Onwards and Upwards

Sorry photo's are back to front this week.



Here we are sat just below lock 83 waiting for BW guys in the morning.

This is Bendigedig & Shush in Castlefield basin off Deansgate in Manchester.

We have had quite a good week for travelling, the weather on the whole has been very good, we have covered 51 miles since last Sunday, arriving in Manchester Castlefield basin on Sat around lunch time after doing a slight diversion to Worsley for much needed fuel. The two boatyards near to Manchester that were showing on our maps have closed since the maps were printed.

Any way, the girls went shopping as soon as we arrived leaving Eric and myself to fill the boats with water and then move them onto the little arm for the night. Although almost in the middle of town it was very peaceful down there and a good nights sleep was enjoyed by all.

No rest this weekend, we had to clear the first nine locks of the Rochdale canal today, in order to meet the BW guys on Monday morning at 8.30. The next 20 locks are chained up each night to prevent vandalism and each morning they have to be unchained. The canal climbs very steeply out of Manchester, consequently it is heavily locked, so we will be quite busy for the next few days.

Thats all for this week folks, talk soon

Middlewich

On the Arm at Whitchurch on Tuesday evening

Grindly Brook middle staircase

Bendigedig emerging from Grindly Brook locks and First mate comming back with shopping

We have flowers in abundance this year, the pig looks good Lisa.

And more, the last couple of weeks of warm weather have made such a difference

We are in Middlewich Cheshire this weekend, enjoying the warm weather, yesterday, Saturday started with a heavy, cold shower of rain, then the sun came out and we basked in it all afternoon, we will be moving on Monday morning heading for the sevices at Anderton, then on to Preston Brook and the Bridgewater canal.

I had to buy an anchor, chain and warp this week due to the fact that we will be going on to a couple of rivers this summer, {what's the correct size of anchor for my 57 ft boat? think of a number, double it and multiply by the first number!!} no one seems to know, not even the chandlers are sure ''er, this one should be plenty big enough for you''. So I hope the one they sold me is ok.

The flowers have been doing so well, we decided to plant some Coz lettuce seeds this week, Elsie planted potatoes a fortnight ago and they are through already,

Thats all for this week folks.

Moving On

York station waiting for the train

Moored on the Prees branch Sunday evening

Sunday morning and we moved over to the services in Ellesmere for water and rubbish, whilst there a holiday boat pulled in behind me, as the lady was pulling the centre rope tight it came off the mooring bollard and she fell backwards cracking her head on the concrete. Elsie called an ambulance and I held a towel pad on the wound, which being a head wound was bleeding profusely, eventually the ambulance arrived and they took her to Shrewsbury A&E for stitches.

Last week we went to York for three days, Lisa & Emyr were going to a wedding so they asked us to look after the girls, which we were delighted to do, we took them down to a local park were they played on the swings in the afternoon and had a nice time. We went up on the train from Shrewsbury, three hours later we were in York, the weather was very kind to us whilst we were there as well.

At the moment we are on the Prees branch waiting to get some fuel from the marina on Tues morning, then we shall be off.

Make and Mend in Ellesmere

Coming up the staircase at Frankton locks

Eric fron nb Bendigedig and the Lockie giving points for

entering the lock with least number of bumps

Heading for Ellesmere

Photo's courtesy of Elsie from nbBendigedig.

We are still here at Ellesmere, getting some painting done and enjoying the warm sunny weather, although that is soon to change if the forecast people are to be believed. Eiddwen and Elsie have been shopping in Oswestry. The number of boats out on the water have increased dramaticaly this week, it being Easter and school hols. See you all next week.

On the move at last

We left Llangollen in company with Bendigedig last Tuesday morning, Eric in front and me tailend charlie and cruised down to Hindford, a distance of 13.5 miles and 2 locks. After a chat we have decided to go down on to the Montgomery canal for a few days, to get a few jobs done whilst this weather is so nice. So we went down the locks on Thursday lunch and moored on the disused arm till Sunday, there are all the facilities here and it is so quite with stunning views. After coming back up the locks on Sunday we moved round the corner and stopped the night, Monday we cruised down to Ellesmere where we shall stay for a few days, we all have things to do whilst we are here.

The reason this is late this week is the new dongle is not as good as was made out when I bought it, Signal strength varies a lot on the canals, by the very nature of being out in the country most of the time, however I did point this out when purchasing said dongle but who ever you purchase from ''theirs'' is always the best regardless of it's actual ability, so I now have 'two' dongles and one of them had better work or they will be going for a swim!!

Will put some pics on next Sunday, as have not yet sorted them out. By for now

Summers Coming

The Orchid garden in Singapore

Bondi beach on a hot Sunday

Victoria Peak Hongkong

It's nearly that time again. After 8 wonderful weeks in Australia this winter, which shortened our winter break considerably we are getting ready for our summer cruise with NB Bendigedig.

Our thanks to Eric, Elsie & Ben for looking after 'Shush' whilst we were away, we wouldn't have been happy going without them here to keep an eye on her. Thanks for the Daffs Elsie.

This year we are going to visit Leeds via the Rochdale and Huddersfield Broad Canals, from there to Liverpool via Wigan and then back to Manchester, onto the Ashton and Macclesfield Canals.

That's a lot of miles and locks but we are looking forward to it, and with no dead line to meet we can take our time and enjoy it, which is what narrowboating is all about, so if Tuesday is as good as the weatherman says it will be, we will be on our way

The end of our summer cruise

Number one granddaughter checking the course !



Snow at the end of October!!

Are we nearly there ?

Number two granddaughter up to mischief

Sorry this is late, for some reason I get a signal on some nights and not on others. We had visitors last Wednesday afternoon, Lisa, Emyr and the two granddaughters, Megan and FFion. as it was half term they were staying until Saturday, They are looking forward to going on Thomas the Tank Engine on Friday at the station in town, he is here for half term. L,E,M and F lovely to see you all.

Elsie on Bendigedig was a mile nearer to Llangollen than us and rang to say that there was room to moor up on the line on Thursday morning, so we left our Sun Trevor mooring and started on the last 2 miles to Llangollen. Over night it had snowed !! so the landscape was transformed, the temperature wasn't that bad though. Megan stayed on the back with me, Emyr was on the towpath ahead of us, this section of the canal is single track in two places, so some one has to go in front to stop boats coming the other way.

We arrived, and found a spot which will do us for the winter. There are several old friends here from last year, and a few new faces as well. Well that's it until next year, hope you all have a nice Christmas and a better New Year than the one we are in.

See you all in April.

During our summer cruise we covered 630 miles, went through 388 locks and used 987 ltrs of fuel.