Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 22

Marple to Gurnett Aqueduct


Saturday 25th August (cont)

Here at Marple there are two trip boats, one belongs to the local pub, ‘The Ring o’ Bells’ and the other is a charity boat called ‘New Horizons’, which is used for short trips for local handicapped people. This one is moored directly opposite us, whilst the Ring o’ Bells usually moors up outside the pub.

When we returned from the surgery last night the charity boat was already moored up. According to Wifey the Ring o’ Bells didn’t return until about 1.30 am but, instead of mooring up on its own designated moorings, it is now sitting on the one and only water point. This means of course that, until he moves nobody can top up with water this morning, and that includes us. But, we have a cunning plan, because we can top up at Higher Poynton after we top up with diesel.

Sunday 26th August

Ah! It seems the ring o’ Bells was making an early start and had moored on the water point in order to save time. Problem solved.

So, we made it to Poynton and only suffered a short shower on the way. After filling up with diesel and mooring up, the rest of the day was given over to more rain and a thunderstorm, the likes of which I haven’t seen since my early days in Harlow. Except perhaps for monsoons in Africa and the Far East, where they really know how to put on a show. I’m pleased to say that, with the temperature falling in the boat, the heater decided to work for us. It also started up ok this morning. Wonders will never cease.

I tried forwarding a couple of messages on Friday, but they came back as undelivered and, at the top of the list was Glo. The reason given for the failed delivery was that the sender had been rejected. I am assuming this was because your Inbox was full Glo, and not because you had put a block on my messages. Aside from that everything is ticketyboo, as they say.

It’s calm and peaceful this morning, although the towpath is somewhat flooded and we may have to swim to the pub later, or dig out the wellies.

Monday 27th August

Great! Once again the heating has let me down this morning and, to add to my frustration, Rusty needed to go out at 4.30 this morning. And, as if that wasn’t enough, having lit the oven to take the chill off, the gas has run out and it’s a wee bit too early to be clattering about in the front locker, waking up our neighbours. Looks like a pretty good start to the day!

Not that we have much planned for today anyway, because we’re staying here until tomorrow morning and, when the nearby boatyard opens, ask if they can help us clear our chimney of crap which has built up due to the inferior rubbish they call smokeless fuel in this area.

I spoke to our friendly car mechanic yesterday; that’s Andy from Mercia marina; and he suggested a visit to B&Q for a long, iron bar with which to attempt to break off some more of the blockage. As it happens there is a B&Q in Stockport and it’s not too far from the bus station, so, if all else fails we’ll pay them a visit on Tuesday morning.

As for today, well, since Emma has yet to set up her Landscape project, I’ll dig out a photo and have a dabble.

Tuesday 28th August

“What we need,” I said to Wifey yesterday, “is a nice long and slim length of steel rod, with which to break through the crud in our chimney.” She agreed and off I trotted to the nearby boatyard, hoping to find somebody there, which there was, but he disappeared almost as soon as he spotted me. No matter, it’s a bank holiday and I wasn’t expecting anybody to jump for joy at the first sign of trouble.

We popped into the wee, canalside shop later and asked there, but they were unable to help either. However, one customer did suggest, jokingly he admitted, that I might give the chimney a few whacks with a hammer. Hmmm!

We gave that boater’s suggestion some consideration and, since we would be no worse off for doing so – the chimney already leaks smoke around the lower collar – I did just that. Then with more poking and prodding from top and bottom, we eventually succeeded in releasing quite a bit more rubbish.

However, our flu brush would still not go all the way down, but I do think we have enough of a space there for smoke to escape and, once I’ve spoken to the nice man in the boatyard about finding someone to do the rest, like take the stack out and clear it, we’ll decide on our next move. If he doesn’t know anybody who can help, I’ll run some sealant around the collar, light some paper in the grate and hope for the best.

Now, with the weather quite bad again yesterday afternoon, there was nothing for it but to batten down the hatches and retire for the rest of the day. This morning looks set to be no better, and so we may have to stay another day but, with a bit of luck and a tail wind, we’ll be off to Bollington. If not, well, since I haven’t heard from Emma yet about her planned landscape, I’ll start without her. I do have a picture of Derwenwater in mind and have already printed it out for reference purposes.

Shiralee moored at Bugsworth Basin in 2008

Wednesday 29th August

Yesterday turned out pretty fine weather-wise and gave us the opportunity to have another go at the chimney. First of all we paid a visit to the local boatyard to see if we could scrounge a suitable length of metal for removing the deposits. This needed to be over 3ft long, but the only thing he had available was a huge length of very wide piping, so we had to revert to the old method using the TV support tube.

I then hit upon the idea of cutting off the wooden end of our boat hook, and giving the deposits a good whack with the metal tube end, and this seemed to do the trick, inasmuch as it removed quite a lot more gunk. Having spent another hour or more on this, I’d had enough and called a halt to the whole process. If that’s not enough to see us through until we get back to Mercia, tough!

After cleaning myself up, I then got to thinking about my painting and realised I needed a couple more bits and pieces, so we trotted off to Stockport again to the art shop. We followed this with a bit of shopping – surprising how early in the day even bakeries run out of bread – then waited half an hour for our bus back.

By the time we got back to the boat it was an hour past Rusty’s dinner time and, when it was put down for her, she merely sniffed at it and proceeded to sulk for the rest of the evening. She even refused her little treat this morning.

We’ve now been here at Higher Poynton for four days, so, even though we have yet another windy morning to contend with, we’re off to Bollington where, with a bit of luck, we’ll find some bread.

Later………..

More rain and wind this morning, so, instead of moving on to Bollington, we took the bus into Stockport again. Upon our return at about 1pm, down came more rain and up sprung the wind. This now means five days in one spot, which is most unusual for us. Hopefully we’ll be on our way tomorrow morning.

Another photo of us at Bugsworth
This is where we would have moored,
had the rings still been available

Thursday 30th August

Once again we have a strong head wind this morning but, so long as it doesn’t rain too, we’ll be on our way.

We came upon something rather unusual in Stockport yesterday, Crumpet Loaf. In fact we came upon it a couple of days ago, but this time we thought we’d buy some. We usually have crumpets for breakfast on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, so this thing will, I hope, make a pleasant change. We’ll see.

Friday 31st August

We made eight miles yesterday, from Poynton to Gurnett Aqueduct, and not a drop of rain to be seen. In fact, even the wind dropped for us and we were moored up by 11.30.

So, there was I, nicely relaxed in my armchair, when Wifey spotted a couple of boaters walking along the towpath with plants and stuff under their arms, and in carrier bags. Out comes the Nicholson Guide, which is when she had her Eureka moment. “There’s a nursery down the road”, she says.

‘Uh, oh’, I thought, ‘another long walk’.

“Where is it?” I asked

She showed me the map and, there it was, about half a mile towards Macclesfield. Shoes on, take brolly and off we go. But, after a good half mile with no sign of said nursery, I stopped a young lady and asked if she knew where this place was. “Well, there’s nothing further along this road”, she said, “but there is a Garden Centre about 10 minutes walk, back the way you came. There’s a signpost pointing to the right, you can’t miss it”

After profuse thanks at being saved further walking, we turned around and made our way back. “It must be in the other direction then”, I said, “or we’ve simply missed the turning”.

I don’t know quite how to tell you this but, just before the aqueduct, on the opposite side of the road is a lane and, on the corner of that lane is a signpost to? Yep! Macclesfield Garden Centre! It didn’t take long for Wifey to find a few boxes of Chrysanthemums and a nice, new choir mat for the stern deck. In just payment for the strain on my legs, I was awarded an ice cream. Aaaaah!

The rest of the day was spent recuperating.

And, finally, after all my hard work, we now have the fire alight, so I'm warm and toasty in the mornings.

Only seven pages long? Surely too soon to post. Nope, let’s get it done before the weekend gets here.

All abreast for now.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 21

Bollington to Marple, Bugsworth and Marple


Friday 17th August

This morning has dawned quite calm but cloudy and we’re off to Macclesfield by Number 10 bus. Hopefully Waterstone’s will have a book on painting with pastels, and particularly one dealing with landscapes, which is my preferred subject. Even though I turned out a reasonable painting of Rusty; and I do mean ‘reasonable’; I think that with landscapes any minor errors are more easily corrected.

Saturday 18th August

The evenings are closing in now and the mornings are staying dark for longer. Where we used to leave shutting out the world until we went to bed, now we are closing our curtains at 9 pm or so and, in the morning I usually open the dinette curtains to greet the rain or sun, but not today as the dawn had not yet broken at 5 am. Ah well, according to the newspaper yesterday, today could be the hottest of the year so far, with temperatures above 80F.

Yesterday we took the bus into Macclesfield, hoping to find a book about painting with pastels. Some hope that was, even Waterstone’s had only a couple of art books amongst a very small section on Art. Smith’s were even worse with no books on the subject at all. We passed an arts and crafts shop on the way into town, but it was too long a walk for me to go back to, so I’m still without my tutorial. I suppose I’ll just have to see if Alan can find one at The Range in Harlow and post it on to me.

Today we’re off to Higher Poynton for the weekend.

Sunday 19th August

Higher Poynton is only four miles from Bollington and it took us just 1½ hours to reach at a steady pace. The moorings here are quite extensive and very wide, with a line of posts warning boaters of shallow water beyond.

Just past the next bridge is a small boatyard and water point, with the yard open seven days a week, providing diesel and pump-out facilities, along with a small shop that sells just a few odds and sods. This is useful because, by the time we return this way, we’ll be due to top up with diesel.

About 100 yards down the hill from the bridge is the local pub and a Visitors Centre and, lying almost parallel to the canal is an old railway station that has had the track area turned into seating. Looking both ways this seems to be part of a lengthy railway walk a la Julia Bradbury. As we left the boat to recce the place a whole host of yompers appeared on the towpath, who, we suspect, had just walked up from the railway walk.

We also checked up on the buses into Stockport because we might take a run in to town on Monday morning. Before that though, I will have to check to see if there is an art shop there. Besides which we’ve never been to Stockport, so that’s a good enough reason to pay the town a visit.

Obviously we’ll also pay a visit to the local pub and strike that one off our list.

Oh, I almost forgot, there we were last night, reading and listening to the radio, when we heard a thump. Not a very loud thump, but a thump nonetheless. Initially we ignored it, but then we heard it again and so did Rusty. Sheila got up from her chair just in time to see a cat hightailing it out of the boat with Rusty in hot pursuit. It seems that, unlike dogs, a small, hinged door is no barrier to entering and exiting our boat. We didn’t mind the cat getting away, but I dread to think how far Rusty would have got before she gave up the chase, had she had free egress from the boat.

Monday 20th August

What to tell you about yesterday………!

Well, apart from the rain and despite the weathermen telling us it was going to be the ‘hottest day of the year’, our Sunday was pretty normal. We spent an hour in the Boar’s Head pub and had our usual Sunday snack later in the evening. We don’t bother with a proper Sunday roast any more, simply because we’re never hungry enough to devour a full blown meal. Occasionally, when M&S have their special £10 offer on, we’ll go a bit potty, or we might have a meat and two veg one night in the week, otherwise, never on a Sunday.

Tuesday 21st August

I paid a visit to the local boatyard this morning, hoping to find somebody to service our heating, but the best they could do was the contact details of King’s Lock at Middlewich, and we won’t be there for another three weeks or so. No matter, in the mornings I can put the oven on – just like the old days in Harlow, before central heating – and in the evenings, should it feel a wee bit chilly, we can run the heater while the engine is running. Oh yes, it runs perfectly whilst the engine is on.

Yesterday having we caught the bus into Stockport, spotted the arts and crafts shop on the way in and jumped off at the next stop. They had two pastel books on display and I came away with a copy of Jenny Keal’s book ‘Painting with Pastels’, which contains several projects and more advice regarding equipment. So, I’m set to go, but first I’ll wait for Emma to come up with her own landscape project. I’m quite looking forward to getting to grips with this new hobby.

Wednesday 22nd August

Not much to add for yesterday, except a short shopping trip into Marple, where I bought a few t-shirts and Wifey bought a top. Added to that was a wee bit of shopping and I left her to have her hair cut and walked home with the shopping.

As for the pastel book, having read through it quickly, I now know that I need some more pastels and other equipment, but I will wait until we return to High Poynton and take the bus into Stockport and the arts and crafts shop.

We’ve had a look at the CWT (Canals and Waterways Trust) site and discovered that about 40 yards of moorings at Whaley Bridge are closed off for repairs, which means we’ll have to go down to Bugbrook Basin instead this morning. But, no matter, we were going there anyway and, since we did the shopping yesterday in Marple, there’s no need to go to Whaley Bridge.

Hopefully we’ll be back at Higher Poynton by Friday morning as that place can be pretty busy at weekends and we don’t want to miss out.

Thursday 23rd August

We left Marple yesterday morning at 8.15 and, after 2 swing bridges, 2 lift bridges and 6 miles, we finally moored up at

11. 15 am. This was not very good timing, we should easily have completed this trip within 2½ hours. However, with all the twists and turns along this six mile stretch, we were not surprised at the delay but, had we not spent so much time humming and haaaing over where to moor up in Bugsworth Basin, we could have knocked off at least half an hour of that time.

The problem I think, is that, since our last visit here about three years ago, many of the mooring rings have gone and mooring up against concrete and granite slabs, without the benefit of mooring rings, can be somewhat difficult. We finally got settled at the third attempt by using a ring and wedging a pin between two granite blocks.

Bugsworth Basin (Since renamed Buxworth) was, in the dim and distant past, used as a loading area for various goods to be transported by barge. It is now a Heritage Site with three or four separate areas for visitors to moor up and is maintained by volunteers. It also has a pub called the Navigation Inn, which we called in to on our last visit, but not this time.

We’re off back to Marple.

Friday 25th August

It is absolutely bucketing down here, which adds to the chill inside this boat and, since the heater doesn’t work unless the engine is running and, having tried lighting the fire last night, which now seems to be oozing smoke through the interior chimney stack, the lighting of which having to be abandoned, I have had to resort to the gas oven. Back to the old days again!

Yesterday we knocked half an hour off our journey time from Bugsworth to Marple and, during that three hour run, we only passed one other boat going the other way.

Today, rather than head off for Higher Poynton, we’re taking the bus into Stockport. From Marple they run every 15 minutes, so we won’t have long to wait.

Hopefully, if we’re not drowned in our beds first, we’ll head off to Poynton tomorrow.

I heard from Emma this morning, who’s been to Australia for a few days visiting a friend and going to the Ballet. She tells me that her friend’s friends recently spent a holiday in Europe and, whilst in the UK, they took a holiday boat out and met a coupled called Dave and Sheila. So, since we have only ever seen one other boat called Shiralee in the past six years; and that one didn’t have Dave and Sheila on the side; I am now waiting to see if it is the same couple. If it is, what a small world we live in!

Saturday 25th August

Yesterday we took the ‘circular’ bus into Stockport for more pastels and other bits and pieces. This is the 384 and returns from Stockport by a different route to the one it takes going there. This turned into a rather pleasant ride around quite a large area of Cheshire. This free bus pass is a really good deal and we’re making the most of it.

I’ve been feeling a wee bit out of sorts these past few days, but it’s been nothing I could really put my finger on, if you know what I mean. Anyway, last night, feeling a little worse for wear, I dragged out the blood pressure monitor and took a reading. Well, with a pulse of 104 and feeling rather hot and clammy, I decided it was time to call in the heavy mob and phoned the local surgery.

Of course, since local doctors don’t pay house calls any more, my call was transferred to the Stockport ‘Out of Hours Surgery’, which is located on Lowfield Road, Stockport. After a short discussion it was decided that somebody should see me and check me out. The round trip by taxi cost us over £20 - eating into my pocket-money somewhat - because there was no way we were going to walk all the way down that hill and into Marple, in the pouring rain, in hopes of finding a bus that passed that road. Fortunately we are not hard up pensioners otherwise I dread to think what we would have done.

I came away from the surgery, after being prodded and poked and told to say ahhh, with a bunch of steroids and antibiotics. I have to say though, that the doctor was very thorough and we were not kept waiting for long and, if I’m ever in that situation again, I do hope it’s closer to Stockport.

We’ve had even more rain overnight but, as long as a strong wind doesn’t pick up this morning, we’ll be off to Higher Poynton again for the weekend, from which location I shall post this blog, I hope.

Sad to say my email is playing up again. I receive pictures and jokes from Sandra and try to send them on to my own family and friends. The last lot have come back as undelivered, for reasons various. However, I still seem able to send and receive individual messages and so, in future when Sandra or Alan send such stuff, I will forward them direct from my server at Absolute Email. I have no idea why I have this problem on occasion, but I do seem to be stuck with it and, with Three being the biggest and best where mobile broadband is concerned, I guess I’ll have to tolerate the situation until we get back to Mercia.

And now, with it being Saturday morning and, due to recent bad weather no additional photos having been taken, I will post as is.

Happy weekend to all from:

Dave, Sheila and Rusty – who has a dicky tummy again this morning.

Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 20

Bridge 86 to Bollington on the Macclesfield


Saturday 11th August

First of all, my apologies for not including any photos in the last blog but, as you would expect there’s a very good reason for this. Rusty!

Our Rusty, as you know, is prone to tummy trouble and if I don’t take her out when she shows signs of wanting to go, she will suffer for the rest of the day.

This morning, just as I had posted the text of blog 19 and was searching for likely snaps to post with it, Rusty headed for the back door. So, I either posted as was, or waited until I got back from her walkies and, since the Internet connection can’t be trusted to behave itself, I decided to post. This blog, I promise, will have photos.

You may remember our ‘friends’ from Pillings Lock, with whom, after I had recuperated from my knee op, we moved to Mercia and fell out with later? Well, there were several rumours floating around when they left Mercia Marina, one of which was that they were selling their boat and moving back home to Swindon. We never did hear the truth of it, but that really didn’t matter as they were no longer friends.

Anyway, they may well have sold the boat because, when Wifey took Rusty for her walk yesterday, there was Brian and Marian’s boat, Brimar, moored up across the other side of the canal.

Sunday 12th August

We left for Congleton at 9am yesterday morning – no sign of people on Brimar - and arrived at 10am. The canal at Congleton boasts two ‘snake’ bridges, numbers 76 and 77, which were designed to allow horse drawn barges to change towpaths without having to unhitch the horses. The driver of the horse simply had to take the horse over the bridge on one side and down the other, whilst still heading in the same direction. We moored up between the two. We also met up with Alan and Chris here last time we came this way.

On our last visit, when Alan and Chris dropped by, we all walked into town but we decided to wait for the bus yesterday. Although Wifey insisted it was only a short walk, I knew different and put my foot down with a very firm hand, bus it would be! This time we also took a good look around the town and, joy of joys, we found a music shop. Sadly they did not stock the ukulele bag that I needed. No problem though, I’ll order one online when we get back to Mercia.

Monday 13th August

Yesterday was another warm day and we took a walk down to The Wharf pub. What a disaster! One bar split in two by a dividing wall and a huge TV screen in both ‘bars’, but at least one had the sound turned down, and for want of somewhere to sit, we sat in front of the silent one.

The programme shown was the run up to the end of the Olympic marathon and, with less than a mile to go, the channel was switched to football. This was at about 1 pm and, as far as I could tell, the match wouldn’t have started for quite some time afterwards.

Anyway, due to the level of noise coming from the other TV, we had just the one drink and then walked up to the other pub, The Moss, and they still had the Olympics on and the sound turned down. After a short while some young fellows came in and walked around to the other bar, where the manager changed channels for the football, whilst we could still see the end of the marathon. There, wasn’t that easy? We were not surprised that these youngsters came to The Moss, rather than The Wharf.

Later……..

Wifey had to walk in to Congleton this morning to exchange a couple of tops that she bought on Saturday, so we left Congleton a little later than planned. However, the trip to the bottom of Bosley Locks, about four miles away, only took an hour and a half and was totally without incident, that’s if you can call almost grounding ‘without incident.

It does say, in the Nicholson blurb, that some parts of the Macclesfield can be a wee bit shallow. So, what’s wrong with somebody coming along to dredge those parts? We were last down her about three years ago and I think BW have had more than enough time to rectify the situation.

Tuesday 14th August

Just look at that, half way through August, supposedly one of our better summer months, and we’ve had only a few warm days. Will we ever get some summer I wonder? Happily, it’s much brighter this morning.

Last time we came through here we were unlucky enough to follow a lone boater through these locks, and yet we made it through all 12 of them in 2½ hours. IF my missus surfaces early enough, we could be the first boat going through, and that certainly makes life easier. You never know, we might beat that 2½ hours! (We actually knocked ½ an hour off)

Wednesday 15th August

What can I say about the Macclesfield canal?

Well, on a points system of 1 to 10, and comparing it to the Worcester and Birmingham last year, I’ll give it 12, simply because it is far worse. Although this canal doesn’t have as much by way of narrow sections, where weeds on the towpath side compete with reed beds on the opposite side, it does have quite a few bunches of reeds floating about that have broken away from the main beds. This caused us quite a headache whilst finding a mooring spot after Bosley locks, having to slow down and reverse whilst Wifey used the boathook to remove a clump of reed stuck in the bow.

Also, even though the Nicholson Guide mentions some shallow parts to this canal; and that was six years ago; why haven’t they been dredged? This situation cannot be blamed on the new charity as that only became up and running a couple of months ago.

The Macclesfield canal is part of a very popular canal ‘ring’ for holiday makers and, as such needs to be kept clear of such obstacles if those people are to return in the future. Nobody minds a ‘challenge’ when cruising, it’s all part of the experience, but it’s no fun having to pull in to dig weeds out of the prop when you should be cruising and enjoying the scenery.

Hopefully The Canals and Rivers Trust will organise the upkeep of our canals in a somewhat superior manner to BW’s efforts, or lack of them, in recent years. All we hear is lack of money or, the other old saw, ‘we must take care of the wildlife’. Well, wildlife doesn’t pay our licence fees and, with over 6,000 new boats being registered over the past six years, where has all that extra licence fee money gone?

Enough said, but I will certainly be taking this up with the Trust in due course. It really is something I should have done last year with BW.

Thursday 16th August

We had intended to stop off at Macclesfield yesterday morning and take the bus into town but, due to the fact that we needed to stop and remove a huge clump of weed from the rudder and prop – again – and also the fact that a really fierce wind had blown up, we decided that once the weed had been removed we would stay where we were, between bridges 45 and 46.

This morning the wind doesn’t seem quite as strong, so we should get away. However, rather than stop at Macclesfield, we’ll go on to Bollington and catch the bus from there.

Although I have produced a reasonable facsimile of Rusty in pastels, I really do need a decent book on the subject, something I can study while I’m painting, and Macclesfield does have a Waterstones. If they don’t have such a thing I’ll ask Alan to forward one, assuming The Range in Harlow has such a thing.

Our heater is still being rather fickle, only working when it wants to. It will run perfectly well when the engine is running, which is not really when we need it. So it seems to depend upon having a high level of power in the batteries. Yesterday, quite inadvertently, Wifey switched it on as she was doing some washing, and it ran perfectly well. Yesterday evening we ran the engine for two hours and, as it was quite chilly in here at 5 am, I decided to give it a try, only this time I waited until it had fired up, before switching on the Inverter/Charger.

I am now of the opinion that, providing I don’t bring anything else into play at the same time, then the heater has a better chance of firing up. It still need servicing, that much is obvious but, if it works until we can find a boat yard that does Webasto heaters, I’ll be more than happy.

Friday 17th August

On the way to Bollington we stopped off in Macclesfield in order to top up with water, and discovered why we didn’t stay overnight last time. Firstly, very limited mooring spaces. Secondly, those spaces are only 24 hour. Thirdly, much of the moorings are overgrown with weeds and the bank of the canal is in sad disrepair. The canal at Macclesfield is, to my mind, one of the ugliest stretches along the route, which would also contribute to our decision not to stay.

So, off we went to Bollington, where another problem awaited; what with weeds and reeds this canal is really getting to me. The first designated moorings were full and partly collapsing into the canal and we decided to try a bit further along. No go there because, after pulling the boat in to the side, we found it was sitting on a shelf. This seemed to be the case all the way along here.

Thinking perhaps that we would now be unable to moor in Bollington after all, I climbed back on and, in very high dudgeon indeed, proceeded on to the end of town and onwards, or so I thought. Coming round the bend at the end of this stretch we were faced with Bollington Aqueduct and, Hallelujah, more moorings and plenty of spaces. So, why couldn’t my wife remember these from last time and save me getting in a stew?

Sadly, no mention is made of Bollington in the Nicholson Guide, which is a shame because, not only is it beautiful and old world, with twisting, hilly roads full of old stone cottages, it was also once a centre for silk mills and such. One such huge four storey edifice, Clarence Mill, stands directly ahead of us on the opposite bank and now houses small industrial units.

In order to gain access to the shops from the canal; which sits very high above the town at this point; it is necessary to either walk down a steep hill or, as we did, climb down an even steeper staircase. These stairs would have been impossible to climb with a shopping trolley and so, whilst Wifey walked on to the other group of shops, I manfully trundled the trolley up the hill. This is such a beautiful town that we will stop here again on our way back and take a better look at the place. For today though we’ll take the bus into Macclesfield.

Now, before I post, a couple of photos as promised.

Sheila on Shiralee at Audlem

Anderton Boat Lift on the River Weaver

Have a great weekend folks.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty

Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 19

Billinge Green Flash to Bridge on the Macclesfield


Wednesday 1st August

I can’t say I’m happy about the weather this morning. Even though it isn’t raining yet, the wind is really too strong to even contemplate moving. Still, I can think of far worse places to spend three days moored up.

Thursday 2nd August

That high wind of yesterday had died down before we turned in and it is still pretty calm this morning although, at 5.30 am we did have a red sky. Oh dear!

We really must be on the move this morning, so I’m hoping it will stay calm. However, we haven’t decided which way to go as yet. We need to empty both cassettes and top up with water, not to mention some much needed shopping. Going on to Middlewich will save a few days in our trip to the Macclesfield, but that will mean calling into the boatyard at Middlewich and then finding somewhere to moor up. Alternatively, if we return to Anderon, we can use the BW facilities and then catch the bus into Northwich. Decisions, decisions!!

We’ll think more on it after breakfast.

A couple of days or so ago my Smart Defrag nag screen came up telling me there was now a new version. So, as I like to keep my programmes up to date, I downloaded and installed Version 2. I made sure to click on the bit that says not to run it on boot up. This morning I had another nag screen telling me the programme wasn’t working and, despite all my efforts finding a solution, I went online to CNet Download and downloaded it again. After uninstalling the earlier install, I then reinstalled Smart Defrag 2 and tried running it again. No go! I am now left with the Windows defrag prog. Any ideas on this would be much appreciated.

Friday 3rd August

Well, how about that? I’ve just been online to CNetDownload and downloaded Smart Defrag 2, saved it to my desktop – I always keep downloaded programmes in my Download Folder, just in case they need re-installing at a later date – and then installed it. Would you believe it, the darn thing works this time? There are times when this laptop is a bit of a pain in the rear end.

Yesterday we decided to go on to Middlewich and, after topping up with water at the bottom of the Big Lock – this one is a double – we passed through the lock and moored up, doing so at about 10 am.

Our next important stop was for victuals and the chemist for my prescription. As usual the chemist had to order my test strips as they had not had any call for them in the past! Wow! A brand new product, which I seem to be the guinea pig, for and I’m wasting days waiting for it to be ordered. I really must have a word with our surgery staff when I get back to Mercia.

Our next stop after shopping was a walk to the chandlery at King’s Lock. This is quite a stretch for my legs, because it takes in the distance between three more locks, but I made it there and back without too much trouble. The purpose of our visit was twofold, one was for some smelly stuff for the cassette, the other was for a new horn which, I’m very pleased to say, they had in stock and, joy of joys, it was £15 cheaper than the one we would have bought at Anderton, had the nice man there bothered to get one for us.

Sadly, the local chemist doesn’t get a delivery of regular medicines until 11 am, so it will be a late start for us, assuming it doesn’t pee down again. The weather this morning is looking promising, it’s sunny and calm, but that could change by the time we get away from here.

Later…………

Having collected our chemical stuff at around midday and also picked up a few more things at Tesco and as it was a reasonable looking day, we decided to set off for Whelock.

Huh! Not a good idea. We had only travelled past the first bridge and were approaching the first lock, when we noticed that there were three boats already waiting to pass through. This, we thought, is going to take us all day and we still have another seven locks to go after this one, each of which will entail waiting for the others to go through. At this rate we’d be lucky to see Whelock by dinner time.

Needless to say we spent the next hour reversing back to the nearest mooring rings and decided to stay the nigh and make an early start Saturday morning, and I mean early. Wifey has volunteered to forego the pleasure of tea in bed so that we can be away by 7.30 am, which means we should be at Whelock well before lunchtime.

Saturday 4th August

Mooring overnight near a large town on a Friday can be cause for concern, especially when there are a few pubs nearby. From reports by other boaters when moored by the kiddies play area, the chances of night time disruption appear to be higher. I suppose we must have been fortunate in mooring at the first place we could when we backed up yesterday afternoon, because all we heard was faint music drifting across from town. Wifey thinks this came from The Narrowboat, but we heard no rowdy behaviour after the pubs shut, so no complaints there.

With the day dawning calm with light cloud, we could be equally lucky this morning and make our way through the eight locks and five miles to Whelock. One thing is for certain, we won’t be setting off in the afternoons again, especially where several locks are concerned. Too much trouble!!

As you all know by now, Sheila and I do quite a bit of reading. We mostly wade through authors such as Patterson, Cussler, Rankin and Crais etcetera, which are thrillers and mysteries in genre. Jeffrey Deaver is another favourite of ours and, with the exception of his Carte Blanche, we had read every one of his novels.

Carte Blanche is Mr Deaver’s attempt at taking over the role of Ian Fleming and writing about James Bond. Now, although Deaver makes a reasonable job of the Bond character, he doesn’t quite match the flair of Fleming with his story line. In fact I do believe some other authors have also tried his hand at bond, but I’m not sure who they are. Suffice it to say, with Ian Fleming no longer with us, I think Bond should be left in peace also. But then I could be wrong.

Later………….

True to her word, Wifey surfaced real early this morning and we were away by 7 am. We had six miles and eight locks to pass through to get to Wheelock and we didn’t want to be stuck behind other boaters like yesterday afternoon.

In the event we needn’t have worried, we met very few other boaters on our trip and, as luck would have it, after filling up at the water point, we managed to squeeze ourselves into the only spot available. The whole trip took us four hours.

The shops are just a short walk away and we found a small mini-market and a pet food shop, both of which came in handy. Also, for the first time in living memory we decided on local fish and chips for dinner. The lady in the chippie pulled two anaemic looking pieces of fish out of the pan, all flat and without any puffiness to the batter and, when we asked for ‘regular’ chips, she just seemed to shovel them on like they were going out of style. Honestly, the amount of chips she plastered on to our pieces of paper could have fed a family of sic for a fortnight. I have to say I was not impressed and am surprised the shop is actually trading. Nope, next time I want fish and chips, we’ll do it in the time honoured way, home made.

With three pubs to choose from we’ll stay here tomorrow too.

Tuesday 7th August

The Cheshire Cheese pub was empty on Sunday, apart from us and one other person, and he was sitting in the garden. Apparently the boss lady’s hubby celebrated his 60th birthday the night before, so, obviously his regulars had spent all their money.

Later in the afternoon we enjoyed a very rare thunderstorm and plenty of torrential rain, so I still haven’t fitted the new hooter.

Yesterday we made an early start and headed for Hassel Green but, since we know there are very limited moorings above the lock; and they can’t be seen until you are there; we decided to moor up below it at bridge 148. This is where we moored the last time we came through here, only in the opposite direction. On that occasion the towpath was pretty clear of weeds and other overgrowth. This year, as with the Worcester and Birmingham, nothing has been done to keep such growth down. Goodness knows what next year will bring, and BW is now a charity!! On top of all the weeds and set to annoy us even more, was the fact that we had plonked ourselves over a ledge, so that every time a boat went by the bottom of the boat banged against it. Even with a rope fender wrapped around the tyres we still felt the occasional bump. Thank goodness nobody travels during the night.

I joined Townlink buses in Harlow in 1993; since when they have been taken over by Arriva; and I joined a Lottery syndicate, to which I still belong. I had a call from my old colleague Alan, asking for my contribution. I usually send him £10 at a time, which seems to last for far more than 10 weeks, since we usually win a few odds and sods here and there.

As a matter of interest he pointed out that, after 17 years without a decent win, we in the syndicate had contributed over £30,000 to the lottery coffers. And not one decent win to show for it.

Today we’re off to Rode Heath.

Wednesday 5th August

Rode Heath is just a couple of miles and nine locks away from the Macclesfield canal and boasts a Post Office/General Store and a couple of pubs, one of which we used last time we came through here. Fortunately there are also plenty of moorings, but only if you arrive here at a sensible time of day. Some folks like to get plenty of cruising in during the day, especially those that are on holiday, as a consequence of which they sometimes have trouble mooring up at their destination.

We didn’t use the pub this time, settling instead for an ice cream, but we probably will on our return trip in a few weeks time. Meanwhile we’ll set off for Red Bull Basin and the BW facilities, where we’ll meet up with Alan and Chris Oxley. We’ll also meet Chris’s grandchildren whom they are babysitting.

Tomorrow we’ll move the boat along a bit, which will place us nearer the local shops at Kidsgrove, after which we’ll either stay another night or move along the Maccy.

Friday 10th August

Yesterday morning, after topping up with water, we moved the boat up two locks so as to be nearer to Tesco and the Vet’s. Tesco for obvious reasons, the vet’s because our wee pooch has been having problems negotiating the stern steps when coming back onto the boat. Sometimes she will miscalculate and has been known to take a tumble, so much so that we now have to lift her down the steps. It seems she probably has a touch of arthritis and may have to be put on medication. For now though we have some stuff to giver, so we’ll see how she goes.

It’s marvellous, isn’t it, on the day when it’s really warm, we find ourselves in a spot where it’s too hot to even consider painting the roof? We’ll get to it eventually, I suppose.

Well, I finally finished my pastel of Rusty and, even if I say so myself, it’s not too bad for a first time. My next project will be the Trip Boat in Llangollen. The Trip Boat uses a horse-drawn passenger boat to take people down to Horseshow Fall, which are not accessible by narrowboat.

Today, after Wifey pops out for the paper and some more milk, we’ll be off up one lock and then turning off onto the Macclesfield canal.

Saturday 11th August

Once again we started out on a really beautiful day and took just two hours to negotiate the two locks and three miles to bridge 86 on the Macclesfield canal. To be honest, the day was far too hot for my liking, simple because I sweat very easily. Thankfully, I don’t suffer from the smelly side of sweating. Yeuk!

Last night was a different story though. Having used our boat hook to remove weeds from the rear fender, I must have replaced it in its cradle incorrectly because, during the night, when the wind whipped up, it rattled around and disturbed our sleep. You wouldn’t have wanted to see me in briefs and waterproof, standing on the stern deck in a howling gale. Not a pretty sight.

Now, for what it’s worth and since we have a nice, strong signal here, let’s post.

All the best for the weekend and following week.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.