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News & Diary
Archive 2007
January - February
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News & Diary
Archive 2007
January - February
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Further travels can be found in Archives
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January 9 2007
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We've been back for three days after our marvellous fortnight's break in Derbyshire, but it has taken us that long to stow away all the clothes, food, electrical gear and paraphernalia that we took with us. Fortunately our friends Clive and Joy Thrower and Linda Pelc came back with us on Saturday morning and with a bit of clever planning we shuttled between Whitely Green and Macclesfield Canal Centre with two cars so we could unload close to the boat. Apart from feeling cold inside, Snecklifter was just as we left her, tucked away between two other boats for the duration. By the time we had left the mooring, warped across to the waterpoint and filled up the tank, the stove had been re-lit and Liz and Joy were unpacking bags and preparing sausage and bacon sandwiches for steersmen Clive and me to eat on the two hour trip back to Whitely Green and the second car. Unhappily, it rained through most of the trip and, of course, most of my wetgear was in the second car after being little used during our Christmas and New Year break.
With our visitors on their way back to pick up their car at Macclesfield I set off again, intending to bring the boat to the Stumps, but I spotted a perfect mooring just above the winding hole at bridge 23, fairly isolated in the countryside but only a shortish walk back to the car park at Whiteley Green (well, I thinks it's only a short walk though Liz reckons it's 10 or 12 minutes). Here we will stay for a week or so and then slowly work our way back up to Higher Poynton to replenish gas and other essential stocks. Our diesel tank is almost full after Brian and Anne Marie brought Alton alongside on Sunday even though we needed only 30 litres. I was able to thank them for their Christmas gift of a specially brewed bottle of Sunlight beer from the Betwixt Beer Company. "Fresh, flavourful, craft-brewed beer from the Wirral Peninsula (Betwixt The Mersey & The Dee)", it was as delicious as it promised. I'm now using the bottle, which has one of those snap-down tops we used to get on large pop bottles, to keep a pint of my own home brew in the fridge until our evening meal.
As already mentioned, our 16 day sojourn with our good friend Brian Parker in Ashford in the Water was an unqualified success and for the first time I was not itching in the last few days to get back to the boat (though I was happy enough when we did get back aboard and cruising again, if only for a couple of hours). We saw many old friends, visited Alan and Daphne Binns at Stanton in the Peak, and Liz was able to meet up with fellow folkies to sing and listen to other singers (usually carols from what I've heard). No, I ducked out on the singing, staying at home to make the most of electricity on tap to reorganise my desktop computer.
I now have no excuse not to update the website in the next few days with recent photographs of Sienna etc. Until then, our thanks to all our friends, on and off the Cut, who contacted us by email or by text over the holidays. We even had one or two cards sent by old-fashioned mail, including two beautiful canal-based designs from Roger and Sue Morgan of Ballard and from Mike Hecken, ex-owner of Ronarosa. Hope to see all of them this year when we eventually head for the Thames.
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January 16
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It doesn't seem like a week since I last updated, but our stay at bridge 23 near Whiteley Green was very enjoyable despite the almost constant rain that ended in a lovely sunny Sunday. Yesterday, taking advantage of a dry if windy day, I brought the boat up to Higher Poynton. We were in no great hurry to top up the water tank but the roof was slowly filling with post-Christmas holiday rubbish and this was offloaded within half an hour of tying up close to bridge 15. Two new gas bottles were also hauled aboard, leaving me only to take on water early this morning as soon as I realised the wind had dropped, allowing me to turn safely just this side of bridge 14. The boat is now back at the Poynton mooring where we'll stay for a few days - it's further for Liz to drive to work in Macclesfield but a much shorter walk back once she has parked her car in the late afternoon.
Now to two items about old friends on the Cut, the first of them not good news at all. George and Kate Harper have decided to sell their boat Lady Kate and return to a life on dry land. We've seen them a number of times out and about as well as spending our first winter moored close to them at Barton Turns marina so we will miss looking out for them as we spend our last season afloat. In their case, the decision was forced on them by ill health and couldn't have been an easy one for people who loved living aboard so much. Lady Kate is a 55 footer with a cruiser stern, built in 1990 by Pat Buckle, but George tells me their Beta Marine engine is only four years old and they've recently fitted a new galley and solid-fuel stove (they also have Alde central heating.) The boat has been valued at £38,500 so if any of you are interested ring George on 0777 1531885. They're staying at Great Haywood for the next few months.
Next, a bright update on their last season's travels from Gerrard and Jane Cox on Belle also known as the Dachsund Carrying Company after their very distinctive crew!
"We always start with intentions to do less each year, distance wise, but fail. After not getting on the Severn towards the end of May, via Birmingham we reached Stratford by the May Bank Holiday," Gerrard writes. "I took Jane to the theatre for her birthday, we saw Romeo & Juliet. The Avon was also shut and only reopened when we started to back-track again on the Tuesday after the Bank Holiday. At that point the summer started and as you know the heat came as well. We went down the Grand Union and the Oxford, up the Thames to Lechlade and then to back down as far as Cliveden when we decided that we would attempt to go to Bath and return back to Oxford in about 13 days.
"We stopped in Henley on the field moorings the night before regatta day for £5 - the next day it was £30 per foot, yes that is per foot. We moved on. But we did cruise back through Henley during the regatta, complete chaos. You cannot image the number and various sizes of boats bobbing about. As you don't like Bank Holiday weekend boating don't ever go to Henley Regatta. Anyway we did make Bath and back. From Reading to Bath in five days during the hot weather of the World Cup matches was quite some pace even for us, but very enjoyable. Some really early mornings did the trick. We often stopped by 3:30 for the matches.
"Jane's parents had a fantastic Summer, stopping on full-time from mid-July to the end of September. They went from Oxford to Market Harborough, (very nice the bottom part of the Leicester line, much like the Shroppie. I can't recall you have visited this area - I can recommend it) back to Braunston, to Fradley, Middlewich, Nantwich, right down to Stourport and finally back to Penkridge. So Belle has done a fair few miles and locks this year."
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January 21
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Since my last update I have been mostly on my own again. With Liz flying off to Teneriffe for a short break in the sun, I’ve made the most of better weather here to take the boat up to Bugsworth Basin and back in only three days, eating out in local hostelries and generally living up the temporary “bachelor life.” Several beautiful women have engaged me in deep philosophical discussion as I tried to manoevre Snecklifter under lift bridges but I decided to take things no further. And I've not once been on to Ebay to see if there are any CDs or DVDs worth buying!
No, it’s all lies, of course - though not entirely my fault. Yesterday, when Brian McGuigan and Anne Marie arrived on Alton with much-needed diesel and coal I mentioned that I was not updating the website very often because I had little new to write about. Brian's immediate advice was “Make it up!” So I have.
But now to reality and the most exciting feature of the last week — the stormy weather on Thursday and the worst winds I can remember. We had to cancel a trip to the dentist in Derbyshire and stay aboard in case there were any serious problems. Then I found there was nothing I could do when a problem did crop up. I had cleared away light objects from the roof, including plant holders that Liz had decorated with canal designs but after clearing out water from the bilge I had left up there the weighty cloth cover that is normally pinned down over our cruiser stern. Despite the heavy tyre fender attached to it, it blew off in a particularly vicious gust. A passer-by knocked on the window to tell me what had happened but by the time I got up on deck it was well out of reach and sinking fast in a very deep part of the Higher Poynton mooring. I can only hope it stays safely on the bottom because there’s no way I could fish it out myself.
One more piece of sad news arrived a day or two ago — Pat and Mike Bycroft are having to sell their boat Hyperion after only 18 months and once again the reason is poor health. They wanted to live on the Cut so much but are now resigned to the prospect of moving back to bricks and mortar. Better news with an email update in the next day or so.
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January 23
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We're still at Poynton, our plans to cruise back down towards Whitely Green put on hold after a weekend of snow and, this morning, enough ice on the canal to dissuade us from any attempt to move. But at least the towpath is now walkable and the quagmire of mud and deep puddles that have made life here a problem for many days is frozen hard. The weekend was especially unpleasant as hordes of walkers in twos, fours and 26s (the last lot presumably a walking club) sloshed past us, sometimes using the boat as a handrail, almost always splashing more muddy water on to our side. You can't begrudge them their exercise, however. We're lucky enough to be able to use the towpath every day, they have to wait for a day off work.
There's been plenty to cheer us up, of course, in the increasing number of emails we have received in the last several days. Things had gone very quiet over the Christmas break and especially when I failed to update the website for so long. But the comments from regulars now that it's back are reassuring - some of you are still out there!
Email update : Perhaps the most cheering of the recent messages has come from Kate Roche who lived on Shotley Shuffle with her husband Pat until his unexpected death last year. The whole upbeat tone of her email has been something of a counter-balance to the sad news of so many friends having to give up their boats through ill health.
"I do hope that you have everything tied down on the roof in this windy weather. I am just hoping that the tiles stay on the roof of my little bungalow and that the huge beech tree that is in the garden of a house two doors away stays upright!" she wrote. "Shotley Shuffle is now up for sale at Sawley Marina. Friends from the Erewash Canal took it down for me at the begining of November. Hoping that it will sell this Spring. The following weekend the girls, daughters and granddaughters + 2 dogs & I went down to Shotley, nr Ipswich, to take half of Pat's ashes to be scattered on the foreshore, near the site of the former H.M.S. Ganges. We had a lovely weekend, the weather was really kind to us, in fact Arry - that daft dog of mine - rolled on his back on the parade ground and lay there sunbathing We stayed at a farmhouse near to Shotley, very nice. As we had the dogs four of us had bedrooms in a converted barn, the dogs were supposed to sleep in the lobby! My eldest daughter and granddaughter had a lovely bedroom in the main house. It was all very nice. On the Saturday evening we went out for a meal with two former Ganges 'boys' and their wives. We had wild boar for our meal.
"On the Sunday before breakfast we had a walk along the fields to the foreshore. We attended the service at Shotley Church, and while we there Arry helped himself to a whole packet of dog chews! There was another short service below the mast at Ganges before we went down to the foreshore for the ashes of two of the 'boys' to be scattered off a small boat in the estuary. The young female sea scout played The Last Post, then Reveille, and as the little boat returned I asked her if she would play Sunset for me, which she did bless her, but I had to stand alongside her at the rail. Pat loved to hear Sunset and had requested it for his funeral. So then it was time to go home. The girls reckoned that Arry had tried out all the 17 seats on the mini bus! We would have liked to have stayed longer and done some more walks in the area.
"Now if any boaters who have lost touch with me want to e-mail me then please do. (Her address is kate.roche@tesco.net). I am still the same old Kate but have no hire-boaters to boss about on the locks now. Have stuffed my little back yard with pots of bulbs and pansies. My back garden was a parking spot but it was a nightmare for me to park the car, so the car is now in the road and I have a nice little garden, planted up with shrubs which I hope will grow and give me privacy. Next is the front garden. Mind you nothing goes smoothly for me. After the builders took up the tarmac there was a layer of hard core and more tarmac. The chap who lives over the road came over and broke up the hardcore with an iron-bar. I then had to pick it all out, couldn't get a spade in some parts as the ground was so hard.
"Now I will cross my fingers when I type the next bit, I am hoping that the problems with the leaking kitchen ceiling is now over. It started with a few drops through the lights, which I caught in a bowl, then a bucket and finally a baby bath! It only happened during downpours and the builders were foxed to find where it was getting under the tiles, as soon as it was cured then water came up onto the utility floor. Thank goodness that never happened again. By the way, the only advantage to living on the land is that you don't have to wear the same T-shirt for three months before it gets washed!"
Another happy message came from Vicki Harley on PEM No 6 : "We put the boat in Barton Turns for five days, hired a car & went to stay with my cousin in Nottingham. I was not worried about the boat whilst we were away & for £5 per night, inc. electricity, I didn't feel we got a bad deal. The Barton Turns pub has been taken over by a new landlord, who is apparently very keen to make a go of it, even wants to change its name back to its original one. When we passed they were gutting it & having all new kitchen equipment installed. Thought you might be interested in that piece of goss! (Very much- Ed.)
"After leaving Jannel, we have come down the B'ham & Fazeley to Kingswood to lick our financial wounds! After spending £1,500 on a washing machine, bottom blacking & a calorifier a few weeks before Christmas, a huge economy drive is in order! Ian is enjoying playing boy's games, generally getting dirtier than ever, sawing wood from trees that have fallen in the storm. I am using my computer more than ever. I truly do not know how I managed last winter without it. I try to stay positive about winters out but it is my least favourite time on the boat. Ian mentioned the "m" word (marina) & the "n" word (Newark) so I am hoping to build on that, you never know! I do like being near my family & having company."
And this from regular correspondent Neville Wells in Derby: "I am a regular reader of your web site as it gives me a ‘canal’ fix when the office days are long. My work has been increased over the last three years as I have been undertaking a MSc by distance learning – I recently received my notification of success and am feeling suitably proud having left school some while ago with just three ‘O’ levels. So now I have some spare time on my hands and have been tracking boats on the internet over the last six months.
"You may recall I have emailed before about our ownerships boat Sylph -a good way to get on the cut. However the need to book holidays so far in advance and the locked down nature of the boat use made me/us yearn for a more flexible approach to our narrow boating. I have long been a visitor to Fradley Junction for walks and over the summer it does become my other ‘local’ albeit 20 miles away. A trip there on a Friday early evening after a week at work was not uncommon. We took Sylph through a couple of year ago on a return trip down to Burton from Stoke and I very much liked the location and atmosphere and have been a regular ever since. We have our name on the waiting list for moorings for about six months now and have been told that it could be up to 2 years, so we have been looking for boats for sale with moorings for some time now. We recently put a bid in on a 45 foot cruiser stern but were beaten to it by a buyer who offered the same but did not want a survey ! On New Year's day while walking at Fradley we saw another 45 foot with a good price (GRP top) which we took down to Streethay today in cold but lovely sunshine for a survey next week. So fingers crossed we may be on the first rung of narrow boat ownership shortly."
Finally an update from Mike and Di Bridges on Quinquireme II brings the reassuring news that Mike is recovering well after his heart scare last year, which could not have been helped by the new boat being caught up in the Heron boatbuilders collapse.
"I am now fighting fit - well almost for a 60 something," he writes. "We did make it to Beale Park festival in the end and afterwards travelled up to Lechlade to the end of the Thames navigation and very pretty it was too. We made our way back down the Thames to Reading and up the Kennet and Avon to Froud Bridge Marina where we have been wintering. We have now become almost permanent dwellers on Q2 as I am now at present working for Transport for London. This means a 6:30am train from Thacham to Paddington and tube to St James Park and return when Di picks me up from Thatcham at 6:30pm we go home on Friday evenings to clean the house and back to the boat on Sunday evenings. It's a bit of a flog but the money is good! As it is dark by the time I leave for London and dark when I return, then the need to get home at weekends to deal with post etc we haven't had any time for boating although at the end of January we are taking her to Newbury to drydock to have the bottom blacked after our first year with her - doesn't time fly it only seems like yesterday that we were going through that awful Heron saga.
The boat is OK just a few niggles - nothing major - which we hope to fix once the weather takes a turn for the better and the days get a bit longer. We can only go one way on the canal at present as a weir has collapsed at Sulhampton and has sterilised the canal to the Thame. BW say they should have it fixed by Easter - we will see! This year we hope to go to Bristol again and visit the festival of the Sea and then to stay for a further couple of weeks. We also are hoping to go the Hampton Court flower show and at the same time visit a number of boaties at Pyrford Marina on the River Wey navigation.
"Isn't it amazing how grandchildren grow. We're expecting our fourth in July and the other two recent ones are bouncing around like Tiggers. The eldest who is five is really busy with her Grandma - she keeps asking when she can come and stay for a week on the boat - we're up for it but it's convincing her Dad."
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January 29
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We stayed at Poynton longer than planned, partly because of the weather and partly because it provided a safe haven for the boat when we drove over to see friends in Derbyshire. But once the ice and thin snow of mid-week had given way to warm, wet weather again the towpath reverted to its boggy self. So I was quite happy on Saturday afternoon, while Liz took our dirty washing to the laundrette in Bollington, to bring Snecklifter down to this much favoured spot at the Stumps, between bridges 19 and 20. As I passed the marina at Adlington I saw the unhappy sight of the burned-out boat that hit the headlines recently.
Apart from our move there is very little of note to write about except to pass on the sad news from Gerrard and Jane Cox on Belle of the death of one of the four dachsunds that give their boat its characteristic second name of the Dachsund Carrying Company. Tommy was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, the second of the boat's four-legged crew to die since the boat was launched. Gerrard and Jane say they will not rush into finding a replacement and that Pumpkin, Flash & Saffy, as well as Josh the parrot (the dogs' boss), will have to work harder. I hope they will add new crew soon, however : their greeting whenever we approached Belle was always so distinctively exuberant - and though I couldn't honestly say I remember Tommy as a stand-out, they were a lovely group to meet up with.
And if any of you readers out there sometimes think we make too much of a fuss over the loss of a dog you clearly don't understand how much dogs mean in the boating life!
Still, sad news will be balanced a little by some good news which will be posted (along with a photograph) in a few days - Sarah Levick and husband Andy Jury of Arcadia have taken on another greyhound, Ranger, and he looks a beauty.
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February 4
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The weather over the last few days has been marvellous, with cold, clear, moonlit nights followed by crisp, sunny days when the dogs have enjoyed extra walks. Yesterday, walking towards Whitely Green, Liz and I saw a buzzard close over our heads and heard two distinct woodpeckers in the woods that skirt the towpath between bridges 21 and 22 - but saw only one as it flew away westwards. The rest of the time has been spent catching up on laundrette (Liz) and sorting out computers (me), pausing regularly to wave to the passing traffic which inevitably increased over the weekend. We also had the fortnightly coal and diesel delivery by n.b.Alton and I was able to get some smashing photographs of Brian and Anne Marie in the glorious sunshine. See Latest pictures.
In the meantime I should catch up on some of the emails we have received in the last few weeks, starting with another funny piece from Sarah Levick of Arcadia (see From Our Friends) that includes the lovely photograph of their new dog Ranger mentioned above. There was also this from old acquaintances Rose and Barry Philpott who keep their boat Tickly Two on the K & A:
"We are both well, with just two years and eight months to go until we retire and set off into the sunny canal sunset. As far as our boat is concerned, we have done a lot last season. We spent almost every weekend away from March until December. We might only go a few miles in either direction, but it was a break and we have been able to entertain, sharing the boat with friends and family for weekends. We have become more experienced in manouvering and doing boaty things, and I have even had a go at helming for a whole weekend and taking the boat a short way on my own with a few grilfriends. Sometimes we might go along to the Barge Inn at Honeystreet, a nice canal pub where there is some great live music and good real ale and stay overnight on the moorings there. Or sometimes we might just tie up somewhere quieter and listen to the birds and enjoy the peace. Our favourite place is All Cannings as there is a community village shop to get some goodies and some good hard standing moorings right out in the countryside.
"Last year we had bad luck with our diesel stove and it took a good six months to get it sorted out. It involved taking the fire out and having it sent all the way back to the manufacturers for them to overhaul it, and we had a new flue fitted to the boat. The fire works a treat now and all the hassle is just like a bad dream. Last year we had the bottom blacked and also invested in having the back panels and the stern end repainted bright red to incorporate our own name lettering. We are Tickly Two at last instead of the original name of Tandel no 2. The lettering is blue with cream shadow on the bright red background, but the rest of the boat is the original blue and grey with cream stripe. We have also replaced the fenders with real rope ones instead of the pipe plastic ones and also put a brass lamp and horn at the bow. Another thing we have done inside is to put tiles behind the fire while it was away being repaired. They are multicoloured, patchwork pattern tiles to reflect the bright colours in my patchwork quilt on our bed with is next to the saloon. I have also spent a lot of time putting some rose patterned stencils on the walls on the inside of the boat which I had previously painted with cream emulsion. This effect has really made the boat look very cottagey and given it the feel we had wanted.
"For our summer holidays we were lucky to be away for two weeks in the very hot July. We took our time travelling along the K&A down the Devizes flight to Trowbridge, Bradford on Avon, Bath, Keynsham and as far as Hanham (just before Bristol) before turning round and spending more time around two favourite places - Bradford on Avon and Bathampton. Some family joined us for a few days here and there and Barry's son visiting from Australia joined us for four days. We had our first experience on the river - the Avon. I do not like rivers as much as canals as there were very, very few mooring places and the locks were fierce. Next year we plan to have our holiday in August and to go towards Newbury, and just take our time to see where we get without going mad. I do not think we will reach the Thames. I would rather stop off seeing places on the way, and having time to chat to people we meet."
Very sensible, Rose. No point in rushing anywhere - though the Thames is fabulous!
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February 8
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I repeat, the weather over the last few days has been marvellous, even colder, even crisper. After a few days of skim ice, the canal has been covered by a much more solid layer after nights in which the temperature has dropped to -6 degrees C, and as I write the snow is falling fast and there is an easterly wind that is giving us something close to blizzard conditions (though not that bad as yet!) Still we are warm, we have plenty of diesel, gas and water and the only things that are in short supply are bread and milk. We'll have to rely on rice and pasta if the snow continues to deepen but that's no hardship.
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February 18
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Since I returned to the boat last Monday after a weekend with Jonathan, Jenny and Sienna, I have been laid low with some kind of gastric flu and been unable to update the site. Just thought I ought to let anyone out there who thought there might be major problems that I should be back on line in the next few days.
I will then give a full report on my weekend away, on Liz's lonely four days boat and dog-sitting and on the kindness of BW staff who said to stay put when Liz rang them and said we were unable to move from the Stumps even though we'd been here a fortnight.
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February 22
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A single overnight stay at Adlington on Monday got me gradually back on the move after our long stay at the Stumps and by Tuesday morning I was fit enough to bring the boat up to Higher Poynton, fill our rapidly emptying tank, turn around at the top of the marina and settle into a single slot next to the sunken boat (now raised, of course). This is an ideal spot from which Liz can leave each morning for work in Macclesfield and get away tomorrow for her weekend trip to Norwich where she'll be giving moral support to son Jonathan. He's looking after Sienna for nearly 10 days while Jenny is off to Peru on a working trip. Some people!
My own visit to Norwich was hugely enjoyable until I became ill on the Sunday, especially rewarding when I was getting to know Sienna a lot better - she's walking, chuntering (a sort of non-stop quiet chatter in which no identifiable word is clear) and generally making herself the adored centre of attention whenever she's around. But then, don't most babies? (See Sienna's page for latest examples).
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Out shopping on Saturday morning indulgent grandfather bought her a ukelele from a music shop that she quickly took to her heart (see right), though whether she thought of it as her first musical instrument or as a light-weight club I was never quite sure. Still she kept returning it to its spot next to Jonathan's guitar so there's hope in the long term. Coincidentally on that shopping trip I spotted a 33 CD set of Haydn's symphonies. When he was but a baby himself, Jonathan lay on my stomach and fell asleep each evening while I made a pilgrimage through LP versions of the 104 + three extras conducted by Antal Dorati. I always boast (to his discomforted boredom, no doubt) that he slept through more good music than most young children. For the next couple of weeks I will be repeating that joyful exercise with conductor Adam Fischer - but without the sleeping encumbrance!
Liz enjoyed my Norwich visit as much as I did and for almost as long. She quickly got used to walking dogs, starting engines, topping up coal buckets etc but by Sunday, with the rain beating down almost continuously, she says she was longing for my return and company. And I see no reason to doubt her : she has never been the solitary type.
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As I said earlier I returned with gastric flu that has stayed with me as a very heavy cold ever since. We had already been at the Stumps for the maximum fortnight but Liz phoned manager Colin at the local BW offices and he was very sympathetic (we've had to contact BW in different regions for similar reasons three times in our five years on the Cut and they have never been less than very helpful).
I'm just hoping that I will be fully recovered for a re-scheduled visit in early March from Chris and David Owen-Roberts who live at Nantwich and keep their boat Isis on the Shroppie. They were going to drive over last Sunday for lunch and a walk but my infection was at its height. My apologies to them for the postponement.
Finally, I have to report a change in our plans for this season's cruising. We were planning to head north with Liz and Ken Towell of Weasel at least as far as Skipton before returning south for a month or so on the Thames. They rang a week or so ago to say they had found a lovely house they couldn't resist and would be unable to join us - though they will be keeping their boat. So we will head down through the Harecastle Tunnel in the first week of April, wend our way slowly down the Grand Union and arrive on the Thames late May/early June - certainly much earlier than originally planned. More of this later.
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