First Cruise of 2008

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.