Boatdate: 31082019
Canal: Yup

1st mate to silk museum. Captain Maddock to Tescos and a bike ride down the Middlewood cycle way which follows the old railway line. Figured out a better system for raising and lowering the heavy stainless steel engine cover. This is hard work solo so I've attached ropes to the lifting lugs which are then looped round the boats roof rails and it can be raised and lowered with those reasonably easily. Then back to winding point at bridge 45 to turn north again.  Stopped in beautiful countryside by Gurnett aqueduct and went for a pint in the Kings Head.

Boatdate: 30082019
Canal: Macclesfield
Location: Macclesfield

Sailed right on through Macclesfield. 1st mate mutinied and turned the boat round because a visit to the silk museum is compulsory. Who knew?

Boatdate: 29082019
Canal: Macclesfield
Location: Bosley top lock

 (River Dane Valley)

The canal passes over the picturesque river Dane and then immediately into the 12 lock rise to Bosley top lock where the CRT services have hot showers and washinging machines and other such goodness. Stopped there. Why would we not?

Boat date: 28082019
Canal: Macclesfield
Weather: Pissing down

On to Congleton after rain abated in the afternoon. Besieged by a billion ducks. Went to Spa shop. Oh, the excitement! Stopped after bridge 70.

Boat date: 27082019
Canal:Trent & Mersey
Location: Middlewood & Longport Wharf

Bunkered £68 of diesel at Longport wharf. Their pump out machine was bust so crossing of legs is in order.

The 1.5 mile long Harecastle Tunnel running 640ft below Harefield Hill was engineered by Telford and opened in the late 1820's. The first tunnel under that hill was designed by Brindley but is now shut as it has subsided and is no longer navigable. It takes about 40 mins to sail through. I rigged extra side lights so I could see the tunnel sides more clearly and they proved very helpful. Once in the tunnel the doors are shut behind you and huge powerful fans are switched on to provide ventilation. It's quite spooky. In places the roof of the tunnel is more or less at head height so it pays to be attentive. I've heard that one poor soul wasn't and paid with his life and his family were sitting up front and didn't know he'd gone till the boat chugged out the other end of the tunnel.

Out into daylight again and squiggled and wiggled our way onto the Macclesfield canal and moored up just after the stop lock where some gardening was required to get the lock gate open.

Boat date: 25082019
Canal: T&M
Location: Middleport Pottery

Waved at 'Tits Magee' aka Terry Darlington, (author of the entertaining Narrow Dog series of books of his adventures on the canals), as we passed through Stone though too hot to wave energetically. Sent an email though and glad to hear back that he is doing OK though missing his beloved boat 'Phyllis May'. Stopped mid cut to fetch out a garden chair floating there. Cleaned the poop of it and put it on the poop deck where I will sit on it and not poop. Salvage rights and all that. Moored up at Middleport pottery for the night. In the sunset a million starlings settled on the roof and chimney of the pottery and it was fun to watch their antics but the beer was funner.

Tits Magee

Boatdate: 24082019
Canal: T&M
Stardate: Same as boatdate, relatively speaking
Gas Status: Bottle change. What, already!
Weather: Schorchio

Great Heywood. The man at the water point was cross because the man before him at the water point had locked the water point up thus requiring him to go get his CRT key to open up the water point again when the first man at the water point was sure to have known that the second man at the water point was going to use the water point so what was the point of locking the water point? Still with me? Anyway we were the Third Man at the water point and could get away with murder. What did happen in that film? I can't remember.

Beautiful, it is, between Rugeley and Stone; a feast for the eyeballs. Stopped shy of Stone just after Sandon lock. Went to explore odd whip cracking noises coming from further up the cut. Was a young girl, nine or so, sitting in a chair on the bank shooting an air pistol at God knows what. Dad on the boat looked like a survivalist freak. Probably training up his little darling to survive the coming Armageddon by shooting at sparrows. I stood and stared at her. She got up and handed the gun to her dad who put it away. We might survive the night or we might not. Never can tell with these survivalist freaks.

We will wave in the general direction of Terry Darlington aka Tits Magee as we pass through Stone tomorrow.

Sheepstroke

Boatdate: 23082019
Canal: Trent & Mersey
Location: Rugeley
Weather: Yes
Toilet status: Don't mind if I do
Fuel status: Haven't looked
Battery Status: 12.5 ish, depends which battery I look at
Water status: Still wet
Duck status: 5 - all hungry

Came across a dead sheep in the cut. Knew it was dead because it wasn't doing the sheep stroke and it was upside down and full of gas and it smelled a bit. Didn't want it wrapped round my prop, or anyone else's for that matter. Got my long wooden pole thingy, (technical term), and pushed it into a reedy niche from whence it should not move and informed the CRT about it. I don't know if they are responsible for dead sheep or if they will remove it or if they will just let it explode and sink. Who knows? I suppose the fish may prefer the latter.

The ducks are making eyes at me. I succumbed and gave them some pitta bread. I know I shouldn't

Tyrants - No Mersey

BOATDATE: 07082019
CANAL: Trent and Mersey
LOCATION: Rugeley

Turned onto the Trent and Mersey canal at Fradley junction and continued up to Rugeley mooring up between bridges 67 and 67A. This must be pronounced Rougeley, like lipstick, and they look at you funny if you don't. A long line of trad boats came passed with their roses and their castles and their chuggy engines and whatnot. The Trad Brigade {TM] can be a funny lot sometimes. Some of them look down their noses at mere leisure craft.

The problem with living with both feet in the past is that it's not balanced and you tend to fall over: also you are nowhere near the past and the harsh and often brutal existence led by the men, women and children from the era when working narrowboats on our inland waterways were a vital part of the country's commercial infrastructure. Hey ho. We are stopping here for a bit so I can replace the dilithium crystals and the warp coils. Aye Aye.

Rugeley has a 12th Century Church, now known as The Old Chancel which I visited briefly. Mostly derelict, it has a tomb of two sisters......

"Elizabeth Cuting, who died in 1695, and Emma Hollinhurst, who died in 1696. On its top are carved effigies of two figures, each tied at the top and bottom in a shroud. These curious effigies are behind a local legend that the sisters were buried alive in sacks by Oliver Cromwell – despite Cromwell having died earlier, in 1658.

The true story of the tomb is connected to a Parliamentary Act of 17 years earlier, which required corpses to be buried in wool. These ladies, among others, preferred to be buried in linen, and defied the Act, as the burial register shows.

Fazed Junction

BOATDATE: 06082019
CANAL: Coventry Canal
HEADING: To Fradley Junction and the Trent and Mersey
WEATHER: Sun and Showers again

     Cathy pilots Pan up the locks from Fazeley

Got the bike out to go get milk. Skies opened up and got soaked in 5 mins flat. The bilges are drier than me.  Went for a pint in the The Swan aka The Mucky Duck yesterday evening. Got chatting with the owner of the boat parked downstream from us. He has five, yes FIVE, domestic batteries and this is because the wife likes to use the washing machine, have a shower, curl her hair, watch telly, and use the microwave and brew coffee all at more or less the same time. I told him to get a new wife.

Someone passed us fast and our bow mooring pin pulled out. Thanks buddy, we were leaving anyway, idiot. Now onto the windy and windy route  through beautiful countryside up towards the junction with the Tyrant and Mercy aka the Trent and Mersey canal at Fradley. We are bound for Rugeley where we will stop for a break.

Stern Gland - Like an adrenal gland, just sterner

BOATDATE: 05082019
CANAL: Birmingham and Fazeley
HEADING: To Fazeley Junction
WEATHER: Hot and Sticky
GAS STATUS: One empty, one full

We continued on through the rest of the Curdworth locks in somewhat steamy heat. Only one paddle working on the upside gate so slow going. Stopped for a rest and some lunch overlooking Kingsbury Water Park. A line of 15 Canada geese crossed from the edge of the lake to the island in the middle in a perfectly straight line and an exactly spaced distance apart: almost like they had been trained at Sandhurst. They climbed up onto the island and sat sunbathing. It was tempting to rip all my clothes off and swim over to the island to join them. I opted for the hot shower instead, what a whimp!

Refreshed we sailed on to Fazeley Junction and stopped ostensibly to pick up a new gas bottle and ended up there for an hour or two with Mark, a marine engineer and a total gent. We went through the problem with our stern gland leak and as it turned out it was because the flange that seats up to the stern gland packing wasn't seated properly and this was because the engine alignment was out. Mark adjusted the alignment and also rotated the flange 180 degrees to get it to fit correctly. We also changed the engine oil and the gearbox oil because we were not sure when this had last been done. No harm anyway. and to my ears the engine sounds better. Also we might have less soggy bilges tomorrow. That would be nice.

Curdworth Locks

BOATDATE: 04082019
CANAL: Birmingham and Fazeley
HEADING: Up
WEATHER: Sun and Showers all the way

Stopping briefly at Cuckoo Wharf CRT station to take on water and take off rubbish we continued on our way up to Curdworth with the scenery opening out and becoming rural once again. The tractors and harvesters are out in the fields raising dust and that fabulous August harvest smell is in the air everywhere. My back seriously ran out of lock muscle so we stopped for the night in the long stretch between locks 5 and 6. A whiskey or two would be good.

Aston - Sans Villa

Having bunkered up with water and food we set off onto the Birmingham and Fazeley canal at about 3pm. We gave many a gongoozler family a ride down the locks on the way out of Brum; the children especially love it and many visitors from abroad are fascinated by our locks and barges and our canal system in general. After many locks we arrived at Aston in the twilight and discovered our headlight fuse had blown. Sigh. It's fuse 3 on the [unlabelled] fuse bank. Sigh again... because it does all the cabin lights as well. Der.

Post-Raphaelites

BOATDATE: 02082019
STATUS: Beam Me Up Scotty, It's All Over And I'm Too Burned To Walk
HEADING: Into Town
WEATHER: Hot, ice cream weather

Spent most of the day at Birmingham museum and art gallery. Unfortunately they had sent most of their better Pre-Raphaelite paintings off to America thus making them Post-Raphaelites and unavailable for inspection and I had so wanted to advise Lady Godiva about her posture on that horse. Never mind, their extensive and beautiful collection of William De Morgan tiles made up for it.

Brum Brum Brum

BOATDATE: 01082019
ENGINE STATUS: Dead as a Dodo
HEADING: Nowhere, obviously

Doing the usual round of engine and battery checks in the morning I turned on the ignition and zilch, nada, nothing. Spent an hour examining the electrics and eventually found a cable detatched from its spade connector on the starter motor. The connection had not been crimped tightly enough and not soldered either. Don't have crimpers or a soldering iron with me but there's ways round that. Got it fixed and continued on our way to Gas Street Basin in Brum though we ended up mooring just before Deep Cuttings junction and the turn onto the Birmingham and Fazeley canal.

When I get home I'm going to re-wire this boat.

Amal & Zoro

BOATDATE: 31072019
CANAL: Yes
HEADING: Brum
WEATHER: So so

Zoro and Amal were watching us come up the lock near Smethwick new pumping station. They had come to that section of the canal in memory of their teacher who used to come and meditate along that section. We invited them on board for a ride up to the next bridge and made their day. We looped the loop and came back to moor for the night on the lower canal. The Birmingham canal network has about a hundred mile of canals looping all over the place, some with a surprisingly rural feel to them and some very decidedly industrial. Amal had a turn on the tiller and got the idea pretty quickly. Some do, some don'tZoro.