On Schedule !

1 April 2011

R was on his way to the boatyard at 7.45am. He had his tools, a couple of crates of provisions for the trip and his recent purchases, some of which were for M. There was no sign of M when R arrived at the boatyard so the car was unloaded, the crates unpacked and some rough working's out done to see where the antenna fitting could be mounted.

M eventually appeared around 9am and headed off to the office to do some paperwork whilst R loaded a further three bags of coal onto the front of the boat - M had put these aside for us as they were the last the boatyard had. We don't get any discount on them, it just avoids the need to stop and buy more whilst we're cruising (and at this end of the winter there's no guarantee that anywhere will have any left).

We started work on fitting the lock to the door as soon as M was available. R did the work, guided by M (and using some of M's tools, especially his drill bits which were much sharper than R's). We (relatively) soon had the lock in place and turned our attention to fitting the keep, which we soon found was still fouling the other door when the keep's door was opened and closed. We tried a few tricks to address the situation without luck and R took the keep's packing piece home again overnight to shave a small amount off in the hope that this will enable the keep to be pulled into the door at a slightly different angle and resolve the problem.

We stopped for our morning tea break in the café and then returned to the boat to tackle the antenna mount using the newly purchased hole cutter which, as R discovered a little later was actually a couple of millimetres too large, a situation that wasn't helped by the socket's fitting which was very narrow. The initial plan had been to tap the two fixing holes and screw the fixing to the roof, using window tape to seal the join between fitting and roof. Suitable sized screws/bolts were not readily available so the grease monkey suggested rivets, an idea that M didn't like. In the end we found some 4mm brass bolts and we opened up the mounting holes on the fitting and tapped the holes in the roof as originally intended to accommodate them.

We'd initially drilled a pilot hole in the roof and managed to drill through into the wardrobe below - exactly where we intended to make the hole because it will be hidden from general view! Our biggest concern was to make sure that we avoided the square steel section formers onto which the roof itself is welded.

R fed the cable through the roof and into the wardrobe but ran out of time before he could drill the hole in the bulkhead and fit the connector to the end of the feeder. These jobs and completing the work on the door lock were then planned for completion on Saturday.

R left the boatyard around 1.45pm, eating his lunch in the car as he drove to the model railway club. He was home from there just before 6pm, had his evening meal and then attacked the keep's wooden spacer ready for Saturday. The evening concluded on the computer, finalising the previous month's page on this web site and making a start on this page.

2 April 2011

R was on his way to the boatyard by 7.45am again on Saturday and had just started to unload his tools when M appeared carrying the results of an early morning shopping expedition. Aside from lending R some natural sealant - we have an aversion to silicone based sealants that are impossible to paint over - M was largely involved elsewhere for the rest of the day.

R soon removed the night latch and the antenna socket and having scurried under the front steps and retrieved some water based metal primer/undercoat had applied said paint to yesterday's freshly cut metal and left it to dry. He then refitted the keep and the spacer and found that the keep was still being caught on the adjacent door. Out came the file and after a number of attempts R managed to reduce the risk of impact. However, this was only achieved by applying some pressure to the static door. It looked as though we'd have to accept this as removing any more metal from the keep was risking terminal damage. Later when all was re-assembled R noticed that the keep's wooden spacer still needed a further slight adjustment, something that would be done later at home.

It was necessary to interrupt work on the boat to spend a short while on the computer for M was trying to complete his year end on-line tax return and had summoned R to see if he could discover how this might be possible. Eventually and following a telephone call to the Help Desk we discovered that the whole process had changed and that we had to download some software in order to submit the return. We eventually did this and R left M to submit the return later in the day.

Back on his boat and R slightly enlarged the hole in the ceiling panel in the wardrobe so that the co-ax feeder for the radio wasn't forced into a 90° bend. Then the antenna socket was refitted, the window tape from the day before having been replaced and the hole filled with some of the sealant obtained from M. This left the feeder to be routed through a hole in the bulkhead between wardrobe and engine room and the appropriate connector to be fitted to the end of the feeder.

The trim against the bulkhead and ceiling in the engine room had to be removed and a piece cut out to accommodate the feeder. The feeder was then encased in some low-profile half round adhesive backed trunking which was fastened to the ceiling in the wardrobe to protect the feeder from the hooks on coat hangers and in the engine room to keep things tidy. The trunking was also used to house the power supply wires to the radio. These had been left loose when the radio was installed, held lightly against the ceiling with a piece of insulation tape that had parted company with the ceiling during the winter.

Apart from tidying up and replacing the wardrobe door - the door having been removed to provide some increased light in which to work - all that was left was to tune the antenna for the marine band, a task that involves cutting a small piece off the antenna and checking the match of antenna and radio. It took four attempts to get near to a suitable length, R resisting the fifth cut for fear of cutting the antenna too short and worsening the match again.

With that done the tools were loaded into the car to enable R to depart. That departure was delayed slightly by a passing boater with whom R exchanged greetings when the boaters called in for gas.

R returned home via the railway club where he was trying to compensate for his upcoming absence by completing some of the work that he would have done in the upcoming weeks had he not been going away. He arrived home at 5.30pm, unloaded the car, modified the spacer for the keep and applied a coat of varnish over the bare wood.

The evening was spent writing up the day's tale on this page and then returning to the itinerary for the upcoming trip, which was by then only a little over three days away.

3 April 2011

T'was Mother's Day and as our boat has not, to our knowledge, produced any offsprings we were able to escape the celebration. However, our daughter felt otherwise and had arranged to take her mother (and father) out for a meal at lunch time. Consequently, apart from mending a puncture in daughter's bike beforehand, priming the bare metal on the rear door's keep (after attacking it again with a file) and applying a further coat of varnish on the wooden spacer, Sunday was relatively boat orientation free once we'd fired off a few mails about our upcoming trip and printed off the latest version of the schedule for the trip. R also wrote up this single paragraph later in the day.

4 April 2011

The regular visit to the boatyard to assist with office work was advanced by one day as R had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. Consequently, he was able to take advantage of the opportunity to refit the keep and its spacer and was delighted to discover that a combination of the most recent attack with the file and plane, respectively, had made a world of difference. The door now closed with visible space between the edge of the keep and the adjacent door. Whilst there R also checked the radio with M, although at that close range we probably wouldn't have needed an antenna anyway (although we'd probably have broken the radio as a result).

5 April 2011

D-Day minus 1 - where D stands for (planned) departure. And to celebrate R woke at 2.30am (despite not going to bed until 11pm the night before) and H woke a little later. We surrendered and made a cup of tea at 4am but that made no difference. In the end we got up just before 7am and started the last of the packing, a task that wouldn't be complete until later in the day when H returned home from her morning's volunteering at the local church.

R spent the early part of the morning on the computer, passing the time until he had to leave to go to the doctor's. Most things that weren't perishable were already on the boat so there wasn't much else he could do pending our departure for the boat later in the day. There was one thing that he wanted to leave at home - a cold, which from the bunged up feeling that seemed to get worse as the morning progressed, he felt he had contracted.

The weather forecast for the days ahead had been quite reasonable when R looked earlier in the week. He'd even gone as far as volunteering to cut the grass on Tuesday morning before we left home. Thus, it was with some surprise that we woke to rain on Tuesday with temperatures quite keen, no doubt helped by the blustery winds that seemed to continue for most of the day and certainly persisted throughout the time R was going to and from the doctor's.

R collected H from church around 2pm and we were on the road to the boatyard within forty five minutes. It didn't take too long to unload the car. H set about unpacking and R filled the water tank and polished the brass rear hatch runners so that the hatch would slide easier. H continued unpacking and stowing things away once we'd had our afternoon cup of tea whilst R helped M move some vehicles around in the car park so that the maximum amount of space was available whilst we were away.

A short spell in the office followed and then R returned to his boat to fit the insulation jacket around the calorifier, a task made extremely difficult and not properly accomplished because there is very little space around the cylinder due to the close proximity of two bulkheads, the back wall of the wardrobe and the side of the boiler. However, we managed to literally stuff the jacket in all the vacant spaces and will see if this has any effect on the retention of heat in the calorifier. We somehow doubt it.

M joined us for the evening meal and we sat and talked for a while afterwards. Having then washed up after the meal R fired up the computer to attend to a disgruntled purchaser of the recently sold dongle who is stating that the item is defective. Several mails were exchanged without a conclusion being reached. R then wrote up the balance of the day's tale on here, made and drank his bedtime drink and went to bed just after 10pm for we were to sail for northern parts on the morrow.

6 April 2011

Target: Stoke Hammond, Lock 23, 7 hours 4 minutes cruising, 11.98 miles, 13 locks
Actual: Stoke Hammond, Bridge 102, 6 hours 15 minutes cruising, approx 12.43 miles, 14 locks

We had a pretty naff night on board on Tuesday, waking several times (once with the duvet pulled well back from R's now rather cold feet). We tried making a cup of tea but that didn't seem to help although H insists that R did drop back to sleep albeit that she concedes that it may only have been for a few minutes.

We eventually decided to start moving around 7.45am and had soon had breakfast. A few things that we'd identified as not wanted on voyage were transferred to the boot of the car and the small amount of rubbish and re-cycling that we had generated over the last few visits was consigned to where it needed to go. We put the ropes out and a few seconds before 9am we reversed gently off our mooring and into the main channel where we turned north and promptly moored up against a colleague's boat. We needed a pump out as the toilet holding tank was about three quarters full. We'd just about done and bid our farewells to our colleague when M untied his boat and headed our way.

This was it, all the planning (and lack of it) was about to pay off, we were on our way. The day's weather forecast was good and the weather actually turned out to be almost excellent. We were soon through the swing bridge and our first two locks where damp lock walls and only partially full locks suggested that we were following another boat.

We were still trying to work out the best method of working as we had two boats and a crew of three, including two who had to steer the boats. It was very much a trial and error situation and we gradually evolved a first come first served method of working - if you were realistically available to do a job when it needed doing you did it. We would send H ahead, lock wheeling, where the locks were close enough and M and R would empty their lock, open the gates, vacate the chamber sufficiently to be able to stop their boats and close the gates behind them.

We arrived at our third lock a few moments before it was vacated by a boat heading south. The crew obligingly opened both gates for us before they left the lock and we initially thought that there were just three people on the boat. However, as the boat neared and passed us we were able to count at least seven people, not bad for a boat that was much smaller than ours. We expect that we need say no more when we offer a suggestion that they must have been having problems with their (washing) water supply!

The fourth lock was in our favour and we deployed H to set the fifth for us whilst we worked through the fourth. H reported that there was indeed a boat in front of us as she had just seen it disappearing round a bend in the canal ahead of her as she arrived at the lock.

We arrived at the next lock to find a couple working through the lock heading south. The person operating the lock reminded R of the infamous Eric Morecambe for they were operating the right paddles but not necessarily in the right order, making it difficult for themselves as well as making extra work as well.

M was leading as we arrived at the next lock, just as the boat in front untied from the water point and moved into the lock chamber. We helped them work through the lock and then followed them down. The same crew had almost cleared the next lock when we arrived and, once again, we offered them some assistance to speed them on their way.

They were just opening the top gates of the next lock when we arrived and they waved us straight into the chamber and helped us work through the lock before they did.

We stopped outside the supermarket in Leighton Buzzard so that H could go and buy the appropriate items to top up the freezer - we'd limited what we'd brought from home lest we couldn't accommodate it. We had lunch before H went shopping and whilst she was away a different boat cast off from the moorings and set off in front of us. We never saw them again, at least not on Wednesday. We were having lunch when the boat that was now behind us also moored up outside the shop. They were still there when we left.

The next lock was against us as was the one after that, which is the first of three within a few dozen yards of each other. We were soon in the top chamber and noticed that there was a boat about to leave the bottom lock, heading for the middle. R went to assist them and promptly had the top gates of the bottom lock closed in his face as this boat left that lock. We brushed this aside and helped them through the middle lock before we could leave the top one. By this time there was another boat waiting to use the bottom lock.

We were soon through the remaining two locks and as it was nearly 4pm we temporarily moored for afternoon tea. We had thought about stopping there for the night as H was to attend a meeting in Leighton Buzzard and had arranged to be collected. But the weather was so nice that it seemed a shame to stop for the day at 4pm so we pressed on a little further, passed where the schedule said we should stop and carried on for approximately another three quarters of a mile. This would set us up for a good start on Thursday.

The boat that we had first seen in the locks before we stopped for our tea was still in the top chamber long after we'd moored - and we'd worked through two further locks since we'd passed them.

We stopped for the day at 5.20pm. H had a shower whilst R made a start on the evening meal for which we were joined by M. H then went off to her meeting, leaving R to wash and dry up and then to spend a while on the laptop writing up the day's tale and finally uploading it so that people who have expressed an interest can follow our progress. We finally retired around 11pm.

7 April 2011

Target: Stoke Bruerne, Lock 19, 7 hours 13 minutes cruising, 19.91 miles, 4 locks
Actual: Stoke Bruerne, Top Lock (14), 8 hours 10 minutes cruising, 19.82 miles, 9 locks (nearly 1¾ hours ahead of schedule after just two days!).

Complete sleep was again a missing feature of Wednesday night although we did manage better than on Tuesday night, R's cold symptoms which had abated on Wednesday, save for a slightly husky voice, generally remained in abeyance overnight but managed to re-ignite themselves as Thursday progressed. Bunged-up nose, slight but annoying tickly cough, all the things that help to make a good holiday even better!

Under orders to accommodate an 8am start we decided that we'd better get up at 7am. The intention was that R would shower later in the day as there was no chance that the water would still be warm after the shower H had had after we'd moored on Wednesday evening. However, when R went into the bathroom he was surprised to find the water was still warm enough so he promptly showered before breakfast.

We saw movement on Karen just before 8am and were ready ourselves soon after. We started the engine at 8.15am and set off almost immediately on a bright and sunny morning that was much cooler than Wednesday. In fact R's coat was to remain on (apart from when we stopped for lunch) almost until the end of the day.

We arrived at the apology that is Fenny Lock - all eighteen inch drop of it - just ahead of the crew of two boats heading south, with the lock in our favour. As a result we were soon through the lock and into the Milton Keynes pound. We passed several boats heading south, some travelling in close proximity to each other and others travelling singularly.

We eventually saw a boat heading north just as we approached the visitor moorings at Great Linford, where we intended to stop for our morning cuppa. We were not aware of having seen that boat again even though when we saw it there must have been several hundred metres between us so we didn't know what it looked like!

Onward progress was resumed after thirty five minutes only to be stopped ninety minutes later for lunch just north of the infamous iron trunk aqueduct at Wolverton. Our first attempt to moor south of the aqueduct was unsuccessful as the water was too shallow, so we moved further north. By now the sun had generally gone and the sky was quite cloudy.

Lunch was much quicker than on Wednesday and we were on the move again after forty minutes. We moved up to the lock as a pair of boats entered the top end of the chamber. We waited for them to drop down through the lock and then had to wait even longer as the first boat to leave the lock made a right mess of things and had to shunt back and forth several times before they could pass through the narrow section just south of the lock.

We didn't hang about and were soon through the lock and on our way to Stoke Bruerne and passing a dead goose in the canal. We've seen many dead creatures in the water over the years but this was the first goose. We arrived at the bottom of the Stoke Bruerne locks at 4pm and paused for fifteen minutes for our afternoon cuppa before setting off up the flight where we found the first six locks full and against us and the seventh partially full (and against us). We also caught up with another boat who thought that his luck had changed when he saw activity behind him. Unfortunately we had to disappoint him by telling him that there were two boats behind him, working together and not able to ease his workload.

We did help the other boat through a couple of the locks as he was single handed. He moored two locks from the top of the flight whilst we carried on, clearing the locks just after 5.30pm, mooring for the night a few hundred yards further on. Having moored we stopped the engine fifteen minutes after clearing the last lock. The sun, which had put in another appearance, was now quite strong and all three crew members had shed at least one layer of top clothes by the time we finished working through the lock flight.

We ate in the pub one lock down from the top and returned to our boats just after 9pm. H sat and read for a while whilst R fired up the laptop, checked his mail and then updated and uploaded this page on to the website in the knowledge that we'd agreed that another 8am start was likely on Friday in the hope that we might clear through Braunston before the end of the day in an effort to avoid being caught in any queues as boats set out from the various marinas in the area at the start of the school Easter holidays.

8 April 2011

Target: Buckby, Lock 10, 6 hours 54 minutes cruising, 15.91 miles, 9 locks
Actual: Barby (Northern Oxford Canal), 9 hours 15 minutes cruising, 23.17 miles, 13 locks (over 5 hours ahead of schedule).

Friday dawned (very) bright but quite chilly. Both R & H wore top coats from the outset and were amazed to find several hardy souls wearing short sleeve tops within a very short time. We both discarded our coats when we arrived at the foot of the Buckby flight, just after midday,

We were the first two boats through Blisworth tunnel but it wasn't too long before we saw other boats moving. Fortunately they were all travelling south until we approached Weedon when we caught up with a slow moving northbound boat. Fearing that this boat was destined for the same place as us we thought that we were in for a slow trip. However, within a short while this boat pulled over and moored up and we were on our unimpeded way again.

We were only scheduled to get part way up the Buckby lock flight by Friday night but had gone further than planned on Thursday and decided that we'd continue to make up time if we could on Friday. As a result we also decided not to stop for mid morning tea. Instead, when H made tea we stopped briefly at the next available bridge and left a cup of tea and a bite to eat on the towpath for M to pick-up when he got there, a few seconds later.

We managed to overtake a second boat not too far from the Buckby Locks and were in the first of those locks before the overtaken boat finally arrived at the locks behind us and we'd had to stop and set the lock in our favour before we could use it.

R removed the bike from his boat and departed to set the locks ahead, the first three of which were both against us and had their top gates open. We met a couple of boats heading down the flight which latterly meant that the locks were generally for us.

We stopped at the top of the flight, ostensibly to fill our water tanks but we took the opportunity to have lunch whilst this happened. About ten minutes before we departed the boat in front set off. We didn't see them again until we discovered that we were following them down the Braunston lock flight. However, they didn't delay us as we had to wait for a boat ascending the flight, by which time the boat ahead had long since vanished from view.

Braunston tunnel was thick with exhaust smoke although not as bad as we've known it. We passed one boat in the tunnel soon after we entered.

We passed several boats on the flight heading east/south and paused briefly in the bottom lock without delaying anyone else whilst H popped into the local shop and bought us all an ice cream.

We continued on through Braunston and then for almost three more miles before we found somewhere suitable to stop for the night. We then sat on the towpath for a while consuming the content of a bottle of wine before we all adjourned to our respective boats for our evening meals. R then spent a while on the laptop, finally updating this page before uploading it. A couple of boats passed us within the first half hour after we moored, other than that it was a quiet and pleasant place to stop.

9 April 2011

Target: Clifton Bridge 68, 6 hours 58 minutes cruising, 11.97 miles, 10 locks
Actual: Nuneaton Bridge 24, 8 hours 35 minutes cruising (sorry, we're now so far ahead of ourselves it is difficult to work out how many miles & locks we have done, relative to the schedule!)

We were just finishing breakfast when Karen slowly inched past our boat with M offering a wide grin because he was away some time before us! In fact we must have been a good ten minutes behind him, by the time we'd sorted ourselves out and this was despite us being up and showering around 6.30am.

It was much warmer than on Friday morning so much so that R never even bothered with his coat and within a few hours had swapped sweatshirt for polo shirt.

We made our way to Hillmorton locks and were joined (on the towpath) for part of the way by a dog that took great delight in running several yards ahead of us, stopping, returning to us and then taking off again, whilst we kept moving. There wasn't a peep out of the dog and his onward progress seemed to only finally come to an end when we passed another boat heading back the way we had come. The dog followed us for a short while after and then took off at high speed, chasing the other boat, never to be seen again by us.

Luckily we seemed to be the first boats through the three locks - they're unusual in so much that they are duplicated. M worked through one lock and we worked through the adjacent one opening paddles and gates as required on whichever lock needed the attention.

We paused at the bottom of the locks for fifteen minutes for a cup of tea, moving only when we noticed another boat dropping down through the bottom lock. We were passed by a boat heading towards the locks whilst we were stood drinking our tea. The steerer unusually chose to ignore our salutations. Perhaps it had something to do with the name of his boat - I don't believe it.

We passed through Sutton stop lock where there is a small hand-worked swing bridge across the canal. H alighted from our boat to open the bridge for both boats, found the bridge difficult to move and was rescued by some staff from the hire boat firm based at that location and for whom the bridge is provided.

We stopped again for our second morning cup of tea just after 11am and stopped for lunch just after 1pm. Afterwards we had the laugh on M when we sneaked past Karen whilst M was still finishing his lunch! It was noticeably breezier after lunch but still warm enough not to require any additional clothing although by the time we moored at the end of the day there was a distinct chill in the air.

We passed Alphabet Cottage but didn't have the camera handy to take a picture as it is located on a sharp bend and we needed both hands to control the boat.

We were delayed briefly at Hawkesbury Junction by the boat in front initially dropping down through the stop lock there and then, once we had turned the lock for ourselves and worked through it, we were delayed again by the same boat that had turned at the junction and was now returning back up through the lock. We waited in a narrow on the Coventry canal for M to work through the lock before we both continued on our way.

We stopped a little while later for our afternoon tea break, during which time we decided that we'd continue on through Nuneaton - the chosen stopping point in our Schedule for Sunday evening - and moor up once we were out in the countryside again. We reached a suitable place just before 6pm, pulled in to the bank, tied up and switched off the engines. The three of us ate on our boat and whilst M returned to his boat for a spot of tidying up (or so he said), H watched some television and R updated this page on the website using the first 3G signal that he'd had so far during the trip. We were passed by a couple of hire boats after we stopped and hope that they wouldn't delay us at the locks on Sunday.

10 April 2011

Target: Boot, Bridge 20, 7 hours 44 minutes cruising, 17.22 miles, 4 locks
Actual: Huddlesford, Bridge 84, 9 hours 10 minutes cruising - we're about two hours short of stopping overnight where we should have moored on the coming Tuesday evening.

Although we were away first on Sunday morning, Karen was only a few feet behind us. It was much cooler when we started with both R and M wrapped in coats and R not afraid to admit he was also wearing gloves and was still struggling to keep his hands warm. In fact we had arrived at the foot of the Atherstone flight of eleven locks nearly three hours after we started before the last of the extra layers was discarded. And it was still later before R remembered that he'd failed to apply the sun tan cream to the exposed parts. It had been sunny from before we set off but the heat wasn't there.

R's nose was particularly sore although we don't know whether this was because he'd forgotten the sun protection on Saturday or because the cold which seemed to have abated during Saturday had returned on Sunday.

The fire, which we'd probably over-stoked on Saturday evening before our meal and then left untouched, had all but given up the ghost by Sunday morning - there were just two small pieces of red left in the grate once the ash had been cleared. We decided not to bother re-lighting the fire until later afternoon - on previous days we'd kept the fire in by throwing a couple of cobbles on every few hours. As a result, whereas we normally reckon to use one bag of coal every three days, we're still on bag one after five days and will probably manage to make that bag last for one more day.

We'd been passed by two hire boats from the same yard after we moored on Saturday, one of which showed a marked reluctance to slow down passing (at least our) moored craft. We passed one of these boats moored, within an hour on Sunday morning and arrived at the top of the Atherstone lock flight to find the top gates of the first lock welcomingly open and numerous people stood around it. Saturday evening's second hire boat was nearby taking on water and had set the lock for themselves, not expecting us (or anyone else) to appear before they had filled their tank.

R inched forward towards the lock but there was little the hire boat crew could do to stop him using the lock. The top gates were shut as soon as our boat was in the chamber and Karen promptly came to a stand on the top side of the top gate, so the hire boat was going to be the third to use the lock that their crew had set before we arrived. The hire boat crew weren't too happy about it but there was nothing they could do.

We passed a couple of boats in the flight and for part of the time were following a boat down the locks. The water level in the pound above the penultimate lock was very high and had overflowed onto the towpath in a number of places. When the lock was filled the water spilled over from the chamber onto the offside lock side to the depth of a couple of inches making it difficult to work the lock without getting off the boat on the opposite side and crossing over using the walkway across the bottom gates.

We had planned to stop briefly at the top of the locks for a cup of tea and this had actually been made when we arrived. That tea got nicely stewed as we daren't stop to drink it, so we made a fresh pot at the foot of the flight, some ninety minutes later. However, once again we daren't stop to drink it lest the hire boat steam past us whilst we were moored. There weren't any more locks for some while but the channel isn't too wide and there was a risk that we'd get stuck behind them, unable to overtake if the hire boat didn't keep up a reasonable speed, hence our reluctance to let them past.

We stopped for lunch near Alvecote Priory fully expecting the hire boat, with its crew of eight, to overtake us but they didn't so we'd been right to keep in front of them as our lunch stop lasted thirty minutes. We arrived a Glascote locks to find the top chamber empty and the bottom chamber being emptied by a boat in front of us. We filled the top lock and worked our boat through and then M did likewise with Karen. There was only one top paddle working on the second lock and there was a stoppages booked for six hours on Monday morning to repair the other paddle so we were lucky to have avoided that delay.

The hire boat eventually arrived at the top lock whilst it was occupied by Karen. We had, by this time, vacated the bottom lock and had had our place taken by a boat working up the locks. WIth only one paddle working the chamber took some time to fill. Meanwhile, M had vacated the top chamber but had left the gates open for the ascending boat. The hire boat was having none of this and decided to drop down through the top lock before the ascending boat got there. All that succeeded in doing was delaying them in the pound between the locks as they had to wait for M to drop down through the lower lock before they could use that lock. No time gained and a lock full of water wasted.

There is a bridge not far from the bottom lock. We were about to pass under it when a boat heading towards the locks decided not to give way to us and to try and pass beneath the bridge at the same time as us. We were hugging the towpath bank leaving adequate room for the other boat to get past us. Alas, they misjudged their position, managed to strike the bridge and, by doing so, were knocked sideways into us, lifting our boat up by a couple of inches. Other than that there was no harm done and we proceeded on our way with M right behind us.

We soon caught up another boat but decided that we'd simply follow them rather than try to overtake for they were maintaining a reasonable speed and there weren't too many places to pass them anyway. We stopped for our afternoon cup of tea in Hopwas Wood and then moved on to just beyond Huddlesford Junction to moor for the night, stopping at 5.45pm.

We ate on our respective boats and then R called the family before watching some television and then updating this page, checking and uploading it. The weather henceforth takes a downward spiral for although it looks like staying predominantly dry, the temperature is set to halve, returning to the average for this time of year.

11 April 2011

Target: Alvecote Bridge 59, 7 hours 14 minutes cruising, 12.63 miles, 11 locks
Actual: Weston Upon Trent, 8 hours 25 minutes cruising

Taking advantage of the relatively warm water that we now seem to have in the morning, R was up and showering by 6.15am and outside wiping the side of the down after eating breakfast just over an hour later. It had been misty when we first drew back the curtains but that had gone by the time that we cast off. M was right behind us and as we pulled the pins another boat moored about 100 yards ahead of us started off. Luckily they were heading the opposite way to us so didn't cause us any problems.

We were at Fradley Junction by 9am and we stopped for water whilst M carried on, joining the Trent & Mersey Canal and passing through the next three locks before tying up and waiting for us to catch up. We must have chosen to use one of the slowest taps on the system for thirty minutes after stopping we'd still only replenished half of the tank.

We'd not been tied up for many minutes when a boat turned onto the Coventry Canal so R went and opened the swing bridge for it. That boat moored up just behind us and a few minutes later the sole occupant was seen walking past our boat with a bag of rubbish. R enquired where the rubbish bins were and the other boater offered to take our small bag of rubbish for us. One good turn obviously deserved another.

We'd just decided that we'd turn the taps off, had done so and untied when a boat crossed the junction in front of us, heading where we were going. Too late, we weren't going to tie up and put the hose back in.

By the time we arrived at the lock the boat in front was just moving into the chamber having had to set the lock in their favour behind Karen. We followed behind this solo boater through the next two locks as well and had thought of stopping for a cup of tea but M had had one whilst he was waiting so we carried on and made and drank ours on the move. Whilst we'd been in the third lock and before the solo boater had reached them a further boat pulled away from the bank so we were now following two boats.

One boat pulled over and moored up shortly after and we both cruised on past. We eventually overtook the other boat some time later when they decided to rely on the laws of motion rather than their engine to coast along the canal. We were within a few feet of this boat, having twice sounded our horn, before they realised that we were so close and might want to pass. They pulled over and allowed us to pass but M had to wait a little longer before he too was invited to overtake them.

We were not paying the appropriate amount of attention when we passed under one bridge and managed to get a little too close to the bushes. The overgrowth didn't like this and promptly knocked the Chinaman's Hat off the chimney. It fell onto the roof, rolled over a couple of times and then got knocked by another branch and disappeared over the side of the boat and into the canal. We might have been able to rescue it with a magnet but we could have been there all day doing so and we weren't exactly sure where it entered the water so we simply carried on.

We'd cruised this stretch of canal a few years back heading the other way (i.e. south) and remember being amused by two signs within a few feet of each other. One nicely displaying details of the local amenities and the other prohibiting mooring. We still haven't worked out how people are suppose to gain access to the information sign.

The weather, which had deteriorated as the morning had worn on (and got colder, windier and damper) was having one of its damp spells as we passed through Rugeley so we managed to squeeze into the last couple of mooring spaces as the rain came on heavier and disappeared inside our boats for lunch pronto. R walked to the nearby supermarket to buy fresh milk supplies for both boats after lunch and we cast off again as soon as he got back as we'd seen movement on one of the other moored boats and wanted to be away first.

We were approaching Wolseley Bridge when the skies darkened and the rain suddenly got progressively heavier. In the end and when he saw the first stretch of decent bank to moor against, R pulled over, quickly moored, and disappeared into his boat. M pulled in behind with a slight protest (saying that the next lock was only just around the corner) and also shot inside.

And as our respective doors closed the rain must have stopped. Nonetheless, we'd both decided to have a cup of tea so took advantage of the enforced stop to do so.

We'd just decided to move off when another boat approached and passed so once again we were following another boat and having to reset the locks behind them before we could advance. Luckily this other boat only passed through two more locks before stopping so we were able to pass them and resume our place at the front of the queue (or so we thought).

We were within striking distance of the next lock when we discovered that a further boat had left a local marina and we were now following them. To make matters worse, the locks were generally against this other boat who were not the speediest of boaters (even with a bit of help from both H & R) and we invariably caught them up again at each lock.

With no chance of making anywhere substantial to moor for the night and with the skies darkening again, we pulled over and moored at Weston Upon Trent, stopping just before 6pm. The three of us ate on our boat and then R attended to some of the boatyard's mail before spending the rest of the evening writing up and uploading the latest entry on this page whilst H made arrangements with our daughter to meet here on Tuesday evening for a meal. She would call in to see us on her way home from seeing friends in Manchester and had expected to meet us in the Atherstone area rather than near to Stoke-on-Trent which is where we expected to be by Tuesday evening (having had to slow down a bit to avoid passing all the convenient meeting points).

We were entertained to some squally showers during the evening and were hopeful that they would stop by the time we went to bed, lest they wake us during the night, such was the force with which the rain was impacting on the roof. Fortunately, Tuesday forecast was for drier sunnier weather with less wind but with even lower temperatures than Monday.

12 April 2011

Target: Wood End Corner, 7 hours 15 minutes cruising, 15.78 miles, 4 locks
Actual: Stoke on Trent, 8 hours 45 minutes cruising. We are now two hours into our planned schedule for Friday i.e. we're over two days ahead of schedule at the end of our first week away.

We negotiated a lie in on Tuesday, not planning to start until 8am instead of the more recent 7.45am. We looked at the clock at 7am and decided that we'd better move. We'd had breakfast by 7.30am when M was seen walking along the towpath in the direction of the nearby road - we discovered later that he'd set off on an unsuccessful expedition to locate a post box.

He returned within 15 minutes, by which time we were ready, so we both agreed to set off. We'd been well and truly beaten as the first boat had gone by at 7am heading the way we had come. The next boat, fifteen minutes before us, was the boat that had been moored behind us overnight and had at various times been either in front or behind us during parts of Monday.

It was lovely and bright but (not so lovely) bitterly cold and we appeared to be heading directly into the wind. R tried several things to get warm, including changing his gloves and semi closing the hatch and closing the rear doors but by the time we arrived at our first lock he was absolutely frozen.

M had been right behind us when we started out and remained there until the first lock where he first had to wait for us to work through the lock and then for another boat to drop down through the lock before he could follow us. This put him about ten minutes behind us leaving the lock. Unfortunately, between our first and our second lock we managed to overtake one of the slower boats that we'd followed on Monday. In addition, a further boat had cast off between us and Karen meaning that there were now two boats between us and M.

We stopped for water at Stone - the flow rate being much quicker than the tap we'd used at Fradley on Monday. We then worked through our next lock and having vacated it, set it emptying to help one of the following boats through the lock quicker. We were thus surprised to learn that the next boat to use the lock was Karen because the other two boats had moored up. Brilliant, we were together again (or so we thought).

There were a couple of boats moored in the next pound and one of them decided to pull away before M had vacated the lock so, once again, we were separated by an intervening boat. Fortunately, this boat only passed through one lock before stopping for fuel. Unfortunately, the boat that had set out before us earlier in the day was moored above the second lock and they now set off to replace the other boat that had stopped for fuel.

We gave up! We stopped at the top of the four locks, helped the following boat through the lock and then helped M through, making a cup of tea whilst we waited. As M left the lock a boat heading the other way approached and got between M and our boat making it impossible for us to pull away so M took the lead for the short run to the next four locks with us following along behind. This time nobody else got in the way and both boats stopped for lunch at the top of the Meaford flight of locks a few minutes after 1pm.

We started off again thirty minutes later with M once again following us and he managed to stay right behind us until we stopped at the end of the day. It was much warmer after lunch although nowhere near as warm as it had been even on Monday. Attempts to discard outer clothing only lasted for short periods of time and by the time we started to ascend the locks on the approach to Stoke on Trent the temperature/wind chill factor was making R feel really cold again.

We had followed another boat all afternoon and with one exception when we met a boat heading downhill, we had to turn every lock to our favour. The locks then had to be turned again for M. Although we were continuing to make up time we would have made up even more if the locks had been in our favour.

We'd initially planned to meet up with daughter at Trentham but when we found ourselves running early we altered the rendezvous point to Stoke on Trent where we expected to arrive a little after daughter and suggested that she might like to come and help us with the last few locks once she had parked her car. In the end she had such a terrible journey from Manchester that she arrived about five minutes after we did.

We tidied ourselves up, collected a few things that we'd asked her to bring from home (and which she'd taken to Manchester and back in order to do so) from her car and then ate in the pub adjacent to the marina. Daughter then set off for home and we returned to our boat so that H could watch TV and R could check various mail accounts and then write up, check and upload the latest update on this page before we made our night time drink and headed for bed.

13 April 2011

Target: Sandy Lane Winding Hole, 6 hours 58 minutes cruising, 15.56 miles, 5 locks
Actual: Denford, 8 hours cruising. We can't be certain because we've deviated from the planned itinerary but think that we're now about 2½ days ahead of our programme.

We managed to steal another late start on Wednesday, not setting off until 7.55am. Is there no end to the risks that we would take? We cruised back to the junction with the Caldon Canal and turned onto that waterway. Within a few hundred yards we were at the foot of the two lock staircase that lifts the canal almost twenty feet (over six metres). This pair of locks, like most of the rest that we encountered during the day, were against us although we weren't to know whether this was because another boat had set off before us or whether the last movement on Tuesday had been by a boat heading the same way as us.

Once again we were in the lead, with M on Karen right behind us. None of the three of us had expected to see many boats on this canal but we were in for a surprise as we suspect we saw as many as we'd seen in any other similar period since we left the Grand Union Canal and started cruising the narrow canals.

The are a number of lift bridges on this canal, the first of which is electrically operated. We reached there first and waited for M to approach before we operated the bridge. We shut the bridge after both boats had safely negotiated it and M took the lead whilst R waited for H to rejoin our boat. We'd literally just shut the bridge when another boat approached from the opposite direction. They seemed disgruntled that we didn't either re-open the bridge for them or leave it open.

The original forecast had been for heavy rain for Wednesday. This changed several times and by the morning the rain was limited to late afternoon. Wrong! We had light drizzle for about an hour during the morning and nothing more. However, the wind did us no favours and R felt cold for much of the day, not really thawing out until after we had moored for the day.

We stopped for ¾ hour for lunch at Park Lane Bridge and deviated from the planned schedule, heading to Leek first instead of going to Froghall first. We turned at the last winding hole and R reversed back to the only vacant mooring space. M came alongside, reversing back to the winding hole afterwards to turn and retrace his steps to Hazelhurst Junction leading us. H disembarked at the aqueduct over the Froghall arm, descended the steps to the lower branch and walked to the junction setting the locks for M as she went. M meanwhile had paused just before the junction, ran to the top lock, lifted the paddles and then returned to his boat to take the turn and work down through the locks with us following.

We both dropped down through the three locks by the junction and then cruised on to Denford and moored outside the pub. We ate and then after R had done some work on the laptop, we adjourned to the pub. We returned to our boat, had our evening cuppa and R checked and uploaded the day's update before heading for bed.

14 April 2011

Target: Michelin Bridge 108A, 7 hours 22 minutes cruising, 12.44 miles, 11 locks
Actual: Long Butts Lift Bridge, 9 hours 5 minutes cruising. We moored where we were supposed to moor on Sunday night, making us exactly three days ahead of schedule after just 9 days of cruising. After covering the Caldon canal and the Leek branch thereof, but in different order to that originally planned, we were now back on track even if running ahead of ourselves.

We'd moored outside the pub and the adjacent houses on Wednesday night. When we first looked out of the boat on Thursday all around still had their curtains drawn. By the time we moved off at 7.55am, just one set of curtains had been opened.

It seemed much warmer when we first ventured out of the boat but this was deceptively untrue for once again, as the day wore on, R was feeling colder and colder. It wasn't until a short while before we moored at the end of the day that we all agreed that the temperature had risen.

The plan for the day was for both boats to cruise to the next lock where M would turn Karen and moor her. He would then transfer to our boat for the rest of the journey to the end of the canal. We'd then take him back and he would rejoin Karen with both boats then continuing as previously.

We carried on heading towards Froghall after leaving Karen, joining the River Churnet for a short distance after the penultimate lock. We were just getting to the point where the river and canal separate out again when we found that we were following a boat that appeared to have just started up from an overnight stopping spot.

The steerer of this boat seemed to spend more time taking pictures than they did steering their boat and were frequently doing little but coasting - moving without any throttle being applied. Eventually they arrived at the canal's last lock with us but a few yards behind them. We helped them through the lock and then set the lock for ourselves. We dropped down through the lock and passed under a gauge that would indicate whether our profile was compact enough to pass through the renowned low tunnel at Froghall. We failed the gauge (but only just). It is a bit ironic that full length boats that can't fit through the tunnel have to turn round above this last lock but they have to pass through the lock to use the gauge to see if they fit!

We left the lock and continued on our way. Stretches of the canal in this area are quite narrow and we met a boat heading towards us just as we entered one of the narrow stretches. The other boat stopped and allowed us to pass through the narrow, for which we thanked them.

We eventually arrived at Froghall, passing the boat that had preceded us (which was, by now moored), turned before the tunnel and reversed clear of the winding hole. We moored, secured the boat and wandered off to look at the basin that lies beyond the tunnel. We also looked through the tunnel and believe that the gauge at the last lock was overly restrictive and that we could probably have passed through the tunnel but as we'd turned we decided not to bother.

We returned to our boat just as the boat that we'd followed earlier were untying and setting off on their return journey. We decided to have a cup of tea as there was no point racing after them based on the speed that they'd worked through the lock on their way down to Froghall.

We eventually left Froghall an hour after we arrived and were soon through the narrow stretches and the first lock. Lo and behold we were soon behind the other boat and remained behind them through the next few locks with either H or M (and sometimes both) helping them through the locks and then working the lock for us.

M left us below the two locks above which he had moored Karen on the basis that it was better for him to be at the front of the queue than crawling along at the back. The next time we saw M close to was when we moored about 2½ hours later - we did just catch a fleeting glimpse of Karen three locks ahead of us at Hazlehurst as she left the top lock whilst we waited somewhat impatiently for our turn below the bottom of the three locks.

Somewhere in the pound between the point where Karen had been moored and the next locks (at Hazlehurst) we discovered that we were following a different boat and correctly assumed that there were by now two boats between us and Karen. The boat immediately in front of us was the boat that we had passed in the narrow section earlier in the day. They seemed to be struggling with their boat and on two occasions when we were virtually as close to them as we could be, they suddenly veered off line and either stopped or went into reverse before continuing onwards. They too were fond of coasting out of gear.

We arrived at the bottom of the Hazelhurst three locks where M had not only passed through the locks but had also left them emptying for the boat following Karen (and as we discovered later, Karen was also following a boat which meant that M had to set the locks for himself before he could use them). The boat behind took their customary age to work through each lock even with the help of either the boat behind them or H, depending on who had walked forward to assist.

The boat in front of us eventually managed to get into the bottom lock enabling R to get alongside the bank to tie up to a bollard and go and help the preceding boat through the lock before setting the lock for himself. And so we slowly made our way through the three locks probably taking more than double the time that we would have done had we not been following anyone (other than Karen).

We had been led to believe that the first of of the two preceeding boats would be carrying on and stopping for water a short while after the locks, where we hoped we would get an opportunity to overtake them. The boat immediately in front of us was turning onto the Leek branch. We were pleasantly surprised when both preceding boats turned towards Leek leaving us to follow Karen, albeit at a great distance.

Karen dropped down through the five Stockton Brook locks and moored. She was in the lower locks by the time that we arrived at the top one which we had to turn in our own favour as we did at all the rest of the locks save the last one which M walked back and turned for us.

R was alighting from the boat to help H work the locks and was rejoining our boat by descending the lock ladder and then regaining the stern by walking along the gunwale. He was being extremely careful to hold on to ladder or boat at all times but in the day's penultimate lock he managed to lose his footing and one leg slipped down between boat and lock wall. Luckily, other then some exceedingly slimy clothes where they had rubbed against the lock wall, all was in order.

We moored at the foot of the locks just before 6pm. We suspect that we might have been moored about an hour earlier if we'd started just five minutes earlier in the morning because we would then have been in front rather than behind the other boats.

We had chosen this location to stop overnight because we felt that it should put us in a position to ensure that we were able to pass through Harecastle Tunnel on Friday, a tunnel where boats can't pass each other so passages through it are only permitted in groups about every ninety minutes with arrival at the locks necessary before 3pm to guarantee a same day passage. We hoped to be there around 1pm.

We ate on our boat, sat and chatted for a while afterwards and then R wrote up the day's story, checked what he'd written and then uploaded it. H did the washing up and then wrote a few cards and letters. We made the bedtime drink around 10.30pm and were in bed by 11pm hopeful that we wouldn't oversleep on Friday morning and risk missing the tunnel passage.

15 April 2011

Target: Stanley Road Bridge 26, 7 hours 4 minutes cruising, 9.47 miles, 14 locks
Actual: Bosley Lock 12, 8 hours 40 minutes cruising which as a result of some good luck with the passage through Harecastle Tunnel now puts us almost 3½ days ahead of where the plan says we should have been.

We tried to steal the march on M on Friday morning by being ready long before we've normally been ready to move. However, he was as with it as us with the result that we set off at 7.40am. H walked the short distance to the day's first lift bridge. R took his boat through and continued slowly to the next bridge, followed by M on Karen. H lowered the bridge and walked to the second lift bridge and raised that for the passage of both boats. R passed beneath the bridge and carried on to the nearby lock which he entered as soon as he'd opened the gate. M picked up H at the bridge and took her to the lock as well.

We worked both boats through the lock before H & R set off for the next lift bridge. Here M overtook us as we were working the bridge and took the lead to the last three locks before we left the Caldon Canal. He arrived at the lock to find a boat in the chamber and another waiting to drop down through the lock before M could. Luckily, the first boat was long gone by the time we arrived at the lock and soon we were helping both the second boat and then M down through the lock before we dropped down through it as well.

We'd noted that only one of the top paddles wasn't working on this lock when we headed up the canal a few days previously. It wasn't until M was about to enter the chamber that R noticed that the second paddle, which seemed to have been locked off (with its anti-vandal lock) and defied attempts to unlock it, wasn't completely lowered. This was the reason why the lock couldn't be operated. As soon as the paddle was dropped the lock freed up and we were able to unlock it and use two paddles to fill the lock.

We were again in a queue at the staircase lock but eventually both boats dropped down through the lock and moored for a short while thereafter for our morning tea break. From there we set off towards Harecastle Tunnel with M surrendering the lead to us at the junction with the Trent & Mersey canal.

We saw a couple of boats heading south and estimated that we'd probably have about an hour to wait at the tunnel before being allowed through as the passage of these southbound boats would have then allowed some northbound boats to use the tunnel and we'd have to wait until the subsequent southbound boats had cleared the tunnel before we were allowed in.

We began to fear the worst when we then started to overhaul another northbound boat for we feared that we may have to follow this slower moving boat through the tunnel. However, luck was on our side and this boat moored up some distance from the tunnel so we carried on unimpeded.

We approached the tunnel with caution, the plan being to take on water if we had to wait for a passage and to have an early lunch as well. We hadn't bargained on being waved straight into the tunnel as we approached it. We were given the safety briefing and advised that the preceeding boat was probably about ¾ of the way through the tunnel so we shouldn't have any problems. We were also asked to convey a small parcel from the tunnel keeper at the south end of the tunnel to his counterpart at the north end. This we gladly did.

Both boats were soon in the tunnel, the doors closed behind us and the large extractor fan turned on. That was noisy and could be heard for some distance into the tunnel. The first few hundred yards into the tunnel were also thick with the exhaust from the previous boat, exhaust which the fans were drawing to the end of the tunnel and out into the open. The fan was also making it incredibly cold in the tunnel.

We reached the north end of the tunnel after about thirty five minutes, and delivered up the contraband that we'd transported through the tunnel - some cheese that had been left at the other end of the tunnel by an earlier boater who had meant to drop it off at the north end when they were there.

We turned onto the Macclesfield Canal shortly after leaving the tunnel and within a few minutes witnessed an example of nature at its worst. A swan, whose partner was on a nearby nest, was behaving violently to a mother duck and her very young ducklings. At one point it looked as though the swan was attempting to and may have actually killed one or more ducklings. The swan wasn't being too kind to the duck either.

We continued on to the first lock, a stop lock where the level varies by about twelve inches. This lock had a single gate at the bottom and two gates at the top, the opposite to the single locks that we'd previously encountered. Furthermore, the single gate had the walkway across the gate on the inside of the gate instead of on the outside. This confused H, who thought that the water level in the lock was higher than that outside (at both ends of the chamber) and R didn't appreciate that we were starting to climb up through locks rather than drop down, because of the way the gates were arranged.

We stopped on the water point above the lock to fill the tank and take advantage of the enforced break to have a slightly late lunch. We started off again as soon as the tank was full which luckily put us in front of a boat that was just climbing up through the lock. We then discovered that this boat was going to stop for water, so no harm was done.

There were no further locks on Friday. We simply cruised on along the Macclesfield canal, taking in the sights which included, in the distance, the Jodrell Bank telescope.

We passed some moored boats as we arrived at Congelton and recognised one as being one of the slow moving boats that we'd followed south of Stone earlier in the week. They set off as soon as we'd passed and then passed us when we moored up for a short while a little further on for H to post some letters and for us all to have a cup of tea before continuing on.

This boat was now travelling with another and both pulled out just in front of us about a mile further on, having stopped at the water point there. We were forced to follow them albeit that they weren't delaying us, until we were about a mile before our intended overnight stopping spot. Both boats pulled in and made the glib comment that they were doing so in order not to delay us. However, it did look as though they were stopping for the night rather than just long enough for us to pass.

We moored for the night below the locks and had all but finished the usual end of day tasks when these two boats came past. They ascended through the first lock, turned and dropped back down again before mooring ahead of us but facing back the way we had come. They may be surprised when we set off early in the morning!

We ate individually on Friday evening and then whilst H watched television R wrote up this tale, checked it and uploaded it on a very slow Internet connection.

16 April 2011

Target: Flood Gauge (Caldon Canal), 7 hours 11 minutes cruising, 13.17 miles, 10 locks
Actual: High Lane (Marple), 7 hours 20 minutes cruising.

When we planned the start time for Saturday we were still unaware of the intentions of the boats that we'd been following on Friday evening so as previous experience suggested that they'd take an age to work through the locks and because we'd seen them moving reasonably early one morning we decided that we'd start off around 7am.

R was awake long before that and as we were to discover later, M was also up with the larks and wondering along the towpath not long after it was light.

We started the engine at 7am and were entering our first lock within ten minutes. We were the first boats into the flight of twelve locks and didn't see anyone heading down the flight until we were two locks from the top where we met our first boat and then met another as we left the top lock.

We stopped at the top to regroup - a posh way of saying to have a cup of tea! Then we set off for Macclesfield, where we stopped just before midday on what are called the visitor moorings. They didn't seem too friendly as it wasn't possible to get the boat within twelve inches of the bank! H & M went shopping whilst R stayed behind. His cold which had abated slightly over the last few days had returned with vengeance on Saturday to the extent that R was using tissues like they were going out of fashion.

We had lunch before we set off again and then only went for about an hour before we stopped for fuel and a pump out. We weren't desperate for either but as we plan to spend at least one day without moving and the Manchester area seems devoid of boatyards we decided to sort things out whilst we could.

We were moored for an hour, which included the obligatory afternoon cuppa, and then pressed on. We had hoped to reach the top of the Marple flight of locks but the Macclesfield canal is quite shallow and has a lot of moored boats so our progress was restricted somewhat. We eventually stopped for the night at High Lane, about two miles south of Marple. We had a communal evening meal followed by the normal chat session during which we started to consider options for the wise use of the time that we had managed to accrue so far in the trip.

Once M had returned to his boat R fired up the laptop, sorted out his mail and the boatyard's and then updated this page before checking and uploading it.

17 April 2011

Target: Long Butts Lift Bridge, 7 hours 11 minutes cruising, 12.51 miles, 11 locks
Actual: Dukinfield Junction, 6 hours 50 minutes cruising.

We were having to pace ourselves by Sunday as there were only a few locations in and around Manchester that we thought it would be safe mooring at. As a result we engineered a late start on Sunday - 9am.

We were ready to roll just a few minutes after that but M was engrossed in the Grand Prix so we decided to set off and leave him to catch us up later. It was a fine morning although not too warm to start with. It took us forty five minutes to reach Marple Junction where a few seconds later we were joined by a canoeist who had tailed us for the last couple of miles. And then, whilst H was setting the first couple of locks and long after the canoe had been removed from the water, we were joined by a cruiser that would ultimately follow us down the lock flight.

H had opened the top gate of the second lock whilst the top one was filling and had lifted a paddle to fill the the third. We dropped down in the first and were on our way to the second when we spied a head pop over the ridge at the bottom of the lock. Said head promptly vanished when he saw us entering the lock. We surmised correctly that the head was connected to someone who was working a boat up the flight. What we hadn't expected was the fact that they had arrived at the third lock, found it either full or filling, seen our raised paddle, lowered it and then drained the lock for their own use. As a result we were sat in the pound between the two locks waiting for them to work through the lock below us. And behind us the cruiser was waiting patiently as well as we'd left the bottom gates of the second lock open for the uphill boat.

Eventually we got into a routine whereby H would open and close top and bottom gates and R would open one of the bottom paddles prior to rejoining the boat. The locks were too deep to use the ladders to get back on the boat safely as they were wet from the water in the lock.

After about five locks we changed jobs with H steering - not one of her better roles - and R doing all the lock work using the bike to ride back and forth as required - opening bottom paddles to drain the current lock then cycling to the next lock to either open the top gates or start the lock filling, then cycling back to let the boat out of the previous lock before lowering paddles, closing gates and returning to the lock the boat was about to enter. Throw in some very stiff paddles on the bottom gates and the fact that the means of securing the seat on the bike broke almost as soon as R tried to set the bike up and R was shattered by the bottom of the lock flight.

We got to lock 7 and noticed that the bottom gates of lock 6 were open and that there was someone working lock 5, which we took to be a boat ascending up in the lock. We vacated lock 7 and sat waiting for this other boat to vacate lock 5. We must have waited for a good ten minutes. Eventually the reason became known. The boat only had one person on it and the top of lock 5 only had one working paddle.

M called whilst we were waiting. He had passed the cruiser whose crew had stopped for refreshment, and was now entering lock 8. We'd left lock 7's bottom gates open for the uphill traveller so from lock 6 onwards R was not only closing the locks behind his own boat but was also starting to fill the lock again for M. And then as we were in the last couple of locks R was re-tracing his steps to help M work through the remaining locks.

We returned to normal working at the foot of the locks and once we were both clear moved on for a short while before stopping for an extended lunch (of forty five minutes). We set off again around 2.30pm to travel the last seven miles of the Peak Forest canal. There were virtually no moored boats and we met hardly anyone heading towards us and yet it took 2½ hours to reach our intended overnight stop at Dukinfield Junction. The water depth was very shallow for much of the way and we were both moving at little more than tick-over speed for great chunks of it.

We'd not seen another boat since the one that we encountered at the lower end of the lock flight so it came as a surprise to see one just as we entered one of the two tunnels that we travelled through during the afternoon - neither tunnel can only accommodate boats travelling in opposite directions at the same time. As we were just in the tunnel when the crew of the other boat saw us, they waited for us to vacate the tunnel before they continued on their way.

We passed another two boats some while later. They were within about two minutes of each other but neither knew of the other's presence, such is the winding nature of the canal in the area.

We decided not to stop for afternoon tea. Instead H made it and R momentarily disembarked from his own boat with a cup for M at a bridge. The cup was placed on the roof of Karen and then R rejoined his own boat to carry on.

There is one lift bridge, the last bridge before we moored, and this caused problems as H couldn't get it to open so R had to disembark, open the bridge and then rejoin his boat and pass under the bridge, followed by M. H then lowered the bridge and rejoined our boat for the short journey to Duckinfield Junction where we moored for the night.

We ate on our own boats and just before nightfall two other boats heading south moored up in front of us. We watched some television and then R spent a while on the computer. R doesn't get headaches but got a blinding one all of a sudden during the evening. He took one of his painkillers, spent about twenty minutes lying on the bed and was then able to return to the computer to finish off the work on this page's latest update.

18 April 2011

Target: Heritage Narrowboats, 7 hours 11 minutes cruising, 14.4 miles, 15 locks
Actual: Castlefield Basin (Manchester), 8 hours 20 minutes cruising.

The Ashton Canal doesn't have a very good reputation as far as the local youths are concerned so boaters are advised to travel early and avoid school holidays. We could do the former but as the Easter holidays had now started we couldn't do the latter. As a result we decided that we'd make a start at 7am on Monday.

We had 25 locks to do during the day, 18 of which were narrow and would require working through separately by each boat. We guessed they'd have anti vandal locks on them, and they generally did, so each of the four paddles had to have the locks released, the paddles operated for one boat, then operated again for the second boat and, finally, the anti vandal locks refitted. A slow old process, not helped in one or two places by paddle gear that even at this early stage of the season was not functioning properly and a lot of instances where the anti vandal locks needed some heavy handed treatment to release them.

Both boats managed to get fouled propellers at some stage during the passage through these locks and general progress was slow for the reasons given. We stopped after ten locks (and 2½ hours) for a quick cuppa not having seen another boat all morning. As you can probably guess, we hadn't been there too long when a boat appeared, heading towards the lock so we had to move as we were moored on the lock landing and blocking access to the bottom gates. In fairness to the other boat they did think that we might be in trouble when they saw where we were stopped and had put a member of their crew ashore to see if we needed any help.

There was plenty of water in the flight with all the bypasses running. We soon met a second boat heading up the flight and by the time we eventually left the flight we'd seen five heading uphill. The latter two about to enter the flight as we cleared it. Given that it had taken us almost five hours and passage is recommended to have been started by 10.00, these two boats could potentially have been in trouble from the local residents if the flight's reputation was justified. We'd never know.

Our boat has a tendency to drift backwards in the lock once the bottom gates are ready to be opened - this is quite normal in meany locks. The boat was normally right at the back of the lock by the time that R rejoined it after the paddles on the bottom gates had been lowered once the gates had been opened. At one lock the top gates leaked so bad that the water all but flooded the back deck. Then, a few locks later, the surge of water over the top of the top gate when M started to drain the lock behind, caused another flood.

It wasn't until we stopped for our tea break and R decided to check the propeller for rubbish that he discovered that the above excess of water had found its way into the engine room bilge and was over an inch in depth. He removed what he could when we moored for lunch either by scooping it up (initially) or by mopping it up (latterly, when the depth reduced below that which trying to scoop it up was possible). The drains on the rear deck tend to get blocked by all sorts of natural rubbish but even when they are clear any sudden torrent of water on the rear deck seems to over power them.

The last three locks are fairly remote from the rest of the flight and we were some distance ahead of Karen by the time we left the lock so we stayed and opened the top gate for her. We then motored across the short pound to the next lock, coming to temporary grief when we partially ran aground on part of a clay dam that was supposed to be protecting some work on the bank side. We struggled into the lock at the far end of the pound, worked through the lock and, having left the lock, waited below it so that we could set the lock for M.

Karen got but a few yards outside the higher lock when she ran aground, unable to move anywhere, with M stranded on board. To add insult to injury, the workmen hadn't got any idea what was happening or what to do to address the situation. We immediately stopped filling the lower lock, which then leaked empty again in a very short space of time. In addition, we managed to convince the workmen that they needed to stop the pumps that they were using to drain the water from the pound in order to keep water from the hole in which they were supposed to be working.

In due course we managed to refill the pound sufficiently enough to refloat Karen by running water through the higher lock from the level above. Once Karen was clear of the worst of the shallow water we refilled the lower lock and worked her into the chamber before we set off for the bottom lock where we met the first of two boats that were about to enter the flight.

We dropped down through the lock and having left the lock watched as what was now a queue of two boats to ascend the flight took time to decide who would move off first. In the meantime Karen was stuck in the pound above waiting to drop down through the lock.

We stopped for lunch at Piccadilly Village and then moved on into the lower reaches of the Rochdale canal. Here the locks are wide enough to accommodate two boats side by side so we breasted up our two boats and with M steering and R and H working the locks we started our descent of the remaining nine locks (of the ninety two on the Rochdale canal).

H experienced some problems with the lock gear on the first lock but was helped by a passing gentleman who indicated that he worked for British Waterways. This lock and several of the reminder required a windlass to open and close paddles (as usual) but also required a windlass to open and close the lock gates because the balance beams were so short that it was impossible to get suitable leverage on the balance beam so a windlass was used to operate a chain that pulled the gate in the appropriate direction.

There was an excessive amount of water flowing over the top gates of each lock making it difficult to open the bottom gates. In addition on at least three locks we had to separate the boats and work them out of the lock individually because we were unable to open the bottom gates wide enough for the two boats to pass through side by side.

And to make matters worse, one of the locks has no access to or from the towpath at either end meaning that the crew must travel to and from the lock by boat rather than walk along the towpath between locks. Oh what fun we had! We think that the various delays encountered on each flight added over an hour to our day's cruising.

We eventually arrived at Castlefield Junction, our chosen destination for the day. Both R and M surveyed the area in general looking for a mooring space. We were eventually advised of a space by another boater and made our way there. We moored at 4.25pm and had the obligatory cup of tea before getting ourselves cleaned up and heading off to explore the immediate locality on foot. We returned about ninety minutes latter (a little wiser) and all had our evening meal on our boat. We chatted for a while afterwards and then R set to and checked mail accounts and then wrote up the day's entry on this page, making the most of the superb Internet connection whilst he could.

19 April 2011

Target: Heritage Narrowboats, 7 hours 3 minutes cruising, 11.84 miles, 12 locks
Actual: Castlefield Basin (Manchester) - still, 0 hours cruising.

A holiday brochure might describe the fourteenth day of our trip as At leisure in Manchester! Once again we'd negotiated a late start to the day and by the time that we sat down to breakfast M was outside cleaning his boat down.

We pottered off to the nearby Sainsbury Local around 8.45am and when we returned we found that M had washed the roof of our boat for us. What a nice neighbour. In return we made a cup of tea and partook of that with him, consuming some still warm pastries that we'd just bought.

A little later than planned we set off for a visit to the nearby Museum of Science and Industry where we spent over five hours including lunch and watching a railway carriage being unloaded off a lorry. We saw a demonstration of the making of cotton and would thorough recommend the place for a visit.

We returned to our boats around 4pm, had a cup of tea, spent some time unsuccessfully trying to locate a well known fish & chip restaurant which was advertised locally as being nearby and according to the Internet was around two miles away, in the opposite direction. Unwilling to walk that far we opted to wander down the local main road until we found a pizzeria where we had a pleasant meal.

We eventually got back to our boats just as the last of the daylight was fading, made a cup of tea, updated and uploaded this page (including adding a few pictures to the tales of recent days) and headed for bed. It would be back to normal with an early start and lots of cruising (but no locks) on the morrow.

20 April 2011

Target: Marple Lock 8, 7 hours 23 minutes cruising, 13.97 miles, 8 locks
Actual: Wigan Junction, 6 hours 15 minutes cruising.

We put the boiler on for a while on Wednesday morning as we'd not run the engine since Monday and wanted some hot water for washing - not that we had much water either as we hadn't filled up for five days and had done several lots of washing.

With our ablutions and breakfast complete we were ready for departure and were getting ready to cast off when we were approached by another boater looking for someone to share the work of the Rochdale locks with as they were heading where we'd come from (and didn't know that we were heading the other way). Alas we had to disappoint them.

We made our way out of the basin that we'd been in since Monday afternoon's arrival and turned left onto the Bridgewater canal. We saw not another boat all the way to Waters Meeting where we turned and headed north towards Leigh.

M had been this way before and on each occasion had been lucky/unlucky enough to have been halted at the Barton Swing Aqeduct which had been opened to allow the passage of a boat on the Manchester Ship Canal below. No such luck this time and not a sight of any other moving craft in either direction as we crossed the aqueduct.

We carried on as far as Worsley where we planned to stop to take on water. It was fortunate that M had been this way before or we would have missed the water point, which is shut away in what are labelled as Council run toilets. M told us that we'd passed the tap so we stopped and reversed back to the building. We went inside and found almost everything broken that could be broken although, luckily, the tap and one toilet survived so we topped up with water and M emptied his toilet.

The tap took an age to fill the tank so having all had a cup of tea, M and H set off to explore the site of first mine entrance. The tank still wasn't completely full when they returned but we had ample so we turned the tap off, coiled up the hose, attempted unsuccessfully to lock the building and set off again.

We encountered one of the local day boats whilst we were moored. It went past heading south, must have turned around within a few hundred yards and returned. We eventually caught up with them about fifteen minutes later and they pulled over to let us and M overtake (albeit that we had to do so on the wrong side).

Plank Lane lift bridge is manned and only operated during specific hours. We were well within the daytime hours but would have arrived at lunch time if we hadn't moored for our own lunch a few hundred yards before the bridge. The area around the bridge is the subject of some extensive groundwork, including what looks like the makings of a small marina/basin.

We had an extended lunch because R nodded off so it was over an hour after we stopped that we restarted. Nothing else impeded our progress for the rest of the day. We had intended to moor just south of the two locks approaching Wigan Junction but the warm weather had brought a lot of people out, including a large number of youngsters some of whom were riding up and down the towpath on a very noisy motorbike. Whilst we didn't doubt that they'd not interfere with us, we did decide that it might be quite noisy until they decided to pack up for the day, so we carried on. We passed through the two locks where we met two boats just leaving the first lock and met another about to enter the second after we'd used it. This boat was able to direct us to the local visitor moorings and we were moored there by just after 4pm.

We had a cuppa on our boat then strolled down the canal in the opposite direction to that which we'd be travelling on Thursday. M said it had all changed since he was last there, with warehouses and other older buildings all being replaced by modern housing. He was able to point out Wigan Pier, something that is easy to miss if you don't know where it is - we didn't go close enough to get a picture and it is that small that a distance picture wouldn't show it easily.

We returned to our boat for our evening meal after which we watched television for a while and then whilst H did some baking R spent some time on the computer. The Wigan 21 locks faced us on Thursday.

21 April 2011

Target: Claydon Lock 14, 7 hours 15 minutes cruising, 10.99 miles, 12 locks
Actual: Johnson's Hillock, 8 hours 20 minutes cruising.

We'd decided to be ready to go by about 8.15am on Thursday as we thought that the Wigan lock flight didn't open until 8.30am. As a result we opted to take advantage of the slightly later start and wash the side of our boat that was nearest the towpath and, if time permitted, we'd tackle the other side as well because Karen was moored alongside us and we could use her to provide more support whilst we worked.

We'd just finished washing the towpath side when we noticed someone at the lock behind us. Despite the fact that it was only 7.50am we decided to move round to the lock so that we'd be first in the queue, both able to take advantage of any locks that were empty and so that we wouldn't be following any boats that were possibly moving slower than us.

We arrived at the first lock at 8am, found it empty and not locked, so we started the climb up the 21 locks. Most locks were against us but with nobody in front we weren't being restrained, we could work as fast as we wanted. We did have two boats behind us although we don't know whether there was any connection between them and the person that we'd seen at the lock earlier.

We met a boat heading down through the locks after about eight locks. They obligingly left a gate open for us, as we did for them. However, before we could get to the now ready lock, someone from another boat also descending the flight had closed the gate and started to fill the lock so we had to wait below the lock for that boat (and the one they were travelling with) to crawl out of the lock above and then crawl into the lock we were waiting below.

By this time the pair of boats behind us were in the same pound as us but they then decided to moor up and we never saw them again.

Around this time we were joined by two friends and their dog, so there were five of us working the boats up through the locks. We're not as young as we used to be so we aren't as agile as some but we did manage to complete the climb in 3½ hours, which included the delay mentioned earlier and a pause a few locks later for tea and biscuits.

We stopped at the top for lunch with our friends and then bade them farewell for the time being - we hope to see them later in the trip. The rest of the day's trip was largely uneventful. We stopped for tea at Chorley for 20 minutes and then had the dubious pleasure of following an apparently experienced group on a wide beam boat through the locks at Johnson's Hill.

We'd had a few spots of rain as we approached the locks and they turned into a brief shower whilst we were emptying the first lock. The rain then stopped and the rest of the day was dry. We crossed a pair of boats heading down through the locks but they caused only a slight delay and we arrived at the top lock before the previous boat had left it.

We managed to find space on the visitor mooring at the top of the locks and all ate on our boat about forty five minutes after we moored. We then headed to the pub where we stayed until around 10pm before returning to our respective boats and beds. There was live music in the pub but it wasn't to our taste and, judging by the amount of conversation ongoing whilst the singer was performing, we probably weren't alone in our views.

The pub visit was the reason why the day's story never got written up on Thursday.

22 April 2011

Target: Egerton Street (Manchester), Bridge 100, 7 hours 17 minutes cruising, 6.49 miles, 23 locks
Actual: Burnly, Bridge 130H, 8 hours 55 minutes cruising.

We'd heard some music from the pub when we climbed into bed on Thursday night but it couldn't have been too loud for we don't remember anything else until we looked at the clock just after 6am.

We'd planned an early start just in case the widebeam boat that ascended the locks in front of us decided to take off before we were ready. We were up and about by 6.30am and had had showers and breakfast in just under the hour. H had looked out of the window around 7.15am and found that Karen wasn't where it had been the night before. Instead, M had pushed her across the canal and was filling the water tank.

We were just making the final preparations for moving when M noticed the widebeam team were loading things from a car onto the boat. It was obviously time for some quick action. Within about three minutes we were both untied and moving along the canal and passing the widebeam with a cheery wave.

It had been quite warm for the last two days and R had ended each day wearing a polo shirt and shorts (amongst other things!). He decided to be prepared on Friday morning and put the polo shirt on straight away - he'd changed from jeans and a sweatshirt during the previous two days - but he didn't brave the shorts first thing on Friday.

It wasn't long before a sweatshirt was put on over the polo shirt (and was he glad that he'd started the day in jeans). It was a lot colder and the wind had got up, making it feel cold as well. The wind stayed with us all day although the sweatshirt was eventually discarded.

We didn't see any other moving boats until well into the day although we did see the crew of at least one other boat as we ascended the the Blackburn locks. We carried on for nearly an hour after the locks before we stopped for a cup of tea - we'd had one on the move around 9.30am, leaving M's cup under a bridge for him to pick up when he passed.

We were just thinking of restarting when two boat appeared so, with no further locks scheduled for the day, we didn't bother to rush and let these two boats pass before we untied.

We stopped again within the hour for lunch when we saw an area of bank with a piled edge that we could moor against. We restarted after forty minutes and were soon encountering three swing bridges. Each had to be unlocked and each swung so easily that when the bridge hit the stop it bounced and started to close again. Not only that but unless the bridges were held open the wind was blowing them closed again. And then, when the bridges were closed the wind was trying to swing them open again. We must have spent at least ten minutes at each bridge!

We stopped again around 4pm for a cuppa but when we came to move off again Karen wouldn't start. M tinkered around in the engine room for about five minutes and eventually got her going. He said that the pump solenoid wasn't working (whatever that is!).

We stopped for the day in Burnley just before 6.30pm as we were unable to find anywhere that we thought suitable for an overnight stop beforehand. We ate our evening meal and then headed for the local Sainsbury's where we arrived eight minutes before they closed. Luckily we were quickly able to find everything on our list and were on our way back to the boat within fifteen minutes.

R spent the rest of the evening on the laptop latterly writing up the last two day's story on this page. He ran out of time so the couple of pictures he'd taken would be added at a later date. There was a rain shower or two during the evening.

23 April 2011

Target: Wigan Lock 85, 6 hours 59 minutes cruising, 20.71 miles, 2 locks
Actual: Stegneck Lock, Gargrave, 8 hours 35 minutes cruising.

Because we managed to do our shopping on Friday we didn't have to be ready to move too early on Saturday. Instead, we planned to wash the side of the boat whilst M went for his shopping. We were just getting ourselves sorted when M set off but were nowhere near finished when he got back. Friday night's rain hadn't helped for although the sides were largely unaffected the roof was now filthy from the rain and from the tree leaf debris that the rain had brought down.

We hadn't quite finished washing the boat when two boats passed. We'd heard them coming a long time before we saw them. Both steerers were wearing thick top coats prompting R to ask whether the weather was colder than it appeared or whether they had started off early. They replied that they had started out early.

The washing down was eventually completed and we prepared ourselves for casting off. In fact, we had actually cast off when we realised that M was having trouble starting Karen again. He eventually got her started, not a moment too soon because through the trees behind us R spotted another boat approaching. Fortunately M was almost ready and with a spirt got himself away from the bank before the other boat came fully into view.

We made good speed as we made our way away from Burnley. It was as hazy on Saturday as it had been over the past few days. This made scenic picture taking next to useless, which is why so few appear here. At one stage we looked behind us and could see through the haze the industrial heart of the town, once no doubt full of tall factory chimneys. Now there were just two left visible from the canal.

We were soon through Nelson where we passed the two boats that we had seen before we set off. They were just securing their craft as they made their way to the local supermarket.

We arrived at Barrowsford Locks to find two boats moored below and the lock was empty. Neither boat attempted to move towards the lock as we approached so we made our way to the look gates where H disembarked to open the gates whilst R and M tied the two boats together. These were the last locks that we'd go through on this canal where we'd be travelling uphill.

The boat that had been following Karen arrived at the lock by the time that we were in the second chamber and they teamed up with one of the moored craft to work up through the locks. We found most locks against us but were lucky to encounter and cross one boat working down the locks thus setting one further lock in our favour.

We paused at the top of the locks to take on water, discard rubbish and recycling that we'd been unable to leave at the supermarket on Friday evening and to have a cup of tea. We managed (without trying) to set off before the following boats reached the top of the flight by dint of a slow moving boat that started the downhill journey just before the boats following us had an opportunity to set the top lock in their favour.

The water level on the summit was extremely low, restricting our progress somewhat. However, we eventually arrived at the southern portal of Foulridge Tunnel where we had to wait for twenty minutes for the traffic lights to change to green, allowing us to proceed through the tunnel. The two boats that had followed us up through the locks were also in the queue by the time we set off through the tunnel.

We carried on to Salterforth once we were through the tunnel, stopping their for lunch as close to the water point as we could without actually blocking it for there were no other moorings available.

We restarted after thirty minutes and were soon through the three Greenberfield locks, just over two miles distant. The water level improved here so we were able to return to a more normal speed. The canal was much busier this side of the tunnel as M had predicted and we saw a number of boats moving in both directions. One of these was a coal fired, steam boat which pulled over to allow us to overtake. The engineer was not too happy when we enquired if it was gas fired!

We were approaching Bank Newton locks and negotiating a fairly meandering stretch of the canal when we quickly caught up with another boat that seemed to vary its speed from slow to dead slow and had a steerer (and others) on the back deck holding glasses of drink. They pulled over near one group of moored boats as if to allow us to pass although they made no other signals to this effect. However, as they were moving so slowly R was having difficulty in keeping clear of them. Despite the fairly sharp corner that lay just ahead R decided to overtake and managed to do so despite the other boat then deciding to pick up speed. M also managed to pass them once they had pulled over to moor not many yards further on.

We had intended to moor for the night below the Bank Newton locks but the only moorings (all but one of which were vacant) were long term mooring moorings. In addition the water level in the pound was low so we carried on initially trying to moor above Stegneck lock but when the low water level prevented us from getting close enough to the bank we dropped down below the lock and moored there. The water level was much better but the bank wasn't piled so we were still not close to the bank.

We all ate on our boat. Initial problems with a decent television signal were eventually resolved by tilting the antenna slightly upwards after we'd tried all the other tricks that we could think of. That trick will be the first on the list in future.

Several boats passed us by in either direction but luckily the water level stayed relatively unchanged. However, because we'd pulled the boat as tight against bank as we could we were moored at a slight angle - not enough to really notice from outside but certainly detectable when on the boat.

R spent the latter part of the evening on the laptop but was unable to complete the day's tale which is why it wasn't uploaded at the end of the day.

24 April 2011

Target: Rawlinson Bridge 71 (Adlington), 7 hours 22 minutes cruising, 7.07 miles, 21 locks
Actual: Skipton, 3 hours 25 minutes cruising.

It was quite cloudy when we started moving at 8am on Easter Sunday but it brightened up within an hour or so and the rest of the day was bright. The temperature was pleasant for most of the day once the sun's power had overcome the earlier coolness.

We dropped down through the first four locks of the day, effectively overtaking one boat that was about to use one lock but hadn't untied from their overnight mooring and waved us past when they saw that there were two boats travelling together.

We arrived at the day's last lock to find a widebeam boat that we'd followed on Saturday and which had cruised past us after we moored, filling the lock. We waited for them to work down through the lock. As they left the lock they said that there were boats approaching so they left one gate open. R went to check, saw nothing and turned the lock only to find that a boat arrived below the lock just as we were opening the top gates. Fortunately, with further boats arriving both above and below the locks, we didn't waste any water in turning the lock.

With all the locks out of the way we entered swing bridge territory. The first two weren't too bad although both had a tendency to bounce against the stop once opened so it was necessary to wait for them to settle before attempting to negotiate the opening. The third bridge was much harder and R had to alight to help H open the bridge.

M followed us through the bridge and then waited for H to rejoin our boat before following us onward to Skipton where H opened the final bridge. M overtook us whilst R waited for H to rejoin our boat and we moored soon afterwards at the first vacant spots that we saw.

We had a cup of tea after we'd walked through the town on the towpath to see if there were any moorings a bit nearer the town centre - we didn't find a big enough space for both boats to moor together and any would have been further from the rail station which R and H planned to use on Monday.

We washed the towpath side of the boat down and then managed to grab a sandwich before some friends that we had been expecting arrived. They stayed for a couple of hours and R briefly visited the station afterwards to check train times for Monday.

All three of us ate on the boat on Sunday evening and then having written up the rest of Saturday's story before we ate, R finished Sunday's tale prior to checking it and then uploading the updated page.

25 April 2011

Target: Blackburn Lock 52, 7 hours 7 minutes cruising, 13.72 miles, 12 locks
Actual: Still at Skipton.

The train to Cumbria was due to depart at 9.26am for us to go and see family who had hoped to visit us in Skipton but had been unable to due to a health problem. We had woken early, managed to stay in bed for a while but had finally got up at 7.45am. By 8.30am we were kicking our heals so decided to take off, walk along the towpath away from the station and return to the station by road from the canal bridge near to the junction with the short arm to the castle. Needless to say we arrived at the station in plenty of time and were waiting on the platform for our train a good fifteen minutes before the train was due.

R's fears that the train would be crowded with walkers were unfounded. The train had an extra carriage compared to those we'd seen earlier and there were few passengers, let alone walkers, although we would say the train was comfortably loaded rather than nearly empty.

The train arrived at its destination on time and we were collected by R's brother-in-law. We had a pleasant day with the family and feasted on a light lunch.

The return train was also punctual, had only two coaches and was much busier although we think standing passengers were just avoided.

We got back to our boat at 6.30pm and arranged with M to meet for a fish and chip meal in town at 7pm. We lit the fire whilst we waited as the temperature had dropped and the wind had risen. We enjoyed our meal and returned to our own boats afterwards where R fired up the computer, checked his mail and then wrote up the day's short entry on this page before checking it and uploading it.

26 April 2011

Target: Clogger Bridge 138 (Nelson), 7 hours 11 minutes cruising, 20.84 miles, 1 lock
Actual: Riddlesden, 4 hours 30 minutes cruising.

It was time to leave Skipton, but only after we'd allowed H the promised visit to Skipton Castle and, before that, we'd been to the local supermarket to top up supplies. We headed to the supermarket around 8.30am and were back on board our boats by 9.15am. We had a cup of tea and then headed to the castle in a slightly roundabout way so that we could see a little more of the town.

The town was quite busy yet we were the first visitors to the castle. The castle tour is accomplished using a pre-printed sheet that is the visitor's guide around the structure. This is supplemented by further information that is posted on notices in a number of places around the castle.

We visited the chapel in the castle grounds on the way out and also looked in at the church before we made our way back to our boats. We didn't go direct because R wanted to call in at the bike shop to see if he could get a replacement part for the bike so that he could use the saddle again. Alas, despite a notice in the window indicating that the shop was open on Tuesdays, it wasn't open when we called.

We'd passed a baker's on the way to the castle and R was volunteered to return there on the way back to make a couple of purchases, one of which was some hot cross buns that had probably been made before the weekend and which when R ate one during the afternoon were found to be quite dry.

We got back to our boats a little after 11.30am and decided to have a leisurely lunch and set off towards Leeds at about 1pm. We had a cup of tea then had lunch and then decided to move the few yards from our mooring place to the water point so that we could fill the tank. We'd run the engine for about thirty minutes when we got back from the shops earlier as the batteries were flagging having not been charged for over forty hours. We took the opportunity to put a little more charge in them whilst we took water by leaving the engine running.

We would have had a full tank by 1pm but just as we went to move a boat approached from our rear so we let them pass. Then, just when we thought the coast was clear, a second boat came past so we were delayed by well over five minutes. As a result it was 1.10pm when we finally moved off and set course for Leeds - not that that takes much doing for we just had to keep going the same way as before!

There isn't too much to report on the day's travels as there weren't any locks. However, there was an endless supply of swing bridges ranging from the fully manual through the partially powered to the completely powered, the status of each bridge remaining a secret until H arrived on the bridge.

The normal process was for us to arrive at a bridge, H would disembark and operate the bridge to swing it open, both boats would pass through the open bridge, H would then close the bridge and rejoin our boat and we'd pass on to the next bridge. Occasionally, M would take the lead and where it was possible by dint of the bridge layout allowing, he would open and close the bridge, moving his boat through the opening either immediately before or after we had passed through.

Generally we only operated the bridge for ourselves but at two bridges we met boats heading the other way and on both occasions we had to operate the bridge concerned for both ourselves and the other boats. At one bridge that number of other boats totalled three, delaying us because we then had the wait for H to rejoin our boat after closing the bridge once all five boats had cleared.

A few of the bridges were difficult to open or close and on one occasion H had to be assisted by a motorist who was waiting for her to close the bridge (to canal traffic) so that they could drive across. At another couple of bridges she had help from persons waiting to use the bridge and at least once either R or M had to help her.

The warm weather of recent days had disappeared completely. The temperature was in single figures and the wind, although not too strong made it seem a lot colder, so much so that R was, once again, getting colder by the minute as we cruised along.

We stopped for a cup of tea (and to thaw out) for forty minutes at Silsden around 4pm. When then carried on to Riddlesden where we finally moored at 6.20pm. All being well, two more days should see us in Leeds.

We ate soon after stopping and then once we'd watched some early evening television R fired up the laptop, tried and failed to make a backup and had to reset the settings to get the process running - he'd bought a 16GB USB memory stick before he left home so that he could continue his weekly backup cycle without taking the external hard drive that he normally used. The first backup seemed to have worked but the subsequent ones hadn't, even though the system said that they had. The problem was that the backup from the previous week wasn't erased from the memory stick so by the second week the stick was over full. R modified the settings to create the backup on the laptop's D drive which he would then copy to the memory stick on a weekly basis whilst we were away.

We also had a short telephone call with daughter, who was trying to organise some tickets for the Olympics. Everything was sorted by 9.30pm and we were in bed soon after.

27 April 2011

Target: Plantation Lock Bridge 166 (Bank Newton), 7 hours 20 minutes cruising, 14.05 miles, 12 locks
Actual: Thornhill Bridge (near Apperley Bridge), 7 hours 10 minutes cruising.

Once again we were ready for the off just before 8am and moved off more or less on the hour. It was much brighter on Wednesday and as we would discover later in the day it was to be much warmer although nowhere near as warm as it had been just a few days earlier.

We're beginning to get used to seeing very few boats as we travel along, much to our surprise. The Leeds & Liverpool canal is supposed to be one of the most attractive stretches of canal in the country and both having been closed for part of last year due to water supply problems (as a result of the dry weather) and because Easter was late this year, we would have expected to see a lot more people taking advantage of this canal. Never mind, at least the chances of being delayed by other boats is reduced when there aren't many boats about!

We were heading for Leeds where we planned to spend up to a day moored in the City Centre and decided that we had ample time to get there by Friday so we could afford to stop for some sightseeing on the way if we wanted to.

We were about an hour's cruising from the infamous Bingley Five Rise Locks - a staircase of five locks. There were no other locks to impede our progress but there were (and were to continue to be) lots of swing bridges. One of these, No. 199 has a strange mechanism that requires ten seconds to pass between two specific parts of the bridge's operational process. H didn't quite leave long enough the first time and so the bridge wouldn't work. However, once the process was restarted and sufficient time allowed, the bridge worked OK.

We negotiated both of Bingley's sets of staircase locks - the five rise and the three rise - and then stopped for just over an hour at Damart so that H could visit their shop and, afterwards, we could have a cup of tea before restarting.

We stopped again for lunch at Saltaire and took advantage of the stop to have a look around the area, including the church. We also found a baker's shop and took advantage of some of the cakes that they had for sale.

The Leeds & Liverpool canal accommodates a maximum boat length of sixty feet. Karen is two feet longer. This isn't a problem provided that due care and attention is paid when working through locks, especially when travelling down hill. The technique involves being as far back in the lock as possible so that the gates ahead can be opened, sometimes after the bow has been pushed away from the side of the lock. The disadvantage is that specifically in staircase locks, the gates at the rear of the chamber (on the Leeds & Liverpool canal) have a tendency to leak, some of them quite ferociously. It is bad enough for M who then (not unexpectedly) has a bilge full of water but when we have our back deck adversely affected, we also (unexpectedly) get a bilge full of water. R spent twenty minutes before lunch mopping out the bilge and then had to spend even longer after we moored at the end of the day doing the same thing.

We encountered one swing bridge towards the end of the day where there are manual barriers that have to be closed before the bridge can be operated. When H set the bridge operation process in motion the shear volume of traffic prevented her from closing the barriers and it took about ten minutes before we could pass through the opened bridge.

We eventually stopped out in the country just beyond Apperley Bridge at 6.45pm, the latest that we'd cruised so far in this outing although the day's actual cruising time reflected the lengthy stops that we'd made. We all ate on our boat and then R updated this page whilst H made some shortbread. All being well we'd be in Leeds by Thursday night.

28 April 2011

Target: Farnhill, Bridge 184, 7 hours 3 minutes cruising, 10.90 miles, 10 locks
Actual: Leeds, 5 hours 5 minutes cruising.

At some time on Wednesday evening the boat moved very slightly but it was enough to leave us with a slight list which H didn't really notice but R did (especially as he sleeps on that side of the bed!). We did wonder whether we'd be able to move away from the bank easily on Thursday morning but when we moved off under almost cloud free skies a gentle push at the rear was enough to restore the boat's equilibrium and float her away from the bank.

We'd been awake since 5.30am partly due to the sun shining through the gap between the inside of the curtain and the wall of the boat. There was no noticeable movement of the leaves on the trees but the clouds that appeared whilst we were having breakfast were sailing across the sky at a fair rate of knots. It was also quite cold out of the sun and as the canal weaves in and out of the shadows and the trees as it gets nearer and nearer to Leeds, R was reduced to wearing gloves at the start of the day and didn't take his coat off until we were just a few locks from the end of the day's cruising.

The first locks that we worked through on Thursday were about an hour after we set off. We'd almost filled the top lock of the three lock staircase (with the bottom lock being drained), when a boat travelling away from Leeds arrived at the bottom of the locks. Without checking that nobody was in the flight they shut the bottom lock paddle and were about to open the bottom gates when R noticed them and shouted that we were already on the way down. They had little option but to wait for us to move down the locks, by which time a lock keeper had appeared on the scene. Far from taking charge he spent most of the time until we left on his mobile telephone.

Even though we were fast approaching Leeds the canal is still picturesque with greenery still in abundance almost until the last lock is encountered. We met a couple on a boat heading west at the last staircase. The boat had only just been bought by them - it was twenty years old - and they'd only worked through three locks. They were quite confused by the staircase and had already stopped for a rest because the locks were so hard. They'd have to stop for several breaks at that rate before they got to their destination in Shipley.

Although we stopped for a cuppa around 11am, we were undecided whether to stop for lunch at 1pm or whether to carry on until we reached Leeds, which we estimated would be around 1.30pm. Our minds were made up for us when we thought that we saw someone starting to fill the top lock of the last staircase locks that we went through. As we didn't know how much mooring space there would be in Leeds and didn't want to arrive and find the last space had just been taken by a boat that had overtaken us, we decided to press on.

We dropped down through the canals penultimate lock - the last drops users onto the Aire & Calder Navigation - and stopped temporarily to assess our mooring options - all the obvious mooring places were empty. We looked in one area and decided that it was too near to too many potential sources of noise, so we opted for the other area, nearer to the station but more sheltered, and reversed our boats onto the jetties there.

We immediately had lunch and then headed into Leeds to both see where we'd be going when we leave and also for a general look around which turned into an interesting visit to the Royal Armouries. We returned to our boat for a cup of tea and then ate on our respective boats before R fired up the laptop to bring this page up to date.

29 April 2011

Target: Bingley School Pipe Bridge, 7 hours 24 minutes cruising, 10.06 miles, 8 locks
Actual: Still at Leeds.

We'd thought that we'd wash the boat down on Friday morning, watch that wedding and then have another wander around Leeds, partly with the purpose of finding somewhere suitable to eat for the evening.

We were a little late getting out of bed, by which time the wedding television programmes had already started. We turned the television on with the intention of watching it over breakfast and returning to it in time for the ceremony. That was a big mistake because having turned it on we never basically stirred from our chairs (other than to make a cup of tea and, later, lunch) until after the programme had finished.

Having said that, just as the flypast was about to be shown there was a knock on the rear cabin door. At first we thought it was M but when we opened the door we were greeted by a person purporting to be from Granary Wharf telling is that he would have to charge us £3 per night for mooring where we were. R, who had answered the door, replied stating that their were no signs that moorings were either chargeable or private and that he would want to see the terms & conditions for mooring before he would stump up any money.

A few minutes later and our friend was back with a poorly photo-copied document that indicated the conditions under which boats could be moored but made no reference to any fee being payable. By carefully detouring around other buildings each time we went to or from the boat we managed to avoid making contact with our friend again on Friday and we were away from the mooring just before 8am on Saturday without seeing him again.

We walked up to the shops on Friday afternoon. The place was generally deserted when we first arrived but got busier as time progressed. We visited a number of shops and the market before returning to our boat a few minutes after 4pm for our afternoon cup of tea, only to find that M had just made his.

We made and drunk ours and then went out again on what was only meant to be a short walk to the local Asda supermarket to get some milk. However, when we arrived we found it was offices rather than a shop so we trudged back into the centre in search of the supermarket that we'd seen earlier. We didn't find that one but we found another, made our purchases and eventually returned to our boat to tidy ourselves up before venturing out once again, this time with M, for a meal.

We were back on board just before 9pm and turned television on to while away a short time before going to bed, hoping that we might catch one of the usual Friday night programmes. Wrong! It was more of the same although with a few more recent snippets added. That program finished at 10pm and was followed by the news, which we watched before heading for bed. We were shattered. Heaven knows how the youngsters partying at the Palace would feel by the time the evening's celebrations were over.

30 April 2011

Target: Newlay Staircase Locks, 6 hours 31 minutes cruising, 10.81 miles, 8 locks
Actual: Whitley Bridge, 6 hours 25 minutes cruising.

We'd spoken to the Keadby Lock keeper on Friday morning and he'd advised us that the River Trent tides wouldn't be suitable for a passage from Keady to Torksey on Monday (the day we planned to go on our revised schedule). Instead, we'd have to go on Tuesday at 6am! This meant that we had a day to kill between Saturday and Tuesday as we estimated that it would only take us two days to get to Keadby from Leeds.

As you can probably guess, this didn't stop us from starting at 8am on Saturday morning, keen as we were to avoid a further encounter with the man seeking payment of mooring fees.

We'd woken around 5.30am and had put the boiler on because we hadn't run the engine since Thursday lunch time. We waited a little while after the boiler had turned itself off and eventually crawled out of bed at 6.45am, which we thought was soon enough. We were therefore surprised when one of the other boats that was moored nearby set off at 7am.

We'd had breakfast and were making the final preparations to move off at the pre-agreed time of 8am when, some ten minutes before we looked out of the window and found a vacant space where Karen had been moored just a few moments before. We stepped up a gear and were soon casting off. M had taken Karen round to the lock and was just opening the gate when we eased up to it.

It was a bright morning (and stayed cloud free all the time we were cruising and beyond), but there was a stiff breeze. This increased as the day wore on and made some maneuvers tricky when mooring. It seemed as though we were the only boats moving for we saw no further boats other than the occasional moored one for almost two hours, and the boat that we did see wasn't going far because he'd entered the lock at Woodlesford and then couldn't remove his key from the operating console. He'd been stuck in the lock for about an hour and had eventually called British Waterways. They'd indicated that they'd arrive (by road) about thirty minutes after we did.

We'd planned to stop at the lock for water so had set the hose up and were enjoying a cup of tea whilst we waited. We were still some way off finishing and with the tank now barely half full when we became aware of movement at the lock. M disappeared out to find that BW had arrived and wanted to know if we wanted to join the boat in the lock - the lock being almost full of water. We said yes, quickly disconnected the hose and were in the lock with minimal further delay to the poor boater who had been stuck in the chamber.

We shared the next couple of locks with the same boat and there was still room for several more had they been there. At one lock we saw a converted working boat, which seemed to take up most of the 200 feet long by 20 feet wide chamber. They were in the lock when we arrived so we had to wait for them to clear the lock before we could use it.

We bade the other boat farewell at Castleford Junction where he turned the opposite way to us. We passed through the flood lock and having been defeated in our search for an open boatyard with pump out facilities, moored shortly after for an extended lunch.

Onward progress was restarted nearly ninety minutes later and other than passing several boats travelling in the opposite direction and seeing a narrowboat some distance ahead of us on some of the long straight stretches, we saw nobody else before we moored at Whitley Bridge at 4pm, just in time for tea. The breeze, which wasn't that cold but was very fresh made steering a tad unpleasant so we were pleased to be stopping earlier than normal.

We had our cup of tea with M and then whilst he returned to his boat to wash his roof (at least), R fired up the laptop and managed to bring this page up to date. We called a couple of boatyards in Thorne to see if they'd be open on Monday as we both wanted diesel and we also wanted a pump out. We got no answer from one, left a message with another and spoke to someone at a third who confirmed that they would be open from 10am onwards.

M joined us for the evening meal and as has been normal we sat and talked for a while afterwards. After M had returned to his own boat, by which time the wind appeared to have dropped, H watched television and R transferred the few pictures that he'd taken over the last few days from his phone onto the computer and incorporated them into this page before checking and then uploading file and images.

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