Hats off!

A little late this week with the blog but we have been off the boat tending to family matters. Dad is recovering well and Mum's eye operation went well too. John went visiting Canterbury university with Mollie so we got back to the boat last Thursday. 

Our progress towards Liverpool continues with a complete mixed bag of weather. Lots of sunshine but, oh my goodness, the wind!! We both lost a hat today on the same gust of wind. John's sank but mine floated. There was a bit of a price differential though - John got his in Vietnam for about a quid. Mine is a Tilley hat with a guarantee to float, a lifetime guarantee against wear and you can replace it for half price if you lose it. Cost a bomb but I really like it. 

We are covering some of the same  ground heading north and revisiting some of the places we went to last year, so whizzing through a bit. But sometimes you just have to give in to the elements and that's just what we had to do today. It was a pretty miserable day from the start in Wigan, got a bit brighter midday but then the wind and rain set in and we finally threw in the towel when we pulled over to go through a swing bridge and couldn't get off the bank. Happily there was a great pub on the other side of the bridge so after a lovely meal and a few drinks we are warm and glowing back on the boat. 

Not often you see a lighthouse this far inland!

Hitch hikers in Parbold. 

AMAZING chips at The Farmers Inn. 

Burscough. Does anyone know how you pronounce Burscough?? 

It's been a week of firsts. First cygnets. First goslings. Lovely😊 First RATS!😝 We were walking back from Wigan town centre and got to the bridge by our boat and it was teeming with rats. No exaggeration. Got into the boat quickly and locked the doors! 

Weather forecast for tomorrow is absolutely dire. We are within 6 hours of Aintree so can afford a day off tomorrow. Hobbies day!!

Stratford to Shroppy

Stratford was wonderful. The weekend straddled our birthdays and we squeezed in two theatre trips. One to a fringe theatre to see at the Importance of Being Earnest" which was great fun if a little hammed up! The RSC production of "Death of a Salesman" was in a different class altogether. I think I studied this play for O level or maybe A level. Can't remember but perhaps Frankie will have a better memory? 

When we left Stratford it was decided that I  should be doing more of the driving, particularly manoeuvring in and out of locks. So as we left the basin in Stratford the first challenge was a 90 degree turn into a very narrow bridge. That went well and I waited under the bridge while John emptied the lock. Unfortunately the clearance was so tight that the water emptying from the lock made the boat rise enough to knock out the solar lights in the flower boxes. I am firmly of the opinion that every time I take the tiller there is a catastrophe! Even John had to agree that I am jinxed.

Shakespeare's birthplace. 

Kind of Blue in Stratford. 

I would like to pass on a housekeeping tip. Those of you that know me well would agree that I am not a domestic goddess but this discovery was a revelation. You know those milky white marks that you get on some wood surfaces caused by damp heat. We inherited several on the table on the boat (and yes they have been added to) and no amount of polishing has any affect. But one day I was doing my nails and spilled a tiny drop of acetone on said white mark and it seemed to revert to its original colour. So with nothing to lose I poured acetone over all the marks and miraculously the table look like new. Obviously I wouldn't recommend trying this on granny's antiques but it worked for me. A happy accident. 

This weekend we welcomed our first visitors this season so I am passing over to Gill for a few comment:-

"Well second trip to Market Drayton in a week but very different weather and a very different experience.  I love mucking around on boats even when it rains and the b&b is excellent. Good exercise too 

although our locking techniques were a 

bit rusty to start with we made it to the pub in time for tea!"

Quite a few new ducklings this week and some great kingfisher photo opportunities if only the camera was ready !! One day. However here is a photo I have entered into a canal magazine competition. 

Couldn't decide between this one and ...

Hope I chose the right one😊

Well on our way to Liverpool now but taking a few days off for a visit to see my daddy who has been a bit poorly. 

Just a reminder to anyone who follows our travels.  This is our last season in the canals so last chance for anyone to come for a visit. You will be most welcome. Bookings now being taken ! 

That's all for now. 

Gloucester to Stratford on Avon

The week started with just about the worst problem you can get on a boat. A blocked toilet. It has happened before and and it's usually something stuck in the macerator. It's not a pleasant job to take it all apart but relatively easy ( or so I'm told ...man job - I don't get involved!) This time, however, the blockage was somewhere along the pipe from the toilet to the poo tank. After lots of poking with a length of garden hose, we finally shifted whatever it was ( I dread to think) and nervously flushed water through which we could hear going through to the tank. We are still too scared to put anything down which hasn't gone through us first! 

This all happened on the day we were planning to leave Gloucester docks and head up the Severn. As it happened we were delayed anyway by 40mph winds and the white horses re-appeared on the canal. 

One of the great things about this journey is chatting to people along the way and hearing their stories. My favourite one this week came from the lock keeper near Bidford. There is a caravan park opposite the lock which is very prone to flooding. To get insurance the caravans have to be fitted with flotation tanks so the when the river rises, they rise with them. The lock keeper joked that he gets his licence book out and goes round the floating caravans collecting fees. 

This is the lock keepers house. Very unusual and much photographed. In 2006 it flooded up to the top of the sign on the balcony. 

The River Avon is really beautiful. We stopped overnight in some lovely villages and passed some very picturesque spots..

400 year old bridge near Pershore

And another one at Bidford. 

Pretty spot

Spectacular weir

First t shirt day of the year

Off to Liverpool. Got to be there by 6th May. God help us!!

On the (watery) road again

Actually we have been out of the marina for about a month but still in the Gloucester area. The winter was fine. No really bad weather but at times we were glad of the shelter from the wind and rain. Other than that I would say that marina life did not really suit us. We were lucky with our neighbours on one side ( Dave and Maggie ) who have become great friends but John on the other side was an arse! It took less a day for him to bang on our door to complain about the noise of the central heating and less than a week to register an official complaint about noise. We felt like naughty teenagers. Apparently there is an unwritten rule that heating systems should not be run after 9pm. If we ever forgot to turn it off he would be banging on the door at 3minutes past 9. So not a great start to our stay at Saul and things didn't get much better with no phone signal, intermittent Internet (at extra cost) and feeling very cooped up. 

On a more positive note we had a very different Christmas on the boats with Jamie and Dominique. We bought nearly all the ingredients for Christmas dinner from a farm in Frampton and it was delicious. Hannah came after Boxing Day and learnt to knit!

In January we were dry!! Joined the gym, lost weight, felt fitter. In February we went to Cornwall and Hayling Island, ate and drank loads, put on weight and had a great time!!! Dad turned 80 and we celebrated with the whole family at Warners. Lots of fun. 

This is the whole gang including Laura who made a surprise appearance from America. Lovely to see her:)

In March we explored the Gloucester area and some of the Cotswold towns. John has started training for Ride London in August. His road bike was in Solva in a West Wales (having been lent to his friend Dave) so John hatched a plan to get a lift down there and cycle back. Only 120 miles! I joined him on the second day as back up crew. 

That's all for now but here's a few more photos and a promise to write every week from now on. 

Bibury

View from bow of boat in the marina. 

Near Slimbridge. 

River Severn at Sharpness

Dave and John jammin

Laura in St. Ives 

Then rain stopped play...

So here we are in Stourport on Severn and have been for the past 4 days. The problem is the river Severn which is in spate and the advice is not to proceed. Actually it's a lovely place to get stuck! We are cheekily moored in one of the four basins and no-one has bothered us yet. We even have an electric hook up! The basins have all been developed with a mixture of new builds and renovated old buildings and its been done really well. 

The town is geared up for tourists; almost like a seaside town with a permanent funfair, fish and chip shops and amusement arcades. Oh and an awful lot of pubs!! All a bit dead this time of year but we are doing our best to keep them going:)

While we have nothing better to do, John decided to have a good look at the washing machine and thinks he has found the fault. ( we didn't get round to ordering a new machine!) New part has been ordered and with any luck he can fix it. 400 quid saved if he can! 

The weather forecast is a bit better for next week so hope to be on our way again shortly. Meanwhile a few hobbies days!

This is the way to do it

After our mad dash towards Dimmingsdale lock on the Staffordshire and Worcester canal we are taking it easy and exploring this lovely waterway and its villages. The first surprise was Kinver. Just a few miles from Wolverhampton but a million miles apart. We walked to the top of Kinver edge and were rewarded with the most amazing 360 degree views. No photo would do it justice so didn't try. Just stayed well back from the edge and enjoyed! Hannah was with us and it would be safe to say she faced her fear of heights!

Another intriguing feature is the series of rock houses cut into the sandstone cliff face. Easy to extend when you need more space. Just cut another room out of the rock

Sadly the houses were not open and neither was the pub owned by Dick Whittington's father!

We are now in Kidderminster and moored outside a retail park. Hoping to be able to order a new washing machine as ours has packed up. It is a very small machine and not widely available so has to be delivered. It's one if those logistical problems of living on a boat! 

We went out at 10pm last night for a quick drink and found ourselves in the only pub still open - The Boars Head. What can I say? Lets just say that they didn't have to add anything to the decor for Halloween! Very much a punk and ska venue. But we have found that if you stay to closing time you get chatting with the locals and they weren't as scary as they first seemed! 

Some lovely atmospheric mornings this week:)

Race against time

Having decided to take a detour along the Llangollen canal before heading to our winter mooring near Gloucester we eventually checked the stoppages list and realised that there was a lock closure en route which would entail a detour which would add 50+ locks to our journey. The alternative was to go hell for leather towards said lock and get through it before it closes for 6 weeks. Very happy to say that we went through said lock today and can breathe again. 

 

The Llangollen canal was very beautiful. We thought so and so did the million hire boats on it!! Unfortunately we timed it all wrong. Completely forgot that it was half term ( don't have to think about term times any more -praise be!). Would definitely recommend avoiding school holidays. After weeks of hardly any boats it was strange to be fighting for space. On the other hand it was quite nice to see kids enjoying the waterways. We did see one sulky teenager on a boat desperately trying to get a signal on her phone but after a week of virtually no phone calls or 3G I can sympathise! Can't believe how frustrated I got and how totally we rely on our phones now. 

The highlight of the Llangollen is undoubtedly the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct which carries the canal 150 feet above ground level across a valley and the River Dee. Utterly terrifying but a fantastic photo opportunity if you have the nerve. 

It was great to catch up with Marg and Richard who took us to for a drive over the horseshoe pass to Betws - y -Coed where we watched salmon jumping upstream! A lovely day rounded off with a meal at the Chainbridge Hotel back in Llangollen. 

Some beautiful autumn vistas along the way!