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News & Diary
Archive 2005
September to October
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News & Diary
Archive 2005
September to October
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Further travels can be found in Archives
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September 2
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We are back at the Nanney's Bridge visitor moorings below Minshull lock where I'm taking advantage of the dry weather to finish some boat painting - mainly trying to rectify the poor job I did last time! As planned we left Nantwich on Wednesday morning and after nearly an hour at Nantwich facilities cruised only a short distance before mooring under trees at Hurlestone Junction. By late afternoon the oppressive heat had been relieved by heavy rain that started just as a familiar boat came down through the locks and paused alongside us. It was Belle with Gerrard and Jane Cox, their four dachsunds and parrot, last seen two years ago, although they have kept in touch by email. By the time we had finished catching up on news the rain was heavy so they pulled in to moor a couple of boat lengths in front of us.
We set off early next morning to reach Venetian marina by 8.30 for much-needed diesel and gas so didn't get a chance to say goodbye but as they had told us they were heading for the Macclesfield we thought they would eventually pass us. They did, about an hour or so after we moored at this lovely spot under an oak tree, right beside the picnic table provided in memory of another boater, and I was able to flag them down for long enough to take the picture which can be seen on Latest pictures. Not the best photo I've taken, I'm afraid, but in the circumstances (with the light behind them) it at least shows what a happy bunch they are.
Email update: We've have several emails from old friends, including news from Pat and Mike Bycroft that their boat Hyperion is now in the water.
PS. Regular readers will have noticed that we fell victim to hurricane Katrina. Anyone accessing the site over the last couple of days will have seen the same message we did: "directNIC's hosting services are temporarily down. Our servers are located in downtown New Orleans, which was recently devastated by hurricane Katrina. We will have these services restored as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience."
In the face of the increasing problems faced by the southern states of the USA our temporary absence was a minor hiccup. Anyway, we're back on line.
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September 6
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After three days of doing very little we travelled all of a mile yesterday morning to reach our splendid mooring overlooking Church Minshull, although this morning we have had no view other than thick white fog shrouding the low ground below the canal - a stream of boats has continued to pass us and most of them have their front lights lit. The big difference is that we have lost families with young children as our neighbours and are now surrounded by old b's like ourselves - most of them retired groups taking advantage of late season prices, I suspect. It's what we did before we got our own boat.
While we were still at Nanney's Bridge we were greeted by some old friends - Liz Barman and Carl Gordon-Loveridge of Blackstone with Max their Jack Russell, who were en route to Stratford on Avon on a three-week cruise. But, as they told us when they came aboard Snecklifter for a quick early morning coffee, if they don't get that far they will shed no tears. They intend taking the trip as it comes - much as we do throughout the year!
Also we had a greeting as they passed us a day or so earlier from David Owen-Roberts and his wife Chris on Isis, who moor at Henhull on the Shroppie. David has emailed us several times over the last few years but we've never managed to catch him on board the four or fives times we have passed Henhull, despite sounding the horn to see if he was around. He still works, of course, which explains all.
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September 12
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We arrived at Red Bull just before 10 am today after a gentle four-day ascent of the Cheshire Locks - I still don't like calling them "Heartbreak Hill" because we've done this run three times in a few months and we don't find them that daunting, especially if you take three or four days over them. Obviously, this diary section has been neglected for six days NOT because there was so little time to catch up on our news but because there has been so little to write about. We have been covering well-cruised ground, stopping out at country spots most of the time and mooring overnight at Middlewich only so that we could keep a Friday morning vet appointment so the dogs could have their booster shots.
By midday we had set off southwards but stopped again after King's lock to get an excellent lunch from a local fish and chip shop and paid our first visit to the chandlery - it was incredibly well stocked and the young couple who have taken it over in the last year or so could not have been more helpful. The splendid Greene King beer in the pub next door added to our pleasure. Friday night we spent at our usual spot at Paddy's Wood and by Saturday midmorning we were moored again near Chell's aqueduct. The dreary weather and a sudden urge to continue internal varnishing made the decision to sit out Sunday and watch the rest of the boating world go by. But by seven this morning we were off again and by 10.30 Liz was happily sitting near a washing machine in the Red Bull facilities. Tomorrow it's back to the Macclesfield for another gentle progress towards Adlington.
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September 14
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As always the first section of the Macclesfield was shallow and slow but we were moored at Congleton wharf before 11 am, walked into the town for shopping and were under way again to moor on the aqueduct about a mile into the country by early afternoon. We expected a quiet, dozy afternoon but it turned out to be eventful in the best possible way. An hour or so after our arrival I was sitting out on the back deck when I heard an American voice call "Is that Mike?" Bill and Michelle Johnson from North Carolina were passing on Barnaby, the splendidly fitted-out boat they had hired at Macclesfield for a month's cruise of the four counties ring. They have been following this website for most of the time it has been running and they had told us of their latest plans in recent emails. So we were delighted when they pulled in behind us and came aboard Snecklifter for coffee (provided by us) and biscuits - or should that be cookies (provided by them)? They both seem to have lived such full and exciting lives that there was plenty to talk about - Bill originally came from Minnesota and Michelle from Florida but they have travelled a great deal around a wonderful country that we know only from the American cinema that I love so much - British, French, Italian etc etc as well, of course!
Anyway, just as they were leaving to reach Congleton before the shops shut we saw that Judith and John Duckett were back aboard Nutwood which was moored a few boat lengths astern of us when we arrived. So we waved Bill and Michelle off and then went aboard Nutwood for cups of tea and some gossip about our lives since we first met a year ago on the Staffs and Worcs canal. We did pass a few weeks ago on the Middlewich branch but we were travelling in opposite directions at a lock and Liz and Judith had time only for a few news headlines. We finally settled down for an evening meal and a chance to get our feet up about 6pm but it was time well spent. Bill and Michelle we hope to see again when they return to the Macc in a few weeks time. John and Judith are travelling in the same direction, though at a different pace, towards Bugsworth basin so we are almost certain to meet them once more. Both couples can be seen on Well Met on the Cut.
This morning we have come up through 11 of the 12 Bosley locks and stopped below the final lock on an excellent stretch of towpath with a view towards the hills. Liz will be walking back to lock 11 soon to pick a bumper crop of blackberries we spotted that will be added to the cupful or two of damsons gleaned from trees at lock number two. We don't do that much living off the land - certainly not as much as we should - but it gives you a good, superior, feeling when you do.
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September 18
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Back at Gurnett aqueduct where we are meeting old friends and neighbours from Ashford in the Water tomorrow morning, we feel as though we have started our winter. This is certainly winter cruising territory when we come out for long weekends from Lyme View marina but further confirmation has come with weather that has turned very cold, especially overnight and in the early mornings. Our solid-fuel stove was lit below Bosley top lock and it has not been allowed to die out since then. I know it's really only Autumn and that warmer weather could return - and if that happens we let the stove cool off - but today it's still wet and cool and we're tucked up cosily indoors.
Gurnett is as lovely a mooring spot as ever. We've met up with our friend Wendy Brown who lives in the cottages nearby and we've walked to Macclesfield for some excellent charity shopping and second-hand book buying. And, of course, we've paid a couple of visits to the Old King's Head pub which is serving a marvellous pint of Spitfire as well as the usual Banks' bitter. The only blot on the landscape is the large mesh gate that blocks off the steps leading down from the towpath to the pub, placed there by BW because of the dangers posed by an overhanging wall that is no longer safe. Mind you, the five minute walk to the pub back over another bridge and along a quiet road past the garden centre is no hardship. It's just the thought that I can't pop down for a quick pint before our evening meal depresses me. I don't often do it but I like to think I can. Hopefully, the BW sign about "temporary" closure means what it says.
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September 22
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Our old friends from Derbyshire arrived on Monday for another excellent lunch at the Old King's Head. Brian Parker, who we stayed with while the boat was being built, brought all our Woodland Terrace neighbours - Terry and Sheila Bettney, Dora Eyre who had just celebrated her 86th birthday and still looked marvellous, and (for the first time) Cath Sherratt. We sat about for an hour or two catching up on Ashford-in-the-Water news, walked around to the pub and then finished off their visit with a rewarding visit to the Macclesfield garden centre.
They set off home about 3pm and as we walked back to Snecklifter we saw a familiar boat pulling in behind us. It was Tom Foolery with Ken and Sandra Cliff on board. They moored at Barton Turns when we spent a winter there but were one of the many who left recently to moor at King's Bromley marina. Soon afterwards their friends John and Anne Vassard on nb Molly Sanderson arrived and we all stayed out drinking tea, tea and coffee (in that order) enjoying mid-afternoon sun and the attentions of the Vassard's lovely Jack Russell puppy, Hamish.
Yesterday we left Gurnett for the short run to Higher Poynton where Liz is being collected by our friend Pat Paulett on Friday for an overnight visit to Ashford, stopping off for diesel and gas at Lyme View marina and a swift look at our mooring slot and the facilities we'll be using this winter. We don't actually take up residence for another week but it was good to find such a welcome again from owners David and Richard.
Email update: A happy note from Linda Blomquist who earlier this year wrote to share her memories of a Christmas spent on a hired narrowboat on the Ashby Canal: "I mentioned in the email that my partner James and I hoped one day to own our own boat and I just wanted to let you know we have achieved our dream! We are now the very excited owners of a second hand Springer named Thorin. We bought her earlier this summer and are now busily making plans for her internal refit. We have her moored on the river Nene at Billing and are both looking forward to many hours of happy narrowboating. Perhaps we'll see you on the cut one of these days!"
Gerrard Cox who passed us with his wife Jane on their lovely boat Belle a couple of weeks ago on the Middlewich branch wrote :"We had a nice time again on the Macc and great weather up until last weekend. Quite a slow trip for us. We stopped two days to visit Little Moreton Hall and paint, then two days below Bosley Locks from where we walked to the top of The Cloud and did more painting. Then with an early start on the locks a longer day all the way up to Higher Poynton, stopping for another two days to visit Lyme Park, then round to Bugsworth where we managed an uphill all the way bike ride over to Kinder Reservoir. Unfortunately, I am now back at work sitting in the office whilst the last bit of summer goes on outside. However I can always have a quick read of your site to keep me cheery during the winter and look at the photo you have posted of us. I think your words sum us up perfectly and I do indeed look very relaxed and at ease in the photo." See September 2 and Latest pictures
And from Neville Wells of Derby who has been in touch several times over the years, this account of his recent holiday on Sylph in which he and wife Rachel have a share: " We took her out two weeks in mid August and did the four counties ring at a very relaxed and leisurely pace. We actually passed you but did not have time to stop and say hello properly as we were ‘off to hospital'.
"After watering at Wheelock we had set off and the boys were messing about on the front lockers with boat hooks, hooking bits of twigs out of the canal. This distracted Rachel and she promptly steered the boat into some overhanging bushes. Callum dropped his boat hook into the canal while jumping off the front locker onto the deck but Jake his friend had lowered his boat hook and Callum jumped directly onto it. It must have been at a perfect right angle as his weight did not tip it but pushed the very blunt and dirty hook through his shoe and into his foot by nearly an inch. Rachel, who is a nurse, looked at the wound, and noted his obvious distress (even with a 14 year old it brought a tear to his eye).
"So we decided to cruise on towards Nantwitch to look for a doctor in case he needed an injection. And that’s when we passed you - I think you were moored up around bridge 13 overlooking Church Minshull. I had just appeared from the shower as we passed and said hello to Liz who was typing. We actually stopped that night just past bridge six as we realised by walking back to Nanny's bridge we could get a taxi to the hospital in Crewe which we did early next morning, and Rachel took Callum to casualty by taxi while I fished * - it was my birthday after all!
"The holiday was fantastic. We did get into an eight boat wait for Cholmondeston lock and a 90 minute wait the day before to turn onto the Middlewich branch but I suppose that’s the price we will have to pay for the next couple of years while we cruise in the school holidays. One of the highlights of the trip was going up the Audlem flight at 6am. We moored on the opposite side to the Shroppie Fly pub and noted many boats coming down the flight in the late evening – a quick reccie confirmed our hope that the locks were set for us all the way up so we set the alarm early. I can certainly see the attraction of early morning cruising."
* And judging from his account of catching a 15 lb carp, he enjoyed the angling side of the trip as well.
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September 30
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We spent the last week swanning about between Poynton and the country mooring near bridge 20 - called the Stumps by local boaters - meeting up again with John and Judith Duckett on Nutwood and generally keeping our heads down in the wind and rain. Yesterday it brightened and the wind dropped so we turned at the bridge and came into our slot at Lyme View marina where we chatted to a few well-established "residents" and picked up some useful local knowledge. Lunchtime was spent at the recently refurbished Miners' Arms where we drank a pint or so of splendid Theakston's best bitter and enjoyed an excellent snack meal.
Our first night here was quiet and uneventful but it will take some getting used to being moored cheek by jowl with other boats, even though neither of the two flanking us is a live-aboard. When Liz leaves the boat next Wednesday for her five-day trip to Spain with our son Jonathan and his partner Jenny I will have a run up to Poynton and back to the Stumps, where I'll stay until her return. This will probably be the pattern of our early months at Lyme View so there should be plenty to write about life in a marina broken up by weekends out on the towpath - I will continue to update this website diary, though there may be gaps of a week or more between postings. However, if it does get repetitious or boring please say so and I'll have a longer break until normal cruising is resumed in the Spring!
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October 6
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Things are beginning to settle down after this first week at Lyme View. We still felt shut in and gloomy on our second day until I suggested turning the boat around so that our bow faced out into the marina rather than towards the distant hills (which we couldn't see properly from inside the boat because of sloping ground up to the access road). The change also meant that the side with most windows was now against the jetty so there was considerably more light inside the boat. The feeling of being less shut in has transformed the last four or five days which have been further lightened by meeting so many friendly people in neighbouring boats, especially Lucy Sendall and Steve Clark on Serendipity. It was Steve, in fact, who helped us turn the boat, using our long pole at the bow to push us around almost within our own length, and Lucy has steered us in the right direction for local shopping and facilities. A short visit from our Derbyshire friends Linda Pelc and John Thorpe added to the growing optimism about life in a marina over the next four or five months.
By the time Liz set off early yesterday to drive to meet our son Jonathan and partner Jenny en route to a five-day holiday in Spain I was quite content to stay dog-sitting in the marina, with easy access to lovely walks around the long field that is part of the marina, along the towpath or along the splendid Middlewood Way which leads to Macclefield in one direction and Marple the other. When Liz returns early next week, however, we'll take off for a few days to either Higher Poynton or Gurnett aqueduct. The final decision will depend largely on the weather.
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October 13
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Two weeks after starting our winter at Lyme View marina we have come out to Higher Poyton on the first of six or seven days of cruising. We probably won't go very far but we will have time to remind ourselves of what living on a narrowboat is really about. Don't misunderstand me : I can't imagine living in a better marina with its lovely countryside views and friendly neighbours but it's still a marina. Certainly I have got to know nearby boaters better with Liz away - Lucy has been especially helpful with a lift to Tesco on Friday to top up on fresh bread and milk. And Dave Schofield who owns another Heron boat moored a few slots away from us has been advising us on mini-satellite dishes which might be useful in an area where conventional aerial reception is a bit hit and miss. Just one year old, the boat's name escapes me at the moment but will be inserted here as soon as I can find the piece of paper I jotted it down on - or Dave emails me to lessen my embarrassment over bad memory!
the building and promises to take another 42 to complete! Then across to Majorca to stay with Annie and Tono in their lovely home. Saturday was spent driving round the mountain villages of the island with stunning views over the Mediterranean, and lunch on the harbour at Porte de Soller in a balmy twenty four degrees. The evening dinner with members of the family was followed by a large firework display, the number 60 in lights, then music and singing.
Feeling a little better this morning we made our careful way out of the marina with Liz at the bow pushing our nose around with a long boat pole so we could clear the row of boats opposite us without having to constantly rev and reverse. As I said we're happy to be out for a while and I managed to renew acquaintance with the excellent Black Sheep at the Boar's Head.
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October 24
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Eleven days since my last update but I can only plead illness and a little unpleasantness. When Liz returned from Spain with her cold and chest infection she quickly passed it on to me and I am only now recovering from the usual sniffly aftermath. In the middle of all this I had to travel to Bakewell where my dentist Kate Smith did a marvellous job on extracting the root of a broken tooth. The unpleasantness referred to above was largely minimised by her total understanding of my nervousness in the face of injections - especially in the face!
Things are now improving all round and we are still out of the marina, moored near bridge 20 a mile or so south of Adlington. It's raining heavily but after a quick run back to Poynton yesterday to take on a new gas bottle and ditch our rubbish, plus a towpath meeting with George Boyle on Alton when we topped up with diesel and coal, we are happily self-sufficient for another couple of weeks. However, we plan to go back into Lyme View in the next day or so when we will empty our cassettes and settle in for a couple of weeks before cruising again.
Email update: With so few new entries in this dairy section our emails, undertandably, have decreased over the last month or so but our old friends Rose Philpott and Janet and Joseph Cresswell have been in touch again and we've also enjoyed a humorous note from Frank Auffret after a recent trip:
"At last we have Midnight back at Ripon," he wrote. "Our summer holiday cruise was quite an epic, not by your proportions of course, but we did pack quite a lot into the three weeks and seven weekends of our travels. We set out from Ripon in mid July weekending down to Newark where our main holiday began on 29th July. We cruised down the Soar then on to Braunston and up the North Oxford. After a couple of days on the Ashby we headed back up north via the Trent & Mersey and Bridgewater.
"We spent the whole of the three weeks main holiday in the company of Jim Giles on his wooden black country boat Linguist. We met Jim last year in York on Midnight's maiden cruise. He contacted us last Easter and we arranged to meet at Trent Lock. It's amazing how you can meet people and become firm friends in no time. After enjoying his company, we left him at Lymm and believe he headed back down to London for the winter months via the Shroppie so you may have passed him somewhere around Church Minshull. We finished the main part of the holiday at White Bear Marina on the Leeds & Liverpool then came back to to our home mooring over the following five weekends. The L & L was very low in places and I understand it is now closed between Gargrave and the summit due to low water conditions. The nights are really drawing in now and it looks like we will have many weekends at the marina, adventure swapping with other boaters on the pontoon and planning next year's cruise of course!"
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