Shiralee: Cruise 2014 # 17

Wednesday 23^rd July to Saturday 2^nd August

 Friday 25^th July             

 Yesterday was a pretty slow and easy day for us, with a gentle cruise of four miles and five locks down to Burland. Just before we moored at Burland, we stopped off at Swanley Bridge Marina for diesel.

 Once again the weather was far too hot to be working, so we settled down, read the paper and relaxed for the day. Not much different to any other day in this heat.

 Today, on the other hand, could be a bit of a struggle, because we have the four locks at Hurleston to tackle. If you remember when we entered the Llangollen through these locks, we got stuck in the first of them and had to elicit the help of another boater, who pulled us through with the bow line. So, just to ensure we get through this time, we’ll be leaving a little later than usual and hope there will be CRT people around by the time we arrive at the top.

 Once through these locks we’ll moor up just around the corner, because we don’t want to be in Barbridge until tomorrow morning.

 Monday 28^th July

 For the past two mornings I’ve spent so much time on this laptop that I haven’t managed to update the blog. This is all as a result of me deciding to spend a wee bit more time in bed and less on the laptop. So, rather than getting up before 5.30; as has been my habit for quite some time now; I stay in bed until about 5.50. Not a big difference, I know, but enough extra time to allow me to stay on the laptop until Wifey gets up. And this is all down to the useless battery power supplied with laptops these days.

 Now, on Friday we spent over 2 ½ hours on the Hurleston locks and run down to Barbridge. However, this wasn’t due to getting stuck in the bottom lock, but rather the amount of boats lining up to go through them. I did experience a slight ‘drag’ going through the third one but, with the lock keeper keeping an eye on things, managed to pass through the bottom one without problems, much to my surprise.

 Having arrived at Barbridge much later than expected, and what with it being another scorcher, we decided to leave the trip into Nantwich until Saturday morning. Needless to say, nothing got done with regards to paintwork.

 On Saturday morning we caught the bus into Nantwich and discovered it to be rather noisy; probably because there was a Farmer’s market going on, at the same time as a Town Crier’s competition. However, shopping at Morrison’s was our main objective and so, having bought a couple of things off the market stalls; Cheshire cheese, a big pork pie and a couple of vegetable burgers; off we went to the store. On the walk back to the bus stop we called in to Chatwin’s, the bakers and also M&Co for T-shirts.

 Our bus driver, both there and back, was a southerner from south London who told us he had been here so long that he was now accepted as part of the furniture. When I asked how long this had taken, he told us about 10 years. He seemed a nice bloke, all cheerful and happy to chat to a fellow southerner.

 Yesterday we were unsure as to whether to bus it into town again and find a different pub, or stay put and visit The Old Barbridge Inn. In the event, since it was still rather warm and we didn’t fancy all that walking to and from the bus stop, we settled for the local and were very glad we did.

 We had decide to have a snack there, rather than cook something later and, after scanning the menu we settled on a ‘Sunday Bap’, having no idea exactly what that entailed. When it arrived at our table we found it to be a bap filled with roast beef, mashed carrot, swede and horseradish sauce, accompanied by a very tasty bowl of gravy and a couple of roast spuds. The gravy was to die for and the beef was lovely and tender, which means that, when we come back this way we’ll make it a Sunday, of course.

 Now, a couple of weeks ago we bought some rope to replace that mucky stuff that’s currently wrapped around our lifebelt. It’s so dirty as to be almost black and in desperate need of changing. However, since the rope has been tied up in a particular way, I thought I might try to do the same. But, when I studied the knots being used, I simply couldn’t figure out what they were. So, out came the trusty Knots and Splices book that I just happen to have in my cupboard. Lo and behold, those knots are simple figure of eights. Duh! Anyway, later today, after we reach whichever moorings we decide to stop at, that will be my first job. I’m hoping that Wifey will rise from the communal pit a wee bit earlier than usual, because we need to top up with water here before leaving, and we don’t want to wait in a queue to do so.

 Tuesday 29^th July

 On April 11^th 2013, just as we were coming into Alrewas, our boat slowed right down and could barely move at all. So, we gave Andy a call; he’s our friendly mechanic from Mercia marina; and asked him to come and investigate. Now, it just so happened that, unbeknown to us, he and his wife Sandy were already in Alrewas; although Andy was at Mercia working on another boat at the time. Anyway, with some difficulty we moved the boat along and moored up with them on the 14 day moorings.

 We had already booked Andy to fit a new charging system, so this meeting was very useful. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he diagnosed a faulty gearbox and, after several days he had fitted both items and we were on our way.

 After three days at Barbridge, we left there yesterday morning and headed up the Middlewich branch of the Shroppie with the intention of stopping about six miles along. However, just a couple of miles along the route the boat slowed down and just barely moved along. At first I thought we may have something wrapped around the prop, so we pulled in to check. Nope, that was clear so we carried on. Again the boat slowed down, which was then that we started to suspect the gearbox again.

 Now, bearing in mind that we spend five months in a marina every winter, we have only had 10 months use of this gearbox. At a cost of over £600 it has cost us £60 per cruising month, so we’re a bit annoyed at present.

 I phoned Andy again yesterday and he’s going to have a word with the people who supplied the gearbox. After all, if this is a problem with the gearbox, it’s not looking good for future dealings with him. Unfortunately the supplier is away until Wednesday, so we’re going to see if we can make it to Middlewich today, so as to have easy access to whoever comes to see us next. It may well be RCR, with whom we have a Bronze membership, which states replacement parts and labour if we break down, which we most certainly have.

 Another strange thing happened yesterday, this time to do with my brand new mobile. I had been unable to phone Andy back in the evening and decided to call Sandy instead. After relaying info between us, I then handed the phone over to Sheila and the two of them chatted away for a short while and then, all of a sudden Alan’s voice broke through asking what we wanted. How odd, we thought!!

 By the time I had sorted that out, Wifey’s phone was ringing and she was off talking to Sandy again. But what caused Alan to come through? We think we may have solved the mystery though. You see, when the phone is held up to the ear there are several icons available on screen, one of which, if pressed, will send the screen back a step, which is where my list of contacts sits. We think that Wifey’s ear rested upon that icon and then rested on Alan’s number and voila, up pops my brother.

 Instructions to self and anybody who owns a Nokia Lumia 630, ‘don’t touch the screen whilst talking, not even with your ear, otherwise you could be talking to a different person.’ If you’ll pardon the pun, ‘I think I’ve ‘eard it all now’. Boom, boom!!

 Wednesday 30^th July

 After all the worry about the boat slowing down on Monday, we travelled the five miles to Middlewich yesterday morning without a problem. Admittedly I kept the speed down to below our usual 1200 revs, but I then cranked it up a notch and we still made good progress with no sign of slowing down. All we can think of now is that we had a slight fuel blockage. Today we’ll be moving off again and, hopefully, we’ll enjoy a normal cruise. If not, then I’ll have to give Andy another call.

 Many years ago the parents of a boating friend of ours, bought themselves two Clematis plants, a pink one for mum and a blue one for dad. Whilst we were still at Mercia marina mum passed away and, very shortly after, the pink plant died off, for no apparent reason. A couple of weeks ago dad also passed away and, much to our friend’s surprise, so too did the blue Clematis. Now that’s spooky!!

 Thursday 31^st July

 When I climbed out of our pit at 5.45 this morning, the sun was shining and all was right with the world. It is now almost 7 am and the sky is becoming quite dark, and the clouds are coming up behind us. Actually, belay all that, it is now raining. Whoopee, looks like we could be stuck here for a while.

 By the way, we’re now at Wheelock. We arrived here at about 10.15 yesterday morning after travelling for six miles and passing through six locks.

 We’re now on the Trent and Mersey canal and, as far as we can tell, nobody from CRT has bothered to keep the first six miles clean and tidy. In truth, it’s a mess, with overhanging bushes and trees on the opposite side and tall weeds and bushes on the towpath side. In fact there are stretches of that six miles that, due to all the foliage, is reduced down to a little over half its width. This is a disgrace and reminds us of British Waterway’s failings on other canals.

 We really do need to get away today, because we’re meeting up with Alan and Chris on Friday. We have about 14 locks to get through today and we really don’t need the rain.

 Friday 1^st August

 Thankfully the weather stayed fine for the trip up to Rode Heath. But, with 14 locks to get through, it was particularly hard going for Wifey, as most of the locks didn’t appear to have been maintained of late. Not all of the 14 locks were close together, so she did have shorts rests in between some of them. Obviously I’m far more beefy that herself, but she prefers operating the locks to driving the boat, so there are times when she struggles a bit. We think perhaps that we ought to buy a windlass that has a ratchet on it, so as to make life easier at those tricky locks.

 We had been expecting rain yesterday and we weren’t disappointed, because it came down quite strongly later in the afternoon. The weather forecast on BBC for today was not encouraging as rain is expected in this area and quite a lot of it. We have another eight or nine locks to do today, over a three mile stretch of canal, so we’re hoping it won’t be too severe. The things we do for friends, 23 locks in two days for a get together with Alan and Chris. It’s our own fault really, because we would normally meet up at Stone, on the Staffs and Worc canal but, since we decide to give the Macclesfield canal a try this year, this was the only way to go.

 It’s not looking too bad out there at the moment, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

 Saturday 2^nd August

 After giving us a scare about the weather for yesterday, the forecasters didn’t get it quite right, because we managed six of the nine locks to Kidsgrove without getting wet.

 Almost as soon as we arrived and moored up in came a message from Alan asking where we were and, after telling him the good news, he told me they were on their way. Unbeknown to us it is quite a long walk from their bus stop to us, as we discovered later when we accompanied them on the return walk.

 In the meantime we sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee and read of the Mail.

 With more drinks inside us and chatting for a couple of hours, off we all trotted to the Red Bull pub for lunch. The food was very good and, as it said on the nearby board, freshly cooked. If memory serves the actual words are, ‘We don’t serve fast food, only freshly cooked food served as quickly as we can’.

 Alan and Chris enjoy a lot of walking, which is just as well because whenever they visit us on the cut they always seem to have a long walk from the bus stop. Kidsgrove is way out of their way. From their stopping off point it has to be at least half a mile and from here at the moorings, all uphill. As a result of this I have promised to look up all the bus routes from Newcastle under Lyme in an effort to find more suitable meeting points.

 Alan prefers reading factual books and biographies as opposed to novels and, once finished with them, passes them on to me. Thankfully this only applies to those he’s read since being un the U.K. In this instance he brought along seven books for us to read. Goodness knows where we’re going to store them, because our bookshelf is chock-a-block at present, due to the fact that we bought a few more on our last visit to Nantwich. Still, Alan’s books do lend some variation to our usual stuff, so we’re grateful for that.

 The weather is still pretty horrid but, as we have no plans for a long cruise today; probably only a couple of locks up so that we can be nearer to Tesco; we’re not too worried.

 Anyway, tomorrow we’ll probably move along to Congleton and spend an hour in the local pub at lunchtime. We will then be on the Macclesfield and will have just a few locks to go through in the early stages, and then it’s free of locks until we hit Marple, where we’ll turn right onto the Peak Forest canal.

 And, on that note I’ll publish this blog.

 Take care folks.

 Dave and Sheila.