Winter Window 2019

Monday 30^th December

Sunset at the marina before we set off

Cormorant at the marina

Last year, in order to get Eileen to the Navigation Narrowboat Company in Nantwich we were forced to take her over during a brief window of time between the opening of the Middlewich breach a few days before Christmas, and the closing of the canals in several places on the 2^nd January. Although we had no choice, in the event we enjoyed it so much, especially New Year’s Eve on board, that we decided to do the same again. We have some work planned on her, so at some point we needed to get her over to Nantwich. There is no breach this time, of course, and there seem to be far fewer stoppages generally on our route, so there was no real constraint on when we moved her. Even so we decided to plan the trip so we were on board on New Year’s Eve, and furthermore well out in the country so that the dogs wouldn’t be disturbed by fireworks.

Winter sunshine on the Trent and Mersey

Moored at Bartington

As we were under no time pressure we decided to take it easy on the first day. I brought Eileen up to Keckwick and we loaded up, then set off at about two, so we could get through the tunnel at two thirty. That meant that we had about an hour of daylight on the other side, and we cruised just past Bartington before mooring at a nice spot on clips. On the way we passed a boat with a nice paint job, called Dark Side of the Moon – we would be encountering her again on the journey.

  

TODAY: 2:30 HOURS. 7.9 MILES. 1 LOCK.

Tuesday 31^st December

We made a leisurely start and reached the Saltersford tunnel for 11:30. However we discovered that the circuit for the pump on the toilet was not working, presumably a fuse gone. Loulie found a bag of spare fuses behind the electrical panel, but we still did not know where the actual fuses were. Eventually we figured out that they could be found by removing the illuminated plastic strips on the front of the panel, and once we had found them it was the work of a moment to replace the correct fuse, and all was working again.

The crew below decks

In the pool before Barnton Tunnel

Emerging from the south end of Barnton Tunnel

We did this repair in the pool between the Saltersford and Barnton tunnels, and then we pressed on again to Anderton. Here we stopped on the holding moorings for the boat lift – as this is closed for the winter we were confident that no-one would be bothered if we tied up there for a couple of hours. We took the dogs (apart from Ruby) for a long walk down into the country park towards Marbury. It is great walking – mostly wooded with lots of slopes and little valleys with streams running down to the Witton Brook and eventually to the Weaver. It was a fine day, if cold, and we met a lot of other walkers, mostly with dogs. Ours had a whale of a time, and were nicely tired when we got back up to Eileen.

The chemical reaction that made Northwich famous

At this time of year the cruising day is strictly limited, and you need to be moored by four or soon after, so we pressed on through Marston and Wincham. Just beyond Wincham you pass right through the Lostock Works of Tata Chemicals, previously ICI (and Brunner Mond before that). Since our last visit they have erected a footbridge with decorations symbolic of the history of the works, including a chemical equation. This represents the decomposition of brine (salt and water) into chlorine, hydrogen and caustic soda - the basis of the chemical industry that made Northwich a significant industrial centre, beyond its ancient history as a salt town. 

At Broken Cross we passed a moored boat called Constanze, which I thought belonged to a couple who put out a vlog under the title Floating Our Boat, but we couldn’t see anyone around, and we couldn’t afford the time to stop to find out. Later I discovered that it was indeed theirs, but that they had been away on a trip down south and the boat was empty. We went on and reached the spot we had been aiming at, a mooring near Bostock Green, nearly opposite a wide area of shallows.

Moored by the wide at Bostock Green

We were only just around the corner from a new marina, Oakwood Marina, and we were a little concerned that they might have some sort of fireworks display. As it turned out they did, but it was quite short and didn’t really trouble the dogs at all. At home we could guarantee a variety of displays all around us, and going on for a long time – Mabel is particularly unhappy with loud noises, and Bridget and Ruby are not keen. So we were able to see the New Year in with a glass or two of bubbly, and five happy dogs.

TODAY: 3:00 HOURS. 10.0 MILES. 0 LOCKS.

VOYAGE: 5:30 HOURS. 17.9 MILES. 1 LOCK.

Wednesday 1^st January

Today we went through Middlewich and its locks. We started out around eleven, and cruised up just past Bramble Cuttings, where Loulie got off with the dogs and walked on most of the way to Middlewich, getting back aboard just before the aqueduct over the Dane. We did Big Lock and then stopped to take on water in the centre, and did a bit of shopping. We pulled away from the water point just before another boat, Dark Side of the Moon, appeared behind us, which meant that we found the locks in the three lock flight set in our favour, while they had to wait for them to fill after our passage.

Loulie had been navigating through the locks, and she stayed in place and carefully made the sharp right hand turn into the Wardle lock entrance, the start of the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union canal. For historic reasons this is actually the Wardle Canal, the shortest canal in the country at 154 feet long – it is just the one lock and the approach to it, and it was put there by the Trent and Mersey canal company to give them commercial control when the Branch was built to connect the T&M to the Shropshire.

When we turned in we found that there was already a boat there, Otter, preparing to go up. It looked like a man on his own, and I went forward to help him – in fact it turned out that his wife was also aboard, but because of a disability affecting her arms she could do very little of the work. I helped them go through, but as they came out they realised that they had something around their prop, and pulled over a little way further down.

I emptied the lock – there was no-one going down – and Loulie brought Eileen in. As we were working through, Dark Side of the Moon came under the bridge behind us, and the man came up to help us. We had a bit of a chat – I remarked on the paint job on his boat, which was based on the famous rainbow prism design from the Pink Floyd album cover. It turns out that this was done by Andy Russell, who painted Eileen, both originally and when we modified her.

Three Amigos on the poop

What are you doing with that thing?

The ship's company assembled at the stern

As we left the lock the people ahead of us in Otter were still struggling with the stuff wrapped around their prop, so we cruised on and were clear into the next lock a short distance away at Stanthorne. After going up that one we went on for a mile or so, then looked for a mooring. After rejecting one spot because of sheep in a field behind the towpath, we stopped on some shuttering just round the corner. It seemed a nice spot, but we did not realise that just opposite was a farm where, at four in the morning, someone would start reversing a vehicle over and over again – beep, beep, beep.

Moored at Wimboldsley - noisy farm just visible in the distance

TODAY: 4:35 HOURS. 7.8 MILES. 6 LOCKS.

VOYAGE: 10:05 HOURS. 25.7 MILES. 7 LOCKs.

Thursday 1^st January

This was the last day of our trip, and we wanted to get to Nantwich reasonably early, so that Jonjo could pick us up and run us home. We got away just before ten, and sailed comfortably along to the first lock, Minshull – I dropped Loulie and the dogs off for a good walk before we got there. As we were going up a very old-fashioned boat, towing a butty, pulled up at the top moorings ready to come down. The people on her had restored both boats and were cruising the network along with another vintage boat which was a little way behind them. When we got to the next lock, Cholmondeston, we saw behind us the Otter, the boat with the disabled lady, so we waited in order to help them through the lock. As we were doing so Dark Side of the Moon also arrived on her way up – the canals are pretty quiet at this time of year, so you tend to see the same people a lot.

After that it was an uneventful trip up to Barbridge at the junction of the Branch with the main line of the Shroppie, and then down past the end of the Llangollen canal. The four lock flight at the bottom of the Llangollen is being rebuilt over the winter – one chamber is particularly narrow and boats keep getting stuck in there. We could see all the scaffolding and other building work in progress as we went by.

On our arrival in Nantwich we turned and moored stern-first in the finger docks at the NNC. Jonjo arrived soon after, and we were able to load ourselves, the dogs and all the luggage we needed into his van. We will be leaving Eileen there until March now – we are not getting as many changes done this year, but we are getting her blacking renewed (that requires a drydock) and the engine will be taken out so that the engine compartment can be cleaned and renewed. We are already looking forward to bringing her home in the spring – we may come back the long way around.

TODAY: 4:30 HOURS. 10.2 MILES. 2 LOCKS.

VOYAGE: 14:35 HOURS. 35.9 MILES. 9 LOCKs.

Back to base

A nervous moment last night when I took the dogs out for their final tiddles. The Labradors stay on the leads now, after several late night incidents when they have taken themselves off for an explore in the dark. But Ruby doesn’t need this, she doesn’t move very fast, and she prefers to follow us at her own pace. It was very cold, and after we had walked out and back Bridget still hadn’t been, so we walked on past the boat in the other direction. After a while I looked back to check Ruby was still behind us, and saw to my horror that she had clearly decided that enough was enough and she had started to go aboard on her own – all I could see was the violet light on her collar as she started to totter up the slippery gangplank. I hurried back as fast as I could without losing the other three but Ruby reached the top of the gangplank and hopped off the end, happily onto the stern deck rather than into the canal. At that point I decided that Bridget could hold it in for the night, and we all went down below to bed.

Happily she was able to do so, and we had another undisturbed night, and got up at 8am. The night had been very cold, and there was a hard frost on the stern rails, as well as the grass on the towpath. The ropes were frozen hard when I came to unmoor, though that was more than two hours later, as we didn’t have very far to go. We cruised up about a mile and a half to Nantwich, and into the basin where the Navigation Narrowboat Company have their workshops. We tied up on a finger mooring, but then we realised we needed to be stern in to allow the dogs to get off. Matthew from the NNC showed us where to put her, so I had to reverse out, turn and reverse back in – happily it was a calm day and I was pleased with how it went.

Kate had come in Loulie’s car to collect us, so we loaded the dogs and as much luggage as we could and set off home. It was another lovely winter’s day with clear blue skies and bright sun, though obviously very cold, and we felt a real regret at leaving the canal for dry land. It will be three months or more before we can get back on the water again, and we can’t wait.

Today: 0.6 hours. 1.5 miles. 0 locks.Voyage: 14.6 hours. 26.5 miles. 9 locks.

Nearly There

The dogs did better last night, and didn’t disturb us until 7:45 so we had a reasonably good night’s sleep. We didn’t have far to go today, so we made a leisurely start, and didn’t get under way until about 11am. Our biggest concern is a pump-out, because we couldn’t get one at Anderton on Sunday, or yesterday in Middlewich, and our tank is nearly full. However after last time we have brought a back-up, in the shape of the portaloo which used to live in the small horsebox, and that means that we don’t have to panic.

Mooring near Church Minshull

Posie keeping watch on the poop

We’re in a very rural part of Cheshire, and after we set off we passed through open fields, before crossing the Weaver on a large aqueduct. This took us to the first lock of the day, at Minshull. We were lucky here, as a boat was just coming out of the lock as we arrived, so we were able to sail straight in. I had to scale the ladder in the brickwork of the lock to get up to the top and work the gates, but other than that it all went well, and another boat appeared as we came out so we left the top gate open for them. The second (and final) lock of the day was not far away, at Cholmondeston, and while the gates weren’t open the lock was empty, i.e. set in our favour, and I only needed to open the gates to let Loulie sail in.

The crew in Cholmondeston lock

After that Loulie got out with the dogs to give them a walk, while I went on ahead. This only works to a limited extent, because I am not much faster than the walkers, and the Labradors, Minnie especially, kept spotting me and running ahead to try to catch up. When the landing party rejoined the ship we decided to moor for lunch, instead of eating on the go, because we didn’t have very much further to travel.

After lunch we came to the junction with the main line of the Shropshire Union at Barbridge, and turned left (south). In season this is a very busy bit of canal because just a mile and a half from Barbridge you come to Hurleston Junction where the Langollen takes off to the west. With Chester and Ellesmere Port to the north, Audlem and the Shroppie to the south and Middlewich and the whole North West canal system back through Barbridge, this is a real crossroads for the network. Today, though, it was quiet, just a few boats moving. It was a lovely afternoon in fact, bright and clear, though it’s going to be a cold night in consequence, so it was a good winter’s day to be out on the boat.

Winter sunshine in the saloon

Mooring outside Nantwich 01-01-19

We moored a short way past the end of the Langollen, and since we are back on the Shroppie there’s a ledge keeping us about a foot off the bank (see August 3^rd for the possible consequences of this). It was only about 3pm but there was no point pressing on any further – we are nearing Nantwich so we don’t have far to go tomorrow, and if we moored any closer we would find ourselves close to the houses. As it is we are still out in open country, surrounded by fields with not a house or another boat in sight.

Labrador Tiller Pin

For Christmas Loulie gave me this tiller pin in the shape of a Labrador. I had always wanted one, but we had never seen anything close, and in fact she had to get this made, starting with a bookend. The smith at Bartington Forge put in the pin for her, using our existing (boring) pin as a model. It's brilliant, and I call it Lucky.

Supper was made with a Kung Po sauce and the last of Tiberius the turkey, so we’ve had a good week’s eating out of him. We have of course eaten and drunk far too much on the voyage, but at least we are combining our boating gluttony with Christmas gluttony. Back to abstemiousness after Twelfth night. But before that we have to drop Eileen off at Nantwich tomorrow morning.

Today: 3.5 hours. 6.6 miles. 2 locks.

Voyage: 14 hours. 25.0 miles. 9 locks.

Into The Breach

We got to bed fairly early last night, but sadly the dogs have lost the habit of sleeping on the boat, so we were woken up at about 4am and had to take them out for a tiddle. I have to report that it is fairly cold at 4am on the canal bank, even in an unusually mild December. Once we had them settled back down we slept until 8am, when the day began to break. So in theory we had a reasonable amount of sleep overall, but somehow it didn’t seem that way.

We got up and moving at about 10am. Our main challenge for the day was the locks through Middlewich, six in all. We have decided that Loulie will navigate in the locks, while I do the heavy work, so that she doesn’t finish the day physically exhausted. Although for me some of the locks can be a bit tough, for Loulie some of them are borderline impossible, so she tires much more quickly than I do.

The first lock going up through Middlewich is Big Lock, which lives up to its name, being wide enough for two boats side by side. Nobody is quite sure why it has been built on such a scale, as there is no way a widebeam boat can get to the spot. We were fortunate as another boat was just coming out as we arrived, so I hopped out and Loulie was able to steam straight in. The huge gates were tough for me to move, and I am not sure how Loulie ever shifted them. It is also no fun being a single boat in a double sized lock, as there is more room to bounce around, and Loulie had a bit of work t do to keep her straight.

After that we had the three-lock flight in the centre of Middlewich. Sadly another boat was ahead of us going up, which meant that everything was set against us as we had to empty each lock before we could go in. At the middle lock I made a noob error by leaving one of the bottom paddles open before opening the top ones, which means it fills very slowly. Of course I only did this to make Loulie feel better, as she did the same on the Adderley flight in August.

Once up the flight we turned right at King Lock and went up the Shropshire Branch, going up the Wardle Lock immediately, and them mooring just short of the sit of the breach. We walked the dogs down to have a look, and then I trekked off to Morrisons to get some essential supplies. After that we got back under way, going past the breach and then up the Stanthorne lock, our last one for the day. We have two more tomorrow, and that’s the lot for the voyage.

The site of the breach, looking down to the River Dane

We pootled along for an hour or so more, very much out in the country again – though we did pass under the West Coast Main Line, which is about 15 minutes from our house as the train flies, even if it took us two days to get here. We moored near Church Minshull, far from any roads – we have been to the Badger in the village a couple of times before, and it’s very nice, but we don’t want to try it on New Year’s Eve.

So, that’s it for 2018, our first year on board the Eileen Dover, and we have just started to discuss what we will be doing next year. The Caldon Canal is one possibility, and the Cheshire Ring is another. The really long voyages, like London, will have to wait until I have retired.

Today: 5 hours. 9.9 miles. 6 locks.Voyage: 10.5 hours. 25.0 miles. 7 locks.

Winter Window

We want to take Eileen to the Narrowboat Navigation Company in Nantwich for her winter service, and to have some changes made. The problem is getting there. In the summer we did the Home Run, all the way down the Shropshire Union to Autherley, and then back up the Staffs and Worcs and the Trent and Mersey. However that wasn’t really an option this time – for one thing with the shorter days it would probably have required three weeks in total, and there are also some closures in the autumn on various parts of the network, which would have been a problem.

So we needed to wait until the breach at Wardle on the Shropshire Union link had been mended, which meant the 21^st December. The challenge is that many pieces of maintenance on the canals begin on 2^nd January, often for a couple of months, and these would block our route in several places. So we would have to move her in that small window between 21^st December and the New Year. Fortunately the completion of the Wardle repair was not delayed, which is pretty good going as it took about six months or more. So we decided that it would take us three days, given that we would only get 5-6 hours sailing, and that we would spend New Year’s Eve on the boat.

To give us a chance at a good start, I brought the boat out of the marina last night, and moored her close to Keckwick Lane, opposite the laboratory. We could just see her from the rear windows of our house. This morning we took the luggage up in the car, then parked back home and walked up with the dogs.

We were on the move at about 10:45, which was what I had aimed for, as it took us to the Preston Brook tunnel spot on half eleven, and we were able to sail straight in. Loulie gave the dogs a walk while I worked the stop lock, and we pushed on so we were at the Saltersford Tunnel just after 13:30, so again there was no delay.

We decided we would try to do a pumpout at Anderton, where there is a CRT automatic facility, but it turned out that our card was empty. We were unclear whether it gave a certain number of pumpouts or a certain length of time, and it turns out the answer is one pumpout. It should not be a problem, we ought to get to Nantwich on the half tank we still have free, but if we can find a facility open tomorrow at a marina or somewhere we will use it.

Although it was only about half two at that point we started to think about finding a berth for the night. The first place we looked was fairly full and at the next one there was a single boat with a large aggressive dog, so we kept moving. We thought about stopping close to the Lostock chemical plant, but we decided that didn’t seem such a good idea. In the end, with darkness falling, we came to the spot at Billinge Green where we have moored a couple of times before, opposite a shallow flash. Assuming no problems with the locks we should get comfortably through Middlewich and on beyond tomorrow.

Today: 5.5 hours. 15.1 miles. 1 locks.Voyage: 5.5 hours. 15.1 miles. 1 locks.