To Nantwich

It’s very much been a day of two halves. We set off as planned just after eight and boated merrily on to Hack Green, where we had to wait a little for the boat ahead to go down and a hire boat to come up. The wait was enlivened by making the acquaintance of the crew of Waka Huia, two couples from New Zealand including fellow blogger Marilyn.

Once down, it was another good run to Nantwich, arriving there a bit before ten. We found a neat 70’ space in the first stretch of visitor moorings on the embankment and had an early cup of coffee before setting off to do some shopping. Sheila has been wanting to get an unusual size of circular needle to make the knitting of the Guernsey sleeves easier and she recalled that there was a wool shop in one of the side streets here. She did a bit of Googling and soon found it, discovering a shorter walking route to town from here in the process.

Rather than trekking all round the outside of the houses, you can cut through the middle on Millfields to come out by the park. It’s then a pleasant walk to cross the river and go up the side street we wanted. Sadly, the wool shop was a pale shadow of its former self, mainly being concerned with selling miscellaneous fancy DIY stuff and doubling as a coffee shop. Sheila will have to wait until we get to Poynton and a usable address to order the needle online. Apart from this disappointment, we were able to get everything else, including some meat and pies for lunch from that excellent establishment, Clewlows.

Even with our new shortcut, it was a good walk back to the boat, including that final little pull up onto the embankment, so we felt well exercised and ready for lunch. This is just as well, as it’s been raining quite hard for most of the afternoon and activities have been confined to the boat.

The forecast looks a lot better tomorrow, so we’ll press on to Calveley and have a break from the traffic on the Four Counties for a bit.

Location:Nantwich

Nearly finished with the Shroppie

Despite the cunning strategy with the meals yesterday, neither of us slept particularly well last night, as a result of which we overslept this morning and didn't start boating until half six. We pootled round to the water point at the end-to-end junction where the Birmingham and Liverpool meets the Chester canal. It's quite a slow water point, so we had plenty of time to eat breakfast whilst the tank was filling.

Indeed, at half seven the tank was only just over three-quarters full. That was enough to be going on with as we had a lot of boating to do. It was a straightforward run to Barbridge, past the Nantwich and Border Counties Yacht Club (really), Henhull moorings and Hurleston Junction. Sheila did a 10/10 turn onto the Middlewich Arm and we were set for the busier section of the day's run.

By now the water was hot and the batteries mostly charged, so I started a washload that was in the machine waiting to go. We were expecting to be held up at Cholmondeston lock, but not only was there no queue going our way, the lock was full and ready for us. There was a boat waiting to come up by the time we'd got down and one waiting behind us.

On we went to Minshull Lock and much the same story, only with more boats waiting to come up. I did the breakfast washing-up afterwards, then took over the steering so that Sheila could sort the now-finished washing. Things were quite interesting for the final stretch with a lot of boats in a hurry to get to Barbridge seemingly. Since there are a fair few blind bridge holes and narrows on the arm, both Sheila and I had some tricky encounters.

All went off without major trouble or bad language, I'm pleased to say, and we finally arrived at the Blackberry Woods visitor moorings just before lunchtime. The boat we'd been following all morning also stopped here for lunch and proved to be Waimaru, John and Nev's old boat. She's looking very good, I'm pleased to say, having acquired a cratch cover among other things. Her new owners are very pleased with her.

We've had a quiet afternoon after the morning's exertions. We were alone here for quite a time, though another boat has just arrived for the night. An easier start tomorrow – we plan to turn left when we get to Middlewich and tie near the Big Lock in order to rendezvous with Graeme and the boys for the night.

That's assuming Graeme remembers to ring up tonight to find out where we'll be... ;)

Getting a little bit done

After yesterday's exertions, we've been taking it quite easy today, though we've not been totally idle. After breakfast, we walked into town via the aqueduct and Welsh Row. I took the Garmin along to compare the distance this way with the alternative of going back along the towpath and across the riverside park.

We noticed on the way that there is far less long term mooring on the embankment than there used to be, the greater length being 48 hour visitor mooring. This makes sense – there was never enough VM here for such a popular destination.

Once arrived, we bought Dabber's* pies at Clewlow's, a nice loaf of bread at Chetwin's and raided Home Bargains for more mundane necessities. Back we went via the park, which route proved to be 0.3 of a mile longer. Furthermore, it means a long slog uphill along the road, whereas Welsh Row is more or less flat and much more decorative to look at. The moral is that, unless you get in on the moorings immediately after the Wrenbury Road bridge, number 91, it's better to use the Welsh Row route.

We were well exercised on our return and had a pleasant break sitting in the well deck drinking coffee. We had a cooked lunch for once, the pies with new potatoes and Spring greens. This way, the saltiness of the pies will hopefully not cause as much sleep disturbance as it would if we ate them in the evening.

Sheila has been crocheting most of the rest of the time. She's making replacement porthole doilies for Sanity Again, the six year old originals having become a bit tired looking despite washing and bleaching.

I added our thoughts about the Wharf Tavern and The Talbot to the Owners' Group Pub Guide and otherwise have frankly been loafing, watching the world go by and criticising everyone else's boating ;)

Tomorrow, an early start as we want to get well on along the Middlewich Arm and Cholmondeston Lock is liable to be busy on an August Sunday...

*Dabber: a native of Nantwich, etymology uncertain.

Here we are in Nantwich

The boating today went much as planned, though the stopping didn't quite work out. We set off just after eight, after a bit of a struggle to pull the pins out. In fact it took the two of us swinging on a line tied to the top of each pin to get it to emerge. There must be something truly adhesive below that towpath. It should be recalled that said pins are actually marquee pegs, about an inch in diameter and 30 inches long.

I steered on a very pleasant morning and along a wide and deep bit of cut, so that we made around 3.7mph much of the time. Arriving at Hack Green, site of the secret nuclear bunker as advertised with big brown signs, we found boats working up each lock in turn, making Sheila's life as lockwheeler that much easier.

It's another three quarters of an hour or so to the start of the moorings in Nantwich, and here we ran into a bit of a problem. The moorings we'd planned to use, with easy access to a suburban road below, were almost fully occupied, except for one 60' space. Basically, we'd got here too soon. We've had to come on to the next stretch of VMs, further along the embankment and a long way from the road. Indeed we're almost half way between the road we first thought of and the aqueduct over Welsh Row.

So, a change of plan. We walked into town today, ate a very pleasant pub lunch at The Talbot and then did some shopping at Morrisons. Then we slogged it (and it was a slog) back to the boat in warm sunny conditions. We've been resting up since. Tomorrow, we'll walk into town again, not least to visit Clewlow's the butcher to buy one of their excellent pies.

We'll do the Morrisons+taxi bit in Middlewich instead.

High quality service

Like Mercia, Overwater is a marina that combines good design, a nice location and really nice people. It was finally decided to haul Sanity Again out last night, and if necessary put her on blocks for working on today. So at six, out she came, and it became apparent that the rudder stock had bent between the top of the blade and the uxter plate, thus causing the ends of the stock to bind in the bearings as they were no longer running into them perpendicularly.

Congratulations to Roger Millin for predicting exactly that in his comments yesterday.

Here's the rest of the tale in pictures:

Manoeuvring into position

Inserting the bow onto the trailer

Raising the boat on the trailer

Out of the water

Can you see the problem?

 Unless you are Mr Millin, you probably can't spot the bend, but looking at the bottom edge of the rudder shows the degree of the problem; it's supposed to be horizontal. Application of a bottle jack and wooden blocks between the bend and the end of the swim forced the stock straight again.

The guys next applied first WD40 and then Copaslip to both the upper and lower bearings. The lower one has always been a bit tight, to be honest. Simon the engineer did indulge in a bit of the tradesman's favourite game: "What cowboy bodged this up for you?" etc. etc. He reckoned that if the bottom bearing had been looser, the rudder would have lifted out of the cup, instead of bending.

No matter, once it was all done, Sanity Again was put back in her proper element:

On her way back down

Simon in Roman Emperor mode

This morning, we settled up with Colin, and were agreeably surprised by the bill. We have a £200 excess on our insurance, and we won't be claiming; the bill was well inside that for a haul out, one hour's work with the boat on the trailer and re-launch.

We've boated on to Nantwich, so are back on schedule. The steering is if anything freer than it was, though I don't recommend this approach to easing a stiff tiller…

Getting here just after twelve meant that we found a mooring with no bother. We've done a bit of shopping, especially at Clewlow's the butchers and pie shop.

Hunter's Pie and salad tonight, and Scotch Eggs tomorrow.

Yum.

/nobigdeal

A dozy day at Nantwich

We'd planned to do a lot of restocking here at Nantwich, visiting the Morrisons at least once, but realised a) that the access to the Tesco at Middlewich (where we'll be the day after tomorrow) will be easier and b) we could get everything we needed before then from the shops in the centre, particularly those in Pepper Street. Accordingly, we've visited Clewlow's the butcher, Chatwins the baker and the greengrocer. In addition, we called at Home Bargains in Beam Street for a couple of canned goods.

Home Bargains claims to be a really cheap shop, but it's not as cheap as you might think, except perhaps by Nantwich standards. No matter, they supplied a few cans of chopped tomatoes at a reasonable price, though the corned beef was not such a bargain.

The weather has been much better than forecast, a bit cool and breezy in the middle of the day, but quite a scorcher just now. After loafing on the bow for most of the afternoon, we've just taken a walk along the embankment to the end of what was the Birmingham and Liverpool  Junction Canal (not that it ever actually reached either of those places), where there's the basin at the terminus of the old Chester Canal.

Lots of boats around, but just a steady traffic. Tomorrow we'll head off again, through Barbridge to the moorings at Blackberry Wood on the Middlewich arm. This way, Sheila has to negotiate the Barbridge Junction in this boat for the first time, whilst to my lot falls the one at the other end, complicated as it is by the presence of the Middlewich hire yard and Kings Lock.

What larks, Pip!

and so to Nantwich

It's not a long run from Coole Pilate to Nantwich, so we didn't set off until half eight this morning. I took the opportunity to add some more bits to my page about buying a boat, especially in view of the Ben Harp saga; to see it, just click on the link over there on the right.

In the event, we were boating for two and a half hours, but only actually moving for half that time. We weren't worried, it was a lovely late summer morning, and hanging around Hack Green was no hardship at all. There were a couple of boats going down in front of us, one being single handed and the other occupied by the single hander's parents. The elder man was 80, and an ex-River Severn pilot.

The two boats were cruising in company from Sharpness to Llangollen, so it just shows that advancing age is no bar to enjoying yourself on a boat.

Finally we were away from there, and the remaining couple of miles went by very easily. We found a mooring at our usual spot on the embankment before the aqueduct. More time was spent relaxing and pottering on line; I've added a bit of text to the head of the blog reminding people about the Braidbar Open Day. For scheduling reasons, Peter Mason is building a spec boat (that is, one for which he doesn't have a bespoke customer) at the moment, so this year's Open Day is actually one where someone might be able to buy a boat on the spot.

That's assuming it hasn't sold in the next two weeks, of course. After that, if you placed an order on that weekend, I think it would be into 2013 before you could take delivery.

We're going to take two days here, as we are a bit ahead of schedule, and this is a good place to restock with some stuff. We've made one trip into town already, and will do at least one more tomorrow.  After that, we'll be back out into the wilds of East Cheshire again.

Windy at Nantwich

No, we're not scared, it's just a bit breezy here, so as we'd planned (in plan D1.6 or so) we've stayed put and done a good bit of restocking. As well as the banal stuff at Morrisons, we went back in for a second load from Clewlow's the butchers and Julian Graves.

The former supplied us with sausages, mince, chicken and an excellent Hunter Pie for lunch, and the latter supplied lots of nuts, dried fruit and liquorice. (I apologise to those reading this who are trying to diet ;) )

For the rest of the time, we've lurked in the boat, doing IT stuff and generally having a day off boating.

Defra have published the consultation document on the move to a National Waterways Charity; I had a bit of a problem downloading this in Google Chrome, not helped by the fact that the 3 connection here was a bit dodgy yesterday, though it's been much better today. As a result, I've gone back to using Safari, the native web browser in Mac OS; it's not quite as fast with downloading a page, but is more functional in other ways.

We also wanted to scan a cartoon from today's Independent, and remembered that our HP psc 1210 printer/scanned/copier doesn't scan under the version of Mac OS on our new machines. I found a third party bit of software, VueScan, but don't want to pay the $40 to buy the full version. The trial version puts a watermark all over the scan, which was fine for the present purpose, but not for much else. The thing is, it would only be around £50 for a new machine, and if we got an Epson we'd be able to buy the inks as individual colours, rather than having to buy the three colour cartridges that the HP uses.

Looks like my birthday present problem is solve for this year; we'll just about have used up the stock of cartridges for the HP by October...

Wetly on to Nantwich

After yesterday's lapse, we had a quick dinner and an early night, but still got up in rather more leisurely fashion than usual this morning, partly because the forecast of rain overnight meant that we left the Houdini closed in the bedroom and the bung in, so didn't have the early sun in our faces.

We still managed a half eight start, with around three hours to do to get to Nantwich. First off, we stopped on the water point below Lock 13 and topped up the tank; the last few times we've filled it, we haven't wanted to hang around for one reason or another, and have stopped filling as soon as the gauge showed full, rather than waiting until the tank was brim full. This time, we gave it the full distance, and didn't get going again until around half nine.

I left Sheila bundled up on the stern for most of the run; it started off cloudy and cool, but gradually the rain came in, until by the time we got to Hack Green Locks, it was fairly tipping it down. We neither of us had put waterproof trousers on, so the wet ran off our jackets and soaked our trousers, not helped by the need to push balance beams and the like.

At last Nantwich hove into view; we've tied on the first set of visitor moorings, dropped the cratch for the first time for a few weeks and spent the afternoon snuggled up to the Squirrel. The Briar Rose came by after lunch with Geoff steering and Helen walking the dogs on the towpath, and a bit later, Autumn Years and Acen caught up with us and carried on by. They are heading up the Llangollen, so we won't see them again for a while.

We'd planned to shop this afternoon and go on to Barbridge tomorrow, but in view of the forecast, we'll stay here instead, and do two shopping sessions, one to Morrisons and one into town.

To Nantwich in the sun

1st & 2nd March

Gosh, Dydd Gwyl Dewi unwaith eto! (St David's Day once more). It hardly seems any time at all that I was waving Sheila goodbye to go and stay near Lincoln for Alex's arrival, and that was the middle of January.

Encouraged by the continuing Spring like feel to the air, and a knowledge that it won't last, we made a prompt start on a misty morning that gradually turned finer and finer, until by the time we'd finished it was sunny and warm.

Mind you, the exercise would have warmed us up anyway, as we worked down Adderley and then Audlem Locks. Adderley were against us, but we crossed with an Empress hire boat two locks down Audlem, and after that things just kept getting better. Two elderly guys appeared, and proceeded to help us work down the flight and a couple of other boats work up.

When we stopped on the visitor moorings by the Shroppie Fly, I went and asked one of them if they were doing it on behalf of SUCS or another canal volunteer group, as I wanted to make a donation, but no, they just do it for the fun and exercise. The day before they'd been at Napton on the South Oxford, apparently.

On the way down the flight, we passed Braidbar 102, Up Spirits, and exchanged some quick greetings, then as we were approaching Lock 12, just before where we stopped, there were No Problem and Moore2Life.

We had lunch, and I shopped at the new Co-op just up the road (the Co-op is currently celebrating Fairtrade Fortnight with a 20% discount on some brilliant Argentine Malbec).

We topped up the water tank, so that we can stay on the visitor moorings in Nantwich without worrying about it, then worked down the last three locks, giving entertainment to various Sunday strolling gongoozlers as we did so.

With hindsight, we would have been better going down Adderley the day before, and doing Audlem on their own yesterday, but then we'd have missed our session with Mike and Jo, so the hard work of 20 locks in a day was worth it.

It was a very pleasant run in the sunshine to Coole Pilate for the night. As I said last time, there's a GPRS connection there, adequate but not exciting. We took advantage of the warm weather to clean the stern and bow well decks, and to sweep a bit of the roof. The cabin sides really need a good wash, but with more grotty weather forecast, it seems better to wait until we are in the real Spring, not this pleasant but false affair.

It was very cold overnight, under a cloudless sky, and there was a bit of frost on the grass first thing, but it was still clear and encouraging in the morning, so we were in good heart as we set off for the final run into Nantwich.

As we approached the Hack Green Two, I hopped off at the bridge before and walked down to the locks, past a BW tug and hopper. Waiting for the lock to fill, I looked back and saw Sanity slewed across the cut by the BW boats, with Sheila waving the short shaft around to get the stern out of the offside hedge, but apparently nattering away as well.

When she came into the lock, she explained that Ivor Bachelor had been in the hopper, lying down swigging tea. It looks like he was successful in his application to move from Tunnel Keeping at Harecastle to working on the emergency gang.

Soon we were arriving at Nantwich, where we found a mooring on the embankment, from which you can walk to Morrison's or Aldi in about 15 or 20 minutes. It's possibly no quicker than tying by the aqueduct and walking down Welsh Road, but more pleasant both as a mooring and as a walk.

We've done it twice today, restocking, and we'll stay here tomorrow, when the weather is forecast to be at its worst. There's some in town stuff we want to do, and it makes a break from all the boating we've been doing recently.

Nantwich, and a new plan, Baldrick

6th & 7th February

Fellow Braidbar owners Graham and Beryl Johnson report having trouble trying to book themselves a trip across the Ribble Link to cruise the Lancaster Canal. You can't do it from the website, they have to snail mail a form to you, and you have to supply proof of your Boat Safety Certificate and insurance. Thing is, you can't get to either end of the Ribble Link without a BW Licence, and guess what you have to produce to get one of those?

That's right, a BSC and proof of third party insurance cover. It would be funny, if it didn't demonstrate just how far BW has to move to start achieving some obvious economies.

Meantime, they have at least responded to the licence fee consultation in a way that shows they have been listening a bit. The increase for next year is to be 5% plus their cost inflation, making 8.3% overall, instead of 8% +, and they've agreed to consult the British Waterways Advisory Forum on the other issues raised and on the subsequent years' fees.

It does suggest a modicum of sane management (not before time) and we can only hope that the trend continues.

We had one of our consolidation days yesterday, in that we spent a good chunk of time in Nantwich Town Centre shopping in the morning, and then after lunch Sheila cut my hair, or rather clipped it short. The weather was pleasant, and indeed the forecast for the next week or so is looking up. It certainly is beginning to feel like a touch of Spring in the air after all the rain and wind.

We've been rethinking our cruising plans in the light of the Llangollen stoppage. (My sympathies to Mukiwa, who have the same problem.) There's a window this coming weekend when the Audlem flight will be open, as the work on Lock 5 has finished, and Lock 15 doesn't start until Monday. The stoppage at the other end, at Wheaton Aston, comes off at the very end of this month.

We're meeting Peter and Jan at Barbridge on Saturday, to have a bit of a cruise and a pub lunch, as well as relieving them of some stuff we've had delivered to them (thanks folks!), but we can still put in a serious (for us) day's cruising on Sunday and get through Audlem 15 before it stops.

That would give us three weeks of pottering on the Shroppie between Market Drayton and Wheaton Aston. After that, we could nip down the Staffs and Worcs to Kinver. Our cratch cover has developed a minor problem in that the stitching of one zip is coming undone, and Wilson's of Kinver, who made it, have a good reputation for while-you-wait repairs of such things.

Then we'd be free to head for Alrewas a bit earlier than planned, which is just as well in view of the state of my dentition.

So today we did yet another shopping trip to get the stocks right up to scratch, and had an early lunch. Sheila steered round the Nantwich embankment to the winding hole at the other end, and we came back to the service block where we pumped out and watered.

So now we have fulfilled the basic conditions for boating happiness. The water tank is full and the diesel tank nearly so, and the toilet tank is empty. The weather continuing bright and breezy, we boated back to Hurleston for the night, and will pop on to Barbridge tomorrow ready for our rendezvous on Saturday.

Hurleston to Nantwich

4th & 5th February

It was a calm and cold morning yesterday, ideal for boating. We got away at 9 and went up Minshull Lock. I'd dipped the diesel tank the day before., and reckoned we needed about 60 litres of diesel – the level was between half way and three quarters of a 200 litre tank.

We'd not planned to stop at Venetian Marine, hadn't been sure they'd be open on a Monday in winter even, but they were, and had diesel at 63.9ppl, so we went in and got some. The tank actually took 94 litres, which seemed a bit odd, but there you go. Propane is now over £20 for a 13 kg bottle, so by the time I'd paid for one of those and the diesel, I found myself handing over £80 in cash (Venetian doesn't take plastic).

On we went up Cholmondeston Lock, planning to water at Barbridge when we got there. In the event, Sorrel was on the water point and had only just started, so we decided not to bother – there was about 45% in the tank still, enough to last to Nantwich the following day (i.e. today).

At Hurleston Junction, a dredger was working by the bridge, so we stopped on the moorings on the Barbridge side, rather than going through to the ones on the far side of the bridge. As soon as we'd moored, there was an almighty rain storm, so another case of good timing, methinks.

After lunch we took a wander up the Hurleston Locks, just to get some exercise and to see if there were any photos to be taken. We found a bit of seriously broken down mooring by the water point, but the flight itself is in reasonable nick, although famously, the bottom lock is only just wide enough for 6' 10" beam. Many a boater in the pernicious habit of boating with the fenders down has regretted not taking them up before attempting that lock, only to get jammed in there.

Coming back towards the top of the flight after wandering along the towpath for a bit, I idly read a stoppage notice taped to the balance beam of the top lock top gate. It said that Baddiley n0 2 Lock is stopped from 7 January to 7 March as an extra stoppage. This means that we can't do the Llangollen this month as we'd planned, which is a bit of a sierra oscar delta, but there you go. We'll just have to think of another way of passing the time until we can get southbound.

Not a good move to put the notice only on the top gate either – if we hadn't happened to walk up there, we'd have worked up four locks before discovering that we couldn't go much further. Thanks BW.

When we got back to the bottom of the flight, the guy on the dredger was working on its hydraulics – it looked as if one of the legs that braces the flat on the bottom of the canal was giving trouble, as he'd got the hose off the fitting. He'd clearly spilt some hydraulic fluid (brake fluid, basically) into the cut, as it had all washed down and around Sanity in an unholy mess. Careful examination of the blacking today didn't show any damage, thank heavens, but it wasn't a clever thing to have done.

Today we made a more leisurely start on a bright and breezy day, but were still away by 9.30 for the short run to Nantwich. We passed another dredging site, an interesting challenge in a strongish cross wind, and got onto the service point and watered without too much hassle.

There was a handy space in the visitor moorings before the aqueduct, and we'd no sooner arrived than S.K.I. turned up (SKI = Spending the Kids Inheritance). We'd not seen them for a bit and we all had a good natter, including some of the other continuous cruisers on the moorings. We are all in the same boat (not literally), as the opportunity to do the Llangollen when it was quiet had looked too good to miss.

After lunch we made a trip into Nantwich to start the shopping bit again – Nantwich is a great little town, with a decent range of shops, so we'll stay here for a couple of days, doing a variety of shopping and generally catching up with stuff.