Well, why did I do it? I
mentioned during the week that perhaps I'd do the jottings this time
“to give Linda a rest”. Oh, well, here goes.
We left the Shropshire Union canal last Monday morning in a blaze of glory. There were crowds cheering, bands playing and countless people wishing us well. Actually, if I'm totally honest about it, there was nobody around, not even a dog walker. We chugged away from our mooring, witnessed only by a few ducks, geese and other assorted waterfowl. As I steered the boat though narrow “bridge-holes” and tight, blind bends, skilfully avoiding the other boats we met at every other bridge, Linda came up to join me on the stern-deck, eating toast. I'd had my breakfast earlier, so I wasn't envious. Tricky, who was perched like a large furry parrot on the hatch, suddenly came to life and took an intense interest in Linda's toast. She (the dog) is fussy about toast. It has to have butter on it, but nothing else. She is greatly offended if there is jam or marmalade on it, and if there is even a hint of marmite she'll sulk for minutes. Suddenly, in the middle of this pleasant routine, we spied a flash of blue ahead. A kingfisher. Linda has mentioned these numerous times, but they really are a lovely sight, and always lift our spirits.
We left the Shropshire Union canal last Monday morning in a blaze of glory. There were crowds cheering, bands playing and countless people wishing us well. Actually, if I'm totally honest about it, there was nobody around, not even a dog walker. We chugged away from our mooring, witnessed only by a few ducks, geese and other assorted waterfowl. As I steered the boat though narrow “bridge-holes” and tight, blind bends, skilfully avoiding the other boats we met at every other bridge, Linda came up to join me on the stern-deck, eating toast. I'd had my breakfast earlier, so I wasn't envious. Tricky, who was perched like a large furry parrot on the hatch, suddenly came to life and took an intense interest in Linda's toast. She (the dog) is fussy about toast. It has to have butter on it, but nothing else. She is greatly offended if there is jam or marmalade on it, and if there is even a hint of marmite she'll sulk for minutes. Suddenly, in the middle of this pleasant routine, we spied a flash of blue ahead. A kingfisher. Linda has mentioned these numerous times, but they really are a lovely sight, and always lift our spirits.
After a while, we approached
the Middlewich arm, which leads to the Trent and Mersey canal. Linda
went to the front of the boat, to check if we were clear to steer
through the exceedingly narrow bridge that crosses the Middlewich
arm. She gave me the thumbs up, so I started to swing the bows
round. But not enough, sadly. Despite panicking outwardly, and
cursing inwardly in that silent way that I sometimes do, the boat
glanced off the side of the bridge with a bit of a bang. It is a
contact sport according to Timothy West.
The Middlewich arm (it's
actually called the Wardle canal, we've just discovered) is amongst
our favourites. It is very rural and quiet; shortly after slipping
our lines, we came across a Heron, hunched over the water looking for
breakfast. As we approached, he looked up in alarm and then flew
off. He settled down 100 yards ahead of us by the water's edge
again, until we came close. Off he flew, again settling down 100
yards in front of us. This scenario was repeated several times,
until it occurred to him to fly behind us, which he did.
It was shortly after this
that we met another boat. We were negotiating another short, narrow
cutting. Narrowboats are just shy of seven feet wide. This bit of
the canal had been built about seven feet and one inch wide. No-one
knows why. Not only that but, joy of joys, the Canal and River Trust
had mischievously let lots of vegetation grow over the off-side of
the canal, cunningly hiding the jagged concrete edge from
unsuspecting boaters. Having prior knowledge of this obstacle, I had
lined the boat up and was passing serenely through when a large bow
wave disturbed the peaceful waters at the bend ahead. This was
followed by a boat, travelling at quite a speed. He saw me as I was
around two thirds of the way through. He kept on coming at ramming
speed, with a grim look of determination on his, by now, worried
features. As I came out of the cutting I veered away as far as I
could, towards the nearest tree, hit reverse and shouted to Linda
below to “hang on”. Finally he realised that I was not a mirage
and was really there, and threw his engine into hard reverse. Then
our two boats crashed together. Luckily Linda had braced herself and
was ok, and no damage had been done to the boat. The other boater
apologised. It seemed that he had hired his boat and this was his
first day.
We were up early the next
morning, in order to pass through onto the Trent and Mersey canal.
This was a bit of a long day for us; we didn't seem to be able to get
on. We stopped for water and then again to drop off some rubbish. As
we approached a boatyard further on we came across a boat that was
grounded. He'd pulled in at the boatyard for something or other and
was now stuck fast. The boat owner shouted across to ask if we'd
take a line and pull him free. Linda expertly took the tiller while
I attached his rope to the front cleat. Linda gently pulled our boat
away. The rope pulled taut, but the other craft wouldn't budge. We
loosed the line, manoeuvred our boat further down and attached his
rope to the rear dolly and tried again. We gave it maximum revs but
he remained stubbornly stuck on the mud. Just when we were about to
give up, his boat came free – success! It's nice to lend a hand to
fellow boaters, you never know when you're going to need help
yourself.
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| Northwich Mooring |
A couple of hours later we were moored near to the Anderton boat lift ready for our descent onto the River Weaver. At 12.10 pm the next day we chugged into one of the caissons of the boat lift, and thirty minutes later we had been lowered onto the River Weaver. We cruised upriver to Northwich, where we moored for the day. Northwich has many fine old buildings, but is forever subsiding into old salt workings. It is normally a quiet place to moor. Unfortunately, there are major works being done there at the moment, with all the associated noise and disruption.
Do you know what one of the
most irritating things is? Its when your toilet roll unrolls itself
and gathers in a heap all over the floor and when you look there
isn't a cute puppy playing with it. This happened to us whilst
moored at Northwich. You can never roll the stuff up properly again,
no matter how carefully you try.
This morning started sunny,
warm and humid. After casting off we chugged through Saltersford
lock without incident, and continued to Dutton lock. When the lock
emptied and the massive gate opened we engaged forward and started to
leave the lock. A canoeist suddenly appeared from somewhere and
drifted into our path. He then “hovered” by the lock entrance
looking at his oars, blissfully unaware that there was a twenty ton
boat bearing down on him. We engaged reverse, and Linda picked up
our little brass fog horn with the rubber bulb at one end and honked
loudly (the horn honked, not Linda), with no effect. The lock keeper
was watching him with disdain and muttered something which we
couldn't quite catch. Eventually I sounded the boat horn, which is
quite loud, and he woke up. He was last seen paddling downstream
towards the Manchester Ship canal.
We are now moored on The Devil's Garden moorings and have just been visited by a herd of friendly cows.
That's about it for now.
Best Wishes
Carl
PS I hope I didn't rant too much.
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| Mind the cowpats Tricky! |
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