Back home

Yes back on board after our four night trip to west Wales. We had the best time with our friends Wayne and Emma and their two girls plus Charlotte and her boys. Credit to Wayne who planned each day for us and led the way down some seriously twisty, narrow country lanes!
The kids ran free but were excellently behaved leaving us grown ups to either sit around our improvised fire pit or wallow in the hot tub, spotting shooting stars as we gazed at the Milky Way. Throw in a rather challenging gorge walk and a brilliant firework display at New Quay and we were well satisfied!
Last night was business as usual on board, i.e. Sat in shorts and t shirt with the doors wide open to let the heat out! Actually, the holiday cottages were like that too, seriously cosy even with the radiators off and the oil fired stove on minimum.
Today we planned our next few days and had a morning walk around Pennington Country Park then an afternoon walk in Lilford Park where we saw this amazing display.

The squirrels were out in force today collecting food for winter whilst I was busy collecting twigs. Why? I'll show you tomorrow!

Happy Birthday to me!

Yes, I'm 56 today, an age belied by my boyish good looks and constantly sunny disposition! Seriously, I have never made anything at all of any of my birthdays but as I awoke to this most glorious of days (isn't this the best autumn EVER?) I am filled with a deep appreciation of the fact that early retirement is the best gift Elaine and I ever gave or received.
Those of you still working might not like this but we constantly tell each other how lucky we are. It's like when Paul Whitehouse said "in't milk great!". Well, retirement is better! Having been fully retired since July last year I can happily report there hasn't been a single nanosecond when I wished I was still working. Even yesterday when Lottie refused to fire up and I was almost at my wits end I could console myself with the knowledge that it's better than enduring a 2 day grilling in a quarterly board meeting!
If I was still working I would have missed this start to the day

as this hot air balloon tried to make the most of the tiniest breath of wind.

Right, that's my gloating over for today. Watch Lottie bring me down to earth now by refusing to start! Hmm, bleeding a fuel system or compiling a board report - no brainer!

After the weekend

So, it was Logan's Halloween party on Friday and after a somewhat reluctant start Logan really got into the swing of things. Wilson, of course, just dived straight in! They went at it for a good two and a half hours, running around with Logan's school mates and even put in a marathon stint on the dance floor! We left around 9.45 and five minutes later Wilson was out for the count, poor little chap.
Saturday morning it was down to Leigh Miners Rangers for rugby training. After warming up they had a stint on the tackle bags then the kids did a routine using nerf guns. I think evasion was the aim, trying to run with the ball whilst dodging foam bullets. Quite what Wilson was doing charging around with his pirate sword remains a mystery!
Saturday night it was over to Tony & Gill's for tapas, beer and wine for an evening that ran on until the early hours. I awoke on Sunday a little worse for wear and Elaine bounced out of bed as fit as a fiddle - so frustrating!
Sunday we had the full roast dinner courtesy of Wayne and Emma (where does she put it?) as we made broad plans for our trip to Wales. With people lining up to feed and entertain us I think we can safely say we had a good weekend!
Nothing lasts forever, though, and today was boat service day. Heading to the car we were escorted down the towpath by a kingfisher, resplendent in electric blue finery against a backdrop of golden foliage. So it was a quick trip to buy oil then get stuck in. Engine oil and filter then gearbox oil then air filter - no problem. Next up was the fuel filter and that's where the day took a sour turn. I wasn't happy with the replacement filter at all. Despite me querying the sales guy at least 4 times when I bought it he insisted it was right for the job, even though it was noticeably shorter than the filter it was replacing.
Convinced it was leaking, I binned it and put the old one back on as a temporary measure until I buy one direct from Beta Marine. Could I start the damned engine? Well yes, eventually, but it took me ages, bleeding and priming the fuel system time and time again. She's purring like a kitten as I write but she put me through hell!
Tomorrow we move back to Plank Lane where Lottie will stay whilst we are in Wales then we will move off again for a week or three whilst I build up courage to put a new - this time the correct type - fuel filter in place!

Do you remember Huckleberry Finn?

I distinctly remember him fishing with a bent hook attached to a pole via a piece of string. Well, it's a whole different ball game these days! For some reason I woke at 5am today and had trouble getting back to sleep. I kept hearing a strange, fairly low pitch humming or whirring sound and sometimes another identical sound would join in. It sounded like a pair of muffled electric drills or screwdrivers. I checked the boat over but failed to find anything out of the ordinary so went back to bed (and subsequently overslept!).
Later on I discovered the culprit.

It was moving very slowly back and forth across the fringes of the new marina and my first guess was that it was some kind of surveying instrument belonging to the marina company or perhaps C&RT. Wrong.

It's actually a remote controlled bait boat used by carp fishermen. You fill the hoppers with bait (and you baited hooks if you wish) then send it out to accurately deposit your payload. The guy using it also had this.

This is a fishfinder which utilises sonar! I googled the lot and reckon you would have no change from over £600. Kind of puts my bread punching exploits to shame!

Still using too much gas!

Here we are back at Plank Lane again where we will remain until after our mini break in west Wales next week. We are full of everything we need (diesel, gas, water, coal and logs) and without that which we don't need, i.e. all cassettes are empty!
Our social diary is full except for a couple of days right through until the end of the month what with Halloween parties, dinner parties, holiday planning then the holiday itself. We should just have time to enhance Elaine's boudoir and get the boat's major service done before we go away enabling us to make a quick getaway after Wales.
Not that we will be going very far what with winter stoppages! However, with a little advance planning I'm sure we can move around enough to keep us entertained. Actually, we will be moving tomorrow, but only from under these trees that are preventing our Sky dish from receiving a signal.
Normal TV reception isn't a problem as I can actually see Winter Hill transmitter from our mooring. However, no Sky means no recording of programmes but we have enough data from our phones and our router that I can always catch up using catch up, if you get my drift.


Tonight's tea is simmering away. The trouble is, it's simmering away on the cooker, not on top of the wood burner, hence the title of this missive. The reality is the weather isn't cold enough to have the fire hot enough to cook on! At the moment we are burning just a couple of shovels of coal and one log every 24hrs. And we still have to open the cabin door to let the heat out! Still, if we are using gas it must mean we aren't burning coal and logs so its swings and roundabouts I suppose. It's just that my parsimonious side is always looking for ways to get something for nothing, which I feel is what cooking on the wood burner is in my opinion. Actually, stay tuned because I will hopefully have news of my next step towards living for free shortly (always like to keep my audience riveted, to quote Blazing Saddles!).
Well that's all folks. Tomorrow is our grandkids' Halloween party and I can't wait (no jokes about taking this mask off please)! I'll post a few pics but no doubt so will Charlotte on Facebook.

Autumn in all its glory

With comforting smoke curling lazily from the chimney we made our departure from Little Bollington this morning. With the weather a total contrast to yesterday we were once again treated to a beautiful, crisp October morning.
As autumn progresses the colours we experience get more vivid day by day

Believe it or not this last photograph was taken as the canal transects the industrial grottiness of Trafford Park.

As we crossed the aqueduct at Barton we saw this big boy being loaded on the Manchester Ship Canal.

We made it as far as The Boat House at Astley, stopping on the way at Bridgewater Marina for diesel, coal and gas. Ominously, diesel is going up in price every time we fill up. Today we paid 73p, up from 67p just a couple of weeks ago. Damn you, Brexiteers!

We had time to nip to the local Co-Op before filling our faces in the Boat House. Strangely, and for the second time in succession, we had to correct our bill for items they had missed off. In this case our side orders, previously at Blue Ginger it was a round of drinks. One of these days we are going to stop being so honest!

Finally, and sadly, I have to say it wasn't all a bed of loveliness today. If you look closely at the following you will see just how many bags of rubbish were floating in the canal as we approached Watch House boat club in Trafford. Someone should be ashamed of themselves.

Fashion week on LottieD

Stayed put today due to the inclement weather and decided to finally dig out our winter clothes. Gok Wan would have had a heart attack!

Mine

Hers

Is it me or is Elaine looking a bit underwhelmed by her winter wardrobe? Better take her shopping next week!

In other news, enforcement officer Sonny has clocked us today, 8 days after clocking us at Stockton Heath. Even though this is only our third day on the Bridgewater in that period their rules state we can only stay for a 7 day consecutive period so, technically, we are in breach of the rules. He let us off so long as we hightail it back to C&RT waters tomorrow so Leigh, here we come!

Back to Dunham

Well, almost. Having just checked we are actually in Little Bollington. Nothing of note to report today other than thank God it's a week day and most of those yoghurt pots (fibreglass cruisers) are tied up again. The way they zoom around on a weekend is intensely annoying. Yesterday we had one that came charging up behind us at an estimated 7 mph with a stern wash almost breaking onto the towpath. I immediately pulled to one side and waved him through only to find him stopped just around the next corner, knocking his pins in.
Today we arrived at our destination mid afternoon, again marvelling at this beautiful weather. We don't know whether to move on tomorrow or stay another night. We will see how we feel in the morning.
Tonight it's pork tostadas with taco sauce over tortilla chips topped with melted cheese and sour cream. All freshly prepared, of course!

Delicious!

We decided to let this fester intensify in flavour for a while so it was down the The Swan with Two Nicks for a pint. A quick scoot under the aqueduct and we where there - perfect!

Our faith restored

We have been uniformly dismayed with the last few Indian meals we have had, so we are pleased to say that Blue Ginger in Middlewich got us right back on track on Friday night. If you're ever in the area give it a shot, you will not be disappointed. Try their draught beer Lal Toofan - excellent!
Sunday morning, we went up the Big Lock, turned around and came back down again, all under the watchful gaze of about a dozen Scots lads drinking red wine in the pub at 11.30 in the morning!
The trip back to Barnton was amazing with good weather and the breeze at our back. We spotted nb Tumble Weed, who we bump into quite a lot (not literally, of course).

Our intention was to stop around Anderton Marina/Anderton Boat Lift but I could get neither satellite or terrestrial signal. Now, this being a Saturday between September and Christmas the lack of TV was simply not acceptable. Elaine, bless her, gives me free rein where TV is concerned but Strictly is non negotiable! So we pushed on to Barnton, stopping just short of the turn to the tunnel entrance.
Having decided to go for a walk we took to the old horse path over the tunnels (there is no towpath in the tunnels so the boats used to be "legged" through and the horses went over the top).

 

When you go through the tunnels you see pools of light from ventilation shafts. Well, here they are from the top.

This morning, we timed our start so that we would clear Barnton Tunnel (there are no time restraints) and arrive at Saltersford Tunnel at the top of the hour. Northbound access is between o'clock and twenty past, southbound between half past and ten to, all because the tunnels are so narrow that it is strictly one way traffic. So imagine our surprise when a day boat emerged from the tunnel at around eight minutes past. Naughty!

We were planning to stop at Dutton again but made such good time that we pushed on to Preston Brook Tunnel instead. Now, with this being around 3/4 mile long you only have a ten minute window each hour when you can enter. Luckily, we got there bang on time and cruised straight through! So, we went all the way to Stockton Heath, got the pins knocked in then had a pint of Portuguese lager listening to live swing music in a wine bar called....... The Wine Bar. I bet they were up all night thinking that name up!

Destination reached

So here we are in Middlewich which, if you don't know it, is a terrific little market town steeped in canal related history
 The trip up from Marston has been wonderful, the ghastly, industrialised run to the east of Northwich excepted.
We saw a nice 9' wide boat for sale

and this got me wondering about VAT. Why? Well, wide beam boats are treated like static caravans in that they attract zero VAT, being classed as a dwelling. However, what is a wide beam? Is it the full 14' wide or does this 9 footer qualify? The real bummer is that we live on our 7' narrowboat but it isn't classed as a dwelling so attracts full rate VAT. 

Anyway, back to today. There's a new marina just before the flashes after Orchard Marina, boats are in place but it still looks to be a work in progress.

The flashes themselves are as spectacular as ever and Elaine managed to snap a grebe in between dives for lunch.

The canal after this section enters its most enchanting phase, a real sense of remoteness engulfing you as you wind this way and that in splendid isolation. There are the occasional waterside properties, however, and very nice too.

I don't really have time to add much more. Milady is almost ready to hit the town so I'd better get spruced up myself! More tomorrow.

Time to get me kex on

Yes it was away with the shorts and on with the jeans today. And a fleece top. And a woolly hat as we went through the twisty Salterford and Barnton tunnels.

They may look straight, but they ain't!

A straitforward day, really. We don't "ooh" and "aah" when we see jays and herons anymore as they are getting to be a regular sight. We even saw 2 kingfishers yesterday but I can't see us getting blasé about them just yet.

The only thing out of the ordinary was the workmen we encountered just after Acton Bridge but it was no drama, just hover in the centre of the canal until they give you the all clear.

Having filled up with water at the services near Anderton Marina we planned to stop at Marwood Country Park. Alas, no Sky signal so it was on to the Salt Barge pub (excellent by the way). Alas, no signal there either so it is either a DVD or terrestrial TV tonight.

Finally, take a look at our winter clothes drying solution - it worked a treat!

Tomorrow we hit Middlewich and the Blue Ginger Indian restaurant. Can't wait!

On the breach at Dutton

So it was adios to Stockton Heath today after visiting the Elsan then buying more coal.

I think autumn is the best time of year. More beautiful than summer with fewer pesky insects and even peskier boaters. However, peskiest of all is the lesser spotted irate house dweller. We encountered one yesterday who complained that me running my engine was making his floorboards vibrate. I offered that even though I would have liked to run my engine for two hrs, how about if I run for 45 minutes, switching off at the ungodly time of ten past six? His response was to threaten to get Peel Holdings to throw me off the canal! He stomped away after I told him to jog on, but I was good to my offer and shut down at 6.10 prompt. It's not always a stress free life on the cut!

Anyway, where was I? The leaves in the water aren't too much trouble. Simply knock the boat into neutral every now and then to clear the weed hatch.

We went straight to - and straight through - Preston Brook Tunnel (luckily we hit our allowed 10 minute slot). I snapped a few pics as we went, happy to be praised by moored boaters for how considerately slowly we went past them (see, house dweller? We are not such bad people!)

Daresbury came and went, as did the tunnel then it was on to the totally different feel of the Trent and Mersey.

Much narrower!

We stopped high above the Weaver Valley, where the canal clings to the hillside

Well, normally it does! This whole stretch slid into the valley below 4 years ago.

Here's hoping the repair holds out!

Glad we didn't move

Remember I said we would be staying in Dunham for a couple of days so that we could get a few jobs done? Well, it didn't happen. Yes, we stayed but, no, the jobs didn't get done. Motivation deserted me for some reason and the little devil on my shoulder kept rationalising my laziness. However, we got stuck in today

The bilges got cleaned up and the greaser refilled, then I washed my dirty knees!

Next it was time to repair the rear steps with longer screws in the hinges, then up went the spice rack

then finally the drying rail over the stove and a new (we've had it for years!) roller blind

Elaine gave the front half of Lottie a good scrubbing then it was time to set tonight's Bolognese on the stove for a slow simmer - sorted!

Tomorrow we'll empty a couple of cassettes, stock up on gas and coal then get through Preston Brook tunnel for a few days on the Trent and Mersey.

Oh, and the reason I'm glad we didn't move? It's pouring down as I write this!

Stockton Heath

Well this amazing weather is still with us, set fair for the rest of the week according to the forecast. We had a slow and easy cruise from Lymm to Stockton Heath today, letting anyone who caught us up pass us by.

We were certainly in no rush, unlike these guys

charging up the M6 towards Barton bridge. No, we were happy to crawl at a snail's pace to Stockton Heath, watching the green change to gold, leaves falling like snow.

All too soon our destination hove into view and we tied up as usual just before London Road bridge.

We are back there somewhere!

So, it was a 3/4 mile downhill walk to Morrison's, a "big shop", then a taxi back. At least, that was the plan. However, the only taxi firm that bothered to pick up the phone told us they had nothing for at least an hour. So we trudged back bearing all of our provisions in a total of 7 bags! Needless to say, after getting back to the boat a unanimous verdict was delivered - we had earned a pint. 

Elaine leads the way!

So that's us for another day, busy doing nothing. And long may it continue!