Carl's Ponderings

Tyrley Locks

Dear All

Today's jottings are an attempt to raise a small smile. Firstly, I'm appalled at the sad state of the world and the vileness that is needlessly suffocating and breaking our beautiful country. Sadly I could go on and on and on, but I wouldn't be saying anything that the huge majority of sane people don't already know. Of course, successive "Governments" are not included in the previous sentence. How could they be? They are, as always, in complete denial of what they have done to this nation, and believe that everything is absolutely spiffing. Sigh. Secondly, there are family members and dear friends of ours who are dealing with sadness and illness and so, for them and the huge majority of sane people out there, I'll try to inject a little humour into this week's offering.

Tricky on the Middlewich towpath

Last Sunday we tied up on the witch's middle, or the Middlewich branch, as it's traditionally called. After a good night's kip we decided to turn and start making our way back to Shobnall to get our sign-writing done. The cruise back to Nantwich was uneventful but very enjoyable, in spite of the cloudburst from Wales, that hovered over us. Luckily, we were able to thwart the deluge with our trusty brolly and we tied up above Nantwich Aqueduct, completely dry.

Tea in Nantwich

After lots of hours had passed it was Wednesday already, so we slipped our lines in the early morning drizzle, left Nantwich behind and pottered off to our next mooring at Coole Pilates. On route we passed many moored boats. On one of these a crew member, "Bear Hugger" McGee, was putting out his washing. How it caught fire is anyone's guess.(Linda inserts 'eye roll' emoji)

Cool Pilates mooring - note Malc's giant aerial!

By mid afternoon the weather had dried up considerably, so out came the paint and associated accoutrements. Two and a half hours later the hand rail was finished off in bright red, the back panel was a light grey (with a hint of blue!) and my coffee cup was displaying a combined red/grey/blue motif, as was my tee shirt. Altogether a good afternoon's work.

Battling the by-wash at Audlem Lock 3

Thursday was a perfect summer's day. Soft blue sky melting into the horizon, warm sunshine, green fields and herds of sheep and cattle resting lazily in the shade. As we drifted along, lonely as a cloud, we watched swallows dipping and diving, a family of swans paddling serenely by and, occasionally, a leaping fish. From a clump of rushes, a flush of ducks hove into view. Seeing them got me wondering. Who do I prefer? Donald Duck or Daffy Duck? Well, to be honest dear readers, I think Daffy, of Looney Tunes fame, has to be the winner, taking first prize. Even better than Daffy though are the old Fred Quimby era Tom and Jerry animations. Sadly, the modern PC Tom and Jerry cartoons are about as enjoyable as a slight migraine. But I digress. While I'm digressing I'll just mention that those little labels they stick on pears and apples in supermarkets are really annoying. Anyway, to continue the progress report. After working our way up the fifteen locks at Audlem we finally moored for the day just below the locks at Adderley. 

Setting off in convoy up the Adderley flight

To continue with the method by which each day's voyaging has at least one paragraph devoted to it, I shall move onto Friday. The day of the gentle breeze. Yes (Linda again - I think that was an ironic 'Yes'). Well, we were up and about fairly early anyway, so we tackled the five Adderley locks and ascended without any queuing. A mere ninety minutes after we'd cast off we were safely moored near a bridge. Bridge number 67, I think it was. Later that afternoon, while suffering from seasickness due to the huge windswept waves on the canal, we watched the gentle breeze wreaking havoc with the trees around us. An interesting weather forecast, wouldn't you say? Oh, I almost forgot. I know that a lot of you will be eager for reports of the state of our gas locker. Well, I spent another hour or two in there dealing with the odd bit of rust that had appeared again, and generally making a better job of it that I had at Bogg's lock. It was hard labour, though. I think if I need to do any more work down there I'll have to evolve some longer arms. 

Shroppie Bridge - so iconic!

You know, Linda usually makes the coffee while on board. I always make the tea. I have to insist on it. Do you want to know why? Well, I read the Bible once, and it definitely says Hebrews. So I do. (Come on, think about it).

If that joke didn't make you smile, this definitely will. 
Great Grandson Oakley in Grandad's hat

 The weather is so changeable, isn't it? The Atlantic Ocean has a lot to do with it apparently, as does being in a temperate zone. Whenever I see or hear the words "temperate zone" I can't help being reminded of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". You know, the discussion about how they got hold of the coconuts that they used to make the sounds of horses hooves for King Arthur and his retinue in ancient Britain. Were they flown in by a European swallow using a line from the dorsal feather or was it an African swallow? Classic stuff, unless you don't like Monty Python of course. I'll get my coat.

A canon? I've no idea why as the Captain looked perfectly normal.

Yes, changeable weather. Saturday was hot hot hot. Humid as well. We were in Market Drayton and had to go shopping with rucksack and trolley (not a tartan trolley, but one with a dark green bag and a clever triple wheel arrangement for going up and down kerbs, although the wheels squeak loudly and Linda reminds me every time we use it that it needs oiling. It was so hot that we were compelled to buy an ice-cream from the extremely air-conditioned chocolate shop on the High Street. Lidl was also nice and cool thankfully, so we shopped as slowly as possible and milked the experience for all it was worth. I couldn't help noticing that all the apples and pears had stickers on them, but I didn't get too annoyed as the store was so deliciously cool.

Cool Cutting on the Shroppie

We had an evening cruise to a quiet mooring just outside town, where we met up with Pat and Malc on the Naga Queen, who we have been travelling with all week. After climbing the five Tyrley locks today and chugging through the very narrow and rocky Woodseaves cutting, we have moored on the Shebdon Embankment. Currently we are being buffeted by another gentle breeze.

Emergency Tree Trimming

Well, I suppose it's time to sign off. Bye for now.

Love from 

The Floating Chandlers

ps. Apparently, there are lots of people all over the world that stay awake all night wondering what it's like to suffer from insomnia.

Pps Apologies for the ps – Carl has a very strange sense of humour. I'll be back next week with a little less moaning about the weather and more Tales from the Towpath.