Friday 22nd August
to Saturday 30th August
Saturday 23rd
August
We had a very good day with
Alan and Chris yesterday. After spending an hour or more nattering over
coffees, we took the bus to Tunstall and first wandered around the local
market, purchasing pork pies and scones along the way.
After that lunch beckoned, so
we paid a visit to The Sneyd pub, which looked pretty much understaffed. It
took quite some time to have our orders taken, and even more time queueing up
for our carvery meal. However, the food was pretty good and we left well sated.
We then took a good walk
around Victoria Park and separated into male and female pairs. Goodness knows
what we found to talk about, but the chatter only stopped while we found seats
and ordered coffees at the café in the park. It was then just a short walk
around the rest of the park and then out to the bus stop for our return trip to
Kidsgrove.
All in all, a pretty
enjoyable day.
Yesterday morning I emailed
Noel at Crick marina, asking him about winter moorings this year and to give
the Alfa a run around. The latter request he has agreed to but, unfortunately,
cannot guarantee winter moorings just yet, due, he says, to the demand for
permanent moorings. However, if it comes to it, he could possibly offer us
towpath moorings, which do not have water or electricity.
This won’t do at all because,
without a landline connection, we’ll have to run the engine twice a day in
order to keep our batteries charged up, which means using as much diesel as we
do when cruising. We may have to try for Yelvertoft marina, where we’ll still
be able to arrange visits to the surgery when necessary.
Sunday 24th August
We had planned on moving
along to Rode Heath yesterday; a distance of about three miles and with 10
locks; but, by the time we had moved down two of those locks and disposed of
rubbish etc, it was raining very hard, so we stayed put just past the water
point.
Having been warned about the
winter mooring situation, we then decide to take the plunge and arrange with
Noel to make Crick our home base. We’ve avoided taking up full-time moorings so
far, simply because of the added expense of continuing to pay for moorings that
we’re not using while cruising. However, it does leave us free to come and go
as we see fit. For example, instead of spending seven months cruising, we could
split the time up and rent a cottage for a couple of weeks. Or, we could stay
at Crick a bit longer and get some of this paintwork done. So, we now have a
permanent base.
Avast:
I finally got to run the
Grime Fighter yesterday; hoping it would do what it says on the tin, speed up
the laptop; but I can’t see much difference. The one thing I know needs doing,
is tidying up the folders in Outlook. But this doesn’t explain why the WiFi
takes so long to come up. It seems to me that I’ll have to empty the hard drive
of all unnecessary files and folders, not to mention programmes that I we don’t
use much. A dreary and time consuming task, but one that needs to be done and,
since Wifey really doesn’t need her flower boxes just yet, I have plenty of
time to do so.
Monday 25th August
Yesterday turned out pretty
good weather wise and we very nearly decided to move on to Rode Heath, but
decide to stay put for another day. Looking at the rain out there this morning,
this wasn’t necessarily a good idea. The problem we have is shortage of coal,
but when I texted the travelling coalman yesterday, his barge is in dry dock
and his van is in for repairs, so he won’t be able to deliver until Thursday or
Friday.
So, in order to make it
possible for him to deliver by road, we need to be at either Rode Heath – too
early – or Wheelock – just about right, hence the delay in leaving here.
Raining or not, we’ve used up our 48 hours, so we will be on our way. If necessary
we’ll just move down three locks and moor up in the wilds.
Tuesday 26th
August
We are a couple of cowards
because, rather than cruise in the pouring rain, we outstayed our welcome her
at Kidsgrove and stopped here for an extra day. It rained, on and off, for most
of the day and, other than walking to Tesco and back, we stayed put. Today
promises to be a little better; at least, that’s what the forecasters tell us;
but it’s still cloudy and threatening.
I had considered the Avast
Grime Fighter situation closed, but, no, I received another message from them;
this time from a different person; advising me to download that programme from
a link. I have to doubt their sanity because the problem, as stated by me and
which appeared at the top of the message, was all about the price hike of my
Secure Line programme. Obviously, where the personnel at Avast are concerned,
the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Either that or they
can’t read English.
Later……………….
Very windy and looked like it
might rain, so we only moved along three locks and moored up by bridge 135.
This was most fortunate because, unbeknown to us there are buses running along
the road and over said bridge. One bus goes to Congleton and the other to
Nantwich, which means we just might take a bus ride today, Watch this space.
Later still……………..
Nope, no bus-ride today! The
bus stop is too far away from the bus to Nantwich and the bus to Congleton only
runs twice per day and leaves 2 ½ hours in town before return trip. Will probably
go to Nantwich when we reach Rode Heath.
Thursday 28th
August
Luckily for us it was dry and
bright yesterday morning, so we were able to get to Rode Heath in a dry state.
However, we did encounter one problem along the way, and this was as I was coming
out of the final lock. This is one of a pair of locks that sit side by side and
have a dividing wall between them. Coming out of the lock the divider ends in a
pointed, concrete jetty, with steps leading up to the lock.
Anyway, unbeknown to me – and
probably most other boaters – what you see at the top of that point is not the
end of the jetty. Oh, no, there’s more concrete underneath. To the side of the
lock there’s also the usual run-off, which tends to push the bow out as you are
exiting the lock. This, in turn, ensures that, if you’re not careful, you end
up with the bow stuck in the opposite bank of the canal.
So, realising that if I
didn’t get a move on, that’s what would happen here, I gave the engine some
welly, in an effort to avoid this problem. As I did so the prop struck the
hidden, underwater part of the jetty, resulting in the engine shutting down.
However, it did start again but, as we cruised along towards Rode Heath, we
seemed to be moving too slow for the revs but, after a couple of minutes, it
picked up and moved along at the usual pace.
Now, I haven’t checked the
prop out yet; leaving that for this morning when I also check the weed hatch;
but I’m hoping I haven’t done any damage. I did have a quick look when we
arrived here, and could see nothing untoward. But, this morning I’ll have to
get down and dirty and check properly, before we go on through 14 more locks to
Wheelock, where we’ll be meeting the coalman, some time on Friday.
Friday 29th August
Yesterday, thank goodness, we
had a pleasant start to the day, so the approaching 4 miles and 14 locks didn’t
look so daunting. Unfortunately, having passed through the first two or three,
we came upon a very slow moving boater, who not only seemed to be unable to
cope well with locks, but who also left gates open, when he left the lock and
also left the paddle locks off.
Sheila helped him through a
couple of locks and then we came up to the places where two locks sit side by
side, which made it unnecessary for us to wait for him to pass through.
Eventually we actually passed him and finally made Wheelock by 11.30. Even with
the hold-up, this was pretty good going for the amount of work 14 locks
entailed. Thankfully they weren’t all bunched together, so Wifey had something
of a rest in between. Even so, by the time we arrived at Wheelock, she knew she
had worked 14 locks.
Kindly hubby that I am, I
gave her a lie in this morning. Aren’t I good?
Anyway, we’re expecting a
coal delivery some-time this morning so, since the weather is supposed to be
warming up, we’ve let the fire go out in order to clean the chimney. Have no
fear though, despite the predictions of fine weather ahead, the fire will soon
be re-lit. I refuse to sit here in the early hours, bundles up in a woolly
cardigan, when we have a fire and plenty of coal. I could run the heater, of
course, but I find the warmth of a solid fuel burner far more comforting.
Saturday 30th
August
Yesterday morning, in
preparation for the arrival of our coalman, we cleaned the chimney and Wifey
painted the back tiles.
We then received a phone call
from our old Mercia friend, Sandy, who gave us quite an insight into the goings-on
of that marina. There have been a few new rules put in place there, such as all
dogs must be kept on a short lead; none of these expandable ones that allow the
dog to roam around a bit. They no longer take winter bookings either and, if
you want to spend winter there, you must take your chances upon arrival.
Apparently, our other
neighbours at Mercia, Steve and Sue, have bought a new camper van but, when
they asked to register it with the office, were told they couldn’t keep it on
site. They are moving to Stenson Marina this weekend. It’s getting like an army
camp there these days. So glad we’re no longer there!
At lunchtime we decide to
spend an hour in the local pub, The Cheshire Cheese, and had a meal there. We
were the only customers until about ten minutes before leaving, but the meal
was O.K.
Our coalman was due to
deliver between 3 and 5 pm, but, due to an accident on the motorway, he didn’t
arrive until about 6.15, so he had a pretty long day, which was partly made up
for with the extra custom he picked up after he delivered to us. We now have
warmth and comfort again.
I’m still waiting for Avast
to sort out the extra payments on Secure Line. However, if I’ve heard nothing
from them by Monday, I’ll simply cancel that payment, which goes through
PayPal. I already have another programme lined up to take its place, so no
problem there.
After topping up with water
and disposing of rubbish, we’ll be off to Middlewich. Meanwhile, with a good,
strong signal here at Wheelock, I’ll post this blog.
Take care folks, and have a
great weekend.
Dave and Sheila
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