THE ADVENTURES OF NARROW BOAT SKYY

FORWARD PLANNING

2011-10-27T13:41:00.002+02:00

TUESDAY 18TH TO SUNDAY 23RD OCTOBER 2011

Fortunately there seemed to be no problems with the engine as we left Atherstone behind, Jacquie turning the engine off as soon as she heard it starting to beep obviously prevented any damage. We took our time travelling back to Napton and as we have been this way so many times I didn’t bother with the camera. We stopped in Rugby for two nights, taking advantage of the proximity of the several retail parks for a bit of therapy, but the lovely thing about the final part of the journey was seeing so many chums.

Carol & George from N.B. Rock’n’Roll saw us first and we both slowed down enough to exchange pleasantries as we passed, then it was Jane and Michael from N.B. Mood Blues moored up near bridge 101, who we roused with a blast or two from our tooters and a bit further on Sheridan was walking his ferrets and we stopped alongside their boat to chat to Tia. As we were blown into the marina various hands waved us a welcome, but fortunately we got SKYY safely alongside for the usual facilities and got onto our pontoon without any embarrassment. Finally to our surprise a knock on the roof in the evening and there was Nicky from N.B. Wayward Spinner, who we last saw as we set sail from Selby in April.

Well that’s it for our cruising in 2011, but the good news is that we are looking forward to new adventures in 2012. Our intention is to ‘do’ The Fens, but to add an extra frisson of excitement we are considering getting onto The Fens via the Wash from Boston. Good chums on another boat are also up for it and as yet we need to do a proper feasibility study, but if anybody has some advice other than ‘Don’t do it’ I would like to hear it.

In the meantime we hope that the winter weather is relatively warm i.e. above freezing with rainy nights, making life easier for you brave continuous cruisers and topping the canals and reservoirs up, for all of us in the Spring.

NOT SO SMUG GIT’S HINT

2011-10-18T18:43:00.004+02:00

THURSDAY 12TH TO MONDAY 17TH OCTOBER 2011

We pushed on and by Thursday evening we moored between the locks at Fradley Junction, right opposite the lovely old British Waterways yard and just in time to buy an ice cream from the cafeteria. The next morning I manoeuvred SKYY to the other side of the canal and took advantage of the facilities before leaving the Trent and Mersey Canal and turning onto the Coventry Canal.

A couple of miles before Fazeley Junction I spied a narrow boat whose owner makes and fits stainless steel chimneys, friends of ours had one fitted earlier this year and I had seen several more on this stretch of canal. The internal liner of our chimney is gradually rotting away and on spotting Kym I made an instant decision to buy new chimney. Kym had a twelve inch one in stock and immediately adjusted it to fit our collar, so now we sport a smart ‘Little Chimney Company’ very heavy duty, will last a lifetime, shiny chimney.

We carried on through Fazeley Junction and up the two Glascote Locks leaving Tamworth behind us, before finding a tranquil mooring for the night opposite a golf course.

It took up nearly two nearly two hours on Saturday morning to reach the first of the eleven Atherstone Locks. Fortunately there was nearly always a boat coming out of the lock as we approached and these single locks are easy and with two and a half hours we were at the top and moored in the sunshine, where we intend to stay for a couple of days.

I decided this was a good time and place to change the oil and filter, that I had previously bought. I completed the job quickly and cleanly; unfortunately I didn’t start the engine and check for oil leaks. On Sunday morning I took Duggie for his walk and as I left I started the engine to charge the batteries, on returning I realised that Jacquie had turned the engine off, “because it had started to beep”, she told me and I knew straight away that I really should have checked for leaks. I lifted the engine hatch with trepidation and wasn’t totally surprised to find that the best part of five litres of oil was now out side the engine, but I couldn’t begin to imagine why so much had pumped out. My jumbo sponge did a good job of mopping it up and squeezing it back into the empty container via a large funnel and finally cleaning up with kitchen roll. When I removed the filter I thought that the sealing ring had come out of its groove, but then I realised the rubber ring from the old filter was partially stuck to the new one. When I removed the old filter I had been too keen to drain, and dispose of it I hadn’t noticed that its ring was missing, obviously still stuck to its mounting. I won’t be doing that again, and hopefully dear reader you won’t either.

LEFT IN A PICKLE

2011-10-17T12:31:00.001+02:00

TUESDAY 11TH TO WEDNESDAY 12TH OCTOBER 2011

We were prepared for an early start on Tuesday but the wind didn’t die down at all over night, but fortunately by the time we had breakfasted it had moderated and we ventured out onto the Trent, but it still took almost the whole width of the river before SKYY answered the helm and turned upstream. The girls decided to walk Duggie along the towpath and they arrived at Sawley lock, with the BW key and after a minimum of delay they emptied and opened the lock for us.

Before we left the river for the security of the Trent and Mersey Canal, just for the hell of it we passed under the new footbridge and continued until the entrance to Shardlow Marina, before swinging SKYY around and heading back. Unfortunately we misjudged the turn and run the bow aground on the gravel, the current pushed the stern back round, but John saved the day by poling the bow back into the current which pulled us around in the right direction and then the stern came free.

Back onto the canal we pushed on bypassing ‘The Home of Marstons Pedigree Ales’, until late in the day, in the gathering gloom, we got the last mooring outside the Dragon at Willington, as soon as we were secure I popped into this smartly refurbed pub and booked a table. It was Kim and John’s wedding anniversary and we wanted a meal to remember to celebrate this day and it did, for all the right reasons. It was just as well that I had booked a table as it was buzzing by the time we walked in, it was an imaginative menu, the food was artistically presented and extremely tasty, a great end to an exciting day.

Kim and John were leaving us on Wednesday afternoon and the Bridge Inn at Branston was to be their departure point. We thought sandwiches and a bowl of chips would be a good idea whilst we waited for the taxi to arrive, but at the Bridge that wasn’t an option, the Sicilian born proprietor was only serving pasta or pizza and our various selections were all delicious, what a good surprise.

The taxi took Kim and John away leaving us for the rest of the day, in what was the home of the famous Branston pickle, of which there is now no sight or smell. Lack of smell, however, was probably no bad thing.

LOGS FOR THE BLOG

2011-10-17T11:43:00.006+02:00

SATURDAY 8TH TO MONDAY 1OTH OCTOBER 2011

The nights are noticeable drawing in now and although it was still daylight when Kim & John arrived, we stayed put in The Great Northern Basin for Saturday night. We had every intention to get away promptly on Sunday and get back to the junction with the River Trent. Well guess what, it wasn’t as prompt as intended, we got just south of Gallows Inn to a pleasantly rural area when Jacquie announced that lunch was ready. By the time lunch was consumed the trees were being blown all over the place, so we stayed snugly tied up where we were, particularly as we had a good satellite connexion so we could watch the first expulsion from Strictly Come Dancing.

We had only just got going on Monday morning when a couple of walkers told us that a tree was down totally blocking the canal. As we approached the blockage, just south of Pasture Lock, a canal boat appeared to be right in the thick of it, but before we had a chance to tie up and assist N.B. Best of Mates came towards us saying that with caution we should be able to squeeze through. As we came up to it we could see that it was a substantial part of a willow tree that had come down and our new ‘Best of Mates’ had sawn through some pretty thick branches to clear the way. I snapped off several more branches to prevent my recently polished hull from getting scratched, couldn’t possible allow that to happen and with a lot of pulling and pushing SKYY came through the over side unscathed. It’s a pity that we don’t burn logs as there were plenty of wood for the taking left on the tow path, but hopefully some other boater will take advantage.

As we passed through Sandiacre Lock I took a photo of the attractive old buildings alongside, which are now the headquarters of the ECP&DA. There did seem to be more water in the canal on our return and the duckweed was no where near as thick, making the journey easier, but the wind was getting up again. We moored just before Trent Lock and after lunch we observed the breaking waves on the River Trent and revised our earlier decision, rather than head out onto the river for Sawley, we decided that one of our famous early starts, before the wind got up tomorrow would be the best option.

NO TROUBLE AT MILL

2011-10-07T16:24:00.010+02:00

TUESDAY 4TH TO FRIDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2011

We stayed put on Tuesday, but on Wednesday we sallied forth to explore the Erewash Canal. Initially the surroundings were very attractive with small boatyards and interesting craft of every description, but the duckweed got gradually thicker substantially slowing our progress and in one lock I really wondered if we would be able to get into it.

At one lock an Anglo Welsh hire boat was coming the other way and thankfully they told us that the water was quite clear further on, although in some of the pounds it was very shallow. Near Sandiacre there is the very fine Springfield mill which has four turrets; apparently each one houses a spiral staircase, which gave access to the four separate lace companies which occupied the mill.

We stopped for the night on a rural stretch just beyond Stanton Lock and before the urban sprawl of Ilkeston; industry was very close to the canal, but mostly screened by the foliage. In fact we had chosen to moor by the junction where the Nutbrook Canal had joined the Erewash, now it’s just a couple of pipes exiting through a stone wall. Just a little further was the mostly derelict site of the Stanton Ironworks; this had employed over seven thousand people in its time and was only closed in 2007. We have all walked over manhole covers stamped with the name Stanton and Staveley. The other half of the name refers to the iron works at Staveley near Chesterfield and the two companies were merged in 1960.

The Thursday forecast was for rain by lunch time, it didn’t arrive but the wind did, and with the gates and paddles of the nine locks being very heavy, it made the journey to Langley Mill hard work. Immediately after Langley Lock there are visitor moorings in The Great Northern Basin, with water and a sanitation station alongside, all provided by ECP&DA or to give its full title ‘Erewash Canal Preservation & Development Association. It was this Association that ensured the Erewash Canal and the basin survived.

The basin was the junction for three canals; the start of the Nottingham Canal can be seem leaving beyond a swing bridge on its way to, well, Nottingham of course. The Cromford Canal carries on to the north of Langley Mill, this canal is still partly in water and is currently a restoration project. It was Arkwright who built the worlds first water powered spinning mill for cotton at Cromford who was a major instigator for the canal.

The rain arrived after dark on Thursday, but Friday was dry and we decided this was a good place to wait for Kim and John to join us for a few days. I had a lovely chat with Harold, Chairman of the ECP&DA who showed me around the little pumping station that was restored by the association, although it has a period pump in place it is a modern electric powered one that back pumps from below the lock into the basin when required and I able to buy a smart plaque for SKYY’s rear door. There is also a totally original toll house at the entrance to the Nottingham Canal and I took a photo of the work that the Association has done in readiness for the Cromford Canal to rejoin the Great Northern Basin.

NO LONGER ALONE

2011-10-06T20:14:00.011+02:00

FRIDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER TO MONDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2011

The weather was still amazing, clear skies and no wind enabled me to neatly reverse onto the fuel pontoon and with a full tank we said goodbye to Kings Marina and turned up stream and retraced our steps back to Gunthorpe. I deployed my VHF radio when I realised that the lock keepers are in radio contact on channel 74. When the Gunthorpe keeper enquired where I was headed, I responded by saying “the pontoon”, I then heard him radio down to a boat already on the pontoon, enquiring if there was a suitable space left, on receiving a positive response he asked that a look out for SKYY be kept and sure enough, as we approached the pontoon somebody waved and indicated that there was room on the inside and then helped up tie up, That’s what I call service.

That evening Brian and Ann collected us and we drove into Nottingham to watch Tinker Tailor Solder Spy, film at the Broadway cinema, we enjoyed it, but I did overhear one young lady comment on the way out “Could have done with a good car chase” I think not.

Another lovely morning on Saturday prompted me to take a photo of the elegant Gunthorpe Bridge and a shot of the smart cruisers that we shared the pontoon with, after which I also got the starboard side of the boat washed and polished. Later that morning Jacquie’s goddaughter Stephanie and her husband John visited us, they live nearby, but most importantly we had for the first time a baby on board, their daughter, Florence, a five month old cutie and she took to Duggie and life on board very calmly.

Later that day Steve and Caroline arrived from Essex and as the air was still warm late into the evening we had drinks on the rear deck. On Sunday we left Gunthorpe and stopped for the day just after Holme Lock. This is right beside the National Water Sports Centre and we enjoyed watching the canoeist navigate the slalom course and rafts of eight to ten people negotiate the white water rapids, judging by the amount of noise that they were making they were clearly enjoying themselves. Steve and I sat on the deck with our beers, barbequing a lamb joint and making the most of these last days of Indian summer.

The sun still shone on Monday, but the wind was now very strong, indicating that a change was about to take place. We travelled right through Nottingham only pausing for Castle Lock and back on the river I needed more throttle to stem the current and the wind making our final turn into the entrance of the Erewash Canal slightly challenging. Once through Trent Lock all was peace and tranquillity as we moored up. We were concerned that Duggie might think that the thick green carpet of duckweed that covered the water was grass, but he must have more sense than we credit him for, he made no attempt to walk on water.

We were just in time for the very good value, day time menu, at the newly opened Trent Lock pub; this was formerly the Navigation Inn, but now a smart and friendly gastro pub. A cab was booked and in the gathering gloom we said our farewells to Steve and Caroline as they began their homeward journey.

ALL BY MYSELF

2011-10-04T19:36:00.004+02:00

MONDAY 26TH TO THURSDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Our plan had been to return to Selby Boat Centre for our winter mooring, but gradually more and more reasons for being further south presented themselves so we have decided to winter at Wigrams Turn Marina in the Midlands. We had made many friends whilst being in Selby, especially Sylvia and Pete and Doreen and we would miss them, so Jacquie caught the train from Newark on Monday morning to Selby to stay a couple of days with Sylvia and to catch up with Pete and Doreen and to say Hi to Simon and co. at the Boat Centre.

I was left to look after Duggie and ensure that he presented himself to the dog groomers on time, at the ungodly hour of 8.30 on Wednesday morning. I also had to work my way through a list of boat jobs, but I did have enough time left over to continue exploring Newark.

There is supposed to be a visible hole in the church steeple left behind by a Roundhead cannonball, but despite my efforts I couldn’t see it, maybe the bright sunshine masked it from me. I also visited the Queens Sconce, to the south of the town, a remarkably preserved defensive earthworks built to protect the town from the Parliamentarians. The defences worked well, the town resisting two sieges, only surrendering during the third siege after Charles 1st surrendered and ordered the Governor of Newark to do likewise. The Roundhead army moved on quickly after blowing up the castle from fear of the plague that had beset the town, they left orders that the Sconce be destroyed, but it is thought that the population was too weakened to carry out the orders and hence the earth works are so intact.

Jacquie returned to me late Wednesday afternoon laden with goodies, naughty Sylvia and naughty Ann-Marie for the lovely Danish cheeses, thank you so much, they are delicious.

On Thursday on our way out to stock up at the nearby supermarket Jacquie admired the polished and very shiny port side of the boat and asked when I intended to do the other side, typical, never satisfied!! A last whizz around the town included a visit to the Town Hall, there is a small museum on the second floor, accessed by a lift just inside the entrance to The Butter Market and a steward was more than happy to show us around the Mayoral chambers, his robing room and parlour and the exquisite ball room decorated in a Wedgewood/Adams style, well worth a visit, and then we were ready to leave Kings Marina first thing next morning.

THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN

2011-10-04T13:13:00.013+02:00

WEDNESDAY 21ST TO SUNDAY 25TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Two lovely, luxurious days, sleeping in a proper bed and baths whenever Jacquie felt like it and Duggie made the most of Ann and Brian’s garden, rearranging flower pots, both empty and full, plus sticks, numerous balls and anything else he could find to his own peculiar idea as to the ideal doggie garden.

Jacquie joined Ann at an art class and returned with a masterpiece (I think it’s a yacht on fire in the fog, very Turnersque) now framed and hung in the loo, the only place Jacquie would agree to, how modest! I used the time to catch up with blogging, but how quickly I fall behind, but here we go again.

Friday dawned bright and beautiful as Brian and Ann delivered us back to SKYY, the pontoon can only be accessed via a gate secured with a BW lock so all was as we had left her, but I did notice that she had been moved a bit, obviously to make room for a another boat. After loading everything on board the girls returned the car to its garage and walked Duggie back to the boat.

Almost immediately after leaving the pontoon the green light of Gunthorpe lock beckoned us in. The lock keeper enquired how far we were going, which was Newark and he said he would radio ahead and advise the keeper at Hazelford Lock that we were on our way. This five mile stretch is quite straight with high red cliffs and wooded escarpment to our right and flat, cow strewn fields on our left, all very beautiful with sun sparkling on the slightly ruffled water.

The river takes a much windier course below Hazelford lock and after seven miles Newark Marina with its very smart, shiny white river cruisers heralded the outskirts of Newark. The remaining old warehouses, now converted to homes, pubs and restaurants soon give way to the Town Lock with the wonderful back drop of Newark’s old castle. We had to wait whilst a boat came up through the lock and as we prepared to enter as the other boat came passed us, to our surprise the lock gates started to close, however a couple of blasts of my twin tooters soon reversed the situation with an apology from the lock keeper that he hadn’t seen us. After passing under a splendid footbridge we turned into Kings Marina and found our reserved berth and here SKYY would stay for a week at £8 per night including electric.

On Saturday we explored the town and castle that had played such an important role during the Civil War. Entrance to the castle is free, but for a small fee of £2.50 per person we had a conducted tour up the tower, down the undercroft and various other secured areas by our very informative guide, excellent value.

In the evening we walked back into town, pausing to take a photo of the illuminated bridge and castle before dining at an Indian restaurant. On Sunday morning a taxi arrived to take Ann and Brian back to their home and we had another mooch around the town, which we decided really is The Jewel in the Crown of The River Trent.

WHERE’S THE SHERIFF?

2011-09-25T18:04:00.006+02:00

MONDAY 19TH TO TUESDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER 2011

We are so fortunate, whenever we venture out onto the river the sky is always blue and soon after leaving Shardlow the sun was glinting on the wide expanse of the River Trent and its new footbridge.

We briefly stopped just after Sawley Marina, with the massive Ratcliffe on Soar power station as its backdrop. Taking care off essential services we headed to the junction of the Erewash Canal, the River Soar and The Cranfleet Cut section of the Trent. We rejoined the river at the end of the cut and what a beautiful four mile stretch it is from there up until the Beeston Lock. Here we are back on a canal and three miles later we tied up on the extensive visitor moorings, just passed Castle Marina, in the centre of Nottingham. We trotted off to do a little exploring of the city; disappointingly no outlaws or Sheriff’s men came our way.

As we left the mooring the next morning we passed an impressive Magistrates Court, still no sheriff, and many renovated canal building, before turning sharp right under a railway bridge. Half a mile later we re-entering the River Trent, right opposite the Trent Bridge cricket ground and Nottingham Forest football stadium. Unfortunately the good weather deserted us and it was wet and windy as we cruised the eleven miles to Gunthorpe, but the river and riverside homes were still magnificent.

Both the large locks were manned and with the lights set at green we stomped straight in and sooner than expected we passed under the stately road bridge at Gunthorpe and moored at the secure BW visitor pontoon, right alongside Tom Browns restaurant which aptly is set in an old school house. A little while later, friends Ann and Brian who live at nearby East Bridgeford and are regular cruising chums, came to collect us for a couple of days of luxury living in their home. Duggie loves it here as they have a beautiful garden that he does his best to wreck; fortunately both Ann and Brian love Duggie and would forgive him almost anything.

THE GOOLIES

2011-09-22T17:25:00.003+02:00

FRIDAY 16TH TO SUNDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER 2011

The steam boat President turned into The Coventry Canal as we dropped down the first lock after turning onto the Trent and Mersey Canal early in the morning. By the time we arrived at lock fourteen a queue of five boats had built up and it took over an hour to clear, the last boat coming up before we went in was a group on a Hireacanalboat.com boat who suddenly realised it was SKYY that was ahead of them, they then reminded us that we had chatted whilst we had been moored at Selby when they were walking the towpath. They had been followers of this blog for some while and have now hired a boat themselves and if the Goolies (they come from Goole) are reading this we hope you really enjoyed your holiday.

At one point a steam traction engine and trailer trundled over a bridge, it could have been Fred Dibners, but sadly he is no longer with us. The village of Arelwas was recommended to us and we stopped for lunch at The Crown Inn, the hot filled bagette and cheesy chips were good but the pub was a little sad. However the village is full of charming cottages and it boasts an excellent butchers, the rib eye steaks were delicious as was the ice cream from the Rainbow gift shop. The busy A38 road runs alongside the canal for several miles, but as soon as we moved away from it we moored up for the night.

The next day we bypassed Burton and its breweries and the Willington power station and a very impressive canal side house before mooring just beyond Swarkestone Lock. A final shower of rain caught up with us and the last rainbow of the day arched across the sky.

Before casting off on Sunday morning we walked into the village of Swarkstone passed a strange, twin turreted building, the summer house of a now demolished Tudor mansion, restored and now available to hire through the Landmark Trust. We didn’t intend to travel too far today, Shardlow was our destination and there are still many attractive canal related buildings surrounding the cut. We were fortunate to get a mooring between the two pubs and we joined another couple, who we had accompanied them through several locks, for a drink at The Malt Shovel, when it started to rain they come on to SKYY for coffee. You really do meet some lovely and interesting people on the cut and Pat and Norman were no exception.

Later that afternoon Jacquie’s cousin, Russell and Andrea his wife, who live nearby joined us for tea and biscuits, what a lovely sociable day it was.

THE BIG PUSH

2011-09-19T22:55:00.004+02:00

MONDAY 12TH TO THURSDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2011

Enough stooging about, although it has been lovely spending time with chums, but today it was time to move on. We made it as far as Nuneaton, but the very strong winds and the need for lunch had us mooring at bridge 21 where the convenient laundry was very handy.

The next morning we moved onto the top of the Athertone flight of eleven locks, but because of low water levels the flight is only open from 8.30 to 4.00 and today the bottom lock will be drained to allow BW to replace a broken paddle rod, once again the Aldi store allowed us to stock up ready for the ‘big push’.

We had intended to be first in the lock when the BW guy removed the padlock on Wednesday morning, but as usual our bed was too comfortable to leave at first light so we were about forth in the queue. Fortunately as soon as we were through the first lock the queue disappeared and almost at every succeeding lock a boat was coming the other way and we were through them in about two and a half hours. We carried on another seven miles and moored just before Glascote Basin and the two adjacent locks at Tamworth. Many of the moored boats hereabouts had protective screens over their windows to protect from flying objects, but apart from a tennis ball landing in the cut next to SKYY which I through back over the fence to it’s apologetic young owner, we had an undisturbed night.

It is good to not be in a great hurry and on Thursday we stopped for a lunch time drink at the Tame Otter in the cute village of Hopwas. There was me thinking that the pub was named after the landlords tame otter before I realised that the River Tame runs nearby, silly me. Another eight miles and we reached the end of the Coventry Canal and we stopped just before Fradley Junction. The Mucky Duck AKA. The Swan pub right on the junction is apparently the most photographed pub in the UK, so no apologizes for including my own one and also one of a giant dragonfly from the nearby nature reserve.

STOOGING ABOUT

2011-09-17T10:39:00.004+02:00

TUESDAY 6TH TO SUNDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER 2011

I had been invited to the annual reunion, on Tuesday, of several of my colleagues from my past business life, all 65 years old now and drawing our State pensions. I missed last years gathering and was determined to make this one; London Midland sped me efficiently from Coventry to London and back for lunch at the RAC Club in Piccadilly, very posh!

Wednesday, and we started back to Hawksbury Junction, where Angela and David visited us for the day on Thursday. They have just traded up to a twin engine 31ft sea going cruiser, which they keep on the Great Ouse at Bedford, but David found the handling of a single screw boat that is nearly twice as long and probably twice as heavy quite a challenge on this windy day. At least it didn’t rain and we returned to the junction for dinner on board before sending them on their way.

The next day we again relaxed before Janice, Kevin and Finley, their miniature Schnauzer arrived on Saturday for the weekend. It was Finley that helped us decide that a Schnauzer was the right breed of dog for us and what a good decision that was. Once all was onboard we set of North and soon turned onto the Ashby Canal, it is over two years since we visited the Ashby and it is still as delightful as we remembered. We turned around and overnighted just short of Stoke Gold and in the morning Jacquie set us up for the day with smoked salmon, bagels and scrambled eggs.

Once again a table had been booked at the Greyhound Pub at Hawksbury and we moored up in good time to make ourselves look beautiful before enjoying another excellent meal. Both the dogs had been left on the boat and seemed quite content when we got back, but they soon had to say goodbye when we walked Janice and Kevin, by torchlight, back to their car and waved them off.

TAKING A TUMBLE

2011-09-09T20:24:00.010+02:00

WEDNESDAY 31ST AUGUST TO MONDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER 2011

We remembered that there is an Aldi Store in Atherstone and that was our destination and on the way we passed The Welsh Cheese Boat and pulled in alongside, unable to resist the temptation of some unusual flavoured cheddars. We didn’t get as far as Atherstone, but spent Wednesday night just beyond the attractive BW yard at Hartshill and enjoyed a lovely walk over the fields and into the village of Mancetter before returning via the towpath. Jacquie was feeling a bit sore by the time we got back as she had taken a tumble inside the boat whilst I was mooring up and had badly bruised her ribs on the left side.

On Thursday we moored near the top lock at Atherstone and with shopping completed we relaxed and waited for the arrival of Marilyn and Brian and they arrived bright and early on Friday morning. We had previously decided not to go down the locks, because of the water shortage and it was a good decision as there was a substantial queue of boats waiting to go down and a lot of historic old working boats coming up, on route to the festival at Shackerstone on The Ashby Canal; caught in the midst of them was our friend Jane and Michael on Moody Blues returning from a little holiday cruise. The weather was much better than expected and dress code for the day was shorts and after a short cruise we again moored near Hartshill Yard and repeated our Thursday walk.

Saturday had us turning onto the Northern Oxford Canal by The Greyhound pub and retracing our way back to Brinklow, where Marilyn, Brian and I, plus Duggie walked into the town for a drink at the smart Bulls Head pub, happily not so smart that they weren’t pleased to allow Dugs into the bar. Jacquie didn’t join us as she was really suffering from her fall, but the six hourly painkillers were helping to make the pain manageable.

After a wet start to the day we were back at The Greyhound in time for a late, but excellent Sunday Lunch and sat outside enjoying the sunshine and gongoozling the activities of all the other boats as they swung under the bridge.

By late morning on Monday we were back in the Coventry Basin and Brian being a bit of a petrol head, we all trooped of to the Motor Museum, the girls left us to visit the new and old cathedrals and we met up on SKYY to collect their luggage and a short walk later we saw them off on the number 48 bus to return them to Atherstone and their car.

SENT TO COVENTRY

2011-08-31T20:45:00.003+02:00

SUNDAY 28TH TO TUESDAY 30TH AUGUST 2011

We arrived at Hawkesbury Junction in time for a Sunday afternoon drink at the Greyhound Pub, it really was too cold to sit outside and fortunately the staff didn’t have a problem with Duggie taking his place under one of the tables inside. Although we have passed it several times this was our first visit and we found it full of character and characters, we will stop here again.

Well in fact nobody sent us, it was our decision to revisit Coventry, We weren’t overly impressed last time except by a quick visit to the excellent Museum of British Road Transport, but at least it wasn’t pouring with rain when we arrived as it was last time. On the way we passed many sculptures, including the concrete sofa and the large wooden bollard and rope.

Most of the old factories have been cleared away, but an exception is the elegant row of Cash’s Hundred Houses, in fact slightly less than half this number was built and only 37 remain. The ground and first floor were designed as homes for the workers and the powered looms for making the famous name tapes were on the top floor, now all of the floors are lived in. The original electricity power station that provided the energy for all the cycles, motorcycles and car manufacturers that were based in Coventry still stands and has also been converted into homes, but with less elegance.

This time Jacquie accompanied me to the Transport museum and enjoyed it as much as I did. It is amazing to see just how many car manufactures were bas here and the enormous boom between 1950 and 1970, but by 1980 only four makes of car were still produced and now there are none.

The town centre is depressing; the 1950’s rebuild to my mind hasn’t stood the test of time, but surprisingly around the new Cathedral some of the old houses were painstaking rebuilt after the war. We didn’t go into the Cathedral as we intend to return here next week with some chums and wanted to save it for then.

On Tuesday we left the attractive Coventry Basin under the little bridge that in olden days was barred at night with no boat being allowed to stay in the basin, but we had had a very peaceful night. A couple of hours later we had retraced our way and had re-moored at Hawkesbury.

DEJA VUE

2011-08-31T20:34:00.001+02:00

TUESDAY 23RD TO SATURDAY 27TH AUGUST 2011

The weather for the rest of the week was a mixture of heavy rain and grey skies, so we did indeed take our time and also we had been this way so many times before that we had seen it all and I didn’t bother to fine the camera.

We moved onto Hillmorton on Wednesday and fortunately both locks were in use and there was no queue. We moored immediately below the locks and stayed overnight, the next morning we walked five miles in the sunshine to and from the retail park in Rugby for essentials supplies and a coffee at Frankie and Benny’s, but the next day, Thursday, it was raining again. We walked a soggy Duggie though the fields containing the array of radio masts. It all looked quiet derelict and on our return we googled it and found that the last four of the original twelve, much bigger towers were felled in 2007. They had been constructed in 1926 for the GPO for its world wide radio telegraph service and during the last war until recently, it is said that the system was used to keep in touch with the UK’s submarines. Now even the Atomic clock broadcast has been moved to Scotland and a sign on a post was giving notice of a planning application for 6,200 dwellings and soon, I imagine the remaining lattice towers will also disappear.

On Friday we moved the short distance to Rugby and moored close by Tescos for a bigger shop and there we stayed, but no sooner had we got going on Saturday and the heavens opened again, good for the canals, but I had had enough rain dripping down the back of my neck, so stopped for lunch just before Brinklow and stayed the rest of the day.

ONCE MORE TO THE CUT DEAR FRIENDS

2011-08-23T13:38:00.003+02:00

MONDAY 22ND AUGUST 2011

At last we are back on SKYY and on the move again, we didn’t get very far, only from Wigrams Turn Marina to the outskirts of Braunston. We stopped for lunch with every intention of moving on, but our new neighbours were very friendly and lunch got delayed and as it was a lovely day we stayed put.

The last couple of months have been mostly spent in Europe, staying with friends in Bavaria and the South of France. I keep my old Moto Guzzi motorbike in France and it was good to have the opportunity to get my leg over my faithful Italian belladonna.
I missed out riding her last September as my heart event rather got in the way, but I more than made up for it this time with a couple of trips into Italy with my biking chum.

One of the trips was to Carrara which has supplied much of the world for hundreds of years with top quality marble, the block that Michelangelo used to carve his famous David came from here and more recent sculptors such as Henry Moore always came here to select their marble. Before we rode up to the mountain to visit the quarries and the caves we wandered through the town and were very impressed by this full size sculpture of a 1950 Cadillac in the town square, it is, amazing, exact to the smallest details.

During the last week on Skyy I replaced the Perspex to the side hatch; the new piece rests on the outside of the frame and now if it rain we don’t have to rush to remove it and close the doors as the rain just runs off. Also, at last, I got the replacement twin hooters, that we bought from Puffer Parts on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, working, I fixed them to the roof to the left hand side of the rear hatch and wired them directly to the switch, WOW! What a sound, brilliant!! I wonder how long before somebody complains that they are too noisy. The forecast is rain for Tuesday so I imagine that we won’t be progressing very far, but we have a couple of months cruising ahead of us, so no hurry.

BIRTHDAY BOY

2011-06-14T11:21:00.001+02:00

SATURDAY 11 JUNE 2011

You may have noticed that at the top of my blog page, I ask the question, ‘Will Jacquie still love me when I’m 65’. Well today I am and the good news is SHE DOES!!!
Lucky old me!!!

BYE BYE FOR NOW

2011-06-14T11:15:00.002+02:00

THURSDAY 9TH TO FRIDAY 10TH JUNE 2011

We left Rugby quite late in the day, I had been trying to arrange travel insurance and awaiting a return call, but we decided to make a start and soon had the three Hillmorton locks behind us. We carried on for another hour before stopping for the night close to Willoughby Wharf. On Friday morning we continued on our way back to our old mooring at Wigrams Turn Marina, The church spire at Braunston showed us that we weren’t far from the turn and soon we were on the last leg of this journey. Fifteen months since we had been this way and the old working boat was still sunk and it looked like another one was about to go under, very sad.

As we motored down through the marina to our new mooring, several old chums waved us a welcome and we were soon settled in and our spring cruising was at an end. We shall start again and continue blogging later in the summer, in the meantime have a good one.

OLD LOVE

2011-06-14T11:06:00.003+02:00

TUESDAY 7TH TO WEDNESDAY 8TH JUNE 2011

No locks today but we did have a rendezvous to keep, We first met Judy and Don of N.B. Angonoka last year near Chester, we all, including the dogs got on really well. We had hoped to join up with them later in the year, but my heart event prevented that. They were travelling in the opposite direction to us, but we planned to meet at Hawkesbury Junction, where the Coventry meets The Oxford Canal.

On the way we passed the well preserved BW yard at Hartshill and the interestingly dilapidated old boatyard just south of entrance to the Ashby Canal, I remembered the owner had a fascination with mannequins from the last time we passed and it didn’t disappoint this time.

We arrived at Hawkesbury to see Don & Judy waving at us, we tied up a couple of boat lengths down, Cressy, their Bedlington/Whippet dog was jumping up and down with excitement and as soon as Duggie leaped of the boat they resumed their love affair as if they had never been parted. We lunched, walked the dogs and dined together and following morning again walked the dogs, before we waved them on their way.

We filled with water and turned of the Coventry onto the Oxford Canal under the black and white iron bridge, in front of The Greyhound Inn. We continued with the weather either throwing torrential rain at us, or the sun so bright that the hull steamed as it baked dry.

On the way we passed several traditional cast iron bridges carrying the towpathover arms leading off the canal, apparently these were built when the Northern Oxford canal was straightened in the 1820’s and the new cut bypassed the old loops, some of these arms now lead to small marinas. Eventually we reached our intended destination at Rugby and squeezed into a mooring close to the path that leads to the Tesco store, good result.

UNFAZED

2011-06-14T10:59:00.002+02:00

MONDAY 6TH JUNE 2011

Fazeley Junction is quite attractive, a new housing development incorporates an old crane and on the other side of a short arm is a BW office and sanitation station. Right on the junction an elegant house, was, I think the head office of the canal company and a nearby mill is where Cash’s name tapes are still made, you know, the ones we all had sewn in our school uniforms.

We continued on The Coventry Canal though Tamworth and as we passed a boat yard at Grendon Bridge I spotted a PowerCell van and sure enough there was Will, who had fitted our new batteries a few weeks ago, doing the same to another boat, I slowed and had a brief conversation with him and the boat owner, before we moved on to tackle the eleven Atherstone locks, fortunately another boat was always coming towards us leaving the next lock ready for us. We stopped at the top for the night and walked six minutes back to the Aldi store for essentials, beer and chocolate OK.

STUCK FAST AGAIN

2011-06-14T10:47:00.001+02:00

SUNDAY 5TH JUNE 2011

By the time we got going in the morning several boats had gone down the last two locks before Fradley Junction. When I untied SKYY the front end swung free but the stern was stuck fast, the water level must have dropped several inches. The bow swung right across the cut and fortunately a boat coming towards me stopped and the skipper helped me try to push the stern off, but to no avail. N.B. Snowgoose approached from behind and my stern line was passed around his forward T stud and with a combination of its bow thruster and plenty of reverse with a lurch with sent all the drawers flying open, we came unstuck, it was just like three years ago on the River Avon, only there we had to wait three days before Eric the tug pulled us off.

We passed the attractively situated White Swan pub, locally called the Mucky Duck as we swung onto the Coventry Canal. We were now back onto familiar waters, having been this way twice before and we knew that nothing should delay our arrival at Fazeley Junction, ten mile away. We found a quiet mooring about a mile before the junction, although there are no problems with mooring much closer, but it was better for walking Duggie where we were.

A PLETHERA OF STATELY PILES

2011-06-12T11:41:00.007+02:00

FRIDAY 3RD TO SATURDAY 4TH JUNE 2011

The early June weather was magnificent and after a few locks we stopped for lunch at Stone, this had been a major canal centre and a boat yard and three dry docks completed the picture. The pretty Star Inn at the bottom lock was very busy and I sure has added fame as being the local for Terry Darlington, the author of Narrow Dog to Carcassone.

As we cruised on late in the afternoon, I slowed right down as we passed this gentleman sign writing a boat from a floating pontoon, he was very grateful, saying that we were the only boat that had taken the trouble to slow sufficiently so as not to send him bobbing up and down. We moored for the night a little way before the Great Haywood Junction with the Staffs & Worcs Canal. We hadn’t travelled any of this canal as yet, but tomorrow we would turn onto it, just for a mile or so to see what Tixall Wide was all about

As planned, on Saturday morning we turned onto the Staffs & Worcs Canal, passed the Anglo Welsh hire boats and few minutes later entered the wide expanse of water at Tixall, I don’t know why it was dug, but it is navigable right to the edges, so plenty of room to turn round. The imposing Tixall Gatehouse overlooks the water and maybe the owner wanted to look out onto a lake rather than just a canal, maybe that was the reason.

We retraced our route back onto the Trent and Mersey and briefly the facade of Shugborough Hall was visible. We kept going passed Rugeley and its power station, when another stately pile came into view, this time it was Spode House, home to another famous pottery family. The canal suddenly narrowed and was bounded by sheer rock walls with a short tunnel at the far end, this had been a much longer tunnel, but in 1971 it was opened to the air, as again subsidence caused by coal mining was causing a major problem.

A few more miles and Fradley Junction wasn’t far ahead, we tucked ourselves in behind a long line of moored boats, I couldn’t get the stern it tight and had to use the gang plank, but we would be fine for the night.

THROWING A WOBBLY

2011-06-12T11:17:00.008+02:00

WEDNESDAY 1ST TO THURSDAY 2ND JUNE 2011

The city of Stoke on Trent is a combination of six pottery towns, Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longley, Stoke and Tunstall and they were only united as recently as 1910. The city centre is formed around the Hanley area and it is here that the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery is found. We spent a good time here and learnt a lot about the pottery industry. They also have on display items from the Staffordshire Hoard, discovered in 2009; sadly it did not glitter as much as I thought it would, as much of it is still covered in the earth that it was dug from, but the delicacy of the workmanship is amazing. I would have like to have spent time at Jesse Shirley’s Etruscan Bone & Flint Mill, which is right on the junction of the Caldon and Trent and Mersey Canals, but for Jacquie’s taste it was too industrial and on this occasion she won the choice.

Up until 1930 Josiah Wedgewood’s factory at Etruria, which was built in 1766, was still standing right beside the canal; opposite where we were moored, the site is now a modern commercial area. Subsidence at the old site and the need to modernize prompted the Wedgewood family to build a new factory at Barlaston, five locks and five miles down the canal and on Thursday morning we moved down to visit the Visitor Centre.

We came in via the back entrance from the canal, but eventually found the main entrance and bought our tickets to the museum, shops and demonstration areas. The museum is very well laid out in chronological order, but eventually I was going a little potty, so we headed off to the demo area.

Painting, jewellery, gilding, turning and throwing are all being demonstrated and the opportunity to have a ‘hands’ on experience is offered, but it is the throwing of a pot that was the most popular. Jacquie put on the plastic apron, threw the ball of clay onto the wheel and with a little help from the master potter to get it centered, eventually turned out a respectable looking object and it will be posted on to us once it had been fired in the kiln. Jacquie really enjoyed the tactile experience and may well find a pottery course when we return to dry land.

SNAKES, TUNNELS AND POTS

2011-06-06T21:48:00.008+02:00

TUESDAY 31ST MAY 2011

When we awoke the rain was still hammering on the hull, another duff forecast, but by the time we were ready to cast off the rain stopped and gradually the sun won the battle with the clouds and the month of May did its belated best to redeem itself.

It didn’t take long to reach The Macclesfield’s junction with The Trent & Mersey, but first we passed under two Snake Bridges. These bridges were designed so that when the towpath changed from one side of the canal to the other, the horse towing the boat could do so without having to unhitch. A local dog walker said that locally they were called Snail Bridges, but this elegant design is also called, Turnover or Changeling Bridges.

Just before the junction is the pretty Hall Green stop lock, this was to prevent precious water flowing from the Macclesfield into The T & M canal. The junction is an unusual arrangement as first the Macclesfield crossed the T & M on an aqueduct before executing a ninety degree turn and running parallel with the T & M bypassing two of its locks before joining with it.

A few yard further and we arrived at the entrance to the Harecastle Tunnel. There was just one boat waiting ahead of us as the Tunnel Keeper briefed us. If we should break down, then we must sound one long blast on our hooter every thirty seconds until we hear three short blasts in return, if we hadn’t managed to exit the tunnel after one hour and fifteen minutes they would send in the tug, however we had no intention of breaking down. The estimated time from start to finish traveling the 2926yds. was forty five minutes at a steady three to four MPH. But in fact we were out the other end in thirty five minutes. There is a door over the exit which is only drawn back as we approached; this is to enable the fume extraction system to function more effectively and as we exited it looked like that we had just driven out of a garage with accommodation over, weird!

The photos clearly show another tunnel entrance, this was the original tunnel that took eleven years to dig, opening in 1777, but forty five years later the bottle-neck to traffic was so great that it was decided to dig another one, this time it only took three years to complete allowing two way traffic. The original tunnel has since had to be abandoned as coal mining in the area had caused it to subside, but as all the traffic now is leisure and self propelled the one tunnel is sufficient.

The fact that we were now in the pottery area of Stoke on Trent was very apparent when the first brick built bottle kiln came into view, they really do look like milk bottles, Most of them have disappeared and the remaining ones are preserved, but not used. Pottery is still what this area is all about so we moored a little way before the festival marina, determined over the next couple of days to investigate.

LOOKS BETTER ON A GIRL

2011-06-04T19:16:00.005+02:00

SATURDAY 28TH TO MONDAY 30TH MAY 2011

Firstly thank you Carol from Rock’n’Roll for letting me know that the area of water by Plank Lane lift bridge is going to be a marina and thanks also to Sharyn of the USofA for her kind comments.

Saturday we wandered down from the canal and then up into Macclesfield town. The pedestrian way up was via a cobbled path and was steep enough to visualize the bakers lad pushing his bike laden with Hovis loafs, just like the old TV advert, but the lane wasn’t quite olde worlde enough.

We left the Hovis Mill behind us as SKYY transported us four miles or so, to the top of the twelve Boseley Locks, down hill all the way now. Again these locks are beautifully located, easy to operate and fill and empty very quickly.

At some point Duggie unearthed a small ‘Welcome Aboard’ life buoy, his antics with this new toy kept us all amused for ages, until Kim decided to try it for size. We drove the pins in for the night about a few hundred yards passed the last lock and relaxed for the evening.

Sunday was Kim & John’s last day with us and we thought Congleton would be a good place to arrange a taxi back to the Portland Basin Marina to collect their car. We moored in a deep cutting with a road and a railway bridge overhead, but as the weather was dull in didn’t make much difference. Just up the steps beside the bridge was the Queens Head pub and they provided probably the best Sunday Lunch Roast dinner that we have ever enjoyed. At 3.30pm the taxi arrived beside the pub and another sad farewell was had, before it whisked them away.

We decided to stay put for the rest of Sunday and as the Bank Holiday Monday’s weather was even worse with non stop rain, we postponed our departure until Tuesday for when the forecast was much more positive.

DEL BOY FLOATS AGAIN

2011-06-01T13:47:00.008+02:00

FRIDAY 27TH MAY 2011

There is a well situated Tesco store on the junction of the Whaley Bridge and Buxworth arms that we made good use off, the views as we retraced our steps to Marple were just as good. We turned into the start of the Macclesfield Canal and immediately went passed another wharf that covered a small arm off the main canal and then obviously Del Boy and Rodney had traded up from a Reliant three wheeler to a boat, well done lads!

The large Goyt Mill dominated the horizon for a while, restored and occupied and then for ten miles or so we were back into rural surroundings, before Bollington where again Clarence and Adelphi mills demanded our attention. Macclesfield, whose main claim to fame is as a silk spinning and weaving centre, was soon upon, we tried to moor up in the country but the water was to shallow to get any where near the bank and eventually we tied up between the Puss In Boots pub and the original Hovis Mill. The town is way down the hill and although I don’t like mooring near pubs we had a quite night.

THESE LITTLE PIGGIES MUST HAVE GONE TO MARKET

2011-06-01T13:30:00.008+02:00

THURSDAY 26TH MAY 2011

On my early morning walk with Duggie we came across these seven fine furry black pigs, but on our return the next day they weren’t there, just mum mooching about in another pen, sad!

The weather was cold and blustery, not at all what we were expecting for the end of May and we were all well wrapped up as we preceded under the two lift bridges and passed two swing bridges and the sweetie factory that makes ‘Swizzles’, you know when you are approaching by the sickly sweet smell in the air. We continued passed the junction to Buxworth, arriving in pouring rain at Whaley Bridge, the terminus of the Peak Forest Canal. We stopped for lunch and waited for the rain to abate before we explored, particularly the warehouse that covers the canal allowed loading and unloading in all weathers from the railway wagons that ran in right alongside the boats.

We returned to the junction and headed to Buxworth, The basin at the end is still called Bugsworth, but the worthies of the village at some point thought Buxworth had a more upmarket sound. In fact there is not much of a village at all, but the basin is on a grand scale with three arms, which allowed for the loading of great quantities of limestone that was brought down from the Quarries at Doveholes, over six miles away by horse drawn tramway. There is lots still to be seen including the old stone sleepers that carried the rails. The scenery is superb with the hills of The Peak Forest all around and The Navigation Pub that overlooks the basin filled all our needs and to my surprise the Nicholson’s guide says that Pat Phoenix who played Elsie Tanner in Coronation Street was at one time the landlady. We were so snug here that we decided to stay the night.

FORTIFIED

2011-06-01T13:16:00.005+02:00

TUESDAY 24TH TO WEDNESDAY 25TH MAY 2011

In the morning we reversed out and tied up on line, but with an electric hookup. There is a convenient laundrette and an Asda store, which was very useful as, early Wednesday morning, out regular boating chums, Kim and John would be arriving and we needed to do a bit of stocking up, so Tuesday was a chore day.

Wednesday was going to start with a full English breakfast as Kim and John would have been on the road from about 5.30am and that would get them fuelled up and ready for the climb up the Marple flight of sixteen locks. We got under way mid morning, but first we filled with water in the Portland Basin beside the Industrial Museum, before turning and entering the Peak Forest Canal. The scenery was very reminiscent of the Langollen Canal, with distant view of hills the other side of the deep Goyt River valley, particularly at the Marple Aqueduct which was very similar to the Chirk Aqueduct with a railway viaduct running alongside.

We had been warned that the locks were stiff, but whether that good breakfast had paid off, we found them very easy, each one taking only ten minutes on average and they were all very picturesquely situated. At the top of locks we were in Marple and also the junction with the Macclesfield Canal, we chose to continue on The Peak Forest Canal towards Whaley Bridge. There being no pub for several miles we stopped for the night after just a few minutes in a lovely spot.

WET & WINDY

2011-05-30T14:18:00.005+02:00

MONDAY 23RD MAY 2011

Wet and windy, that’s a description of the weather, not our attitude to tackling the eighteen locks of the Aston Canal. There was no sign of anybody, naughty or not, as we set off at eight o’clock, but the foul weather saw to that as well as the gentrified accommodation which has incorporated the original cranes and basins that have replaced all the old foundries and factories at Ancoats. Our progress was slowed at lock two where the water in the pound was reduced to protect a dam that separated the canal from a new marina that was in its final stages of construction next to the high rise apartments at Islington Wharf.

The Beswick section of locks is beside the impressive Sport City Stadium, which was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and is now home to Manchester City Football Club as well as a host of other sporting centres. The weather was truly appalling, but Jacquie preferred to work the locks rather than trying to control the boat is the high winds. The sighting of an Aldi store near lock 13 was all it needed for Jacquie to insist that we pause for some essential supplies and a spot of lunch and I took the opportunity to light the stove to help us warm up and dry out for when we finally reached our destination.

The wind dropped and for the last few locks and a couple of swing bridges Jacquie took the helm and I applied the muscle, by the time we reached Portland Basin at the Dukinfield Junction with the Hudderfield Narrow and the Peak Forest Canals, the rain had stopped and we also felt the need to stop.

We entered The Portland Basin Marina only to find that it didn’t open out as we expected, but got tighter and tighter, but we were given a warm welcome and invited to tie up for the night alongside the service area.

WHICH WAY TO TURN

2011-05-30T14:16:00.000+02:00

SUNDAY 22ND MAY 2011

It was time to tackle the infamous Rochdale Nine. Well we know from last years experience that it is not so daunting, just hard work. There is often a lot of water running over the top of the gates and some have a drum and chain arrangement to winch the gates open and closed and that can be tricky working out which way to turn the handle, Unfortunately right at the top we encountered a boat coming down, the owner of which appeared not to have a clue as to what he was doing, leaving paddles open and shutting gates when it was obvious we wanted to enter, despite our helping him. It’s a wonder as he must have come either come the Rochdale or the Aston flights and should have learnt something by then.

We were safely tucked up beside an office block on the other side to the towpath in the Ducie Street Basin ready for an early night and an equally early start in the morning This is suggested to avoid naughty boys that used to frequent these locks especially at weekends.

PISSOTIÈRE?

2011-05-30T14:05:00.002+02:00

SATURDAY 21ST MAY 2011

During my early morning walk with Duggie I came upon this interesting plaque, I assume it was an ancient urinal of some description, but I can’t find a definitive explanation. Any answers?

Jacquie had wanted to visit the Lowry Gallery at Salford Quays the last time we were in Manchester, but it didn’t happen, this time however we caught the Metro and alighted at the Quays, We had no idea that the docks here, were so large and now totally unused except by small sail boats and canoes. It was all very smart though and comprised a outlet shopping centre, The Imperial War Museum North as well as the Lowry Foundation, which is a theatre as well as the gallery. We both enjoyed this comprehensive collection of Lowry’s work and our understanding of this simple but complex man was aided by an excellent twenty minute film.

In the afternoon I enjoyed an amble around the Museum of Science and Industry, but before I could complete my tour of the sewers it was closing time. There are so many halls to explore, Power, Electric, Gas, Flight, to mention a few it’s not possible to do it all in one go.

A WILLOW WELCOME

2011-05-30T11:27:00.008+02:00

FRIDAY 20TH MAY 2011

True to his word Wayne had four, 25lt containers lined up ready as we moored alongside his wide beam boat. A hand pump neatly discharged their contents into our tank with hardly a drop spilt. Wayne’s business should do well as there are no boatyards for miles in either direction and the marina has no electric hook up all boat owners there have to run their engines or use generators to keep batteries topped up. His Granddad, Elias Grimshaw had worked the canals all his life and the nearby bridge had been named after him so it seemed appropriate that Wayne’s new business should be called after his celebrated Granddad and we wish him success.

We continued through the three locks back into Wigan, on the way I photographed the bronze statue of a very tired looking coalman leaning against the information board at Wigan Pier. We then turned onto the Leigh Branch and up two locks. It was now a straight run into Manchester and whilst I walked along the towpath I saw this lovely cuddle of goslings. The canal is now set high above the surrounding land, as the old coal mine works collapsed the ground sunk and large lakes formed and the canal had to be continually built up resulting in the two locks at Dover Inn disappearing. The only obstruction was the Plank Lane swing bridge, which is now a BW operated lift bridge, immediately beyond the bridge contractors were putting the finishing touches to a large, newly dredged area of water, the use of which eludes me, it could possible be moorings for the nearby pub, but I doubt it, anybody know the answer?

We bypassed the town of Leigh and were now on the Bridgewater Canal clearly indicated by the ubiquitous crane and stop boards at every bridge hole. Soon the old pit head winding gear of a coal mine appeared over the roof tops which indicates that this is where the Astley Green Colliery Museum is situated, sadly we didn’t have time to stop.

We slowed as we approached the sharp turn at Worsley, this is where the canal network started. The Duke of Bridgewater wanting an easy way to get the coal out of his mines and had a bright idea that floating it out in boats might work, it did and maybe floating it all the way into Manchester would also be a good idea, it was and that in a nutshell is what spawned Britain’s canal mania and the Industrial Revolution. The entrance to these old mine workings are still there in un-navigable waters beyond the bridge passed Worsley Old Hall, the black and white timbered court house. The water here is also bright orange, coloured by dissolved iron ore still leaching from the old mines.

Around the next corner at Parrin Lane Bridge, somebody has thoughtfully erected a lighthouse, apart from saying ‘No To The Incinerator’ as far as I can see, it’s only purpose is to say, that the age of folly building is not totally dead, hoo ray. However the purpose of the Barton Swing Aqueduct that carries the canal over the Manchester Ship Canal is very clear. I don’t know whether there is now any traffic coming up the Ship Canal that would necessitate the aqueduct to be swung, but the fact that it could is amazing.

Passed the Trafford Shopping Centre, the management of which has thoughtfully provided moorings to ensnare passing boaters and a left turn at Waters Meeting and we were back onto familiar waters at we travelled the last couple of miles into the centre of Manchester City with the Ship Canal paralleling us at a lower level. This had been one of our longest days cruising and we were pleased to turn into the moorings at Castlefield only to find it full, we did finally squeeze into a space beside the Merchants Warehouse, albeit shrouded at each end by a willow tree. Pretty!

DEEP CYCLE

2011-05-29T19:52:00.002+02:00

WEDNESDAY 18TH TO THURSDAY 19TH MAY 2011

Whilst we had been in Liverpool Jacquie had been doing a lot of research about marine batteries and we had very conflicting advice about fitting AGM batteries, but David Milner of WWW.pbbatteries.com had been very helpful and recommended that if we had the space we should fit six, six volt deep cycle batteries, this type are fitted to industrial floor cleaners and pallet trucks and are used to deep discharge and repeated recharging. I measured up, it would be tight, but they should fit OK. The cost would be nearly two and a half times that of replacement 135AH batteries, but we were assured they would pay for themselves in the long run, we bit the bullet and asked when thay could be fitted and Thursday 19th was agreed.

During the Wednesday we were gradually able to move SKYY back as close to the car park as possible in readiness for the batteries to be delivered and fitted and spent the rest of the day doing the usual chores and shopping.

At 7am on Thursday morning I heard a text come through on my mobile and it was Will of Powercell, saying that he would be with us at 8am, was this OK? Well it would be, if we got out of bed straight away and bang on time Will drove into the car park. Will was obviously much stronger than me, as he had no problem in just lifting the old batteries out, unlike me when previously I had to devise a method of levering them over the lip of the battery box. The new batteries did fit in the box with just a millimetre to spare and by 11.30 all was reconnected and the volt metre was showing a healthy 12.5 volts. We thanked Will and we will be keeping our fingers crossed for some time, hopeful that these new batteries will last at least three to four years.

We got moving straight away stopping just before Crooke, there is a marina there with a B for boatyard shown in the guide, but with no details and I hoped that we might be able to get some diesel tomorrow as it was now too late in the day. As we walked Duggie passed the Marina, which was on the non towpath side, we shouted across the canal to a chap on the stern of his boat, asking if the marina sold diesel, he asked how much we needed and I replied about 100lt and to my surprise he said no problem, just more up alongside him in the morning and he would fill us up. It transpired that Wayne was in the process of setting up a coal, gas and diesel, mobile floating service, but as yet the boat wasn’t ready, but the diesel was. I would sleep well tonight knowing we would soon have a full tank of fuel.

OUTWARD BOUND

2011-05-22T20:33:00.006+02:00

MONDAY 16TH TO TUESDAY 17TH MAY 2011

Monday morning and the wind was blowing as strong as ever as the same three boats we arrived with all prepared to leave the dock. Lots of throttle was the answer as we powered our way across the open expanse of water and arrived at the first of the locks to be greeted by the same BW chaps who escorted us in just a few days previously. About five hours later we bade them farewell as we passed through Swing Bridge 9.

We stopped for a late lunch, before carrying on another couple of hours to Haskayne. The Ship Inn sounded quite appealing in the Nicholson’s Guide, but we weren’t so sure when we arrived, but it was too late to go any further and in fact the food was simple fayre, but good. The only problem was, that last orders for food was 8.15, not a problem for us, as we were there in plenty of time, until it came to order desert at 8.30 and was told that the kitchen was closed, however the land lady did manage to rustle up cold apple pie and ice cream for the boys and just ice cream for the girls.

We got Ann and Brian back to their car in Burscough by Tuesday lunch time and sent them on their way with big hugs for being such good crew and great company.

OUT FOR A DUCK

2011-05-22T20:11:00.004+02:00

SATURDAY 14TH TO SUNDAY 15TH MAY 2011

There are three ‘Yellow Duckmarines’ giving visitors a tour of the city centre and the docks, these are converted WW11 DUKW amphibious craft and they enter and leave the docks via a slipway at the other corner to our moorings in Salthouse dock. I never managed to get a picture of them entering the dock, as all you hear is a blast on its hooter, a shriek, then a flash of yellow as the craft roars down the slipway sending a bow wave right over the top of the duck and setting all the pontoons and narrow boats bobbin up and down.

Our day began in Nauticalia bewitched by all of the goodies therein and the rest of the day was spent in the Maritime Museum. It’s a lot of museum and we started in the Slavery section before moving onto the Titanic and other galleries. Brian and I hadn’t seen everything, but it was time to collect Duggie and go for a walk along the Mersey, our plan was thwarted by the wind, out of the shelter of the dock buildings we could hardly stand up straight. We compromised by walking around the Albert Dock soaking up the atmosphere and helped by the few old sailing boats moored up we tried to visualise what it must have looked like in it’s working life.

In the evening we walked to the nearby, very futuristically designed shopping centre and dined on an upper level in the Yee Rah restaurant, predominantly Thai, but fortunately for me they served an international cuisine and I enjoyed a pasta. From out elevated position one of the new buildings in its final stage of construction, looked for all the world like the black prow of a transatlantic liner coming into dock, could the architects have been so imaginative?

Brian and I finished our exploration of the museum on Sunday morning whilst the girls immersed themselves in modern art in the Tate Gallery, we met for lunch and then wandered into the city centre, admiring the grand buildings. We dined on board that evening and prepared for an early departure the next day.

IN THE DOCK

2011-05-18T21:43:00.007+02:00

FRIDAY 13TH MAY 2011

The 60% chance of rain looked remote as we woke to a lovely sunny morning albeit still very windy. We moved onto Bridge Nine in plenty of time and whilst we waited for the BW guys to arrive, another Mini Schnauzer and owner walked passed. This little fella was called Milo and was only nine months old, both dogs instantly recognised each other as being distantly related and a man hug ensued, but in the photo it looks like Brian is the puppet master.

There were four boats in total waiting to be escorted into Liverpool and the skippers were given a briefing by the two friendly BW chaps, but we had re-read the skippers notes and studied the map of the docks last night and felt confident about what lay ahead. BW would operate the two swing bridges and we should try to keep together to minimise the delay to traffic, the second one should be reached in about forty minutes. We would then be on our own until we reached Stanley Locks which would take at least another two hours. A stop at Litherland Services, just before Bootle was expected, for pumpout, rubbish etc. and a quick nip into the large Tesco’s if required.

Again there was nothing spectacular about this part of the trip except the amount of rubbish in the canal, but fortunately it didn’t find our propeller attractive. However the 1861 Leigh Bridge just before the locks was very smart in its black and white livery. The weather forecast proved itself correct and gradually the cloud increased and by the time we turned towards the Stanley Locks the rain descended.

BW did all of the work dropping us down forty four feet and we emerged from the locks into Stanley Docks, surrounded by a derelict tobacco warehouse on the left and an unspecified but equally derelict warehouse on the right. Straight ahead was a bascule bridge the other side of which was the Victoria Clock Tower, sadly all its four faces told a different time.

Our route was clearly marked by strings of orange buoys and they lead us into a cutting through several filled in docks and then into a newly constructed lock, again BW were on hand to operate the lock and immediately we entered the first of three tunnels, emerging briefly for views of the Three Graces, The Royal Liver Building, The Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building. Another lock and we were in Canning Dock passing several dry docks before entering the famous Albert Dock and passing into our home for the next few days, Salthouse Dock.

Our allocated berth was Pontoon S8 tucked into the corner and sheltered from the wind. We were soon plugged into the shore power and the pumpout boat was quickly alongside, following our phone call to Liverpool Marina and the charge was still only £10. If we had asked for diesel, the operator would have ensured that he had some on board and at 78p a litre, it would have made sense to have filled our tank. Sadly my camera battery also ran flat, so some of the pictures shown were taken on our return journey.

A quick wash and brush up and we were out for a preliminary reconnoitre of what Albert Dock had to offer. The weather was decidedly stormy, but we managed to escape the worst of the rain. It was a difficult deciding which restaurant that we would grace with our presence later, but Miller & Carter was eventually selected and didn’t disappoint.

GROOMED TO PERFECTION

2011-05-18T19:24:00.007+02:00

WEDNESDAY 11TH TO THURSDAY 12TH MAY 2011

Duggie was in need of a haircut and some while back Jacquie contacted a dog groomer in Burscough and made arrangements for her to collect Duggie on Wednesday morning. Marge arrived exactly on time and Duggie happily jumped into her car and we waved goodbye, hoping for the best. In the meantime we brought SKYY up and moored her right alongside the car park and then went and did a big shop in Tesco’s and by the time we had done, a call from Marge said he was ready to return and what a lovely cut she had given him and the other good news was that he wasn’t nearly as much trouble as we had lead her to believe.

First thing in the morning before all of the above I walked Dug back down to the Rufford Branch and what a picturesque junction this is. An old dry dock surrounded by cottages is tucked in between the tow path bridge and the top lock and little swing bridge, one of the cottages is for sale, tempting, but not yet!
Brian and Ann arrived late in the afternoon after a tiring three hour journey, but a glass or two and then supper and they were relaxed. An early night was called for as we had fourteen miles and numerous swing bridges to negotiate before we would arrive at Bridge Ten tomorrow, this was where the guys from BW said that we should overnight before meeting up with them on Friday morning at Bridge Nine at nine o’clock.

Thursdays forecast was heavy rain showers, but although the weather was cloudy and windy the rain didn’t arrive. The journey to Bridge Ten was not particularly exciting, apart from some ivy covered road bridges, but the swing bridges keep you on your toes. They range from fully manual, to fully automatic and every conceivable variation in between. Some are purely for pedestrians, others for farm traffic, but some actually allow us the power to hold up real traffic, smashing!

Bridge Ten was one of those only occasionally used by farm traffic and is almost equidistant between the M57 and M58 motorways, but far enough away to ensure a peaceful night’s mooring. The only thing spoiling the tranquillity of this spot was the smell of bad eggs, our remaining three batteries obviously complaining and within a couple of hours the ‘Low Battery’ warning light was flashing on the inverter, it looks like we will definitely have to replace them as soon as possible.

PROPPER ROBBER

2011-05-18T19:03:00.005+02:00

MONDAY 9TH TO TUESDAY 10TH MAY 2011

The weather was stormy so we stayed put at Gathurst on Monday, but a walk up to Shevington between the showers brought to our notice the ‘Roburite Centre’ I assumed in my usual silly manner that this must be a government training centre for burglars, ensuring that they would emerge fully competent in all aspects of robbery.

The weather improved by Tuesday and we needed to move on. We took on water just below Dean Lock and continued through one more lock and three swing bridges before Parbold and it’s attractive old mill came into view. A couple of miles later the junction with the Rufford Branch turned off under a stone tow path bridge, this eventually leads onto the River Douglas and for the intrepid sailor, the tidal River Ribble and the Lancaster Canal, but not for us, Liverpool was still our destination. As we approached Burscough Bridge a interesting boat called Elizabeth caught the eye, how the owner managed to get his motorbike perched on the gunnel is a bit of a mystery.

We moored for the night just before the town, but an evening walk with Duggie revealed a decent sized Tesco’s, but most importantly, a car park, with no restrictions that backed right up to the tow path, ideal for when Ann and Brian join us again on Wednesday. The old wharf has just emerged from a major refurbishment, interesting shops, including one selling delicious ice cream, a tea shop and a smart restaurant surround the courtyard and there is also the beginnings of a chandlery. Boaters services have also been reopened with all the usual facilities, but no pumpout.

MEGA MILL DEAL

2011-05-09T19:21:00.002+02:00

SUNDAY 8TH MAY 2011

The main reason for returning to Wigan was to visit the steam engine at the red brick Trencherfield Mill, we had passed on Friday a bronze statue of a mill worker sat outside by the canal just before The Wigan Pier.

The train deposited us at Wallgate Station and within a minute or so we could see the mill tower with a banner advertising apartments and office space for sale and after a total of ten minute walk we arrived at the entrance door of the Mill Museum, only to find it closed, why was it closed? The sign on the door said open Sundays 11.00 to 11.45 and 1 to 1.45. we had missed it by less than a minute.

Ho hum! Nothing for it but to walk back up to the town centre, what a joy for Jacquie, all of the shops and stores in The Grand Arcade were open. I had lost her; there would be no return to the mill for Jacquie, I was on my own as I retraced my steps to the mill to be there for the 1pm. tour.

A blast from the hooter announced that the doors were open and into the reception area I went, I was greeted by Bill in his blue overalls. Bill explained that the cotton spinning machines were not operational; they had all been disconnected in readiness to move them in preparation for the arrival of more machinery, but sadly lack of funding had drawn a halt to the work and now the demonstrations of how the raw cotton was cleaned and spun had stopped for the time being.

Young Ben, also in his blue overalls, joined Bill and then Mike the chief engineer arrived to start the tour, you can imagine what Mike might be called amongst his colleagues, but I couldn’t possible repeat it. Up a few steps and into the engine hall and wow! This shiny green and brass giant of an engine dominated the hall. The engine built in 1907 was state of the art, four cylinders, sixteen valves, triple expansion, sounds a bit like a modern internal combustion engine, is considered to be the largest, still working steam engine in Europe.

It ran full time for over sixty years, providing lighting and power for all the hundreds of machines engaged in every aspect of producing high quality spun cotton yarn, in this five storey mill. It only came to a stop when spinning cotton was no longer commercially viable in the late 60’s. It was taken over by the council in 1984 as a visitor attraction, but in 2001 it was deemed unsafe and again stopped. Following a complete £600,000 plus restoration it was restarted in 2004 and is magnificent.

There was only two other visitors present, a young mother and small daughter, It was thought that a Rugby match was keeping visitors away, but so much the better for me. Ben turned a valve and steam could be heard throbbing through the unseen pipes and only when he turned the large wheel in the centre of the pedestal was there a hiss of steam and slowly this massive machine came to life, with the connecting rods starting to spin the seventy ton fly wheel, as if it was a bicycle wheel. At full revolutions the wheel is revolving at over fifty mile and hour, producing two and a half thousand horse power. All of this power is transferred from the fly wheel by cotton ropes to wheels high up in the roof of the hall and from there the energy was sent to shafts on every floor of the mill. Bill told me that the term ‘Grease Monkey’ was given to the small children that scurried around the gantries high up in the roof, their job was to lubricate the bearings that supported these spinning shafts with tallow to ensure that friction didn’t cause a fire. Imagine dodging around all of those whirring, flapping wide leather belts that fed the power down to the spinning machines on the floor, stuff of nightmares.

The little girl was given the privilege of turning the valve to the hooter and it was several seconds later that the blast reverberated down in to the engine hall, ah, if only I could get SKYY’s hooter to sound as good. I do hope that the funding is sorted out, to enable all of the spinning machinery to be put back into working order and the museum to be opened for more days and longer hours, but even as the museum is now, it is worth every effort to ensure you get there on a Sunday and at the right time.

I met up with Jacquie and caught the 3.13 train back to Gathurst, after the splendour of the steam engine; this spartan two coach train looked as if it had been imported from some third world country, but it did what was required and we were back on SKYY within six minutes just before the forecasted rain arrived.

GOING DOWN

2011-05-09T09:26:00.004+02:00

FRIDAY 6TH TO SATURDAY 7TH MAY 2011

It poured with rain overnight and was still raining when I took Duggie out for his morning walk. I was togged up in waterproof trousers, jacket and leather hat, but by the time we returned the sun was out and I was down to T shirt and jeans for the start of our descent down the twenty one locks of the Wigan flight, yep, you read right, TWENTY ONE!.

Jacquie took the helm and followed Honley Lass, helmed by Mary, into the first lock, no. 64, whilst Michael and I worked the paddles and gates. 1816 is proudly engraved into the head stones of the first bridge under which the boats passed as they exited the lock, one down and twenty to go.

The boys got into a steady routine, with one of us moving on down to fill the next lock in readiness and generally the gates were open for the two boats to glide in together as if breasted up, with Jacquie proving to be as accurate as ever in getting the boat neatly into the locks. All was going well until Duggie found a new four legged friend and refused to return, I had to abandon the lock duty to recover him and for the rest of the way he was on the naughty step. There was a little rain shower about three locks down and we all grabbed our jackets, but soon hung them back up again.

The locks came and went, suddenly I realised that being in lock 82 meant there were only three more to go. My thighs were tingling, and it did seem that the paddles were getting harder to wind up but otherwise I felt fine, in fact only one lock gate defeated me and Jacquie bravely climbed up from the bottom of the lock chamber and fortunately our combined weight got the gate to open. Some of the gates that were close to bridges had shorter beams and a drum and chain arrangement to open them was used, others had a rack and pinion mechanism and these gates were by far the easiest to open and close, except one lock where a new mechanism had been fitted, but it was so low geared that although easy to turn the windlass, the number of turns was exhausting.

In lock 85 we said our farewells to Michael and Mary as they would be turning off onto the Leigh Branch whilst we would continue on to Liverpool. However almost immediately Henhurst Lock confronted us and our stomachs and muscles demanded that we stop for lunch. Just four hours in total, which works out at eleven and a half minute a lock, not bad.

We really did want to visit Wigan but didn’t fancy an overnight stay in the centre, so we summoned up our last reserves of energy and moved on. Through two locks under a bridge and a sharp turn to the left and the famous Wigan Pier appeared, originally a coal loading staithe and the warehouse behind it is now the Orwell pub. Two more locks and three miles, before we moored in a pastoral place, where the little River Douglas meandered alongside the canal, just before the little commune of Gathurst. There is a train station here and hopefully there would be a Sunday service to get us back to Wigan.

Saturday was spent resting the aching muscles and relaxing, but we did check out the train service back to Wigan. Fortunately, ‘the computer said yes’ there was an hourly service on the half hour for £1.70 return for the five minute journey and the station is only one minute walk from the canal.

DIVE DIVE DIVE

2011-05-07T15:19:00.004+02:00

WEDNESDAY 4TH TO THURSDAY 5TH MAY 2011

The wind had dropped at last and its was pleasantly warm so by the time we had travelled just three miles to the top lock of the seven, Johnson’s Hillock Locks, filled with water and scrubbed the grass of the boat, we decided to stay for the rest of the day.

The little village of Wheelton and its clock tower, provided bread and a Magnum for me and the Top Lock Inn a refreshing drink in the sunshine for both of us.

Michael and Mary from Honley Lass where happy to share the seven locks with us on Thursday morning. Knowing the area well they suggested Friday was the best day to tackle the Wigan flight and as we had proved to be a good locking team, maybe we should continue together, which we were more than happy to agree to.

On the way to Chorley we passed the Botany Bay Village, which is evidently a ‘shopping experience’ in a converted mill, but the unlikely presence of a German submarine moored alongside looked somewhat more interesting. The canal skirted Chorley and we continued to the village of Adlington, stopping for lunch and a snooze.

A final burst of four and a bit miles and we arrived at the top of the Wigan flight. It is a little confusing as the canal appears to carry on under a bridge, but this is the southern end of the Lancaster Canal which was never completed. The locks start immediately after a sharp right turn and we moored just behind Honley Lass ready to start our descent at nine am sharp.

GRASSED UP

2011-05-07T15:07:00.005+02:00

MONDAY 2ND TO TUESDAY 3RD MAY 2011

Before our departure in the morning we discovered several rows of brick lined kilns, I don’t think that they were for lime, but more for firing bricks, in fact they are coke ovens, as I later found out. A filled in loading basin alongside indicated that this was probably a sizeable commercial operation in it’s time.

Under the M65 motorway and mix of open country and villages and we were on the outskirts of Blackburn. Again we were surprised that the City didn’t impose upon the canal. The Cathedral could be seen way below us and even as we descended the six locks civilization kept its distance, except for some converted mills and a wharf side inn, very similar to the one at Burnley

We had decided not to stop and visit Blackburn, but carried on passed the attractively sounding village of Cherry Tree and hooked up to the armco at Riley Green. The helpful guy who did the pump out back at the marina had suggested that this was a good place to stop and to walk the quarter mile up the road to The Royal Oak; we did as recommended and enjoyed an evening drink in this attractive hostelry.

We decided to tarry an extra day here, but first thing on Tuesday morning the voltage was down to nine. After running the engine to charge the battery there was a smell of bad eggs, firstly I thought it was emanating from the toilet tank, but on proper investigation I realized it was from the bank of batteries. One of the batteries was really hot and fumes could be seen rising. I disconnected it and hoped that the remaining three batteries would then hold their charge.

In the afternoon BW contractors arrived to cut the grass around the ‘Visitors Mooring’. Well, all they did was to strim the grass immediately along side SKYY and for a further few yards, ignoring the fact that the moorings continued for at least another six boat lengths. The resulting mess would eventually take a thorough scrubbing to remove the residue, but I guess we were lucky not to have a broken window, thankful for small mercies eh!

THE WIND BLOW YER KNOW

2011-05-07T14:42:00.006+02:00

SUNDAY 1ST MAY 2011

It was just as windy when we left our pontoon and I had to use plenty of power to ensure that SKYY turned left towards the exit rather than being blow back down towards the dead end, but we made it out of the marina and moored up online for a pumpout and diesel before heading on

The approach and transit through Burnley was not at all as we had expected, a high, three quarter mile, straight embankment carries the canal above the town centre to one side and industry on the other, it is easy to moor and access the town centre from the embankment. It is only after a sharp right hand bend that we entered the Weavers Triangle, firstly the Inn on the Wharf, a pub, converted from weavers warehouses, immediately followed by an expanse of covered wharfs. The canal then twists and turns passed derelict mills, some with only their chimneys still standing proud, others that are slowly being converted to suit today’s requirements.

We commented on how few boats there are about on this bank holiday weekend, when as I confidently approached the entrance to Gannow Tunnel, Jacquie shouted back from the bow that there was a boat coming towards us. The wind blew SKYY over into the shrubbery as we waited for the boat to emerge and it took a bit of shoving to get lined up with the tunnel entrance, but more fun awaited us on the other side of the tunnel.

Back into open country the wind really picked up and at one place on a particularly exposed point I was using at least twenty five of my thirty eight horse power just to keep SKYY going more or less in a straight line and I was very pleased when we entered a more sheltered area. Small villages dot the canal side with their mills and warehouses and at Church we passed the Leeds and Liverpool Canal midpoint, just sixty three and a half miles to go to our destination, Liverpool and a couple miles further on just beyond West End we moored for the night.

ROYAL WEDDING

2011-05-03T20:06:00.003+02:00

THURSDAY 28TH TO SATURDAY 30TH APRIL 2011

Our batteries are once again giving us a problem, after just two days of not cruising, although running the engine for at least four hours a day over the last two days, the volt meter said only ten volts this morning. Accordingly we decided to book ourselves into the nearby Reedley Marina, just three miles away. We stopped off at Morrison on the way, who very obligingly have got a secure mooring for two boats right alongside the store; this was one of the most convenient big shop we have done, we even didn’t have to take the trolley back to the store entrance as a parking space had been provided by the canal.

It was quite windy as we entered the marina but another moorer found us a slot and helped us reversed SKYY onto a pontoon. We were soon plugged in to the shoreline, filled with water and the washing machine started. The next job was to get the satellite dish aimed at Astra 2 to ensure we had a good signal for ‘The Wedding’.

The Marina is well situated and everybody was very friendly, after watching the wedding on TV we joined a small party, but the wind was so cold that we didn’t stay too long. I have to admit I am a bit of a softy and really enjoyed the TV coverage especially appreciative of the rear view of the Maid of Honour.

We caught the bus into Burnley on Saturday, unfortunately the museum of The Weavers Triangle was only open from two to four o’clock and we didn’t feel the need to stay any longer in the town. The actual triangle is in a state of decay and is currently being regenerated and the town centre is nothing to write home about, so we were soon at the bus station and caught the number 29 bus back to the marina

WITCH WAY

2011-04-29T20:04:00.003+02:00

TUESDAY 26TH TO WEDNESDAY 27TH APRIL 2011

A taxi collected us all from the nearby carpark and dropped us off at the bus station in Nelson, we had big hugs before leaving Brian and Ann to catch a couple of busses back to their car at Rodley whilst we walked back along the canal to SKYY to start catching up on laundry and blog etc.

On Wednesday we walked back into Barrowsford in time to visit the Heritage Centre, This is based around the house and garden of Park Hill the ancestral home of the Bannister family, yep the family that Sir Roger Bannister, the first four minute miler hailed from. However the family had relinquished all claim to the estate over two hundred years before Sir Roger brought the family name back to prominence. Just outside the walled garden there is an ancient 'cruck' barn that had been re-erected at this site some years ago and when our eyes had got used to the gloom we discovered two very friendly goats. The museum also has a film and a display about the infamous Pendle Witches who were tried and hanged in Lancaster.

I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

2011-04-29T20:03:00.002+02:00

MONDAY 25TH APRIL 2011

No more swing bridges now as we headed south. On the way to Foulridge Tunnel we passed from Yorkshire to Lancaster and now it’s Red Roses all the way. The entrance to the tunnel is controlled by traffic lights and as they were set to red we tied up to wait. Duggie jumped ashore, and almost immediately the lights changed to green and on checking my watch it was dead on eleven o’clock. We headed off, second in a queue of four boats and suddenly realised Duggie was still ashore, some rapid reversing and Brian jumped off, scooped up the pooch and jumped back on and we resumed our place in the line-up. The dry weather ensured that the tunnel only dripped on us and after twenty minutes or so we emerged back into the sunshine.

A mile later the first of the seven Barrowford Locks appeared. I had been looking forward to treating everyone to an ice cream at Top Lock Ice Creams, but sadly they have closed after three years trading, it appears that BW had wanted to increase the rent to twenty thousand pound a year, obviously not tenable.

Now we were descending and the views were splendid, but worryingly the level of the water in the reservoir alongside the locks seemed much lower than we would have expected at this time of year. We passed under the M65 and a local road and the last two locks where we decided that there was a good mooring spot on the right. After a very late lunch we walked into Barrowford, but had left it too late to visit The Heritage Centre, instead we had a drink at the very old White Bear Inn, before returning to SKYY for Brian and Anne to start packing as sadly they would be leaving us tomorrow

FULL STEAM AHEAD

2011-04-29T20:00:00.002+02:00

SUNDAY 24TH APRIL 2011

By the time we were up Jeff’s boat had a full head of steam, the boiler gauge showed 80psi and surprisingly when Jeff untied Whistle Down The Wind and set off the engine was absolutely silent, only the sound of his two whistles broke the silence of another beautiful morning. I expected at least some chuff chuffing, but the exhaust steam is fed into the condensers unlike on steam trains.

We headed off and after a couple of miles we climbed the last three locks at Greenberfield and were then on the summit of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Another couple of miles and we stopped at Salterforth right beside the Anchor Inn. On the way we passed Barnoldswick, which principle reason for being is Rolls Royce, I was hoping there would be a factory outlet unit for ‘slightly second’ Rollers, but it a centre for experimental work on aero engines.

We took a walk around the village during which Jacquie couldn’t resist having a swing on a tyre. A drink in the Anchor followed whilst a topside of beef cooked in the Cobb BBQ. Having previously roasted a whole chicken and a leg of lamb, confidence had grown and the beef with Yorkshire pudding was delicious.

LAST GASP

2011-04-27T22:23:00.002+02:00

SATURDAY 23RD APRIL 2011

Another perfect morning as we covered the last few miles in a northerly direction before encountering the first of the twelve locks that we would have to work through today. After this lock we would start to head south, but still climbing towards the summit. We bypassed Gargrave, only stopping for lunch when the work of the locks was completed.

Beyond Bank Newton the canal twists and turns back on itself over and over again as it hugs the contour of the deep folds in the land and the Langber TV mast keeps appearing unexpectedly. The canal straightens out as we approached the strange Double Arched Bridge, this was created when the alignment of the road was changed and rather than build a totally new bridge, the builders simple built the new one on top of the old, why not?

As we filled with water, just before the bridge a steam hooter was heard, no sign of a railway line for a steam train to be running on, so what could it be, mystery solved when we walked under the bridge and moored up was N.B. Whistle Down The Wind with its proud owner Jeff Laycock. Jeff had fitted the engine, boiler and all of the ancillary gear, condensers, generators etc. himself and incredibly he was able to run the boat single handed. The only other steam boat I know, President, seems to need a crew of half a dozen. There was only enough steam left for one final whistle, but he would be back in the morning for more ‘sea trials’. Jeff’s other claim to fame was that he was a child extra in the Hayley Mills film ‘Whistle Down The Wind’ Ten bob and a proper dinner every day during the filming at nearby Bacup left a strong enough memory to appropriately name his boat after the film.

SUNNY SKIPTON

2011-04-27T22:22:00.003+02:00

FRIDAY 22ND APRIL 2011

As we left Kildwick we realised that it is an unusual village as the cemetery is on both sides of the canal, linked by a little bridge with a small stone lych gate to one side. Also one of the roads dived down at an angle to the canal only to emerge on the other side, interesting, very interesting.

We were beginning to see clutches of ducklings now, always a high spot at this time of year. There were also more hire boats around now, not such good news, but the positive side; means boatyards and the nice guys at Snaygill Boats, pumped us out and provided a full bottle of gas despite turning around their own hire fleet on this busy Easter weekend.

Not all Northern towns delight, but Skipton ticked all of the boxes. We moored opposite the bus station at Gallows Bridge, so called because the old wooden bridge resembled a gallows, not because it had been used as one. The buildings are in the main Georgian and a street market filled the wide high street. The short Spring Branch curves passed an old watermill before terminating in a deep ravine surmounted by Skipton Castle, the purpose of this arm was to bring out the limestone that was and still is being quarried there, but lorries now take the stone away.

Full trip boats chugged up and down all the time and the town was full to bursting with visitors appreciating the fine weather and the shops, many of which were specialist in outdoor and adventure clothing and equipment for those wishing to explore the adjacent moorland.

Despite all of Skipton’s charm we decided not to stay overnight, but moved on to a perfect mooring right on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, between bridges 173 and 174. We tried to take pictures of the sunset, but again the sky was too hazy, however the sound and sight of curlews delighted us.

PIE TIME

2011-04-27T22:15:00.003+02:00

THURSDAY 21ST APRIL 2011

The first couple of hours of this lovely day were spent trying to find why my new twin tooter wasn’t working. It worked fine when I wired it into the tunnel light circuit, so nothing wrong with the horn and maybe nothing wrong with the old one, but the day was too grand to waste fiddling about and I could still use my air horn until I puzzled out the problem. Whilst Brian and I fiddled the girls went off in search of a chemist as I was now coughing and sneezing, having caught Jacquie’s cold and they soon returned with cough mixture and Lemsip to sooth my fevered and frustrated brow.

The countryside was lovely, but the sky was a little hazy so our photos don’t do it justice. We only travelled five miles, but went through eight swing bridges before we came upon the village of Kildwick and The White Lion Hotel and its pies. We all had pie, chips and mushy peas with ham hock, that evening, Brian and Jacquie had game, Ann had steak and ale and I had beef and Blackstick cheese. They were all delicious, but left us with no room for desert, ho-hum.

RAISE YOU FIVE

2011-04-26T20:35:00.001+02:00

WEDNESDAY 20TH APRIL 2011

Almost immediately on leaving our overnight mooring we encountered the Dowley Gap two lock staircase. Simple, ensure the top lock is full and the bottom one is empty and all is well. By the time we reached the Three Rise we had worked out exactly what we needed to do, but young John was on hand to ensure that all went well and we did as we were instructed and as we left he phoned ahead to advise the famous Barry Whitelock that we were on our way.

On our way, Duggie had a close encounter with a goose, not to be confused with a duck. Ducks quickly take to the water or air when Duggie charges then, but a goose stands its ground and this one made Duggie back off, I think he will be a tad more respectful in any future confrontation. Our other discovery was the Bingley was not only home to the Bradford and Bingley Building Society, but to Damart, the thermal clothing manufacturer, as the chimney proudly proclaimed.

Barry has been looking after the Bingley Five Rise locks for over thirty years, but it was Rick (only ten years service) who greeted us and controlled all of the opening and closing of paddles ensuring our smooth rise up the sixty foot climb. The only thing that got confused was our little weather forecaster, that translated the resulting drop in air pressure to a forecast of rain, despite the flawless weather that we were actually experiencing. Barry nodded a welcome to us at the top, obviously in recognition that we had done as told and sent us on our way with the knowledge that fifty yards further on was a water point that actually had water coming out it. Here we filled the water tank, looking forward to all of us having a shower that evening.

We moored for the evening at Riddlesden, just after bridge 197A and to my amazement, Puffer Parts is based here, everything I needed and all at very competitive prices complete with friendly and helpful service from the owner and colleague. A new clamp on cowl for the chimney, the old one blew off, new fenders, a replacement windlass; I left one behind on our second day out and a new twin horn to replace the one that has finally stopped working. The rest of the day was spent trying to get the new one to work, but with no success as there would appear to be a problem in the wiring.

TITUS SALT

2011-04-26T20:34:00.001+02:00

TUESDAY 19TH APRIL 2011

Titus, was clearly a man of vision, who decided to take his mill and his workforce out of the squalor of Bradford to the clean open country beside the River Aire. Sensible he chose to build his mill between the canal and the railway ensuring the best possible transportation of this cloth to the buying public. When the New Mill was being planned, between the canal and the river, there were complaints that the chimney would be a blight on the landscape. Titus’s solution was too have it styled as an Italian campanile and that is what we see today.

He built a village to house his workforce, churches for them to worship in, Institutes to improve their knowledge, schools to educate the children, playing fields to keep them fit, a hospital to keep them healthy and baths to keep them clean, but it seems that the baths were unpopular and rarely used and were soon converted to more housing.

The village is still almost exactly as it was built, except for the cars parked outside. The Mechanics Institute is now the Victoria Hall, which houses amongst other things a Museum of organs and harmoniums, but was not open when we visited.

The mills have now been converted to apartments, offices, and a NHS centre. As far we were concerned the main interest, was the ground floor1853 gallery exhibiting works by David Hockney; from his earliest to his latest. It is a vast space filled with books, pottery and art material, all displayed on interesting furniture and perfumed by the numerous vases of fresh lilies. My particular favourites were his photo collages and his painting of the mill.

Jacquie thought she had died and gone to heaven when she climbed the stairs and found herself in the Cook and Home Shop, perhaps wishing that she had a proper kitchen and home to equip.

We moved on through Hirst Lock and Swing Bridge to a delightful mooring. The River Aire chuckled along below us and the sun lit up the surrounding trees, whilst Brian and I lit the BBQ and placed a whole chicken under the lid to roast. I must admit I was a bit sceptical, but The Cobb cook book says ‘that’s what you do’ and it really did cook it well, the bonus was that it left the oven free for all the trimmings, delicious.

SWINGERS

2011-04-26T20:20:00.005+02:00

MONDAY 18TH APRIL 2011

As expected our start wasn’t as early as promised, but the morning was perfect and scenery wonderful as we traversed the Aire Valley. The only downside was that the waterpoint at the BW yard at the top of the Dodson Locks had virtually no pressure and after an hour and a half our tank was still not full, but the view back down the locks made up for the wait.

The swing bridges came fast and furious and we were very pleased to have our crew to do the hard work. We swung northwards, following the river, rising up the triple staircase of Field Locks before the canal headed back south again and industry and housing became evident, but fortunately it did not intrude onto the canal, until we were right into Shipley. We tied up by Gallows footbridge, we didn’t hang about though, but went straight to the nearby Aldi store.

The town of Shipley didn’t entice us, but Saltaire did. We tried to moor up the other side of the famous mills, but sadly we couldn’t get close enough to get ashore, so backed up and tied to two of the many bollards between the mills, these are supposedly only to be used for a maximum of six hours, between nine in the morning and six in the evening, but as we were the only boat there we thought, nah doesn’t apply to us. Seems to me that BW needs to dredge the bank and make alternative overnight moorings available if they are going to enforce that ruling.

RED COATS

2011-04-26T20:16:00.001+02:00

SUNDAY 17TH APRIL 2011

Not only did I think that Rodley was a picturesque place, so did half of Leeds. Our quite mooring spot beside Canal Road was soon surrounded by cyclists, walkers with and without dogs of all shapes and sizes and of course, gongoozelers and a nearby ice cream van was doing a roaring trade.

At one point several Red Coat solders marched passed and stopped at the Rodley Barge for refreshment, they must have been warm under all that uniform. We found out from one of the camp followers that these Red Coats of His Majesties 33rd Regiment of Foot, a regiment that was recruited from the West Riding of Yorkshire and had fought at Waterloo, were getting marching fit before travelling to Belgium and retracing the actual positions of that battle. Apparently the metal heeled army shoes of that period had no left or right, making them cheaper to make and quicker to put on in an emergency.

Ann & Brian arrived late afternoon, but as the crowds drifted away we decided to stay where we were for another night and promised ourselves an early start.

AIRE WE GO

2011-04-17T14:14:00.002+02:00

SATURDAY 16TH APRIL 2011

The Nicholson Guide suggest that three hours is what is required to clear Newley Locks and that stopping between there and the centre of Leeds is not recommended. It took us five hours to clear the thirteen locks. The last six locks are actually two flights of three staircase locks and BW staff were on hand to work them for us. It was just about three o’clock when we passed through and then the BW guys immediately locked them up. I’m not sure what the situation would have been if we had left Leeds centre at the latest time of three o’clock as recommended, but common sense prevailed and we had left in plenty of time.

After the first lock we said goodbye to the River Aire as we entered the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the river would be one side of us or other for many miles, but now it was back to the cosiness of a canal. The journey was very pleasant and we were accompanied through the locks by N.B. Meadow Pippet, captained by Polly and crewed by a lovely bunch of lasses determined to enjoy this grand day. We continued a couple more miles to the picturesque village of Rodley and settled down to await the arrival on Sunday of Brian and Ann, who are regular boating chums.

CITY SLICKERS

2011-04-17T13:37:00.004+02:00

FRIDAY 15TH APRIL 2011 A small patch of grass for Duggie to allow him to perform his duties and then we marched of to the shopping centre of Leeds. Five minutes, over the river and under the railway and up Briggate and we were in a pedestrian area with an abundance of designer stores and shops, many of them in beautiful Victorian arcades decorated with a wealth of intricately painted casting, Harvey Nic’s and Vivienne Westwood just to name two.
It was a delight to wander around window shopping safe in the knowledge that it was mostly beyond our pockets. Duggie was much admired, Jacquie having spent some time grooming him before we set off, however he didn’t impress a member of security who politely pointed out that dogs were not allowed in the arcades, I pointed out equally politely that they should make it clear on all of the many entrances and he didn’t push the issue.

In the afternoon we visited the Armoury. We enjoyed the amazing display of assorted weaponry, mounted on the walls of the tower, a pyramid mirror on the ground floor helps one fully appreciate the display without breaking the neck. The suits of armour are also incredible, the workman ship is superb, but how people moved around in these creations, never mind fighting is mind boggling. By floor four of the five we had had enough of the glorification of all the different ways to kill and maim as many people as possible, don’t get me wrong it is an excellent museum and kids obviously love it, but I could hardly think what it must have been like to be on the receiving end of this weaponry.

One mystery solved, on the base of the Armoury tower is a blue plaque celebrating the life and achievements of John Smeaton, a Leeds born man; amongst the many civil engineering projects he had been involved in, the most outstanding was the design of the third Eddystone Lighthouse, which remained standing for 118 years before it was dismantled and partially rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe. Not surprising that I at first sight thought this tower looked a bit like a lighthouse.

LEED ON

2011-04-15T21:16:00.006+02:00

THURSDAY 14TH APRIL 2011

We were on our way by ten o’clock and the cooling towers of Ferrybridge power station loomed ahead as we passed through the flood lock. Just over an hour later Bullholme Lock appeared ahead. The light was on amber, but as no one was on duty we tied up and taking our BW key with us we inserted it into the control box, followed the instructions, pressed the buttons in the right order and the gates swung open and in we went and the good news was that all of the rest of the locks to Leeds would be just as easy, which was as well, as Jacquie, although over the worst of her cold was still feeling fragile.

A few minutes later we stopped at Castleford for coffee whilst the water tank was filling. Just after midday we turned sharp right after the flood lock at the junction of the Rivers Aire and Calder and headed towards Leeds on the Aire.

It was much less windy than yesterday, good cruising weather, we passed but didn’t stop at the Thwaite Mills Industrial Museum, marked by a restored steam crane and after five locks and ten miles and some impressively converted warehouses, we turned sharp left into Clarence Dock. What looked like a rather strange lighthouse was in fact the tower of The Armoury Museum which is right alongside the dock, brilliant.

We reversed onto one of the pontoons, the mooring is free for 48 hours complete with water and card operated electricity hook up. All the old wharfs and warehouses around the dock have gone and have been replaced by smart offices and apartments with restaurants and retail units at ground level and a Tesco Express just two minutes walk away. It is a safe and quite city centre mooring and the design is exciting, but it does look a bit grey and cold, but I guess a drop of sunshine and a few more people about and it would brighten up. There is a plaque on a wall with a plan showing all of the old warehouses and factories that used to surrounded the docks and a list of all the companies that were based here, that certainly helped to get a feel of what this area must have been like in its working heyday.

MIXED EMOTIONS

2011-04-14T22:23:00.005+02:00

WEDNESDAY 13TH APRIL 2011

I had the colonoscopy last Friday and yesterday evening the doctor says all was fine and GO! but here is a prescription for another capsule you must take for a couple of months, but hey, good news indeed.

We have had a couple of shake down cruises to Haddersley Lock and back which is where the Selby Canal joins the River Aire. It is a delightful spot and the first cruise back at the end of March was with friend Sylvia and her Danish chum Anne-Marie, whose lap Duggie spent most of the time sitting on.

Last Sunday we joined Pete and Doreen of N.B. KEB with a friend and four really lovely young people. The first BBQ of the year and super weather and fortunately I could still steer SKYY in a straight line. Today the journey would be one way, Yippee!! the adventures of SKYY and her crew were about to start again, but real sadness as we were saying au revoir to some lovely people, many who had become real friends, but they have all been so kind to us over the last, almost, nine months.

On the way to being refueled and pumped out Steve and Nikki from the newly launched N.B. Wayward Spinner piped us on our way and after Dave did his business with the various hoses and settling our bill with Marge in the chandlery, with a promise that we would return, we prepared to set off. Pete and Doreen were providing us with an escort to Haddersley and just as we were casting off Sylvia and her little dog arrived; with a promise from Pete that he would bring Sylvia back to the Boat Centre, Sylvia jumped on board for one last cruise.

The weather wasn’t as warm as last Sunday and the wind was brisk, but it was dry, well it was until we exited the Haddersley flood lock and after final hugs on the pontoon there were a few tears, of course it was the wind making our eyes water. We set of in convoy with N.B. Sunset Song, along the wide expanse of the River Aire, retracing our route of last July. We shared the work at the two locks before we stopped for the night just before the Ferrybridge flood lock. We might have carried on as the lock was open at both ends, but the warning light was on red and as we were tying up at the secure visitor mooring two huge gravel barges surged through the lock and then the warning light switched to amber, now we know that red definitely means stop.

The owners of Sunset Song decided to push on the Castleford, but as Jacquie was still suffering from a bad cold we decided to call it a day, light the stove and have an early night. Tomorrow we would, for us, be churning new water as we headed for The City of Leeds.

WATERWAYS MUSEUM

2011-04-07T19:12:00.019+02:00

TUESDAY 29TH MARCH 2011

I am getting bored, SKYY is ready to go and so are we, but I am awaiting a phone call for hopefully my last hospital appointment. Recent blood test have shown a decreasing iron level and my doctor wants this investigated before we leave, I have already had a gastro endoscopy, which was inconclusive and an ‘up periscope’ examination is now required, ho hum. In the meantime I decide to visit The Yorkshire Waterways Museum at Goole WWW.waterwaysmuseum.org.uk Admission is free, which surprised me, but it isn’t a large museum and it is funded by the charity that runs the Sobriety Project. The internal display is all about how and why Goole Docks were built by The Aire and Calder Navigation Company and how the town of Goole was created to support the docks. Models of the various types of vessel that used this, the furthest inland dock in the country, are displayed along with many other interesting artefacts.

One of the many boats moored outside is Sobriety, a converted Humber Keel, now used for educational trips, Chris who skippered Ouse Patrol down to Goole in January, see blog OUSE CRUISE was doing some welding on her. Another craft is the tug Wheldale, Chris’s dad for many years skippered her, towing Tom Pudding to and from the coal mines, and he totally restored her when she was given to the Museum. Attached to the front of the tug is a ‘Jebus, this is a false bow that was fastened to the first of the heavily loaded Tom Pudding compartments to provide a more stream line front end to stop water slopping into the front tub and sinking it. When the tubs were being towed back empty of coal the Jebus was attached to the front of the tug, as it is now.

Alongside the tug is a square rigged keel, in full working trim, this is owned and sailed by Chris who restored and maintains her in excellent condition. I spent an interesting few hours here supported by a ploughman’s baguette from the well priced cafeteria. The other good news is that within minutes of getting back to SKYY my phone rang and an appointment was made with the hospital, that all being well, will enable us to get on our way only a few days later than originally intended.

CRANE DAY

2011-03-16T14:40:00.005+01:00

TUESDAY 15TH MARCH 2011

Something interesting to blog about at last. February and March have been used to get SKYY smartened up ready to start cruising, painting out last years battle scars etc, but nothing worth photographing or blogging about, until Tuesday.

N.B. Wayward Spinner has been inside a poly tunnel since we arrived at the Selby Boat Centre and was being fitted out by Neil, a professional boat fitter and a superb job he has been doing. The owners, Steve and Nikki, were due to move on board and be launched at the end of last month, well they did move on board, but the cranes hire company had problems, it seems that the modern lorry mounted crane is a marvel of computer and electronic wizardry, but when it goes wrong you can’t just call the RAC or even RCR. Eventually on the 15th of March a 100 ton crane arrived on site promptly at 9 o’clock, albeit over two weeks late.

The poly tunnel had been dismantled some while back, leaving Wayward Spinner exposed, sitting on its sleepers. The first lift was to swing her to a position adjacent to the canal side, and lot of adjusting of the strops took place before she was lifted and gently lowered into the correct position. The strops and chains were released, but it took some while before the crane was reversed alongside the boat, during the interval the jib was fully extended which I think was to run the lifting cable off the winding drum and then retracted allowing the cable to be rewound, there had been several loud ‘boings’ on this lift which fortunately came from he crane rather than Wayward Spinner clonking against anything and I imagine the crane driver was ensuring the cable was positioned correctly on the drum. Naturally there were calls across the canal to Steve who was on the far side to get the best view, that the crane had broken down, fortunately he quickly realised it was just his leg that was being pulled.

The final lift, swing and lowering into the canal was accomplished very smoothly and Wayward Spinner settled down into the water looking well trimmed. Almost immediately Steve disappeared inside to put ‘t’ kettle on for a cup of tea, to warm their chums on this chilly misty morning, at this, the start of the next stage of their adventure and tonight for the first time they would be rocked to sleep.

Another boat was to take advantage of the crane; this is as yet, unnamed shell had very recently been blacked and painted and was immediately adjacent to the other side of the crane, but before being lifted the crane drive delicately lowered a new engine into the engine bay where its rested on the bearers, to be bolted down at a later date. The main lift was spectacularly much higher this time, to clear a small tree, but as before the boats first wetting went very smoothly, but it would obviously need a lot of ballast and trimming and for this boat, the hard work of fitting out was about to begin for the owner.

Not long before we start off, we have booked our passage into the centre of Liverpool docks for the middle of May. This promises to be quite an exciting passage, BW staff will escort us in from just east of Aintree and we will pass through all of the main docks, through tunnels and passed the Royal Liver Building before mooring in Salterhouse Dock. This has only been possible since construction of the Liverpool Canal Link in 2009 and the booking was very straightforward, following a phone call to BW at Wigan on 01942 405700. The very helpful Denise Bradshaw emailed me the Information and Skippers Guide plus application forms. The two completed forms have to signed and returned and within a couple of days my Booking Confirmation and mooring plan had been emailed onto me. Hopefully this year there will be enough water in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal to get us there, but watch out for when my blogging starts in earnest.

OUSE CRUISE

2011-01-22T17:03:00.006+01:00

FRIDAY 21ST JANUARY 2011

Today is another blogging exception, except the cruising wasn’t on SKYY but on Ouse Patrol, this was the vessel that for years up until 2004 had daily plotted the deep water channel from Goole to Trent falls

Back last year on November the 11th Ouse Patrol slipped its mooring from just astern of SKYY at the Selby Boat Centre and headed off towards Goole, sadly it never made it beyond the swing bridge to Selby Basin, stopped by a overheating port engine and there it stayed, frozen in until a few days ago when on just the starboard engine it was eased into the relative safety of the basin. Fortunately the only damage from vandalism amounted to one broken and one cracked window, with nothing stolen or damaged.

A couple of days later Brian & John who had been looking after her called on me to say Hi and that the water cooler had been repaired and she was ready to head off on Friday, I asked if I could join them for the voyage to Goole Docks and at 9 o’clock on an icy cold Friday morning I was met by Brian, John and Chris who would be the skipper. The two six cylinder Lister engines were coaxed into life by Brian amidst clouds of white smoke and the good news was that there did appear to be sufficient water coming outboard from the port engine. John set about organising the ropes, Chris got the feel of the engine controls and my job was to scrape the ice off the out and insides of all the windows.

The Environment Agency guys pulled back the flood defence barrier in front of the lock, it had been a full moon two nights ago which can mean very high tides and Nigel the relief lock keep, open the lock gates crunching up the one inch thick ice that had formed overnight. The wash from the twin props broke up the ice behind us and Ouse Patrol was reversed back into the clear water before being nudged forward towards the lock entrance, the ice scrunched up all around us, but Chris got her in and Nigel went to work with his buttons and soon the boat was heading out and down stream and under the massive swing bridge that carries the Selby bypass over the river.

As the engines warmed up the smoke from the exhausts completely disappeared and all we left behind was a substantial bow wave, the generator was charging, both engines were running at the perfect temperature and oil pressure was fine, accepting that the port gauge in the wheelhouse was showing zero, but Brian said that the gauge in the engine room was fine.

Even though there was plenty of water in the river Chris kept the boat well away from the inside of the numerous bend as going aground on an ebb tide is not the thing to do. On our port side we passed the entrance to the River Derwent, which Chris said was now un-navigable, if you did manage to get up to the first lock which wasn’t operable there was no where to turn round. Shortly afterwards the cooling towers of Drax power station were on our right followed by the huge blades of dozen or so wind turbines.

Asselby Island was kept to our left; many boats have tried it the other way and have become stuck fast. Whilst traversing the island The River Aire joined us from the right, this river used to be navigable from West Haddersley, at the other end of The Selby Canal, but not now. We passed under the swinging part of Boothferry Swing Bridge of which Brian had a couple of interesting tales to tell and then under the central arch of the M62 Motorway. A few more twist and turns and under Goole Railway Swing Bridge and Goole harbour was in sight. If Victoria Lock was operational it would be a simple case of cruising straight in and just putting on the brakes before reaching the far end. As it is. Ocean lock is the one in use now and that faces down stream, Chris kept in tight to the harbour wall and slowed right down as he approached the jetty that jutted out in front of us, the other side of which the flow from the Dutch River joins the Ouse. Just before the jetty and side onto the entrance to the lock Chris put the helm over to port and just using the starboard engine swung the boat 250 deg so that it was now heading straight into this massive lock. John hooked to one of the locks ladders and up we went entering into the all most deserted port. We passed under a small bridge and on our left was the last three preserved Tom Puddings and their hydraulically operated lift and loading chute that used to pick up these tubs and empty the coal into waiting boats. The wooden water tower that provided the hydraulic pressure to operate it also looked very well preserved. There had been many of these towers dotted around port providing the pressure to operate the locks and cranes, but all gone now.

Ouse Patrol found a secure mooring close to the Waterways Museum into whose care she may find herself. The crew had all really enjoyed the trip especially as the boat had behaved so well. Chris ran us all back to Selby to collect the vehicle that they had arrived in and to drop me off, thanks guys for your friendship and a great morning on the river and good fortune to Ouse Patrol.

SCARBOROUGH

2011-01-22T16:44:00.006+01:00

TUESDAY 19TH JANUARY 2011

As regular follows know I only generally blog about what we do when out cruising, but today was such a gorgeous one it seemed a shame not to share. We decided to drive to Scarborough, it took about an hour and at this time of year you can park free for three hours right on the sea front.

We drove into South Bay under a high pedestrian bridge and parked up and walked back under and over this bridge towards the Spa and concert hall before descending and letting Duggie join all the other dogs on the beach. Yep, between October and March dogs are allowed, providing you clean up after them.

The harbour is still a working one and a boat was unloading its catch as we walked around and up to the lighthouse. In the inner harbour boats of all descriptions lay tranquilly against their moorings and with the ancient castle as a backdrop the resulting photograph would be perfect for a jigsaw.

Coffee and cake in a harbour side café completes our three hour stay and we drove back heading into a splendid sunset, promising ourselves that we would return again.

Other SKYY news is that we did indeed spend Christmas on SKYY with a couple of local friend joining us. However the New Year was spent in the South of England, spreading ourselves out amongst as many chums as we could fit in over a fortnight, only returning to SKYY on the 13th of January.

Before Christmas we eventually bought a porta potti, but from the local Argus store as the couriers for the Ebay one couldn’t promise when they would be able to deliver, Our money was immediately refunded by the supplier. Fortunately the warmer weather at the beginning of this week did enable us to get a pumpout. Although the canal did refreeze Wednesday night the forecast until the end of January does not indicate another ice ages, so fingers crossed that February will be kind to us all.

BRRRRRR

2010-12-02T20:01:00.007+01:00

MONDAY 1ST TO TUESDAY 30TH NOVEMBER 2010

What a difference in the weather from the beginning to the end of November, but we are very cosy and warm on Skyy and the electric blanket is lovely making Jacquie’s sexy!! fleece pyjamas almost superfluous. At the beginning of the month we had a delivery of ten 25k bags of Homefire Ovals from www.coals2u.co.uk, it burns hot and long and one bag lasts between four and five days, depending on how cold it is. We have just ordered another ten bags which road and snow permitting will hopefull reach us before we use the last bag.

Fortunately the water supply remains turned on and providing the day time temperature gets above freezing we are able to keep our water tank topped up. The only problem is that the needle on the gauge to the loo tank is now well into the red and SKYY is well and truly iced in. Even if we could break SKYY free of the ice, the pump out facilities are frozen and very often the basic on shore toilet is also frozen. To save us having to keep walk crossed leg to MacDonalds, Homebase, Sainsburys etc. we decided to order from an EBay supplier a Porta Potti, fortunately it will fit into our bathroom between the existing toilet and the shower and we can empty the cassette at the Sanitary Station at Selby Lock, unfortunately the new Porta Potti is frozen into the couriers depot in Hull, but hopefully it will arrive tomorrow.

Duggie loves the snow, all ten inched of it, but hates his coat and hides when it comes into view, but on these very cold days it’s essential. As it is his legs and face gets covered in snowballs that stick to his fur and depending as to how much is stuck he either goes into the shower or a bowl of hot water and a flannel will suffice to melt it.

Since the beginning of the month I have been attending the rehab sessions and ‘Romping through it’ was how my progress was described by one of the physios. I have one more week to go, this weeks session having been cancelled because of the bad weather. In between there have been numerous trips to the doctors for final cardiac assessment, blood tests, retinal photography, test results and dentist etc. and the good news is that I am absolutely fine.

Ever since SKYY came to Selby Boat Centre the Motor Vessel Ouse Patrol had been moored up behind us. This is a very sturdy business like boat but was starting to look rather tired and neglected, when a couple of chaps came along and said that the intention was to take her back to Goole Docks. Whilst they abortively attempted to start the twin six cylinder diesel engines, batteries were very dead, I had a long chat with them. Up to 2004 this vessel went out every day from Goole to plot the shipping channel along the Rivers Trent and Ouse, and each day the river pilots were given the daily plot. In October 2004 the Ouse Patrol and it’s regular crew all retired and the boat has unsuccessfully been up for sale ever since. Jeb, one of the crew lent me a DVD of a film of that last day at work and how different she looked with all her brass work gleaming and her shiny white paint. On the 11th November the crew returned and the batteries having been recharged the engines started in a cloud of exhaust smoke and slowly she eased out into the middle of the canal all the time scrapping the bottom. Her destination was Selby Lock and downstream to Goole, but I was surprised that evening to see that she had only got as far as the Selby Swing Bridge, just before the lock basin and there she still is and surprisingly vandal free, but for how long? Hopefully she will soon be on her way to a safer location.

In the middle of the month we drove south, stopping of at lots of different friend before staying nearly a week with Tor and her nine month little girl, Emily, what a delight, although I stayed well out of the way at feeding time and nappy changing events, Emily got on well with Duggie providing the stair guard was between them, saving Duggies, Dennis Healey eye brows from tugging and Emily’s fingers from a nip. We ended our trip at Kim and Johns, before heading back to Selby on Sunday.

Monday evening, just after I arrived back from rehab, Phil and Lynne plus Stanley the dog arrived for a visit. Duggie and Stanley had a quick spat before peace and eventual friendship took over. On the Wednesday Lynne brought her ninety year old Dad for a visit. He joined us back in the summer on the River Weaver and as then, we went for a little cruise, although the weather was dry and bright as it was last time, it was very cold, but we got the stove stoked up so that it was warm enough for him to sit under the cratch cover in the front well as we cruised up to Haddersley Lock. We turned and stopped for lunch here, arriving back at our mooring just before it got dark when Lynne ran her Pop back to Brighouse before returning to SKYY for supper. They left us early next morning for the start of their return trip to the West Country.

Our intention is to stay on SKYY for Christmas and at the moment it looks as if it will be a white one, it is all very pretty at the moment but warmer weather if it arrives won’t disappoint. In the meantime stay warm and our good wishes go out to all those brave continuous cruisers.

MAC'S IN REHAB

2010-10-29T12:40:00.003+02:00

TUESDAY 7TH SEPTEMBER TO FRIDAY 29TH OCTOBER

I'm obviously feeling so much better that I feel the need to do a bit more blogging.
The sun is shinning and the stove is keeping us all cosy, I've had a little snooze and even my brain is feeling fit, so here goes.

Again thank you to everyone who has left a comment on the blog, saying nice things and wishing us well. I find it hard to understand that my blog 'followers' has doubled to 24. Obviously there is nothing like a good medical drama to increase interested concern and again thanks.

Our stay in Selby has not been lonely, we have had visits from Kim and John, Marilyn and Brian and Colin and Barbara and a very surprise visit from John of N.B Tangine Queen on his way up North to join chums for some serious walking.

We have also visited the lovely market town of Knaresborough with its unusual painted windows. I amazed both Jacquie and myself by being able to walk up from the river to the castle with just a short stop to catch my breath that would have been impossible before my operation; the angina would have meant stopping several times until the pain subsided, what a result!

We have also visited my hospital chum Bob and Christine, twice at their home, which is in a magnificent setting, once whilst he was waiting for his operation following his MRSA infection and happily again a week or so following his successful valve replacement. We also keep in touch by phone and he is progressing well.

Jacquie, Duggie and I are regularly walking between four to six miles a day and my bottom half is feeling very fit and although Jacquie does allow me to look after the ash and coal for the stove and other boat chores my upper body feels a bit weedy, excepting of course that I was never was a Charles Atlas. However I have now started the rehabilitation course at York hospital and the team know that I expect to look a little like Charlton Heston in Ben Hur when they have done with me, although I have been told not to hold my breath.

The course is for six weeks, two hours, two days a week. The first hour is carefully controlled and monitored exercise. A waist strap and wrist watch continually show my heart rate and before, during and after exercise my blood pressure is taken. I have also enrolled onto a research project to confirm whether additional strength exercises are beneficial in the long term for cardiac patients. This means that I get to use weights and some machines which most certainly will be beneficial for me when we start cruising again, but at the moment my back is a bit achy but by Monday I shall be ready for the next session. The second hour is for informal talks and discussions relating to every aspect of recovery and our future well being. Without doubt we made the right decision to stay the winter in Selby and make the most of this excellent programme and all the other follow up appointments with my cardiologist and for blood tests etc.

Life is full of surprises, our computer throws a wobbly a couple of weeks, and firstly we couldn't send or receive emails through Outlook. My mate Andy who initially set up our web page enabled us to access our emails through the internet, but then we suddenly also lost our internet connection and for us that is really like being up a creak without a paddle. Whilst idly chatting to boating neighbour Pete, I casually mentioned our computer problem, when he said "Before I retired I was an IT communications expert, maybe I can sort it for you" One hour and a cup of strong tea later, the problem was solved. Our virus checker Norton had somehow got mashed and was blocking everything. Pete had a Norton removal tool on his 34G stick, he removed Norton, replaced it with AVG, a free virus checker and now everything is hunky dory, what a star.

Off to a pub quiz tonight with Pete and his Wife so we will have an opportunity to say thank with more than just a cup of tea.

That's it for now, but will occasionally post a blog to keep all interested followers up to date. Stay warm and dry.

HOMEWARD BOUND

2010-09-24T13:44:00.003+02:00

WEDNESBURY 1ST TO MONDAY 6TH SEPTEMBER 2010

Jacquie and Dawn planned to collect me at about 4.30 which was just as well as it took all of the day to prepare the discharge letters and my medication and to remove the stitches from my three drain holes, but finally all was done.

Before I was released I got a phone call from Bob, he had been transferred from York and was now at Hull in Ward 27. I checked with the Charge Nurse and he escorted me to bay 10 in the adjoining ward, it was great seeing my hospital chum and Bob was impressed to see me walking tall as I approached him. We didn't have long as, like me a week earlier; there were lots of staff needing to see him. A nice touch was that Jacquie and my sister were able to wish Bob good luck as he was being wheeled in to the lift on his way for an X-ray as they arrived to collect me.

There was grateful farewell to all the staff who had looked after me so well and it was really amazing to think that less than a week ago I could hardly sit up in bed and now I am walking down the corridors and out into the sunshine. I waited whilst Jacquie brought the car to the entrance; I had a fear that getting into the car would be painful, but not a problem. I did have to hold the seat belt away from my chest, but it was a lovely drive home and soon I was back on SKYY.

I slept much better than expected, deprived now of the all singing and dancing hospital bed, I was propped up with all the spare pillows that Jacquie could find. My Sister headed for home in the afternoon and I took my first totter around our new home, The Selby Boat Centre and its interesting collection of boats, both in and out of the water. I also met and was able to thank many of the folk who had helped Jacquie get SKYY settled in.

The only downside to the day was a call from Bob to say that his operation had been cancelled at the last moment, due to a nasal swab showing that he had picked a hospital infection at York and he was going to being sent home until the infection was cured. It was only because Bob had had his pre-med that he could laugh at the situation as he was really gutted and this would delay his operation for up to three weeks.

I continued to improve, but my appetite was diminishing and by Saturday I was having to push food in to me, this was a mistake as shortly after lunch it all forcible returned and poor Jacquie had one hell of a mess to clear up. This condition was caused by the anaesthetic working itself out of my body and for the next twenty four hours I ate nothing and drank only water as still my sense of taste was awful.

By Monday I was feeling much better and the weather was still bright and sunny, so Jacquie drove Duggie and me, with the roof down to Bridlington. Jacquie parked in the harbour car park and I was delighted to be part of the big wide world once again. The seagulls were hovering in the wind that was smashing the waves over the harbour wall and the smell of fish and chips was everywhere so that we soon succumbed. Sitting in the sunshine with a beautifully battered cod each and a portion of chips between us, this was the best tasting meal I had enjoyed for a long time, my taste buds were obviously returning to normal.

We finished of our stay with a drink, only diet coke for me, in a bar with a panoramic view of the coast, before Jacquie drove us home, with me feeling so pleased to be alive.

Not much more to blog about now, we have taken the decision to winter at Selby, everything is so convenient. The towpaths are in excellent condition and this stretch of canal is very attractive giving me plenty of reason to keep extending my walking distance. I will take advantage of the rehabilitation course at York hospital, two days a week, so that by next spring I will be fully fit and ready for cruising again.

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped, offered help and shown concern over the last couple of months, and to everybody who follows this blog and a very special huge big thank you to my Jacquie, it certainly reassures your faith in the goodness of human nature and most definitely in the NHS. The excellent treatment I received and their fabulous staff were magnificent.

I probably won't be blogging much between now and the spring, but we anticipate an early cast off as soon as weather permits, when the adventures of N.B. SKYY will continue.

RECOVERY

2010-09-17T16:23:00.002+02:00

FRIDAY 27TH TO TUESDAY 31ST AUGUST 2010

My memory of the next couple of days are a bit vague, but I was soon out of ITC which has a dedicated nurse to each patient and into HOB, High Observation Bay, which is a six bed bay with two nurses. During my stay in this bay I was encouraged to sit out, albeit still attached to bottles by drainage tubes. Eating and washing were also important activities and eventually the various tubes were removed except the one in the neck, allowing me to totter of to the loo supported by the wheelie stand supporting my insulin drip.

All of these activities were initially exhausting, but it was amazing how quickly strength started to return and within two days of the op. I was returned to the general ward and had my first shower, wow, now that was exhausting. My wounds were healing well and my appetite had returned and regular bedside X-rays showed that my lungs were clear. The only down side was that my observations, including blood sugar was being taken every two hours, right through the night, leading to very disturbed sleep.

The following photo, taken on my phone shows me enjoying the current edition of Canal Boat magazine.

Jacquie's B&B was great and she was able to leave Duggie playing with her hosts two dogs whilst she was visiting me. On Tuesday my Sister, Dawn arrived. Jacquie collected her from the nearby station and brought her to visit me, following which they both returned to SKYY at her new mooring. Almost as soon as they had gone the insulin drip and the line in my neck was taken out and as I was now free from all encumbrances I was able to prove to the physio that I could walk the corridors and manage the stairs up and down. On this basis the decision was taken to discharge me late tomorrow. Hooray! almost a month to the day from my admission to York Hospital I was going to be released and one day within the anticipated seven days after surgery, yippee!

OPERATION

2010-09-14T17:19:00.000+02:00

THURSDAY 26TH AUGUST 2010

I was scheduled for the second sitting or more appropriately second laying. Jacquie arrived at 9.30 and then commenced the long wait until my trolley arrived at 1.30. I was starving, but my hunger was soon forgotten as several needles were inserted in my arm and then the mask descended.

Jacquie popped her head into Intensive Care Unit at about 9pm, having already been told that operation was a success and three grafts had been made. However she didn't stay long as I was still on a ventilator and not yet ready to chat.

TRANSPORTATION

2010-09-14T16:47:00.002+02:00

WEDNESDAY 25TH AUGUST 2010

Today I was to be transferred to Castle Hill Hospital at Hull. I had had swabs taken from up my nose, armpit and groin to hopefully prove that I wasn't incubating anything nasty, but ward experience had taught me not to expect anything to happen until it happened and when Sister Sara said "Your transport will be here within the next ten minutes or four hours" that pretty much summed it up. As it happened it was within the hour and when the ambulance crew complete with wheel chair came to collect me there was a rush of goodbyes to my fellow patients, especially Bob, who I hoped to see in Hull on the following Tuesday and of course the wonderful nursing staff, with hugs, chaste kisses and a few tears. They are stars, every one of them.

It had been decided that Jacquie wouldn't visit today; she had made arrangements for two chaps from the Selby Boat Centre to help her move SKYY from her birth beside the lock to an on line mooring at the Centre. About half a mile away. Here it should be possible to pick up a TV signal, but more importantly SKYY could be plugged into mains electricity, thereby saving having to run the engine for several hours a day.

Before being snugged into her new home, which would be with another narrow boat breasted along side us SKYY was pumped out and filled up with diesel ready for my return.

I arrived at Castle Hill about one hour after leaving York and was wheeled into a very smart two storey state of the art Cardiac Unit and was made very welcome by both the staff and residents of bay three ward 26. The other three residents were all post operative and it was very encouraging to see how well they were doing.

The big surprise was when I was told that my operation was being brought forward to tomorrow. Less time to worry about it for me, but Jacquie wasn't planning to decamp to Hull until tomorrow by which time I could be on the operating table. Jacquie had made arrangements for her and Duggie to stay in a dog friendly B&B close to the hospital. Fortunately a call to the B&B confirmed that it would be fine to arrive a day earlier. Jacquie coped with the pressure of ensuring she had everything packed in time to get to visit me that evening and without getting too lost found her way to the welcoming B&B.

During the afternoon I had more swabs taken, had all the risks explained by a Doctor and the odds of surviving the operation were about 97%, had a chat with the anaesthetist and the Doctor who would be removing the donor vein from my leg and stitching me back up afterwards and finally Mr Choudary, the surgeon who would be doing the actual grafting, scuse the pun. After all that I was supposed to sleep well, but surprisingly I did.

PATIENTS

2010-09-07T20:01:00.004+02:00

TUESDAY 17TH TO TUESDAY 24TH AUGUST 2010

During this period Bob and I settled down to wait patiently for our forthcoming operations and would invite new admissions to join our little clique. John came in and immediately isolated himself via head phones and his notebook computer. It took us a little while to realise that John was still in a state of shock following his heart attack, but being a fellow Scot along with Bob, he started to talk about what had happened to him and eventually he was relating to the rest of the ward.

It was intriguing though, that just before John was going to be transferred to Leeds for a Pace Maker implant, a relatively simple procedure, and he said “I don’t know if I really need this implant operation" considering that he was only alive because his wife had been a nurse and had administered CPR until the ambulance had arrived we assumed that his comment was due to his fear of the procedure. We took it upon ourselves to assure him that the alternative to not having his procedure could be fatal and packed him off to Leeds with our good wishes.

Back at Selby interesting things were happening and Jacquie was right at hand to capture the action on camera. A full size tree had been brought off the River Ouse, hauled through the lock and up to the side of the basin. It was too heavy to be lifted out in one piece, so Nigel and Jim the BW lengths men, assisted by Fred the lock keeper pulled it out of the water as far as possible and gradually reduced it in size and loaded it onto the truck bit by bit.

The following picture is of Fred relaxing in his Lock Keepers hut and a couple of SKYY showing her safely moored up beside the lock. I take this opportunity to publicly thank him and his BW colleagues for their help and assurance that they gave Jacquie. Another example of how BW staff at the sharp really do go the extra mile when the need arrives

Over the weekend Joy, a long time friend of Jacquie's, arrived from West London at York railway station in time for visiting, a very welcome companion for Jacquie for a couple of nights and a fresh visitor for me who came bearing chocolate, naughty!

Another thing had happened to Jacquie that I had forgotten to blog, on the previous Monday our new 100ah alternator failed to start charging. Jacquie called RCR and within a couple of hours they had an engineer out, Jacquie is getting used to playing the 'Woe is me' role. He used our jump leads from the car and showed Jacquie how to link the starter and domestic batteries, but only whilst the engine was running. She would have to run the engine for considerable longer than usual, but at 9am on Thursday another engineer turned up and fitted a replacement alternator making only a very modest charge. Again congratulations to RCR for handling this situation so promptly and considerately.

CABBAGE

2010-09-06T21:16:00.005+02:00

TUESDAY 10TH TO MONDAY 16TH AUGUST 2010

Before I continue to relate the alternate adventures of Cap’n Mac, which will have a happy ending, my thanks to Carol and George of Rock’n’Roll and to Sue & Vic of Retirement No Problem for their good wishes through ‘Comments’. Also to Clive Davies aka Swampy, who I met on the Aston Canal in 2008, on my first and last attempt to fish. Congratulation on your purchase of Widget and good fortune in restoring her over the next few months and I look forward to catching sight of you and Wychcraft next year.

The days roll on, the regular appearance of nurse with the blood pressure machine and then the drugs trolley become high points of the day and an opportunity for a little cheeky banter. All conversation stops when food arrives and it is surprisingly good, best described as school dinners on a really good day.

The most important thing to happen in this period was on Friday when I was visited by Mr Choudary, Hulls Heart Head Honcho at Castle Hill Hospital. I was expecting his visit in the afternoon and Jacquie had prepared a list of questions to ask and intended to be there, however he arrived mid morning and without wasting time explained that it would have to be a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, usually referred to as Cabbage. In my case four bypasses were required, but it might not be possible to carry them all out, in the meantime it was thought best to keep me in hospital until I would be transferred to Castle Hill Hospital in Hull.

Whilst Jacquie was visiting that afternoon Sister came around with the news that I was booked in for surgery on the 27th of August and would be transferred to Hull on the 25th, now we can start planning.

There were four other patients in my bay and every now and then somebody got to go home. Tom from Selby left to be replaced by the larger than life George, 83 and forever breaking into song. Peter, considerable younger than me, had been in for over five weeks. He was on a six week course of IV antibiotic drip every four hours night and day. If at the end of this treatment his MRSA infection had cleared up he would be transferred to Leeds to replace a failing a ten year old pig valve with a metal one. Fortunately Pete's zany sense of humour matched mine and we became the cheeky chappies/grumpy old men of Ward 32.

Jacquie’s isolation was broken towards the end of the week by the arrival of her son Ashley and at the weekend, Justine, Ashley's girlfriend also arrived. The weather was good and they managed to enjoy a visit to Castle Howard before brightening my day. Jacquie also brought the camera into the ward and took a picture of me trying to get the blog up to the point when we got SKYY back to Selby

Bob arrived on the ward and instantly we became the Three Amigos, but shortly afterwards Pete was transferred to Leeds for his Op. However by now Bob and I had discovered that we had so much in common, our interests, life’s tragedies and our attitude to life and mostly an aversion to bed pans, that we became our own support group, plus Jacquie and Bob's partner, Christine, hit it off so well that we know our friendship will last long after recovery.

ANGIOGRAM

2010-09-05T11:19:00.000+02:00

FRIDAY 6TH AUGUST TO MONDAY 9TH AUGUST 2010

By now I felt fine, no pain and I was being well looked after, I had been transferred to the general coronary ward and at some point I had a scan of my heart taken, just like a pregnant mum only I didn’t get to keep any pictures. Jacquie was coping well. She had hired a car to get to and fro for visiting time and the lock keepers at Selby had moved SKYY from the visitors mooring and into the basin close to the long term moorings. There was a water point and hose right along side, but no electricity, but SKYY could stay there for as long as necessary.

During the weekend Jacquie returned the hire car to Enterprise in Leamington Spa and got a taxi back to Wigrams Turn Marina to collect our car. As expected, after four months the battery was flat, but Don the Harbour Master jump started the car and Jacquie’s first stop was Halfords in Daventry for a new battery to be fitted. That done Jacquie headed up to Nottingham to stay the night with Ann and Brian and arrived back in York in time to visit me and this time with Duggie who obviously had nearly forgotten who I was, unfaithful little fella.

On Monday morning I was sent down for an Angiogram, the first I knew of it was when Sister dropped one of those flappy open back gowns and a pair of paper knickers on my bed and said are you OK to shave your groin, sadly I had to admit that I probably could manage on my own, so no fun to be had there then.

In the very high tech visual imagining suite, they insert a tube up the femoral artery from the groin right into the heart and at various stages a dye is introduced into the blood stream, the progress of which is monitored via several X Ray screens. The way the dye travels through and around the hearts arteries indicates where the problems are. In my case there were two completely blocked coronary arteries and a couple of others that were 80% blocked. Something would have to be done but at this stage the Doctor performing the procedure wasn’t willing to confirm the way forward, but said that the heart specialists at both Hull and Leeds hospitals would confer on Friday and decide on the best way forward.

Nothing for it but to be made a model patient and patiently wait until Friday.

BLUES 'N' TWOS

2010-09-05T10:52:00.000+02:00

TUESDAY 3RD TO THURSDAY 5TH AUGUST 2010

Here we are again, not cruising yet but an explanation for the delay in continuing our return journey south is called for.

Unfortunately at approximately 5.30 on Tuesday morning I started to experience chest pain which continued to increase until I realised Jacquie needed to call for an ambulance.

I was diagnosed with angina twelve years ago and had got used to managing the pain, understanding that pain was the heart telling me to slow down or stop whatever it was that I was doing. However last Friday whilst I was filling SKYY with water at Boroughbridge unexpectedly pain kicked in and for the first time ever it did not go away when I sat down.

By the time Jacquie returned from the shops the pain had gradually subsided, but I was left feeling a bit shaky. After a rest I felt OK enough to start on our return to York and after a few hours we arrived safely and happily I was still feeling OK.

I had a very lazy weekend in York, with Jacquie taking over all dog walking responsibilities. I realised that I needed to visit a doctors and that it was possible that I would be sent to hospital for tests, but I didn't want to leave Jacquie and the boat vulnerable on a river that was prone to flooding. On Monday morning I felt fine and we returned to the safety of the Selby Canal.

My intention to visit the doctors in Selby on Tuesday was rendered obsolete as the ambulance drew up right alongside SKYY and seemingly in no time at all we arrived at the emergency entrance of the York Hospital at about 6am. The pain had subsided after several sprays of GTN, and after a short stay in A&E I was transferred by trolley to the Acute Medical Unit on the second floor, for further observations. Around about lunch time and surprisingly I was looking forward to it, well, I had missed out on breakfast, I was informed by Ann, Sister of the Critical Care Unit that I ticked enough boxes to be admitted to her ward. By wheel chair this time Ann took me up to the top floor and the moment I arrived I was wired up and told not to move, but press the red button for what ever I might need. My scepticism that a bottle made out of recycled egg boxes could hold a liquid was ill founded, which was good news considering that 'not moving' meant exactly that.

I was in CCU for 48 hours whilst they decided that I was out of risk of another attack. Blood tests confirmed that I had experienced a mild heart attack and that I should be kept in for further tests. I obviously won’t be back on SKYY for a while yet and regrettably there are no photos as Jacquie forgot to pick up the camera as I was being lead out to the ambulance, you just can’t the staff!!!

A LOAD OF BULL

2010-08-16T11:41:00.006+02:00

MONDAY 2ND AUGUST 2010

Some consideration as to the route of our continuing journey south had been taken. The return in to Selby Lock was a little cause of concern and we had thought that maybe we would continue down the River Ouse to Goole but following phone calls to Associated British Ports and to the Goole Boat Club we decided to come off at Selby. Unless we arrived at exactly the right time at Ocean Lock, before or after high tide there would be substantial charge for locking through and if we had to moor against the pontoon whilst waiting for the right state of tide we would incur additional charges. Also the very helpful chap at the Boat Club pointed out that it was very easy to run aground and on an ebbing tide which would mean having to wait until the tide turned and floated you off, his belated suggestion was that we should have gone to York via Goole as that was a much easier passage for a narrow boat, too late for that now,

The lock keeper at Naburn lock had previously advised us that 1.15pm was the time to lock through so we had plenty of time before leaving York. While we were having a late breakfast a flotilla of large river cruisers arrived and moored up nearby. They had had a difficult passage coming upstream from Goole because of the amount of debris in the river. My immediate reaction was ‘whimpy plastic boat owners’ as when we came upstream whilst the river was still in flood, there was hardy anything in the water, anyway we would soon see for ourselves.

Just over an hour later and having passed under a disused railway bridge which supported a remarkable wire sculpture of a fisherman with a train on the end of his hook we cruised into the cut for Naburn Lock. I almost missed the turn and had to back up a bit, but fortunately there was no sign of the weir. As usual, right on the dot of 1.15 we were in the lock along with a BW work boat, several small river cruisers and one other narrow boat and a few minutes later we were on our way downstream.

Well, those cruiser owners were right, the river was absolutely full of rubbish, from clumps of weed to full size tree trunks, the workboat and cruisers soon left the two narrow boats behind as we weaved our way between the obstructions. For the first hour or so the current was still against us and at one point where the river narrowed it really slowed us down, although I had the engine revs at the fastest that I have ever cruised at 1,800 rpm. Gradually the flow slackened and with hardly any delay it started to flow the other way and our speed past the river banks and the obstructions rapidly quickened. At one point we passed a floating inflated bull and on the bank a herd of cows looked on, possible mourning the loss of ‘big daddy bull’.

As we approached the last turn in the river before Selby, I called the lock keeper on the VHF and was assured that by the time we got there the lock would be ready. I passed under the left hand arches of the two swing bridges and as the lock came into view I reduced the revs to tick over and keeping to the left side initiated the 180 deg turn. For a moment I thought I might have been able to sweep straight into the lock, but the current continued to swing the stern around and just like last year on the Thames, SKYY slowly started to move back upstream and gradually the bow entered the entrance to the lock and we were in.

Safely tied up in Selby basin we were concerned to hear that the swing bridge at Keadby was broken and unless repaired fairly soon, our only way onto the River Trent would be at Trent Falls which is where the rivers Trent and Ouse meet on their way down the Humber to the North Sea, not a journey that I would willing contemplate. However we decided to stay put for the time being, so there probably won’t be much blogging for a while, but normal blogging service will resume as soon as possible.

STEAMED UP

2010-08-15T20:17:00.003+02:00

SATURDAY 31ST JULY TO SUNDAY 1ST AUGUST 2010

Jacquie attacked the shops whilst I strolled up to and over the combined pedestrian/railway bridge and along to the National Railway Museum. No entry fee required, but a donation was requested, I have no problem with that.

I started in the main engine shed where displayed close together is the first practicable steam locomotive, Stephenson’s Rocket and one of the fastest streamlined locomotives to be built, alongside a streamlined Chrysler car from the same period, sadly The Mallard, which actually holds the speed record at a 126 mph was not on display. Of course every period of train development is represented right up to a section of the Channel Tunnel and a Euro Train and the only example of the Japanese Bullet Train outside Japan.

For the real steam enthusiast a full size locomotive and tender, has been sliced open, exposing all their innards and at various times during the day the huge wheels are turned by electric rollers and the movement of the pistons and cranks are explained by a young but very knowledgeable chap.

Three hours later I felt that I had had my donations worth, but I could have easily spent at least another couple of hours, just wandering around the ‘warehouse’ where train ephemera is stacked high, with everything from bath chairs to station clocks. Of course this museum is really for the chaps but there is plenty for everyone especially the royal carriages, from Queen Victoria through to Elizabeth 11.

On Sunday we visited the Minster, Brian and Ann had been there the previous weekend and had ‘Gift Aided’ which allows unlimited entry for up to a year. We took advantage of their ticket as even the OAP price is £7 each. The museum in the crypt is fascinating, showing Roman foundations of a secular basilica and also those of an earlier Norman church. These remains were discovered when urgent work in the late 1960’s was undertaken to support the central tower which was found to be in imminent danger of collapsing and massive concrete collars were placed around the base of the four supporting columns.

Much wiser we returned to SKYY to mentally prepare for the return tomorrow down the tidal Ouse and the interesting 180 deg. turn upstream into the entrance to Selby lock, no problem, I don’t expect it will be any different to our entry to Limehouse Basin on the tidal Thames last year.

RETURN TO YORK

2010-08-15T20:16:00.000+02:00

FRIDAY 30TH JULY 2010

Whilst Jacquie did some shopping I manoeuvred the boat over to the water point on the other side and filled her up. On Jacquie’s return we shoved of and almost immediately worked our way through Milby Lock. The journey down to Linton Lock was uneventful but fortunately we had the help of several people to help open the top gates, as there was more water leaking out at the bottom than coming in via the paddles at the top. Replacement gates and repairs to the cill are scheduled for September, but in the meantime it was brute force that was required.

After a few more hours of cruising we were back in York, but the only mooring spaces left were reserved for a charity boat and a cafe boat. There was just one other spot, but a concrete shelf extended out just under the surface which prevented us from snugging up to edge, but the stern was close enough for Duggie to jump on and off, so that was fine and we decided to stay there for the weekend.

SOUTHWARD BOUND

2010-08-14T19:53:00.005+02:00

THURSDAY 29TH JULY 2010

Our 48 allowed hours at Ripon were up and it was time to start our return journey from this Northernmost point on the canals. The last of the three locks let us back onto the River Ure and only a little further on and Newby Hall once again came into view, there was no other boat tied up at one of the three wooden staithes, so there was plenty of room to come alongside.

We walked though the gardens and play areas and admired the black swans with their curly feathers with no hindrance on this crowded sunny day. We did buy tickets for house and garden at the entrance pavilion, not cheap at £11 per person and that was the concession price. The house was superb, Robert Adams input was beautifully evident and our guide was very informative and we concluded that the entrance price was good value.

After the essential ice cream and a game of 'chase the fallen apple' with Duggie we continued our return to Boroughbridge and sneaked back into our previous mooring spot, I even managed to use the same hole for my pin albeit that SKYY faced the other way this time.

HORNBLOWER

2010-08-14T19:32:00.006+02:00

WEDNESDAY 28TH JULY 2010

A pleasant day in Ripon culminating in a Sainsbury shopping trip and an evening drink in the Black Bull. The reason for the lateness of the visit was to combine it with the blowing of the Wakeman's horn at 9pm in the city square.

This custom that has taken place without missing a single day for over eleven hundred years. King Alfred, he of the burnt cakes, presented a horn to Ripon in lieu of a charter and a Wakeman was appointed to blow the horn from the four corners of the market square at nine pm. and from then until daylight the town was under his protection.

George Pickles is the incumbent hornblower and a fine figure he cut in his coat and tricorn hat, but he now blows the fourth horn, the original one is on display in the town hall. After carrying out his horn blowing duties George gave a humurous and informative talk in a typical Northern manner and then handed out lucky wooden pennies with a promise that riches should fall our way. Obviously Jacquie is still a sucker for a man in uniform, I've never seen her move so fast when George offered to have his photo taken with anybody. A great ending to a lovely day.

RIGHT OOP NORTH

2010-08-02T09:37:00.006+02:00

TUESDAY 27TH JULY 2010

Ripon had always been our intended destination today, but the anticipation of meeting up again with Julie and that free pumpout spurred us on and the seven miles and four locks whizzed by. Not quite true, the gates at Westwick lock were incredible hard to open and close, but fortunately some fit young Environment Agency guys gave Jacquie a hand, in opening the gates, obviously.

A little while later we passed the mooring staithes for Newby Hall and then the hall itself came into view. We hooted and waved back at the passengers on the little train that trundled around the grounds and along the river side, this looked and sounded well worth a visit, hopefully we would find time on the way back.

Previously the two bit miles of the Rippon Canal had only been open between ten and two o’clock but the extra rain had lifted the restriction, as it was we arrived at the immaculately kept white Sanitary Station at 2.30 and Julie was waiting for us and kept her word and pumped us out. Julie is one of the last ‘Lengths-persons’ with BW and the smartness and fresh paint on all the locks and bridges are a testimony to her love of the job.

The final entrance into the little basin at the end of the canal is delightful, with new and restored building fitting together very well. SKYY was turned around in the basin and was the only boat to tie up at the road side mooring, a little noisy, but not too much of a problem. Weh Hey, we had finally reached the most Northern point directly accessible on the English canal network, we would leave The Ribble Link and the Lancaster Canal for another time.

The evening sunshine warmed us as we wandered around this tiny City dominated by its Cathedral, but we would have all of the morrow to investigate.

A LOOFULL DAY

2010-08-02T09:33:00.002+02:00

MONDAY 26TH JULY 2010

A bus route had been worked out to return Brian & Ann to Wakefield, Boroughbridge to York, York to Leeds and Leeds to Wakefield, all of this for free with their bus pass, leaving just a short taxi ride to Stanley Ferry and their car. We waved them goodbye at exactly 10.45 having had a laughter filled week with them.

On our return to SKYY we moved her over to the other side of the cut and got the diesel tank filled up via the swinging boom that supported the hose from the conveniently placed Canal Garage. Water from the water point filled the water tank and a ten pound card got the BW pumpout equipment working or so I thought until I opened the valve and nothing happened. There I was hopping up and down with annoyance, frustration and a full to the brim loo tank, when ‘RIPON’ a BW workboat moored up in the space that I had just vacated. Julie and her colleague came over and hung an ‘out of action’ sign on the door to the equipment, although Julie bless her promised to meet us tomorrow at the Sanitary Station just before Ripon and give us a free pumpout.

I moved SKYY back to the other side and found a space further down, in the meantime we would get a little more exercise than expected as we would have to walk over the bridge and use the BW facilities every time we needed the loo, but that’s boating life. The rest of the day we tided up SKYY and relaxed.

WELL WELL

2010-08-01T11:05:00.003+02:00

SUNDAY 25TH JULY 2010

We wanted to maximise the cruising time with Ann & Brian, having lost a couple of days at Selby and as we would be coming back through York we pushed of. Our destination was Boroughbridge, twenty miles and two locks upstream, this seems a long way in canal terms, but travel on the river is much faster, no slowing down for moored boats and averaging five mph. with a stop for lunch at Linton Lock we arrived within five hours. No hazards at all provided you keep well to the right of the red markers at Linton Lock as silt deposited from the weir has built a substantial sand bar.

We did pass a boat that had come to grieve, obviously got stranded by a flood, a reminder as to just how unpredictable rivers can be and the lonely signpost that indicated when the River Ouse became the Ure

We moored in the long cut of Milby lock next to small market town of Boroughbridge. The Great North Road used to pass through here and there was thirty inns providing horses and accommodation for travellers, now the A1 passes half a mile to the west of the town. Another useless piece of information is that the handsome well in the centre of the square is 256ft. deep and as you might expect their was a Battle of Boroughbridge.

We checked out the bus stops as Brian and Ann would be leaving us tomorrow and after a drink in the The Anchor, returned to SKYY for dinner and a sing along to the Mamma Mia DVD, sad or what!

UNSATURATED YORK

2010-07-31T20:59:00.006+02:00

SATURDAY 24TH JULY 2010

Our companions this morning was The Falcon a narrow boat and a very wide beam boat. All of us were up and about at 5.30am on this still clear morning. Three dogs including Duggie would be doing the trip and as there would be no stopping until Naburn Lock, fourteen miles upstream it was important that we were all comfortable before we set off. At six am on the dot, Fred waved just the two narrow boats into the lock, the wide beam would have to follow through on her own. The river beyond the lock was flowing swiftly upstream, an improvement on the previous two days when regardless of the state of tide, the flow was always downstream, swollen with flood water.

Both boats were immediately swept left as we exited the lock, The Falcon lead the way as we lined up for the right hand arch of the two swing bridges. There would be another swing bridge eight miles up, but we needn’t worry about having them swung for us. There are some tight bends and it is important to keep to the out side of each bend and to stay in the strong flow, not let the bow drift into slack water, it has been known for boats to execute a 360 deg. turn if they do.

The weather conditions were perfect, almost the same as going down The Thames last year and the tidal effect gradually subsided and our surroundings were very pleasant. We were surprised to be waved at by the swing bridge-keeper at Cawood, why was he there? Our query was answered when around the corner came a mighty power boat with a high flying deck and a bow wave to match, obviously going considerable faster than the regulation ten knots, He did slow down when to his surprise he saw us, but his reducing bow wave did add a little excitement to the trip. He was followed by an assortment of smaller river boats all keen to blow the cobwebs out of their engines, but fortunately the river is wide enough to accommodate us all.

There was a slight delay as we waited for the next batch of boats to be let out of Naburn Lock and we gasped at the amount of brown water that was spewing over the nearby weir. SKYY and The Falcon were waved into the lock and shortly after at about nine thirty, moored in the safety of the lock cut we enjoyed a mega cooked breakfast.

The centre of York is about another five miles and on our way we past the Bishop of York Palace and then the Blue Bridge, marking the entrance to the River Foss, wharves followed and then sight of The Minster and other grand riverside buildings.

At half past twelve we arrived, unlike Thursday, the moorings were now above water but were all taken, we slid in beside an unmanned narrow boat and within minutes a river cruiser slipped her moorings and we dropped back into the vacated slot, lovely!! After lunch and in the warm sunshine we set of again to wander around this lovely and relatively compact City, finishing the day with a good meal in the Bay Horse pub, just up to the left of the Museum Gardens.

HANGING ABOUT

2010-07-31T13:35:00.004+02:00

WEDNESDAY 21ST TO FRIDAY 23RD JULY 2010

Again it rained overnight and our prize petunias started to look battered, but the rainbow set off the green colour of the water delightfully. We hung about patiently for our time to lock through, with a little excitement when a Fire Rescue RIB with three crew members needed to lock down to rescue some naughty boys, stuck in the mud down stream, “been on’t rob” was what we understood they had been up to, when in fact the RIB returned it had a rather muddy police woman on board, apparently the lads had disappeared leaving the damsel in distress.

This all happened about two hours before our departure time, when Fred the lock-keeper told us that following the two nights of rain the mooring at Naburn Lock and in York were four foot underwater. How could this be? Only a week ago we were held up be the driest summer since 1920. Well the ground is so dry the rain just ran straight of it and into the rivers. We would be going nowhere until Friday 6pm earliest.

The bus took as all, including Duggie, into York and although it was chilly, we had a good day sightseeing and enjoyed the street entertainers. The Fox Terrier Pub in the Shambles area, welcomed Duggie and the four meat pies we ordered were delicious.

Whilst the girls did the shops Brian and I checked out the mooring by the side of Museum Park, there was no sign of rings or bollards and although the water was receding it must have still have been six foot above its usual level. I nearly found out how deep it was when I slipped on the silt that had been left behind, serves me right for wearing Sunday best shoes and trying to look smart and until the silt dried and brushed off leaving not a mark, I walked around looking like a mud lark.

Friday was bright and beautiful and the Fred the lock-keepers advice was to catch the 6am tide on Saturday, so rather than stay put we turned SKYY around and gently cruised the five miles back to West Haddlesey lock were we enjoyed an al-fresco lunch before an equally gentle return, Brian once again holding up the traffic whilst ourselves followed by two other boats entered the basin. An early night after introducing ourselves to our two new neighbours who would also be going to York tomorrow.

SELBY

2010-07-31T12:48:00.001+02:00

TUESDAY 20TH JULY 2010

It rained substantially over night, but by the time we were ready to go the sun was up again, but I was surprised to find that the flood lock at West Haddlesey was closed and the level indicator board was showing amber as we eventually entered the lock.

The other side of the lock and we were on the five mile long Selby Canal, it was a very pleasant rural run, if a little weedy, into the Abbey Town of Selby. Brian held up the traffic whilst opening the swing bridge and we entered Selby basin and settled down to explore the place. We had plenty of time as our booked passage for the tidal lock, was for four o’clock on tomorrow (Wednesday) when we would catch the incoming tide to run us up towards York.

The Abbey is indeed sparkling clean and the majority of the town is attractive, but with much of the industry gone there is room for improvement, although where an old paper mill has been demolished there are plans for a new marina.

We watched several boats come downstream from York going sideways as they crossed the river to come back upstream to enter the lock, reminisces of entering Limehouse on the Thames last year, only the entrance to this lock was a fraction of the size, our return will be interesting!

TOM PUDDINGS

2010-07-31T12:11:00.005+02:00

MONDAY 19TH JULY 2010

As we moved from our overnight mooring we passed a BW yard where new lock gates are made, I think this is now the only yard that makes the gates for the whole of the BW network, quite a few where stacked up on top of one another and water was being sprayed all over them, obviously to stop them drying out and shrinking in the warm weather.

All of the locks on the Aire and Calder are electrically operated and entrance is controlled by traffic lights, the lights were set at ‘amber’ which meant that the lock was unmanned and we would just have to turn the key and press the buttons ourselves, this was not what we had invited Ann and Brian on board for, lucky blighters!

The canal rejoined the river at Woodnock Lock and a gravel barge was being unloaded at Whitwood Wharf. We heard some radio chatter on the VHF regarding Castleford, this was a busy cross road, with the River Aire from Leeds joining us from the left, to our right the combined Aire and Calder rivers departed on their way to the weir and we would continue trough Castleford and back onto the canal. Our radio call to Castleford Lock was responded from Bulholme Lock with the advise that the gates were open both ends and to proceed through with caution. Apparently a small train of Tom Puddings had been pulled through a little earlier and this had been the reason for the radio chatter. This procession was a historic reminder of the hundreds of small floating coal tubs that were upended and emptied when they reached the coal fired power stations and a couple restored loading chutes were visible at what remained of old loading staithes.

As the lock-keeper at Bulholme waved us on our way we were again back on the river and as we passed the cooling towers of the Ferrybridge Power Stations we could clearly see the route that the Tom Puddings would have taken and the apparatus for tipping them up and returning them empty. Back on a canal section and past the King Mill flour mill.

The River Aire swung left away from the Aire and Calder Navigation which would eventually lead to Goole. Our route was a couple of miles up the river to a scheduled mooring in the Beal Lock cut and a wander around the farming village culminating with a drink in the very friendly Jenny Wren pub.

A PAIR OF AQUEDUCTS

2010-07-28T12:01:00.004+02:00

SUNDAY 17TH JULY 2010

Whilst taking Duggie for his morning walk I crossed the old town road bridge across the River Calder and discovered that it had been built in 1342 and the little chapel at one end was built between 1342 and 1356, thankfully, but only in recent years has this bridge been by-passed. A little further on and I came to The Fall Ings Lock, where the Calder and Hebble navigation came to an end and the Aire and Calder Navigation took over. By the lock an information board said that only in 2005 had all the of the coal loading chutes been removed from this area, a few permanently moored boats in bays indicated where the boats would have come to have been loaded. A pity that they hadn’t left some indication of what it would have looked liked.

We didn’t tarry in Wakefield but moved on through the Fall Ings Lock and for a mile we were back on to the mighty Calder, before once again entering a long canal section. We stopped at midday in bright sunshine at Stanley Ferry, which doesn’t seem to have a ferry but does have two aqueducts crossing the River Calder. The earlier one, a splendid cast iron arch supporting the duct and looks like a mini version of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was superseded by a boring concrete one in 1981. All boats now use the new duct as the old one was thought to be in danger of damage from the large vessels that were using the canal at that time.

Ann and Brian, veterans on SKYY, joined us in the afternoon and as they intended to be with us for a week, a small BW car park at the end of the large Stanley Ferry pub car park and was considered to be a safe place to leave the car. We settled down for the evening with an early start planned for Monday.

COALS TO THORNHILL

2010-07-28T10:20:00.000+02:00

SATURDAY 17TH JULY 2010

A couple of locks and open flood locks and we bypassed the short arm to Dewsbury and continued down the straight section of canal, the river running alongside having returned from its wide excursion around Dewsbury. Not so many years ago this stretch would have been crowded with coal barges taking coal to the nearby Thornhill power station, now it was just us and the remains of loading staithes.

We rejoined the river at Broad Cut Low Lock and but for short section were on the river all the way to Wakefield. Almost in the centre of the town we took a sharp right hand turn through the flood lock and moored between two bridges, new houses were being built close to the towpath side and opposite was derelict ground awaiting development. Not the most attractive setting but quiet enough for the night. Regretfully the camera battery ran out this morning so I was unable to take any pictures, but not really missing much on this stretch.

LITTLE AND LARGE

2010-07-28T10:13:00.002+02:00

FRIDAY 16TH JULY 2010

It was a funny start to the day, one moment rain and the next sunshine resulting in a lovely rainbow, but the town was quite attractive. The morning was taken up with Sainsbury and then Sagar Marine, based in an old warehouse alongside the basin. Andrew Sagar was happy to show us around one of their beautiful, replica Dutch barges, all that space and so much more than just a wheelhouse, dining for six in comfort, maybe that could be the answer when we have had enough travelling about on the canals.

The moment we exited Brighouse Basin we were on the big River Calder, wow how it had grown from the little stream that had trickled alongside us on The Pennines. The various flood locks were open both ends as we entered narrow canal sections, but had it not been for the signs indicating which way to go, it would have been easy to have missed the entrance to some of these locks and carried on and over weirs.

We quickly passed the junction with the Huddersfield Broad Canal at Cooper Bridge and a couple of miles later after a wide section of the River Calder we moored up just after bridge 20 near Shepley Bridge Lock, there is a small marina here and a Sanitary Station and water point, which would be useful in the morning. Of the coal mining and associated industry that surrounded the river canal, there is now no sign, except for some excellent information boards.

SPIKED

2010-07-21T13:29:00.005+02:00

THURSDAY 15TH JULY 2010

Sowerby Bridge didn’t detain us; maybe it was wet was the reason that it lacked appeal compared to Hebdon Bridge, but we said bye bye to the Rochdale Canal, as we started onto the Calder and Hebble Canal. What an experience the Rochdale had been, stunning countryside, no hire boats, good company and great fish and chips. Do not be put off by the negative comments that can be heard. There are some water shortages and plenty of locks but after the nineteen or so coming out of Manchester and providing you are not in a hurry, it breaks down to about ten a day, that’s not a hardship, the wonderful scenery more than compensates and the BW guys were all extremely helpful.

Within two miles of leaving Sowerby the Salterhebble arm was straight ahead under a bridge and we had to execute a 90deg. turn to the right to enter the first of three locks. The wind took control and I ended up facing the way I had come, Jacquie pushed the bow into the entrance to the lock and applying full rudder and plenty of power I pivoted SKYY into the lock.

The surrounding area was now very attractive and the last of the three locks was exited via a guillotine gate. The top gate paddles of many of the locks from now on can only be operated with the special wooden handspike, although some of these old mechanisms are being replaced with a hydraulic arrangement. We bought our handspike for £12 in the small chandlery at Sowerby, but it could be made easily from a 3ft. length of hardwood 3in x 2in with the edges rounded off and one end shaped to make it comfortable to hold. It must be a substantial piece of wood as you will have to put all of your weight and strength onto it to get some of the paddles to lift. There doesn’t appear any way of letting the paddles down gently, you just pull the spike out and the paddle drops with a thud.

These locks only just accepted our 57ft length. The sill is V shaped and after we lifted the front button fender and took the bike off the back of the boat and reversed SKYY right into the V with the rudder at 90 degs., could we get the bow passed the opening bottom gates. You certainly couldn’t do this with two same size boats in the lock, it might be possible with a 60ft foot boat, but you would definitely need somebody in the bow with a pole to keep it centred whilst the gates are being opened.

Another six locks through rural countryside and we arrived at Brighouse, a large warehouse converted to apartments on our right and an extremely convenient Sainsbury store on our left funnelled the wind down this stretch, but otherwise it felt safe and secure. And we decided to leave exploring the town until tomorrow.

ALL PUMPED UP

2010-07-15T10:50:00.006+02:00

WEDNESDAY 14TH JULY 2010

Rob, the lock keeper at Tuel Lock called on the mobile, at 11 o’clock to confirm that lock 7 would be unlocked within the next few minutes and we could proceed slowly down the four locks to Sowerby Bridge where he would be awaiting to escort us through Tuel Lock. We had been confidently expecting this news and in preparation had made arrangements with Bronte Boats to supply 100 lt’s of diesel and a bottle of gas.

Freshly pumped out and watered we got under way at 11.30 am., along with Tony on N.B. Y-Not and arrived at the deepest lock in the country, at 3.30pm. Tuel Lock knocked Bath Deep Lock into 2nd place when locks three and four where combined during the restoration of the Rochdale Canal, creating one lock of nearly 20ft in depth. On the way we passed a mill chimney surrounded in scaffolding, apparently being restored as it is a listed building. ‘Health and Safety’ again, Fred Dibner would have just lashed a few ladders together and shinned up.

We could clearly see the pumps that had been brought in to back fill the upper pounds, ironic as we were about to experience a proper soaking, by the time we exited the lock and tunnel it was raining hard, bless em, Rob and his colleague Duncan went ahead and worked us through the remaining two locks, they were soaked by the time we were through.

We moored just around from the basin which was full of boats including an old ships life boat. When the rain eased we found the local Tesco and did a bit of stocking up and found the great bronze of 'Boatman and Boy' at the entrance to the basin. We just managed to get back onto SKYY before thunder and lightening and more rain set in for the night.

DOUBLEY ADANDONED

2010-07-13T14:44:00.001+02:00

THURSDAY 8TH TO TUESDAY 13TH JULY 2010

We said a sad goodbye to Kim & John, as they abandoned us high and dry in Hebdon,
but as they are such good company we forgave them.

Jacquie was also going to abandon me, to attend a wedding in Bedford and then travel onwards to visit her son and his girlfriend for a day or so. With the closing of the locks our original plan to leave the boat in a marina at Dewsbury and hire a car to attend the wedding had to be cancelled and as we are not happy about leaving the boat unattended whilst moored on line. I and Duggie were to be left behind to guard SKYY
I waved Jacquie off at the railway station on Friday afternoon and settled down to catch up with blog and discover all the paths and tracks that Hedben has to offer.

I also took the opportunity to remove the loo and separate it from the Vetus macerator, my intention was to run a cable and switch from the inlet control solenoid so that I can control the amount of water that is flushed each time the flush button is pushed. Success, it works perfectly, instead of the litre and a quarter of fresh water that is automatically used, I can determine when in the flushing cycle, water is added and how much.

As is so often our good fortune, if we had to be delayed in our travels, this was the perfect place for it to happen. A large park right beside SKYY and lots of visiting dogs to keep Duggie amused and plenty of passers by to keep me chatting.

That’s it the blog is right up to date!!! and the good news is, that we should be able to move on tomorrow and get down to Sowerby Bridge and Jacquie is on the train on her way back hooray.

NOT SO CHILLI

2010-07-13T14:39:00.002+02:00

WEDNESDAY 7TH JULY 2010

The train line follows the canal and road through the same gap in the Pennines and the train station was only a few minutes walk away from SKYY so John and I caught the train back to Littleborough to collect their car. It had been safely left in the compound of the Visitors Café, which was along side the canal and the purchase of a couple of cups of tea and donuts was all the payment that was required.

On our return we again backed up for another fill of water, the pump was running all the time indicating that the tank was empty, where does it all go?

In the evening, Geoff and Annie arrived, this time with daughter Emily, who had cut short their last visit last. The weather was a bit chilly so after a drink to celebrate Geoff’s birthday of the previous day we descended into the salon for warming bowls of chilli and rice. Full tummies again!!

APE STEAKS

2010-07-12T15:15:00.004+02:00

TUESDAY 6TH JULY 2010

First thing in the morning I spoke to the BW Regional Manager who said that the twenty foot deep Tuel Lock would not be reopened until the following week, they were intending to bring their own pumps in, but this would take some time to organise and install. As there were no services before the Tuel lock, he strongly recommended that we back up to the nearby winding hole, turn around and head back to all the facilities of Hebdon.

Before we took his advice I took this picture of the strange wood carving that was just the other side of the wall from our overnight mooring and then we did as recommended and returned to Hebdon Bridge.

It was a beautiful afternoon and the BBQ was lit for a late lunch, John started to cook the massive steaks that he had contributed, but sadly it started to rain, undeterred we squeezed up under the sun umbrella and enjoyed the meal so much so that we all had to have a lie down to help digestion.

LOCKED UP LOCKS

2010-07-12T14:59:00.004+02:00

MONDAY 5TH JULY 2010

We woke feeling energetic and decided to walk up to Heptonstall. This is just a mile out of Hebdon Bridge, but seriously uphill, the way up starts on The Buttress which is a cobbled almost vertical path, must have been fun in the wet, wearing clogs. John strode up with Kim not far behind and Duggie was running to and fro between them, but Jacquie and I had to keep stopping.

We all eventually reached this village which time has forgotten, the main road could have been were the old Hovis advert might have been made. A Victorian church stands in the grounds of the ruined 15th-C church and a dungeon and stocks are still to be seen. Sadly the little museum in the school was closed, but one of the oldest Methodist Churches in the world was open; octagonal in shape unchanged inside with its boxed pews upstairs in the gallery as well as downstairs.

Coffee in the local pub and back down we went. It was much easier on the heart and lungs but the downhill slope found different leg muscles and by the time we reached the bottom our legs were quivering.

SKYY was reversed the short distance to the Sanitary Station and we did a manual pump out and filled with water before waving goodbye to Hebdon Bridge. We only got a mile before we were stopped by padlocked lock 7. A notice pinned to the lock said that the locks at Sowerby Bridge were closed because of low water levels. A phone call to Debbie at BW confirmed the situation. The Environment Agency had stopped the pumps that pumps water back into the canal from the River Calder as the flow was below acceptable level.

Duggie and I walked a mile and a half to below lock 5 and were surprised to find the three and a half mile pound to Sowerby appeared to contained more water than many a pound that we had successfully negotiated on the way to the Summit. However we settled down for the evening and were promised an update of the situation in the morning.

HEBDEN BRIDGE

2010-07-11T13:42:00.005+02:00

SUNDAY 4TH JULY

Before we left Todmorden we had a wander around the town, the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire, until a reorganisation, passed right under the splendid Town Hall as does the infant River Calder. Statuary at the top of the Town Hall depicts the cotton spinning of Lancashire on the left and agriculture and industry on the Yorkshire side. There is a rich and varied mix of arcitechture in this wealthy town, plus a canal side Lidl store where we were able to refill the barrels with wine and beer.

We were joined by N.B. Convair and her crew as we continued down the ten locks to Hebden Bridge, the locks were evenly spaced out and our surroundings were still rural with the remaining old mill chimney dotting the landscape.

By the time we arrived in Hebden Bridge the shops had closed, but we wandered around the centre and spotted the old pack horse bridge crossing the River Hebden, which not surprisingly has given the town its name. The town is a mixture of old mills, now reincarnated as shops, dedicated to providing the visiting walker with their every need and distinctive weavers cottages, where wool was woven on hand looms. All traces of soot have been scrubbed from the stones and it all looks very smart. The town is also very green; The Alternative Technology Centre is based here by he canal side (www.alternativetechnology.org.uk) and apart from Boots and the Co-op every shop is privately owned.

We retired for the night determined to discover more of this town tomorrow.

THE GREAT WALL OF TOD

2010-07-10T13:44:00.003+02:00

SATURDAY 3RD JULY 2010

A meeting was arranged for this evening with friends Geoff and Annie who live at Marsden, which is at the East end of the Standedge Tunnel, on The Hudderfield Narrow Canal. The decision had been taken not to cruise this route as neither Jacquie or I really fancied the three mile plus trip through the tunnel or the 42 locks leading to it, so Geoff and Annie agreed to meet us at Todmordon

We stopped for water after the first two locks and then continued down the remaining 10 locks, under the first skew railway bridge in England, probably the world and past the immense brick wall that stops the railway line from falling into the canal, four million bricks it took to build, but sadly it doesn’t make for a particularly exciting photo
.

Ahead of us was the first guillotine lock that I had encountered, John operated it via our BW key and we passed under it and the road and emerged right into the centre of Todmorden where BW had provided excellent moorings with full facilities. The Golden Lion pub shared the same stretch, but it seemed very quite.

We were enjoying an al fresco dinner on the canal side with Geoff and Annie when unfortunately it was cut short when they were called away to collect a sick daughter, but we agreed to meet up again on Wednesday, probably at Cooper Bridge.

It was noticed how quiet the pub was when we turned in earlier than expected, but at one o’clock in the morning we were awakened by lots of shouting and yelling, I was already out of bed and pulling on my shorts when I felt the boat rock as somebody jumped onto the roof,. Fearful for Jacquie’s roof-top flowers, I shot out the rear hatch, letting everybody know that I was prepared to kill if they didn’t get of the boat. They must have thought I sounded as if I meant it, as I by the time I got fully onto the rear deck there was no one on the boat.

John joined me moments later and we stood guard until two o’clock when the pub closed and the noisy revellers tottered off home. This has been our only experience of silliness and is to be expected if you moor close to a pub especially at a weekend.
Our wives welcomed us back to bed and we slept soundly late into Sunday morning.