Friday 30th December
We set off early to get off the lock moorings where we had spent the night. There was no wind to speak of. We stopped above the next lock (57) for breakfast then set off in the rain down the remaining 10 locks of Heartbreak Hill. The locks were against us to begin with until after the third we met a boat coming the other way! This had not happened since Tuesday. In one of the locks we washed down the starboard side but not very comprehensively as it was steadily raining. We then stopped at Wheelock water point to fill up and wash the other side. Then on to Elton Moss arriving at about 2 ish. There's lots of other boats here, there's Alcedonia, Adagio, Kingfisher, Festina Lente, Tranquility, Water Lily as well as the normal couple of other boats in various stages of construction. Adagio has since set off northbound toward Middlewich. We had a spot of lunch then set to the cleaning which always dominates our last day. After dark I noticed that both front and rear doors of Kingfisher were open to the elements (it was still raining). They had been like this when we arrived but we had assumed that someone was on board. I've shut the doors now but there doesn't seem to be a padlock of any sort to lock them.
When the cleaning was done for today we headed off in the car for Sandbach, We went to the Oriental restaurant and had a very nice Chinese meal. I was still in boat holiday mode and forgot that the car was outside so ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio. This meant that Pip had to drink three quarters of the bottle. She didn't seem to mind.
Its been much quieter than I expected out on the cut this week. We've probably seen only about six other boats on the move. Yesterday we saw none at all. The weather's not been great but it could have been much worse and at least there was no ice.
Looking forward to May when we plan to go to Liverpool.
Mick & Pip
Friday, 30 December 2011
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Thursday 29th December
Windy and wet today. Had we been on a leisurely fortnight with a couple of days to spare then today would have been a spare day and we'd have stayed put or at the least stopped at lunch time. But we are on a schedule and need to get near to Elton Moss tomorrow. So we set off after breakfast, crossed over the T & M on an aqueduct and a short while later made the sharp left hand turn onto the T & M. It was raining on and off all morning. The morning was speeded up by a lot of the locks being left ready for us with the top gate open. I know that this shouldn't be done but it's nice when it happens in your favour. We got wet a few times but we both have good waterproofs so remained reasonably dry underneath. We did 12 locks before lunch all of which were in our favour. After lunch the 13th lock was against us. As it was so windy I was trying to drop Pip off in the mouth of the lock rather than on the moorings short of the lock. I misjudged it a bit and gave the gate a bit of a biff. But all seemed ok. After that all the locks were against us. it also got windier and windier head on. At Pierpoint bottom lock we were loosing daylight and it was so windy that there were white horses on the canal. So we called it a day. With it being so windy I wanted to moor on rings rather than spikes so we are actually on the lock moorings. It's dark now, if anyone comes along wanting to use the lock then good luck to them. We've seen no other boat on the move today so I think we are safe here! I'll move on at daybreak.
We've been suffering from the water pump kicking in every 15 minutes or so. I spoke to Ken about it today, he suggested looking for a leak. So we've taken apart all the cupboards but cannot find any evidence of water anywhere. I haven't looked at the pipes round the calorifier. I'll do that tomorrow if the wind has died down. I'll remind Ken about it on Saturday.
Hope the wind dies down, it's forecast to.
Windy and wet today. Had we been on a leisurely fortnight with a couple of days to spare then today would have been a spare day and we'd have stayed put or at the least stopped at lunch time. But we are on a schedule and need to get near to Elton Moss tomorrow. So we set off after breakfast, crossed over the T & M on an aqueduct and a short while later made the sharp left hand turn onto the T & M. It was raining on and off all morning. The morning was speeded up by a lot of the locks being left ready for us with the top gate open. I know that this shouldn't be done but it's nice when it happens in your favour. We got wet a few times but we both have good waterproofs so remained reasonably dry underneath. We did 12 locks before lunch all of which were in our favour. After lunch the 13th lock was against us. As it was so windy I was trying to drop Pip off in the mouth of the lock rather than on the moorings short of the lock. I misjudged it a bit and gave the gate a bit of a biff. But all seemed ok. After that all the locks were against us. it also got windier and windier head on. At Pierpoint bottom lock we were loosing daylight and it was so windy that there were white horses on the canal. So we called it a day. With it being so windy I wanted to moor on rings rather than spikes so we are actually on the lock moorings. It's dark now, if anyone comes along wanting to use the lock then good luck to them. We've seen no other boat on the move today so I think we are safe here! I'll move on at daybreak.
We've been suffering from the water pump kicking in every 15 minutes or so. I spoke to Ken about it today, he suggested looking for a leak. So we've taken apart all the cupboards but cannot find any evidence of water anywhere. I haven't looked at the pipes round the calorifier. I'll do that tomorrow if the wind has died down. I'll remind Ken about it on Saturday.
Hope the wind dies down, it's forecast to.
Wednesday, 28 December 2011
Wednesday 28th December.
Woke up with the sunrise again, good job its not June! We had a cooked breakfast this morning in light of the expected cold and wind. We set off about 11 and carried on onwards and upwards. It was windy, at one point we struggled to get away from the bank despite much pushing and bow thrusting. Incidently I think we need a new bow thruster battery as it goes flat very quickly. One or two of the locks were quite fierce despite careful raising of paddles. They all had a tendency to drag WD forward despite the use of reverse gear. One top gate got quite a bash. No damage done though. At lock 42, just under the aqueduct which carries the Macclesfield over the Trent & Mersey, there were lots of bunches of flowers. It turns out that a teenager died there at the beginning of December. Apparently he was trying to jump across the lock. Very sad. Anyway, one more lock and we were at the top of the flight. We made a sharp right hand turn onto the Mac and pootled up there for a while. We bought a bag of Taybright coal at Heritage Narrowboats (by the way thanks to Howard for leaving us with a full bag last Saturday). We winded there and started heading back into the stiff breeze. We moored up just near to the aqueduct over the T & M and headed off to Tescos for some provisions. We then cooked tea and afterwards headed off on foot to the Blue Bell. Nice beer, nice atmosphere, We would have stayed longer if we hadn't been so tired. The wind takes it out of you.
More tomorrow.
Woke up with the sunrise again, good job its not June! We had a cooked breakfast this morning in light of the expected cold and wind. We set off about 11 and carried on onwards and upwards. It was windy, at one point we struggled to get away from the bank despite much pushing and bow thrusting. Incidently I think we need a new bow thruster battery as it goes flat very quickly. One or two of the locks were quite fierce despite careful raising of paddles. They all had a tendency to drag WD forward despite the use of reverse gear. One top gate got quite a bash. No damage done though. At lock 42, just under the aqueduct which carries the Macclesfield over the Trent & Mersey, there were lots of bunches of flowers. It turns out that a teenager died there at the beginning of December. Apparently he was trying to jump across the lock. Very sad. Anyway, one more lock and we were at the top of the flight. We made a sharp right hand turn onto the Mac and pootled up there for a while. We bought a bag of Taybright coal at Heritage Narrowboats (by the way thanks to Howard for leaving us with a full bag last Saturday). We winded there and started heading back into the stiff breeze. We moored up just near to the aqueduct over the T & M and headed off to Tescos for some provisions. We then cooked tea and afterwards headed off on foot to the Blue Bell. Nice beer, nice atmosphere, We would have stayed longer if we hadn't been so tired. The wind takes it out of you.
More tomorrow.
Tuesday, 27 December 2011
Tuesday 27th December
We woke up with the sunrise, had tea in bed then got up and had porridge. Pip got a slow cooker for Christmas. Its power consumption is less than 150 watts so I figured it should be ok to run all day with the engine on. So Pip made a chicken casserole. It was a bit strange making a casserole at 09:30 in the morning but it went into the pot and then we set off for the first lock.
The weather seems to be in our favour. There was some sunshine and it was not too cold. The wind had died down compared to yesterday. We made steady progress up through 8 locks. Most of the twinned locks had one or other lock in our favour and we met a couple of boats coming down so most of the single locks were empty too. We stopped for a cup of tea near the noisy M6 at around 12:30. But this soon turned into a lunch stop. We then carried on and did another 10 locks. I do like these "Cheshire Locks" and at this time of year they are not busy. I think it a shame that some of the twin locks have only one chamber in use. Its all down to money I suppose.
Near to Rode Heath our way was blocked by some untethered tuppaware. Some walkers on the towpath managed to pull it into the bank and I jumped off and banged in its mooring spikes. We then ascended the very picturesque Lawton Treble Locks (according to Pearsons this used to be a staircase) then one more lock, Hall's Lock and after that we had run out of daylight at 4:15. We moored in exactly this spot in April 2008. We were in a hire boat, Bergen Fjord from Anderson Boats and that night it snowed. I hope it doesn't snow tonight!
We sat down to the casserole from the slow cooker. Very yummy.
The telly works here, the waterpump is still pumping about every 15 minutes, the stern gland is leaking quite a lot so the bilge pump kicks in frequently but I understand this will be fixed on the next maintenance fortnight.
We plan to visit the Blue Bell at Kidsgrove tomorrow, real ale, no jukebox, no machines, sounds like my kind of pub.
Mick
We woke up with the sunrise, had tea in bed then got up and had porridge. Pip got a slow cooker for Christmas. Its power consumption is less than 150 watts so I figured it should be ok to run all day with the engine on. So Pip made a chicken casserole. It was a bit strange making a casserole at 09:30 in the morning but it went into the pot and then we set off for the first lock.
The weather seems to be in our favour. There was some sunshine and it was not too cold. The wind had died down compared to yesterday. We made steady progress up through 8 locks. Most of the twinned locks had one or other lock in our favour and we met a couple of boats coming down so most of the single locks were empty too. We stopped for a cup of tea near the noisy M6 at around 12:30. But this soon turned into a lunch stop. We then carried on and did another 10 locks. I do like these "Cheshire Locks" and at this time of year they are not busy. I think it a shame that some of the twin locks have only one chamber in use. Its all down to money I suppose.
Near to Rode Heath our way was blocked by some untethered tuppaware. Some walkers on the towpath managed to pull it into the bank and I jumped off and banged in its mooring spikes. We then ascended the very picturesque Lawton Treble Locks (according to Pearsons this used to be a staircase) then one more lock, Hall's Lock and after that we had run out of daylight at 4:15. We moored in exactly this spot in April 2008. We were in a hire boat, Bergen Fjord from Anderson Boats and that night it snowed. I hope it doesn't snow tonight!
We sat down to the casserole from the slow cooker. Very yummy.
The telly works here, the waterpump is still pumping about every 15 minutes, the stern gland is leaking quite a lot so the bilge pump kicks in frequently but I understand this will be fixed on the next maintenance fortnight.
We plan to visit the Blue Bell at Kidsgrove tomorrow, real ale, no jukebox, no machines, sounds like my kind of pub.
Mick
Monday, 26 December 2011
Boxing Day
Having spent Christmas day with Pip's father in York we said our goodbyes to him after breakfast and headed over the Pennines on a tediously busy M62. We arrived at Elton Moss at about 2.30. It was of course deserted as expected and we found WD to be blocking the whole width of the cut. The bow was floating untethered up against the towpath with the stern still attached (loosely with one half hitch) to Alcedonia. The bow thruster battery was flat so a tug on the centre rope got WD back to the correct side and got the canal open again.
We then loaded up and set off southwards towards Wheelock. We were loosing daylight at the bottom of the Wheelock flight so we are moored here ready for some lock work in the morning.
We've had leftover goose for tea. I can't get the TV working so either there's no signal or the aerial's broken. Also the water pump keeps kicking in about every 15 mins so either we've got a leak or there's something wrong with the accumulator.
However the weather forecast is good and we expect an ice free week.
Mick
Having spent Christmas day with Pip's father in York we said our goodbyes to him after breakfast and headed over the Pennines on a tediously busy M62. We arrived at Elton Moss at about 2.30. It was of course deserted as expected and we found WD to be blocking the whole width of the cut. The bow was floating untethered up against the towpath with the stern still attached (loosely with one half hitch) to Alcedonia. The bow thruster battery was flat so a tug on the centre rope got WD back to the correct side and got the canal open again.
We then loaded up and set off southwards towards Wheelock. We were loosing daylight at the bottom of the Wheelock flight so we are moored here ready for some lock work in the morning.
We've had leftover goose for tea. I can't get the TV working so either there's no signal or the aerial's broken. Also the water pump keeps kicking in about every 15 mins so either we've got a leak or there's something wrong with the accumulator.
However the weather forecast is good and we expect an ice free week.
Mick
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