We woke up yesterday morning to find rain and really dark clouds all around. So we waited and waited.

At 1.00pm the skies cleared and we set off.

We had 3 locks to go through before the Grindley 3 rise.

The first lock was easy, however, the Llangollen is fed by a river, which means a constant current flowing all the time. As we waited to approach the second lock, the overflow channel had such a force of water flowing through it, it pinned us to the side. So much so, we had to wave the next boat through to the open lock, so we could free our boat up and proceed. The force of the water was so great, it was the first time we had to use full power to push the boat through it. We did hit the brickwork on entering the lock at full speed, but the Llangollen is very narrow in places.

We completed the Grindley rise in rain, but proceeded on. Finally mooring in the middle of nowhere.

It was very cold last night so for the first time since May we lit the fire.

Today we did 8 miles through very agricultural scenery, and arrived at Ellesmere. On approaching the town we passed the lake Mere which the town is named after

We will be staying overnight in the arm leading into the town, then tomorrow, we wll turn the boat around and moor it in the local marina for a week. This is because we are travelling to Ireland for 5 nights with friends in North Wales. We have wanted to see the "Titanic" exhibition in Belfast, since it opened lat year, and our friends have arranged it all for us.

Unfortunately this means the blog will not be updated next until Friday 7th September. But thank you all for following our little adventure. (So far 2800 views) 

We did make it to Wrenbury last night, but only just, before the heavens opened again.

We had a very nice meal in the Cotton Arms, before returning, once again in the rain.

Today we walked into Wrenbury first thing this morning, which is a very picturesque village.

On returning to the boat Pete did his engine checks, before we set off.

 We did 7 miles and 4 locks today in glorious sunshine.

We are now at Grindley Brook.

The Llangollen canal is hire-boat heaven. Although it is the private boaters who show no respect for other boaters. We did however help a hirer today who had become wedged on exiting a lock. Now as every boater knows, if you get stuck, revving the hell out of it will not help. They thanked us for our help and continued slowly.

Tomorrow we have 3 very close locks followed by the Grindley 3 Rise locks, which, weather permitting should set us on our way to very easy cruising to Ellesmere.

Yeterday we left the Trent and Mersey and joined the Shropshire Union (Middlewich Branch)

The weather was very pleasant, if fact we wore shorts.

As you can imagine on a Bank Holiday weekend it is very busy.

We did 10.81 miles including 7 locks before we reached Barbridge Junction. This is where we join the main line of the Shropshire Union Canal (Shroppie).

We moored up for the evening and visited Ye Olde Barbridge Inn. Very busy but able to sit outside until around 8.00pm.

We had heard that a festival was on at the Jolly Tar pub. But on approaching we could hear loud heavy metal music, which is not our taste.

Today we set off and after a mile on the Shroppie we joined the Llangollen Canal at Hurleston Junction.

 

 

After 4 locks and filling up the water tank, we have set off for Wrenbury. However heavy rain has halted our progress, but we hope to continue later.

 

 

As we are now in more countryside, we sometimes find it difficult to obtain a signal on our mi-fi unit, as it works on the same principle as a mobile phone. So please  bear with us.

We travelled from Northwich to Middlewich today. The canal was very scenic, but lots of reeds causing the canal to be a single lane in places.

The (wich) in these places ie Northwich, Middlewich)  means salt. They are salt producing towns. This has caused a lot of subsidence within the area.

Middlewich is a lovely little town.Today they had a market, selling good quality products. We bought 5 cheeses from the Cheshire Cheese Co, which are great tasting cheeses.

Despite the weather forecast, it has been lovely and sunny here.

Today has been an easy day. Tomorrow we join the Shropshire Union Canal then the Llangollen, and locks which we have not encoutered for about 40 miles.

We arrived at Anderton around 11.30am on Wednesday. We were told that the next available slot was 1.30pm.

 

 

At 1.00pm we were on the holding mooring and being briefed.. At 1.30 we manoevered the boat into the lift basin, then along the channel and into the lift. Another boat came alongside.

 

After the completion of safety checks, we started to descend. A little bumpy at first but then gliding down the 50ft to the bottom. It takes 7 minutes in total.

 

 

Once released we moved out onto the River Weaver. A very slow winding river.

 

 

After passing through Saltersford Lock we contined to the Acton Swing Bridge and moored up for the night.

 

On Thursday we left quite early and headed back to Anderton to drop our guest off. We then proceeded to Northwich. After visiting the town centre we headed back to Anderton.

 

 

 

 

We stayed at Anderton last night.

 

This morning we set off early as we have had problems with boaters speeding past.

 

When we arrived back at our boat last night, a neighbour boater was hitting our mooring pins in. He told us that a boat had gone past so fast that it pulled our pins out, and we were drifting across the canal. (Hire Boats)

 

We are now moored outside Northwich.

 

We have decided that we have enough time to go to the Llangollen Canal, which we did 10 years ago in a hire boat.

 

 



We moved from Lymm yesterday, travelled for 7 miles and moored up at a place called Moore. The Bridgewater Canal is a very easy canal to travel. No locks or swing bridges, so we make good headway.
We had a good meal at the Red Bull Inn, before having an early night. (No internet, radio or tv reception)

Today we left the Bridgewater Canal at Preston Brook. Went through the tunnel (1239 yards) and the canal has halved in width. We are now back on narrow canals until we join the Severn at Stourport.

Tomorrow we are meeting friends and going on the Anderton Lift. This takes the boat down from the Trent & Mersey Canal to the River Weaver, which we hope to explore for a couple of days. (and no flooding this time)

We will update photos tomorrow

We moved from the Trafford Centre yesteday, and decided to go for it.

We passed through Stretford and Sale in Manchester, which is surprisingly clean and pleasant.

We then moved into the countryside, and at a place called Little Bollington, we entered Cheshire.

After 12 miles of travelling, which took 4 hours, we arrived at Lymm, in beautiful sunshine.

Lymm is a lovely little town full of small bars and restaurants including: Italian, Turkish, Mediteranian, Indian and Chinese. So we are spoilt for choice.

We decided to stay for another day here, but had no internet connection so we shuffled the boat around, and we are now connected.

This morning we took Wallace around the Lymm Dam

Lymm is quite an affluent place, with even the public toilets having an oriental sound to them

We will be setting off again tomorrow.

Feeling apprehensive about the weather, we set off at 11.00am

We have now joined the Bridgewater Canal.

At Bridgewater Boatyard we removed our wet weather gear as it had become to hot.

The canal water became a yellow/orange colour due to the minerals in the surrounding area.

We passed through Worsley on the outskirts of Manchester, and the buildings looked amazing.

We then had to cross the Manchester Ship Canal. This is achieved by using the Barton Swing Aqueduct Bridge. A great feat of engineering. The aqueduct has hydraulic plates that will seal the aqueduct on either end, and another set of plates seal the canal ends. The aqueduct/bridge is then rotated to allow large vessels using the Manchester Ship Canal to pass.

We luckily escaped the rain, and are now moored outside the Trafford Centre.

If you have never heard of it. It is the second biggest shopping centre in the UK. We did visit it this afternoon, but after spending 2 hours, and not completing a lap of the lower floor, we gave up.

May be a late start tomorrow.

We left Dover Bridge this morning, after a day of rain, but a much needed break.

We are now back to our normal pace.

We stopped at Leigh near Manchester for water and supplies. And to be honest after looking around the centre, that is all it is good for.

Continuing on we realised that at Astley Green, there was a museum of the coal industry including Astley Colliery. So we went and had a look

We were informed that they would be starting the pit head engines up and if we wanted to see it working we were more than welcome.

At the height of production these steam driven engines were lifting 9 ton of coal every 2 minutes. Amazing.

We met a man who worked at the colliery from 1957 -1965, who told us all about the conditions, and the closure programme.  Astley closed in 1972, although it was one of the most successful pits.

Tomorrow we will be in Manchester. Wendy wants to visit the Trafford Centre..



We set off early yeterday, and arrived at the top of the Wigan flight of locks at 10.30. We then both filled up with water.

The weather was fantastic, warm and sunny.

Pete & Mark then went into action preparing the locks. Wendy and Jean steered the boats.

We had a flight of 21 locks, followed by another 2 later on.

Pete & Mark soon had a good system going, and Wendy & Jean were entering and leaving locks together, like synchronized boating.

The first 12 locks went very well. Then we hit a problem. A boat in front of us had stopped for lunch, but had left a lock paddle open.This drained the water in the pound he was in, and the one we were approaching.

A  British Waterways official turned up, and advised us to stop in the lock. He then went back up and drained water from pounds above us. As more and more water came towards us, we opened one paddle in the lock we were in, to start filling the pound below This delayed us for about half an hour, but gave us a chance to have a bite to eat and a drink..

Finally we moved on, but we found other locks, which had paddles left partly opened.

After 4 hours we had completed the flight. Shortly after, we came to Wigan Junction. Straight ahead, the Leeds and Liverpool Canal continues its course to Liverpool. To the left is the Leigh Branch, which is the route we took.

After negotiating the final two locks, we started to hit countryside again, passing Scotman Flash (pictured above) a resevoir used to fill the Nortern canal systems.

Finally we arrived at Dover Bridge, where we moored up by The Dover Lock Inn, for a much needed meal and drink.

We have 2-1/2 miles of the canal before we leave the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, having completed 97 miles, 87 locks, 40 swing bridges in 25 days (9 days of which were spent at Hapton)

We will be joining the Bridgewater Canal tomorrow, as today we are having a well deserved rest day.

We  are also saying goodbye to Mark & Jean, as they are moving on today. They have been great company and we will miss them.

Yesterday we travelled through Blackburn.
Although we had heard conflicting reports, it was very good. Everybody was really friendly, and we met up with a really nice couple, who came through the 6 locks with us.

As with any city you get good places and bad places.

We travelled 4 miles further than Blackburn, and moored up in torrential rain at Riley Green. A small hamlet, but really pretty.

In the evening we went to the local pub and had a superb meal followed by a drink with our new found companions. We finished the evening, back on our boat, watching the closing ceremony of the Olympics.

Today Pete walked the 3 miles to our first lock. (mainly because he had run out of tobacco) So Wendy did her first solo run.

We completed the 7 locks, once again with help.
It has been sunny but very windy, making the maneovering into the locks an adventure.

We are now at Addlington in Gt Manchester. Yorkshire and Lacashire have now passed.

Our next challenge is the Wigan Flight. 21 locks in just over a mile.  That is 3 miles away from where we are moored at present.

We have had 2 busy days  so we are not sure what to do tomorrow. We really like the companionship and company we have enjoyed during the last two days, and Addlington has very little to offer. We will see what happens tomorrow???

London 2012 Olympic Games

Although I have finished working at Kraft Foods, I volunteered last year to help at the Olympics. I travelled up to London from Hapton to Euston Station on Sunday 5 August, arriving at Passfield Hall, my accommodation for the week.   I started my first shift on Monday morning at Hyde Park.

Wendy working at Hyde Park, selling chocolate and ice creams in the Cadbury Treat Hut

Lunch break at Hyde Park

As part of my volunteering I received a ticket to the Olympic stadium to watch the athletics.  This was a fantastic experience and I even managed to meet up with Hazel and Peter Brook, which was amazing considering the number of people at the stadium.  The highlight of my experience was watching Usain Bolt run in the 200m heats.

Usain Bolt crossing the finishing line

Wendy in front of the Orbit Sculpture at the Olympic Stadium



London was really impressive and the organisers of the Olympic games should be proud, everyone was really friendly and help was on hand at every corner..



We were also taken on an evening trip up the Thames, to see the lights of London, once again this was an experience not to be forgotten.

London at night from the Thames



I consider myself really lucky to have been given this opportunity to volunteer at the games and it will be an experience I will always remember but 5 days in London is enough and it was lovely to return to the tranquillity of the boat and cruising the canals.



We are on the move again.

We set off at 09.10 this morning, and arrived at Rishden near Blackburn around 14.00.

The scenery has been stunning and the weather is very sunny and warm.

Rishden is not the most attractive of places, and the state of the canal reflects this. (Rubbih everywhere)

Wendy will update you on her Olympic trip later.

Tomorrow we will go through Blackburn. We have heard conflicting stories about it, but we will make our own decisions.

Below are some of today's pictures

We are now moored up at Hapton Boatyard.
We have found the railway station, so Wendy can catch the 09.38 train to Preston tmorrow, so she can be in London tomorrow afternoon.
The pricing for trains never seem to amaze us. In Skipton, we went to the railway station and tried to book the tickets. They wanted £238 for a return ticket.
We looked online for the same tickets, and found that they were £208. But if you tavelled first class, you could buy the same train time tickets for £153.
We walked into Padiham yesterday. It is the next town about 1 mile away, unlike Burnley, it is clean and very friendly. The bus costs £1.48 and takes about 10 mins. So I may be taking an excursion next week.
I do have a few jobs to do on the boat. As you can imagine, we have gone through over 300 locks
Concrete versus metal. Concrete always wins (see below)

We had a very peaceful night last night despite what we were told.
Today we set off and headed towards Burnley. Everybody we have met has told us to pass Burnley as quick as possible.
We found the journey into Burnley very enjoyable, the scenery was very interesting.
We were told that we could moor by Tesco and shop near the canal. As we approached we saw a number of men drinking from clear bottles, trying to thumb a lift. So we continued.

We then found the BW services at Rose Grove, where we stopped. We found the local shops and topped up supplies.

We continued to Hapton. This is where we will be staying for the next week, as Wendy will be going to London on Sunday as a volunteer for the Olympic games.

So, Pete has  a good view, a shop, takeaway and pub.

Our blog may be suspended for a week as there will not be much to report, sorry about this, but we will continue. Thank you for following us

 

Last night we stayed at Foulbridge, but had such bad mobile signals we could not update the blog.
Foulbridge itself is a lovely little village. However, they do not have anything in the way of shops, just 2 pubs, one of which looked a right dive. We had lunch at the New Inn, which was excellent.

Today we moved on through Foulbridge Tunnel (approx 1 mile long, see below)

Entering Foulbridge Tunnel

The end is in sight

Wendy steered through the tunnel

 

We then had to go through a flight of 7 locks. At the first lock, we were met by a man who had a boat moored in private moorings. He informed us that 3 boats had been broken into last night.

We have been told that the Burnley area is not a safe area to moor. So we have moored up in the middle of nowhere, and after checking the area out, we are near an industrial estate, about a mile from any houses.

Tomorrow we will travel right through Burnley (10 miles but no locks)

We suppose that it is time to get back to reality