Sent to Coventry

Wednesday 9^th September 2020

Today we were going to be going onto new waters again, as we planned to turn down the Coventry Canal from Fradley Junction, heading for Birmingham. Looking ahead, Friday was going to be a big day, 27 locks up into Birmingham. To put ourselves in position for that, on Thursday we would have to go up the eleven locks at Curdworth. So our plan was to take it fairly easy today – there were four locks to climb to Fradley, but after that we would be in a long single pound on the Coventry, and we planned to finish early.

We started at about 10:30, and the four locks were no problem. I had to wait as a boat came out of the third one, and I recognised the steersman – he is a solo boater who has a YouTube channel called Cruising the Cut. He was a TV journalist who gave up work to live on the boat, and he is a good vlogger, comfortable in front of the camera, and with a journalist's sense for how to put information across. I follow a number of vloggers, but he was the first I found, and I have got a good few useful tips from the channel. When I got through the lock and told Loulie about him she said that he had been filming, and had explained to her who he was. Sure enough she appeared on an episode on his channel, helping him through the lock, and I even got a mention for having the foresight to leave the previous lock gate open to let him in.

We ascended the final lock, and turned left onto the Coventry Canal. There is a small swing footbridge just beyond the junction, but this had been opened by a boat going in just ahead of us, and as there was a boat waiting to come through the other way we did not have to close it behind us.

The is a water point just past the bridge which I had been hoping to use, but there was already a boat there and another waiting, so we pressed on. The map had shown a marina with water point and diesel here, but I had made an error, and it was in fact on the T&M beyond the junction. So we carried on, but I was keen to get water, and a pumpout and diesel too if possible, before we went into Birmingham.

Bridge on the Coventry

Earlier in this trip we had explored new waters on the Trent and Mersey, but today we were on an entirely new canal. This is an “old” canal, built in the 18^th century, snaking through the countryside, by contrast to the canals built by Telford 50 years later, like the Shroppie – he used embankments and cuttings to make the route as straight and quick as possible. In this the Coventry is like the Trent & Mersey, but each canal has its own little peculiarities. We noticed that the bridges all had little windows in the brickwork, about three feet tall, covered with a wooden panel and a padlocked grating. We were unsure what these might be, but later we discovered that they are where they stored the stop planks which could be used to seal the canal in an emergency, if there was a breach, or if they wanted to drain a section for maintenance. On the canals around us these are kept out in the open, or under a little roof. Another oddity on this canal was a swan and cygnet which pursued us for quite a distance, paddling and splashing almost frantically to keep up with us. Maybe they had been fed something very nice from a boat looking like ours, we couldn’t see any other reason why they chose to pursue us particularly.

A mile or so from Fradley the map showed two possible places to get the services we needed. The first, at Streethay, was on a wharf on the main line, and when we got there we found a boat taking on diesel, oddly moored so that he stuck out and partly obstructed the channel. There were also a couple more boats which seemed to be waiting, so we pressed on. The map showed a marina only a short way further on, so we turned in to the entrance there – this is a much more modern place, built off the main line with an entrance under a bridge on the towpath. We sailed through to the wharf at the rear where the services were, and I made a very satisfying landing, turning the boat broadside on and letting the wind push me gently into place.

 We had made a good decision to come here and not queue at Streethay – we were able to get all we wanted in one spot – pumpout, diesel and water, and even dumped our bin bags in their skip. I was alittle concerned that the wind might give me problems getting off the lee shore, but a bit of work with the bow thrusters gave me the angle I needed and we sailed away in an elegant curve, and back out onto the canal.

Very soon we came to Huddlesford Junction. This is where the Lichfield canal took off to the west, to Lichfield and beyond, meeting up with the northern part of the Birmingham Canal Network. There are plans to restore this, and indeed there is an aqueduct in place to take it over the M6 toll, if it ever gets that far. However at present the canal only goes a few hundred yards west from the junction, and this section has been commandeered by a boat club for their moorings – you can’t enter the stub of the canal unless you are a member.

The canal went around the outskirts of the village of Whittington, a nice looking place with a lot of attractive canalside gardens. We then headed out into more open country, and started looking for moorings. Just after three we found a nice snug spot on a curve, just before a stretch which had fairly unattractive banks of solid stone. We moored up and I went for a run along the towpath, while Loulie took the dogs for a walk. She found a splendid wood across a bridge, part of an MoD firing range which is closed off when it is in use. As I was running back Loulie stopped me to help her rescue Minnie, who had gone down a slope and jumped into the river Tame, and could not get out. Happily I was able to pull her out without falling in myself, this time.

Dog walking near Hopwas

TODAY: 4:45 HOURS. 7.9 MILES. 4 LOCKS.

Voyage: 43:55 HOURS. 79.2 MILES. 49 LOCKS.

Floating on fuel

Wednesday 24th July

I didn't check the engine yesterday morning, because we wanted to make a flying start (best laid plans). So I made a point of opening up the hatch to have a look today. As I did so the first thing I saw was a steady drip-drip-drip, faster than one a second, from a cylindrical item over to one side. I quickly realised that this must be a fuel filter, and what was coming out was diesel. I tried twisting the cylinder, thinking maybe it had unscrewed slightly, but to no effect. Happily, just a short distance up the fuel line was an obvious cutoff switch, which I threw, and the dripping soon stopped.

The leaky filter and the cutoff switch in the distance. Note the pool of diesel.

This, however, was only the start of the problems. As I looked around I could see that several of the compartments around the engine room were full of leaked diesel - including all the battery compartments, where our (highly expensive) batteries were entirely submerged in the stuff. Rather to my surprise our electrics were still working, and the battery control panel was all normal, but I switched off all the isolators and we called NNC. Having explained the problem, and sent them some pictures of the batteries under the surface, they decided we needed immediate assistance. It's a fair way from Nantwich to north Manchester, but I sent him the postcode of a pub by the canal, and he arrived without problems at about half twelve.

I had already identified the root cause - a bleed screw on top of the filter. When I turned on the fuel line you could see it seeping out around this screw, and the rubber washer was visibly perished. The engineer fixed this fairly easily - he had copper washers and some "fuel paste" and most importantly the experience to know how hard he could tighten the screw without stripping the aluminium filter housing.

The big challenge was getting all the diesel out of the compartments, especially the ones containing the batteries. Rather to my surprise the engineer was quite happy to pour it back into the fuel tank, through a funnel with a gauze filter. He had a pressure pump which you could pump up manually and then extract about six litres into the pump body - after which you could pour it out. This was hard and tedious work, given that we would eventually get out well over 100 litres. We filled the tank and there was still plenty more to come, which means the leak must have been going for some time, though obviously not as fast. So we weren't robbed at all, it was just sloshing around beneath the batteries.

It took about three hours, and in the end we filled my two 10l cans, and another three jerrycans which the engineer took away. We reconnected the batteries, which have shown no ill effects, and there is still a fair amount of diesel at the bottom of the compartments - maybe a centimetre - which I will have to soak or wash out.

We finally got under way at about 16:15 and you would think we had earned an easy trip, but you would be wrong. We had ten locks to climb, and they were all very rough - padlocks on all of them, gates which wouldn't stay shut, paddles which wouldn't work, and a pound which was so low that Loulie grounded until I flushed through a lot of water to float her off.  We are not enamoured of the Ashton Canal at all.

Mooring at Audenshaw

Eventually we reached the top of the locks at Fairfield Junction. We didn't want to go too far because we need to get a pumpout at Dukinfield Junction tomorrow, it being much too late by now. So we found a mooring in quite a suburban spot, with many dog walkers to come past and disturb our pack - but we were far too tired to care by then.

TODAY: 3.15 HOURS. 2.2 MILES. 10 LOCKS. 1 Swing Bridge.

VOYAGE: 20.10 HOURS. 29.0 MILES. 27 LOCKS. 1 Bridge

Off again

So we are off on another adventure, and if things go to plan this will be our longest journey in Eileen, two full weeks. We're going to do the Cheshire Ring, clockwise, and probably a couple of side trips too - the Peak Forest to Whalley Bridge is one we're definitely looking at.

Today though was very familiar waters, as we ready ourselves for the run through Manchester tomorrow. We didn't want to wind up having to spend the night in the centre, so we have positioned ourselves close to the urban area as a jump-off point. We didn't set off from Keckwick bridge until about half two, because we were only planning on about four hours cruising, up to our favourite spot at the Bollin Aqueduct. This took us through Stockton Heath, where we stopped at Thorne Marine and filled up with diesel - she took 180 litres, which is far more than we have ever got into her before.

We have an extra passenger on this trip, at least for the first week. Blossom the Labrador is with us, while her owner Shirley is at Pony Club Camp, where they can't take their dogs. Fortunately our pack already know Blossom, and she is Minnie's best friend - they are very alike. Blossom seems to have settled down pretty well to shipboard life - she was sleeping on the stern with the rest of them before we had gone too far.

After that we carried on through Grappenhall and Thelwall to Lymm, which was looking very picturesque in the sunshine. It is strange - when I approached it by road I never found Lymm very appealing, but arriving by canal seems to put an entirely different face on the village.

It was a beautiful evening, we opened the sun roof, which isn't very often possible. We carried on until just after seven, when we reached our target at the Bollin Aqueduct. To our delight there was nobody else on the stretch, apart from one boat at the far end, half a mile away. There were a fair number of walkers coming past though - one couple who have three dogs and a boat themselves photographed our stern because it is such a good design to keep the dogs aboard. Another couple had a Labrador with them, and we let ours off to play with it for quite a long time. We're off to bed now - we expect an early start, as the sun wakes the dogs, but in any case we want to set off early and get as far as we can through the city.

TODAY: 4.5 HOURS. 11.5 MILES. 0 LOCKS.

VOYAGE: 5.5 HOURS. 13.3 MILES. 0 LOCKS

(Not) running on empty

We are setting off to do the Cheshire Ring tomorrow, and as we will be starting off northwards, towards Manchester, it made sense to bring Eileen up to Keckwick Lane bridge, close to the house, so we could load up more easily in the morning, and at the same time have a half hour head start. So I set off with the dogs to walk to the marina, a bit more than two miles, thus exercising them and at the same time going to collect Eileen.

We got aboard and prepared to set off. I was a little surprised when I started her, that the fuel gauge seemed to be on zero, as I was sure we had plenty of diesel. However as I pulled away from the pier the engine stuttered and died - clearly the gauge had been spot on. I was just too far gone to get back on the pier, so we drifted across the marina and up against a pier with liveaboard boats. By very good luck we happened to end up at a spot where there was a gap just big enough to take Eileen, so by a little manoeuvring with the pole I got her tied up, explaining to someone on the next boat why they suddenly had an unexpected neighbour.

There was nothing for it but to get some fuel, but first I had to get the dogs home - on foot. They were very confused when I got them off the boat, because the way to land was now forward, whereas we had approached from the stern when we arrived. It took a lot of tugging to get them going in the right direction, very tricky on a narrow wooden jetty with four confused and eager dogs.

After walking them home I drove to Thorne Marine in Stockton Heath, and bought two 10l containers, which were then filled with diesel. I also had a long discussion with the man about how to bleed the air out of a diesel system which has run dry, and get the fuel running again - involving undoing each link in the fuel feed and getting the liquid running through.

Back to the marina, and I decanted the fuel into the tank. While doing that I inspected the locking filler cap, because it was clear to me now that we have had the diesel stolen - the logbook shows that the last time we ran her we finished with half a tank. Sure enough the locking cap isn't locking - even with the key in the on position the cap still unscrews. I don't know whether it has simply deteriorated, or if the thief broke it, but either way we will need a new one.

Once the fuel was in I thought I would give the engine a spin to see if it might start, and to my surprise it caught instantly - as Loulie said when I rang to tell her - "What a great boat!" I squeezed back out of the hole I was in, with some difficulty, and then cruised down the canal to Keckwick, as planned but rather later. I moored up, and we have already put some supplies (mostly liquid) on board ready for the start of the trip tomorrow.

Eileen moored opposite Daresbury Labs

Bringing Eileen Home

Eileen Dover has been at the Narrowboat Navigation Company in Nantwich since we dropped her off in January, having various bits of work done, and this week we finally got to go and pick her up. With the improved weather over the past few weeks we have been really missing the chance to get out on the water, so this was none too soon. It also struck us that this is exactly the same journey (same end points anyway) as the Home Run last summer, but with the Middlewich branch open now it was just two easy days cruising, rather than eight days hard labour.

We had been across a few times as the work progressed, but this was the first time we had seen her with everything done, and we are very pleased. The most obvious change is to the internal lights - we have had them all replaced with LED bulbs, which are much brighter and whiter, and which also use about a tenth of the current. In the saloon we have also had a lot more installed, six down each side of the glass roof, and we also had new lights installed under the galley cabinets, to illuminate the work surfaces. Those have made a major difference to the light at that end of the boat. We've had a new TV installed, slightly smaller than the old one but this one works through the internet rather than requiring an aerial on the roof, so that has gone.

The saloon with the new TV and lights

Although those are the most visible changes, the most important one is a full set of new leisure batteries, a bank of four, not only new but a much improved and modern type. These take and hold a much better charge, and the difference is immediately apparent. We no longer have to run the engine for hours after mooring, we just switch off when we stop. There is no weakening at all in the lights as the evening goes by - in the old days we'd sometimes have to turn the engine on because of the deepening gloom. The other major effect is the heating - this now comes on immediately when switched on - it needs a good battery charge to do this, and again last year we'd have to start the engine and rev it up in the morning in order to get the heat to come on.

There were lots of other things done too - the engine has been serviced, they have put sound insulation in the engine compartment, and they have fixed the problem with the bow thruster. I also have a little cup holder behind the stern rail to hold my teacup rather than having to leave it standing on the top of the rail.

We packed all our luggage and the dogs into my car and drove over to Nantwich on Tuesday afternoon - we were leaving my car there to be collected on Friday. After loading up we spent an hour filling up the water, and then set off. We didn't go too far, up the canal to Barbridge and then along the Middlewich branch for a bit, through one lock at Cholmondeston, and then we moored for the night, well out in the countryside.

A frosty morning near Cholmondeston

The dogs got me up at 6:30, but it was a beautiful if frosty morning, and I went back to bed for a couple of hours. We weren't in a pressing hurry, and we set off about half ten. Quite soon Loulie got off with the dogs to do her half hour run - she had to double back to avoid getting too far ahead, as she is doing at least twice the speed of the boat. We went through the remaining three locks on the branch and dropped into the Trent and Mersey at Kings Lock, where we filled up with diesel. Our local hire boat company, Claymoore, has closed down, so we need to be a bit more strategic about keeping fuelled up.

Helmswoman and assistant on the poop

We paused in Middlewich so I could do some work and have a Skype call with my boss, then we dropped down through the four locks and out of the town. We only went a couple of miles further - we were hoping to moor at Bramble Cuttings, but as usual there were other boats there before us, so we went just past to a spot which we have used before, where the Dane flows down a slope behind the towpath, and there is nobody around for miles, perfect for the dogs who could run up and down freely.

Resting

Secluded moorings near Bramble Cuttings

I was up again briefly at 6:30, another beautiful if cold morning, with a woodpecker drilling away in the trees across the canal. We set off again about half ten, but the journey today was not quite so leisurely. The tunnels at Saltersford and Preston Brook with their strict timetables impose a constraint - if you just miss a sailing you can waste nearly an hour waiting, and we wanted to get home with plenty of time to moor in daylight. We had to wait at the Barnton tunnel for a boat coming the other way, but we just made it to Saltersford at 14:15, so five minutes to spare. But that squeezed our time to get to Preston Brook, normally two hours, and again we just got there with five minutes to spare, after doing the stop lock at high speed.

We could relax now, and we went up towards Moore, winded and then dropped Loulie and the dogs at Keckwick Lane to walk home, our usual routine. When I got Eileen back to the marina we discovered that there had been a bit of shuffling on the piers, and our space on pier Q was too short to take us. We moored on the other side of the pier,and I have since spoken to them - we may stay in that spot but we also have the choice of a pier-end spot on M, which might be better. We're going to have a look at that soon.

A pile of Labradors

So all in all a nice little introduction to the cruising year, and we are very pleased with the changes we have made to Eileen. We have a couple of big holidays booked in the summer - our plans at present are to use one to get down to Chester and Ellesmere Port, and to do the Cheshire Ring in the other. We also intend to get as many weekends and short breaks as we can. The great benefit of owning our own boat is that we can do that at short notice, and depending on the weather. We can't wait.

Voyage: 18.1 hours. 36.3 miles. 9 locks.

No fuel like an old fuel

Our plan today was to refuel in Wigan, and then press on to somewhere on the Leigh branch for the night. However when we started to search for places to buy diesel, it became clear that there was nowhere on our route, all the way onto the Bridgewater and down past Leigh. So we would not get a refill today. The gauge was on the top of the red, and we thought that we would probably not run out before we got to a diesel point on Thursday. But only probably – until we actually run out we will notknow exactly where zero is, and we have already noticed that when we fill the tank the gauge only shows ¾, so we are not wholly trusting. We would be nervous all the way to getting refilled, and we would also be reluctant to run the engine to give us power at night. Without the alternator the lights would get steadily dimmer, and the heating would cut out. So in the end we decided to go back to Burscough, a couple of miles behind us, where the map said we would find diesel.

Views of Parbold

One of the things you discover on a canal is that the direction you are pointing matter hugely. The boat is longer than the canal is wide almost everywhere, so we couldn’t just swing round and motor back to Burscough. First we had to go forward a couple of miles to Parbold, where there is a winding hole. I did try in a couple of places where the canal looked wider, but as soon as you start to swing the boat around you realise that you have no chance. After turning in Parbold we came back on our tracks, reaching our overnight spot after about an hour. We went on into Burscough (through two swing bridges) and past the end of the Rufford Branch. We passed a huge old building, a mill of some sort, which has been renovated and turned into apartments – it looked very good. In the centre of the town we came to Burscough Canal Services, a very small business which could, however, sell us diesel. They don’t have a pump, though, they would have to pour it out of plastic 20 litre containers. And could we wait while he went to buy a funnel, as he had mislaid his?

Ainscough Mill

Burscough Bridge

Burscough Canal Services

I walked to Tesco to do our shopping while we waited, and when I got back he had started filling. It took 100 litres, and we had a good chat with the man while he was doing it. He is semi-retired and works for this business, which has two working boats which go up and down the canal with diesel, Calor gas and coal to supply boaters, especially liveaboards.

After we left him we were, of course, pointing the wrong way. The first winding hole was a couple of miles away, through two more swing bridges. Loulie took the dogs off to walk down and work the bridges, then they waited while I went a bit further, turned and came back to pick them up.

Now we were heading towards Wigan, but it was several miles and more bridges before we finally arrived where we had begun this morning, about five hours earlier. We continued through Parbold, and came to the first lock of the day, a deep 12-footer at Appley Bridge. We worked through that, and then the final swing bridge. Here Loulie got off again with the dogs, and I went on ahead, eventually reaching Dean Lock, under the shadow of the M6. I worked this mostly on my own, though another boat coming down arrived as I was filling the lock, and helped with some of the final bits.

The Douglas Valley

The others arrived as we were finishing, and we went on, though not very far, just through the village of Gathurst and half a mile beyond, where we found a very nice mooring in the trees and alongside the Douglas River, another paradise for the dogs. I walked back and explored Gathurst, which I have seen hundreds of times from the M6, and I found there was a nice-looking Indian restaurant beside the bridge – it used to be the Navigation public house. We ordered a takeaway and I walked back to collect it – very nice.

Wednesday Night's Mooring

An oak on the bank opposite.

Exhausted

Today: 7 hours. 15.6 miles. 2 locks. 9 bridges.

Voyage: 38.5 hours. 79.5 miles. 24 locks. 25 bridges.