Misty mornings return

Here we are back at Crankwood. And we love it!

Autumn is getting going now, the first trees turning golden, leaves clogging our propeller, spider webs glistening in the early morning dew, buying coal (no logs required just yet), cooking for free on the wood burner, yes, I think autumn is our favourite season.

We arrived here yesterday after a two week round trip to Middlewich in perfect spirits. Then we retrieved the car and drove to Leigh - and I, for one, saw my perfect spirits evaporate in an instant. Bloody traffic! As soon as we returned to Crankwood I was tranquillity personified again. It's amazing. Just get yourself a few hundred yards away from that other type of transport infrastructure (roads, that is) and you are in a different world. Anyway, enough moaning for the moment.

As some of you will know, LottieD has a cruiser stern, meaning we have lots of space at the back of the boat compared to a trad(itional) sterned boat. Why, then, have I spent seven years juggling plates, glasses, cups, etc whilst trying to steer? We passed a young couple on a holiday boat a few days ago, glanced at their boat, looked back at each other, and said "why didn't we think of that?"

Yes, they had a table out back as they moved. Genius! Of course, on the basis that it's five o'clock somewhere we tried it out with an alcoholic beverage! Really, we feel so stupid for not doing this sooner, say, in 2010!

If you have a real eagle eye you will spot the cracked plant pot housing our thyme. It got itself blown off the roof, as did our rosemary which we never saw again. Did storm Aileen do this, you ask? No. This happened the night before, you know, when the wind actually BLEW. Storm Aileen? Do me a favour. We place so much store on weather reports living as we do and it really irritates when you miss a day's cruising due to a rubbish forecast. Oops, I appear to be moaning again....

Finally, you may remember we told you about the Waxi service on the Bridgewater canal?

Well, it appears this leviathan needs priority over everything else on the canal as these signs have sprung up in a few places.

Yes, it's reserved moorings for a service nobody ever uses. In Sale, at the Trafford Centre... Grrr. It's a good job I'm not a moaner!

I'm a lazy boy...

...where this blog is concerned at times. Better do an update on what we have been up to! After the usual stops at Dunham, Lymm (claim to fame here. I helped Sooty's Matthew Corbett recover a boat that had pulled away from its mooring. I'll be on Love Island with the celebs at this rate!) and Stockton Heath we were all set for Preston Brook tunnel when I had a last minute change of plan and hooked a right turn into the Runcorn arm. I can think of no other reason for this other than I had drunk all my cider and was on the red wine at the time hic! 🍷

Drunk in charge!

This is a 5 mile run to a dead end at Runcorn where, at one time, the canal linked up with the Ship Canal and the Mersey back in the day. Now, however, it is a barely used stretch of water mainly used by the Bridgewater Motor Boat Club, who actually have quite a nice set up down there.

The lilies encroaching from either side attested to how little traffic comes this way but we quite liked it apart from the twin noisy terrors of the busy roads nearby plus the unending stream of planes approaching John Lennon Airport.

We overnighted part way down then completed the leg the next day, turning around and chasing a kingfisher for a good way as we headed for Preston Brook. Kingfisher sightings continued on the Trent & Mersey as we saw three others, one flying straight past us with a fish in its beak.

We got as far as Middlewich on the next day where I actually got a haircut, only the 3rd this year - what a tramp I am - and Charlotte brought the crew to see us on Saturday. As it happened, that weekend was when the Middlewich Roman Festival was taking place so we all trudged up the sodden fields for a gander. As a free admission event it was really very good. Everything was on display from painting to cooking (I legged it back to the boat for some wood. They were that rushed setting up in the rain that they had none!) to surveying, medical treatment and, of course, military hardware and even a Roman army display with an informative commentary. The boys spent the rest of their time as centurion and soldier and Frank the pug legged it into the Big Lock pub on his own for a look around!

We set off back yesterday, stopping at The Old Broken Cross pub in Rudheath (a first for us) overnight before braving the elements this morning. What a day! The rain soaked me, the wind dried me and the sun cheered me up alternately. I would grab my golf umbrella as I saw the squalls of rain approach, sometimes clattering into my herb pots with it in my haste and releasing a wonderful aroma of thyme or rosemary - marvellous! No kingfishers today but a couple of jays and wagtails passed by and we startled the odd heron or two. In other words, just a normal few days on the cut!

Beautiful Bridgewater

What a perfect morning.

The tranquility is a reflection of our mood. Is there a better way of life than this? What more satisfying morning regime is there than heating your water on the towpath using whatever natural fuel is available 

before doing a little tidying up prior to pulling pins and moving slowly on?

On a day like this, it's simply unbeatable.