 |
News & Diary
Archive 2006
November - December
|
|
|
|
News & Diary
Archive 2006
November - December
|
|
|
Further travels can be found in Archives
|
|
November 1
| ||
|
We had an enjoyable weekend at Higher Poynton but were glad to move early on Monday morning, watering above bridge 15 before I took the boat on to High Lane to wind and then return to our favoured mooring at the Stumps. With the number of loud bangs increasing each night over the weekend it seemed sensible policy and kindness to our dogs to come here to the quieter countryside before November 5 weekend. While I cruised, Liz set off for her first three days of temping, in this instance for a company in Knutsford. She seems to be enjoying herself now she is working part-time again and I have the long days to catch up with boat chores - as well as returning this computer to a greater degree of efficiency.
|
|
November 8
|
|
With the closure of Bosley locks we feel that our winter season has really begun. The last of the late holiday boats has gone and those few privately-owned craft that pass us each day are likely to turn up as neighbours some time over the next four or five months. There were more of the latter, of course, over the weekend when the weather was seasonal - clear nights, frosty mornings and sunny days. Today the rain has returned so it will undoubtedly be quieter. The weekend was noisy in more ways than one, with three evenings of torment for Molly who paced up and down for hours at a time as the fireworks whizzed and banged. Bess's growing deafness was a boon. She slept through most of it. We had brought Snecklifter away from Poynton and down to this comparatively rural mooring to avoid the worst of Bonfire Night(s) but between six and eight each evening the skyline towards Stockport was lit up and the continuous barrage of noise was reminiscent of the Blitz (not that I remember that far back!)
Liz returned from Norwich on Monday afternoon, to the delight of all three of us. She had enjoyed an overnight trip to London with Jonathan, Jenny and Sienna, carried out her grandmotherly baby-minding duties on a couple of very enjoyable occasions and shared Sienna's first birthday party at which there were about 80 guests - all the other babies born around the same time to mothers in Jenny's prenatal group plus their families. She obviously loved every minute of it and claimed the bonus of having lost weight chasing around and bending over to pick up our mobile grand-daughter. Returning to mental rather than physical work on Tuesday must have come as a relief.
If the weather returns to cold and sunny as forecast I will spend the rest of the week working on the outside of the boat. We will probably stay here now until the fortnightly visit from nb Alton on Saturday (under new ownershop of Brian McGuigan), top up on diesel and coal, and then cruise to Adlington, Higher Poynton and other points north.
|
|
November 9
|
|
The observant will have noticed that we've moved from the Stumps despite reporting yesterday that we would be there for the weekend. The last time we "flitted" like this we caused consternation with friends who called on us unexpectedly and expected us to be where we said we would be. Hence this brief update.
As the weather has got colder and damper we have been suffering from an intermittent but increasing recurrent engine problem - it doesn't want to start, coughs and splutters for 10 minutes or so, and then eventually runs correctly and sweetly. So we've moved here, opposite Lyme View marina, so that an engineer recommended by a knowledgeable local boater can get to us easily in the morning. The engine has done nearly 6000 hours since we set off four and a half years so it's time it had a thorough check by a marine engineer.
Meanwhile, I am much closer to the Miners' Arms, which is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your viewpoint.
|
|
November 12
|
|
After a couple of days at Adlington we came early this morning to Higher Poynton to fill the water tank and stop for a day or two on the main stretch of moorings above the football field. Our intermittent but increasingly recurrent engine problem was tackled on Friday by a local engineer and so far so good. He diagnosed poor contacts on the power supply to the fuel pump, cleaned them, put on a new and tighter component (don't ask me what it's called!) and since then the engine has behaved itself. On Saturday we had our first visit from nb Alton under its new management. High winds had not made their first solo outing a "breeze" for Brian McGuigan and his wife Ann Marie but even though they were running a little late they seemed in good spirit. Sensibly they've kept Monday free in case they don't finish the round trip in the usual two days. There'll be many liveaboards like us who'll be delighted to see them whenever they turn up.
Oh, and yes, I did make it to the Miners - and they are still serving an excellent pint of Theakston's Best.
|
|
November 14
|
|
Almost gale force winds marked our stay at Poynton but we hunkered down and listened in comfort to the lashing rain outside when we were not catching up on live or taped television programmes. Yesterday morning the wind abated enough for us to make a dash for Adlington where Liz had left her car and we might have stayed there overnight had it not been for a bit of unpleasantness that confirmed my original plan to move straight back to the moorings between bridges 19 and 20. It started when Liz drove up to the official Adlington moorings to pick up some cash she had forgotten to take. She stopped only long enough for me to pass her said cash through the window but when she left I was told that we should not park on what was a private road, owned by Lyme View marina. I pointed out that we never parked on the road but did stop there briefly to pick up heavy cassettes or drop off groceries. Once again I was told we shouldn't do it - it was unfair to those people in the marina who paid for their moorings. Of course, Lyme View have legality on their side but it does seem mean-spirited when you remember we paid for seven months moorings there last year.
Still, we are glad to be back out in "the wilds" again and will stay here for a week or so before moving on. It's quiet, lovely countryside, and there's no hassle. A couple of days of this solitude will remind us of why we love winter on the Cut so much - and perhaps remove the bitter taste that unpleasant and unexpected confrontations always leave.
Email update: We also have messages from boating friends to cheer us up and none more so than those lengthy missives from Sarah Levick who recently sent us this happy account of moving Arcadia to a new mooring: "We had a successful voyage ... in fact, it was one of the nicest weeks we have ever had afloat! If we needed to be reminded about why we fell in love with canal boating, then those few days would have done it. Only a poet can really do it justice but the limpid blue skies, autumnal coat of many colours and complete lack of other boats was the perfect combination! Now you know how we keep away from centres of population normally, but as it was the Shroppie we didn't really have much choice, so how nice was it just to sail on to visitor moorings and be the only one there? To come down Tyrley, Adderley and Audlem on our tod? Okay, there were one or two people about but they were as relaxed and happy as we were - none of the high-season got-to-get-there-first-give-no-quarter-hurry-hurry-hurry frenzy that so often blights the summer months. Of course, the weather was a perfect accompaniment to the Shroppie - the last two times I've done it have been in murky weather so what with all those cuttings, it all got a bit tedious and depressing. But with the sun on your back and the chill air on your face, it meandered on and on and on and I was like a pig in its doings. Andy loved it even more than me, if that were possible - he's not a fan of crowds so just found the emptiness and quiet a real boon. I sense that we'll be doing a lot of off season cruising when we retire.
"Just the one dog incident to report. Monty fell in as we tied up at Colwich but dried out super quickly in the sunshine. I mastered keeping the fire in for more than two nights and the Ecofan made an impressive debut. However, after the third night, the fire just seemed to lose all its heat - I think maybe I'd let the ash build up too much. Any thoughts? *
"Don't know whether you've ever tried this but my vet recommended a spray called DAP for dogs vs firework night. Well, the dogs won easily - as soon as the bangs started going off, I'd puff a few sprays of this stuff around them and before you knew it, they were totally relaxed, avec full appetite. Miffy has always suffered terribly with thunder etc but this turns her into a placid pooch, snuffling in her basket, totally unfazed by the whole thing. It's a totally natural remedy and worth trying."
There are new correspondents as well, like Neil Dudman whose words arrived just as I was about to update the site: "Just thought I'd pop you a mail to wish you well on your travels. I have been reading your site tonight and thought I'd say thank you for the privilege. Been on many holidays and hope to be a boater." You cheered us up tremendously, Neil.
* Yep, you've got to keep clearing the ash unless you are deliberately letting it build up to control rate of burn in warmer periods, Mike writes. And we'll certainly try DAP on the dogs next year!
|
|
November 23
|
|
I know I've been remiss in not updating before this but there has been little to write about. We have stayed around the Stumps area, moving when our favourite spot became free, but otherwise it's been day after repeated day of relaxing into another winter on the Cut while Liz has continued to do part-time work for a local agency. Things did brighten up a couple of days ago when Ramyshome came in to moor in front of us. We first met Roger and Maureen Yorke in August 2005 when we were moored at Church Minshull on the Middlewich branch of the Shroppie and have seen them several times to wave hail and farewell - even though they are living on their narrowboat for only two years their route has been been very similar to ours. This was our first chance to sit for any time and talk about life, the universe and the regular emptying of cassettes, so they came aboard Snecklifter for an hour or so and we munched Maureen's homemade flapjack with a cup of tea. They are staying on the Macc until Christmas and the New Year so we should meet again before they head southwards for the rest of the winter. We hope so because they are an easy-going couple much on the same wavelength as so many other liveaboards we have met. Their photograph has now been added to Well Met on the Cut and their own website can be read at http://www.ramyshome.co.uk/.
Tonight we hope to have Steve and Lucy over from Serendipity on the marina to have a meal and a glass or two of wine though this will depend on a call from the local vet - one of their dogs has an eye infection. If we have to delay, it will only be for a week or so.
Late postscript: We've just heard from our friends Wendy and Ken Brown who we met at Gurnett Aqueduct on our first trip up the Macc four and a half years ago that Scrappy, their lovely rough-haired Jack Russell, has died. "She's buried above the sycamore on the banking above the cottage, with a superb view over the canal. Scooby (their other dog) is wandering around looking lost as are Ken and I," Wendy wrote. It won't be quite the same for us the next time we moor at Gurnett either.
|
|
November 30
|
|
Another week, and more than another dollar spent, mainly on putting right little niggling things like ceiling bulbs that are beginning to fail after four and a half years (no, you're right, they owe us nothing) and rather bigger problems like a flat-screen television whose picture suddenly blacks out at increasingly close intervals. A more appropriate theme tune for this life would be the old Tennessee Ernie Ford number "16 tons" - another day older and we're deeper in debt.
But we are not complaining. Apart from the high winds that beset us at this wide spot at Higher Poynton the weather has been surprisingly kind to us, mild enough to cast off thick winter woollies that we donned a couple of weeks ago. Liz is enjoying her new job with the local health authority which we hope will last until the beginning of next season at the end of March. And I've got plenty of DVDs to watch between cleaning the outside and inside of the boat - if the TV holds up, that is. More cleaning? We have a special visitor for the weekend, our longtime friend from Sheffield, Sue Bower. Liz is picking her up on Friday morning and driving her home again on Sunday so if the weather is reasonable we'll cruise up to High Lane and then return to the Stumps for a few days.
We also enjoyed another visit from Lucy Sendall and Steve Clark of Serendipity while we were at Adlington last week. Despite being at least one generation younger than us, they are such great company and our conversations invariably range widely with boating and dogs never far away. Liz cooked one of her specials - grilled turkey breasts stuffed with mozarella cheese and chopped mushrooms, wrapped in pancetta. With luck she'll do it again for Sue this weekend.
|
|
December 4
|
|
We stayed at Higher Poynton until our friend Sue Bower arrived from Sheffield around midday on Friday. While Liz prepared coffee and sandwiches I took the boat to the water point near bridge 15 and then to the top of the marina where we winded and cruised back to Adlington. In the evening Sue treated us to a splendid meal at the Miners' Arms and we caught up with the latest family news.
On Saturday morning I moved the boat down to our favourite mooring at the Stumps and Sue and Liz spent the rest of the morning in the charity shops of Poynton and Wilmslow (very up-market with designer labels in the latter). Luckily it was a lovely day so our visitor was able to see some of the attractions of life on the Cut, which was just as well because that night she was able to experience some of the downside. The wind grew increasingly powerful through the night and some time around one o'clock I was shinning along the edge of the boat, lifting plant holders etc onto the towpath for safety. A passing boater next day reckoned it had gusted up to 106 mph but I'm not so sure. It certainly sounded like an express train roaring past us at times but amazingly Sue slept through most of it and it was only coincidence that she returned home to Sheffield after breakfast on Sunday. The happy photograph on Latest pictures was taken just after she had returned from shopping on Saturday!
|
|
December 10
|
|
Liz is back at last, after a four-day break in which she drove from Macclesfield to Norwich and back via Ashford in the Water, travelled by train, train and train to London with Jonathan, Jenny and granddaughter Sienna - and back again the same day - so is understandably tired out. I was glad to see her go because it would give me a few days to myself but I'm even gladder to see her back again. I try to hide how much I miss her but it's not that easy. She, of course, is full of stories about Sienna who has now a four-word vocabulary : mama, papa, nana and goodbye. Spotted who's missing?
For me it has been a quiet weekend with plenty of time for reading, watching DVDs and cross-stitching when the dogs were not being walked, meals being cooked and dishes being washed. Not to mention getting up in the night a few times to check on the fire. When Liz is here I trust her implicity to set the fire before she comes to bed, knowing that it will still be lit when I get up next morning. Me, I don't trust, not enough to risk it not going out.
The biggest excitement came at 7.30 this morning when the diesel and coal boat Alton pulled up alongside Snecklifter. Brian and Ann Marie were delayed yesterday and were making an early start with their friend Graham Beard helping them, but even on a Sunday I'm usually up and about by 6am so I swung quickly into action when I heard their engine. Sensibly they've produced a leaflet showing their next few visits over the Christmas period, the first of them just before Christmas, the second just before New Year when we will still be in Derbyshire and the boat moored at Macclesfield Canal Centre, and the third over the January 6/7 weekend when we will be back aboard in time for Liz to go back to her part-time job with the local health authority (a job she is enjoying very much). More info from Brian on 07791 345004.
Email update: In September 2004 when we stopped to shop at Rugeley we got chatting to a couple from Cornwall, Alan and Sheila Beattie, who were holidaying on a Canaltime boat. We've just received this excellent news from them:
"Don't know if you remember us but we have e-mailed in the past and are avid readers of your web site. You invited us on to Snecklifter for a cuppa and a chat. I think at that time we picked your brains quite hard with regard to living on a narrowboat. Since then we have put all the information together and in July this year have purchased our own. It is a 57ft. trad.,built by Brittain Boats on a Heywood shell. We are the first owners although the boat has been in the water for twelve months prior to last July. It was a cancelled order so we think we got it at a good price. The boat was fitted out at Oxley Marine on the Staffs and Worcs canal and we have managed to keep it there on an on-line mooring. She is called Andante, a good name we think. The interior is lined with ash-faced ply with ash trims, so nice and light. Windows to the front and portholes to the rear. Saloon at front with solid fuel stove and loose furniture, then U shaped galley, bathroom and fixed double at the stern, a conventional layout. Also Alde gas boiler, Beta Marine 38 engine, 1.8kw. inverter.
"Although Sheila has now retired I am still working, so we have only been able to spend holidays and long weekends on the boat at present, but are intending to spend Christmas on her this year. We hope the cold won't be too much of a shock to the system compared to Cornwall! I hope to retire next April or May and then intend to spend a year or two cruising the system. It would be nice to catch up with you two again and enjoy a glass of something good."
We look forward to the meeting and to the glass! And also to seeing a photograph or two of the Beatties on their boat.
|
|
December 16
|
|
Liz has gone again - off to London for the weekend to see the Holbein exhibition at the Tate and to see our ex-daughter-in-law Sharon Page who has remained a good friend to us since she and our son Jonathan were divorced. I, meanwhile, am alone again on the boat, and loving it. The dogs and I walked Liz to her car before seven this morning so she could drive to Adlington station and two hours later we left the excellent mooring at the Stumps for another good one at Whiteley Green. We've never stopped here before but it is within 100 yards of a car park and will be ideal for us to transfer heavy items from the boat to the car in readiness for our Christmas break in Derbyshire. Liz has still another three days of work in Macclesfield, of course, but will take one boot-load of belongings to Ashford on Monday evening and then we will cruise down to Macclesfield Canal Centre on Thursday to offload final items like food, dogs and ourselves. All battery power into the boat will be cut off, water tank reduced to less than half full, water taps left open and gas isolated before we leave.
As my computer leaves the boat on Monday, this will be the last update of the website until the New Year, at least as far as boating is concerned. I have some new pictures of Sienna which will be added once we are in Derbyshire but those will interest only those of you who are as daftly sentimental as Liz and I are.
P.S. Just topped up with diesel again - Brian and Ann Marie were very early this weekend - so Snecklifter will need no further topping up until well into the New Year. They brought with them a special bottle of beer wrapped in Christmas paper so I can't tell you what it is yet. Will report fully in 2007. We hope they and all of you out there will have a splendid festive holiday.
|
|
|
|
