4 CANALS IN 7 DAYS.

 The Lower Peak, Upper Peak, the Macclesfield and the Trent and Mersey. A journey of 36miles, 32 locks, 1 lift bridge and 2 swing bridges. It includes 2 tunnels, the Woodley and the Hyde, and 3 aqueducts, Marple, Watery Lane and Red bull. And it took us a week.

Monday was our last night in dry dock, Dan got us up early to do the necessary welding on the new anodes and the skeg. Pete Findlow called to see us again with a gift for me. He has an extensive music collection, and on his previous visit I had told him about a band I used to know called Persian Risk (early 1980’s). He had compiled a CD of their music for me which was lovely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Risk

Tuesday, and dear old Avalon Two was refloated and we set off, but not before thanking Dan for his help and saying hi to Guy who had returned from his holibobs.

The newly blacked sides made the boat look very shiny and new, but it wont last.

The first of the tunnels was Woodley Tunnel, its 176yds long and has a kink in it, so not a favourite of the Captains, this is closely followed by Hyde Bank which is 306yds long, but so straight you can see daylight at the end. We stopped off at our old moorings in Hyde, but Captain Jack Sparrow wasn’t about so on we went

The wonderful Marple Aqueduct, which carries you over the River Goyt, is the highest aqueduct in England at 90ft and is 105yrds long. The aqueduct opened in 1800 and it was built by Benjamin Outram, a familiar name to those of a certain age who came from my home town of Ripley in Derbyshire. It was the name of the towns secondary modern school for many years, before merging with the grammar school and becoming Mill Hill. He also built the 16 lock Marple flight which was on the agenda for the next day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marple_Aqueduct

As we cruised across the aqueduct I spotted a bird high up on the trees, it turned out to be a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, and then a bright blue kingfisher darted down the side of the boat.

After a night moored just below the locks we set off to do the 16, which raise the canal 214ft in just 1 mile and was opened in 1804. We were not alone as we had 3 hire boats with us. Their crews had differing amounts of experience, which made it an interesting day.

The first 8 locks were a doddle, even with no boats coming down. But at lock 8 we met the first coming down, and with the bad news that the next 8 locks and pounds were extremely low, and they had struggled, scrapping the bottom of the canal at times. This has been a reoccurring problem all summer, and there should have been lockees on to help with water management, but there was no one in sight. After struggling through lock 8 and 9 I walked up to lock 12 with one of the hirers and decided we needed to let water down to alleviate the problem, but how much I had no idea, so just had to wing it. The captain in the meantime was on the phone to CRT trying to get us some help, this proved to be unsuccessful as they had no one available to come to our rescue.

The going was slow and painful, boats had to be gently coaxed out of the lock making sure they didn’t get stuck on the cill, and then negotiate the empty pounds trying not to get grounded.

Eventually an off duty lockee called Roger turned up and apologised for the lack of assistant, there should have been a lockee on but no one had seen him all morning. The 4 crew’s worked well together, and eventually we were all out of the last lock and on our way. That’s when the duty lockee appeared, with no apology or explanation of were he had been at our time of need.

We were now on the Upper Peak Forest canal, but only for a few moments as we then turned on to the Macclesfield canal and moored up for the night.

Off to the pub we went of course, a little micropub, The Samuel Oldknow and we weren’t disappointed with the selection.

https://www.samueloldknow.co.uk/

The top half of the Macclesfield is unkempt and uncared for. There is a lot of overgrown vegetation, and in most places it is impossible to get to the side to moor. So we had to go all the way to Macclesfield to find moorings on pontoons. Even the bank side visitors moorings here are being left to nature.

North Rode was our aim for Saturday as there was a Vintage Transport Show on, both the Captain and I are partial to old vehicles of all types. I especially love traction engines of all sizes, but to my disappointment there were only 2 miniatures to admire, but there was a good selection of cars, lorries, stationary engines and assorted stalls, which kept us happy for a good few hours. The Captain treated me to a burger for tea, we had a very enjoyable day.

We moored at the top of Bosley locks to attended the show. We had planned to do a pump out at the CRT facilities there before doing the 12 locks in the flight. But disaster, even though the machine had only been fixed that week, it ate our card and then nothing. The Captain spoke to a couple of CRT employees who happened to be on site, but they just shrugged it was not their problem. A phone call to CRT but still no help, they couldn’t get anyone out until the next day. So what to do, stay and wait for someone to come, or head down the locks and get to Sherbourne wharf, hoping the toilet would last an extra day.

We decided to do the locks, which turned out to be great fun, with lots of boats and crew about to pass the time of day. But not before a lady tried to tell me how to do locks, it did not go down well, as after 10yrs of boating I am pretty sure I know our way and the right way.

We moored at Congleton for the night but didn’t visit the town, but we did go to the pub, The Wonky Pear, another micropub discovered on a previous cruise. It belongs to Beartown brewery and had the Creme Bearlee stout for the Captain.

https://www.facebook.com/thewonkypear/

We got our pump out at Sherbourne wharf next day, and headed to Red Bull and on to the Trent and Mersey canal. We called at the Red Bull pub, no darks on, but the menu looked interesting.

Next time the Harecastle tunnel and Stoke.

IT’S BLACKING TIME.

And we are off to Portland Basin to see Guy and do some much needed maintenance on our beloved Avalon Two. It really should have been blacked last year, but with Covid as with a lot of things it had to be postponed.

Now what is blacking? Some of you might ask. It’s a way of protecting the hull of the boat using bitumen. First the hull is cleaned using a high powered pressure washer, then 3 coats of Bitumen are applied using a brush first then a roller. You have to get in all the little nooks and crannies. We will also be painting the side of the boat up to the gunnels, checking the anodes, the propeller and prop shaft. Basically having a damn good look at what we can’t normally see. And we will be doing the work ourselves, because its cheaper.

Our journey out of Liverpool went without a hitch, and with the help of the Vol Lockees and Sid it didn’t take long. After lunch and a shopping stop at Litherland, and saying goodbye to Norman, we set off again. The Captain had a plan and knew how far each day we needed to travel to get us to Portland basin with a day to spare. So it was a long day for us and we moored up around 6pm in the MONW. It was nice to be out in the countryside again.

Next day and the aim was Burscough, 15miles and quite a few swing bridges for me to do. The people on the towpath were very friendly and we spotted a kingfisher as it darted ahead of us. After another long day we moored up and headed off for a pint in The Thirsty Duck, they had a Liverpool Spiced Stout on, so the Captain was a very happy bunny.

Wigan next on the agenda, not such an early start, but back to doing locks for me. It was a bit like the M1 as we left Burscough, we passed 6 narrowboats and 2 widebeams in quick succession. I checked on the bins at Bridge 35 and happy to report that everything was clean and tidy, albeit the skip was getting ready for emptying.

There are 5 locks between Burscough and Wigan and at one of theses we met Darren Obrian and his very distinctive boat called Carlsberg. We met him a couple of years ago at his moorings in Crooke. He was heading to Parbold for a few pints.

At the last lock next to the dry dock we met a boat coming down, and one waiting. Unsure what was happening I spoke to the Captain of the boat in the lock, he told me the boat waiting had refused to share the lock with him, I could not understand why, it was another narrowboat not a fibreglass crusier, but then I saw all the fenders hung round it and assumed its Captain didn’t want another boat bashing his. Which is a natural part of boating life.

All this meant they had a wait for us to come up the lock, and I soon realised that they were not experienced boaters at all. The crew helped with the paddles and first thing they did was to take of the pawl or ratchet as I call it. This is a safety feature which protects the operator and the paddle gear if the windlass should slip off whilst winding the paddle up. I immediately told the women to replace it and explained why, my blood ran cold when she explained that her Captain had told her to do this at all the locks they had done. I walked away thinking they could be a disaster waiting to happen.’ Hopefully I was wrong.

We moored up and headed into town as the Captain needed to pick up a prescription from Boots. On the was back we called in at the Swan and Railway and had a great chat with the landlord and lady. To end the day we finished off at the Wigan Central.

Sunday, Neil Kath and Rosemary joined us for a cruise to Appley Green. Neil and his daughter Rosemary took turns at steering. We had a lovely day. We also caught up with Will off NB Wills Way. We hadn’t seen him since Langley Mill were he did a walk through video of our boat for his vlog, he is a very friendly chap and it was great to see him again.

https://youtube.com/user/parlou38

Next day and we wound our way into Manchester for the night. We scrumped some apples, saw a ginger cat up a tree who I thought might be ‘Charlie Clarkson Ginger King of Everywhere’ a cat from Facebook, his owner ghost writes about his adventures, but it turned out not to be his highness.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/735992183137728/user/100026100994252

The water was very clear but it looked like we were in the middle of some roadworks when I spotted 8 traffic cones in the water one after the other. I also spotted a 2ft long pike.

We moored in Castlefield basin and had a chat with some local boaters before setting off to Cask, a real ale bar. It was expensive so only the one, then we headed to The Moon Under Water, a Wetherspoons were I treated the Captain to tea.

I was not looking forward to the trip out of Manchester, there are 9 hard locks called the Rochdale 9 that take you through the city centre. The biggest issue for me with them are steps used to climb on to the lock gates to access the offside which are awful (there are no bridges). Luckily, we had help from volunteers at the last 3 and we were soon moored up at Thomas Telford basin, a peaceful secure mooring we have used before.

The next day the locks continued with the 18 on the Ashton Canal, it was another long hard day, and wasn’t helped when I had a nasty fall whilst picking blackberries. At the time I was more concerned with the blackberries I dropped than what damage I had done to myself, but luckily I am well padded and came a way with just a few grazes and a bruised knee.

We took a short detour to Hyde as we had a day to kill. There is a Samuel Smith’s pub called the White Gates near the canal. Its a proper locals pub, and as with all Sam Smith’s pubs no mobiles, tablets or other electronic devices are allowed. This encourages people to talk. We were made very welcome and encouraged to join in the conversation.

So into the dry dock we went, after a good look round everything seemed in order, the problem the Captain thought we had with the prop and shaft turned out to be rubbish round the shaft, but we did need a couple of new anodes and a small crack in the skeg, the bit that supports the rudder. He spent the afternoon giving the bottom of the boat a good going over with the pressure washer and we decided to leave the painting to the next day.

We got on very well the next day, and in about 3 ½ hours we had 2 coats on bitumen on.

After resting for the afternoon we headed into Manchester for a meal at Try Thai with Neil and family, it was lovely.

http://trythai.com/

Neil came to give us a hand next day and after we had finished Pete Findlow, another old work mate of the Captains turned up. We spent a very enjoyable afternoon with them.

Anodes were welded on and the skeg repaired by the very helpful Dan and we are ready to go back in the water and continue our journey but that’s for next time folks.

LOVELY LIVERPOOL

 

I have to start this blog with the sad news that the Captains Auntie Rita passed a way peacefully in her sleep. The fall just took too much out of her. RIP Auntie Rita xx

Due to our early start we found our pontoon and moored up around lunchtime. We had neighbours, NB Nuggler. We said hello and had a chat.

After lunch we decided to take a wander round. It was a lovely afternoon, but you know were this is heading, of course to the pub. The Baltic Fleet, a very good real ale pub not far from the moorings. However, as we were a bit earlier than usual it wasn’t open, shock horror, good news it opened at 4pm in about 20mins. But by using the ever knowledgeable Google, I found a micro brewery with its own bar a short walk away and it was open, the Black Lodge brewery. So we took a walk, never ones to pass up a new experience. The beer was very good, but also very expensive as they sold it by 3rds, for us, obviously working in pints the prices (around £4.25) didn’t seem to bad, but that was for 2/3rds or a schooner. Their excuse, its craft beer and that is the measure craft beer is sold in. We have seen this in other places and it tends to put us off. It did say sold by 3rds on their menu, but in very small writing. So only the one.

By this time the Baltic Fleet was open so we cut our losses and head there. The Captain was very happy with Dark Matter Stout and Birra Morreti for me.

https://www.balticfleet.co.uk/

While we are on the pontoons in Liverpool we have shore power. So next day I decided to make the most of this and spring, well summer clean the whole boat, wash the sofa covers, bedding, clothes, hoover and mop the floors, the whole caboodle. The Captain was told to stop in bed out of my way, which he was more than happy to do. But at the end of this I decided I deserved a pint so off we set. We had a nice gentle walk round before heading for The Richard John Blackier, a Wetherspoons as we knew it had Titanic Plum Porter and Hobgoblin on. We walked in and the noise hit us, we had forgotten how busy city centre pubs can get, but we managed to find a seat and sat back to do some people watching.

Malvern, a fellow boater had recommended we try the Thomas Rigby’s and it wasn’t too far from were we were, so after a pint we decided to take a walk. The walk took us past the famous Cavern Club and although we didn’t go in at least now I can say ‘I was there’. The Thomas Rigby’s turned out to be a bit of a disappointment with no darks on, so we had a pint and went home. We were visited by a very inquisitive boaters dog, who just had to check out everything on the boat never mind how much her owner called her.

Family time next day as the Captain’s daughter Hannah and family came to visit. It was great to catch up, as due to the virus we had not seen them for quite some time. We ended up back in the Baltic Fleet before they came back to the boat, were 3yr old Stanley was fascinated by the jelly fish swimming in the dock.

Now last time we were in Liverpool I had a rather strange encounter with a gentleman at the bar in the Baltic Fleet, he seemed to be chatting me up, and then caught me by surprise when he name dropped the Captains surname into the conversation. He turned out to be an old RAF buddy of the Captain who had seen on Facebook were we were and had decided to come and find us. Well this time we got in contact with Norman (so no surprises) and he came to visit on Sunday. We hadn’t planned to have a session, or a pub crawl but this is what happened. After chatting on the boat for a while we decided to take a walk to the pub. As Norman is very familiar with Liverpool and its pubs he led the way. Firstly to Ma Pardoe’s a rather quirky and very busy place. They were serving lovely looking food, but the beer selection for the Captain was limited, so he had Carlsberg whilst Norman and I tried Poretti lager. One in there then off to the Denbigh Castle, here the Captain found a Budvar Dark, which to my surprise he really enjoyed (budvar is usually a hoppy lager). So 2 in there. Finally, The Old Post Office, a real old fashion boozer but don’t ask me what we had, I was getting a little tipsy. It didn’t help that we hadn’t eaten before coming out, I was planning to do a Sunday roast on our return but this went out the window. Norman left us in the Post Office with plans in hand to join us on our journey out of Liverpool the following Thursday, and we ended up in Burger King for tea.

The day after the night before was Monday, so a quiet day, whilst the Captain did some running repairs to our cratch cover I spent my time trying to sort out a new blogging platform. I had had an email from Simple Site, where my blog has been based for free for the last 5/6 years, saying that they were no longer offering a free platform, and that I would have to have a Pro account at £13per month in 45days time. I turned to Facebook for recommendations, and a number of sites were suggested. I tried a few to see which was the easiest to navigate and decided on Blogger. It was a very frustrating process as I am not all that tech savy, but I have the Captain to help me, and we eventually managed to produce a new blog page that I liked and did everything I needed. I am not sure when I will move across completely to the new site but it will be in the next couple of weeks.

In an earlier blog I mentioned that a passing boater had recommended an all you can eat Asian restaurant, and it had been our intention to try it out, but something better came along in the guise of Fogo Brazil, a Brazilian rodizia, or an all you can eat with 8 different bbq meats, salad and hot dishes.

https://fogobrazil.co.uk/

The Captain treated me to lunch and it was amazing. The lamb, rump steak, beef ribs, sausage, pork, gammon, chicken hearts and chicken wings were ‘to die for’, and the choice of salads and sides unbelievable. I can not praise the staff enough, attentive and friendly. A great experience in every way.

And for afters we headed to the Lime Kiln with an Oatmeal Stout for the Captain and a bramble gin for me. A wonderful end to a great visit to Liverpool.

It was an early start the day we said goodbye to Liverpool, Norman joined us at 7.30am and we set off at 8pm to do the 6 locks out of Liverpool and back on to the canal.

That’s all for now folks.