Shiralee Cruise 2011 #3

Easter Monday, 25th April and we are still at Rode Heath. We can think of no good reason to leave whilst we still have such beautiful weather. Indeed, while it is still dry I can rub down some of the rust spots on the boat.

Yesterday I applied another coat of cream paint to the ends of our pole and will try painting other parts today. A couple of lengths of Green and Maroon should make it look rather pretty. Not surprisingly, after almost two years where nothing has been done by way of repairs, there are quite a few scratches and nicks in the paintwork, so it’s about time we gave them some attention.

Tuesday 26th April and at last this Bank Holiday weekend is over but, aren’t we lucky, we have another one next weekend and I predict that the streets and pubs will be pretty quiet, unless of course the pubs are showing the wedding-of-the-year??

Our television is, as you all know, up the Swanee. Also, I have been trying to find a suitable tuner with which to repair it. However, having searched eBay for similar TV’s, we have come across several for less that £100 and they have DVD players included and Free 24 hour delivery. So, forget the tuner, a new TV will soon be winging its way to us, assuming we can persuade a local Post Office to take delivery.

Actually, in purchasing a TV with built in DVD player, we can then sell on the DVD player/recorder with inbuilt HDD and reduce the total cost, not to mention save some space.

Today we’re off to Hassall Green., which is just two miles and, depending upon where we moor up, about five locks away. It also looks like we’ll be doing the trip is calm and dry weather. If we can arrange delivery of a TV to Hassall Green Post Office, we’ll stay a couple of days. Hey, we’re in no hurry!!

Actually, between this side of Harecastle Tunnel and the Middlewich Branch, there are 31 locks, which is why this stretch of the T&M is called “Heartbreak Hill”, but known to old boatmen as Cheshire Locks. Hassall Green boasts a Post Office and stores along with ‘limited’ boatyard services The stores incorporates a canal shop, which I suppose means canal memorabilia and such.

Wednesday 27th April and we’re hoping to get to Wheelock this morning, which is eight locks and about two miles away. We are getting rather low on water, most likely because we stayed in one place too long, Rode Heath.

I can’t say we’re impressed with Hassall Green, very limited moorings and the local, the Romping Donkey, is closed and up for sale. There is a very good little canal shop selling sweeties and a small range of general goodies, and a Brasserie next door, with plenty of seating outside. But, if the local traders can’t be bothered to ensure adequate moorings; and they are right beside the M6 Motorway; how can they expect to do business with boaters? Hmm! Perhaps they don’t!!

Anyway we ended up a couple of bridges away and it wasn’t until we visited the canal shop that we discovered the pub was closed. According to the nice lady running the shop the pub was forever changing hands. It obviously needs somebody who knows what needs to be done to make a success of it.

My good friend Alan Oxley, he of my RAF days who now resides in Germany, let me in on some scandalous news yesterday, or was it the day before? Sadly he, or rather his missus, has sworn me to secrecy, so I can’t pass it on. What a shame as it really was quite a juicy piece of gossip. I wonder if they would notice if I whispered it!

The weather has now turned pretty horrid and it’s cold and overcast this morning. However it is calm and peaceful and, with Wheelock being only a couple of miles away, we should reach it before the heavens open up and we must get there today. There never seems to be enough water points along the canals.

I mentioned our need for a new TV, well I think I have found just the thing. It has all the bells and whistles, including record and playback from external media, DVD player and. very important, three years guarantee. All I have to do is persuade them to deliver to a Post Office somewhere along our route.

Friday 29th April and it is another beautiful day. We had a small smattering of rain last night, but all is well now.

I spoke to the people at Swanley Marina on Wednesday and they agreed to accept the TV for us, so we have booked in to stay for a couple of days. The TV has now been despatched and should be there by the time we arrive on Tuesday.

The marina is only about two miles from Nantwich so, assuming there is a bus service, we’ll take a ride in, something we’ve done on a couple of occasions before.

Today we’ll move along a few miles and then, on Saturday, we’ll go to Barbridge for the weekend and on to the marina at Swanley on Tuesday.

We have overnighted at a beauty spot we have stopped at in the past and our journey, although rather long, what with the stopover at Middlewich for some much needed shopping, was very pleasant in blazing sunshine. Goodness knows when this fine weather will end, but you can bet your life it won’t be pleasant when it does.

Saturday 30th April and yet another sunny start to the day. The wind has also dropped, which is something of a blessing. All we have planned for today is to get down to Barbridge, which involves just two locks with a stop off at a boatyard for diesel.

Last night, or should I say early this morning, our wee doggy came and sat at the foot of the bed at 03.30. This is a recognisable sign that she wishes to go outside. In the best traditions of good Wifferey, Sheila volunteered to take Rusty out and who am I to object. One volunteer, etc, etc.

From Barbridge we plan on taking a bus ride into Nantwitch for a few bits and bobs. On Sunday we’ll move along a bit to just opposite the pub and have a few beers and we’ll probably stay until Tuesday morning, when we’ll make our way to Swanley Marina where, we hope, our nice new TV will be waiting for us. Not that we’ve really missed it all that much but, when the lousy weather does turn up, and you may be assured that it will, it will be nice to have something to do other than reading.

A light, following breeze has now sprung up and, just so long as it stays light, we won’t complain.

I’ve just been delving into the Serif programmes that Ian gave me. Hmmm! Seems to be a bit of a steep learning curve. Must set aside some time to read through the destructions!!

It is now almost 3.30 on Saturday afternoon and I have just received an email from Swanley Marina, our new TV has arrived. Hallelujah Brother!! The shame of it is, that we probably won’t get there until Tuesday, so I will miss another programme I would like to see. It’s all about a bunch of Canadians replicating the Bouncing Bomb as used by The Dambusters in WWII. No problem though, it will probably be repeated sometime soon.

This morning after our cuppa after arriving here, we caught the bus into Nantwich and simply wandered around for an hour. It really is a great town for shops and markets, especially on a Saturday, but we do find the produce on the market stalls to be very expensive. Perhaps we have been spoiled by the supermarkets, but a multi-seed brown loaf at £2.60? Jeez, someone is making a decent profit here.

Thus far in our exhausting travels, the Internet has been very kind to us, because we have almost always had all five bars up on our signal strength indicator. If, when we are on the other side of the Shropshire Union; which will probably be another month or so away; we still get such good reception, I will have no worries regarding emails and such. This will be a first since we bought Shiralee.

On our trip down from our moorings of yesterday, we met a tame female Mallard. She repeatedly landed on the bost, walked around a bit, stood very close to Sheila and posed for her photograph on numerous occasions. Only on one other occasion have we come across such behaviour and that was at Crick back in 2007, when I had one feeding out of my hand.

I am pleased to announce that, this morning, Monday 2nd May, at 08.20, n.b Shiralee gained access to the Llangollen Canal through Hurlestaon Locks and promptly moored up for water at the top of the locks.

From there onwards it gradually became more and more windy until, what with the current being against us, we decided to stop at Burland, which is a very small village boasting a new shop. Initially we thought we might continue to the marina, but playing with 15 tonnes of canal boat in a high wind, is not conducive to a good temper. So, we’ll stay here until the morning, when there should be less of a wind.

Now, you may be questioning my remarks about a ‘current’, but the Llangollen Canal is unlike any other in the UK, as far as we know. This canal is fed directly from the River Dee at Llantysilio, which is considerably further north at Horseshoe Falls, about a mile from Llangollen.

Sadly, having decided to stay here for the rest of today and tonight, Wifey has discovered that the marina is just around the corner from the bridge ahead of us. Still, I’d rather stay here than have to faff about with Shiralee in a high wind as she can be somewhat temperamental in such conditions

Here at Burland the shop has only recently opened and must be quite a boon for the boaters at the marina. Indeed, I suspect that the man running it, who is himself a live aboard boater at Swanley Bridge marina, must have spotted a golden opportunity. Not just for the marina inhabitants, but for those in the village. Good for him I say!

Tuesday 3rd May and still the sunshine persists.

This morning we leave at about 08.30 or so to get to the marina and we will stay for a couple of days. We can plug into mains electrickery there and fully charge our shiny new batteries. Not that they are suffering, indeed our solar panel is working wonders in this bright sunshine. So much so that we hardly have to run the engine, except when cruising and for say half an hour in order to give us hot water for the morning. But, even that isn’t always necessary, because we can run the heater, which uses less fuel than the engine.

So, with seven pages already written, I’ll post this one now.

All abreast for now.

Dave, Sheila and old Rusty-bucket