A lovely day on the Weaver

Wednesday 15th May 2019
Tip of the day for chaps – It can help if you keep your glasses on to shave, but take advice from Mrs Jannock – remove them before washing your fizzog.

We set off in yet more sunshine and moved down through two locks to the visitor mooring pontoons in Northwich for an explore of the town. We love the stone structures used to hold the wier sluces on this river. In Northwich it seemed odd to be mooring on a pontoon outside a very modern, glass edifice that is the Odeon cinema. Aaahh, the waft of chips (McDonalds) and popcorn all before elevenses.
After last evening’s  boat- washathon, G immediately took the opportunity to get some gloss paint on the new Alde chimney whilst the weather was good.

We went to have a look around the town. Its a good stop-over place with plenty of moorings. There is a Waitrose, Asda, Sainsburys and M&S although we understand the latter is one of the stores selected for closure. There are pie shops a plenty and the pub
selection is excellent. Hungry for breakfast? – The purpose built Post Office, all black and white timbered and designed to withstand land subsidence by being able to be jacked up, is now a Wetherspoons. Another of their collection of interesting historic buildings.
Knowing that the Anderton lift had problems we decided to call in and make a booking for our passage back up to the Trent and Mersey canal as soon as possible. Having got a slot for tomorrow we went further down the river to explore the Saltisford area – we cant go any further as the lock

there is out of action. At the lock we turned and returned to Barnton Cut moorings for an overnight stop. We’ve now navigated all that is possible on the River Weaver.
During the evening we were buzzed by two powered paragliders, one of which was practicing landing and taking off again in the field next to the river.
Brenda

And down onto the Weaver

Tuesday 14th May 2019

Beauty Tip of the day – when applying moisturiser to your face do not forget if you are wearing glasses. It seems that yesterday’s sun has got to my brain even though I wore my sun hat all day.

First stop of the morning was Anderton services to dump the rubbish and fill the water tank. Then off up to the Anderton Lift to see if there were any passages down to the Weaver available today.

 “When would you like to go?” was the response. Errm! today? Can
you be here in 15 minutes? Of course! We went down solo within 45 minutes of requesting passage.
What a beautiful day to be on the river. The scenery is gorgeous, the locks are manned and the lockies provide a great tourist information service too! Graham loved the use of railway type signal to
indicate which lock is in use.
Through Northwich and onto fresh waters. We passed nb Tysley, complete with a crew of Mikron actors, tied up at Northwich boatyard and then almost immediately passed Yarwoods yard on the opposite side.


The countryside is rural but with salt and other mineral works intersperced. We cruised right up to Winsford wharf where we stopped and went for a post-lunch pint in the Red Lion. Good selection of beers, good music, a live music venue and art centre. Friendly too! The pub has moorings for about two narrowboats adjacent to the beer garden but is only short walk from lots of free moorings at the wharf two bridges further up.

We reversed out of the wharf and made our way back down river to Vale Royal visitor moorings. It is beautiful in the May sunshine and so quiet, only woorland birds, a pheasant and occasional walkers and cyclists passing to disturb us. Graham took the opportunity of being on a river to give Jannock a good wash as she was definately looking grubby.

Brenda

A wander around a country park

Monday 13th May 2019
This morning was for domestics, Graham rode back to Stone to collect the car and bring it to Middlewich whilst I was on re-provisioning duty. Jannock was logged by a CaRT operative at 9am so no overstaying at Middlewich then. Chores over and the EEC fabric mountain safely stowed in the car and we were off through an ever changing countryside – fields, flashes, chemical works and the outskirts of Northwich.
We passed Lion Saltworks. It has developed as an industrial heritage site since we were last there. Then on to Marbury Country park in search of the visitor moorings. We failed to spot them on the towpath side immediately south of bridge 196 (isnt hindsight wonderful) so we moored up out in the sticks beyond and walked back to cross over to the lovely woodland. There is a Ranger station, outdoor swimming pool (£8/£5 per day) and toilets (and at weekends, a cafe) across the cow fields in the middle of the estate – just follow the signposts.
During our circular walk on this bright sunny spring afternoon the birdsong alone was worth it. We passed the Flash, an Ice pit and a grotto on our route. The country park is a lovely place for a shady stroll, dog walk or even a RUN (aaargh!) on a hot day.
Engineering of the day – grinding a chamfer on the bottom of a door bolt to enable a weakling (me) to be able to actually bolt the front door. Plumbing phase #XIVILC – fitting two air release valves in the highest point of the engine to calorifier pipe run.
Brenda

Down Cheshire locks to Middlewich

Sunday 12th May 2019

As we started our descent of the main drag of Heartbreak Hill the weather gave us a break. By 12:00 the sun was warm and we were wind free.

At Lawton Triple top lock we met Mary, a lady who sits on the lockside and sells ‘cakes and makes’ for her chosen charity. It was her first day out selling in 2019 as she has had a hip replacement so missed most of 2018 as well. Her surgeon had mentioned that there was a piece of orthopedic equipment he’d like to buy for the NHS and so Mary is raising money for it – over £1k so far through coffee mornings and sales. Graham purchased a lemon drizzle cake and I donated some of my ‘beat the boredom’ brooches for her to sell.

Did I say this area is beautiful – it is! At Hassal Green the Romping Donkey is no more and St. Barbies has now got a tiled roof. We stopped after Hassal Gn locks for a logistical lunch and were overtaken by another northbound boat – drat!

As we were about to set off again, we watched a cow approaching the canal in the opposite field. As she walked along the rest of the herd followed but she ended up getting into the canal for a swim. The rest watched on and then set off along the canal towards their in-field drinking area after the next lock. She swam and waded along the canal following them and ended up swimming into lock 59. Traffic was stopped in both directions and Graham rang the CaRT emergency line whilst I walked down to the lock to see what was happening. Daisy was shooed out of the lock by some walkers and then the gate was shut. Meanwhile Graham was having fun updating the CaRT call handler with the latest goings-on. Just as all the relevant details were logged on the system in the call centre, Daisy had made her way back to a shallow bit of bank that had collapsed and extracted herself from the cut. Whilst the Cart call was being finished, the boat that had stopped behind us set off and took our lock and so then Graham had to turn most locks for the rest of the day until we met someone coming south.

Once in Middlewich we moored below the three locks in the pound before big lock. After dinner we walked up to visit John and Gillian at their house. We admired Tam Lin’s new paint job, the house extension all finished and the evolution of the garden. After an enjoyable evening catching up, we left them at 10:30 and walked back to Jannock via Tesco Metro. When we first started boating in the 70s and later when we started family boating in the 90s life was much more complicated – shopping for food had to be planned due to restricted opening and a shortage of canalside shops. We needed some milk and at 10:45 on a Sunday evening were able to get some from Tesco’s on the way home.

Middlewich is well appointed with a Jacks (cheaper Tesco), Tesco Metro and also a Lidl all in the town as well as a plethora of take-aways and hardware shops.

Brenda

Serious shopping and a tunnel

Saturday 11th May 2019

Graham was up and set off on the lock wheeling bike back to Etruria Yard to dump all of the waste left over from yesterdays plumbing extravaganza as there will not be another refuse dump before Red Bull.

We then breakfasted and walked to Humbert St (5 mins) to catch the number 4 bus to Newcastle under Lyme. The driver advised us to have a day rover ticket instead of two returns as that saved us.

£3, he also gave us warning when our required stop was approaching – many thanks for excellent service! Newcastle is an interesting town with it’s history written in the varied architechture housing a good variety of shops.
The purpose of our trip out was to revisit a fabric shop that we discoved by accident last year. We will need new curtains for the lounge diner at home when it’s re-decorated later this year. We even managed to find suitable fabric to replace all of Jannock’s curtains as well. Brenda will be busy ;^)

To get over the surprise of us both making choices and being pleased with what we’d bought, we hopped back on the no. 4 bus, got off immediately opposite the Holy Inadequate and went in and celebrated with a beer and pork pie lunch. Therapy for the soul as the purse was already lost – no redemption there.

Back to Jannock and we cast off in glorious sunshine, but with an accompanying biting wind, and made our way up past Middleport lake to the Southern portal of Harecastle tunnel. I suspect the tunnel keeper would have let us go straight in but we wanted to fill with water first. By the time I had filled the tank and taken a picture of the entrance to the original Brindley tunnel, it had started to hail so we entered the tunnel into a drier environment followed by a Black Prince hireboat.

We appeared out of the other end 35 minutes later and it was glorious sunshine in a cloudless sky but still accompanied by that wind.
We did the first five Cheshire locks before mooring for the night at Church Lawton, one of our favourite ‘peaceful moorings’.

Three day catch-up

Thursday 25th April 2019

Back to normal April weather today. We stopped at Great Haywwod junction for a water-fill. The flow was initiallyslow as another boat was filling from the other tap but once they’d finished it sped up. The service area was covered in notices advertising a local launderette only 10 minutes away. This could be usefull for our extended cruising plans. We googled the postcode and yes, it was 10 minutes away – by car! We wont be lugging all our dirty clothes that far for a wash.

Today, we only had hot cross buns as bread. Graham’s home brewis very good for making bread so I looked in “Cut & Pastery” and decided to use up some of our aging ingredients and make Bannock, whilst also steering as the locks arrived quicker than expected.
At Hoo Mill lock there were three distressed ducklings at the entrance of the lock, mother was no-where to be seen. As we entered the lock we found a solitary duckling in the lock.Having decided not to try and ascend with said duckling accomapnying us so we managed to shoo it out using the boat hook to join its siblings.
As we travelled between locks, Graham found that the solar panel controller had packed up and so he rigged a diode in place to ensure the batteries were kept charged as we are planning to leave the boat for two weeks in Stone.

As we approached Stone the skies darkened and as there was no space on the 14 day moorings below Star lock, we hoped to get through the locks before the rain started. We didn’t and had to pass through  one lock in a thunder hailstorm.

We moored up at the top-end of town and then had to move as our chosen mooring was only 5 day – no signs were obvious as you head north but Graham found one pointing back towards where we were moored when he went to investigate the area. We then moved a further 20 metres to be on the 14 day moorings.

We walked to the station and caught the train back to Rugby to find the car at Brinklow. On our way we found the Southernmost 5 day mooring sign that we obviously missed as we passed – I wonder why?

Thursday 9th May 2019
We returned to Jannock in the drizzle, after a cold week at home, with the knowledge that the central heating was not functioning due to a leak below the floor. With the low single figures predicted for night time temperature I hope we can get it fixed quickly before we get frostbite.

We hit Morrisons at Stone for groceries before going to the boat. Luckily Brenda treated herself to a new at Asda at Wheatley and not relied on Morrisons’ as they had nil stock. Food of the day was Morrision’s doughnuts as they have a really good filling, nice powdery sugar on the outside and a lovely light dough.

We set off as the rain was seeming to stop but HaHa – April fool in May. We made our way up the Meaford flight in cold drizzle following a hire boat up the locks. I walked up to the top lock to find them sat in the lock having dropped their windlass into the cut above the top gate. To speed things up I gave them a replacement windlass from our fishing stock and then used our sea-searcher to locate theirs as we ascended the lock after them. Fair exchange!

As you approach Barlaston the graffiti on this bridge says it all ;^)

On through Barlaston and Trentham lock to finally moor at one of our favourite peaceful mooring just past the bridge in Trentham.

In the evening I removed all of the skirting boards to inspect the heating plumbing and found that we had a leak in the pipes that cross under the floor in the bathroom.

Friday 10th May 2019

Brenda had a cozy night under her new duvet accompanied by her new ‘best friend’ – a hot water bottle. We set off from Trentham under an overcast sky and managed to complete the Stoke flight and moor up just past Festival park before the rain appeared.

I loved the figurehead on a boat we passed.

I then cut open part of the floor and replaced the two pipes that cross under it whilst Brenda went off to explore the local shops and find B&Q to get some contact adhesive with which to stick the carpet back down with.

The major surgery was a success and the heating is now working again. We celebrated our success with dinner at the Toby Carvery,Festival Park before returning to a warm boat.

Graham & Brenda.

A 10 hours day today.

24th April 2019

Himself was up and set off while I dozed on. The sun also struggled to get up today, it was past noon before it made an appearance and shone on us. There used to be a golf course or similar on the offside just North of Alvecote marina, now its an enormous building site.

We passed through Glascote locks and headed North through Fazeley, Hopwas and Whittington towards Fradley junction where we turned left onto the T&M. The weather decided to rain as we approached the swing bridge immediately before the junction and remained on and off for the rest of the afternoon.

As we were ascending the first lock at Fradley, a grandma and granddad accompanied by a young girl were watching us pass through. Grandad was trying to explain how everything worked to the young lass but was a bit out of his depth. We offered them all a lift into and through the second lock which they accepted. Having briefed them and settled them into the front well deck Graham explained things as we passed through the second lock before disgorging them above the lock and continuing on to Woodend lock.

By the time we arrived at Armitage the weather had turned to shipping forecast style ‘squally
showers’ (aka bank holiday weather :^) We continued on past this shed at Rugely which appears to be gradually collapsing to eventually moor for the night at Wolseley Bridge.

Graham was amused that the special reserved swan area at the Taft was being completely ignored by the swans who had made a nest at the other end of the moored boat. Obviously they cannot read the sign.

A ten hour day to do 29 lock miles.

Tonight's dinner was a chicken and veg curry; the Pataks butter chicken jar was dated best before 2015 but was still OK; was it OK to accompany it with Staffordshire oatcakes and call them Roti Staffs?

Brenda

St George’s Day

Tuesday 23rd April 2019 (however the Church of England thinks different)

The day started with Owls (or an Owl) dominating the dawn chorus at 5:30am. We were not moored in ‘Hooty Wol Woods’ so that is definitely not fair!

Graham was up and at-em early in the engineering department.The water had not been getting hot when the engine was running so he suspected so it was time to investigate. After much deliberation
he turned cardiac surgeon and decided that there must be a one-way valve in the system that was interrupting the flow. He opened ‘her up’and found that there was a valve in the bottom connector on the new calorifier and that it was clogged up with rubbish carried in the cooling water and so was effectively a ‘no way’ valve. Our hot water system had a heart attack. No scrubs needed, valve and muck removed and circulation restored. Unlike humans, no replacement valve was needed.

Things one can buy canalside – for the person who has everything, Alpaca poo at only £3 per bag. It must be good stuff at that price. The woods approaching Atherstone are full of Bluebells – a lovely sight.

We made a shopping stop in Atherstone after the 5th lock. Everything we wanted was available except DIY wubber gwubs – a lovely place to shop. No Alpaca poo though.

Completed the flight of locks, dumped our rubbish at Grendon Sani-station and then carried on to Alvecote where we eat in the Samuel Barlow this evening – the steaks were excellent although there was an acute shortage of ale on the handpumps – I suspect they had a very busy bank holiday weekend in the lovely weather we were blessed with.

Brenda

That Deja Vu feeling

Monday 22nd April 2019

Glory be – sunshine and warmth all over Easter which is so unusual for a Bank Holiday.
I had a couple of last minute jobs to do as well as filling the water tank, doing a pumpout and depositing all the ‘not wanted on voyage’ stuff in the car.

After a couple of hours I noticed that the pipes from the engine feeding the lower coil on the calorifier didn't seem to be getting hot. I tried disconnecting them at the tank end and there was water there so I decided there must be a one-way valve in the bottom of the coil so we pulled over and I swapped the two pipes over. After that the feed pipe started to get warm but still

did not heat up the water enough. There was an unusual duck adjacent to Charity Dock - looks like a black Indian Runner duck as it's stood upright. It would appear that Jemima Puddleduck was also an Indian Runner duck.

We continued on, through Hawkesbury junction and up the Coventry canal to Springwood where we moored for the night. I tried bleeding any air out of the pipes but there is something wrong with the engine circuit. The Alde circuit works well and so we heated the water up with that so Brenda could have a shower this evening.

This evening’s mooring is accompanied by lots of bird song, one of Brenda’s favourite sounds.
Graham

Easter Weekend work party

Saturday/Sunday 20th & 21st April 2019

When you go somewhere exotic for a holiday, the first couple of days are fine then it’s days spend in the bathroom – why should Jannock be any different?

I was up early, washed, dressed and ready to ackle – no change there then. Sufficient water stored, I went to turn off the water pump and found that it was leaking as well. Luckily we always carry a spare for that – currently sat in a soggy carboard box beside the leaking pump.
All three water system components have failed at once, what are the chances of that? At least all can be fixed whilst we are at the mooring with a car handy if more items are needed.

Old calorifier removed and new one installed in order to get the water back on as soon as possible. Then remove the old Alde boiler. Chimney connector was welded in place to the top of the boiler by internal corrosion so it had to be cut off in order to get the boiler out. New aluminium pipe required. Rang Midland Chandlers, they have one in stock so arranged to go and fetch it in the morning. Replaced water pump and turned it on to refill the system – only
one weeping joint which sealed itself when I wiggled it. OK we’ll test the new immersion heater – it’s brilliant and meant that I could have a nice hot shower at the end of a hard day’s work.

In the evening Pat and Mike (nb Nuggler) popped round for an evening of home brewed beer and sewing natter. As they left we spotted a fabulous red moon rising.



Sunday morning and I went back to Braunston to get the chimney extension pipe. They had said on the phone yesterday afternoon that they opened at 9am. They actually open at 10 am on a Sunday and so breakfast was an cerial bar and a cube of juice from the emergency stock kept in the Touran while I waited. Then back to Brinklow to rebuild the new Alde heat exchanger unit into the old case and fit into the narrow gap beside the airing cupboard. The chimney still had a large lump of aluminium tube stuck in the bottom of it which needed extracting. Then refit it onto the roof and the boiler. Talk about a boatman’s holiday ;^)

Deep joy, the new calorifier is so well insulated that there was plenty of hot water available in the morning even though the immersion heater had only been on for an hour or so. Hopefully in future there will be no requirement to run the engine for several hours in order to have a morning shower.
While we were eating dinner in the cratch one of the local ducks hopped onto the front of our neighbours boat and started tapping the glass obviously expecting to be fed - they've gone away for Easter mate :^)
Graham

Day two and we’re back where we started from.

Friday 19th April 2019
Last night, when I turned on the Alde boiler, the unit made some horrible cracking noises as the flame started heating the water jacket. A while later all we could hear was air bubbles being circulated in the radiators. I tried bleeding the radiator and topping up the header tanks but with no joy. Investigation in the ‘black hole of Calcutta’ (aka the heating cupboard) revealed that not only was the Alde losing water but also the hot water tank was sat in a puddle of it’s own. After discussion we decided that tomorrow we would turn and head back to Brinklow where I could sort out these issues with access to parts and transport if needed for fetching bits.

This morning investigation revealed that a guy named Graham Cutmore in Northampton sells exchange refurbished Alde boilers but he’s on holiday and not back until 24th April. Midland Swindlers Chandlers at Braunston had the calorifier in stock that I required.

So, having been embracing the luxury of having an extended cruising season it a bit like one step forwards and one back again. We cast off and proceeded to the first winding hole, just after bridge 18, turned and then made our way South back to Hawksbury junction and a hard left onto the North Oxford canal for the run back to Brinklow marina. I spotted this old BCN spoon dredger moored just before Stretton Stop – I suspect it must be owned by the Rose Narrowboat peeps.
Back on the mooring, with little wind luckily, and straight out in the car to Braunston. The man there was very knowledgable about all this plastic plumbing and so proffered lots of little bit I would not of thought of to help connect the new calorifier to our old plumbing – we’ll see how it goes tomorrow. It also turns out that Midland Chandlers also sell the Alde boiler water jacket as a spare part so I’m hoping to move all our other bits from the existing boiler onto that once I’ve got the hot water on again.
On our way back to the mooring we did shopping at Alde and Screwfix and then collected Fish and Chips for tea from Brinklow chippy (under new management since I last used it but still as good) Brenda was pleased that they used cardboard boxes rather than polystyrene to contain the fish and chips – far more eco-friendly.
There may not be a blog post tomorrow as I’m likely to be up to my armpits in plumbing tomorrow.
Graham

The 2019 cruise has finally started.

Thursday 18th April 2019
We arrived at Brinklow yesterday and spent the afternoon preparing Jannock for starting a new cruise. Life has been very busy since I retired from work on 31st January and so we are looking forward to a bit of extended cruising in 2019 now that life has calmed down a bit.


We left Brinklow marina at 10:15 today and headed North towards Coventry. The trees in blossom are absolutely lovely at present.

At Stretton we had to stop immediately before the bridge to allow 5 southbound boats to squeeze their way passed boats moored three abreast at Rose Narrowboats wharf. We finally got through the bridge to find yet another southbound boat coming through the narrows. Luckily the footbridge was being left in the open position to ease passage.


Wildlife of the day – Water Voles (and very plump they were too) spotted either side of Ansty on the offside. The sign pictured is nearer Hawksbury on the disused power station site.


We turned North onto the Coventry canal at ‘Suttons’ and headed to Bedworth where we stopped alongside nb Grace and had a chat with Christine and Terry R. when they joined us for tea (or beer) and cake onboard Jannock. We said our farewells just after 5pm and continued on  past Charity Dock and Marston Junction before mooring for the night near bridge 16 (Arbury Park bridge)

Graham

More hop picking in the morning.

Sunday 16th September 2018

As we looked out from our mooring spot it seemed sad that there is only a single radio mast left at Hillmorton.

The locks were not open until 9am so while I slept on, Graham was off picking more hops – this time the ones we found late last night on the offside. The level of the pound was about half a metre down on normal level and the back pumps were running flat out as he walked down the towpath – I’m not sue how much closing the locks overnight helps.

The memorable part of our evening walk last night were the lovely smells coming from the Indian Restaurant in Hillmorton – must give that a try next visit. Just walk up the road from the bridge above the locks and it’s on your right at the top of the hill.

Four keen boaters passed Jannock before 9am and were patiently queued when Graham returned. We had a cooked breakfast before setting off and found ourselves with no queue and following the fourth boat to go down.

We passed steam NB Hasty going the other way below Hillmorton locks. I bet the stoker has a cozy, if not a bit warm, seat.

Come midday, just after Newbold tunnel, we found lots of Blackberries on the offside so Graham moved Jannock across and we harvested about a litre of berries.

Into the marina in a howling gale, Graham managed to get into our berth in one without even giving our next door neighbour a glancing blow. Yah!

Brenda

                                    The haul.

An evening picking hops.

Saturday 15th September 2018

Due to an excess of summer, and family commitments, Jannock has had a rest at her berth at Brinklow marina for most of July and all of August. During this time Graham has managed to do a lot of work that has been on the ‘to do’ list for about 10 years on her whilst she was located at a relatively secure location.

The rear doors were removed and taken home so that new wooden door liners could be manufactured and installed. Having completed them he then made a new liner for the front door as well. Before and after pictures are shown below. Doors and security are much improved now and the interior brightened up by the light colour.

   

               Before                                                                                   After

He finished by repainting all the poles and the gang plank.

The planned Soddit cruise this weekend was cancelled as Ian has got shingles and so we decided to have an extra weekend pootle in the sunshine.

As there is no Cutweb rally this year we had a pico rally (a cuppa and cake) with the Nuggler crew before we set off. They are out for two weeks unlike our two days.

Heading south out of the marina, we passed through Newbold and Rugby. Unfortunately, there were no plums at all on the trees just passed Clifton Wharf – Shame! When we arrived at Hillmorton locks it was obvious that we were present on a hirer laden day and some had no idea what they were doing or common sense to help. One lock crew member seemed to think she’d be useful just holding a windlass. She got away with it at the bottom lock because the vol-lockie and Graham helped, but after that it wasn’t a very good stategy.

We spotted the hops either side of Hillmortons top pound and so we went on to the winding hole at Tarry’s bridge where we turned and returned to moor up for the night above the top lock.

We walked down past the top lock and harvested hops from the bushes on the towpath before returning to jannock for dinner. We then went for an evening walk, during which we found more hops on the non towpath side that appeared to have a better aroma before heading to the Stag and Pheasant for a pint.

Brenda