Onward to Calveley where BW do us proud

Audlem to Calveley, Shropshire Union Canal, 10 miles 4 locks

The pump out machine to empty our grey tank was hungry and ate my card, I fed it another but it was full up and spewed it out giving me an electrical shock as a warning to keep away! There are no other diy pump outs along here, only the one at Calveley..

But before all that, and just before we pulled the pins this morning.. hey, hey, hey ….

No worry, it is only British Waterways moving a pan!  And on up the flight of locks it went.. I do hope it didn’t sink at some stage today..  And we worry if we have a bit of a list!

Sun was out most of the way, just a few showers and the wind wasn’t too bad, very enjoyable..

On past again, one of these days we will stop here at Barbridge Junction and test out the beer.  But it was Calveley that we were aiming for today, for the services..

“Well we can’t do anything about it today, its 3.30!”  Well I guessed they wouldn’t, so I asked if it was OK to pull back to one of their vacant permit holders moorings to wait for an engineer.  That was no problem.

I had to walk to the bridge ahead too to get a signal for the phone, bridges are always a good place, It’s not that they are super high, I guess it must be the fact that you are over water.. (no phones aboard again friends and family!).  I hadn’t been back long when there was a knock on the door… British Waterways had sent someone down to turn the pump on manually for us.. It wasn’t even 4pm.

They did us proud today, responding super quick to a reported failing.  Not only that, but the BW guy did the pump out for us too!  Well done BW!!

Is it sabbotage? And a pint and a pie in Nantwich

Moored Audlem, Shropshire Union Canal

I caught him this morning first thing…

Ah ha…. here is our phantom canal breach maker I thought!

Well with all the fresh breaches on our system over the last couple of weeks, I had to keep my eye out for clues didn’t I!

But no, tis not him after all.. I spoke to him a little later and we talked of the breaches “Doubt whether the new one on the Llangollen will be repaired by Christmas”.  Yet another holiday disappointment for that canal.

Audlem is a lovely village you know, and it even has it’s own fire station..

It also has a bus service to Nantwich which meant a trip out for us..

I managed to get some Christmas pudding bowls at last in the market today, I have been looking for weeks for some, hey guess what I am up to in the next couple of days!  In fact the ‘kitchen stall’ in the covered market has one of the best collections of kitchen things that I have seen anywhere, it even rivaled Lakeland.. brilliant it was.

A pint and a pie made a great half day in Nantwich.  Not a clone town at all, some of the buildings are very old..

A lot of charity shops in the main high street, there are two in the building in the picture.. but venture down the ginnels and the side streets and there are specialist shops to browse.  If you are near this town it is well worth a visit beit by canal or bus, or even the train.. the station is to the north of the town..

Why oh why are there never instructions with the printer as to how to feed the paper, which way up or round to print a copy double sided on a piece of A4?  So I tried one way.. nope printed the same side second time.. OK turn that bit over.. nope, it has printed on the other side, but it is upside down.. then you have to remember what you did the first time.. so there must be only one way left.. great stuff, that’s it….. but no, after all that now the bloody ink has run out!!

Teehee!

Brilliant concert from the Royal Albert Hall on the Beeb tonight for Children in Need innit?

Not had a rant for a while....

Moored Audlem, Shropshire Union Canal

We should be in Chester now, but with the bad accident that Meg had a week ago to the day we have had to rest her from the towpath and from stress.  We did move down the Audlem flight of locks yesterday, but she had to stay inside in the back cabin on the floor.  She was really upset, shaking, worrying and wondering why she was being treated so badly.. best we just hold still until she is able to run the towpath again for sure..

Given me a chance to take a look at other things going on apart from our cruising.  Breaches are becoming an expensive problem.. Shebdon Embankment was closed through the holiday period from August right through until November closing off the popular 4 counties ring.. Now the Caldon canal has a breach at Leek.. and even worse the Llangollen Canal sprung a leak AGAIN yesterday near Bettisfield.. Pic from BBC

“Phil Jones, a councillor for Bettisfield Council said he thought badgers may have been responsible for the breach as they had been digging their setts in the embankment for "quite some time."

I say AGAIN, because the same thing happened in 2004, according to the BBC…

“Badgers have been blamed for the collapse of a 40 metre stretch of embankment on the Llangollen Canal” 

BW were pile driving yesterday when the breach occurred.. I have to wonder why an assessment was not done first.  Badger setts should be monitored more strictly on these embankments, we have seen plenty on the cuttings here on the Shroppie and wonder if they won’t bring all the soil down closing yet more canal.

Can’t these badgers be moved to a suitable site?  It’s not that BW are totally unaware of them they just don’t seem to be monitoring them.  Let’s face it, each time there is a breach it is costing BW up to half a million pounds to fix, plus there is the compensation.. yesterday’s breach flooded a house and drowned a car, farmers are non too happy having their land flooded all because of badgers.

So why not have your say about it.. and Have Your Say on Inland Waterways in Wales.. except you can’t travel by boat to anywhere where you can have your say.. Doh!!..

“Members of the public are invited to have their say on Wales’s inland water when the Sustainability Committee Chair goes on the road this week.

The National Assembly for Wales bus will be visiting Betws-y-Coed, Wrexham, Carmarthen and Merthyr Tydfil on Friday 20 November and Saturday 21.”

VAT goes back up to 17.5% on 1^st January, and BW say that if your licence is due at the end of December you have to pay for the renewal before 23^rd of that month to qualify for the 15%, any monies received after that will be at 17.5%.. That is except for Gold Licence users who will have a window of between 23^rd and 31^st to get the money in.  Licence fees are the same for next year, but will be going up sometime in 2010, along with some new rules… sheeeesh new rules, new rules.. One of them being £7.50 extra if you pay by credit card..

Many thanks for all the useful comments about t-mobile and NABO from the last blog, keep ‘em coming

Oh one comment just in from Roger Haynes..

Tried using T-Mob and Firefox, will not
connect.  But using IE Tab addon for Firefox it
worked fine on T Mob.

Now that’s an interesting one to try.

Early start is scuppered when we go to set off to Audlem

Adderley to Audlem, Shropshire Union Canal, 2.25 miles 12 locks

We were looking forward to today, we were actually going to move!  No phone reception and very little internet can be very frustrating, but so can not moving.. for sure we are continuous cruisers and that we enjoy doing, there is no way that we could be ‘bridge hoppers’ cruising from one bridge to another then back again..

Early start turned into a slightly later start because just as we readied I noticed a boat in the bottom lock of the Adderley flight even at that earlyish hour.  I am not one for pulling out in front of another boat.. there must be some urgency in the crew behind to have done 5 locks before 8.30, so we let them go, only to see the skipper of the boat moored in front of us come out of his doors and loosen his ropes!

That’s it, cuppa tea time.. and smiles all round.  Hey I could have stayed in bed another half hour! After all there had been only a handful of boats past us during the 5 days we were moored, then all of a sudden…

We were soon down the Audlem flight though and caught up the other two as we neared the bottom.. Mr Tesco duly turned up at the Shroppie Fly…..

Couldn’t get much closer

He was amazed to just pass it all through the window straight into the galley.. that’s the way to do it!  Post to collect from the Post Office and a tankful of water before we dropped down one lock to moor on the embankment.  Just in time too, today had been wonderfully sunny, but not long after mooring the wind was blowing hard and the rain heavy..

I cannot connect to the NABO (National Association of Boat Owners) website when I am on t-mobile, I can when on orange.  If any of you readers are on t-mobile, would you mind clicking on this link ———> here (it will open in a new window) and tell me, by leaving a comment, if you can get a page up or just a white screen.  T-mobile say it is the NABO website that is causing the problem, NABO say it is t-mobile or my computer!

I am sure it is NABO and whatever they have in their page coding.  There is an AGM coming up very shortly and I would like to bring it to their attention, but need some support that it is happening to others too.

Bit better for Meg and Adderley's old lock gates dumped

Moored Adderley, Shropshire Union Canal

Well the boat looks a treat, some extra pictures on the walls, odd shelves made for here and there, kitchen cupboard partitions in place, computer spring clean, the ‘kitchen drawer’ aka known as the dump cupboard mucked out..

We have not been bored over the last few days that’s for sure.. But today was important, Meg had a visit to the vet after her accident the other day and all is well thank goodness.  I noticed though when the bandages came off that it wasn’t just her pad that was cut there was also a gash in the back of her leg.. I did wonder at the time why there was so much blood.. anyway there are 10 stitches in total, the little gal was a tad lucky I think!

I don’t have any pictures other than where we are now.  I can’t take Lucy out walking because Meg is only allowed to go out to relieve herself, no walking.  I did take Lucy up the locks on day one, and Meg got very upset and kept crying..  Still we are on the move tomorrow as we have all but run out of fresh food, there are no buses around here.. We’ll drop down the 9 locks to Audlem tomorrow where I have ordered a tesco delivery outside the Shropshire Fly Pub. Lucy will run the towpath while Meg no doubt moans on the floor of the back cabin!

Was disturbing news at the weekend with the threat that the government might sell off the British Waterways property portfolio to fund the national debt.  I remember at the last General Election the conservatives said if they got in they would do the same to fund redundancies would you believe. 

Bad move Mr Brown.. will it mean the end of some of the more neglected waterways.. I know it will mean more from us in licence fees and more too for those wishing to hire boats.. Less funding next year, no income from waterside properties.. maintenance on the waterways down could mean hire boats getting caught away from bases oh that is if customers can afford them… See Mr Brown, it would be a bad move just on those couple of thoughts..

Not impressed with that load of wood.. it is in fact a pair of lock gates dumped out of sight in the woodland beside lock 2 of the flight here.  Yes a good idea to let the wood rot, but no not a good idea to leave on all the steel bolts and plates which are now totally rusted!

Over the weekend I redesigned the Boaters Blogs page.  I hope you like it, it contains little pictures of all the blogs plus there is a list of blogs that have been recently updated which you will see each time you go there.  If you’re a boater blogger and your blog is not there let me know and I will happily add you.

It will be good to move away from Adderley, we have no phone reception inside the boat, that includes vodafone, orange and O2.. the internet connection is absolutely dire on T-Mobile.  I will have a go at posting this blog… It is now 9.45pm, I wonder how long it is going to take me to get it to upload..

The calm before the storm at Adderley

Moored Adderley, Shropshire Union Canal

Just me and Lucy this morning…

Just above the top lock this.. and there is no wind or rain! That has come now though but we made sure we moored where there are no trees around..

I got to thank you all for your wonderful comments and well wishes for poor Meg who had an accident yesterday, it has been so nice to read those today, although I don’t think they are showing on the blog, I do see them via email, I am sure they will go on later.. sometimes that comment thing can be slow…

As for Meg, she is still suffering.. enough for me to give her extra pain killers today, and she has been on her bed since this morning struggling to get off the boat a couple of times today for a pee. 

I hope to be able to publish this blog, it has taken 12 minutes to upload that photo!.. I don’t think the internet can be slower than this can it?!

It doesn’t matter.. I have spent more time on the floor with my dog than fiddling about on the internet today…

Blood, blood and more blood at Adderley

Market Drayton to Adderley, Shropshire Union Canal, 3 miles 5 locks

Couldn’t have been in the worst place last night when I had to call for help for young Meg.  There is very little internet connection where we are moored and no phone reception inside the boat, and we had an emergency on our hands, and here 24hrs later, emergency over..

Meg had cut her leg somewhere, at one of the Adderley Locks, “Someone recently has had an accident here” said Vic looking at all the blood around.. goodness there was a lot, and as he went to let the water out of the lock, I looked again at all the blood and thought “Hey wait a minute there is more there now and some of it is wet!”.. “Drop the paddles quick and come help!”

I needed a tight bandage below her shoulder in the end to stop the bleeding, but I couldn’t see where it was coming from there was so much of it.. half a kitchen roll had gone and still it wouldn’t stop.. I was worried that there would be a dead dog aboard No Problem..  Once I managed to stop the bleeding I bandaged it up and she stayed aboard while we finished the three remaining locks of the flight of five. 

It was late in the day because we had spent the morning at the excellent market in Market Drayton, there was not going to be enough light to get to the next town, Audlem, another 2 miles and 9 locks away. We planned to do that early this morning and take her to a vet on the bus to Nantwich.. A taxi would be out of the question.. I would only have to tell them I had a bleeding dog to transport!

It’s a long story, last night.. I won’t go there suffice to say that between daughter Wendie’s computer, two mobile phones, one in contact with a vet, one to her we managed together to get help.  It was gone 9.30pm you see, when Meg got up to have a drink when her leg started to bleed again so badly the floor was awash!..

We carried her to the nearest bridge about 200yds away, gawd knows how, but one does these things sometimes.. Vets from Market Drayton arrived in a van to this remote spot and away she went for the night.

Stitches to her main large pad which had been badly cut by something or other, I could see what I thought was a nick to the pad once I had cleaned it, presuming that the source of the injury was higher up in her tendon.. But as you can see, now she’s fine, knocked out a bit, very tired but fine.. and me?  I am about the same!

Pea souper delays us leaving for Market Drayton

Knighton to Market Drayton, Shropshire Union Canal, 5.25 miles 5 locks

Gosh it was dank and foggy as I went on deck this morning, the visibility was around 30yards.. “I’m not moving in this!”.. “But two boats have passed” said itchy feet Vic.. Heh, he wouldn’t be the one on the tiller would he!..

Over the weekend I finished the last of the varnishing.. it was slow going on Saturday, I think my body had had enough of working above my shoulders.  Each brush stroke on the ceiling was killing me.. but I did it!!  I kept promising myself that I would have the most laziest day ever the following day…

So Sunday came.. and I did absolutely nothing!.. well that isnt exactly true, I finished putting the 4700 odd picture album back on the server.  It had been hacked in the spring, well my whole website had, from the inside of the server people would you believe..  I know there are a lot of you who have asked when I would be putting it back.. well here it is ——> Picture Albums

I found myself another web server in the United States this time, but it has taken me all this time to get all my pages uploaded.

Well we did move eventually today…

After lunch dropping down the very picturesque Tyrley Locks.  These locks drop the canal through a cutting of stone.. gawd knows how they managed to get the canal through this place.. but it is the same all the way along this canal, the earth and stone from the cuttings was transported to make the huge embankments.. if it wasn’t for both of those there would have been scores of locks..

Mooring spots are wonderful on this canal too especially on the top of some of the embankments, but special equipment is recommended..

Where there is an embankment there is always protective concrete along the edge.. a shelf in fact below the water line, but not below the bottom of boats.. these wheels keep the boat from knocking against the shelf.. I got these from screwfix.. handiest bit of kit especially on the Shroppie!

I see they emptied the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct.. There is a great pic on my blog from 2007, which I took from the valley below, of NP actually going over the aqueduct!

The water falling out of the bottom into the River Dee (pic from the beeb).. there is a lovely article about it on the BBC website here.  A young lad won the chance to “Pull the plug” by winning a competition, in fact there is a lot of information in the article plus a video of the event.

We have moored just outside Market Drayton on yet another embankment, it’s very quite here indeed although we are less than a mile away from the town.   We might stay tomorrow and visit the market on Wednesday, apparently it is a very good one..

Grubb Street Cutting memories as we cruise to Knighton

Norbury Junction to Knighton, Shropshire Union Canal, 4 miles 0 locks

Animal (AKA Dyson) did a magnificent job this morning.  I took the opportunity to use the power plug in from the boatyard before leaving to save the batteries later.  There was enough dog hairs in it by the time I had finished to knit a couple of jumpers!

I could see NP’s floors again and the taste of sawdust was gone.  Now we just need to get rid of the varnish fumes…

One loaf of bread from the shop at the Junction and away to find somewhere extremely quiet for the weekend.  I was delighted that the visitor moorings at Knighton were empty, delighted and surprised.. I thought there would be a lot of boats moored, but not one..

But before that we enjoyed a short cruise which took us through the wonderful Grubb Street Cutting..

And past the home of Trevor who did the signwriting on our boat a couple of years ago.. he did one side from his own boat and the other in a little row boat.. There is a super picture of him doing the actual signwriting on a blog of mine in August 2007

I don’t know how he manages to live in this cutting, it is completely sunken from the land above and covered in trees.. but he seems so happy there..

The Anchor Inn is one of the more unusual pubs on the waterways, just up from Grubb Street cutting.. It’s an early 19^th century pub that a previous landlady ran for over 70 years before new owners took it over.  I believe it is open each day now, I remember some years ago it was only open at weekends.. In 2007 we enjoyed watching the Mikron Theatre Company perform one evening on the field just to the side.. blimey the queue for the beer was down on to the towpath!

Shebdon Embankment has been recently opened after a ‘hole’ was bunged up by British Waterways.. it took since August to do the job.. but all quiet there today in the misty gloom..

In fact we never passed a boat today.. mind, we didn’t go very far.  It is so very quiet here, just what we needed after a hectic couple of weeks at the boatyard.. and no fireworks will be heard from this spot, it’s too remote!

Ah well… just the one coat of varnish to put on the roof panels tomorrow then….. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Refit is complete by Norbury Wharf

Moored Norbury Junction, Shropshire Union Canal

Well the final bit of the fit out of the back half of No Problem was completed today..

I’m nearly there with all the varnishing, the walls have had their three coats and look a treat, and today I managed to put a second coat on the ceilings.. I say managed, I have had the most dreadful cold this last week, I really don’t know how I have managed to do all this.  I was going to Stafford today to pick up a picture frame that I ordered last week and also to meet my friend Annie from NB Moore2Life currently moored at Great Haywood.  I was up early this morning intending to catch the once a week bus from the Junction here at 9.15, but it was going to be impossible, I was feeling so poorly..

By lunch time I felt an awful lot better, so thought I would tackle the ceilings.. well they really do need doing quickly you see because with two very hairy dogs and a wood burning fire it wouldn’t take long to ruin the wood if it wasn’t protected..

One of the panels that was fitted when we were here last in the Spring has had to be refitted as a snag item, and that also got the treatment today.. Wendie, notice the difference?   We had one or two snag items over from the Spring refit, and they were all fixed by the fitters yesterday.  We have replaced all the hire boat strip lights with LEDs, including one in our utility room and two in the bathroom, one in the centre and one under the new bathroom cupboard… hooray let their be light!!

But there is a lot of debris around, it has been difficult to keep the dust and dog hairs down, so there has been no sweeping allowed during the last few days… one more coat then major clear up time for sure!

Engine room has had some tlc, oil change, starter batteries top ups and general engine and stern gland checks all done by Vic.. out of my way while I sneezed and sniffed into the varnish can!

I have been very pleased indeed with the work carried out here at Norbury Wharf Boatyard.  Their staff are always cheerful and helpful and busy as they are, they always have time for their customers.  The work has been carried out to a high standard, and any snagging has been put right without any hesitation.  I would totally recommend them to any boater who wants quality work done…. Heh, and I got no discount for saying that either, give them their due, they are good!!