort out when we get the boat back, as you never know when you might need to check the plumbing.

We put some water in at Anderton and turned on the water at the tank. No leaks that side. We then turned on the pump. It started running, so we turned it off again so that we could listen along the pipes to see if we could hear water running. When we turned the pump back on again, nothing happened! It has been fine ever since (all fingers and toes crossed that it stays OK for the rest of the journey). We never found the source of the leak. Perhaps we had a ghost on board.

After these minor problems, we had a good day. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the clouds were fluffy and white and it was quite warm for the time of year. We moored up just before Bramble Cutting for the night.

Friday 2 October 2009, Bramble Cutting to Barbridge.

We had intended to set off early, but we had forgotten that it doesn't get light very early at this time of year!

By the time Carl had taken Maccs for a walk and we had eaten breakfast, we finally got going about quarter to eight. It is a lot colder today, grey and cloudy. It tried to rain a bit this morning, but not enough to warrant putting on waterproofs.

We had a quick stop above Wardle Lock to go to Tesco. Maureen came out to talk to us at the lock. She is a very interesting lady. We enjoy chatting with her.

There were plenty of boats moving on the Middlewich Branch. I think we must have met them at every bridge, narrow point and blind bend today!

Church Minshull moorings were empty! We have never seen them empty before in all the years we have been cruising this part of the canal. It was only dinner time, but there are usually boats here what ever the time of day.

We had just gone through bridge three when the engine died. Up came the boards and out poured masses of steam! When that had cleared, we found that the drip tray was full of water. Oh no! We had visions of a blown head gasket and seized engine. Luckily we are members of River Canal Rescue. So Carl pulled the boat to bridge two so that we were as close to a road as possible and Liz phoned River Canal Rescue.

As usual, the girl who answered the phone was lovely. She took the details of our problem and then asked if we needed any provisions or if we needed to get a message to anyone. A short time later, we were told that there was an engineer who could come out to us. He was just finishing another job. About an hour later, we received another call to say that the engineer would not be able to get to us before it got dark, so he would come out first thing Saturday morning.

Saturday 3 October 2009 – Going Nowhere.

We were up early again. We have no choice. Maccs must have swallowed an alarm clock at some time! He gets us up at 6:00am every day. He doesn’t care that we are on holiday. Well we expected “first thing” to be 8:00am or 9:00am. But no, by the time the engineer had got through the traffic and then realised he needed diesel, it was more like 11:00am. He soon found the problem – a split bowman’s end cap. (I think that was what he called it). He didn’t have a spare, but he had some magic tape, which he used as a temporary repair to seal the split. Hooray! We started filling the engine with water. Several kettlefuls later, as the water level reached the water pump, we discovered that we needed a new water pump as well. Not surprising really as operating dry for a while before the engine died would not have done it much good. No chance of a replacement water pump on a Saturday, so we had to resign ourselves to staying put for a bit longer. The engineer told us that the parts would be ordered and we should be fixed on Monday. He offered to take us to get our car, so that we could go home – Liz was due in work on Monday – but we decided not to bother and hoped that Liz’s boss would understand.

Sunday 4 October 2009 – Still at Bridge 2

We only put enough water in the tank to get us to Swanley. We didn’t want any extra weight when they pulled the boat out of the water. So of course we were running low by Sunday. We had intended to be at Swanley by Saturday lunch time. This meant that Carl had to keep walking to the water point at Barbridge with a 10 litre container. Still the exercise was good for him. Carl worked hard, finishing of stripping out the saloon ready for the stretch. Liz took the opportunity to sit around and cross stitch.

Monday 5 October 2009 – Oh no, we are still not moving.

We must have misunderstood the engineer. When Liz phoned RCR for an update about 11:00am, she was told that the parts had been ordered that morning and hopefully they would arrive on Tuesday. Well, it’s nice to have the chance to sit around all day on the towpath, but it would have been better if we could have chosen the time and place for ourselves. Luckily Liz’s manager was great and allowed her to have an extra two days off.

As we had set out on Thursday expecting to arrive in Swanley on Saturday, we were now running out of provisions and clean undies. Carl remembered that there was a garage near Calveley that sold groceries, so off we went to buy bread and coffee (and crisps and chocolate). And of course the engine hadn’t run since Friday, so the power supply was running low and no hot water. Still, we had plenty of coal and logs, so we were nice and warm.

Tuesday 6 October 2009 – Barbridge to Swanley with Chas Hardern’s help

The fridge finally gave up first thing this morning. We now know how long the batteries last.

After phoning for another update, RCR told us that they had the parts and they had found an engineer nearby to fit them. Someone was taking the parts to the engineer and he should be with us this morning. At last we spied someone in overalls, carrying a toolbox, walking along the towpath towards us. We were about to be repaired. It was Chas Hardern from Chas Harden Boats, Beeston come to rescue us. Just as we thought that we would finally be on our way, Chas opened the box containing the water pump and declared – this is the wrong pump for your engine. By now we were wondering what else could go wrong. Chas was great. As well as phoning RCR he phoned a local supplier to see if they had a pump in stock.

It turned out that RCR had picked up two water pumps and given the wrong one to Chas. An hour later, the right one had been delivered and Chas was back on the job. So, job done, we filled the engine with water, crossed our fingers and started the engine – success! Our thanks to Chas and we were on our way again.

We set off at 2:00pm and not long after the heavens opened. By the time we reached to top of Hurleston Locks, we were drenched. Of course the bad luck had not completely ended – we were in the first lock, going up; there was a boat in the third lock, coming down; the lock in between was set in our favour so of course the crew from the boat coming down turned it against us. Tired, fed up and very wet I’m sorry to say we shouted at them. We do normally try to keep our tempers, but sometimes it is not possible.

We finally moored up in the marina at about 4:00pm.

What do you think – is Blackstone trying to tell us she doesn’t want to be stretched? Will our luck change for the better, or will anything else go wrong?

Short Escape

2009-06-29T18:20:00.006+01:00

Liz's brother John stayed with her dad Friday night and all day Saturday giving us the chance of a very brief escape on Blackstone. Carl went to the marina and cruised to the playing fields near our home. Liz joined him around 7:45 pm and we cruised back to Dunham for the night. We had a leisurely cruise back to the marina on Saturday. It was a lovely relaxing day after the stresses of caring for Liz's dad. Saturday wasn't as sunny as the rest of the week, but it was still warm.

We have decided that we will try to do this as often as we can. We may not get out for a proper cruise, but at least we will get some enjoyment.

Maccs enjoying the cruise!

2009-06-22T21:43:00.009+01:00

Well, it's been a long time since the last blog. Mainly because we haven't been anywhere. We had intended to go out over Easter. Carl went to check everything was OK on the Thursday. The engine started straight away and everything seemed to be OK. Carl then noticed that oil had appeared in the drip tray. It turned out to be gearbox oil. A seal had perished. Although Carl does basic engine maintenance, we decide a mechanic was needed for this. Unfortunately our mechanic was not free over Easter, so no cruise.

After spending four months in hospital, Liz's dad was finally discharged. The problem was that by the time he got out of hospital, his mobility had deteriorated so much that it was not safe to leave him on his own. Liz has therefore become his main carer. Thus scuppering any cruising plans for the time being.

So we had to make do with going to the Middlewich folk and boat festival by car. We were a bit disappointed. There were not very many working boats there.

Nor were there many boating stalls. There were a few canal societies and the boat women's crafts were displayed, but on the whole the stalls seemed to be fair trade clothing stalls.

We saw Liz's sister in law's sister (Also called Liz). She trades from her boat Constance Irene. We also purchased some delicious fudge from the fudge boat. The weather stayed fine and we enjoyed a good day out.

Back to reality

2009-03-01T21:08:00.007Z

The weekend just didn't last long enough. Oh to be able to take off on a cruise without worrying about when we had to be back home.

We lazed around listening to the radio this morning. Maccs found something nasty to roll in, probably fox poo! Why do dogs do that? He had to be washed before we set off. He got a bath when we got back home. He was not impressed. But then nor were we - he stank.

We set off about 9.40 and dawdled back. It was wet to begin with, but by the time we got to Lymm, the sun had come out. Lovely clear sky, relatively warm in the sun, but bloomin' cold when the wind blew across the fields. I was sad to find out that the Sommerfield shop in Lymm was closing down. We often stop off there for our shopping when we go to Dunham. We always get what we need. Apparently it is going to become a Spar shop. Lets hope the Spar is as good as Sommerfield has been.

We stopped for lunch between Thomason's Bridge and Acton Grange Bridge and got back to the marina around 3ish. Why is the sun always shining when we get back to the marina?

There were plenty of boats moving again today and lots of walkers on the towpath.

Oh well, back to work tomorrow.

First time out this year

2009-02-28T20:57:00.007Z

Liz's dad has been in hospital for most of this year. He went in on 28/12 and only came out for one week at the end of January. Added to the weekends that Liz has had to work and the weekends that the canal was frozen, this is the first time we have managed to take Blackstone out this year.

It is Carl's birthday today and we were determined to spend it on the boat.

As usual, we chose to go to Dunham. It is not too far and is usually nice and quiet. We always manage to get a good mooring spot.

We set off from Preston Brook Marina around 9:45. We had left Blackstone pointing in the right direction last time we came in to the Marina, so it was a quick get away. It was drizzling when we set off, but it stopped fairly soon and stayed dry for the rest of the day.

Both Lymm and the Old No 3 were quiet. They are always fully moored up during the summer. It's always the same boats. Although they are both 48 hour moorings, the regular boats just ignore this and stay as long as they want. No one does anything about it. It's a pain, because it means other boaters can't get in to moor at Lymm for shopping.

There seem to be a few unlicensed boats around this year. Also some BW licenced boats who have spent the winter on the Bridgewater. The BW licence only allows boats to stay on the Bridgewater for one week, while they travel from one BW canal to another. If they want to stay longer, they are supposed to buy a Bridgewater licence. However, Peel Holdings, who own the Bridgewater, never seem to bother checking up.

It was a lovely cruise, plenty of mallards and moorhens, not too cool and just enough boats on the move. We pottered along and moored at Dunham at 2:30, after winding just through Dunham Town Bridge. We are lucky, as we are only 42 feet long, there are plenty of places on the Bridgewater where we can wind. We don't have to worry about finding a winding hole.

We tried out the water explorer web site and entered our journey as we cruised. It was OK for this short journey. We will have to wait and see how it works out when we have a longer, more complicated cruise.

We also tried out our TV signal finder for the first time. We are not usually bothered about TV, so we just do a quick twist of the aerial, and if we don't get a signal we take the aerial down again and listen to the radio instead. However, sometimes, there is something that we would like to watch. With the switch over to digital, we thought we would have more difficulties finding a signal to tune into. So when we saw the signal finder from Fringe Electronics, we thought we would give it a try. It was certainly quicker and less frustrating.

Signing off now to watch CSI New York, with a brilliant digital TV signal!

Snow

2009-02-02T22:26:00.002Z

I'm sure there will be a lot of people who will think I've got a screw loose, but I have been looking out of the office window today watching the snow and wishing I was on the boat.

The thought of sitting on the boat in front of a log fire, in the middle of nowhere, watching the snow through the windows, is so much more appealing than working.

Maybe one day.

The licences are due

2009-01-20T21:47:00.003Z

It's that time of year again. We have to renew our boat licences. As we moor on the Bridgewater, we have to have a Bridgewater licence, issued by the Manchester Ship Canal Company. Although BW and MSCC have reciprocal arrangements allowing licence holders to use each other's waters, our licence only allows seven consecutive days on BW waters and we can't cruise past Harecastle tunnel or Barbridge junction. As we do the majority of our cruising on BW waters, we also need to buy a BW licence. So January is an expensive month for boating.

British Waterways are missing us!

2009-01-16T20:36:00.003Z

We received a letter this week from British Waterways regarding their National Boat Check. We are part of a "random sample" of licensed boats that they did not see during the period 10 - 21 November 2008 and they want to know where we were!

Well, Blackstone was resting on her moorings on the Bridgewater Canal, which is probably why they did not see her!

It's nice to know that she is missed when she is not on BW waters.

Locking fuel cap

2008-11-22T15:39:00.006Z

During the summer our friends Anne and Ray on Jennyanydots unexpectedly ran out of diesel while we were out. There was no way they had cruised far enough since they last filled up to have run out when they did. The only thing we could think of was that they had had some diesel syphoned. Other people then told us of incidents that they had heard of concerning syphoning diesel.

Although the towpath telegraph often exaggerates incidents, with the increase in cost from 1 November we decided to look at ways of securing our diesel cap. Anyway, we came across the fuelock web site and ordered a locking diesel cap. It came within a couple of days and took just five minutes to fit. Problem solved. We can now be sure that our full tank stays full until we next go for a cruise.

A weekend out

2008-11-06T21:35:00.024Z

At last, we have managed to get a whole weekend free! No one for tea, no taxi service for family, no house clearances, in fact no one asking us to anything at all. So forget the housework and the washing, lets take the boat out.

So on Friday 31/10/08 at 9:45 we left the marina and headed up the Bridgewater towards Dunham. We thought that we might go into Manchester, but the countryside was so beautiful that we decided we would rather stay out of the city. It was a lovely crisp autumn day. Very cold, blue sky, hardly any wind and lots of sunshine. The trees and bushes along the banks are so colourful - green, red, orange, gold, yellow and brown. Lit the fire early so that the boat would be toasty when we moored.

We stopped of at Thorne Marine to fill and empty the relevant tanks. It was the last day for buying diesel before the new tax rules took effect. We filled the tank at 75p per litre. It was going up to £1.01 per litre the next day for people declaring the 60/40 split, which is the split we will probably declare. So at least we will get our winter cruising and heating at the lower price.

When we got to Lymm, we were amazed to find that there were hardly any boats moored there. We moored up for lunch. While we were having lunch, the Mikron Theatre boat passed. Not sure where they were coming from/going to as according to their website their last night was Saturday 25 October in Huddersfield.

We moored for the day at Dunham around 3:20 and settled down by the fire with the papers. It was a beautiful evening.

Woke up on Saturday morning to a clear frosty morning. The fire stayed in all night so the boat was still warm and the kettle was almost boiling as it had sat on the stove all night. Carl took Maccs for his walk, while I tidied up an made the bed. After breakfast we headed up to Timperley, where we decided to turn round and head back to the country side. Emma phoned to see where we were, but we weren't sure exactly where we were. We were in the middle of nowhere, with no roads anywhere near. That's the fun of boating! A bit later on we moored back at Dunham as there is space for Maccs to play without bothering anyone. There were plenty of joggers and walkers about today.

Woke up on Sunday to a cold, grey, cloudy morning. We set off at 9:00 and headed for Lymm to buy bread and papers. While we were moored in Lymm, a large number of boats from the Lymm Cruising Club passed. They were on a club outing to the Star for lunch. Matthew Corbett passed on Midnight.

We carried on after lunch and had a leisurely cruise back to the marina, arriving about 4:00.

All in all a lovely peaceful weekend to help us unwind. Possibly the last cruise this year, but you never know. Perhaps we will get another one in.

Canal Art by Terence

2008-10-02T21:15:00.005+01:00

Look what arrived in the post today. Another beautiful piece of decorative canal art by Terence Edgar. Unfortunately the photo does not do it justice. I will try to get a better photo to upload. We love Terence's work and we have several of his pieces on board Blackstone.

Castlefields to Dunham

2008-09-12T19:54:00.014+01:00

Last night there was a very inconsiderate boater, who ran a noisy generator from mid afternoon until about 10.15pm. When we passed the boat this morning we found that it wasn't even displaying a licence!

Had a lie in this morning. Didn't get up until 7.30! We had breakfast and sat around watching life in Castlefields. There are two Bull Mastiffs living on a top floor balcony opposite our mooring. We watched last night as the woman took them for a ten minute walk and then locked them back out on the balcony. The man arrived home later and took them out again for about twenty minutes. They were then back on the balcony, before being put into what looked like a shed on the balcony for the night. They were given another ten minute walk this morning, then left on the balcony for the day. I don't know why people like that bother to have dogs. It's cruel.

We watched boats shuffling around. As one boat left the moorings, another moved from it's original mooring to take the place of the one that had just left. I don't know why one mooring was any different from another.

We set off around 10.00 towards the road bridge near TDG. Both Carl's daughters work for TDG and we always text to let them know when we are passing. If they can get out, they come and meet us. Suzy was not able to get out today, but Emma took her break and came down to the towpath to meet us. We had a chat, before carrying on towards Dunham.

Manchester Ship Canal Company must have been having a clear up of the canal. We passed a work boat full of all sorts of junk that was obviously from the canal.

We moored at Dunham at 1.40 on the non towpath side, just passed the entrance to Dunham Park. There was a lovely sunset this evening and a rainbow.

10.5 miles. 0 locks

Portland Basin to Castlefields

2008-09-11T20:09:00.013+01:00

We knew that we had a lot of locks to do today and that the first flight has a reputation for trouble so we set of at 6:30, turned onto the Ashton Canal and got to Fairfield Junction at the top of the locks at 7.20. We filled up with water before going down the locks. The water was in a tricky place and Liz made a complete mess of mooring on the water and then getting from the waterpoint to the lock!

This is not the easiest flight of locks we have been down. With broken paddles, no walkways on the top gates, paddles that go down by themselves, badly hung gates and having to unlock then re-lock the paddles with a handcuff key, Carl had his work cut out. Liz had to contend with fierce winds and weirs/bye washes trying to stop her getting the boat into the locks. There were also some very low bridges, one of them knocked our chimney over and moved the chimney stack inside the boat where it was attached to the stove! It took four hours to get down the flight of eighteen lock. We didn't have any trouble with "bandits". A few people stopped to watch or talk, but they were all friendly and didn't pose any threat to us. One silly schoolgirl said to her boyfriend "lets jump across the boat", but he pulled her away, giggling.

There are a lot of new waterside apartments, especially around Eastlands, Manchester City Football ground. there is also a lot of building going on as you go through Ancoats on the way into Manchester.

The next set of locks was the Rochdale Nine. These are nine wide locks that take you down through Manchester. The canal goes underneath some of the buildings. There was so much water flowing down this flight that it was flowing over the lock gates with so much force that it was very hard to open the gates.

We got to the bottom of these locks and moored up at Castlefields just before 2.00. The moorings were very busy, but we found a lovely spot next to some grass, between two weeping willow trees.

7.5 miles. 27 locks.

(Photos added 12 Sept)

High Lane to Portland Basin

2008-09-10T17:31:00.015+01:00

Another early start this morning. Pulled the pins at 6.40. For the first time in days, we could see the sky, rather than just a grey blanket up there where the sky should be. The day stayed mainly fine, with just one heavy shower around 10.30. The sun even put in an appearance during the afternoon. We don't trust the weather enough to let the fire out though!

After filling up with water at Marple, we turned left onto the Peak Forest Canal and started down the Marple Locks. There are 16 of them, all within walking distance of each other. Most of tehm were against us and had to be filled before we could go in. The ones that were already full were the ones that leaked the mst so they filled on their own. There was a lot of water on this flight. Some of the locks were so full, they were almost overflowing. It was difficult getting the lock gates open as the water was coming over the tops.

We had the flight to ourselves until we got almost to the bottom. A couple arrived at the lock with windlasses and helped us through. They had set the last lock for us and helped us through that one as well. Their boat was moored at the bottom and they started up the flight as we came out. It took us just short of two hours to do the locks.

The stretch from Marple to Ashton-under-Lyne is quite pretty in most parts. The second half of the canal follows the river Tame, although for most of the way, you can't see the river. Although the canal goes through Romily, Woodley and Hyde, the towns don't encroach on the canal for long. Most of the stretch is rural.

There are a few old mill buildings still standing along the canal. Some have been converted into offices. There are also walls along the side of the canal showing where other mills and wharfs must have stood.

We arrived at Portland Basin, Ashton-under-Lyne just after 12.00, just as the sun came out. There was one other boat already moored there whe we arrived. During the afternoon several more boats arrived and moored up. After shopping at Asda, we had a quiet afternoon reading, sewing, snoozing and listening to the radio. Brilliant signal here. Nearly as fast as cable at home.

9.25 miles. 16 locks. 2 tunnels.

Bosley Locks to High Lane

2008-09-09T20:18:00.008+01:00

We got up extra early this morning to make sure that we were first up the locks. We set off at 6.40 - everyone else was asleep. When we got to the first lock, the last boat down had left the bottom gates open so we went straight in. As we went up, we found that the bottom gates of the first seven locks had all been left open. This was great as it certainly helped speed us up the flight. This flight is unusual as it has double gates top and bottom. The top gates don't have a walkway on them, so there is a lot of walking backwards and forwards. Luckily we work well as a team and both opened the top gates, which saved Carl some walking! All but two of the locks were empty. The other two must have leaked badly to fill up over night. It was very wet going up the locks as the rain was heavy again. Had to light the fire to dry ourselves out.

There are some beautiful views from this canal, looking out towards the hills. We watched the rain clouds blowing across the top of the hills and hoped they didn't blow in our direction. The wind was very strong and we were travelling into it, so it seemed like we were hardly moving. There are not many mooring places along here. The banks are all overgrown and the canal is very shallow at the edges. Most of the time you can only get in at the official mooring spots.

We passed Gurnett Aqueduct, which was where Maccs first joined the crew just over five years ago. Carl's daughters bought him for father's day and we picked him up while we were out cruising. We had to make a detour to pick him up. We told him this was where he came from, but I don't think he remembered.

We came through Macclesfield, Bollington and Higher Poynton and moored at High Lane at 2.00.
14 miles. 12 locks.

Westport Lake to Bosley Locks

2008-09-08T16:51:00.011+01:00

It is one year today since Liz's Mum died. Still missing her very much. As she's buried in Kent, we can't visit her grave, so we bought some flowers for the boat in her memory.

We've hardly had any rain today. It must be the driest day so far, with just a few showers. There was a huge black cloud just as I put the washing out to dry, but it passed over without any rain.

We set of just after 7.30 this morning and got to Harecastle Tunnel just before 8.00. This tunnel is one way and there are tunnel keepers who control the boats going through. They count the boats in at one end and out again at the other. We were lucky as our side went through first. When all the boats are in the tunnel, the doors clang shut behind you and a massive extractor fan starts up.

This tunnel is 2926 yards long (2676 metres for the youngsters). It's profile changes regularly throughout it's length, getting very low and narrow in places. At one point it gets lower and lower and each change in height is painted white. It looks like you are travelling under the ribs of some great beast. We got through safely, without meeting the "boggart". After 35 minutes underground it is a relief to come back out into daylight.

We turned onto the Macclesfield Canal and crossed over the Trent and Mersey. Moored on the Aqueduct while Liz did a spot of shopping in Kidsgrove. Carried on to Bosley Locks and moored below the bottom lock at 2.40. The sun came out for a while, but it soon went back in again!

12.5 miles. 0 locks. 1 tunnel.

Trentham to Westport Lake

2008-09-07T20:34:00.009+01:00

Woke up to rain yet again. How much more rain can there be? As it is Sunday, we decided to have a lie in and then dawdled over breakfast. We finally set of at 9.20 to Trentham Lock.

We got through the locks at Stoke quite quickly. The first one was in our favour, then we discovered we were following another boat up, so all the rest were against us and we had to empty them all. We had to wait at the top lock for a boat coming down. It rained on and off during the morning, but it held off while we did the locks.

We moored at Westport Lake at 12.40 and decided that we would stay for the rest of the day.

The weather was pleasant this afternoon. Liz sat outside cross stitching for a couple of hours and the sun actually came out briefly! We had a walk round the lake and treated ourselves to "99" ice cream cornets - after all, we are on holiday.

There were swans, coots and geese on the lake. It seems to be a popular place for families out for a walk.

8 miles. 6 locks.

Tixall Wide to Trentham (Saturday 6 Sept)

2008-09-07T10:25:00.010+01:00

We didn't have an Internet signal last night so I couldn't update the blog.

We woke up to yet more rain thumping on the roof. It had rained heavily all night. The sky was a blanket of grey and the rain didn't look as if it was likely to stop any time soon. We decided we might as well move on regardless, so we set off at 7.30.

We moored at Stone at 11.45, just below Star Lock and walked into the town. There were market stalls all along the main shopping street. It looked like a farmer's market as they were selling meat, home made cakes, pies, bread, jam, real ale and wine. The rain has stopped at last!

Set off again 1.25. Through Stone locks without any problems. At Meaford locks we caught up with a boat that had passed us as we were mooring up. They had been waiting at the lock for an hour. Apparently someone had hit the lock gate so hard that it had come off it's hinge. Luckily BW had just finished fixing it when we got there, so we didn't have to wait too long. There were a lot of boats queueing to come down though. The boat that caused the problem just carried on, after telling another boater that this had happened to him before!

We moored for the night opposite Wedgwood at just after 4.00. WE had a thunder storm during the evening, but at least the afternoon stayed dry for us.

14 miles. 12 locks.

Acton Trussell to Tixall Wide

2008-09-05T17:15:00.004+01:00

Woke up to the rain hammering on the roof this morning. Looked outside and judging by the heavy dark clouds, the rain looks set for the day. We decided to wait and see whether the rain would ease off before moving. By 9.00 it was just drizzling, so we decided to set off. We were not bothered if we didn't get very far and decided that if the weather didn't improve we would moor at Tixall. Although the rain stopped briefly, it came back heavier than ever along with a strong wind. By the time we reached Tixall, we decided to call it a draw. We thought we could always move on later if the weather improved. We couldn't actually moor on the wides as it was full, so we moored just before them in a quiet spot.

A heron followed us for a while. I tried to get a photo of it in flight, but only managed a couple of blurred ones.

As we passed Stafford Boat Club, we saw this - a lock to nowhere.

The weather didn't improve, in fact it got worse! So we stoked up the fire and settled down to a quiet afternoon, Liz reading and cross stitching, Carl listening to the radio.

Lets hope it's better tomorrow.

6.75 miles. 2 locks.

Brewood to Acton Trussell

2008-09-04T20:28:00.007+01:00

After all the rain yesterday, the morning was lovely and fresh. There was weak sunshine, but there was a lot of cloud cover. Turned onto the Staffs and Worcester Canal, heading towards Great Haywood. This is a pretty canal. Very narrow in places, winding through the countryside following the contours of the land. Quite different from the long straight stretches of the Shropshire Union. Typically, the first boat we met on this canal was at the narrowest point. They had to reverse to let us past.

The rain didn't wait until we moored today. It started about 11.00 and rained heavily until we moored at Acton Trussell at 2.15. We were soaked and cold. Luckily the fire was still alight from yesterday, so as soon as we moored we changed into dry clothes and opened the fire up. It was soon roaring and dried us out quickly.

The rain stopped not long after we moored and the sun actually came out late afternoon so we could sit out on the towpath for a while.

We were lucky with the locks again, only waiting for one of them.

We saw about six herons in a field today. This is the first time we've seen so many together. They are normally on their own. More of the leaves are changing colour. It's not like previous years when we've cruised in September and had the end of the summer, rather than the beginning of autumn.

15 miles. 11 locks

Norbury Junction to just beyond Brewood.

2008-09-03T15:17:00.008+01:00

It is Grandma Peta's birthday today. She would have been 86. It's over a year now since she died, but we still miss her a lot.

It was another beautiful morning. Sunshine, blue skies and hardly a cloud in sight. The sky was very red with the sunrise, so we didn't expect the good weather to last. We were right. As soon as we moored up, the rain started. We have only managed to sit out on the towpath once so far. The wind was strong and quite cool. The sun is warm when the wind drops, but that's not very often.

It was very quiet for the first half of the morning. We hardly met any boats until we reached Wheaton Aston. The diesel at the garage here is only 66.9p a litre. We reached the lock just as another boat was coming out, so we were straight in and out again very quickly.

The kingfishers are still playing hide and seek, but I've stopped trying to photograph them. We saw a heron today, only the second one so far which is unusual.

We stopped at Brewood for some shopping and then carried on to the 48 hour moorings just past bridge 8 about 12.30. Thanks to the Shropshire Union Canal Society, there are lovely moorings, with rings, all along this canal. There has been a steady stream of boats passing this afternoon. These moorings were almost empty when we got her, but by 3.30 there were not many spaces left.

We are sitting here in the pouring rain, but at least we have an excellent Three signal - it's alternating between 3G and HDSPA.

10.5 miles. 1 lock.

Adderley to Norwood Junction (Tuesday 2 Sept)

2008-09-02T18:49:00.005+01:00

Another glorious morning. Plenty of sunshine and blue sky. There are a few grey clouds about, but most of them are behind us. We set off at 7:10 and were through the five Adderley locks by 7:50. There was no one else about.

We were aiming for the coal yard just before Market Drayton. Their diesel has always been reasonable in the past and they didn’t disappoint us this time. It was 69.9p a litre, compared with at least 80p on the Trent and Mersey. We filled up – it took 178.5 litres. Then we stopped off in Market Drayton to do a spot of shopping. Market Drayton is a pretty town with many of the old buildings surviving. We always seem to miss the famous market, which is on Wednesdays.

Tyrley locks were busy with a boat coming down in each lock as we went up. This makes the flight easier as there is no hanging around. Both boats come out of the locks at the same time and cross in the pounds. Very useful on this flight as the pounds are shallow at the edge and it is easy to get stuck. Carl had to help a boat that was grounded just above the first lock as he had pulled in to wait for us to come up and he was stuck fast. Carl had to push the boat away from the side with the pole. We met an impatient boater at the top lock, they couldn’t wait for a few minutes while we came out of the lock below and they turned the lock against us, so we had to wait in the middle of the pound while they filled the lock and came down. They didn’t gain anything though because there was a boat in front of them already in the pound. All they did was waste a lock full of water.

We thought the bye washes on the Audlem flight were strong, but Tyrley’s bye washes were positively fierce. It took a great effort to get past them and into the locks without being forced into the side. We did very well; we didn’t bash the boat at all!

Woodeaves cutting is a magical place. Steep rock sides, trees growing out of them at strange angles, their branches meeting overhead in places, the sun filtering through. The canal is so narrow here that boats almost touch each other as they pass.

The kingfishers were playing with us again. We saw several of them along the stretch between Market Drayton and Norbury Junction. They sat still just long enough to get the camera ready and then took off just as the zoom and focus were right. I missed the shot every time. They are definitely camera shy.

We arrived at Norbury Junction at 3:10. We found a mooring in the sunshine and thought we would enjoy a lovely evening sitting on the towpath. Wrong! Just as we were about to get the chairs out the rain started along with thunder and lightening. It looks like it will be sunshine and showers for the rest of the evening.

At least there is a reasonable signal here for the Three dongle so I was able to post yesterday’s entry.

17 miles. 10 locks

Hurleston to Adderley (Monday 1 Sept)

2008-09-02T15:48:00.017+01:00

Pulled the mooring pins at 7:10. Although the weather forecast was for rain to day, it was actuallly a beautiful morning. We had plenty of sunshine and there was blue sky. A bit different from yesterday’s grey skies. We filled up with water at Nantwich and then headed off towards Audlem.

The swallows are not showing any signs of getting ready to leave yet. There are still plenty of them. There were rabbits in the fields and big flocks of geese grazing. The hawthorns are laden with berrries. We saw a kingfisher, but it was too fast for a photo. We always seem to see kingfishers along the Shropshire Union.

Just through the two locks at Hack Green there is a sign that reads “Secret Nuclear Bunker 200 yards”. Not a very well kept secret!

Audlem Mill

We got to Audlem Locks just after 10:00. We had sunshine almost to the top and then the rain started two locks away from the top. There were quite a lot of boats coming down.

Several of them had been at the IWA festival over the Bank Holiday. Some people just don’t bother to check whether anything is coming up before they fill locks. It seems as if they can’t be bothered to walk down and look under bridges. We had locks turned against us couple of times on the way up. Still, we made good time as there were more boats coming down than going up, so most of the locks were either in our favour or had a boat in coming down. We didn’t have to wait too long for any of them.

We were just coming out of the second lock from the top when the engine died.
The fuel filter had clogged yet again. Luckily we bought two new ones at Venetian. Twenty minutes later the
filter was changed and we were on our way again, through the last lock. People are very friendly. The crews from two different boats offered help when they saw we had broken down. Luckily Carl is a dab hand at changing the filter now, so we didn’t need any help. We stopped for an hour for lunch at the top of the flight.

We carried on for half an hour and moored at the bottom of Adderley Locks at 2.25. The rain was quite heavy for a while, then the sun tried to come out.

No signal for the Three dongle here.

11 miles. 17 locks.

Bramble Cutting to Hurleston Junction

2008-08-31T21:34:00.006+01:00

Got up fairly early this morning. It was a lovely morning, with a slight mist and that slight autumnal nip in the air. It was so still and quiet, it was a shame to start the engine.

We set off just after 7:30 and were through the locks at Middlewich by 8:50 then onto the Middlewich branch and through Wardle Lock by 9:10 after a short natter with Maureen, the lady from the lock cottage. She is an interesting person. She was born and grew up on a working boat. We always stop to chat with her and listen to any advice she has to give.

It remained cloudy all day, with a few light showers. On the way through we saw the new marina being built at Minshull Lock. It looks huge. We stopped for lunch above Cholmondeston Lock. Had a quick look in the chandlery and gift shop. The gift shop doesn't stock as much as it used to when it was "Kates". It's now owned by the people who have Kings Lock chandlery in Middlewich.

We saw the Constance Irene just before Venetian. Liz's sister in law's sister and her partner live on board.

We decided to moore just past Hurleston Junction about 3:00. This turned out to be a very good idea, as it rained heavily for the rest of the afternoon and evening. Still, we were dry and cozy.

13 miles 8 locks

Preston Brook to Bramble Cutting.

2008-08-30T18:34:00.009+01:00

Sorry to have left the last blog just hanging. We did actually get home, but the laptop gave up on us! Pity because we had loads of broadband time left. Unfortunately it only lasts a month so we lost what was left. We have also cruised again for two weeks in July with our friends Anne and Ray on Jennyanydots, but without the laptop.

Still, we are back on line and with a good signal tonight. We set off from Preston Brook at 9:00 this morning. Although it was cloudy, it was dry and the sun did manage to shine a few times through out the day. It was reasonably warm.

You can tell that Autumn is on it's way. There are lots of leaves in the canal and some of the leaves on the trees are begining to change colour.

The last time we set off on a cruise on a Saturday we were caught up in queues for the locks at Middlewich. We were 13th in the queue with the 12 in front of us being hire boats just setting off. This time we decided to moor before we got to Middlewich and set off early on Sunday morning. We aimed for Bramble Cutting, but it is a popular spot and the moorings were already taken so we stopped at 3:00pm just before Bramble Cutting, on a nice stretch with mooring rings.

Lots of boats passed us, but no-one joined us on the moorings. It was peaceful, not even any walkers or cyclists. Just a family of squirrels on the opposite bank running up and down the trees and throwing acorns. We sat out on the towpath until it got dark.

Early to bed tonight ready for an early start tomorrow.

15 miles, 1 lock & 3 tunnels.

Day Four:- Castlefields to Dunham

2008-06-10T20:48:00.018+01:00

More sunshine today, but not as warm as there was quite a wind. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of noise last night. The last time we stayed here there was a nightclub that went on til the early hours of the morning. There are apartments her now. There were a couple of bar/restaurants, but they were not too busy and they closed at a reasonable time.

There is a mixture of old and new around here, with Beetham Tower, new apartments and the old railway bridges.

We didn't set off until 9.15 as we knew we were only going to Dunham. We stopped near TDG in Trafford Park to say hi to Carl's daughters, Emma & Suzy, who both work there.

We stopped at Stretford Marina for water. The tap on the canal side is useless, hardly more than a dribble. We ended up pulling the boat back to the tap inside the marina, which involved Carl climbing round a fence. This tap was much better.

We stopped off at Broadheath so that Carl could walk home to get his spare specs. He's happy now, he can read again. Liz walked over to Aldi to pick up some shopping. We moored at Dunham on the non towpath side just over Dunham underbridge. A total of 10 miles today.

Day Three:- Dover to Castlefields

2008-06-09T15:16:00.004+01:00

Another scorcher. Up early again and the sun is already hot. Definitely need plenty of sun cream today. We sat around in the sun for a while before setting off about 8.30. Not so many people around today, but a few dog walkers. This stretch of the canal has a good towpath and is very good for walkers and cyclists.

We saw a kingfisher along the stretch between Dover and Plank Lane. It was too fast to photograph and didn't settle anywhere. There was, however, a narrowboat called Kingfisher sinking in a winding hole that I managed to snap!

We were through Plank Lane just after 9.00 and then it was a leisurely cruise through to Manchester, through Trafford Park and past Manchester United football ground.

We moored in Castlefield Basin and sat out in the sun people watching. It's not often that we moor in cities or towns. Total travelling today was 17 miles.

The laptop crashed several times while I was trying to update the blog so I have typed it in word and pasted it into blogger. I decided it would be quicker that way. I then had another go at resolving the problem and removed the GPS software that I loaded before we left home. Touch wood, it hasn't crashed since and it is letting me upload photos. I am now going back to upload photos to the previous posts

Day Two:- Dunham to Dover

2008-06-08T16:53:00.004+01:00

A brilliant signal on the mobile broadband today, much faster than yesterday. The trouble is that my laptop keeps crashing. I used XP for years without once seeing the dreaded blue screen. This laptop has vista on it and I've had the blue error screen about ten times over the last three days. I probably won't be able to solve it until we get home.

Anyway, back to cruising. We got up early this morning and the sun was already out. Blue sky, with hardly any clouds. We set off just before 8.00. it was already warm enough for shorts. As we passed through Altrincham to Sale, we met loads of rowers. There is a rowing club at Walton Park in Sale and they are always out early on a Sunday morning practising.

There were also lots of fishermen about, including some fishing matches. Almost all of them were friendly. We have found this along the Bridgewater Canal. They often chat to us as we pass. not like some other waterways where they make every effort to avoid looking at you.

We turned onto the Leigh branch at 10.00. The stretch through Trafford park always amazes me. You can see the warehouses and factories at first, but there are many stretches where you would not believe you were surrounded by industry.

When we got to Barton Swing Aqueduct, it was closed off! There was a ferry coming down from Manchester, but they were having trouble with the wedges - they were stuck. They finally got them sorted and swung the aqueduct for the ferry. We had to wait nearly an hour before we could cross. It was worth it though as it's the first time we have seen the aqueduct swung for a boat - we once arrived too late to cross and found it already swung for the night and had to wait until morning.

We stopped at Worsley for lunch. We had read that the canal was being filtered to take out the iron ore that makes it red. It didn't look any different to us - it still looked like tomato soup. Through Astley, the water is very clear and you can see all the fishes swimming about in the weed. You can also see all the carrier bags and beer cans on the bottom! There were lots of damsel flies along this stretch.

We moored at Dover for the night. A total of just over 21 miles today. Maccs managed to knock Carl's glasses into the canal. Although we tried fishing for them, we didn't find them. A trip to the opticians when we get home.

Day One:- Preston Brook to Dunham

2008-06-07T16:57:00.005+01:00

Well, I'm impressed with the mobile broadband so far. Mind you we are not all that far from civilisation, so I would expect to get a good signal. It's certainly a lot faster than last May when we used bluetooth, the mobile phone and a dial up connection! It's great not to have to worry about how long I spend typing this up as the charge is for the amount of data uploaded/downloaded, rather than by the minute. It will be interesting to see what the coverage is like in July when we go for a proper cruise.

We set off from Preston Brook at 10.30 and had a leisurely cruise to Dunham, a total of 14 miles, stopping at Thorne Marine for a pump out and at Lymm for a paper. We have moored slightly further on than normal, just past the Hall. It is peaceful sitting here listening to the birds singing.

Although it has been overcast for most of the day, it has still been warm enough for Carl to wear his shorts. The sun has managed to peek out from behind the clouds a few times, but no burnt shoulders today, thank goodness.

There were lots of boats heading the opposite way to us. It's Middlewich Festival next weekend, so I expect that some of them were heading for that.

After trying three times to upload a photo, I've given up! I don't know if it is Blogger playing up or whether it is the mobile broadband. I'll be disappointed if I'm not able to upload photos on the move as that was one of the reasons we bought the mobile modem thing. I'll try again tomorrow.

(added 9/6/08 - managed to get the photos on today)

Getting ready for a short trip

2008-06-06T18:50:00.003+01:00

We are setting off tomorrow morning for a short break. We have stocked up on the important stuff, beer, cider and wine and a bit of food! Just got to throw a few clothes in a bag and we will be ready to set off early tomorrow morning.

We are not going far. We are heading north for a change. Along the Bridgewater and on to the Leigh Branch probably as far as Dover Lock. We probably won't go further than that as we haven't the time (or inclination) to go up the Wigan Flight this time.

We have bought one of these mobile broadband things from Three. It was £49.99 and is on pay as you go, which suits us much better than a monthly contract. We only need it when we go out cruising. You get 1GB for £10, 3GB for £15 or 7GB for£25. Each top up is valid for 30 days. Hopefully we will have better luck updating the blog while we are out than we did on our trip last year. We are actually trying it out now but it has disconnecected twice already, and that's in a good reception area. Let's hope it works on the cut other wise thats £49.99 wasted!

Another weekend at Dunham

2008-06-01T21:37:00.006+01:00

According to the weather forecast the weekend was going to be sunny, so we decided to spend time on the boat. We left the marina about 10.30 on Saturday 31 May after getting a few bits and pieces from the supermarket on the way. The weather was glorious, warm enough for shorts. We stopped at "Sam's Tree" to see if Liz could find the geocache that is hidden there. This is the first one she has tried to find on her own. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the GPS showed that she got within two feet of the cache, she did not spot it. We will have to read the description again and have another look next time we are passing.

The hawthorn and wisteria have faded now, but the rhododendrons are out. There are lots of them along this stretch of canal and they are spectacular. There are also plenty of laburnum.

We saw our first cygnets of the year and also some brand new ducklings.

We had to stop for water at the Old Number 3 as we had not filled up since I don't know when! We tend to let the water tank get low over winter. our idea is that if it freezes there will be plenty of room for expansion. Haven't a clue if this is right, but we haven't had a burst yet. We spent 45 minutes at the water point and then gave up, even though the tank wasn't full. The water flow here is so slow and made even slower when another boat turned up to use the other tap.

We went through to Dunham Hall, but there were a lot of boats moored there so we turned round and moored in our usual place opposite the old corn mill. We sat out on the towpath drinking beer (Carl) and white wine (Liz).

Woke up on Sunday to a dull cloudy morning. It soon started to rain, so we lazed around reading the papers and listening to the radio until lunchtime. As the rain was obviously set for the day, we decided to set off back in to the marina after lunch. We had originally decided to stay out until Monday. Carl volunteered to get wet at the tiller, while Liz did a bit of brass cleaning inside. There is no point both of us getting soaked! Maccs divided his time between the two of us, trying his luck every now and then by getting up onto the bed, but being told off every time as he was wet. Got back to the marina about 5.00pm.

It feels like summer.

2008-05-13T22:09:00.006+01:00

Liz had to work on Saturday morning, so we didn't leave home until 1.50pm. We left the marina at 2.30pm and headed for Dunham. It was hazy, but very warm. It's a lovely time of year. The hedgerows are full of blossom - mainly hawthorn, but also some horse chestnuts. The rhododendrons have huge buds on them, they will be in flower soon. There was also an abundance of flowers along the banks. So many different colours. We must get a decent book of wild flowers so we can identify them all. The cottage gardens were full of cherry blossom, wisteria and lilac. We saw swallows and wagtails, there were several large broods of ducklings and we heard our first cuckoo of the year. We moored in one of our favourite spots - overlooking the old corn mill, which has now been converted into apartments. It was such a beautiful evening we sat out on the towpath until quarter to ten. We watched mist creep across the fields.

Another hot day on Sunday. Although there was a bit of a haze, the sun was already warm at 8.00am. We heard the cuckoo again this morning and then looking across the field through the binoculars, there it was sitting in a tree. I've never seen a cuckoo before! We spent the morning cleaning brass. There's something very satisfying about cleaning brass in the sunshine. The towpath was busy with walkers and cyclists. We turned round and set off back to the marina after lunch. There were lots of boats moving today. Everyone enjoying the first decent weekend of the year. Here's hoping for many more!

First Cruise of 2008

2008-03-02T17:41:00.013Z

We've finally escaped! No work, no worries, no responsibilities for five whole days.

Wednesday 27 Feb.

The sun is playing hide and seek with the fluffy white clouds. There is plenty of blue sky. It's not too cold, reasonably warm when the sun comes out, but cooler when the wind blows. We set off from the marina just before 10.00am and headed for Preston Brook Tunnel. You can only go through the tunnel on the half hour from this direction, so we had a short wait. We followed Dragonfly, an Elton Moss boat, through the tunnel and we were through Dutton Stop Lock just after 11.00am.

This time of year, without the leaves on the trees, you see so much more than you do during the summer. There are some spectacular views over the River Weaver. Even though the trees have no leaves, there is still plenty of greenery - many of the trees are covered in ivy. There is also plenty of gorse in flower along the banks.

When we passed through Anderton, we were amazed to see the moorings practically empty. We have never seen so many spaces here before. We filled up with water here and then moved down to the country park, where we moored up for lunch.

We carried on until we got to Billinge Green Flash, where we moored for the night. This is a beautiful place to moor. Very peaceful, with plenty of wildlife. We saw swans, grebe, coots, moorhens, geese and mallard on the flash. Unfortunately, planning permission has been given for a new marina to be built at the next flash, so this part of the canal will probably get a lot busier.

Thursday 28 Feb.

It's Carl's birthday today.

Suzy always makes brilliant birthday cards and here is the one she made this year.

It was slightly frosty this morning, but it was lovely and warm on the boat as the fire stayed in all night. We set off at ten to nine, but didn't get very far! At 9.25, the engine died, just past bridge 178. We glided into the bank and checked the diesel - we hadn't filled up since May. We still had several inches left in the tank so that wasn't the problem. We have a small fuel filter that regularly clogs up. We waited for the engine to cool down and checked the filter - sure enough it was clogged again. We were surprised as we only changed it in September and have hardly cruised since. Anyway, Carl changed the filter and we were on our way again. A very nice man from the narrowboat Phoenix from Sale stopped to see if we were OK, he offered us some diesel if we needed it. Another example of how boaters will usually try to help each other if they can.

We stopped of at Kings Lock Chandlery to fill up with diesel - it took 198 litres! Diesel is now 64p per litre. It was only 48p in May. It will go up a lot more in November, when boaters are no longer able to use red diesel. We bought two more fuel filters as we seem to be getting through them so often.

We treated ourselves to fish and chips for lunch from the Chippy on Booths Lane, by Kings Lock. We carried on to Wheelock, went through the first lock, turned round, came back down and moored for the night.

Friday 29 Feb

It's dull and cloudy this morning. The fire stayed in again all night, so it was toasty on board.

Just as we were setting off, there was a lot of police activity in the area. Several police cars and an ambulance came along the main road into Wheelock. The next thing we know, there is a policeman walking along the towpath. He was looking for an Indian gentleman in a suit, but we had not seen anyone fitting that description, so we couldn't help.

We met a few more boats moving today. We actually had to wait at some of the locks. It's cold, wet and windy, so when we got back to the flashes, we decided to call it a day, even though it was only 1.30.

Saturday 1 March

There were very strong winds and heavy rain all night. Carl had to get up and move things off the roof as they were blowing across the roof and keeping us awake. He has to rescue one of the mops, which had blown into the canal. We didn't get much sleep last night. Every time we nodded of, the wind woke us up again.

There are still plenty of grey clouds around, but the rain seems to have stopped for now. It's still cold and very windy. Most of the waterfowl have stayed in bed this morning, with only the coots coming to visit.

We arrived at Anderton at 11.00am. There is some sunshine and blue sky, but it's still windy and cold. We met our friends, Anne and Ray, in the Stanley Arms for lunch. They have a boat, Jennyanydots, which they moor at Uplands marina. We had a lovely lunch and then went back to their boat for coffee. We hadn't seen them for ages and it was good to catch up with all the news.

Sunday 2 March

Another very windy night. Not a lot of sleep yet again. Even though there was not much on the roof, the wind still woke us up regularly during the night, howling and rattling the plank and poles.

The sun has come out today, but it is still windy and cold. The wind was against us all the way home.

We moored for a couple of hours just past bridge 211. We were through Preston Brook tunnel on the 2.00pm passage and moored up back in the marina by 2.35pm. Oh well, back to reality.

Getting ready to cruise

2008-02-26T16:17:00.003Z

At last. We are actually going for a cruise, starting tomorrow. The first one since last November. We are only out for five days and don't intend to go far. We will head for Middlewich and when we get there we will decide whether to head towards Barbridge or Wheelock.

We have been shopping and bought loads of food, beer and wine. Just got to pack some clothes and we will be ready to set of bright and early in the morning. The BBC 5 day weather page shows reasonable weather at least until Friday.

Going to Suzy's for tea tonight, celebrating Carl's 61st birthday, which is on Thursday.

Geocaching

2008-02-25T18:24:00.005Z

We spent yesterday Geocaching with Suzy (daughter), Bethany and Ben (grandchildren). For those who don't know what this is, it's like a treasure hunt. People hide the caches - quite often in plastic sandwich boxes - and then enter either the co-ordinates or a clue for you to work out
the co-ordinates on the website http://www.geocaching.com/ . You then use a GPS to find the cache. Caches contain a log for you to sign when you find it and some bits and pieces (treasure). You are allowed to remove an item from the box and replace it with another item that you brought with you. Some items can be kept, others must be moved to another cache to help them travel. Such as this coin that we found in a cache near the airport. It had been put in the cache by someone from Germany!

We searched for five caches. Three near the airport, one at Carrington Moss, between the training camps for Man City & Man United, and one in Broadheath, near Altrincham. We found three of them. We could not find one of the ones near the airport. It turned out to be extremely small, so we probably overlooked it. We did not find the one in Broadheath because there is a riddle to solve and we couldn't solve it. We will have to work on it. (Photos taken by Suzy - hope you don't mind me nicking them Suz!).

The adults enjoyed the day more than the children. They were OK with the first one, but soon got fed up with walking in the cold, rain and mud.

When we got home we searched the geocaching site for caches near canals. There are loads, so we may get ourselves a GPS and do some geocaching when we go cruising.

New Start

2008-02-23T20:52:00.003Z

The last nine months have been sad for us. First Carl's Mum went into hospital with pneumonia and died. Then the day after Carls' mum's funeral, Liz's mum was taken into hospital. She died eight weeks later. We have hardly been out since May. We missed our three week cruise in September because Liz's mum died on the first day of the cruise so we had to go to Kent for the funeral and to help sort out Liz's dad, who is 85 and cannot really live on his own any more.

As this blog was originally set up specifically for Liz's mum, so that she could follow us whenever we were out cruising, we have not felt like adding to it.

However, Mum would have wanted us to continue with it, so here we are again.

We have not taken Blackstone out yet this year. The one free weekend we had that coincided with dry sunny weather, the canal was frozen solid! Still we went to the marina, lit the fire and ran the engine. Everything is still working OK.

It is Carl's birthday on 28 February. Liz has taken some time of work and we are hoping to cruise for five whole days. Fingers crossed that nothing happens to stop us. We need a bit of a cruise to get lots of hot water to spring clean the boat. It's surprising how mucky it gets over winter when it's not being used.

Wonderful memories

2007-05-30T22:30:00.000+01:00

The holiday is over, but the memories will linger on. We had such a wonderful time. Plenty of sunshine, good food and laughter. We will have to investigate better ways to connect to the Internet while we are on the boat. There were too many days without a signal and even when we did have a signal trying to connect was very frustrating when it took 10 minutes to log into the blog and then the mobile phone disconnected and we had to try again. Anyway, here are a few of our memories.

Day 13 Tuesday 29 May 2007

2007-05-29T21:32:00.000+01:00

Last day today. It rained all night again and the rain carried on all morning. We came back through Preston Brook Tunnel at 11.00 and when we got out the other side, the sun was shining! Back in the marina, filled up with water and moored by 12.00. The sky was blue with fluffy white clouds and the sun was out. A bit different from the last couple of days.

Day 12 Monday 28 May 2007

2007-05-29T15:43:00.001+01:00

Minshull to Bridge 206 on the Trent & Mersey canal. It rained again during the night, but it had finally stopped by the time we set off this morning. It was cloudy and quite cold. Luckily the fire stayed in all night so we put a couple of logs on and we soon warmed up. We stopped for provisions in Middlewich and had to wait ages to get through Big Lock. It started raining around lunch time. We moored by Billinge Green Flash for lunch and then carried on through Anderton and the tunnels at Barnton and Saltersford to just past bridge 206, where we moored for the night. We saw another kingfisher along this stretch. It was near the Northwich Victoria football club. Would you believe it, the signal kept disappearing when I tried to update, so this is late again.

Day 11 Sunday 27 May 2007

2007-05-28T15:55:00.000+01:00

Up early this morning to help clean the dog hairs out of David and Cathy’s boat, Jennifer, before they took it in. It rained heavily all night and it looks as though it is set for the rest of the day. David and Cathy were back at Empress for 9.30. David reversed the boat into the bay successfully. We helped them unload and said goodbye and then turned our boat round and headed for Barbridge Junction and the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire union canal. Volunteers from the Shropshire Union Canal Society were manning Cholmondston Lock. They do this regularly on bank holiday weekends as it raises money, which they use to help install mooring rings along the canal. They are also active in the Montgomery restoration. We bought some stuff from their stall and gave them a donation for seeing us down the lock. We carried on through Minshull Lock and then moored up around lunch time for the rest of the day. It has rained all day and we were cold and wet, so we lit the fire and the inside of the boat was soon lovely and warm. We had soup and bacon sandwiches so our insides were soon lovely and warm too.

Day 10 Saturday 26 May 2007

2007-05-27T18:44:00.001+01:00

Grindley Brook to just past the Henhull moorings on the Shropshire Union canal. 13 locks today. The sun was out again this morning. We sat on the towpath eating sausage, bacon, black pudding, tomato and scrambled egg for breakfast. It got cloudy as the day went on and it started to rain a bit around lunch time. Just short showers. We stopped at the Dusty Miller in Wrenbury to quench our thirst and to set us up for all the locks we would be doing later! We turned at Hurleston and moored about half an hour further on, just through bridge 95. It’s David and Cathy’s last night tonight, they have to take the boat back to Empress holidays by 9.30 in the morning.

Sorry for being behind with the updates. We have had no mobile phone signal for a couple of days.

Day 9 Friday 25 May 2007

2007-05-27T18:41:00.000+01:00

Blake Mere to below Grindley Brook locks. We had breakfast at a picnic table by the mere. We put a table cloth on it and sat eating bacon sandwiches and drinking coffee. Everyone walking past commented on how civilised we looked. It was not as warm today, the sun played hide and seek for most of the day. It was very warm when it was out, but there was a cool wind. We saw herons, canada geese, greylag geese, crested grebe and shell ducks at the mere. There were several cows and their calves on the towpath just past the Whitchurch branch. We moored for the night below the Grindley Brook locks. There were a pair of kestrels nesting in the hollow of a tree in the field opposite us. They were both in and out with food, so they must have had chicks. A jackdaw had made it’s nest in the same tree, just below the kestrels. There were hardly any clouds in the sky and we had a clear view of the stars.

Day 8 Thursday 24 May 2007

2007-05-25T19:50:00.000+01:00

Maesbury Marsh on the Montgomery canal to Blake Mere on the Llangollen canal. Yet another wonderful day full of sunshine. It was already warm at 7.00am. We set off fairly early as we had to make sure we were back at the locks at the top of the Montgomery canal in time to go through. There were a lot of boats going through the locks both ways. Whe we stopped for lunch, Maccs was so eager to get of the boat that he did not wait until we were moored properly. He jumped while there was still a big gap, missed the bank and ended up going for a swim! We decided to stop at Blake Mere again for the night as it is so beautiful. We had a barbeque and watched the bats again. There was an owl on the other side of the mere. We couldn’t see it, but we could hear it calling.

Day 7 Wednesday 23 May 2007

2007-05-24T14:02:00.000+01:00

Blake Mere to Maesbury Marsh on the Montgomery canal. Opened the curtains this morning to the most beautiful view across the mere. We sat out having breakfast watching the great crested grebe, kingfisher and heron on the lake. It’s so peaceful here, we could have stayed all day. We got to the Montgomery canal just after 12.00. You have to book with British Waterways to go onto the Montgomery canal as it is a site of special scientific interest and the number of boats allowed to cruise it is limited. The locks at the entrance are only open between 12.00 and 2.00. It’s a lovely quiet, peaceful canal with spectacular views of the hills. We went to the end of the navigable part of the canal, turned round and moored near the Navigation pub, where we had a delicious meal with Cathy’s sister and her boyfriend.

Day 6 Tuesday 22 May 2007

2007-05-24T14:00:00.000+01:00

Grindley Brook to Blake Mere. Yet another beautiful day. Plenty of sunshine all day. We had another leisurely day sitting around on the towpath until 11.00, before setting off. No locks today and only about 12 or 13 miles cruising. We moored in a lovely spot overlooking the Welsh hills and had a late lunch then moved on towards Ellesmere where we found a spot with a spectacular view over Blake Mere. We sat out by the mere for the evening. As dusk approached the bats came out and we watched them swooping down to the water to catch the midgies. We saw a kingfisher today and heard a cuckoo.

Day 5 Monday 21 May 2007

2007-05-22T08:34:00.000+01:00

Swanley to Grindley Brook. About 9 miles and 13 locks today. Plenty of sunshine again. Despite the locks it was a leisurely day. There were plenty of boats going our way and we had to wait at most of the locks as they were all against us so that we had to empty them before we could go in. There were not many boats going the other way, but when we got to Grindley Brook staircase locks, we had to wait for two boats going down. You have to be careful at staircase locks as each lock empties into the next one. You have to make sure that they are set correctly other wise you either don’t have enough water to get through or you flood the cottages at the bottom! We had a great barbeque on the towpath and sat out until 11.00 again.

Day 4 Sunday 20 May 2007

2007-05-21T07:58:00.000+01:00

Nantwich to just above Swanley Locks on the Llangollen canal. It was a beautiful day today. There was a mist on the water first thing. It soon disappeared and was replaced by sunshine. We cruised just down the canal a short distance until we could turn round, then came back to the same mooring to wait for Liz’s brother David and his wife Cathy, who are picking up a boat from Empress Holidays this afternoon. Sat out on the towpath cleaning all the horse brasses.
David and Cathy arrived around 3.00ish and loaded up the boat. We all set off onto the Llangollen. We moored above Swanley Locks and sat out on the towpath eating, drinking and chatting until 11.15.

2007-05-21T07:55:00.000+01:00

Day 3 Saturday 19 May 2007

2007-05-21T07:51:00.000+01:00

Minshall Lock to Nantwich on the Shropshire Union canal. The day started out cloudy, windy and a bit chilly. We had showers on and off all morning. There were several boats going the same way as us this morning, but we didn’t have to wait at either of the locks. We stopped off at Kates Shop at Venetian Marina and bought some new First Mate’s Guides. They are very useful as they show where there are shops, doctors, dentists, vets etc close to the canals. We moored at Nantwich at 12.00, had lunch and then walked into Nantwich for some shopping. The sun came out this afternoon and the wind dropped a bit so it was quite warm. The moorings are very busy, with plenty of boats moored, including two sets of hotel boats - Oak & Ash and Duke & Duchess. I hope they are not going the same way as us. They will certainly cause queues at the locks!

I was going to include photos in the blog, but they take too long to upload via the mobile. The mobile keeps ending the call before the uploading has finished.

Day 2 Friday 18 May 2007

2007-05-19T15:22:00.000+01:00

Acton Bridge to Church Minshall Lock. Mainly sunshine all day. Cloudy for about an hour just before lunch. We managed to miss the rain today, probably because it was so windy. It’s been blowing a gale all day. Whenever the wind drops it is quite warm. The countryside is gorgeous at this time of year. Lots of different shades of green interspaced with pink and white hawthorn blossom. The banks are full of wild flowers, including wild garlic, which has a very pungent smell. We have seen plenty of ducklings and cygnets. We also saw a kingfisher, a pair of buzzards, plenty of swallows, herons and a sparrow hawk.

Day 1 Thursday 17 May 2007

2007-05-18T21:20:00.000+01:00

Preston Brook to Acton Bridge. We set off from the marina at 3.20. It was a bit overcast and very windy, but not too cold. We arrived at Preston Brook tunnel at 3.45, just too late to go through. You are only allowed through between half past and twenty to the hour. We unpacked while we waited to go through. We are only out for two weeks, but I think we have brought enough food for a month! By the time we moored just through Acton Bridge, in a lovely spot overlooking the River Weaver, the sun had come out and it was reasonably warm. We sat out on the towpath with our pizza and beer, listening to the birds . This is the life. Tried to put update the blog only to find that the laptop would not talk to the mobile. It must have been because the mobile battery was low. Now that I have charged it, everything is working again.

Connected at last

2007-05-16T23:15:00.000+01:00

We have finally managed to make the laptop talk to Carl’s mobile phone using the Bluetooth thingy, so we will hopefully be able to keep the blog up to date while we are cruising. Fingers crossed that it all works when we are in the middle of nowhere!

Preparing for the first cruise of the year

2007-05-13T22:26:00.000+01:00

This weekend Carl has changed the oil and filters, we have renewed our subscription to River Canal Rescue (the RAC of the waterways) and we have bought some plants for the top of the boat. All we need now is plenty of beer, wine and food and we will be ready to set off. Only three more days at work and then almost two weeks of cruising.