Living in Sanity

Clinics, switches and internet orders

2008-10-07T17:02:00.002+01:00

6th & 7th October

I wasn't due at the hospital until ten yesterday, and although I wasn't absolutely certain how long it would take to walk from Shobnall, not having done it from that location before, I knew it couldn't be more than three quarters of an hour. This made for a very lazy start, which was very nice.

In fact it turned out to be just half an hour, including time to buy a paper, so I got there very early. Eye clinics can be very late running indeed, but in the event I was seen early for my bit of hi-techery, and was soon on my way back to the boat.

Meanwhile Sheila had been entertaining Lesley Love from Kala, which is moored in Shobnall marina. Her husband, Dan, has had a real bit of bad luck this year – he has a high risk lifestyle as a motorway cop for Derbyshire, but injured himself falling off his push bike, just like any of us could. He broke his arm, and has then had some complications which have kept him in hospital for several weeks.

Lesley told us that he should be out this week, so all the best of luck, mate, and here's hoping you'll soon be out and about again.

Sheila had also had time to polish her easy chair. Peter Mason at Braidbar used to be in the leather trade, and had recommended good old shoe polish as treatment for the inevitable staining that's occurred over the last four and a half years. I must say that a dose of Cherry Blossom has done it as much good as any of the fancy and expensive treatments would have. The Cherry Blossom was 49 pence for the tin.

After lunch, I started a job I'd planned the last time we were down this way, namely splitting the switch control of the lights in the galley. Sanity's through galley has three 20 watt halogen spots over each side, and as built, these were switched by one switch on each side, so that the choice was to have no, three or six lights on.

Over time, this seemed a bit extravagant of our available battery power, especially if you were just making a cup of tea, or pouring a glass of wine. Fortunately, all three wires had been brought from the individual lights to the back of the switch, so in theory it was easy enough to get a double switch for each side and rewire.

Six months ago I got the switches, and finally yesterday started work on the port side. The new switch fitted onto the same backing plate as the old, so the main challenge was to enlarge the hole in the lining behind it to take the double switch where it poked through the backing plate.

It was a bit of a struggle; Braidbars are lined with solid ash tongue and groove, and it's not like trimming a bit of pine. but in the end I managed it. Then it was a matter of finding out by trial and error which lead led to which spot, and wiring it so that I can now switch on either the spot over the cooker or the two spots over the sink unit and worktop, or both, of course.

After I'd done, I'd run out of the crimp on connectors for attaching the leads to the spade terminals on the switch, which gave me an excuse to pop into the chandlery. For once, I came out with just the pack of connectors at five for £1.05; this must be the least I've ever spent in a chandlery in one go. I did have a good look at the widening range of multiple LED lights that potentially could replace the halogen spots, but that's for another time.

Today I was due at the clinic a bit earlier, and it was possible that I would be anointed with the pupil dilating drops which make it quite hard walking back if it's sunny. For this reason Sheila came with me. In the event, it was a dark and gloomy morning, to go with the dark and gloomy financial news, and I didn't have the dilation anyway, but it was still good to have her company.

We were a bit early again, and again I got into see the man ahead of time. All was well, and we were on our way back to the boat before half nine, the original time of my appointment.

We made a quick trip to the council tip near the marina, to get rid of the recycling, then set off in worsening weather for the Morrison's mooring. Sheila did her usual excellent job of winding by the marina entrance, despite a gusty wind, and half an hour later we were tied up ready to go shopping.

Having got back just before lunch, we decided not to go onto Branston Water Park as we'd originally intended, but to sit tight here; the weather is due to improve tomorrow. There's some doubt as to whether the river section below Alrewas Lock will be navigable, after the rain over the weekend, but we'll just have to see what it's like when we get to Wychnor.

Meanwhile, the data connection is immeasurably better here, so I've been able to order Sheila's Sony Reader form Waterstones.com at last, and to put in an order to Lakeland for kitchen bits and bobs. I have also done the starboard side galley light switch, so now I can have any number from one to six lights on in there.

All in all, a productive couple of days, methinks.

Into Burton

2008-10-05T20:08:00.001+01:00

4th & 5th October

With a fair bit to do before we could get lunch, we made a prompt start yesterday in a cold wind. Our decision to change over the wardrobes the day before had been providential, as we really needed the Guernsey jumpers below fleeces and heavy waterproofs.

We followed another couple of boats through Alrewas, Wychnor and Barton Turn Locks. There was a good bit of traffic on the cut, including Shakespeare and Canaltime hire boats. We stopped below Barton for water and to start a washload, then went on through Tatenhill and Branston Locks into the more pleasant bit of canal alongside the Water Park which gives a much needed break in what is otherwise a rather grimy and noisy stretch. The A38 is your constant companion, and a quarry and the Marley Block Works do their best to provide an interesting view.

On arrival at the Morrison's mooring, we found just the one other boat tied there. In the course of a wild afternoon a few came charging past, but only two stopped. The first of these was the Town Class motor normally tied at Tatenhill, Hadley, seemingly out for a quick pootle up and down the cut, as later on they went off and presumably winded at Shobnall before coming back past us.

The other was a Shakespeare which really struggled to moor in the strong cross wind, but eventually managed it. I guess they were just looking for somewhere to take a break from the rigours of boating, as they didn't seem to go off shopping, and after a bit set off again.

We treated ourselves to a mega lunch of soup, pasties and sarnies, feeling that our performance in the wind and rain justified it.

This morning dawned much less windy, but with an unpleasant fine rain that really required the full waterproof kit. We only had 30 minutes boating to do, fortunately, as far as the Shobnall visitor moorings. There were three boats there managing to take up five spaces, but we succeeded in tying on the end, with the stern on a pin. The boat in front of us was another Shakespeare, and as we expected, they set off a bit later on, and we pulled a bit forward so as to be fully on the piled moorings.

Using Cheetahwatch was revealing here. The signal strength was much better than it had been at last night's mooring, but the throughput is very slow. I guess there's just not enough bandwidth for the demand here at the moment, so T-mobile need to increase the capacity of their local tower.

After lunch the weather had picked up a lot, so we trolled into town in search of the Waterstone's and a Sony Reader. Guess what; they didn't have one in stock. They had had six, apparently, and sold them all in three days, but then were told that as a branch they were too small to have any more stock. Waterstone's really needs to get its act together on this. Having advertised the things vigorously, they are making it very difficult to get hold of one. I think that what we'll have to do is order one on line, and then send it back if it proves to be a disappointment.

Back at the boat, Elanor looked in on her way into town shopping, and has just called back to show off her purchases (shoes and boots, mostly)

Tomorrow we stay put, as I've appointments at the Eye Clinic both tomorrow morning and on Tuesday.

Buying lots of meat

2008-10-03T16:42:00.001+01:00

2nd & 3rd October

A seriously lazy start yesterday was followed by a roundabout walk to the shops. Sheila and I strolled the length of the towpath through the village just to see who was about. We held hands for much of the walk, though seemingly this behaviour is resented by some bystanders (I mean, we're nearly 60, it's disgusting!)

As I keep saying, this second adolescence is so much more fun.

I have to give credit where it's due to BW. After all my carping about the waste of money with the dreaded bollards, they have spent a good chunk of it to good purpose below Alrewas Lock, where you enter the river section.

For as long as we've been coming this way, the mooring below the lock has been pretty dodgy, and getting worse with every winter. Now they are doing a thorough job of repiling the relevant bank and installing a good number of bollards (may be they are spares from the narrow lock programme). There must be around 120 feet of good mooring taking shape down there.

It's not quite ready yet, and there's a rather scary looking pontoon with a short trek through the fields to the lock as a temporary mooring, but it's clearly going to be all done shortly.

Having admired this, we went to Coates the butcher and bought yet more meat. They are presently doing their excellent hip bone steak with £4 per kilo off. It still cost over £12/kilo, mind, but well worth it. Together with the other meat we bought, I've now filled the freezer.

Much of the rest of the day was spent doing internet stuff, including the month end financial housekeeping. The connection wasn't brilliant: it never is here, and Sheila was going quietly bananas trying to access some of the websites.

It did lead me to discover a useful little utility for those like me working a Huawei modem under Mac OS X. Called Cheetahwatch, it lets you see the signal strength and similar stuff that's not been available to us until now.

I decided to use some of the chuck steak I'd bought to make a stew for dinner. That meant that I had to go back into the village for some veg, also from Coates, who have set out to make up for the loss of the greengrocers that used to be here.

Today was the coldest start we've had yet. The drive belt for the domestic alternator had had a little squeal to itself yesterday, so before starting the engine today I had a brief wrestle with it and managed to get it just that bit tighter.

I then trotted off to the surgery for the first of the various medical encounters lined up for this month, namely a blood test. On my way back, I popped into Coates yet again, this time to get some pork tenderloin for tonight. Elanor is joining us for dinner, so I think I'll do it as foil wrapped parcels with garlic, served with mashed spuds and Savoy cabbage.

I also got a couple of their pasties for lunch; one of those and a mug of soup makes an excellent meal on a day like this.

Since the weather has clearly made a seasonal shift, we've done the half yearly clothes swap, putting away the T-shirts and shorts, and getting out the thermals and long sleeved shirts. As always, we were quite ruthless about not storing stuff that we haven't used this summer. Elanor can check it over tonight in case there's anything she has a use for, then the balance will go in the recycling bin.

Mid afternoon was the trip to the dentist for both of us– all was well, so that's that bit dealt with for another six months, hopefully.

Tomorrow we head into Burton, as I've got hospital appointments Monday and Tuesday.

Arriving at Alrewas

2008-10-01T19:50:00.001+01:00

30th September & 1st October

We've done a lot less boating in the past two days than recently; it's quite nice to be able to lie in in the mornings again. Yesterday we set off around 8.30, but only to go into King's Bromley Marina, where by quarter to nine Sheila had managed the tricky reverse turn to lay Sanity alongside the rather wobbly service pontoon.

There was a notice giving the opening times as 9 in the summer and 9.30 in the winter, so we waited to see which season we were in. It proved to be summer still (they go by the clock, so if it's still summer time, it's still summer) and we had the usual friendly welcome that is a characteristic of KB. Prices have gone up even further – a pump out, a bit over 100 litres of diesel and five bags of Supertherm, together with two packs of compressed sawdust logs came to more than £160.

This is the first solid fuel we've bought this Autumn. They only had Supertherm or Taybrite, and I've never got on with Taybrite, so I decided to chance the Supertherm. It has a slightly dodgy reputation because it is said to contain petrocoke, which means that it can burn very hot indeed. It also comes in a very large "egg", making it a bit harder to light than other solid fuels.

The compressed sawdust blocks were as expensive as the coal based stuff, but is of course greener, as it has a nil net CO2 output; you are only releasing the CO2 that was taken up when the tree grew in the first place.

Both seem to be burning well in the Squirrel, and I am in any event always careful to moderate the air supply, especially when closing down for the night.

Fuelled, pumped out and stocked up, we set off for Alrewas. Woodend, Shade House, Middle and Junction Locks were negotiated, with a fair bit of traffic both ahead and behind us. The weather wasn't very thrilling, and it was a case of wearing waterproofs all day.

We filled the water tank at Fradley, and decided to carry on to the moorings above Bagnall Lock despite the weather, as the forecast for today was even worse, especially as regards wind.

By 12.30 we were securely moored and able to tuck into a well deserved lunch. One of the advantages of tying here is it's particularly easy for Elanor to look in on her way home from work, which she's done both yesterday and today.

The only other event of note yesterday was an attack by a manic swan in mid evening. We'd put the porthole covers up, but hadn't yet taken the polycarbonate screen out of the side hatches. Suddenly there was a massive swirling of water, and there was a swan trying to batter its way in.

I took the screen down, but didn't fancy sticking my hand out to grasp the side hatch doors. In the end, I had to bash the beast on the bonce with the fly swat to persuade it to desist long enough to secure us from further assault.

Today was indeed very windy. We had a seriously lazy start, and loafed about for most of the morning. Mid morning, Graham and Beryl came past on Priscilla, and we joined them for coffee and Braidbar gossip before they went off heading for their mooring at Barton Turns. As we'll be around here for a good few weeks, there's a reasonable chance we'll see them again.

Otherwise it's been a housekeeping sort of day: minor shopping, sorting surgery appointments, sawing up the wood on the roof so that it's ready to burn.

Will Chapman looked in in the afternoon, and we talked Save Our Waterways business for a couple of hours, as well as more general nattering.

It'll be more of the same tomorrow and Friday; I'll have to think of something to add to this blog on general topics to make it worth your while reading it!

Boating from home to home

2008-09-29T17:41:00.001+01:00

28th & 29th September

On a misty morning yesterday we set off at half eight for Great Haywood or points south of there.

Aston, Sandon, Weston and Hoo Mill locks went by, Sheila steering and I working the locks. We crossed with other boats at all of them, and had to queue at a couple. The cut is quite busy at this time of year. It always used to be our favourite slot – the schools are back, there's a good chance of fine weather and there's still enough daylight for a decent cruise each day.

In this context, it's noteworthy that Stone Canal Cruising had had all their boats out last week, and had them all booked out for the next two as well, including one hire of six weeks.

The weather was in fact quite damp yesterday, so I spent the time between locks down below, reading and surfing the net, as you do. It's a hard life, being retired!

The other thing that struck me as we went along was the way in which the canal system falls into chunks in my mind. Coming through Harecastle means that you feel in a very different part of the world to the canals of Cheshire to the north, and similarly, though with less reason, passing Great Haywood has the same effect.

There are two areas that feel like home to me now, the one that we've just left around Poynton where Sanity was born, and the one round Alrewas to which we're headed, because Elanor lives near there, and we are back there so regularly for the medical and dental stuff.

We got to Great Haywood just in nice time for lunch, so stopped on the moorings before the water point to eat it. After, we had to hang about for a bit to get onto the service moorings, then watered and started a wash load before setting off again for Wolseley.

Another short wait took us through Colwich Lock, and we tied in our usual spot at Wolseley for the night.

Boats continued to pass to and fro, some stopping near us. One such did so whilst I was in the shower. I first heard a lot of engine revving outside, then a call of "Brace, brace, brace!" from Sheila, shortly followed by a massive clang and lurch as Sanity was struck a glancing blow by the other boat.

By the time I was dried and dressed, it was all over. Sheila came back in having helped the all female and foreign crew of Ophelia, Shakespeare hire boat, tie just behind us.

Complete novices, they'd had a total of twenty minutes instruction from the yard before setting off. First reaction in my mind was to censure the yard for not providing a more thorough training, but then I thought back to 1975 and our first trip.

On that occasion, the instruction consisted of a lecture addressed to all the hirers together, gathered round the stern of the largest boat going out (ours, but that's another story). It covered starting and stopping the engine, how to steer, and good advice to take the right angle turn at the first junction by coming to a stop in the entrance and then putting the helm over and revving up.

We'd also had a guided tour of our boat ("These are the wine glasses; all the hire boats are putting them on this year, so we thought we should as well. This is the toilet bucket, and here's a spade; if you can't find a sanitary station, just push your way through the hedge into a field and dig a hole.")

I guess expectations have risen in lots of ways since those days.

Today we had another relaxed start at half eight, and in less than an hour were in Rugeley. A trip to Wilkinson's and Morrison's was followed by a coffee on board before joining the melée on the cut.

South of Rugeley the canal gets very narrow in places, especially through Armitage, and this makes for exciting boating when it's busy. Today was no exception, though thanks to prudent boating (yes, it was me steering before we have any sarky remarks from certain regular readers, you know who you are) and a good look out from Sheila in the bow, we avoided any actual fender to fender confrontations.

We got to Bridge 55 near Kings Bromley marina in time for a slightly late lunch and a quiet afternoon. The Indian Summer seems to be over, with rain this afternoon, and wind and rain forecast for the next few days. This is hard luck on Sheila, whose turn it is to steer tomorrow. First task will be to go into KB for diesel and a pump out, and it's not the easiest of places to manoeuvre in during a rainstorm.

Back through Harecastle

2008-09-27T17:03:00.001+01:00

26th & 27th September

For the second day running, we made a flying start, though it was a bit harder to do yesterday than the day before. By the time we reached Hall Green stop lock, I'd finished breakfast, and after a brief struggle to persuade the offside top gate to co-operate, we were through, I'd taken over the helm and Sheila went below to eat.

As we approached Red Bull, she re-emerged, and took Sanity through the junction and up to the tunnel entrance.

Ivor Batchelor was on duty at the North end this time, so we had a chance for further chat whilst wiling away the 45 minutes until it was time to go through. He told us that the stop lock had been giving trouble all day yesterday as well.

He also passed on the news that his foreman is selling his Malcolm Braine 60 foot boat, as his wife's frailty means they can live on board no longer. At £48,000 it sounds like a good deal: fixed double, four cylinder Gardner, boatman's cabin, the whole thing. Drop me an email if you want Ivor's mobile to get more details.

At ten past nine we went in, and had a slowish passage behind a Stone Canal Cruising boat with a very woofy dog on board. We emerged an hour later, and went steadily down the Stoke locks.

It was just after 12 before we came out, so we had lunch on the go, there being few or no places in Stoke where you'd opt to stop for a picnic. This meant we'd had two meals whilst on the move on the one day.

By half two we were at the Wedgwood moorings short of Barlaston, and settled down to a very dozy afternoon, having boated for seven hours – not like us at all.

We've had a much more typical day today. Getting up at our usual time, we set off around 8.15 for a gentle chug through a classically misty Autumnal morning. It was thick enough at first that I put the tunnel and navigation lights on, but it soon cleared to a splendid day.

There was a fair bit of traffic about, but not enough to be a problem. Meaford and Stone locks went well, with a few boats coming the other way. We'd tied by 11, making it around two and a half hours, Barlaston to Stone – our idea of a reasonable day's boating.

There was a good bit of space on the moorings: the virtue of timing an arrival for mid morning at a popular spot. A quick shopping trip got things like fresh bread so that we could have lunch.

We'd tied tucked up against a BW tug, leaving a good stretch in front of us. On our return, someone had tied their boat smack in middle of the space, so that there's less than 50 foot between us, and a bare 60 on the other side.

I can't tell you the name of this awkward boat, much as I'd like to name and shame. There have been boats struggling to get into either gap all day, but the owner's gone off, and his boat has no licence, registration number nor name.

Despite this irritation, the afternoon has been too nice to hassle about it much – still sunny, sitting out on the bow weather. Sheila's been knitting, and I've done IT housekeeping stuff like updating the software.

Tomorrow we'll have another gentle day's boating hopefully, going down to Great Haywood or maybe onto Wolseley – depends how we feel, really.

Shop in Macc, then back down Bosley

2008-09-25T17:03:00.002+01:00

24th & 25th September

With shopping rather than boating to do, we made a lazy start yesterday, and walked down into Macclesfield at around nine. One of the first stores we found was Waterstone's, where, however, we were doomed to disappointment.

I'd planned to buy Sheila the Sony Reader for her next birthday, but it turns out that the smaller Waterstone's aren't stocking it "for security reasons". Sheila thought this was fair enough, but it seemed a bit feeble to me. We were able to agree that it was no excuse not to have at least one as a demonstrator, since it's not the sort of thing many of us would choose to buy on-line without first at least holding one in your hands to form an opinion about it.

If it proves to be all it's cracked up to be, it could do for our book storage problem what the iPod has done for the CD problem, that is, eliminate it. History seems so far to be repeating itself, in that the big difficulty is the price and poor availability of material. Ironically, the Waterstone's site is especially difficult to use to buy eBooks, but there are several other legit sources, and I suspect (though I won't patronise them myself) that if the eReaders take off the way MP3 players did, there'll soon be a lot of unlicensed copies of books available.

After all, the technology for scanning a book into pdf format is already available, and the Sony Reader displays pdfs as well as its native file format.

Be that as it may, back at the boat, after a much more successful raid on Julian Graves for dried foods of all kinds, another search of the Waterstone's website elicited the info that the Burton branch is stocking the thing, so we will possess ourselves with patience until we get back there.

After this burst of energetic activity, the rest of the day was spent rather more somnolently. I did an account of the Owners' Weekend to send out to the magazines as a news story, and emailed it to Braidbar for their comments, and to see if they had any photos to use with it.

During the afternoon first Sebeq and then Cala came by, and Cala hovered for a while for a chat before boating into the distance, determined, it seems, to get down Bosley before the end of the day. Since it was already late afternoon, this seemed a bit ambitious to us, but today we tied by them at Congleton (though there was nobody aboard) so I guess they made it.

Apparently, they are now reading this blog by mobile phone, which is a bit cool.

Today was very different. We wanted to get down Bosley ourselves, and on to the Little Moreton Hall mooring. Sheila decided she fancied some early morning boating, so, although it was my turn to steer, she nobly leapt out of bed at seven, whilst I was making the first thing tea, and set off.

After getting washed, dressed and breakfasted, I took over so that she could get eat too. This meant that we made the run from Gurnett to the top of Bosley by nine, and some good teamwork took us down the flight in around an hour and three quarters.

By twelve we were tied at Congleton for lunch, just behind the locked up Cala. Off we went again, and got to our destination by half two, having taken six hours for the whole run, plus an hour for lunch.

More internet type stuff has been undertaken this afternoon, and Sheila has washed out the plant pots which held the summer flowers. When they are dry, they'll go away for the winter under the well deck. While I was spell checking this, Cala came past again, heading for Scholar Green for the night. They looked remarkably fit, considering they'd spent the evening before drinking with Klaus and Helga on Sebeq.

Tomorrow, we'll do it all again, so as to get through Harecastle and Stoke and down to Barlaston in one move.

Leaving Poynton at last

2008-09-23T17:25:00.001+01:00

22nd & 23rd September

We'd been warned that the pub would be busy on a Sunday evening after seven, and for that reason stopped serving food then. We all rolled up at six, and it was indeed very busy, but mainly with diners getting an early meal, several groups being families with comparatively small children.

We managed to get a big enough group of tables together for the twelve of us, however, and were able to order from a menu that was getting shorter by the minute.

Nonetheless, we all had a good meal, together with a couple of rounds of ale. By eight, the place was in fact quite quiet, with only ourselves and a bunch of regulars round the bar still drinking.

Later, we ambled back to the bungalow at the boatyard, and in a while there was a hard core (Peter, the Calas, Sanitys and Sebeqs) left, drinking Peter's wine and playing with Maria's toy remote control helicopter, as bought from eBay for £6.99.

Truly adolescence is a lot more fun the second time around (not least because you are in no doubt as to whom you are going to bed with when it's all over, which I reckon is a major component in teenage existential doubt).

Next morning I had a quick maintenance job to do on Sanity, as the galley sink had decided to stop draining last thing the night before. It proved to be a simple blockage which fell out when I took the pipe off the underside of the plughole.

We did a fair bit of hanging about during the morning, culminating in an epic session of boat shuffling, aimed at moving those boats which had only been in the yard for the Open Day (Braidbar 100 and Sanity) out onto the mainline, moving Bella out of the paint dock and moving in those (Calm Down and the shell for the next build) which needed the workforce to get on with them.

In addition, the hire boat, Skye, needed to come into the yard in mid cruise to have her Webasto diesel heater fixed, so she was run down the middle between Cala and the shell, and her crew invited to look round the other boats by way of a diversion.

We finally left just before lunch, going down to the end of the moorings to wind (when you come out of the yard, you always end up facing towards Marple) and then gently boating to Adlington for the night.

It was a wrench to go, but all good things come to an end eventually. By the time we got there it had turned determinedly wet again, giving us all the excuse we needed for a very quiet afternoon and evening.

Today was a pretty relaxed start too. On a dry but cool morning, Sheila steered the familiar route to Macclesfield whilst I browsed the net, did a bit of emailing and caught up with a newspaper.

The moorings by the water point in Macc were full, as ever, but we managed to moor on pins between the water point and the bridge. There was just time to go to Tesco before lunch, which we took where we were, then after refilling the water tank we came on to Gurnett Aqueduct. It was pretty full here, too, with just a couple of 60 foot spaces left, one of which we took and the other of which filled up in mid afternoon.

The weather was now sunny and mild, and Sheila sat out on the bow knitting: until the boat in front started its engine for battery charging purposes.

We've relit the stove now – these Autumn evenings are too cool for comfort once the sun goes down, which it will do in about an hour from now, having just passed the Equinox.

We're going to stay here tomorrow, doing some big town shopping in Macc, then heading off for Bosley Locks on Thursday, windlasses out for the first time in three weeks.

A great weekend at Braidbar

2008-09-21T17:33:00.001+01:00

20th & 21st September

In a short phrase, it all went very well. We had a steady flow of visitors during the morning yesterday, the first arriving at around 9.15, and the last leaving at 6.30.

It slowed right down over lunchtime and into the early afternoon, but then we had a late burst that kept us going right through the end of the day.

Comparing it to Crick, it was noticeable that it was a different mix of people, and each party took a lot longer. This was, I guess, because these folks had made a serious effort to see specifically Braidbar boats, and were obviously either actively in the market for a new boat, or seriously considering their options in that regard.

There was none of the casual visitors that we get at Crick, where to an extent we are just part of the entertainment of the family day out. An extra bonus was that Tim Tyler the shell builder came for most of the day, and we had a chance in the lull to chat to him about his side of the work.

After it was all over, we settled down to relax in the evening. We had a large barbecue, with a lot of the meat supplied by Peter and Sue Mason. Peter also put in a virtuoso performance as a barbecue chef. There was plenty of wine, and as it got cooler and darker, we retreated to the house for dessert, cheese and the quiz Sheila and I had prepared.

Focussing on canals and Braidbar, of course, this caused much hilarity and seemed to be taken in just the right spirit, that is, not too seriously, but with some attempt by the teams to get some answers right. We didn't finish until late, and it must have been one o'clock before we were in bed.

Nonetheless, we didn't feel more than a bit tired this morning, and we've had a very pleasant and gentle day in fine weather (at last).

At eleven several of us went down to the Anson Museum, a short walk from the yard. It is mostly about old engines, but also has a section about the local history of Poynton.

They had a fair number of engines running, including some from the late nineteenth century. It's interesting (for some of us) to see the various alternative designs for an internal combustion engine that were tried before the Otto four stroke cycle became so dominant.

We came back to the yard and ate lunch in the sun on the lawn, then we all turned to and took down the bunting, the tent and so on, and put things back to its usual operating layout.

This evening we're going down the pub (the Boar's Head) for a meal together as the last bit of the Owners' Weekend. It's been enough of a success for people to want to do it again next year; we just have to pick a weekend that avoids the CIBC rally and the Huddlesford Boat Gathering, if we can.

Tomorrow we'll probably leave the yard and set off towards Alrewas for the first half of the stoppage season.

Busy, busy, busy...

2008-09-19T14:55:00.001+01:00

18th & 19th September

This is going to be one of my quickie blogs, as we are rushing around helping set up the Open Day and Owners' Weekend at Braidbar at the moment.

Yesterday we made a prompt start, knowing that we would be involved in a boat shuffle at some point in the morning. It's one of those minor examples of Sod's Law: in the past, when we've been a bit relaxed about getting up in these circs, we've had someone knocking on the roof at 7.30, and have ended up narrowly avoiding moving boats in our jim-jams.

(Ho, ho, yes I know, "Is that a 60 foot boat in your pyjamas, or are you just pleased to see me?")

This time, we were ready bright and early, and didn't shuffle the boats until mid morning. Nonetheless, it was good to be out and about, and we were, I think, able to make a serious contribution to further improving the look of the yard.

Braidbar had a boat due to go out on its acceptance trial today, Friday, so their staff were working flat out to get it ready. We were planting pots with pansies, stringing bunting, and sweeping and tidying all over the place.

We were joined in the afternoon by Iain and Luisa, and they brought Braidbar 100 into the yard today. Arcturus, Farne and Sebeq all arrived yesterday, and have been joined by Cala and Cedar today.

The new boat, Calm Down, was very nearly ready when her owners turned up just now, and will be going out later this afternoon. Cala will then come in and we'll have four boats for visitors to look round tomorrow, as well as the shell so that they can see what the builder starts out from.

I got a lift into Poynton after lunch, and stocked up on beer, wine and the last bits of food. It's starting to feel quite festive already, and with any luck we won't be too weary to enjoy it! The weather forecast is holding fair, at least by this summer's standards, and I think we're going to have a great time. I'll let you know on Sunday, all being well.

Meanwhile, if there's anyone out there with a genuine interest in seeing a set of Braidbar boats, various ages and styles, come along to Lord Vernon's Wharf, Higher Poynton, Cheshire, (SK12 1TH for the satnav) between nine and five tomorrow, Saturday.

Doing Braidbar stuff

2008-09-17T17:31:00.002+01:00

16th & 17th September

Having got ourselves in position to tow the new Braidbar shell from the North Cheshire Cruising Club (hereafter NCCC) at High Lane, and given that it wasn't even due to arrive at the club before eleven, we had a lazy start yesterday, and a hanging about sort of morning.

At eleven, we found our way to the road access to the club, and hung about there, chatting to a club member, until first the shell on its trombo, and then the crane turned up. For those who don't know it, I should explain that the entry to the NCCC from the cut is under a towpath bridge into what looks like a short and narrow arm. In fact, the arm is a good deal longer than first appears, as it curves and then makes a right angle bend into a dock.

What we were missing was the team from Braidbar, consisting of Peter and Ian Grindrod. They eventually showed up, having had to come via Stockport to get a bit that needed to be fitted before the shell went in the water (long story which I won't repeat bore you with here).

There was then some more hanging about to be done whilst this part, a bowthruster, and the prop shaft and prop were all fitted. It became apparent that we would be boating over lunch, not a good idea for me, so I went to a local sarnie shop and bought a couple of roast pork baps, or barms as they call them in this part of the world, to keep us going.

In the event it was one o'clock before they were ready to lift, and then we had to shaft the shell out of the arm to the mainline, open up and start up Sanity, pick up the tow on cross straps and set off for Poynton.

The shell was 70 foot long and already had her Gardner engine in place (they put it in and build the shell round it). This made her even more reluctant to be steered than shells usually are, and Sheila had her work cut out at the back.

Peter ran Ian back to the yard in his car, borrowed a bike from Andy Russell the boat painter, and came and met us about half way home. He was then able to help fend off the shell from the bridge holes and moored boats en route.

Arriving back at Poynton by about two, we put the shell in the yard, several of us standing around in it to persuade it to go under that towpath bridge. After a cup of tea and a natter about plans for the Open Weekend, we also brought Sanity in. We finally got the second half of lunch at half four.

Being in the yard means we're in a position to help set up for the weekend, which has been a large part of today's fun. It's like setting up a Festival, but on a miniature scale. We've been tidying around the lawn, putting up a big frame tent and generally making the place look as spiffy as we can for the big day.

Hopefully a supply of bunting will arrive tomorrow or Friday, and that will help too.

Sanity's cratch board is now all fixed and mostly repainted; there's just a bit of touching in to do to the vertical line of diamonds on the cratch board. I spent the latter part of the afternoon refitting hinges, bolts and the like, which we'd taken the opportunity to polish up beforehand.

Whilst I was doing that, Sheila polished the starboard portholes, so the final job has been to put a couple of coats of Incralac on it all. It's not gone on as smoothly as I would like, mainly because it was the fag end of the afternoon, and I was knackered, but it looks OK, and will spare us the task of polishing it all again for a while.

It's going to be another quiet night tonight, I reckon. Tomorrow we have to shuffle boats around in the yard, and Braidbar 100 is due to arrive at some point, as the star of the show.

It's all good fun – I'm just a tad weary at the moment!

Drifting about for a couple of days

2008-09-15T17:37:00.002+01:00

14th & 15th September

It was a fine morning yesterday, Autumnal with a hint of mist clearing to a bit of sun and a cool breeze. We were up and about betimes, but needed a pump out so had to wait until the Trading Post opened. Previously we'd have gone up to Marple and done it for ourselves, but we weren't sure of the state of the facilities there – the block had been reported closed a while back, and we'd heard nothing since.

In the event we had to wait quite a while. Of the two guys who run the TP, Kevin is away on holiday. Brian told us he was expecting some help, but it never materialised. Brian meanwhile had to induct the day's hirers of Comet, the day boat, as they were complete novices.

He eventually got round to seeing to us; we weren't in a hurry, in any event, as we only planned to go to the mooring beyond Bridge 8 we call Deer Farm Bend. Brian made a better effort than usual at rinsing the tank, but the fact remains that pouring water from a watering can down the Out pipe is no substitute for running water from a hose down the Rinse pipe. Coincidentally, Andrew Denny on Granny Buttons has just paid tribute to another pump out station that does attempt to do a proper job.

It's also irritating to be charged £15 for this less than spectacular service, especially as we don't use Elsan Blue, so they save a smidgen there into the bargain.

We finally got away at 10.15. Two things were noticeable as we went past the line of Long Term moorings. The first was how many of them are currently empty, a direct result of BW's barmy auction trial. In the old days, Luisa Bryceland as agent would have got on the phone to the folk at the top of her waiting list as soon as she knew she had a vacancy coming up, and it would be filled before the previous moorer had served his notice.

Now, there's a wait of at least five months whilst they put it up on the website, wait for bids, and finally do the deal with the successful bidder. I doubt, somehow, that they make enough in increased fees from the auction to compensate for the loss of nearly half a year's income.

The other thing that became all too apparent is that, since the engine was reassembled after replacing the drive plate, the tick over has increased by about 100 rpm, which is a lot in our terms. It meant that we fairly shot past the moored boats, and, to add insult to injury, the prop decided to sing loudly as we went.

There's not much we can do about BW's Department of Silly Ideas, but the other issue was tackled after lunch. I needed to do an oil change and stuff anyway, so took the opportunity to adjust the throttle cable at the same time. It meant going right to the end of the adjuster's thread, but it was nearly back at its previous revs by the time I'd finished.

A quiet evening followed, enlivened by the hoots of the local owl.

Today we had another lazy start. We knew that turning up early at Marple would be counter productive, and it's less than 30 minutes from Deer Farm Bend to the junction.

I spent the waiting time double checking what I'd done yesterday. I'm a purely self taught engineer, a Minor 1000 Traveller having featured prominently in my training, and I don't have the confidence to assume that the jobs I've done will be OK.

In this case, my unease about the level to which I'd topped up a battery cell proved justified, and removing a little electrolyte made me a happier man. All else seemed fine, and we pottered off to Marple. I'm pleased to say that the tick over is now much more the thing.

At Marple we followed a shop-coffee-shop-lunch sequence before coming back to High Lane ready to do a shell tow tomorrow.

It's been another peaceful afternoon, though just before sitting down to write this I realised that the anxious lad on the towpath had lost his football in the cut. Apparently his neighbour had kicked it out of the garden and it rolled down the bank above us into the water.

I tried heaving a long line at it for a bit, but such wind as there was, was blowing it into the offside reeds, so in the end we untied Sanity and shafted her across there. The ball promptly drifted away from us, but a bit of reverse on the engine brought it in reach of the boathook and it was recovered.

Good turn done for the day, we tied up again, Sheila went for a shower, and I sat down and wrote this.

Out of the yard for a bit

2008-09-13T17:25:00.001+01:00

12th & 13th September

Yesterday got off to an odd start; a good night's sleep was ended by a seriously weird nightmare. I dreamt I was driving along what appeared to be a motorway along the North Wales coast, when I came to a bit where the locals had decided to improve the road surface for themselves. They were all over all three lanes, just in ordinary clothes, no hi-vis or anything, and using various garden tools to work on it.

They were directing the traffic to pull over whilst they did it, and I woke trying to get my mobile out of my pocket to call the police. It was 5.45, and further sleep was impossible, I was so angry with these vigilante road menders.

Like I say, weird.

It was a day for hanging about, rather, waiting to see if our Eberspacher was back from the service agent: it turned out that it was on its way, but had not yet reached the Manchester depot from which it could be collected. I filled in time by washing the bike, going to buy a newspaper and editing the Cruising Plans panel on this blog.

Just as we were finishing lunch, Peter appeared with the Eberspacher, his wife Sue having called in at the Manchester depot to get it. It was soon refitted and started up, and I was able to reassemble the back end of the boat. At Sheila's suggestion, we took time to do a thorough clean of the area before putting all the stuff back.

Late in the afternoon we pulled out of the yard. We still don't have the cratch reassembled; it's mostly done, but needs the repaired areas touching in before it can go back on. It's quite odd boating along without the cratch, but not unpleasant at the moment as the weather seems to have taken a turn for the better.

Sheila steered up to High Lane to wind, and we came back and moored outside Skye on the Braidbar mooring on the mainline. On the way, I discovered that the final decision on the change of regulation about duty on red diesel has been published. It's going to be interesting to see how it works out. Waterways World has described it as "Pay as much tax as you like" since we will have to declare each time we buy diesel how much is for propulsion and how much for domestic purposes.

Peter came round for dinner, and we had a merry evening over curry and red wine.

This morning we had a relaxed start before going shopping and then coming back to the boat to prepare it for the arrival of Sheila's nephew Alastair, his wife Alison, their two kids Abigail and Josh, and her sister Helen.

They arrived nice and promptly at two, and we took them for a trip down the canal. We'd planned to wind by Lyme View Marina at Adlington, but it was such a fine day, I went on to the further winding hole at Bridge 20.

This one proved to be very muddy, but we got round at last and set off back. It made a total of around 90 minutes boating, which seemed to be just right for the kids, who are aged five and three (I think).

Back outside Skye, the adults had a cup of tea, and a lot of duck feeding took place. There was just time for the youngsters to have a quick go on the Bryceland trampoline at the boat yard before they had to leave.

We've settled down for a quiet evening after all the excitement of the past few days. Tomorrow we'll head off towards Marple, coming back to High Lane in time to tow the next shell from North Cheshire Cruising Club to Braidbar on Tuesday afternoon.

Two pubs in 48 hours

2008-09-11T17:49:00.002+01:00

10th & 11th September

At the end of my last post we were waiting for Peter to finish the first part of installing the new drive plate, whilst planning to have a night off from cooking by popping down to the local pub, the Boar's Head, for a meal.

In the event, Peter got carried away with what he was doing, and we left him to it, with a key to lock up the boat when he'd finished. When we got back at around nine, he'd done so and gone; somehow he'd managed to remount the gearbox by himself, which is quite a feat.

Clearly, he's not a wrgie; wrg's health and safety rules strictly proscribe solo working.

Yesterday was one of those relaxed days where we caught up with lots of bits and pieces. The high spot was noticing that the Sitemeter hit counter was showing 19,991 hits first thing, and by lunch time the 20,000 milestone had been reached. As I've said before, I can't tell the identity of individual visitors, but I am able to say that number 20,000 was from Harlow, Essex, and apparently wanted to look at some of the photos illustrating the 2006 cruise.

More mundanely, I slogged down to Poynton in the morning to get some general supplies. The best choice is not at the Co-op near the main junction in the centre of town, but at a Somerfield a little distance down the main road. This makes it hard work getting down there, and even harder getting back up the hill; it's a characteristic of the Macc that all the shops are well below the level of the canal.

In the afternoon we washed and polished the starboard side of the boat, it being a very pleasant day. While we were doing this, Maria came and took some photos of our portholes to illustrate what GU style ones look like to one of the customers.

Having a functioning engine again meant that we could run it for a bit to get enough hot water in the calorifier to be able to have showers, which were very welcome.

At the end of the day, Peter called in for a cuppa and to chat about this and that, especially the arrangements for the Open Day and Owners' Weekend. It looks like we'll be having the quiz on the Saturday night, as that's when most folks will be around.

This morning, knowing that there wouldn't be anything to do to Sanity as the Eberspacher won't be back until tomorrow, we had a lazy start, then both walked down into Poynton again. Sheila's brother Peter and sister-in-law Jan were coming over to go out for a pub lunch with us, and we wanted to get things like biscuits to offer them with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

They duly turned up at 12, and we went off to the Miner's Arms at Adlington for a leisurely meal. The food was very good, as ever, but for once the service was a bit slower than was welcome. It didn't stop us finishing with their new dessert, the Curly Wurly Mega Thingy Sundae. This was recommended for sharing, and boy were they right.

It came in a large glass chalice with four spoons, and comprised a lot of everything you'd expect in a Sundae, plus chocolate fudge cake and profiteroles at the bottom. We just about managed to finish it between us.

Back at Poynton, we made an effort to walk off both it and the Spitfire draught by going down the towpath for some distance and then returning via the Middlewood Way.

Then we settled in the boat to drink tea and eat biscuits until it was time for our guests to leave.

Since then we've been gently pottering, as you may imagine. Tomorrow we may well see the Eberspacher back, and then we'll pull out of the yard for the weekend, so as to give our next set of guests a little boat trip on Saturday.

Into the boat yard

2008-09-09T17:53:00.001+01:00

8th & 9th September

Things usually start happening in the Braidbar yard from eight o'clock on, so we got up at around our usual time, and straight after breakfast started unloading the stuff from the roof into the well deck. The entrance to the yard under the towpath bridge is quite low, and we were aware that after all the rain, the level in the pound was quite high.

By half eight we were on the water point just outside, topping up the tank so as to bring the bow down as much as possible. The right hand side of the yard was empty and waiting for us, and for once both my turn to get in and the passage under the bridge went without a hitch.

By nine, Peter was burrowing under the back deck, disconnecting the Eberspacher so as to send it off for service. Quite apart from the excellent after sales service we've always had from Braidbar, I'm a great believer in getting the builder to do this sort of work, as it brings to light some of the design problems.

For Peter's sake we all went and hid at the other end of the boat so that he could express himself freely.

In the event, the Eberspacher came out quite without too much grief, with the sole exception that one of the clamps sealing the water hoses came undone at a critical moment and there was a brief spray of water into the engine bay.

The next task was much more substantial; removing the drive plate for examination and probable replacement. This involves removing the gearbox from the back of the engine, and took the rest of the morning. It looks quite simple when you examine the engine standing on a plinth at one of the shows, but it's a very different matter when the beast is installed in the bowels of a narrowboat.

The job was finally finished, and the effect of nearly 5800 hours of engine running became apparent. The plate was not actually about to fail, but I'll feel much happier boating down the tidal Trent next year knowing that a nice new one is in place.

Without an engine or central heating, we'll have to rely on the Squirrel stove for space heating, and kettles for hot water for a couple of days. If necessary, we can always use the shower in the bungalow if we get too odiferous.

In the afternoon, I finished work on the photo section of the quiz I'm planning for the Owners' weekend. This also meant that I could take the risk of uninstalling and reinstalling PhotoShop. Ever since upgrading the OS, it's been whinging that it wasn't properly installed whenever I started it, but still seemed to be working, so I'd decided to finish the project I was on before trying to sort it.

Having got two pages of photos printed out to my satisfaction, and the files saved as JPEGs (and thus printable from a variety of applications), I uninstalled PhotoShop and put it back on again.

Naturally, having gone to all this trouble to guard against disaster, it all went swimmingly, and now seems to be working as well as it ever did.

We spent the rest of the afternoon quite quietly. We've got shoreline power here, of course, (since we can't use the engine to recharge the batteries) and Sheila is taking advantage of the situation to catch up with the washing, using the tumble dryer function of the machine to do as much of the drying as possible, and drying the rest in front of the Squirrel.

Today we were up and about by half eight again, although we knew that nothing much would happen from the Sanity repair point of view until stuff starts coming back to be refitted. We've finished what should be Sheila's final task for the IWA National, namely recording the numbers of the individual prepurchased, complimentary and prize tickets. The completed spreadsheet was sent on its way by mid afternoon.

Maria lent us her hairdryer to finish the secondary double glazing film we'd started the other day, and it now looks very good. It's completely cured the condensation problem on the prisms; we'll just have to see how it stands up to a winter's use.

Other entertainments included helping Peter shuffle boats. The hire boat, Skye, was taken out of the yard, and Jack, which is waiting for collection, brought back in for the very finishing touches and snagging to be done. Jack is a gorgeous looking boat, in the same style as Braidbar 100: 70 foot long, Gardner engine, boatman's cabin, all the bit. She also has a bow thruster; no reason why she shouldn't, of course, but it does seem incongruous when combined with such a trad stern.

I guess it fits the design philosophy of that class of boat, which is to have an up to the minute, modern boat from the bow to the start of the engine 'ole, and then a traditional engine 'ole and boatman's cabin.

Apart from this, all was quiet; Luisa called in on her way to do some paperwork in the office, and we had a natter. I was just settling down to do this blog when Peter turned up with the new drive plate.

Looking at it just confirmed how right we were to change it. As I type, he's making a start on the refitting by attaching it to the engine output shaft. As they say in the Haynes manuals, "replacement is a direct reversal of disassembly," and that's as ironic with boat engines as it is with cars.

In any event, the job can't be finished until tomorrow, as bits of it require more than one person swearing at it at the same time, and everyone else has gone home.

End of the summer's cruise

2008-09-07T17:36:00.003+01:00

6th & 7th September

It continued very wet indeed over Friday night and into Saturday morning. Not being in any great rush, we waited until it eased a bit and then went round to the water point by the Hovis Mill and the Macclesfield Canal Centre. Two boats from Nantwich were occupying the 24 hour moorings, so we went straight onto the water point and started filling up. On the way we noted and took photos of the land slip that has closed the towpath at Bridge 41. It's quite spectacular; no wonder it's going to take a full winter's stoppage to repair.

The folks on the Nantwich boats emerged whilst we were hanging around, and after chatting to us, began to make preparations to go. This was handy, as I had a longish list of stuff I wanted to get from Tesco, and wouldn't have felt happy leaving Sanity on the water point whilst we did so.

In the event, after they'd gone, an Anglo Welsh boat rolled up, also looking for water, and tied behind us, but since the length immediately behind that is in fact much better, we weren't too worried. Sheila explained to them that if they tied sufficiently far forward on their mooring, they should be able to water without pulling forward, but the miserably short hose they had wasn't up to the job.

I usually reckon around twenty metres is a good length for a hose, so that if necessary you can run it past one 60 foot boat and still reach your own, or have the tap at the stern of the boat and still reach the filler point in the bow. The Anglo Welsh issue was barely 20 foot rather than 20 metres.

Once our tank was full, Sheila gave one of her demos of virtuoso boat handling and pulled back round them to the deeper mooring behind. Off we trotted in full wet weather gear for the walk to Tesco. The sun promptly came out, so that by the time we'd got back with our loads of shopping, condensation had made us as damp as we'd probably have got if we'd just braved the rain without waterproofs.

Back on the boat, we cast off and Sheila started boating whilst I put stuff away and made coffee. It was now gone eleven, and so we didn't expect to get to Adlington much before one. I made mugs of soup to keep us going after we'd passed Bollington, and we got to Adlington at around ten past one.

The 24 hour moorings opposite Lyme View Marina looked pretty full, so we stopped on the 48 hour ones just this side of Bridge 18. They proved pretty bumpy, though. There's a ledge just below water level worthy of the Shroppie. My usual trick for dealing with this is to fix the fender to a mooring chain clipped to the fender eye, so that it sinks down and lies between the hull's bottom edge and the ledge. This time, however, it didn't work.

This was because the nice new fenders I'd made with Victory Black floated. They didn't mention this in Tradline when I bought the stuff from them – I may have to incorporate some sort of weight in at least two fenders so as to be able to moor on the Shroppie in comfort.

Be all this as it may, after lunch a reconnaissance showed that there was in fact one sixty foot space left through the bridge, and we moved through onto it, lying much more comfortably as a result.

The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing the internet and the like. Main discovery as a result was the newly issued BW proposals for next year's licence conditions. The plan is to charge continuous cruisers an extra £150 a year, on the grounds that a) we use the system far more than others and b) we can afford it.

Needless to say we are not impressed, and I suspect there'll be some tough talking between the various user groups before the year is much older.

Later in the day, as I was cooking dinner, Iain and Luisa Bryceland came past on Braidbar 100, heading off for a short cruise for the weekend. Since they'd only just set off, they declined our offer to share the stew in the oven, but still managed to swap a good bit of gossip with us before going on.

Today was another damp start, and with only the short run to Poynton in prospect, we didn't hurry out of bed. In fact, we reckoned that arriving before half ten would be pointless, so I did some more emailing and the like, as well as routine engine and prop checks, before we went.

On arrival at Poynton, we found lots of boats tied on the deeps, and have ended up some distance from the yard. This didn't stop us finding an excuse to call in after lunch, where we found Peter and Sue Mason hard at work. It gave them a chance to stop and discuss what we want done to Sanity, following up our email exchanges, and we'll be going into the yard tomorrow morning.

The rest of the afternoon has drifted gently by; I've finished the picture part of the quiz I've promised for the Owner's weekend meeting on the 20th and 21st, and caught up with some other jobs, like giving Sheila's hair a trim. Note there's an Open Day at the yard on the Saturday, the 20th, for anyone interested in perhaps one day owning a Braidbar boat; see their website.

A day to boat, and a day to loaf

2008-09-05T17:11:00.001+01:00

4th & 5th September

It's been a couple of days when attention to the Met Office site has paid dividends. We knew that yesterday was not going to be very nice, but today would be even worse, so we planned to get as much done as we could in the half decent conditions.

We got away before half eight, ready togged up in waterproofs (there's no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing for the conditions). The cloud soon thickened enough to start raining, so that by the time we got to the foot of Bosley it was quite chilly; the thought of warming up on the flight was sufficiently attractive that I handed the tiller over to Sheila for the first half and set off up hill.

We met a fair few boats coming down, especially after half way up. These included a group of three women in a hire boat who were clearly not enjoying it as much as they might. A shame, but it's surprising how rarely you do see folks really not getting a buzz out of boating. By half twelve we were in the long pound below the top lock and stopped for lunch.

Our plan had been to stop the night there, but we couldn't get Sanity to lie comfortably against the towpath, thanks to the Macc's rounded profile and the fact that my nice new fenders made with Mr Flockhart's "Victory Black" don't sink, but float to the surface if you try to lower them far enough down to sit between the base plate edge and the wash wall.

The weather had picked up a bit, so we decided to carry on to Gurnett Aqueduct and then sit tight if today proved to be as bad as forecast. It took just over an hour and a half to do the trip, and we found a surprising amount of space when we got here.

Gurnett's one of those funny mooring spots. It's the best place to tie to visit Macclesfield, as I've said before, and sometimes you're hard put to it to find a space at any time of day. At other times, it's virtually deserted, as this time. It has another advantage over the moorings near Bosley; the mobile phone signals are markedly better, especially the T-mobile data signal.

In the course of the afternoon, a few more boats turned up and tried various mooring positions, and some of them then stopped the night. They all set off again this morning, despite the fact that the forecast proved if anything to have been optimistic. It's been raining hard most of the day, with some severe gusts of wind to boot.

It's given us a chance to do some postgraduate loafing for the first time for ages. It seems to have been a very busy summer, and we really need to concentrate on getting back into laid back mode for the winter.

Be that as it may, we lit the fire first thing, left the cratch cover down and spent the day catching up with some paperwork (like Sheila's passport renewal) and downloading and playing with the calibre software. This is in anticipation of me buying Sheila a Sony Reader for her birthday. (It's one of the milestones, but I'm not allowed to say which. The free bus pass will come in handy, though. Ooops.)

The Reader sounds to be the one best suited for what we want it for, i.e. reading lots of straightforward books, but Sony's Connect software doesn't run on the Mac. This is a bit surprising really, as the typesetting for most books will still be done using QuarkXpress on a Mac, so you'd think e-versions would be easier for that platform, but there you go.

calibre, however comes in versions for all three major OS (Mac, Linux and Windows) and seems to be very good for the purpose. Can't actually check all its features until we've got the Reader, of course, but it's certainly an effective Library Management tool.

The rest of the time we've been reading, knitting and watching a DVD. Tomorrow we'll stagger on as far as Lyme View marina, probably, going onto Poynton on Sunday.

Oh, and fave email sig of the day: "People who talk by the yard and think by the inch, end up being kicked by the foot..."

Back on the Macc, and it's Autumn, folks

2008-09-03T17:53:00.002+01:00

2nd & 3rd September

As predicted here last time, we had a relaxed start yesterday, getting away at 8.30, and then stopping immediately on the water point and running a wash load before setting off up the four Stone and four Meaford locks.

These locks have also been fitted with offside bollards, but they are at least appropriate looking iron mushrooms, painted white and much less of a hazard than the ridiculous wooden things being installed further south.

Less encouraging was the state of the towpath between the locks at the top of Meaford. It's been slowly subsiding into the cut for years there, and had successively been fenced with orange netting, then with wooden rails, and now yet more netting has appeared, as parts of the rails have fallen into the water. It desperately needs the whole pound to be piled again, as the BW guy painting the lock ladders confirmed. (Phrases about deckchairs and the Titanic come irresistibly to mind.)

There's a road alongside, which in turn is beginning to move, so something must be done shortly. Meanwhile, BW have installed an alternate towpath along the offside, including bridging the by-pass weir for the top lock.

The canal continued very busy, with much traffic in both directions, as you would expect on one of the most popular cruising rings at the end of the school holidays.

By 11.30 we were tied beyond Barlaston, on the moorings near the Wedgwood factory. As the weather was beginning to deteriorate, we dropped the cratch cover again and lit the stove.

The afternoon was put to good use by fitting temporary double glazing film to the bedroom and bathroom portholes and the three prisms. We don't have a hair drier on board to finish the job, but it seemed a good idea to get the stuff up whilst the boat was comparatively dry inside. We can always borrow a drier at Braidbar when we get there, hopefully.

Today, by mutual agreement, we set off at 7.30, wanting to take advantage of a sunny morning which was forecast to deteriorate later. Even at its brightest it was very cold, and a bit damp, and, still wearing shorts as we were, we both found the breeze chilly around the knees.

We worked steadily up the Stoke locks, making such good progress that it became clear that we would be at the South portal of Harecastle before lunch. In the event, we got there by 11.30, to find Ivor Batchelor on duty and in fine form.

We shared a good bit of towpath scandal with him, much of it unfit for this outlet, and then found ourselves third in line into the tunnel at around 11.45. This time Ivor chose the boat ahead for his favourite leg pull.

This involves Ivor saying solemnly to the steerer of the boat as it enters the tunnel "Would you just mind sounding your horn for me, sir?"

The steerer of course complies, assuming this to be part of the safety check before being allowed in. Ivor then smiles in satisfaction and says "Thank you very much; that'll scare the boggut!" (Harecastle is reputed to be haunted by a ghost known as the Kitcrew Boggut.)

It was distinctly cold in the tunnel and by the time we emerged we were in no doubt; Autumn is here, and long trousers should be worn.

We tied on the towpath side just before the junction with the Macc, and after lunch I nipped along to Tesco for a few items whilst Sheila made a start on repairing the state of our flower tubs and replacing them on the roof, they having been placed in the well deck during passage of the tunnel.

She'd not got far with this before I was back, and didn't want to hang around in Kidsgrove. Accordingly, and despite the rain getting worse, we've come on to the Little Morton Hall mooring beyond the Heritage yard at Scholar Green.

The weather is now so bad, wind and rain and cold with it, that not only have we dropped the cratch cover and lit the stove, we've put the covers on all the portholes to keep out the miserable sight.

Hopefully we'll get a window of better weather tomorrow to go on through Congleton and either stop at the bottom of Bosley (if it's grotty again) or go up to the top for the night.

Heading North to Stone

2008-09-01T17:19:00.001+01:00

31st August & 1st September

Yesterday we permitted ourselves a lazy start for once (well, I was steering). Setting off at nine, we chugged gently through to Tixall Wide, followed by John and Nev on Waimaru. We'd had an excellent evening with them the night before, finishing quite late, despite my unmannerly yawns (I'm still catching up on lost sleep, I think).

John had originally planned to spend the night at Great Haywood, but without much difficulty was persuaded to change this to Tixall, in exchange for a return meal with us. Waimaru still needed to go to Haywood to water, but of course it's no great problem to wind in the junction, and return to Tixall, where winding is certainly not a challenge (unless you try to do it with too much forward way on initially ;-} ).

After we'd tied Sanity in a convenient spot on a fairly busy towpath, we set off to walk to Great Haywood, so as to visit the farm shop there to buy bread and some bits and bobs for the evening to come. We got there just as Waimaru was tying up at the water point. After doing our marketing, we found them still there, and joined them for a cup of coffee and a lift back to the Wide.

This took a while; Waimaru's tank must have been very low on water. Back at Tixall, John moored near Umpshire, the boat of Gail and Stewart whom we all know from our OwnerShip's days, and we had a bit of a natter with them before going back to Sanity for lunch.

The weather became very damp and disappointing; it had been very misty first thing, and now settled down to rain through the mist with such determination that we dropped the cratch cover and lit the stove. This made the boat too hot, of course – it's the everlasting problem at this time of year, especially when wet weather stops you from opening the side hatches and the slide to let some of the spare heat out, thus drying the boat.

It made for a quiet afternoon, rather dozy and dopey, though I did manage to find the energy to write a couple of email letters to the editors of Waterways World and Canal Boat (on different topics). It'll be fun to see if I can get them published in the two mags in the same month.

Nev and John duly joined us for dinner. I used one of the meals Al Moore had kindly frozen down for us at the wrg camp: a beef stew to which I added some butternut squash and served with new potatoes and summer cabbage with coriander seeds.

Dessert was an apple and blackberry tart we'd bought at the farm shop, with home made yogurt, as I objected to paying nearly three quid for a 100 gram pot of crème fraiche at the shop.

Today we had a longer haul to Stone; at least three and a half hours according to the books, and likely to be rather more at this time of year. Sheila was in charge, so we set off at 7.30 (I swear that woman's ancestry features Captain Bligh in it somewhere, she's so good in a boat.)

Despite the early hour, John and Nev appeared to wave us off, as did Chris Webber on Eulalie and John and Christine on Thornbury. The morning couldn't have been more different from the day before. It was sunny and mild, and it was a joy to be boating.

We went smoothly through the junction, and soon arrived at Hoo Mill Lock. From there up to Stone we were sharing the cut with a variety of other craft, privateers, hire boats, even a tug and hopper seemingly in private ownership, which its rather taciturn skipper said he was taking to Huddersfield.

He was behind us initially, but we loosed him by between Weston and Sandon locks. He planned to be at Standedge by Friday, but admitted that that was a bit ambitious for a single hander.

One of the reasons for making an early start is that there's not a lot of mooring at Stone, surprisingly for such a deservedly popular spot, and getting there at the end of the morning is a good strategy. As it turned out, it took us all of five hours, what with one thing and another, but we were still able to get a decent spot. They have extended the visitor mooring since we last came this way around twelve months ago, but there's still not a lot of it.

It's been raining on and off all afternoon, but we managed to do a bit of shopping between the heavy showers, and have been lurking in the boat doing various internet related jobs the rest of the time.

Tomorrow we should have an easier day going up to Barlaston, where there's lots of mooring, what with those in the village and the ones by the Wedgwood factory, so not such a crack of dawn start, methinks. (Well, I'm in charge again.)

On our way again

2008-08-30T18:38:00.002+01:00

29th & 30th August

Thursday night proved to be a good gig, but a bit of a classic wrg type session. As I said last time, we were having a fish and chip supper with the blue shirts and this guy Al Fresco, but he didn't turn up. Instead, Bungle did, with a diesel bowser half full of red diesel which he wanted to sell at cost price, i.e. 67 pence per litre.

The thing was, we'd over ordered fuel for the generators and site plant, and so had around 1000 litres left. The plant hire company wouldn't take the bowser back if it still contained fuel, because of the HazChem rules, so, sadly, all we boaters had to step into the breach.

We managed to shift a fair bit of it before and after eating the fish and chips, but Bungle was still trying to move the last of it the next morning, when I went to find Dave Chapman, the supplies manager, to pay for the final jerry can full I'd taken in the dark the night before.

In this context, let me pay tribute here to the hardest working of all the folk who make the Festival possible. Those must be Site 1 and Site 3, Dave Jones and Mike Sumner, wrg 1 and wrg 2, Dave Worthington, aka Daddy Cool, and Jenny Black, the aforementioned Supplies, and Admin 1, Sandy Jones.

Many, many others are involved in the delivery of the largest waterways event in Europe, and the largest volunteer run event in the UK, but those folks are right on the front line.

After paying our debts and having a goodbye natter to various people we might or might not see between now and next year, we finally set off around nine, boating again for the first time for three weeks. We went up the Shroppie to Wolverhampton Boat Club, winded in their winding hole, and came back to the towpath water point to top up the tank and start a washload. It did feel good to be boating again, it must be said.

One of the virtues of slogging it at the National is that it makes us appreciate the sheer pleasure of boating, and why we choose to be continuous cruisers. Here I should say that I've just been chatting to John and Nev Campbell, with whom we are having dinner tonight, and John commented how hard I made working at the National sound. This worries me a bit, as I don't want to put off anyone thinking of turning out as either a blue or red shirt next year.

Admittedly, I got very tired this year because I didn't pace myself properly over the three weeks. Lots of other folks come for, say, just the ten day wrg camp, and although they will be pretty well exercised at the end of it, there's no need for them to be exhausted - no one is asked to do more than they feel capable of doing, and the whole point is to enjoy yourself whilst engaged in a worthwhile activity.

Some of us just have this masochistic streak, and it's very kind of the IWA and wrg to enable us to indulge it.

Water tank and fuel tank full, it only remained to empty the toilet tank, so we next went round to Oxley Marine and had another very good pump out, with lots and lots of rinsing by a very conscientious operator. It took a bit longer than expected because his pump broke down twice, but he regaled us with tales of his life on the boats, being a boater born and bred, so it wasn't in the least tedious.

Having turned right at Autherley to get to the yard, we had to go on to Aldersley Junction to wind and finally set off in the direction we wanted to go. By dint of lunching en route, we got to Gailey at 2.30, and settled down to a leisurely afternoon, with a bit of housework in a rather hot boat, then just plain loafing, reading a couple of the books and magazines we'd acquired at the show.

During this time we exchanged emails with the aforesaid John Campbell, as a result of which we agreed to come on to where they were moored by Stafford Boat Club so as to eat dinner with them tonight.

This entailed an early-ish start this morning, 7.45 in fact, but even so we were third boat in the queue at Brick Kiln Lock, the one immediately below Gailey. It made for steady rather than rapid boating on a warm, cloudy day which has shown odd splashes of sunshine, but which has become increasingly muggy as the day wore on.

I was lock wheeling, and after pumping up the bike tyres, made reasonable work of the towpaths to Penkridge, where we stopped at ten for shopping and coffee. Acton Trussell came over the horizon at 12.45, so we paused for lunch. It was a fast internet connection there, surprisingly, and I used it to find the site of next year's National at Redhill on Google maps.

A short bit of boating on in the afternoon got us to our present location by Stafford Boat Club, and we've spent the rest of the time drinking tea and nattering to John and Nev, finally breaking off to let Sheila get a shower, me to do the blog, and to take a call from Elanor about her weekend so far and to let us know about all the exciting post that's arrived for us. (Not: the most interesting thing was my Inland Revenue Self Assessment statement, confirming that they owe me a tenner, and, just like every one else, they'll get round to paying it to me sometime soon. Hah!)

Tomorrow we'll amble on as far as Tixall Wide before heading North for Stone, Kidsgrove and Macclesfield.