Narrowboat Adventures before Dementia
NB Fantasma

Having settled Fantasma into her winter mooring we were collected by friend David and taken to Cumbria where we were going to house-sit his and his partner Carol’s beautiful Dudden Estuary home while they visited relatives in Australia.

We had no particular duties other than forwarding mail and - horror of horrors - looking after David’s orchid collection. 

Part of  Davids orchid collection

WOW!! we have known Carol and David for many years so surely they both know we can kill any plant just by being in the same room nay building and they leave us with a collection of prized orchids!!!!

They live in a small village that has a good range of shops where virtually all are independent. Tesco and a Boots Chemist being the main exceptions.

The independent shops were an absolute credit to shopkeeping, polite, helpful and with very good stock ranges, so it was rarely necessary to drive the 24 miles to visit Barrow in Furness, the nearest big town.

At one shop - Fergusons - we purchased curtain fabric and thermal/blackout curtain liner at an embarrassingly low price and after purchasing a sewing machine (we went to the lock-up but could not find the old one) and grommet fitting tools etc., we made new curtains for NB Fantasma. We think they are great and are very proud of our efforts

While in residence we had a visit from pal Mark and we visited some interesting local sights, and of great interest to us was Ulverston Canal, which runs from Ulverston town to Morecambe Bay.

Ulverston Canal Basin

We had other friends Janet and Peter visit, in fact, we went south(ish) and spent the night on Fantasma waking up to a very icy day, the temperature had dropped well into the minus figures overnight. Everything was frosty white and the roads were like a skating rink. We met Jan and Pete at Chatsworth House where we spent the day viewing the Christmas displays and the night at a Premier Inn local to Chatsworth.

The Premier Inn was different from others we have used (and we have used many) in that it had a restaurant where we ate dinner and breakfast, both were very good indeed and the staff were attentive, friendly and very professional.

We had a splendid time living in a “proper” house with running water that did not need a tank filled regularly and flushing toilets that did not need frequent emptying but were still pleased to get home to Fantasma.

After Sue returned from her trip to Spain we knew we would have to backtrack some of our southwards routes but we were planning to travel the Grand Union Canal - Leicester Line, most of which would be new to us, backtrack a little more from Fradley Junction to Great Haywood Junction and then on to pastures new, the Trent and Mersey to The Macclesfield Canal, (with a detour to explore the Calden Canal) then onward to, eventually, Skipton on the Leeds Liverpool Canal. 

This has been a very dry summer which followed a dry winter and spring, add that to the problems at Todmorton Reservoir and many of the northern canals are inaccessible so the planned route to Skipton where to spend the winter was a total no-no.

What on earth can we do now!!!

Studying the stoppages detailed on the CRT website we were disappointed to learn that without a serious amount of rain things are unlikely to change this side of we don’t know when!! We need to be in Millom, Cumbria by the middle of November to house-sit while friends Carol and David go to Australia for a two-month visit - We will have to live in their beautiful house with one of the most spectacular views in the whole of Cumbria (if not the UK) - OK it will be hard but someone has to do it😁

This left us with little option but to backtrack to our home for last winter, Tattenhall Marina. Fortunately for us, they had a berth vacant despite our understanding that so many boats have been unable to return to their northern marinas and have taken temporary moorings further south causing a shortage of winter berths in some areas.

The only compensation is that last year we explored the Llangollen Canal but, due to time constraints, were unable to reach the end of the navigation at the town of Llangollen and for the same reason, we missed the Montgomery Canal completely. We plan to rectify both of these omissions.

Having travelled almost the entire route previously, I’m going to do very little writing for the rest of our travels this year and will try to explain things in captioned photos; some it must be admitted, taken last year.

Great Haywood Marina

The month started with a few days in Great Haywood Marina which has much going for it, not least a superb farm shop - Canalside Farm Shop - not cheap but quality always costs and this shop sells only the very best quality in everything.

The Trent and Mersey Canal at Great Haywood is probably best known for nearby Shugburough Hall, purchased in 1624 by William Anson, a local lawyer and ancestor of the Earls of Lichfield. The estate remained in the Anson family for three centuries. Following the death of the 4th Earl of Lichfield in 1960, the Shugborough Estate was allocated to the National Trust in place of death duties. We tried to visit on our last day but the lady at the pay booth persuaded us that the entry fee was far too high to justify the time we had available for our visit but we will, at some time, return.

Essex Bridge

Essex Bridge was built in 1550 by the Earl of Essex to allow a visiting Queen Elizabeth I, to easily access local hunting areas. It is the main foot access from the canal to Shugbourough Estate. The bridge has remained unchanged since it was built.

View north from Essex Bridge

View south from Essex Bridge

Leaving Great Haywood we had intended to head north through Stone, a visit to World of Wedgwood, south of Stoke on Trent etc., etc., sadly much of the Trent & Mersey above Stone is closed as there is not enough water available to service the locks. The water shortage will also determine where we spend the winter, we were planning to find a winter mooring in a marina around Skipton in Yorkshire but although many of the waterways themselves sre open the junctions are closed. The CR&T witters on about less than 9% of the system closed through lack of water but it seems to be the junctions that allow boats to get from one open bit to another that is affected most badly.

This year, we travel west along the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, travelling straight through the wonderful Tixall Wide.

Tixall Wide - less a canal more a long lake.

There are a couple of theories as to why Tixall Wide is - well wide. The one most often quoted is that the owner of Tixall Hall refused to allow a standard canal to be built on his land but agreed to a canal that looked like a lake, another is that there was already a lake there and engineer James Brindley saved a few bob by using it as part of the canal.

We love it when the traffic on the M6 is moving slower than us, (that moving left to right is stationary).

We had intended to stop in Penkridge and do some shopping but having been

Lock landing for Penkridge Lock (9’-3” rise)

Immediately behind Penkridge Lock, on the left, are the services.

 told by other boaters that the town moorings were very busy we were not surprised when “very busy” was full but every cloud has a silver lining as we stopped for the day not in a town centre but on a pleasant mooring with just one building in sight - The Anchor Pub/Restaurant.

The Anchor Inn

Dinner was as good as it was when we visited this pub in the spring on our way south, it still cost more than we would normally pay for a two-course meal and a couple of drinks each but the meals were very good and the service attentive.

On to a new canal today, the Shropshire Union Canal, but first we had to negotiate the narrows as we approached Wolverhampton. This section of the canal is just over 7’-0” wide and cut through solid rock. Sue got off the boat at the start and walked ahead to check there was no one already in the narrows and when she got to the other end to stop other boats entering the narrows as we passed through.

The narrows are narrower than they look, it’s impossible to get through without touching the canal sides once or twice

After the narrows, it is just a short distance to Autherley Junction where the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canals meet

The stop lock at Autherley Junction where the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal meets the Shropshire Union Canal. A stop lock rises/falls around 6” and stops water belonging to one canal company from being used by another, and was often also used as a toll point.

We moored on the Brewood Visitor Moorings. The village of Brewood is a pleasant and affluent village with a small range of pubs and shops including a first-class butcher, sadly during a conversation with the butcher he said that the locals use him only at Christmas and without narrowboater trade he would be unable to survive - how sad is that? We continued along the Shropshire Union Canal to another canal village - Gnosall - which like Brewood had a small range of pubs and shops, including a very well-stocked Premier Convenience Store with super helpful staff, but also something essential to our lifestyle, a launderette.

Brewood Visitor Moorings

Our main memory of Gnosall is not however the launderette, or the well-stocked store, it is passing the last available mooring and having to reverse back up the canal to use it and then putting the gearbox in forward gear and discovering we had no drive - not what we wanted so close to other moored boats. As we were blown down onto a moored boat its owner realised we were not under control calling for us to throw him a rope and with just the slightest bump on his boat managed to pull us into the mooring space we wanted. The photo below shows why we had no drive

It is a large chunk of duvet that was wrapped tightly around the propellor robbing it of any chance of moving the boat.

It took an age to clear it off - but worse things happen at sea!!

As we were leaving we saw a narrowboat that we had heard a great deal about but had never seen.

The Mikron Theatre Narrowboat

After spending several nights on town/village moorings we felt the need for a little isolation and spent the night without another boat in sight, the towpath was showing signs of heavy footfall but we saw not a single person. 

Not another boat in sight.

Despite the solitude, we were quite close to High Omm where Cadbury Chocolate had a factory that brought in cocoa and sugar crumb by narrowboat where it was mixed with milk to make raw chocolate which itself was then transported to Bournville by boat where it was transformed into the finished products Cadbury was famous for. The last boatman to carry Cadbury was Charles Atkins, known on the waterways as Chocolate Charlie, who carried the last cargo from here to Bournville in 1961. The works are now operated by Knighton Foods which produces a wide range of food products from luxurious beverages and calorie-controlled meal replacements to agglomerated starches and spray-crystallised chocolates.

Cadbury Wharf

On the Shropshire Union Canal, there are several very well-known bridges but the best known must surely be High Bridge No 39.

High Bridge No 39

This Thomas Telford designed, grade 11 listed, bridge no 39 was built in 1832-3, however soon after its construction, the pressure being exerted onto the bridge from the cutting walls required the insertion of a strainer arch. In 1861 the United Kingdom Electric Telegraph Company installed telegraph cables along the canal's entire length. The strainer arch was subsequently used for siting a telegraph pole. The telegraph wires were replaced with telephone wires in 1870 and, although the wires have now been removed, the telegraph pole still survives. There are five ghosts that, supposedly haunt this canal, the best known and most disturbing is the hideous black, shaggy-coated being said to appear at this Bridge. There is a further rumour that there is a bottle of alcoholic drink over 100 years old on the stretcher.

People do lots of strange things at the side of the canal, the fellow below was on a deserted and isolated section without a house or building of any description. 

Stumpy

Our next mooring was in Nantwich a town dating back to Roman times that has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. Of particular interest to narrow boaters is that the canal was built high above the town itself.

Shropshire Union Canal at Nantwich

Nantwich Aqueduct

Nantwich Wooden Horse

NB Rum Wench

Just as we were leaving Nantwich we spied NB Rum Wench, owned by Heidi Manning a liveaboard continuous cruiser who produces the YouTube channel The Narrowboat Pirate a slightly risqué but very watchable look at life on the canals.

Our target for the day was to turn left onto the Llangollen Canal at Hurleston Junction and rise up through the Hurleston Locks and find a remote mooring. Remote it most certainly was, there was no village, and not even a single light could be seen in any direction - so quiet and peaceful.

The following morning we were up and away sharpish, we had a particular place we wanted to spend the night - Wrenbury. When we stopped here last year we discovered a superb delicatessen and just yards away what an Australian boater described as “ . . . the best bloody fish and chips in the UK . . . “.

Wow!!! What a disappointment. Both were permanently closed. We did wonder why? Both had said last November what a great season they had had and how they were looking forward to this year. A great pity both will be missed.

There is a very well-stocked convenience store in the village with prices that don’t frighten anyone.

Our Wenbury mooring, just before the fist of two lift bridges

The second Wenbury lift bridge, this one is best because it’s not hand-cranked but electrically operated with a CRT waterways key.

The next bit of excitement on this canal will be the Grindley Brook Locks, in total six locks with the top three a staircase that takes your boat up (or down) 38’-11” (11.86m). We spent the night just below the bottom lock and started late enough to get help from any volunteer lockkeepers but early enough to avoid the busy times

Leaving our mooring below Grindley Brook locks

All of the bottom three Grindley Brook locks were against us but with voluntary lock-keepers assisting on the three-chamber staircase we were soon at the top where we were able to fill the water tank and dispose of our rubbish. There are also clean toilets and showers here but we were keen to get on while the sun shone.

Grindley Brook Service Area

That night we moored in a very pleasant and isolated place with not a light or other boat could be seen.

The Llangollen Canal has escaped the water shortages that have plagued other parts of the system as it is used to supply around 50,000,000 litres of water per day to much of southern Cheshire, and because it also supplies water to the Shropshire Union Canal it too has remained shortage free for the whole summer and the reason we came this way.

When we came to the Llangollen Canal last year we didn't reach Llangollen Town, our goal was the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, and we turned around soon after it. Our goal this year was to where the canal splits from the River Dee and starts its 46-mile journey to its junction with the Shropshire Union Canal at Harleston Junction. The canal is navigable only to Llangollen town after which motorised boats are banned as the canal is narrow (as indeed it is in other places but very shallow.

We chugged over the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the 24th of September, it was as spectacular as last year but instead of photographing the journey we gave a ride to a couple, older than us, the lady had travelled over by boat many years before but the man had not and was keen to experience it. We were surprised when he said that they had been sailing enthusiasts having kept their yacht in France but the man said “ . . . I had to sell it many years ago when I reached 84 . . .” hells teeth! we should all be that active at 84, and how old did that make him now?

We stopped for the night on the public moorings adjacent to the Sun Trevor Pub but despite earlier enthusiasm couldn’t be bothered to the Sun Trevor for dinner.

The following morning Sue had to walk as the canal had three long very narrow sections that required her to walk ahead and ensure that no one was coming the other way as there was only one place wide enough to pass another boat.

When we arrived in Llangollen I decided (Sue was still walking) that the marina was a very long walk from town so I turned NB Fantasma around in the basin and returned to towpath moorings which although did cost, were very convenient for the town and as each mooring had a tap and free electricity the £6.00 per night cost was very reasonable.

Llangollen Towpath Moorings.

The full day on the mooring we spent wandering to the River Dee/Llangollen Canal Junction and had a look at the Horseshoe Falls

The Start of the Llangollen Canal. The building in the rear centre is the pump house that pumps water from the River Dee to feed parts of Cheshire.

The Horseshoe Falls was built to enable water to be easily taken from the River Dee a task it still fulfils though now by computer, not timber boards

When the river is high a “stopper” forms behind the drop making jumping the falls like this too dangerous to attempt.

On the way back we spotted the horse-drawn tourist narrowboat and decided to take the easy way to NB Fantasma.

You can see that the tow rope is not tight on the horse-drawn narrowboat, showing how easy this lightly loaded boat was to tow.

Having a break between trips

The Llangollen mooring are limited to 48 hours so despite a forecast of bad weather we got on our way thinking that directly after the bad weather arrived we would stop and hunker down for a couple of days till it had passed through.

The weather on the last day of September was indeed ‘orrible!! Not much rain but it blew a hoooooly all day long. We thought, despite our isolation, we were near a CR&T depot as we had lots of CR&T vans pass us in the morning and again in the other direction late afternoon. We discovered that a problem with the next lock, a mile up the towpath from the nearest road, had required a “fluster” (my collective noun for a group of CR&T workers) of CR&T bods, including a diver, to fix it. They were lucky the towpath was wide enough for vehicle access because they had needed a lot of heavy equipment to fix the problem.

Our last September mooring

We travelled 112 miles in September, transiting 62 locks and 8 swing bridges, all but one being hand-operated and needing around 50 turns of the winch handle to raise it and the same to lower it. This all took us approximately 84 engine hours which equates to 1.33 mph

The first day of July saw us going through the town of Berkhamsted, we were looking to do a restock of the food cupboards and get the laundry up to date. Berkhamsted is very much a canal town with the town centre very close to the canal, the town centre supermarket having its short-term mooring. As we went through the town we were very aware that as we approached the centre we had seen no vacant mooring 'till right in the centre a nice long-vacant mooring, just what we wanted less than a minute from two supermarkets, less than ten minutes walk from the launderette and fifteen minutes walk from a superb butcher. During the four days, we spent on the mooring we learned that Sue’s Uncle David was being kept in hospital. He had no care package at home and could not organise care at home because he was in hospital so we agreed to put the boat in a marina for a couple of weeks and go and stay at David’s home at which point he could be released to our care and then a care package could be arranged for him. We took the boat into Cowroast Marina on 8th July and during a phone call to brother Richard mentioned we were travelling to Basildon the next day, he asked how we were travelling and when we said by train he responded saying “Oh you are less than 50 miles from here, I’m not doing anything tomorrow so will pick you up and take you. What time do you want to get there” Well, with an offer like that how can you refuse? He asked when we needed to be back and when we told him he said it was our lucky day as his diary was also empty for that day.

Cowroast Marina is a very friendly marina with good facilities but has a large drawback for a helmsman with my skill level. It is so small, all the pontoons are very close together and the pontoon we were assigned was, we were told by a resident, rarely used because it is so tight.

We got in eventually with just the loss of a little paint off NB Fantasma and several other boats.

When Richard took us back to Fantasma on 18th July, David was home from hospital, his youngest daughter had travelled from her home in Australia to stay with him for a couple of months and his other daughter and his son were also regularly calling to help their younger sibling and a care package had been put in place.

Richard was staying overnight after driving us back so I asked him if he would object to us leaving the marina immediately and mooring outside so that he would be there to help us get out.

It took Sue, Richard, me and two residents to manhandle the boat out of a space that was simply too small for it. We were chatting to another boater some days later who had also booked into Cowroast Marina and had been allocated the same berth. They were eight feet (2.438 m) longer than us so they must have had fun getting in.

Wednesday 20th
It’s not often you meet a real gentleman on the cut but today was the day. We were approaching a lock and saw there was a boat in it and the gate was being closed. We tooted our hooter but the boater carried on closing the gate then walked to the other end of the lock and opened a paddle then walked over the top gates and started opening the other gate paddle, as he did so he looked up and saw us. He closed both paddles, reset the lock and opened the gate for us to enter. We negotiated several locks with the gentleman, whose name we learned later was Simon and travelled with him for several days. Of stark contrast was a couple of blokes at a later lock which when we arrived was virtually full so to save water, a rare resource at the moment (more of that later) when a boat arrived at the lock wanting to go down Sue continued filling the small amount of water lost by leakage, had the lock been empty (or nearly empty we would have allowed them to enter and then filled the lock. They weren’t happy with that and watched Sue complete preparation’s without giving or offering help. Simon and I entered the lock and Sue emptied it. As Sue opened the gate for me to leave they called to her and asked, nay, told her to close the gate for them after I had left. Not only did Sue tell them exactly what she thought of them but Simon decided (as a single-hander) he would pull his boat out of the lock on a rope. We had seen him do this several times while we were with him but had never seen him take the extraordinarily long time to do it as it did on that occasion - young people (i.e. anyone under the age of 65), best not to take the p**s out of us old folks it can be frustrating and cost you an awful lot of your time.

22 July

Slow TV - Five minutes in a typical day

Strange day today. The weather forecast was for light(ish) winds and after 11.00 am showers then after 12.00-noon heavy rain till early evening so we moved just 3/4 of a mile to moor a scant mile from a large Tesco which was next door to a large Aldi. After we had moored, set up the cockpit cover and settled down for a couple of days we discovered that the towpath between our mooring and the shops was closed so that Canal & River Trust can spend lots of money relaying a perfectly good towpath in order that cyclists can travel them even faster than they currently do.

As it was not yet raining we again got ready to cruise and set off to Tesco, wonder of wonders, when we arrived at the shop moorings there were two vacant so we spent an hour getting fully restocked and, as it was still not raining, set off again, this time we managed to get somewhat further, however by the time we moored that evening we had travelled three and a half miles in two and a half hours travelling time.

24th July, was a very sad day indeed.

Uncle David died. We have lost not just a relative but a very good friend.

In Portugal, one of the many visits David and Brenda made while we were travelling Europe.

David in Cómpeta, Spain 2017.

With Brenda. That week we had sun, rain and blizzards, but we were high in the mountains and it was February.

We will always remember them and the great times we had with them. 

27th July

We have arrived at the village of Weldon Bec in Northamptonshire, it’s called a village but in reality, it is a small town as it boasts a large Tesco Express and lots of other shops, OK most are antique shops, several pubs, a motor home sales company and two Chinese takeaways. We tried one of the takeaways last time we were here and were looking forward to another meal purchased there. When we arrived it was closed, knowing they normally opened in the evenings only, we looked at the door signage to see what time they open only to find they were closed every Wednesday. We were so looking forward to a Chinese takeaway that we went to the other in the town. We had decided not to use this one previously as it seemed part of a fish and chip business and we thought a restaurant dedicated to one cuisine would be the best. We were wrong on this occasion the meal we had from the Chinese Chippy was every bit as good as that we had had from the other.

28th July

On this our last day travelling for this month, we travelled just 4.5 miles ascended 6 locks and moored below Buckby Top Lock. We spent the last 3 days of July catching up with domestic chores.

Our miles travelled in July was 61 miles in 45 hours transiting 57 locks at an average speed of 1.35 mph making our totals for the year 483 miles in 379 hours transiting 347 locks and 8 swing bridges, giving an average speed for the year of 1.27 mph.

5th May - The first moving day of this month. We have spent the previous 14 days getting prepared for Sue to go off to Spain for her St James Way walk and my passage (with help from pal Mark) through London and up to Bishop’s Stortford. The location was chosen because there was a pub and a twenty-minute frequency bus service into Berkhamsted town centre. As reported in last month's blog, we didn't know that the pub was closed, had been for some years, and the bus service was appalling.

When Mark arrived we were just moving a couple of miles into Berkhamsted town. Sue took the car, parked it in the town centre car park, did some last-minute shopping, and then walked back up the canal to meet Mark and me (her last bit of walking training).

We were lucky enough to get a mooring very close to the car and the following morning, 6th May Sue took Mark's car and drove to meet her walk companions (FOR DETAILS OF THEIR SPANISH WALKING HOLIDAY CLICK HERE) while Mark and I set off for the smoke.

The first four days went very well. We were moving quite swiftly south and moored in some very pleasant spots although it was clear that despite the distance we still were from London mooring was becoming more of an issue every night. We had also discovered that there was a bookable Canal and River Trust mooring in Islington and booked it for the two nights of the 12th and 13th.

Unfortunately, the weather for the next two days was forecast as absolutely awful with high winds and almost continuous rain. It did not turn out quite that bad but we were moored directly outside a pub so we decided to enjoy the beer and pub grub for two days then get up at silly o’clock on the 12th and make Islington in one hit.

Canalplan AC lists the passage as being 22.29 miles long and transiting 5 locks, this it suggests would take around 10 hours and 10 minutes. The actual time was 9 hours and 30 minutes, we were surprised at how many long stretches of Grand Union Canal were completely empty of boats so we were able to crank on through those sections and when we got to Camden Locks there were a group of voluntary lock keepers who were extremely helpful in getting us speedily through the three lock flight. It probably helped that one of them keeps his boat at Calcutt marina just one pontoon from where we had moored ours while there and we knew him.

Our reserved berth was vacant when we arrived after the 9.5-hour passage and we were soon moored. Exploring the immediate area we discovered that the beer in local pubs was unbelievably expensive, even the Pizza boat, which sold pizzas at a not unreasonable price, was charging £6.50 for what looked like less than a pint, we were told it was even dearer in the local pubs and having been given that intelligence decided we would go without.

Our two days at Islington were soon over and we were once again on our way. First, we continued along the Regents Canal, then along the entire one-mile length of the Hertford Union Canal, apparently the shortest on the entire system, also known as Ducketts Cut. The locks along this section of the canal were not easy with stiff paddle mechanisms not made any easier sharing them with a boat where the owner's girlfriend refused to have anything to do with moving the boat, she would not steer nor would she help operate the locks, she just sat sullenly cuddling the dog and refusing to make eye contact with anyone. We left them as we turned onto the Lee Navigation.

Turning onto the Lee Navigation was something of a shock, the river was wide and both banks were lined with pubs and other places of entertainment which on such a beautiful, warm sunny day was thronged with people enjoying themselves. The Lee Navigation runs pretty well north/south and approaching the first lock saw that the gates were open and another boat was inside waiting for us, this was fortunate as we were able to transit the remaining locks of the day with the other boat, which was being taken to a selling spot by a broker.

We moored that night on a section with no other boats. The reason was at this point the river sides were very shallow. We managed to get within 0.5m of the bank and spent the night aground.

The following morning was a bit of a faff getting off the putty (mud) and into deep water but we managed and were on our way.

Late that afternoon we had a conversation with another boater while transiting a lock who said we would be pushing our luck to get to Hertford and onto Bishop’s Stortford in the time available, after a long “con-flab” we decided to try. That evening we moored at Stansted Abbots Visitor Moorings. It was outside The Jolly Fisherman so we ate dinner there that evening, Mark had the last of the Sunday roasts while I had a very acceptable fish and chips.

The following day we pushed on to the end of the navigation at Hertford and spun Fantasma around to retrace our steps to the confluence of the Stort and Lee Navigations. As we returned we spotted a vacant mooring outside The Old Barge pub and stopped for lunch - very tasty

That evening we moored just beyond Roydon Village Marina, we had been looking for the visitor moorings but concluded (rightly) that they would be full so pulled up a short way before and moored with pins to a very slopey and soft bank, which gave the mooring a slightly insecure feeling, despite which we had a good nights sleep and set off bright and early towards the navigation end at Bishop’s Stortford.

All went well till we arrived at Harlow Lock, there were a couple of C&RT guys there trying to free one of the gates that had something jammed under it. They had been struggling for several hours before we arrived and asked if we would give the gate a shove with Fantasma’s 17 tons. It worked a treat the gate lifted over the obstruction and was free to operate but they still could not find the obstruction, waterlogged log, rock or whatever and until they did and then removed it the same thing would happen again. We made them a cup of tea and they let us through the lock and continued with their game of “hunt the obstruction”.

It turned out at the next lock to be our lucky day, there were two “vollie lockies” on duty who ranged between six locks. They operated five of those six locks for us - magic!! They would have done all six but we had decided to moor before the sixth and cruise the last lock and mile or so into Bishop’s Stortford the following day.

18th May, Sue returns from Spain today, we get up bright and early and cruise the final lock and mile of the Stort Navigation, fill with water at the services point go to the end of the navigation turn Fantasma around and settle ourselves on a visitor mooring our 277-mile journey complete.

The 277mils took in 198 locks and 6 tunnels with a combined length of 3.3/4 miles underground, 188 engine hours, travelling an average of 5.37 hours on 35 days, an average of 1.47 miles per hour. All we have to do now is reverse most of it to get back t’north but before we set off we planned to spend two weeks here and do some visiting.

While Mark was still with us we visited a couple of the local tourist hotspots first Saffron Walden with its medieval houses many with superb pargeting the castle built between1125 and 1141 and Audley End House. After he left for home we visited our favourite caravan site at Little Henham to see the Muskett family who have been so good to us over the years. We hired a van for a couple of days and visited sister Pam, sadly it was a flying visit but still lovely to see her and we managed to collect our meds of which we were starting to get very short.

Friends of many years, Margret and Jesse, came to visit. It was super to see them and we hope we will be able to meet up at a later date and take them for a cruise.

There were several other pals who rang to arrange visits but we were unable to fit them in. The last visitors were nephew James and his wife Hannah who were staying with us a couple of days, but that's a story for the June blog.

This shows the places we moored in March. For more details click HERE

We went back in the water on 17th February and for several days Alan the sign-writer worked hard first completing the port-side logo and name then, after we turned the boat around to get access, completed the starboard side.

We were now ready to get going, all we need is a bit of decent weather.

A bit of decent weather!!☔️💨☔️💨☔️💨☔️💨

3rd March. Well, we had paid for our marina berth until today the weather was still pretty naff and over breakfast, we were discussing that grotty forecast, and considering extending our stay by at least further two weeks. After breakfast, the weather looked cloudy but reasonable, at least that's what we told ourselves and, although it was forecast to rain later in the day the decision was made to go.

Before we could change our minds we fired up the engine and left.

The rain started just twenty minutes later, that fine drizzly rain that soaks everything quickly and completely. Happily, I had put my thick warm winter jacket on before we left. Sadly, it was hardly showerproof and certainly not waterproof.

At the first lock, the rain was “persisting” down and the by-wash (which takes excess water around the lock) was a torrent after the recent rain. Once Sue had prepared the lock I motored at full throttle through the by-wash and had just entered the lock and had reduced the engine revs to a tick-over when the engine cut out. Stopping a 17-ton narrowboat without an engine is not easy, still, the gates at the other end of the lock did the job and while Sue slowly filled the lock I climbed down into the engine bay and opened up the weed hatch.

The weed hatch gives access to the propellor to remove anything picked up in the canal. It is cold and very rarely can the propellor be seen through the dark grubby water. Feeling around I found rope around the prop, my heart sank, I have read many horror stories about people spending hours cutting the rope, and sometimes their fingers, from the shaft. My relief when I found the rope was easily unwound was nearly as great as my annoyance when I realised the rope was one of our centre lines that had fallen unnoticed into the water as we bounced through the by-wash and had rushed back to make the acquaintance of the prop and prop shaft. Getting a rope caught like that can be disastrous, at best it holds you up at worst it can damage the gearbox and/or bend the prop shaft. If the engine mounts are getting to the end of their useful life it’s possible (although unlikely) that the engine could be torn from the mounts.

Still, no harm was done and by the time the lock was full I had everything sorted and the engine restarted.

We reached our hoped-for destination, Nantwich, and moored just before the Nantwich viaduct planning to stay here until the Adderley lock flight reopened on the 11th of March.

Nantwich Aqueduct from road level

Public moorings have stay durations ranging from 1 day to 14 days during the boating season but most become 14-day moorings during the winter months, notice the word most. Looking closely at the “48-hour stay” notice boards, we noticed in small lettering on each sign, the words “all year”. Having arrived at 16.30 on Thursday we would have to leave by 16.30 on Saturday - Oh bugger! We wanted to stay somewhere with access to shops and other facilities till the 11th March, a full eight days away. Oh well nothing to it but to visit the shops on Friday and the market on Saturday morning, then move on.

The Friday shopping took us to a superb cheese shop where we bought a huge amount of cheese, including a good-sized chunk of Manchego cheese produced in the La Mancha region of Spain. Made from pasteurised sheep's milk it is probably the most popular cheese from Spain and comes under the PDO (DOP) guidelines. We purchased Membrillo, a delicate quince jelly that makes an excellent accompaniment to Manchego cheese. 

The Saturday market was overall disappointing but there was a sock stall where we bought lots of welly boot socks for me and walking boot socks for Sue.

Three hours cruising Saturday afternoon brought us, not without incident, to Audlem, a village just on the Cheshire side of the Cheshire/Shropshire border. It boasts a very well stocked and reasonably priced Co-Op convenience store, butcher, post office and a few other what the yanks call “Mom and Pop” stores, a couple of pubs and a restaurant that opens Thursday to Sunday only. It also has 14-day moorings just a half-mile from the village centre with fabulous views over the River Weaver. We moored right on the Moss Hall Aqueduct where the Shropshire Union Canal crosses over the River Weaver.

The aforementioned “incident” involved the first narrow lock we have negotiated in months, a narrow lock is just a few inches wider than the 6’ - 10” width of a narrowboat. Going into the lock I noticed that there was lots of rubbish around and was concerned that something may get wrapped around the prop. It seemed like a self-fulfilling prophecy when I came to exit the lock however much I rev’d the engine there was very little drive, I managed to get the boat to the lock landing and opened up the weed hatch. When you transite narrow locks you must remove all fenders and as we had spent months in wide locks with all our fenders in place as we entered, one fat rope fender got jammed between the boat and the lock wall pulled off and - you guessed it wrapped itself its lanyard and stainless steel bracket firmly around the prop shaft. Another rummage in the weed hatch and I was able to remove the offending article. Fortunately, the prop and shaft fared much better than the fender.

We have now been here in Audlem for eight days and have been told that the Adderley top lock has been opened a day early. We could have gone on our way today (Friday 11th March) but the forecast for the weekend was pretty grotty with winds gusting to force 9 that's 54 mph and that’s around 30mph too high for me.

While at Audlem there was a cake sale by the kitchen wares shop that was hoping to raise £100 "relief aid" for Ukraine. They raised just over £1000 - a great effort for a village. The following Saturday the local charity shop was having a “Support Ukraine” event. We don’t know how much they raised (we spent quite a bit) but the place was packed all day long and people were spending not standing looking.

Monday the 14th March, eleven days after leaving the marina, only our third day of travel. We cruised for 6hours and 45 minutes but travelled just 5.5 miles that's just 1.23 mph. That 5.5 miles included 20 locks with at least 15 set against us so, in reality, that 1.23 mph was pretty speedy. We moored about a mile before Market Drayton

The first of the days’ 20 locks - Audlem Lock No 15

Audlem Top Lock No 1, only the five Adderley Locks to go.

We discovered last night that a stoppage, that should have been cleared by 21st March causing us perhaps a day or so delay, has been extended to 28th March. We could have diverted and gone through the centre of Birmingham picking up our original route at Braunston Turn but that would have increased the number of locks we have to negotiate from 22 all narrow locks to 56 narrow and 50 broad locks an 84 lock increase between here and Braunston Turn. This would extend the journey time to a degree that we might just as well wait for the stoppage to clear.

We moved onto the Market Drayton Visitor moorings and will stay here for a week or so and explore this bustling market town.

Market Drayton mooring was on an aqueduct over this quiet country road

As stated earlier most short-stay moorings become 14 days moorings from the 1st November until 31st March unless signed otherwise, those at Market Drayton are usually 48 hours maximum stay and will be so again from the 1st April but by that time we should, hopefully, be long gone.

The town has much to recommend it and the shopkeepers and other locals are so friendly, for example, we went into a picture framing shop to ask the lead time in getting a photo reframed, “three weeks” came the reply, I explained we were on a boat and that we had to be gone in a few days “Oh! I that case bring it in tomorrow (Friday)  and I’ll get it done for Saturday morning” came the reply.

Saturday 19th, Sue's gone to a hairdresser this morning. First time in three years. Covid has a lot to answer for 😁.

One thing that Market Drayton lacks is an independent butcher, fortunately there turned out to be just such a trader in the market hall. We bought a huge chunk of pork belly at a very good price for our Sunday dinner - it was delicious.

We called into the picture framers on the walk back to the boat and true to their word they had completed the repairs to the photo frame and mount and had done a fabulous job.

The stove has been working so much better since we removed the baffle plate (see blog Continuous Cruising - Week 16 - 18th - 24th October 2021), enabling us to burn logs that give a lovely warm glow but create more tar/creosote that runs down the boat sides in ugly brown streaks. I had a rush of blood to the head Sunday afternoon and started to clean it off using a “road traffic film remover” that acted as a mild T Cut. What started as a quick stopgap job on a small section of the starboard side turned into a many hour marathon cleaning and polishing the entire side. What we need now is a towpath on the port side and a couple of days of good weather to repeat the process on that side.

After a week in Market Drayton we finally moved today, the plan was to move as close as possible to Gnosall (pronounced nose-all), a 13-mile cruise with five locks and we needed to fill the water tank all of which take time so we agreed we would stop by 4.00 pm. The locks went pretty well considering there is no lock landing between locks 4 and 5, we had to ascend lock 5 and open the top gates, Sue then went to lock 4 and opened the bottom gates. I then took the boat from 5 to 4 without stopping or even hovering as a super fierce by-wash runs around lock 4 and has been known to trap boats on the offside of the canal. Luckily I managed to get from 5 to 4 with just the loss of a little paint as the by-wash tried to force me over. The rest of the flight of locks went without a hitch and on the landing of the top lock was a water point, the water pressure was unusually high and the tank took just 15 minutes to fill.

Although a little windy at times it was a beautiful day with blue skies and, out of the wind, warm and at 3.45 pm we were two miles from Gnosall, we timed the next mile - 20 minutes. With just one mile to go, we carried on and moored by The Navigation Inn.

Wednesday was another glorious spring day and with a laundrette just a couple of hundred yards/metres away. 

Laundry (almost) up to date we dropped the mooring at 12.15 pm. What a delight to cruise an almost deserted canal on such a beautiful afternoon. The birds sang and as we neared our destination for the day we saw a kingfisher patrolling his section of the canal bank. We have seen flashes of plumage on previous occasions but never such a prolonged view. Quite magnificent.

I did take this photo of a Kingfisher not in March 2022 in the UK but in the Donnana National Park in Spain in January 2012.

As we passed through the village of Wheaton Ashton we stopped to get diesel, last time we bought it we paid 99p per litre for the domestic part and £1.3? for the propulsion part. This time we paid £1.38 for the domestic part and £1.8? for the propulsion part but as we spent just £407 on diesel during the whole of 2021 a 40% or 50% increase will certainly be felt and savings will need to be made, particularly as it will affect every other aspect of our lives, but for those already struggling to make ends meet I can only begin to imagine how catastrophic it may be.

We moored for the night on the Brewood (pronounced brood) 48-hour visitor moorings, there is a pub just a short way from us that seems popular but we were unable to discover if they did food so ate on board. It was probably just as well as around dinner time a dog started yapping in the beer garden this continued for quite a while until, presumably, a complaint was made and all was peaceful and remained so for the rest of the night.

We had boiled eggs and toast soldiers for breakfast. A house alongside the canal yesterday was selling those blue eggs quite cheaply. They were delicious.

Not too far to go today, to the end of the Shropshire Union Canal then turn left at Autherley Junction onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal. Sue decided she needed to continue training for her St James Walk holiday and walked the towpath the first five miles till Autherley Junction. Once on the “Staffs and Worcs Canal” we continued for just 2.5 miles then moored almost outside The Anchor Inn. We had heard good things about the food here and are keen to try it. The first problem was booking a table as recommended by their website, we tried but were informed by the website that “there is no availability”. I thought that was nonsense so walked the 30 yards to the actual pub and asked. Lots of tables available, we booked for 6.30 pm.

 The food was excellent and the service good but was the meal and that service worth £80.00 for two courses and a couple of drinks each?

Sue decided to continue her walk training today (Friday 25th) walking our entire route except for around a half-mile when she came aboard to have a cup of tea. When we moored at the Cross Keys in Penkridge she walked a further two miles to visit the lock that has been closed to traffic for the last couple of months for repairs to enquire of the workmen exactly when it would reopen. We were informed that it was put back in operation earlier that afternoon to our great joy. That's three days early and no further stoppage is planned.

Sue had managed around 11 miles with ease.

Hurrahhhhhhhhhhhh - We can continue our journey tomorrow.

Today (Saturday 26th) we plan to travel 10 miles and 7 locks to moor close to Haywood Junction. We wanted to get there before 5.00 pm to go to the Canalside Farm Shop. Eye wateringly expensive but very good quality.

We made it by 3.00 pm and bought the most expensive chicken on the planet. Let's hope it tastes good.

Today (Sunday) we left the “Staffs and Worcs Canal” and joined the Trent and Mersey Canal at Great Haywood Junction then cruised to Rugeley where we stopped on a mooring that was a one minute walk from Tesco, a two-minute walk from Morrison and a three-minute walk from Aldi. We went to Tesco and Morrison but thought Aldi was too far 😁 😁 😁 😁.

We went past the Armitage Shanks factory a mile or two from Rugeley today, they must have been making a lot of mistakes as there was a regular sound of porcelain being smashed.

Sue walked for much of the day as she is worried that her companions on the St James walk will be much fitter than she even though she covered around seven miles, and operated three locks and a swing bridge without noticing it. It was a fabulous day with the sun shining from a clear blue sky, more like July than March.

Travelling for nine days on the trot is not something we have done before (well, not on our own), we were trying to get into a position where we could leave the boat for a few days and hire a car or get a train to Essex to attend Uncle Davids 80th birthday party.

The 30th March was a killer as we ascended the Atherstone flight of eleven locks. It was not so bad for me as I had a firm hold on the “Steery Stick” (tiller), while Sue was stuck with the “Hard Work Handle” (winch handle). In front of us were two single handers so to speed things up Sue was effectively operating the locks three times for each one we ascended. It got a little better when the first of the single-handers had a gearbox failure and was forced to moor and await rescue. Things got even better when we reached lock three as there were volunte nd   lock keepers on duty who helped us through the top three locks. We had hoped to moor close to town to have a couple of days rest get the laundry done and perhaps have a meal out but all moorings were full so we continued till well into the countryside where we stopped for two days in splendid isolation and accepted that our rush south to attend the party had failed.