Catching up Again

Friday 15^th January:

A cold start today, winter seems to be struggling to raise its head properly but a smattering of snow on the towpath and boat informed me that it was making an effort.

At 10am I decided to move on and having started the engine I then went back inside to put my body warmer and boots on,  by the time I had done that the rain had started to fall, not just rain but that horrible sloppy sleety rain, so I thought I’d review it in an hour or so. It kept stopping and starting again so I gave up, no point in moving if you don’t really need to (or want to), at 12 the sun broke out for a while but by 3pm it was horrid again.

Saturday 16^th:

If yesterday was cold this morning was freezing, literally

The ground, the boat, the ropes, everything, but I wanted to move and the forecast was bright with rain later in the afternoon, so at 10:30 I started the engine and began to sort myself out, it went downhill from this point onwards.

Firstly as I fitted the tiller in place (its brass so has to be taken inside to prevent theft) and swung it around to be central the rudder, once again, caught on my rear button, inspecting it I found my earlier alterations had not been tight enough and the outer button had slid down fouling on the rudder.  So I spent the next hour grunting and groaning trying to refit the shackles on the next link of the chain, freezing button, freezing chain, freezing fingers, but I prevailed, success, and hopefully it won’t slip down again.

So off I went, now about 11:45, the first lift bridge (31) just in front of my mooring was no problem.

Passing ABC boat hire they had kindly left me a couple of inches either side to pass their moored 3 abreast boats,

but as they were quite loosely moored they moved out as I passed so there was a slight amount of contact, maybe tie them a bit tighter lads!

The next lift bridge (33) was frozen to the ground plate and no amount of winding the handle would shift it, eventually I tried pushing and pulling the support chains, and jumping up and down on the bridge and suddenly it came free, exhausted and hot and bothered (I was wrapped up warm, 5 layers) I moved through and carried on.

The next lift bridge (34) was just ahead and after winding the windlass 20 or so turns I assumed it was the same problem and tried my chain and jumping technique, it made no difference, by now I was wondering why I had bothered to move on such a cold frosty day! Frustrated I decided to try my small jemmy and see if that would shift it but I did not hold out much hope, these bridges are heavy and my brain knew it would be fruitless, however as I was about to try I noticed a wodge of mud about 9” long between the bridge and the road, ah ha, problem found, the mud had frozen and was jamming the bridge, so big hammer and chisel, mud removed (eventually) and the bridge opened, another thing to store in the old problem solving for boaters memory.

Mostly farmland and not much too see apart from sheep and misty hills.

And this chap who looked warm if wet.

The next lift bridge was a small one and a chap was about to get into his car parked by the bridge when he called out to me, I thought he said he would open it for me so I held out my windlass for him and then he said, ‘No, I said don’t open it I want to drive across it!’ Oh well not everyone you meet is helpful J

The weather was getting worse and the rain started so I moored up just before Prees Junction, the branch was originally four miles long falling short of Prees by a couple of miles, but now only the first mile remains, I doubt I will bother to cruise it, there are two lift bridges and then a winding hole and  Whixall Marina at the far end, doesn’t look worth the effort but I might wander down there on my return journey.

Junction to the left, I'm heading right

Tonights mooring

Total Today: 5.5 miles : 5 Lift Bridges

Sunday 17^th:

With no internet and no phone signal I really wanted to move on again today, it was cold and damp, some snow flurries had fallen earlier but I thought I’d be ok.

So I set off around 11am, past the entrance to the Prees arm.

Not too far ahead you wander briefly into Wales, I was expecting a sign and there was a small wooden post which I never noticed in time to take a picture but it had ‘Wales’ written on it to confirm the change of country, I then stopped at Bettisfield to take on some Welsh water and give them some English rubbish, and then another ¼ mile or so ahead and you are back in England (Shropshire).

The journey was mostly tree lined farmland with lots of Mere’s as you approach Ellesmere, I think this one was Cole Mere, a nice spot for the owner of the house.

And this thatched cottage had a great view across the mere as well, shame about the mole problem.

This one is Cole Mere, plenty of lovely moorings all the way along it, ideal for a summers day walk with the dog and a lunch break, but not very nice today, muddy, cold and damp, I don’t have a dog and wasn’t hungry enough so I carried on.

Not long after Cole Mere comes Ellesmere tunnel, only 87yards long and single working (one boat wide) but the view through is obscured

A bit blurry

so you are warned to check before entering it, as I hadn’t passed any boats on the move today I chanced heading straight in and was relieved to find it clear.

Not a lot of spare room, obviously the entrance has been bashed a few times

Nice rolling hillside

Entrance to Blackwater Meadow Marina

Shortly after the tunnel you arrive at the Junction to the Ellesmere basin, Llangollen left, basin more or less straight on, and this is where I went.

It was busy and I was following a boat who had turned into the basin ahead of me from the Llangollen direction, it didn’t look like I’d be lucky to find a mooring but as we reached the end and they began to wind I could see there was room for two more boats, so while they were winding I nipped into the first space and they took the final one.

 I am moored behind a boat that was moored with me at Gnosall and we had a quick chat while I was sorting things out.

Tonights mooring

Totals today: 7miles : 1 Tunnel

Tuesday 19^th

Once I got myself sorted at Ellesmere I was disappointed to find once again no internet, phone was reasonable but couldn’t use that for internet either. I stayed put Monday and wandered into town to use the launderette, I recognised the pub hotel I had stayed here in on one of my motorcycling holidays a number of years ago.
Tesco has a large store at the end of the arm so with only 100yards to walk I took advantage and loaded up a bit with non-perishables (read beer and wine here).

This morning was a lovely bright day, so I was on the move again by 10:30, turning right at the end of the arm and stopping on the service point for a quick fill and empty.

Canal and river trust have a yard with workshops and offices here.

C&RT Yard

Looking back at services

 It was then off again through beautiful farmland with lovely views, it was a bit misty in the distance and the camera does not do justice but here are a few tasters.

Heading straight for the next Bridge hole, I hope those sheep move!

After bridge 60 you pass the entrance to the Montgomery canal and the Frankton locks, the canal is under restoration but has 7 miles currently navigable, the Frankton locks are only accessible between 12 and 2 and you have to book in advance,  and there is only ‘limited’ overnight moorings available, I believe there are still problems with water depth on this canal and the recent floods have done damage so I won’t be venturing up it on this occasion, but hopefully sometime in the future.

At this point the bridge numbers change starting afresh at 1W, I assume the W stands for Wales although I think I am still actually in England, with no internet I cannot Google a map to be sure.

Passing next the Narrowboat Inn and Maestermyn Mid-Wales Welsh Lady hire boats

 I have moored up for tonight just past the small village of Hindford in open farmland with lovely, although misty, views of the Welsh hills in the distance. Sadly still no internet, this is going to be a long post if I ever get it uploaded!

Tonights mooring

Totals today: 5miles

I have Internet !!

A bit of a catch-up again due to not being able to post, so it's a long split post.

Sunday 9^th January: Wrenbury

I set off this morning at 10:30 for a fairly short run to Wrenbury.

The initial part of the trip was fairly uneventful, just farmland, you tend to not see so much wildlife during the winter months but as another boat approaching got quite near I spotted a really beautiful brightly coloured kingfisher just sitting on a branch posing, sadly I couldn’t risk getting my camera because of the proximity of the other boat and of course the kingfisher never moved, typical!

You do see a lot of swans but I think this one was lost; Alton Towers is quite some distance from here.

The Baddiley locks were my first obstacle, three of these and the first once was against me, so I worked through that and as I approached the second one a boat came out of it so I was able to go straight in, then as I left the second one a boat approached so I was able to leave the top gate open for him and that also meant the third lock was in my favour so I was able to nudge the gates open, all in all a nice bit of luck.

Not long after the locks my Pearson’s guide highlights a sharp bend, but when I got there I did not see any reason for the highlight, it was sharp-ish but fairly wide, maybe in the summer with lots of holiday boat traffic it could prove a problem.

Lift bridge 19 just before Wrenbury was down.

The controls are on the non-towpath side but this one was ok, there was a reasonable section of bank to hop onto so I nudged into the bank and walked along the gunnel  to hop off the bow taking my bow rope with me, this type of bridge is opened by windlass (windy lock key thing) as against the counterbalance weight type (pulling the counter balance beam down to get the bridge up into the open position) I prefer the windlass type because you don’t have to try to chain it in the up position, it just stays up until you wind it back down, and luckily as I was opening it a boat approached ahead so I was able to leave it up, hop back aboard, and go on my way leaving them to go through and close it after.

Leaving it 

I moored up before the next lift bridge and went for a stroll around the village, it’s only small, not much here, the usual two pubs and a church and a well stocked Post Office cum general store, although like most of these quiet places there is housing expansion out from the central part, here’s a few pictures.

Cotton Arms Pub

Dusty Miller pub

A nice house

and another

St Margarets church

Village stores cum Post Office

Wrenbury Mill ABC boat hire and the next lift bridge on my route

Unfortunately there is only a very weak phone signal, no internet and no TV on my little Necvox antenna (I could not be bothered to put up the main ariel, did I miss anything?)

The boat in front of me is selling rope fenders and I need an extension piece to my stern button which is shorter than the projecting rudder,it is in fact already quite big being made up of two separate parts but the rudder projects another two or three inches.

This helps to prevent damage to the rudder should you reverse into a lock gate or anything else, it also prevents the rudder being dislodged from its retaining cup, a bit of a nightmare if that happens requiring two or three strong people and a big hammer to get it back in place, so if the chap has what I need I may stay and fit it tomorrow otherwise I will probaly move on.

Total travel today: 3 miles : 3 locks : 1 lift bridge
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Monday 11^th January

I had a chat with the fender maker and decided to buy a new button to replace one of my existing ones, this is my current setup, it's short and too low catching the rudder occasionally

 I removed the thin one nearest the boat and replaced it with the thicker new one.

I then refixed the existing outer one, leaving me with this.

It now projects further than the rudder so should be much better, from an aesthetic point of view it would have been nicer if it were a slightly bigger diameter but the chap did not have any bigger ones.

It was a lot harder to do than I had thought, stretching out over the crowded stern deck, you have the tiller, the mooring posts and the seats all in the way, add to that the effect of gravity and trying to get the shackles holding it together in the correct chain links by shifting it all up one link at a time until you get it right, it was about four hours of hard slog, with resulting sore fingers and back, but another job done and another £50 lighter in the wallet.

No travel:

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Tuesday 12^th January

Having no internet combined with a very weak phone signal is frustrating, so I had decided to move on to Whitchurch this morning, however, when I woke it was raining so I thought it would be another day at Wrenbury.

Around 10 the rain cleared and it didn’t look too bad so I thought I’d give it a go, the lift bridge ahead is electric which isn’t much help (it just means you don’t have to physically wind it up) and has traffic lights because the road crossing it is fairly busy, so I wasn’t looking forward to holding up the traffic, although it does give you a feeling of power J. As I was about to set off the fender-maker said he would walk ahead and operate the bridge for me which was nice of him and it meant minimal work for me (just steer through the gap) and less of a delay for the motorists.

It was very chilly and bright to begin with but dark clouds around warning of rain at some point and I was happy to see that the next lift bridge was open.

For those who have wondered what a winding hole is here is a very nice example, Thomason’s Winding Hole.

Basically it is an enlarged area cut into the surrounding field or whatever to allow you to put your bow into the ‘hole’ and turn the boat using forward and reverse as necessary, it is pronounced like the blowy stuff as the boatmen of old relied on the wind to move the boat around.

They are not always as big and clear as this one and not many have a name posted.

The first lock of the day was Marbury lock.

Another amusing (to me) boat name, but I think he should add ‘and a packet of crisps’

Moving from Cheshire back into Shropshire the next lock was Quoisley lock, which appears just after a blind bend beneath the bridge carrying the A49, a precautionary sounding of the horn even though I haven’t seen any other boats moving today.

Next comes Willey Moor Lock with the very conveniently place pub of the same name, I will assume Willey Moor was famous for something as my Pearson’s only states that it is justifiably popular, and I have not internet to research it.

Then on to Povey’s Lock which turned out to be the last one for today, where I found a windlass on the spindle of one of the bottom gates, this surprised me as I hadn’t passed anyone so it had either been there overnight or a boat going up the lock with two people operating the gates must have left it, anyway my first thought is always ‘I hope they had a spare’! Shortly after with the sky looking decidedly like heavy rain approaching I decided not to tackle the next 6 locks but moor up for today, it was a good call because shortly after the rain came, heavy and persistent.

Total today: 5.5 miles : 4 Locks : 2 Lift bridges (open)

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Today: Wednesday 13th January

Well to say it was cold this morning would be about right, the roof of the boat was sheet ice as it had rained last night, the ropes were frozen solid and the cabin was ‘cool’.

Half an hour later with the boiler on and the fire roaring my outlook brightened, it was still very cold so I left it until 11 before setting off on the short but busy run to Whitchurch where I hoped I would get an internet signal.

Just ahead was the first of the 6 Grindley Brook locks, 3 single locks followed by a staircase of 3 more raising me up 38ft 11inches.

It started well as I got to the first lock a boat was descending so I helped them through and expected the ascent to be easy as all the locks should now be in my favour.

The second lock had a fairly vicious bywash which I didn’t allow enough for and I bashed to lock entrance wall a bit harder than is comfortable.

The third lock was uneventful leaving the staircase for me to tackle. 

I tied up and went to have a look to make sure no-one was descending and to be clearer on the layout.

Staircases are combined locks so instead of 3 separate pairs of gates (in this instance) that would normally be needed there are only four gates, 3 in pairs and one single, the middle lock in effect is formed by using the top gates of the lowest lock as it’s bottom gates and the bottom gates of the top lock as its top gate, if that makes sense!

Navigating them should be fairly easy, when going uphill you start with the bottom lock empty and the upper locks full and when going downhill you start with the top lock full and the lower locks empty.

When I looked all three locks were empty  as expected because the earlier boat had come through, so in order to speed my progress I made a mistake, I opened the paddles to the top and middle locks to fill them, ok, that was fine, but then I decided I had time to bring the boat into the bottom lock as the others were filling, I didn’t have time, so what happened was the middle lock filled and continued to be filled by the open paddles until it overflowed, I had to jump off the boat as I saw the problem and run up and drop the paddles to the middle lock, by now water was cascading over the gates and lock sides and running down the paths, hmmm.... lesson learnt again, don’t rush and try to cut corners to save time! Luckily no real harm done, I soon stopped the flow and continued on through slightly embarrassed, luckily no one about to witness it.

It was then a quick stop on the service point to top up the water tank and on to Whitchurch mooring just before Lift Bridge 31 on the offside visitor moorings.

It was all rather busy so only mooring pictures today. But as is evident by this catch-up post I have internet! Sorry it's a bit long.

Tonights mooring taken from the side hatch for a change.

Total today:  2miles : 6 locks

On to the Llangollen

Well it's a bit late but Happy New Year everyone.

On Saturday my family visited me, it was a long drive for them and I met them as soon as they arrived and we headed off to the Shroppie Fly in Audlem for lunch, it was nice to sit down and catch up with news and get some cuddles from my granddaughter Hazel. The food was ok, not great but ok.

We all went back to the boat and I opened my Christmas presents ☺.

My daughter-in-law Natalie took this lovely
 picture of me and little Hazel,
 someone was making her happy !

It was soon time for them to head home, it was a lovely if shortish visit, hopefully next time I might be further south.

I haven't done much else, I went into Nantwich a couple of times for supplies but it rained each time so no pictures, it is a very nice town though.

The fuel boat was due to come through Wednesday morning so I requested a stop but he had a few more customers than he expected and as he passsed me late Wednesday he shouted that he was out of supplies and would be back Thursday early afternoon, he finally arrived about 4:30 so all was ok.

This morning I headed off at 10 it was very cold but dry, passing over the Nantwich aqueduct over the A534

My first stop was at the service point for the usual fill and empty, the water pressure was poor so the fill took just over an hour.

Moving on again and the first boat I met was at a narrow with moored boats either side, I had right of way but realised he wasn't slowing so I had to, he apologized saying he couldn't see me because of the moored boats and the low winter sun, it was ok, these things happen, I  just had to use a large handful of throttle in reverse to avoid contact with him, and then sort out avoiding contact with the moored boats J

I was soon arriving at Hurleston junction where the Llangollen joins the Shroppie, an interesting sharp left as you come through bridge 97 with the lock landing on the left where the bywash also is, it's plenty wide enough but I could not get round and over in one go, so a bit of reversing to get into position.

In position on lock landing

There are warnings to lift your fenders and this is why.

Not much room on the left

Not much room on the right either!

Quite tight this flight of four Hurleston locks taking you up 34ft 3inches.
It has been known for boats to get wedged in narrow locks held tight by their fenders as the waters drops away beneath them, I bet that causes the loss of few years of lifespan from the hapless boater, probably won't do it twice!

A smooth run through the four locks, two in my favour and two against due to leakage filling them up.

Looking back down the flight of four locks

It was looking a bit black over the fields and I considered stopping but decided to carry on a bit.

I then made a quick stop at Swanley Marina to purchase another Pearsons Canal Companion, this one is for Welsh Waters and is the fourth one I have bought from a series of nine, I was soon off again through the two Swanley locks.

Nice chimney on a nice house

I didn't have the chance to read the companion to get a feel of what I wanted to do so I have moored up in the countryside just after bridge 10, just me and some horses in the field opposite, lovely.

Tonights mooring

Today's Travel: 6 miles : 6 locks