Arrived on Schedule to Cox Bank

A shamefully low lock miles day today but we were on a mission to get moored up for 11.30 so Rachel could join an RCN webinar (that didn't happen but hey ho) 

I was up early for me and had the engine lubed up and the day tank full by 8.45 am and we were away for 9.10.... we arrived at the top of the Adderley flight for 9.40am and were clear in 50 minutes having to turn the top two locks. 

A nice cruise to the top of the Audlem flight and another wait and a two turned locks got us to just off the 48 hour moorings at Cox Bank by 11.32... my estimate was 11.30 so felt a bit smug ! 

A few things to note...

We met David Rey and family owners of Norbury mid way down the Adderley flight. His young daughter chatting away to Rachel as they worked the locks. She was justifiably proud to tell Rachel her family owned Norbury wharf. Now the impressive bit... David and his family were on two boats that left Chester on Saturday morning  morning and were heading back to Norbury today ! Saturday was Chester to Audlem, Sunday, today was Audlem to Norbury.... Chucking in a start place on CanalPlanAC it's still a good 2 x 10 hour days. 

This is a trip of 39 miles, 5¾ furlongs and 33 locks from Quarry Bridge Winding Hole to Norbury Junction.
This will take 19 hours and 39 minutes which is 9 hours and 49 minutes for each of 2 days.

Needless to say we are taking it a bit slower ! I do recall one of our longest days was bringing our last boat Waterlily home it was a 13 hour day and we ended up at the Tame Otter and the pint of Guinness and steak was one of the best meals ever ! 

Anyhow a lazy afternoon, we may walk into Audlem later and see if we can get a meal at the at the Shroppie Fly.... just checked the stop food at 5 on a Sunday so that'll be a no. 

Our mooring last night well into the vegetation 

How lovely would it be if much more of the system was a nice at tis lock gate the the moorings at the bottom of the Adderley flight 

Then the reality.... not heard much about this works, looks like they are restoring part of the embankment between Adderley and the Audlem flight. Mr Telford's guarantee has long run our but not a bad job lasting so long but no doubt better looked after when it was a working canal ? 

Advice needed .... We have half a plan to make Chester and maybe even Ellesmere Port those who have been this way have you good mooring recommendations ?

Due a catch up

Its been a while. We have been on and off Percy but nothing really interesting to report, that is a good thing I guess. 

We are on our way somewhere, not sure where yet as external influences may or may not play a part....

We set off yesterday and headed the wrong way as we needed to wind in Grub street. I have reported this winding hold as it is getting worse by the month with bad silt in the apex and failed armco on the tow path, no idea how a 70 foot boat might wind here, we struggle with 60 foot needing the pole at the stern to get around as the front was stuck in the mud and I could not get off.

Wasn't Ipswich the butty Sarah had? 

We were sad to hear of the passing or Trevor (?) the fell who lived in the cutting with his two boats and classic car. He was a always pottering and always gave us a wave... a sad reminder that time waits for no one and when its your time... seems he had a good health span to match his life span and that is as much as we can hope for when it comes to counting years. RIP Trevor we will miss seeing you. 

Otherwise an uneventful couple of days so far. We got on the last mooring at Goldstone yesterday and had a couple of boats up behind us... one of the bits of the trip we could not let them pass on as we'd have ended up above Tyrley locks or had to do the locks which we did not fancy.

We came down them this lunchtime after a decent pass through Woodseaves only meeting one boat right at the end and they knew what to do. 

He's still got the winding hole roped off ! 

Even the last lock wasn't too mean to us  - but unless we do the four counties we will have its pleasure again !! There were 9 people on the back of the hire boat at  the final  lock and they all stayed on the boat while they were brought up by Rachel!

Dog $hit on my boots as we moored up in Market Drayton, I want to like this place but the town centre is so sad. It's got some lovely houses if you walk in via the aqueduct and head of the church. We did a top up and I didn't fancy the end mooring close to the aqueduct - last time we moored here there were motorbikes up and down the tow path. So I set us off and stopped for water and loo emptying ... its a real moan of a new post but no waste disposal, showers closed as was the toilet and the only 'service' was a truly disgusting elsan that had not been cleaned for a long time. C&RT should hang their head in shame. I can accept the showers and toilets as most boaters have such on board but the Elsan and the waste are non negotiable.  

Reasons not to have a pump out ever again .... but the elsan was a test 

I felt quite humbled as I passed this boat .... expecting it to be abandoned there was a fella in it who gave a cheery wave and a smile.... the top cabin was as much rot as wood, respect to him for living his dream 

I'm sure this one has been across the channel 

We motored on into the early evening and are in a mooring by bridge 66  - we've moored here before lots of veg to contend with but at least its armco. Steak for tea and a few beers so life isn't that bad.  Not sure of the weather tomorrow but Cox bank is the short hop we have planned. might top up at the cake shop if she's got her wares open at the top lock..... yes done this a few times now. 

It was lovely until it wasn't

Woke up to a much different day but a cold boat, lots of lovely sunshine and no wind. I've been taking logs from home as they heat the boat quicker so I set to getting the fire going. Tea and other bits sorted then we decided to firm up what we'd tentatively agreed the night before a winding cruise up past Knighton woods.

I got the engine started to warm up for half an hour and pottered getting the cruising bits sorted. We failed to go out forwards ( a clue here) so had to reverse out of the mooring with little drama. No boats moving it seems and we cruised up past the Knighton factory. There is a tree down and whoever has done the clearing  - it surely cannot be CART as its left such a narrow channel up against a rocky tow path. The tree down is a small Silver Birch so could/should have been removed fully - hence my thinking maybe the paint dock guy has done it or a friendly boater. I called it in to CART - so I will find out. If it is a CART contractor they need calling back to do the job properly. 

If you know this bit of canal you will know of the obstructions on the tow path side - you can see the large rock sticking up. 

It was a lovely day to be cruising  - and we enjoyed being moving on Percy again. I gave the engine a decent run up the straight and pleased to report little carbon coming onto the roof. Rachel walked to the winding hole from the factory  - I did the return walk 

A near perfect wind helped by the wind from the North west and we were chugging back.

We saw two boats  - one ex working boat by another fallen tree only partially removed

We decided to go straight in to the mooring and all of a sudden the day wasn't lovely anymore. We got stuck solid. Half an hour on the engine on the pole on the ropes but we could not get in  - or out. It took Percy's Lister working as hard as it has for a while in reverse and me on the pole to finally get the back end into enough water to enable us to cruise past and reverse in . 

It made me feel old and despite my strength I was not able to shift the boat. We got her in and tied up and had a nice afternoon with a visit from Mandy and Scamp of NB Don't Panic for tea and chat. All too soon the time was pressing on and after half an hour of fishing we packed up the boat and came home - I have an exciting errand tomorrow !!

Since getting home I've reflected on the woes of going out and coming back the same way - both failures.... last time we had such trouble ( it's always an arse to get in and out due to the amount of silt ) last time a tyre had come off the mooring and that was the reason we struggled... I'm now thinking or rather hoping  the same might have happened as we had the same issue on the same line out and in .... the waders will get another airing next visit.

Strength is a critical factor in boating  - a lot can be done with technique and equipment but fundamentally the canals need a degree of strength. Today I was at my limit and thats not a good place to be and does not give a good feeling when reflecting on it. 

First turn of the key

Back on board for a few days  - it'll not be a weather related blog but it sure was interesting for the last couple of days. Sun rain, hail snow..... and impressive westerly winds that turned the canal into a sea 

But that's just canal life, you live with and in nature. Before it all got a bit lairey and in anticipation of the weather I got the exhaust stack vacuumed out and the manifold back on with new gaskets. One turn of the key and the lister donked into life. I pushed my luck by getting the Honda genny out for a cut of the grass and as expected that did fire first pull... it's a Honda. 

I might have mentioned our mooring fees went up a butt cheek clenching 20%  - I asked the farmer if there was a a chance of adding another water point as we were two hoses away from the nearest. Pleasingly they did but they managed to add it further away so when moored bow to the north my two hoses joined together were at their limits, and as the cassette one is getting old now I've been cutting bits out as leaks appear. I was resigned to sploshing out for a large reel type but noticed the buried pipe our neighbour had been using and one we used was now 'open and he was using the new tap nearer his tank. I spoke and he was happy for me to see if I could pull it back out of the ground to the middle point of out mooring  - he was happy for this as he said he'd not put it in as it was there when he came to the mooring. 

It was about 6 inches underground and the soil was soft so it pulled up easily and pretty much the middle of our mooring a join appeared. So a new cap was put on and it is now perfectly placed to fill the tank with one hose regardless of if we are pointing north or south, small benefits. 

We should wind Percy and may do later if for no other reason to cut through the silt bar that will have built up since we last moved her. It is still a cold north westerly wind and I'm sporting a chesty cough gifted to me by my middle grandson I expect. 

The clear night before two days of storms 

We got cabin fever yesterday so took a drive to empty the cassettes at Norbury and do a top up shop in Newport 

We've not been cold ! 

A weird day of confusing weather

I am loosing trust in the weather forecasts. I wish there was one that was somewhat reliable. Yesterdays weather forecast was quite dire, rain and cloud all day.... and cold. 

I decided late morning to put the fishing umbrella up and sit out wrapped up for a few hours. As soon as I did the rain stopped and there were some small bursts of sunshine. We decided to see if we could get a Sunday lunch somewhere with a fall back of a cafe in Whitchurch !! 

A moody start to the day with lots of heavy rain showers 

We phoned a few places some not answering some not taking walk in's so we headed off Whitchurch way. We stopped on spec at a place on the A41 called the Castle Inn. The 'roast' I had was catering pack beef but the veg and trimmings were all done well just let down by the meat - I should and will ask in future. 

Suitably full and £50 lighter in the wallet, a lesser amount than it could have been as we waited too long for someone to come for a desert and coffee order so we paid and left. Then into Whitchurch which we know is a lovely market town but on a Sunday afternoon was quite deserted, just a couple of pubs open... no shops or cafe. But the only place doing business was the Tesco's which tells a story about how such towns struggle I guess - but we all use supermarkets ! 

So we shopped and drove back for a quiet evening aboard.

We did feel a bit cheated as the weather in the afternoon was nothing like the forecast. The sun temping me with promises of warmer brighter days ahead. 

We've messed up in that we have deliveries today ( with heavy rain forecast at home )  and family staying at the cottage tomorrow so we will have to bolt shortly for home. The wind is up and it rained hard overnight but now blue skies ! We do like to talk about the weather.

Outside now looks nice but a strong south westerly is blowing - no boats have passed since Saturday afternoon which tells its story. 

Right I've a van to pack and a boat to lock up and leave again  - but I need to be back with the right tools to finish the exhaust de-coke. 

A bit of a double fail for now

Yesterday was a day of getting stuff done outside .... I'm sure most of us in the UK were out under the weak but full sun for a while.

My first semi fail was of my own making as I came to the boat to do a bit of an exhaust decoke'ing as we were getting carbon out of the exhaust and onto the boat roof. Got the manifold off but forgot the workshop vac and drill to use as a stack sweep and suck.... 

I can leave it as is and be back with said tools.

There was a lot of carbon on one cylinder compared to the other - I know they are not getting quite the same fuel as I use a temp reader on the exhaust manifold and one is lower than the other. The pumps are adjusted to balance by a bar with locknuts so that needs tweaking to give one cylinder less fuel and the other more fuel ?  I am presuming the 'clean cylinder is doing the work while the dirty cylinder is getting too much fuel hence the carbon build up ? I can double check this with the temp gauge when I have it back together. I appreciate thats a poor description !! 

Then while I had space and the dry weather I decided to have the two passenger seats out of the Peugeot as I'd see a guy fashion a front wheel chock system to get his bike into his van by removing the middle seat. No surprise he'd not answered many Q's on his Youtube vid around the actual process as the only way I could see it being done was to take a hacksaw to parts of the middle seat which i was not happy to do.... so for now .... no Classic motorbike in the van ( But a cub or AJS Imber might well fit !)

This morning weather as usual... 

Should I stay or should I go ....

... there you go a bit of a Clash earworm for you.

We will have been married 41 years tomorrow Valentines day. Last year we booked into a very nice hotel in Bosham for a long weekend, Rachel got White gold diamonds and rubies  - I got another motorbike! This year like so many we planned for an escape to the boat. You'd have had to be living underground to not be aware of the horrible weather we've been having recently. We have been monitoring the forecasts of more snow more rain and ice.... and dithering as to whether we should brave the boat. 

Up until lunchtime we were unsure, we have a lovely cottage all warm and cosy and those of you who've had boat will attest to just how cold they get when left to their own devices. By 12.30 we took the decision to go and the van was loaded and we were off. It was of course sleeting at this point and 4c... I have made a personal decision to not allow external factors to influence me any more and the weather is one of them  along with antisocial media that I have pretty much withdrawn from - so if you do not see me on Facebook or Instagram that's the reason. 

We arrived about 2.30pm and in a well practiced set of actions we were sitting with a tea reading books while the boat slowly warmed up from its 6c arrival temp - last checked it was 23c. I use logs now to get fast heat but its still quite stratified with the floor area still quite cold.... this will soon be address as the long fat hot copper pipes radiate the heat up and round on its circular heating and cooling journey. 

We have a rare cold but sunny day tomorrow to make the most of... not sure of it'll be jobs or a trip out somewhere ....

It certainly did feel like -6c when unloading the van 

Drab and wet while the boat warmed up 

The new stove is working well 

Gone 5pm and still a light sky... lovely even if it is btterly cold outside.