Narrowboat Adventures before Dementia
NB Fantasma

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.

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

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.

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.

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.