Christleton to Hurleston Junction

Sunday 30th May 2009

Hi from Christledon, where the weather is just great and we intend visiting the local Harvester, which is called The Old Trooper. No doubt we’ll discover how it came to be given such a name. Possibly something to do with the army, but we’ll have to wait and see.

We have spent many a happy hour in these particular establishments, one of which treated us very kindly when we became stranded during a snowstorm in the Pennines. This was during our days at The Village Shop in Kent, when we took a few days to visit a company in Stockport. Of course we didn’t make it to our destination and it was only through sheer luck that we spotted the hotels lights through the blinding snow. We booked in for just the one night but, with the snow settles to about three feet deep, and snowploughs unable to clear the way, the management put us up for a second night absolutely free of charge and fed and watered us too. And the moral of the story is, if you must get caught in a snowstorm, ensure there’s a Harvester hotel nearby!

5 pm on Sunday 30th May

Well, as promised, we partook of a small libation and victuals at the aforementioned Old Trooper, and very good it was too. The Guinness was just £2.90 a pint and the most excellent food, which consisted of, what they called “Kickin’ Garlic Chicken”, did have something of a chilli pepper bite to it and only cost £4.99. Now, I call that blooming amazing!

We arrived back at the Shiralee about 1.30 pm, since which time I’ve been on the laptop trying to track down permanent moorings for said boat. Moorings per se are pretty easy to find. Residential moorings on the other hand are well nigh impossible. There are so few of them around, and the number of new boats coming on line is going up in leaps and bounds, to the extent that, just as soon as moorings become available, they are snapped up.

All is not yet lost though, because I’ve found a marina on the Leicester Arm of the GUC that appears to have at least two moorings available. It is a proper marina and offers all the usual facilities and I’ve emailed them to find out how much per year and, more importantly, if they’re still available. So, watch this space, hopefully we’ll have some good news soon.

Monday 1st June 2009

Wow! It’s been a scorcher of a day and we’ve done quite a bit of cruising. Me and hot weather do not go together too well In my youth I absolutely loved it, especially my two years with the Royal Air Force in Malta. There it was shorts and flip-flops during summer. But, now that I’m older, overweight and suffering with dodgy knees and diabetes, it ain’t no fun.

Anyway, having cruised down to Chester from Christleton with Geoff and Val, we decided to go on to Ellesmere Port with them via the golf course, which is about six miles short of it. That was yesterday after a little shopping at Tesco in Chester.

So, this morning bright and early, around about our usual 8 o/clock, we sallied forth to E.P. and arrived about 10.15 or so. We had intended staying a couple of nights, which would have meant stumping up £10 for the privilege of going down two more locks to a secure basin. It was suggested to the girls that they walk down and check it out before parting with their cash. It’s just as well they did too. From what I could make of it, you will have to imagine the days when the canal was busy ferrying goods to the port for onward transportation to all points of the compass in bigger craft. Apparently the moorings were designed for big vessels, which meant that the edge of the wharf came about half way up our windows, which would have made it impossible to actually get off the boat. No steps or ladders available, so we would have been confined to barracks, s to speak.

Which is why you now find us back at the golf course six miles out of Ellesmere Port. What a disappointment, and that’s aside from the fact that we’ve spent almost five hours cruising for no good reason. Tomorrow then, it’s back through the staircase locks to Chester, where we’ll stay overnight.

Tuesday 2nd June 2009

Hello from Chester. Instead of returning to the moorings near Tesco, which are completely open and therefore pretty hot in this blazing June sunshine, we opted to moor about 250 yards down from the staircase locks. This stretch of water has a high rock-face towering over the towpath side, and a high bank with trees on the other, so we’re well shaded for most of the time. However, at this time, which is almost 3 pm, the sun is beating down on the boat from astern, so it’s now getting pretty warm in here. This is especially the case whilst sitting at the dinette typing this blog. With hot air rising it really is surprising the difference in temperature between here and my armchair.

And now on to the good news. We have managed to secure permanent moorings at Pillings Lock, which is on the Leicester Navigation of the Grand Union Canal. It’s about a mile north of Barrow-upon-Soar and 1 ½ miles south of Loughborough. You may remember our 10 day enforced stay in Kegworth Shallow Flood Lock in 2007, well this lock is on the same stretch of water but another 2 miles further on. The difference is that the marina does not flood and that’s because it too is next to a flood lock.

The marina has all facilities, including water and electricity next to the moorings and they also have a barge that comes to your boat should you need a pump-out or diesel. On site is a licensed café/restaurant and it has enough berths for about 300 boats, only about 80% of which are full. So, at this point in time we’re pretty chuffed with ourselves, not least because permanent marina moorings are not easily come by. We’re hoping to take up our position at the end of October. Cheers for now.

Thursday 4th June 2009

Well, we’re back at Bates Mill Bridge on the Shroppie, where we enjoyed a couple of drinks and snack today.

Yesterday we made our way back to Christleton from Chester but, to be honest, couldn’t really be bothered with the pub. Today has been a bit cooler, which suits me better than the blazing sunshine we’ve had over the past few days.

Last September, when we came down the Middlewich Branch of the Shroppie, we called in an engineer named Nick to give our heating system a service. These diesel fired systems can get pretty clogged up with soot and tar over a period of time, especially if they’re not run hard on a regular basis. Anyway, I always turn it on early in the morning and allow it to run through a complete cycle, as the manufacturers recommend.

Last year, when Nick serviced the system, I asked him to install an inline filter which, according to the people at a boatyard, should prevent the problem. But, it’s only nine months since Nick serviced it and the thing won’t run now. So, instead of going straight on to the Llangollen as planned, we’ll be going back to Nantwich, where Nick has his boatyard, and getting it sorted. What really galls me is that we were up that way only a week or so ago. It couldn’t have packed up then, could it?

Friday 5th June 2009

It took us 3 ½ hours to travel the six miles and six locks to Barbridge, which is the junction between the Shroppie and the Middlewich Branch of same. We’re hoping to stay at this mooring tonight and, quite possibly, tomorrow night, then move on and moor up opposite the The Olde Barbridge Inn and partake of a snifter or two on Sunday. If no suitable moorings are available then we’ll go on to Hurleston Junction, which joins the Shroppie to the Llangollen and stay there until Monday morning, at which time we’ll mosey along to Nantwich for repairs to the heating system. All this means of course, is that we’ll be a day or so late in entering the Llangollen. But that’s OK because we’ll be a couple of days behind any holiday makers, and that can’t be bad, either for my patience or peace of mind.

Saturday 6th June 2009

Well, here we are at Barbridge, it’s peeing down with rain and Wifey has taken the bus to Nantwich. We had intended for her to do that on Monday while the heating system is being serviced, but she decided to do it today and then, if she enjoys the experience, she’ll probably do it again on Monday.

So, since Wifey has gone off shopping, I thought I might, at last, have a go at some painting in watercolours. I’ve got a CD by an Irish artist called Frank Clarke ad I’ve had it for quite some time now and so, as soon as I found myself all alone, I set everything up and, quite naturally, made a complete and utter hash of it. A simple seascape, using only three colours, and I couldn’t get that right. That’s not to say I’ve given up, I just don’t think today is the day.

Of course, the other art genre I want to try is canal art, which is all about castles and roses painted on canal boats. Whether or not I even get started on that, especially after my feeble efforts today is anyone’s guess. Perhaps, when we get to our permanent moorings, I can settle into some sort of routine and make progress on either or both.

Sunday 7th June 2009

Hurleston Junction joins the Shroppie with the Llangollen canal, and that’s where we’re moored up right now. We stayed at Barbridge last night and are now headed for Nantwich where we were going to have the heating serviced. However, over the past couple of days, having tested the system on various occasions and, having found it works perfectly well every time, we’re not going to bother. The reason we’re still going there is to top up with diesel and get a pump-out, and for Sheila to pop into Nantwich for a bit more shopping.

We’ll moor up again for the night at Nantwich then, on Tuesday, we’ll make a start on the Llangollen.

I have to confess that this blog may not have held much interest for you kind people but, by way of some kind of justification for my lapse, we’ve been here before and I’m finding it difficult working up any great enthusiasm at present. I can promise you one thing however the Llangollen will be a different story. We were last there 15 years ago and, as I recall, it was a particularly warm summer, so much so that there was insufficient water in the canal for us to complete the full length of the canal.

The Llangollen, as canals go, is somewhat unique in that it depends upon rainwater runoff from its top end. If it’s dry then the canal tends to drain down somewhat and, if the draught of the boat is more than 22 inches, you’ll be obliged to turn around before the end, as we did 15 years ago. In fact, as Wifey has reminded me, we didn’t even manage to get past the 1000 foot long Pontcysyllte Aquaduct. If we’re lucky, and if the rain keeps up as it is for the next couple of days, and despite our 26 inch draught, we might even get to Llangollen. So please good people, keep your fingers crossed for us and, if we can get online – which is by no means guaranteed in the wild and woolly Welsh countryside – I’ll even include some photographs.

So, for now, cheerio. The next blog should be from somewhere along the Llangollen Canal.

Luv’n’stuff from Dave, Sheila and Rusty.