Summer Cruise Day 4 Audlem locks to Market Drayton

We had a slightly earlier start today.  Hazy sunshine greeting us as we got underway though it was already quite warm.  At Audlem Top lock Chris liberated two Scones with jam and cream from this little self service hut. 

Scones and Ice cream available at this kiosk

 A short cruise brought us to Adderley bottom lock.  Here most of the lock landing had collapsed except the last 6 feet.  A boat was moored at the first available landing spot despite empty visitor moorings as far as the eye could see.  The collapsed bank not visible until I had passed the moored boat leaving me with no alternative but to try to reverse up to his stern and the bank.

With the building wind it was really difficult to back up to his stern  or back past him to enable Chris to disembark.   Despite my cursing, change of engine revs and the to-ing and fro-ing of AmyJo to get into the bank the owner did not materialise until after I entered the lock.  Only then did he appear nonchalantly and move off.  I appreciate he may have been late getting down the locks but he could have been a bit more thoughtful of others and moored further on or moved off early.

The collapsed lock landing and inconsiderate moorer on the right

Boats ahead meant resetting the locks each time

At the second lock Chris was assisted by this cheerful CRT chapp.  He helped with the gates and chatted whilst AmyJo rose in the lock.  He closed the gate behind me as I left with a smile and wave.

Cheerful CRT man

 At the top of the locks we knew was another honesty box.  This one is my favourite as here one can buy the best pork pies I've ever had.  You can see them lined up to the left of the gent.  We left with two pork pies and an apple pie!

Scrumptious Pork Pies and Apple pie can be bought here

 Following us up the 5 locks was a Norton Junction hire boat with a crew of 7.  This gent from the hire boat help us with the 5 locks and chatted away. They were returning and had to get the boat back by tomorrow.  We had a real good natter whilst working the locks. Sorry I did not get his name but if he reads this, thank you sir we are most grateful.

This pleasant gent was one of a crew of 7 on a hire boat behind us. 

Beautiful house above the locks

 On the way to Market Drayton we passed through Bretton Cut.  Whilst leafy and covered by tall trees its nothing like the narrow Grub street cutting however, story goes Bretton Cut is haunted by a wailing banshee so old workboat skippers would not linger here.  We didn't hear the banshee but one can easily see why it spooked the old boaters.  Must be quite eerie at night.

Tree lined Bretton Cut  Quite peaceful as we passed through.

 As we approached Market drayton we passed this line of mooring that reminded me of Golden Nook.  As you can see, the weather was starting to close in and soon after this photo it started to drizzle with rain.

In Market Drayton the Bretton Bridge visitor moorings were quiet and we moored up with only 3 other boats.  Shortly after mooring up we had a visit from friends Carl and Sam who own nb WhyFry. We've not seen them for a good while so spent the afternoon catching up and talking about the sad news of Fernwood boats demise.

 Unfortunately Chris and I forgot to take photos so apologies again.   Later we all went into town for a meal in wetherspoons.  You can now sit at a table and using their phone app order and pay for your food and drinks while seated and it is then served directly to you.  How's that for technology!

New housing and moorings in Market Drayton

Our mooring for the night and an escaping Smudge.

 The forecast for tomorrow is appalling with rain and strong winds heading our way.  We have decided as we are sheltered on our mooring to stay put tomorrow and ride out the storm.  Hope everyone else out there stays safe.

Total distance:3.81 miles Elapsed time:2h26m32s Locks:7 Bridges:11 

Average speed:1.56 mph (3.61 lock/mph) 

Summer Cruise Day 3 Hack Green to Audlem locks 2-3

I woke early this morning a 6am.  I got up and crept about so as not to disturb Chris who surfaced at 8am.  Chris has this thing about not getting up before 8am when not working.  Only exceptional circumstances will get her out of bed before then.  Today was not one of those.

While I readied AmyJo for cruising this beautiful looking boat cruised past.  Hardly a mark nor spot of rust on he.r  Her proud owner informed me she was 14 years old and they were the 3rd owners.  The name then caught my attention, wish I'd thought of that one!

Love that name, made I giggle.

 Now we often get some very nice remarks ourselves about how lovely AmyJo is from gongoozlers and boaters alike when we cruise, but never before have we been watched by a jury of Crows.  I know it should be a flock of crows but there were 12 and each one studied us as we passed. They Squawked amongst themselves like they were passing judgement as we passed.  Wonder if they approved too?

Not sure if these are an honour guard or jury.  Lets hope they let us pass.

 After a while we came across a group of fishermen.  It looked like they were setting up for a competition so I asked one if this was the case.  He grinned and said "Yes, but this is only a practise for the big competition in September,  There will be over 80 fishermen  along here then!"  Guess its worth avoiding this stretch in September then.   Think he said around 8th September or thereabouts.  Surprisingly all the fishermen were quite friendly today, not something we usually experience.

Friendly fishermen setting up for the day

 We soon got to pass by Overwater Marina.  This marina always looks impeccably manicured with cut grass, tarmacked roads and paths and not a weed in sight.

Neat and Tidy Overwater Marina

 When we reached Audlem bottom lock there was one boat waiting to ascend.  Its single handed owner was already resetting the lock.  Chris helped him through and the reset the lock for our turn.  We got through the first three locks with boats descending so made good progress. 

The water point at the visitor moorings was free so I pulled on and filled with water.  This boat was moored behind with some superb watercolour paintings and post cards.

Lovely paintings and cards on this boat

 The water did not take long and we soon got underway again without loosing our place in the queue and, as I pulled off, a boat left the lock ahead, yippee!.

Busy visitor moorings below the Shroppy Fly

 Chris still needed some salad stuff so I moored up again above the Shroppy Fly and Chris went into to town for the shopping.  It was good to see the wharf crane back in situ having been removed to be restored.  It now looks as good as new

Under new management the Shroppy Fly once more looks loved

The wharf crane now fully restored

 It was now 11am and the sun was getting quite hot so we stayed put and had a spot of lunch then continued up the flight refreshed with water and food.

Our mooring above the Shroppy Fly

Welcome respite from the sun

Looks like you need a permit to sit in these then! Mind you they are a bit posh for sun loungers

 Way back in November whilst wasting time on Facebook I came across the Stickmaker's page  He makes walking sticks with very detailed animal heads so asked him if he could make me one.  Today I got a message saying my walking stick was ready and this photo of it was with the message.  Yes its Smudge and I have to say we're delighted with it!  Though the photo does not do it justice.  We'll have to wait until we get back from the cruise it see it for real.

  

Smudge's likeness is very well captured here

With the sun heating up the day more and more we continued up the flight with boats descending at each lock

Plenty of boats descending making working the locks easy

Lovely day for a walk but poor old Smudge was flagging

The great thing about Audlem locks is that the lower gate parapet has steps on the both sides leading up from the water.  This meant I could let AmyJo drift in and armed with the centre rope could get ashore to stop her, close the gate my side whilst Chris shut the other.  We could then both work the paddles making less work for Chris.  We worked this way all up the flight.  Sadly half way up we ran out of descending boats so the last 7 locks we had to turn in our favour.

I always enjoy these locks in such a lovely setting

Up she comes

 Just before lock 3 this lovely boat called Hakuna Matata was waiting for us to leave the lock.  His roof was festooned with numerous tiller pins.  Must take him all day to polish that lot.  Inside is just as shiny too.  I think he must like Brass.

Glad I don't have to polish that lot

or these

 By now Chris, Smudge and myself were feeling the heat so gratefully pulled into the visitor moorings between locks 2 and 3 at 3pm.  We settled the boat on its mooring then all three of us dozed for the rest of the afternoon.  Others must have felt the same as only 2 boats passed us before dinner time.

Total distance:4.10 miles Elapsed time:4h34m12s Locks:13 Bridges:11 

Average speed:1.46 mph (2.88 lock/mph) 

Summer Cruise Day 2 Barbridge to Hack Green

Last night Chris and I went into the Barbridge Inn for a drink and met our friend Eric The Engine (so called as he was once a train driver).  We had not seen Eric for several weeks so a good catch up was had over a few "bevvies".

This morning we got up and underway by 9am.  The sun was already warm when I took Smudge for his morning walk.  We got underway once I got back to AmyJo

AmyJo ready to get underway from the Barbridge Inn.

We had a pleasant run down to Nantwich with very few boats on the move.  Chris wanted to get some food shopping done so we stopped in our favourite spot by the Nantwich Aqueduct.

Whilst the captain moors up the bosun watches on.

Smudge assuming his usual position as deck lookout

 The Nantwich moorings are always busy so we were lucky to moor where we did. There was just enough room for AmyJo with 6 foot of here stern past the mooring post.  We were still far enough away from the Aqueduct itself not to cause a bottle neck 

AmyJo's lofty mooring high above the main road.

 During our walk into town we passed this lovely old cottage that is up for sale.  It's yours for 325K if you're interested.  We called in the butchers and got some savoury sausages then the bakers for bread, cakes and sausage rolls for lunch.

Only 320k for a character home

 After lunch we resumed our cruise for the short run to the two Hack Green Locks near the not so secret secret bunker.  On the way we passed this beautiful launch with gleaming varnish. It must be a full time job to keep her looking so shiny.

Lovely wooden launch

 On arrival at the first Hack Green lock there was a queue of three boats waiting to ascend.  There was also a queue of boats coming down so the wait was not long.  Willing lock wheelers soon got the boats through.

AmyJo enters the first of the Hack Green Locks

 We moored up just after the locks on the visitor moorings for the night.  We have been having problems with our TV aerial not working.  I checked and it looks like while the aerial was laid down for cruising water has corroded the cable connection beyond repair (you can see the old aerial in the first photo of this post).  

A new aerial was bought and so this afternoon I mounted it on the topbox so it need not be moved.  I then ran a new cable into the boat.  We currently have over 200 channels now!  How effective it will be in trees or built up areas remains to be seen.

Our mooring upstream of Hack Green Locks

The new Aerial mounted on the topbox

Total distance:6.06 miles Elapsed time:3h46m42s Locks:2 Bridges:17 

Average speed:2.24 mph (2.24 lock/mph) 

On our Summer Cruise Day 1 Shady Oak to Barbridge

Hi Reader

We're on the move again.  Schools out for the summer break which means Chris is off work too.  This means its time for our annual summer cruise.

Whilst Chris was working to keep me in the manner to which I am accustomed, I made a few more upgrades to AmyJo's Victron system.  Up to now our battery monitor was tucked away on the Datalink box in the depths of a narrow cupboard.  Getting to it was not easy and I was not happy with it as it was not working as it should.

Following Del and Al on Derwent6 (http://derwent6.blogspot.com/) I replaced the battery monitor with a new one that has built in Bluetooth so now I can see whats happening from my iphone.  I wanted this one to be more visible so after moving the central heating control over to the left I fitted it in the space created.

After moving the heating control to the left the BMV fitted in nicely.

I connected everything up and powered on.  All was well, the BMV was working showing the correct readings, however the colour control display (CCGX) was not showing the inverter.  I double checked all the connections to no avail.

After several diagnostic attempts and after upgrading the firmware to the latest release, Victron recommended I contact a local Victron rep and they would replace it under warranty as the VE.bus interface was no longer working. Not, I might add, due to anything I had done.  We think it had gone a few days before and had not been noticed

The hole where the Colour control display (CCGX) should be.

Up to now we had been moored at the Shady Oak pub but needed water so we decided to move.  Colin, our Victron engineer assured me the CCGX controller would be with him today so he would meet us at Barbridge.

Leaving our mooring at the Shady Oak

Its only a short run to Wharton lock but as we arrived a boat was just entering so we joined them and locked up together.

Despite the awful forecast the weather was kind to us and the sun shone warmly

There were the usual queues at Iron lock and our lock partner asked if I wanted to pair up with him in the lock.  I politely declined adding it was foolhardy to go in with two boats.  My advice was ignored and he locked with another boat only to get his bow stuck on the upper gates cil flooding his well deck.  Tragedy barely averted they tried again only for the other boat to get wedged.  After much filling and emptying they managed to get up to the scorn of the other boaters waiting to descend.  We followed on our own, as did the other boaters. No photos to show I'm as Chris was busy opening and closing paddles.

At Stone Lock a smokey haze was emanating from the lock keeper's cottage garden and a lot of activity was seen.  Seems as of last Wednesday the cottage has new owners who intend to renovate and extend it making it into a 4 bedroomed house.  I do hope the extension is sympathetic with the original style.

Smoke and contractor vehicles outside the cottage

Entering Stone Lock

The garden and old caravan have been cleared away and hedges trimmed

Yours truly trying to hold AmyJo against the Tilston lock being emptied

At Tilston lock the other two boats had already gone up so we reset the lock.  Once in the lock Chris took this photo.  AmyJo looks tiny in the double chamber.  We found that if both upper paddle were opened 50% AmyJo would sit comfortably without swinging about.

AmyJo looking small in the double chamber

At Bunbury we passed one of the boats that attempted Iron lock and at Anglo Welsh yard were relieved to see hardly any boats moored up.  The other Iron lock boat was moving into the lock and Chris informed me two were descending and to hold off.

A rare sight, an empty Anglo Welsh wharf

 Today we had two volunteer lockies on.  One of the boats was only a 30 footer so, unusually, the lockies insisted the boats motor over diagonally to the opposite side of the next chamber instead of moving forward then roping the boat over.  Much to the annoyance of the elderly crew of the second boat accompanying the small boat

To add insult to injury the second boat got its stern line wrapped round the prop so the locks had to be completely emptied to get it off.

Rope clear the last boat eventually moves forward under the watchful eye of gongoozlers

Whilst all this took place Smudge did what he does best and found the biggest log he could then settled down to chew it.  Its a wonder his mouth isn't full of splitters (we do check). 

Having dealt with novice, ignorant and indignent boaters the pair of lockies could finally stop for a well earned cuppa after we cleared the locks.  These guys give up their free time, without pay to help you down the locks, they don't have to, but they do, so please, do cut them some slack heh!

Heading off for that cuppa

We had a good run down to Calverley services where we disposed of rubbish and topped up with water.  Just before heading off we spotted this day boat moored outside the Cheese factory and was across the cut.  clearly the stern line had come adrift.  By the time we reached it willing hands had recovered it.

Day boat being hauled back to the bank

A clear run to Barbridge saw us moored up outside the Barbridge inn.  A call from Colin, the Victron engineer, told me our colour controller had been received from Victron and he was on his way to us with it.  

And hour later it was installed and up and running.  Colin runs his business from offices above the Cottages by Taylor's dry dock in Chester.  He can be found at http://offgridhappy.com/. I can highly recommend him.

New unit installed and working

Total distance:5.89 miles Elapsed time:5h10m7s Locks:6 Bridges:10 

Average speed:1.14 mph (2.30 lock/mph)