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News & Diary
Archive 2006
January to February
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News & Diary
Archive 2006
January to February
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Further travels can be found in Archives
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January 10 2006
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We're back. Our three weeks holiday in Derbyshire has been the longest time we've spent away from Snecklifter since we began our journey on the canals and rivers of England and Wales. We arrived back in two halves, bringing most of our clothes etc on Friday and the rest on Saturday morning - and both times found our stove lit, the boat interior warm and dry. There was even a bag of provisions supplied by our guardian angel at Lyme View marina - Lucy Sendall on Serendipity. She had kept an eye on the boat while we were away and sent regular text messages to assure us that all was well. Good neighbours like her were another of the many reasons why we had regrets about leaving the marina to return to life on the open towpath - but we have still done it. First thing on Sunday morning we came out of Lyme View and cruised little more than half a mile to newly-ringed BW moorings at bridge 18 and have settled here for a few days before travelling up to Poynton for diesel. Unfortunately we missed George on Alton at the weekend. We have paid for our marina mooring until the end of February, of course, and will return there in any emergency.
In the meantime we look forward to a visit tomorrow from regular email correspondents Audrone Berzanskas and her husband Richard Dyason from Australia who are now in this country having their own boat built. This will be our first meeting, even though we have got to know Audrone via the internet, and a full report will be posted on Thursday when I'll also have time to give a fuller account of our Christmas and New Year. However, before I end this to get back to boat-cleaning (having visitors concentrates the mind!) just a mention of an email from Sandy Walpole. She wrote:
" Just been looking at your website, which is of great interest to us as we plan to give up our beautiful end of farm mooring in August and our jobs and off we go. We are going to rent our house out as we will use this as income, and cruise while we are still fit enough to do it. We are both 50 in the summer of 2006 and we have the opportunity to do it, nothing to lose, our two sons are in their late twenties and I think they now believe we are going to actually do it after talking about it for the last two years. At the moment we are decorating like mad to get the house ready for renting. Pete leaves work in July, I don't work.
"We are moored on the Grand Union near Marsworth (Ivinghoe) and we have done quite a bit of cruising, Stoke On Trent being the furthest north we have been (that's the furthest we can get in 3 weeks). We haven't done the Thames but intend heading that way first - I shall be dreading it but there is only one way to learn. Our boat is called Alice, we have owned her for 3 years now, and love the Cut. Perhaps we will pass you on our travels. Many thanks for your great website."
This was our first email read on January 1 - a wonderfully cheery way to start the New Year.
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January 13
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Back just under a week and we seem to have settled back into our old winter routine. High winds made our mooring at Bridge 18 a little less than ideal but we stayed another day to meet Audrone Berzanskas and her husband Richard Dyason (right) on Wednesday afternoon. They had driven down from Wakefield where they are living until Heron has finished their new boat Pendragon. As soon as the winter closures are over they hope to be on their way around the system, ending up at Crick in May. They were as lovely a couple as we had imagined as we read their regular emails from their home in Tasmania, and we got on so well together that Audrone suggested they book a local B & B to save driving back to Wakefield. In the evening they took us to the Miners' Arms for an excellent dinner. Earlier on, Richard was especially pleased when I offered them a short trip to the winding hole at Bridge 20 and then back to moor in a sheltered spot opposite Lyme View marina.
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He took the tiller for most of the trip, navigating through two bridge holes without a problem. He'd never handled a narrowboat before but has long experience of sea-going boats and flies aircraft so it was not surprising that he took so readily to Snecklifter. We hope to meet them again when they begin full-time cruising in a year or so.
Yesterday morning, soon after Liz set off to work in Macclesfield, I took the boat up to Poynton, watered and took on diesel*, and then moored just above the steps that lead down into the playing field below the official moorings. The wind is still fairly fierce so we'll happily stay here for a long weekend, close to the excellent Black Sheep at the Boar's Head.
Memories of our holiday in Derbyshire seem to be receding already but we had an action-packed three weeks of eating, hill walking and relaxing in a house with plug-in electricity - and a bath! We won't forget the kindness and hospitality of Brian Parker, our host in Ashford in the Water, or the welcome we received from many of our old friends. We shared an evening meal on Christmas Day with Clive and Joy Thrower at Longstone vicarage, dinner on New Year's Eve with Clive, Joy and John Thorpe at Linda Pelc's house in Ashford, and enjoyed excellent meals in Foolow with Terry and Sheila Betney (who forwards our mail the year round) and in Stoney Middleton with Brian Parker and friends Alan and Daphne Binns. We owe special thanks to the latter couple who laid on an exellent supper at their home in Stanton in Peak despite Daphne suffering with hip problems. Alan had managed to get hold of 24 bottles of Sneck Lifter for me (very cheaply, in fact) and half of them vanished over the holidays - happily inside me.
Finally a brief word about our grand daughter. There are two new photographs on Sienna's page showing her on a bed surrounded by rose petals, a lovely idea of Jonathan and Jenny's while they were spending Christmas with Jenny's parents in Mallorca. Visiting relatives and friends (dozens of them) were asked to take a rose petal from a bowl and place it in an empty "crib", making a wish for Sienna. When all the petals had been used Sienna was placed on top of them while the photographs were taken.
* As mentioned above we had missed Alton on Sunday (we were spending money at Tesco and Comet) but George helpfully emailed us yesterday after reading the website to give us the dates of his next trip down the canal. We will try to keep in synch for the rest of our stay on the Macc.
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January 21
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We left Poynton sooner than we intended after Liz's car was broken into when it was left overnight in the large car park above the Nelson mining museum, right next to the small gate that leads from the canal towpath. She had to drive to Stockport on Sunday morning to have the large window on the driver's side replaced - costing £175 with only £75 due back from insurance. None of the other cars on the park was damaged so we suspect it was some passing kids on a speculative raid. All they got was two lipsticks Liz had left on the passenger seat.
As soon as she left for Stockport I brought the boat down to bridge 20, winded and came back a quarter of a mile to an excellent open mooring at the Stumps, with an unfortunate view of a large electricity pylon on the towpath side (when we open the side hatch, that is) but lovely fields with a few deer and many sheep on the other. We had the place to ourselves for most of the rest of the week but yesterday we were joined by three "regulars" who had been moored for a while at Gurnett until four cars were broken into while they were parked at the bridge below the aqueduct.
Anyway, Liz was able to get to work in Macclesfield more easily and on Thursday she drove straight from work to Norwich to spend a long weekend with our son Jonathan and his partner Jenny. It was his birthday last week but Liz needed no further excuse to drive for over five hours to see our granddaughter Sienna again while I stayed aboard to dog- and boat-sit. Now that we are out of the marina this will have to be the pattern for a while but JJ&S will visit us on Snecklifter soon, I hope.
Meanwhile, the dogs and I have had a relatively relaxing time, not straying far until today when the weather brightened up. As soon as George had arrived on Alton to top up our diesel and coal supplies - his assistant was especially helpful in dropping two of the coal bags straight into the cockpit and saving this old man's back just a little! - we set off on the hour-long round walk taking in part of the Middlewood Way between Macclesfield and Marple and returning along the towpath. By the time we got back the Stumps was alive with boats - a weekend outing for the local boat club. I shall keep my head down this afternoon and hope to get an early night.
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January 29
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I needn't have worried about noise from the visiting boat club - they were a notably quiet, eminently respectable bunch who didn't stay the night anyway, leaving late in the afternoon to cruise home before it got too dark. So the rest of the weekend proved totally uneventful as the dogs and I prepared for Liz's return the following day : dusting, cleaning and making sure there were no signs of the orgy I didn't have.
Monday morning was spent cruising up to Higher Poynton where I filled the water tank just in case the weather forecast proved right and the canal froze up for days on end. It hasn't, of course. The last few days have seen a skim of ice on our section of the water but none under the trees close to bridge 20 and our ice has disappeared each day as the sun has warmed the air. But it has been cold enough for most of the puddles and boggy patches to dry up, making the dogs' regular walks along the Middlewood Way and back along the towpath a greater pleasure than usual. Yesterday Liz joined us on the walk and we were able to sit outside the Miners in the sun and enjoy a flat pint of Theakston's best bitter.
Liz's weekend was rather more exciting than mine. On Sunday they had the English naming ceremony for Sienna (the Spanish one had happened over Christmas). About thirty of Jonathan and Jenny's friends (including four other babies) met together in Roger Rowe's beautiful chapel in Norwich. It was a simple event. Everyone placed a rose petal into the crib with a wish or a dream for Sienna, then she was laid on her bed of dreams. Roger played a movement from the Tchaikovsky Seasons and Liz sang "Everything Possible". Her Saturday evening had been spent babysitting for J & J to have an evening out together. It was mostly changing nappies, one of the pleasures of motherhood she had pretty much forgotten about! A photograph or two from the ceremony (not the nappy changing) will be posted soon.
Email update: I forgot to mention that on our way back from Poynton a fortnight ago we were hailed by a couple of walkers on the towpath near Lyme View marina and a couple of days later we received this email from Maureen Wheeler:
"Have been following your progress with great interest as we also intended to retire for a life afloat. Unfortunately/fortunately things don't quite work out as you expect and after my husband had dithered for some time, deaths of contemporaries led him to bring things forward - so we have a boat being surveyed in Northants which was as near as could be to our spec and had just paid up for a mooring at the marina when we saw you. We were in fact on the way back from the Boar's Head! We didn't expect things to go so fast and we could be afloat by Easter. It was quite a surprise to see you 'in the flesh' as it were! Sorry to hear about your car - it puts a nasty taste in the mouth about those around us. However, it was such a beautiful day out of the blue, with the sun casting great shadows."
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February 2
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We had intended cruising up to Poynton on Tuesday to take on water and a new gas cyclinder but when I tried to start the engine on Monday evening to charge the batteries it turned over uncomfortably but would not start up. Three or four repeated attempts had no effect so we rang River Canal Rescue and within an hour the boss himself, Trevor Forman, arrived with an apprentice. They worked for well over an hour in the dark, trying everything that seemed likely and soon realised no fuel was getting from the pumps into the injectors. Trevor suspected a blockage or a failure of some kind that meant little to me, rang a local engineer who specialised in this kind of problem and arranged that he would come out to us the following morning to strip the pump.
About the third or fourth telephone call the next day (a few had come from the local engineer who wanted extra information before contacting Isuzu) was surprisingly* from Trevor. He had had further thoughts overnight and would be with me in a couple of hours. He duly arrived about 10.30 am, worked for another two hours and left with an understandably satisfied smile. He had cleared the blockage and also discovered the stop button on the control box had jammed shut. Whenever I had tried to start the engine the solenoid had gone into the stop mode, preventing fuel getting through. Alright, I know I'm not in the business of advertising any canal-linked company in these pages, but I have to say yet again that RCR have never let us down in our three years of membership and have never failed to impress us with the speed and quality of their help. This latest was very impressive indeed.
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I was able to cruise to Poynton to take on water on Wednesday morning, though in the meantime a friend on another boat moored close to us had brought us a full gas bottle from the Trading Post, in case we had been stuck for a few days. TP closes on Wednesdays during the winter so it was just as well.
I returned to our favourite spot at the Stumps and here we'll stay until the weekend when Alton is due with diesel and coal supplies. The break will give me time to catch up on more email replies - we've just had a postscript from Maureen Wheeler to say they'll have their boat by the end of March, for instance.
Sienna's Page has also been updated with some lovely pictures taken with Jenny's family in Spain including one of four generations. For more general delight there's this study of Liz singing to her grand-daughter. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt in suggesting that Sienna might be joining in. She could also be laughing, of course.
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* Don't know why I wrote "surprisingly". The few times I have met Trevor he has convinced me he is not a man to give up easily. The last time he solved a problem for us was after other good engineers had struggled to eliminate air getting into the fuel supply system for well over a year. He tracked the source within an hour.
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February 14
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It's been a quiet week or two on this stretch of the Macclesfield canal and especially on board Snecklifter. Liz has continued to drive to Macc four days a week to earn a few extra pounds to supplement our pensions and I have continued to watch the ice form on the canal in the early part of the fortnight and listen to rain churning up the muddy towpath in the last couple of days. Apart from routine jobs that all narrowboat dwellers are familiar with, I've not done much - and enjoyed not doing it.
George Boyle arrived on Alton with diesel and coal as expected. We drove over to Bakewell for long-planned dental appointments, meetings with old friends and to collect our mail. And yesterday I suddenly leapt into action and drove the boat about a mile to moor overnight opposite Lyme View marina, where we could empty our cassettes and revisit the Miners for a pint of Theakston's best. They also had Old Peculier on tap so I tried just a half on top of the best (this was lunchtime). It was sweeter than Sneck Lifter but with almost as much body. Delicious.
We woke this morning to heavy rain but by 8.40 it had given way to sunshine so I brought the boat on to Higher Poynton, watered, and then drove on to High Lane where I winded and returned to a prime mooring at Poynton overlooking the football field. If the threatened bad weather materialises we'll stay here for the rest of the week at least.
Email update: Several emails from old friends and new have kept us in touch with the real world during our weeks of comparative isolation. From Mike and Di Bridges whose new boat Quinquireme II is nearing completion in Mirfield came this forward-looking message:
"Three months have elapsed since my last email to you and we are expecting a launch by the end of February. Our first skirmish when the stops come off is to go to York for a couple of days then back to Castleford and off up the Leeds and Liverpool eventually making our way to the Trent and Mersey where we want to do the Anderton lift. Your website gave a very good account of the experience. We then plan to move on down to the Llangollen canal and this time go all the way to Llangollen. We only made Trevor last time we did it in Q1. Then back over to the Trent and Mersey working our way to Birmingham and onto the Grand Union down to Brentford and beyond on the Thames. We plan to go to the IWA festival at Beale Park in August and meet up with some friends we made the last time we went in 2004.
"I’ve just read your account of the 2nd Feb and your start problem. We had a similar experience on the Thames with Q1 - it turned out to be a bad electrical connection to the diesel lift pump, a small pump approx 3” long and 2” diam. situated just behind the main injector pump. It makes a ticking noise like the old minis when the ignition is switched on as it pumps to prime the system. Removing the two connectors and cleaning them up solved the problem. Again a phone call to Isuzu at the time and they talked me through it.
"Your granddaughter is growing – a substantial change in a short time. Our new grandson, eight months now, is the same. It doesn’t take long and they’re up and running."
And this from a new correspondent Dave Richardson, who works for Ford Motors as a designer: "My partner Dawn and I are in the research stage of life on the cut and everything that goes with it. I'm looking at early retirement as I approach 50 in May 2007 and have 33 years service. When I do retire, I will have to downsize, but don't fancy the idea of being tied to one place. So Dawn suggested the canals - we hired a narrowboat a few years back (Napton I think, lower Oxford) and absolutely loved it. We have gone on from there. Have visited a boatbuilder to get the feel of new narrowboats and visited the Grand Union at Berkhamsted to meet some liveaboards. Then went back last w/e to Bourne End and sat outside the Three Horseshoes with a nice pint of Broadside. Will probably go back again this w/e and chat to a few liveaboards. We are now searching the www for stories, diaries etc, and came across yours. It's marvellous. Spent two hours in work this morning printing off the Archives and latest news (all 266 pages) - hope you don't mind. I have run one printer out of paper and another out of toner, so not exactly flavour of the month at the moment."
Dave asked whether his Alaskan Malamutes - Nanook, Meeka and Scabbers - will adapt to life on a narrowboat. I could only answer "Yes, but make it as big a boat as you can." Sensibly he is looking for a 60 footer with a cruiser stern. We have seen a 50 footer with three Bernese mountain dogs aboard (!) and a 70 footer with four German Shepherds. The latter would probably have been more comfortable for humans, but who can tell. Our two dogs live, eat, and sleep close to us. I tell doubters they should have dogs on board only if they are not fastidious in any way.
And finally, a timely note from Mike & Jo Edwards of Sarah Kate - or at least from Mike: "Today, Valentine's day, Jo is out for a camera club meeting. So she has left me with a little gift to enjoy. A bottle of Sneck Lifter. Is this a first, a Sneck Lifter for a Valentine's day gift? Hope you are both keeping well and will soon be able to be off cruising. We reckon another month to 6 weeks should see Sarahkate finished and then we can set off. Probably the Avon, Severn and Staffs and Worcs."
An excellent itinerary - the same as ours but in reverse, so we should meet up with them some time during the year.
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February 20
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Living on a canal in the winter is a comparatively isolated existence and a bit like waiting for a bus. You see no friends and very few boaters for weeks on end and suddenly two lots turn up on the same day. The first couple on Saturday were expected because David and Christine Owen-Roberts had said months ago they would try to get over from their home in Nantwich to see us and a few days before they had sent a text arranging their visit to us at Adlington. We first heard from David fairly soon after starting this diary but even though we had passed their narrowboat Isis where they keep her on the Shroppie they had been at work and we had not met them until the end of last season - and then only as quick hail and farewell when they passed us on the Middlewich branch. So it was great to sit down and talk for an hour or two on Saturday morning and to hear something of their two sons and their jobs - they had already read enough about Liz and me!
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We were just about to get stuck into bacon sandwiches and some of my home-brew beer when we had a phone call from some old Sheffield friends, Ann and Philip Hammond who were a few miles away at Higher Poynton. Liz and Ann used to work together and had kept in touch by email and they had met up when Liz returned to Sheffield occasionally. But I had not seen them since our change of lifestyle brought us from Ashford in the Water to Snecklifter. All six of us sat around chatting, eating the aforementioned sandwiches and a delicious home-made tiramasu that Christine and David had brought for us - together with a couple of bottles of beer that included an unusual Christmas brew called Bah-Humbug (consumed last night with great pleasure). Ann and Philip are pictured here and there's one of David and Christine on Latest pictures who like other boating friends have their own page which can be added to if we meet again later this year when we return from the South via the Shroppie.
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The whole of the last week has been a little busier, in fact, and since leaving the Stumps a week ago we've stayed for a few days at Higher Poynton and then at Adlington, an excellent mooring if you are expecting visitors. We'll cruise back to Adlington for Thursday when we face our first boat safety certificate check-up since having the boat. Naturally our minds have been concentrated on tidying things up, although most of that has been left to me while Liz continues with her part-time job.
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And finally, for those who ask about Sienna I have posted another series of pictures on Sienna's page - we're hoping to see her in the flesh this weekend if a planned visit by our son Jonathan and his partner Jenny goes ahead.
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February 24
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We've passed. I wouldn't exactly say with flying colours because our mushroom ventilors need a few small adjustments, but Snecklifter now has a boat safety certificate lasting until March 2010. I was a little nervous before the inspection (this was the first I had seen close up) but soon found myself appreciating and eventually enjoying the experience. The examiner was Barry Stanton who is based in High Lane and though he was professionally rigorous he was also extremely helpful and down to earth, talking me through all the checks and explaining why each was necessary. I learned a lot and wished that I had received that kind of insight four years ago when the boat was first checked out after building had finished - it would certainly have made me aware of some of the problems that can arise on a narrowboat. Of course I could have read about them in the safety guide all new boats are supplied with by British Waterways but it was such a massive tome that I tucked it away for further reference and forgot all about it. Barry Stanton's comments were far more precise and easily assimilated and it undoubtedly helped to know he was a boater of many years - he is also vice-chairman of North Cheshire Cruising Club.
The inspection started in a light snowfall and ended in pouring rain so Liz and I decided to stay on at Adlington when she got back from work - moored opposite Lyme View marina. Our paid mooring there officially ends on February 28, though we have not been back since early January except to empty cassettes etc. This morning Liz and I drove through more rain to pick up a full gas cylinder from the Trading Post at Higher Poynton and spent much of the rest of the day shopping and cleaning the boat ready for our visitors tomorrow - our friend Brian Parker is coming over from Ashford in the Water and we're taking him for lunch at the Miners to celebrate his birthday which was yesterday. Our son Jonathan and family will arrive for the weekend early afternoon and it'll be lovely to see Sienna again - as well as father and mother, of course.
P.S. A few hours after the above was posted we received a text message from Rob and Jeanne Boulton on Tywardreath telling us that their lovely black Labrador dog Duke (see Well Met on the Cut) had died after a long illness through which they had cared for him with great dedication. We will miss seeing him when we next meet up with Rob and Jeanne because dogs are very important on the Cut. It's often through them that we get to know other boaters - and sometimes it's the dogs we remember rather than their owners. Our sympathies go to Rob and Jeanne and we hope to see them soon.
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March 2
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The weather has turned suddenly wintry this week, trapping us for a few days at the Stumps where we spent the weekend with our son Jonathan, his partner Jenny and our gorgeous grand-daughter Sienna. It's the first time I've seen her since November when she was only 10 days old and she's grown tremendously, especially in personality, responding to us as individuals rather than as blurred images in her peripheral vision. They bravely drove for six hours from Norwich to spend Saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday morning with us before setting off back in the early afternoon. They stayed the night at a hotel in Prestbury (we thought it wiser they didn't sleep on Snecklifter with two dogs aboard - at least until Sienna is a few years older). Happily they arrived early enough on Saturday to see our good friend Brian Parker from Ashford in the Water who brought his marvellous black labrador Storm to spend the day with us. Neither Jenny nor Sienna batted an eyelid at three dogs milling around their feet. (Pictures of them all can be seen on Latest pictures and Sienna's page
By Tuesday thick ice had returned to the canal so I delayed moving the boat to Higher Poynton to take on water. The ice cleared late afternoon but was back yesterday so I stayed at our excellent mooring at the Stumps until mid-morning when a brave boater came crashing past us, breaking the ice and encouraging me to cruise as far as Adlington. The noise of broken ice under the prop and the thought of returning to Adlington if there were no spaces at Poynton made me decide to go no further and, besides, this was a good spot for Elizabeth who had driven straight from work to a singing gig in Derbyshire. She was able to park the car safely and walk on roadway rather than dark towpath. Today there's ice again, not thick but covered with a sprinkling of snow so I have no intention of moving yet. If things improve tomorrow I'll take the boat for water and perhaps stay at Poynton over the weekend when Liz is away once more - visiting our old boating friends Coby and Henk in their Coventry flat.
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