Middlewich

We travelled down to Middlewich today, a glorious day and only six locks to do. One bridge coming into Middlewich has suffered damage from a boat - bet they felt that! We took the advice of Bob Cadawaller, (who came to do the BSS and passed Gracie, now the wiring in the engine room is done and the vents cleaned, meaning the pilot light finally works properly on the water heater!) and came through Kings Lock, turned left up Wardle Lock and found a lovely 48 hour mooring just before Bridge 31.
We arrived just before the showers and so didn't need to cruise in the rain!
Middlewich is where Stella's Mum was born and where her great grandfather, Josiah Preston, was born on a narrowboat. Her grandfather, Wilfred Faulkner, was Mayor of Middlewich in the 1970's and apparently has a street named after him. We are going into the Town Hall to meet the Town Clerk, who will be able to fill in family history.
Tomorrow,  a friend is picking Stella's daughter up from the airport and bringing her here and then we will continue our cruise to the Llangollen Canal.
The boys are really enjoying themselves,  supervising the locks and enjoying lying by the boat on the towpath,  which would have been difficult on the moorings up to Kings Lock, due to its proximity to the main road. Kings Lock Inn is,in the process of being refurbished, but people were still sat enjoying a drink in the sun.
There are also a big number of swans,  so will try to get a photo tomorrow. We are now sat in the dry, I am going to the water point to get the animals drinking water - a good day.

Heartbreak Hill

Well, we went from Red Bull Services to Wheelock Services today, down 22 locks, mostly double locks. Very windy,  but picturesque all the same.
I did notice a lot of new orchards being planted, interesting that this is occurring.  More money in fruit?
Heartbreak Hill, as it is known, is a series of sets of locks,  most of them paired locks, enabling two boats to go up/down simultaneously. You pass under the M6, which always amuses me- the juxtaposition of speed.
The dogs were very good today, excited about new smells,  they come off the boat to supervise,  although Simba barks a "Don't forget us" at you! It was very windy across the top, but fortunately,  not that cold. I bought jam, scones and marmalade from a lady selling homemade items to raise money for local children's hospice.
We are enjoying the journey, we are where we want to be ready for Wednesday, when Stella's eldest arrives back from Spain and joins us on our cruise. Gracie has behaved beautifully, although in one lock, she got stuck on something at the bottom,  so had to run water through, she started to float out, got stuck again and then a fellow boater arrived to see if we were Ok and opened the top paddle very fast and she zoomed out! A bag of sawdust or similar we think.
We are now having curry and rice, curry made yesterday and has now marinaded for 24 hours - bliss!

Finally Cruising

So, as Stella's eldest is in Spain for a few days, we thought we would get some of the journey out of the way, as the plan is to travel up the Llangollen Canal and do the other half of the Cheshire Ring through Manchester.
So, yesterday,  we travelled from Bollington to the top of Bosley Locks and moored up at the services. They are solar powered and have showers, toilets, Elsan disposal and a washing machine and tumble drier. You can get the cards from Nb Alton and each use of whichever is Four units and you get 25 units on a card.
So, managed to do four loads of washing and two dried, but I wish all services were as good.
So today, Bosley Locks and down onto the Trent & Mersey Canal
The bottom of the Macclesfield Canal is pretty and although the moorings in Congleton are OK, none of the towpaths have been strummed, so the nettles have taken hold and of course every place is 48 hours, so not encouraging to visitors.
There are some lovely views though and some of the gardens are gorgeous as well as wild flower banks
We found ourselves sadly out of practice for locks, although the Bosley Locks were good and all set up, so we were through in less than three hours,  stopped and had lunch and chatted to an Australian couple here in the UK on holiday and then set off, getting through the first three locks of Heartbreak Hill, as it is known.
Now, moored up ahead of the next five locks out of 44, curry on ready for tea tomorrow night.

The Story So Far

Check Well, after a month of doing very little due to my sprained wrist; we thought we'd get going and start cruising slowly down the Macclesfield Canal after Easter. We had a couple of nights in Poynton,  while Stella went for physio for her wrist and then got to Bollington, where we arranged for our Boat Safety Cert to be done. It was a busy day, sorting out banks etc as well and then the inspector found the wires to the relay were melting. So a fail and a call out to get the engine sorted once and for all, as it's not been right since the new starter motor was installed at the end of November last year.
The result was the solenoid had burnt out and so it had to go back to Stoke to be rebuilt and we had a week with no electricity or water. Fortunately,  there was a tap at Clarence Mill we could use and finally on Friday they came to mend it. Stella went off to the airport to meet her eldest daughter, whom she hadn't seen in 7 years and so a short family reunion was had before she flew out to Spain to see her Dad.

Easter on the cut

It's been about a month since I posted this blog and quite a bit has happened, since the last post. The wrist turned out to be a suspected scaphoid fracture (tiny bone on the inside of the wrist). So, signed off work til Easter and back to the Orthopaedic Outpatients for a check up on the 7th April. They were reasonably confident that although it wasn't broken, I had sprained it, torn tendons and damaged ligaments and advised me to stay off work until the next time they saw me and to have some physio in the meantime. So, back to hospital on the 29th April and signed off until May 1st, as I have holiday booked from 1st-28th May. So, I have been relaxing,  taking dogs out and generally pottering about. We are currently moored about a mile outside Marple,  very quiet and in a shady spot, good for keeping the boat cool in the sun, although there have been cool winds. 

We moved down here from Whaley Bridge a fortnight ago. The dogs have enjoyed the move although we have to watch them in Whaley Bridge,  Simba, in particular tends to wander round the picnic tables (middle name is Yogi Bear) and one day they got themselves completely lost when I was walking to Furness Vale to change the stop cord for a longer one and ended up on the bypass. Fortunately,  they have tags on with Boat name and Chris's mobile number and someone grabbed them and phoned. The same thing happened in Marple - sure sign we need to move on! 

We have a Boat Safety Survey to organise before 10th May, so will phone round on Tuesday to book someone and eldest arrives in less than a fortnight from New Zealand,  so once Easter is over,  we will be moving down the Macclesfield Canal towards Congleton ti be there for the 2nd May and then on round to Nantwich for the 7th May, when she joins us for our cruise down the Llangollen Canal.

I have to say, having this time off work has allowed me finally get rid of the virus that has haunted me since last November and we have also realised how much weight we have lost, both as a result of the flu, but also a complete change of diet (and correspondingly smaller portions). We tend to only have meat once or twice a week and therefore are eating more fresh vegetables and lentils, pulses etc. One of our favourite meals is baked potato done in the ash can and sautéed onions, garlic, sweet peppers and whatever other veg we have; delicious!  We find shop made dishes both very salty and sugary, actually quite a shock the other day when we had pizza and garlic bread and were still hungry afterwards. I reckon this shows that a ready meal diet is designed to make you eat more, not less!

So a cruise to look forward to - have a lovely Easter, wherever you are and whoever you are with.

. 

The start of Spring

I haven't mentioned how we rely on NBAlton and last weekend,  we had friends Onboard when Brian and Anne Marie arrived, they were most impressed with how everything flowed we do - diesel, coal, Elsan all bought within a short time. Coalboats are a lifeline to liveaboards - use them or lose them!

It was oficially the first day of Spring on Thursday - i had booked a half day holiday and went to collect my bike - the government in the UK do a cycle to work scheme - you buy a bike and get tax relief on the cost - pay over 12 months as well. So am now the owner of a red hybrid bike and a rather natty helmet with its own rear light! Watch out on the towpath for me!

Spring has definitely sprung - daffodils are out, ewes in lamb and even the sun has made an appearance.

Finally had my leave authorised - i am not sure why it has to go up.the management line if you want more than two weeks off at a time, or why it then takes nine weeks to authorise; but am now off from the second of May until the 28th May and now the cruise and holiday planning starts - Stella's eldest is over from New Zealand for that time and wanted to go.through Manchester, so.we thought we would finish The Cheshire Ring and go up the Llangollen Canal returning up the Bridgewater Canal through Manchester - the beauty of this is that she can join us and still see family and friends whilst here.

At present we are moving up the Peak Forest Canal towards Whaley Bridge and hopefully Bugsworth Basin will be open for Easter. It is typical Spring weather, brilliant sunshine one minute and pouring with rain the next. At least here the towpath is tarmac and not a mudbath as it is in Marple unfortunately.

We had an.eventful journey to Whaley Bridge - there is a swing bridge at Furness Vale and I normally get off Gracie at the previous bridge so as to have the bridge ready. Chris slowed her down; Shiva jumped offood, but Simba wouldn't - i grabbed hold of his harness to lift him off; his back.legs went in the canal, buy I got him.up and then slipped as I was getting off and fell heavily on my right wrist. Very sore .and grazed hand, got a tubular bandage and painkillers today, which are helping, but it's amazing what makes it twinge. I cycled up.to New Mills this morning as I managed to leave my bank card in the Co-op yesterday; slight flaw in my plan on my return - a headwind and changing gear was very painful! 

This is the view at New Mills - a lovely walk down to the River Goyt and along - it is a shame there are no visitor moorings here, as it . Is a friendly town with some nice shops and an indoor market. 

Once again, though the engine is playing up and so we have.a.call into River and Canal Rescue as Gracie will not start again! 

HopeFully we will be up and started soon as the engineer Is on his way.upupdate to say that the engine now working - lever had jammed owing to a frayed cable! 

Seven months Onboard and our sixth wedding anniversary

We are coming to the end of our seventh month Onboard - a steep learning curve in engines - we have had to get a new starter motor and when fitted it must have loosened the wires connecting the batteries to the alternator - apart from a valve perishing and so water was coming into the bilge. Gracie doesn't like the cold but last week it was twice we just couldn't get a charge into the batteries and had to get a neighbour to jump start her.
Of course as soon as anyone sees an engine cover off - advice is given, tea is drunk and finally on Sunday - a lovely day - we thought, up early, water up and off to New Mills; Gracie, however, had different ideas and decided she wasn't starting. We had had this before and she had started eventually once the air temp warmed up, so I took dogs, Elsan and water bottles to Marple and met Kit & Mike on Here be Dragons, who had helped us earlier and Mike went off to check heaters etc - I went off and got water and on the way back saw two other friends on their boats; who told me the engine was now going.
Turns out there were three wires loose to the alternator and once fixed, she has started like a dream and is charging the batteries up in 2.5 hours again rather than the six it was taking! Also, Chris topped the starter battery up, so that obviously helped.
So the landlubbers, now narrowboaters, learnt another lesson and a big shout out to Wayne and Mike who fixed Gracie's engine and a heartfelt thank you
It is our sixth wedding anniversary on Friday and on the 17th March 2012 we got a nine week old black Labrador, whom we named Shiva, it seems longer than that, we have had a ball really and roll on the next 56 years!