Walking In The Rain
Posted: July 20, 2014 Filed under: Bobbing about, Dry land | Tags: Diggle, important dates, narrowboat blog, rain, Saddleworth Moors, Sykes Pillar, Uppermill 2 Comments
Diggle end of the Standedge Tunnel has delivered some crazy weather. With leaden skies, lightning cracks and rolling thunder the moors have looked dark and menacing. There was walking out there so we anoracked up. Torrential rain meant a quiet hike down to Uppermill yesterday where we trudged through Java in our wellies before steaming under patio heaters with birthday Pimms, Murk there too…as always.
Squelching off again this morning, up past the Diggle Hotel we could see 
where we needed to be and it was pretty much straight up the side of a craggy hill 
come mountain. The footpath soon fizzled out and realising we were somewhere we probably shouldn’t have been we carried on. By the end of the semi-treacherous, free-fall boulder climb we were at a chilly height where bilberries are king. Saddleworth moor
s screamed vast and remote as we poked our way along rugged tracks, discovering gigantic walls of rock and dodging huge holes below the heather.
Clueless, we wandered the wilderness before checking for the unlikely possibility 
of a Geocache nearby in the hope it might set us back on track. Sure 
enough, there it was and after crossing a final boggy patch we arrived at Sykes Pillar, despite standing 1489ft above sea level, arriving at the trig felt like landing right back in civilisation. The remainder was a doddle – a few miles along the top of the moors along to Pots and Pans then down to find ourselves two villages from where the boat was moored.
Very quiet up here, just one boat has passed by all weekend.
Sweet Peas
Posted: June 3, 2014 Filed under: Dry land, Geeky facts, Moving on | Tags: Adderley Locks, Audlem Locks, important dates, Market Drayton, Shropshire Union, Tyrley locks Comments Off on Sweet Peas
There was no escaping the fact it was summer on The Four Counties Ring today. Can’t really blame the traffic
when you are the traffic etc etc etc. It was constant, from start to finish. Most boats moving in the same direction as us are heading to either the Chester rally or the one at Ellesmere Port or both. You need a ‘Russell Newbery’ engine to qualify for one or the other so there ar
e a lot of those chugging about. A pretty happy crowd, unlike people from the opposite direction, fed up and reporting tales of historic work boats moving through Audlem – towing, crawling in tandem and generally taking forever. Thankfully the mass of general traffic stopped us getting anywhere near close.
It was a bit of a long day in then end as after negotiating the busy Tyrley Lo
cks we had a food and water stop in Market Drayton…a few miles of straight and narr
ow before plunging into the mayhem of Adderley Locks and then deciding to continue on.
Audlem never disappoints. Fairly sure the stalls set out amongst the grasses and hedgerows are the genuine thing but if not then they’re a genius bit of marketing made all the better for a drenching of evening rain. Soggy bunting, cak
es under umbrellas, scones hidden away at the back of wooden huts and empty jars of sweet peas – an
impossibly perfect step back in time.
Very happy to find a mooring below lock 13 as there was barely an inch to spare along the way.
Tapestry Roses
Posted: February 15, 2014 Filed under: Bobbing about, Dry land, Geeky facts | Tags: BCN Main Line, Birmingham, Grayson Perry, important dates, The Vanity Of Small Differences Leave a comment
The waterways chaplain is about, he’s clobbered Nick twice now, both times I’ve failed to
appear no matter how loudly MY WIFE hs been thrown into the conversation. Apparently not quite as radical as the one who took Nick under his wing in
Berkhamsted but still the underlying assumption is single men endure lonely winters all alone on chilly boats, with no hopes and no futures. He must have a certain look about him at the moment as Nick was even easy target 
outside the Bullring this afternoon by
a very vocal basher who somehow managed to get a
flyer into his hand.
A revisit to finish off Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, we were surprised to find things had changed. Grayson Perry’s ‘The Vanity of Small Differences’ is a series of six tapestries that explore his fascination with taste and tell a story of class mobility. The tapestries were created alongside his 2012 TV s
eries ‘All in the Best Possible Taste’ and feature people, events and objects discovered during the filming. A brilliant exhibition that screams genius.
Couples, roses, an alarming amount of red dresses swooped down on the canal area last night, we joined the party – tapas and cocktails, even the thermals had a night off. Having eaten a load of gunk at the park Murk played his part too, by throwing up twice… always especially nice to clear with a fuzzed up head.
Dream Big
Posted: January 1, 2014 Filed under: Bobbing about, Dry land, Moving on | Tags: Ellesmere Port, important dates, Liverpool, narrowboat blog, New Year, rain, Shropshire Union, The Mersey, water Leave a comment
‘I can think of better places to spend New Year’ a local called as we rolled up and moored. Yeah yeah heard it all before. Besides, as New Year destinations go it’s
taken a turn for the better, the BW key now fits the museum gate meaning e
asy access.
Filled with water and ditched the rug. Waited as the light faded forcing historic boat sha
dows to life. Shut Murk
away and ducked in for the firework spectacular. Great views across the Mersey, Liverpool popped colour. Enjoyed a rickety top deck champagne bar complete with ipad coverage of London – okay we didn’t get banana snow and strawberry mist but it was a private show and bed was only a minute away.
Watched the usuals this morning: Sydney, Dubai, New York…then peered out the window at an exceptionally dismal looking Ellesmere Port. Wrapped in just about all waterproof clothing available we topped with water and set off in driving rain, passed a plastic tub bobbing about, looking like a handy kind of a tub we fished it out, delighted by tub possibilities Nick’s eye’s lit up…’Oh yeh! You gotta dream big.’
HAPPY
NEW
YEAR!
Boxing Day
Posted: December 26, 2013 Filed under: Bobbing about, Dry land, Geeky facts | Tags: Chester, Chester Basin, Chester Wall, important dates, Shropshire Union 2 Comments
You never know what’s around the corner but this is our second floating Christmas and looking back quite a few things are in better shape than this time last
year. The engine hasn’t begun to gurgle and cut out (blocked fuel filter); we’re not checking the hull and tipping out a third of a bucket of water every few days (the water tank drama); damp isn’t slowly creeping across the ceiling, it might be, but the ceiling is painted now so we can’t see it and that’s fine (a reluctant finger on the spray foam in
sulation); the windows aren’t dripping with condensation (we didn’t realise quite how condensation worked); the bathroom has heat (there was no fan heater); the mattress isn’t verging on mouldy underneath (there was no ventilation and we didn’t have dry mesh), the lights and TV are gentle on the batteries (most power zapping halogens are gone, replaced with LEDs) and the contents of the radiator system isn’t seeping into the bedroom carpet (Murk hasn’t kicked it 
lately). All in all, pretty good, if we’re still here this time next year it’ll practically be a palace.
Very happy with the backdrop Chester slings at Christmas. A winter wall walk the last two mornings where forced 
close proximity resulted in a very Victorian feel…total strangers wishing each other Merry Christmas. This morning was an icy affair, creating even more comradery although old people slip sliding in new Christmas shoes is doesn’t make for a relaxing experience.
The turkey, that caught fire for a short time, seems a great boat food, one very heavy lug back along the towpath and there’s probably enough to keep going for a week.
One Year On
Posted: September 16, 2013 Filed under: Moving on | Tags: important dates, locks, rain, Rochdale 18, Rochdale canal, wind 1 Comment
tales from traumatised boaters
Had it not been for the visibly shaken woman who turned the second lock against us, the drop down into Manchester would have seemed as though it was going to be a breeze. Looking as though she hadn’t slept for week, she hurriedly apologised for the lock fumble, explaining she ‘just had to get out of there’ and if we had a
ny choice we should ‘turn back now’. With tales of used needles, kids jumping on their boat, drug deals by their window and waiting while the police drained a pound in search of a body her husband was equally traumatised. Booked for a 8.30 passage down the Rochdale 18 tomorrow morning, no way were we turning back, so we listened with raised eyebrows and waved them on their way, ‘Don’t under estimate what it’s like down there,’ the guy called over his shoulder, disappearing up the locks. Guess it’s how your luck
goes but tackling the stretch over the weekend probably didn’t help them much.
Ten locks today were a doddle, paddles working and water levels good, a dream compared to yesterday. Done by lunch time we enjoyed half a day away from the howling wind and rain. Moored only five miles outside the city centre, considering the state of people rising up the locks everything seems remarkably calm and quiet. Tomorrow will tell.
Clean
Posted: March 1, 2013 Filed under: Current location | Tags: important dates, locks, shopping, spring clean, stoppages, supplies Leave a comment
So this is it. March the first, that can’t be winter in anyone’s book. Despite the cold gloomy day we
cleaned and cleaned, partly paying homage to the new season, but mainly because we’re well and truly stoppage locked. Nick went in search of the ‘village store’ while I got cleaning the walls, ceilings, cupboards, floors, UNDER the stove…everything, even the lazy boys saw the light of day. After half and hour, a text came through ‘get baking the bread:o’, so it seemed another village store had fallen by the wayside. Shopper returned, about an hour later, slightly shaken, clutching a bag…two lots of milk (didn’t really need that), toilet roll, fire lighters (they’ll go nicely with the other box) – a narrowboat shopping experience to top them all. Apparently to access the ‘shop’ you entered someone’s house, then walked into their front room. Two chest freezers sat crammed full of stuff in the middle of the room, a few shelves held plastic wrapped random things like a blow up bed and a roll of sari fabric. In terms of fr
eshness, milk was as good as it got.
Cleaning and bread making filled most of the day, but thanks to that the boat is sparkling like new. Walked Murk to the top lock this evening, still work going on, which might atleast mean we’ll get to chug up through them on Monday.
Mastic
Posted: January 4, 2013 Filed under: Dry land, Geeky facts, Renovation | Tags: condensation, important dates, launderette, mushroom vents, supplies, water 2 Comments
Yesterday’s attack on the bottom of the boat, moved up top today. A few damp patches ha
ve spread along the ceiling on the ‘heavy’ side. Nobody seems to have experienced this before, and lots of googling suggests the man with the spray foam had a bad day when the boat was insulated – resulting in condensation forming along the roof in the uninsulated areas and then dripping onto the ply ceiling. It’s not that bad, and if lack of insulation is the cause we’ll wait for dry dock when the boat is blacked. But niggling away in our crazy heads is the chance of a leaky mushroom vent; so just to be sure, the birthday boy spent most of the day removing the vents, cleaning them up and getting glooped up re-masticking. No real signs of water getting in but it definitely can’t now.
Narrow boater’s birthday party schedule:
- re-mastic mushrooms
- buy coal
- pump out waste tank
- fill up water tank
- wash boat
- and then sit reading your download of ‘Canal Boat’, that’s living (at 46 – eeeek!).
We’re ready for early morning departure…double wash at the launderette, double Tesco trip in addition to the party schedule…no chicken.
The First
Posted: January 1, 2013 Filed under: Dry land, Moving on, Waterway wonders! | Tags: google, important dates, shopping, water 2 Comments
An iphone Big Ben echoed through a deserted boat museum overlooking the Mersey and out to Liverpool. Ships from the wider waters blasted their horns as the fireworks flew, a
perfectly brilliantly weird start to the year.
Still attached to the museum water point this morning we showered forever without a care in the world, then re-filled. Bright and very blustery for the beginning of our Shropshire Union descent. Moved a couple of miles before mo
oring up and, despite consulting google earth, taking a cross-country route for a final visit to Cheshire Oaks outlet village. A few brooks, brambles, fences complete with razor wire and speared poles later we had lunch in an American diner. Quick look round shops and then a little Sainsbury stock up.
Back onboard for a couple more miles of cold sunny cruising before the light disappeared.
Ellesmere Port
Posted: December 31, 2012 Filed under: Moving on | Tags: important dates, mile markers, sea, sinkages Leave a comment
sunken narrowboat
Slept only two miles from Ellesmere Port so we had a short trip to the Waterways Museum, arriving before lunch. Web site is a little ambiguous, we finally understood it as the cafe and shop are shut but the museum open. Pulled up to find everything padlocked. Good thing about having a boat is padlocks don’t keep you out, so we filled up with water from outside the cafe and tried to move into the top lock….only to get jammed against the museum trip boat. Walked down to
the bottom basin to see w
hether there was anywhere to moor if were able to unattach ourselves from the museum boat and squeeze past. The bottom lock was cordoned off and looked a bit battered so we reversed up and moored half in and half out of the museum. Jumped off th
e bow and had a sneaky walk round the old working boats. Came across a volunteer who was in to pump bilges, found out the bottom basin is tricky at the moment as two narrowboats have sunk in the last
two weeks – eeeekkk. Water is 20ft deep so in theory you could moor on top of the sinkages but if the locks are opened to let a vessel into the shipping canal you could find yourself with another boat coming through your hull, not nice. Our stomachs churned as we peered into the water and saw the roof of one boat, complete with mushrooms and aerial. Nick wanted me to blog it as our ‘greatest disaster yet’, but am refusing to even joke about such things! Bonkers to think of the sofas, tv, beds, kettle, microwave, pictures all down there, soaked in the gloom.
Walked down the locks and out onto the Manchester shipping canal. A strange place to spend New Years Eve but magical in a ghostly kind of way. All heading South from here on.
Marpessa2 