Exhaustion, relief, elation, achievement, fear and pride all in one week – a veritable tidal wave of emotions has swept us along.
A week ago we were moored at Gunthorpe on the non-tidal River Trent waiting to leave to head towards the tidal Trent. We had our anchor at the ready, our lifejackets on whatever the weather and our nerves jangling.
Since then we have taken our narrowboat home through beating sun and relentless rain 62 miles and 5 large locks along 18 further non-tidal miles and 43 miles along the tidal Trent. We are now moored just one mile away from Yorkshire.
The most dramatic elements were once we came off at Torksey and headed into Lincoln for a city breather. We moored up for a relaxing lunch only to have a huge willow tree shed a massive bough just alongside us – fortunately not on top of us. Then coming into West Stockwith and Keadby Locks it’s important to head past the locks with the tide and then turn your boat accelerating hard against the flow to come back into the locks. Steve on the tiller made it into West Stockwith at his first attempt, earning a 10 out of 10 from the lock keeper. He got praise at Keadby too but was not as happy with the turn and found the tide taking the boat further from the lock side on than he intended. Still we got in without injury or incident.
We had a reminder of the dangers of the river as we left its waters. A boat that came loose from its moorings at Gunthorpe and which drifted before sinking, was recovered by a wreck barge. We saw its 4 white fenders floating above the scuppered boat and imagined it to be a small cruiser. Imagine our horror when the barge came past us this morning with the boat alongside. Andromeda emerged as a pretty large cruiser that had been completely hidden from us in the waters and mudbanks of the Trent.
The Boating Association’s map book was invaluable for navigation along this tidal stretch, detailed, and informed. It allowed us to avoid the sand or mudbanks and hazards of Bubble Rack, Marshall’s Parlour, Stony Bight, Dandy Cocktail and No Man’s Friend.
We saw Bob the buoy – whose meanderings up and down the river are legendary. He is to be ignored rather than used as an instruction. We discovered interesting places we would never have discovered, like Misterton Mother Drain’s pump houses Kate and Ada, West Stockwith’s Idle Brewery and Cromwell’s Milestone Brewery. There’s a theme emerging here!
It’s good to have company on adventures and we managed to travel part way with nb Oleanna from Cromwell to Torksey and the entire way from West Stockwith to Keadby with nb Great Escape.
What have we learned this week? Fear of the unknown has been banished – to be replaced by a fear of the known! Respect for the river and its tides is now ingrained within us. We pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone, and pushed the boat harder for longer than ever before. We have travelled faster in our home than ever before and further in a very short space of time and managed a lovely family catch up.
Since we determined to beat the blockages whilst moored at Marple, we have travelled 198 miles, 4.5 furlongs and through 70 locks and 1 tunnel. That journey to date has encompassed 74 miles 4.5 furlongs of narrow canals including 47 locks; 44 miles, 5.5 furlongs of broad canals with 16 locks; 7 miles of small rivers; 28 miles 5.75 furlongs of large rivers; 43 miles 4.75 furlongs of tidal rivers and 7 large locks.
We’ve earned a break, a pause for some work, and the next leg of our trip will take us up to Ripon – more rivers, more tidal waters and more canals, a mere 89 miles and 16 locks.
Sink or swim is the refrain running through my head…along with waving or drowning. Our plan to beat the stoppages blocking our route to the Rochdale Canal has given us insights and challenges beyond our expectations.
We’ve made our way across the country from west to east and are now moored in Nottinghamshire, on the non-tidal section of the mighty River Trent at Gunthorpe. This tiny village was founded by the Danes in the ninth century – as they came the other way to us along the Trent!
Even allowing time to working and socialising (of which there has been plenty this week) we are moving with intent, and alacrity for slow movers. Just a week ago we were in the rural village of Alrewas in Staffordshire, since when we’ve managed 47 miles, 1¾ furlongs and 21 locks taking us from narrow canals to broad canals, to small rivers and now onto the large River Trent. We have enjoyed city life in Nottingham and reunions with former colleagues as well as boaters we spent lockdown time moored near.
We have just 18 miles 6 furlongs and 4 locks to go before we reach the tidal section of the river – for us, the big unknown.
Those boaters who have travelled tidal waters have been incredibly supportive and generous with time, practical advice and in one case, thank you Deolali for photocopies of the tidal charts which Steve has been poring over and committing to memory.
Social media groups are invaluable and enable us to find others making the journey with whom we newbies can buddy up – safety in numbers and all that.
I guess academics who study such phenomena would instantly identify that it isn’t fear that we are experiencing, but anxiety. Fear is a response that protects us to current, identifiable threats (sinking, running aground, being faced by a hungry crocodile – fortunately the latter are non existent on the River Trent). “Anxiety is a response to a potential threat that may or may not occur” (Asmundson, Norton and Vlaeyen, 2004). In my case they stem from not knowing if I’m going to manage to negotiate lock landings coming from a fast-flowing river, to running aground, to not being able to get the boatdog off safely if river moorings are a long way down from the riverbank.
Psychologists say it’s important to manage anxiety to prevent it from becoming a paralysing factor. For me, experience and memory are coming into play to resolve presumed issues – nothing needs to be done at high speed – approaching lock landings slowly gives time to evaluate and weigh up the options. To date all the big locks have been operated by lovely lock keepers which means all I’ve had to do is get a rope around the risers that can then hold us steady as the lock fills/empties. That fear is subsiding as a result.
Running aground? We might but looking at other boaters’ experienced on social media makes me realise that’s not the end of the world – we have charts which should enable us to avoid the possibility but if we did run aground waiting for the next higher tide would do the trick – another anxiety busted.
Not being able to get the dog off? There are ladders in some moorings, and I’ve invested in a doggy backpack so I could climb the ladder with both hands, knowing she’s safely secured on my back. So far, we haven’t needed it – everything’s been pontoons or jumpable. She also has a lifejacket, although it doesn’t impress her much and it’s been very hot wearing it this week.
So, as in every unknown situation – taking practical precautions and conducting research is invaluable. Doesn’t stop the butterflies, but in part, they heighten our awareness and responses, which can be essential.
Remembering others have been doing this journey since the ninth century in boats that had none of the safety equipment we have on board also helps!
We need challenges, to push ourselves out of our comfort zones, to try, to fail, to learn from failure, to achieve in order to feel alive.
In other news, the locks that caused us to undertake this cross-country voyage are in part still causing problems. The Marple Flight (lock 7 in it) will be out for a considerable length of time, lock 87 in the middle of Manchester which closed on 6 July opened again this week but the Rochdale Canal has issues still between Locks 41 and 43. We shall save the Rochdale for another year and enjoy the experiences of the tidal Trent in the meantime. I wonder how far we’ll get during this coming week and hope we won’t sink or have to swim… and if we do – we’ve all got our lifejackets.
We started our week in Marple, feeling frustrated and stuck. We finish it 52 miles, 31 working locks and 1 tunnel further on, feeling positive and upbeat in one of our favourite places.
Galling for Steve to realise he and the boat weren’t the photographic centre of attention for once – that went to the glorious Basset Hound
Moored as we now are at Great Haywood, on the edge of the historic Shugborough Estate, we are treating ourselves to a day of long country walks before heading off once more to cruise into Derbyshire to meet up with friends.
Movement, changes of scenery, and in our case a change of season en route have served to put us back in the positive. Taking control of a situation which was not of our own making but which thwarted our plans every way we turned, has been liberating in more ways than one.
We u-turned on the Peak Forest Canal to travel the entire length back down the Macclesfield Canal. We had originally seen this as a way round the lock failure in Manchester, a way to get onto the Rochdale that would take us on a new route to Yorkshire but this week it felt like backtracking with purpose. As we turned onto the yellow ochre waters of the Trent and Mersey at Hardings Wood Junction we rather hoped we were putting this year’s travelling onto a positive footing.
Not what you want to see in a tunnel!
The Scarecastle Harecastle with its skeletons and ghosts always feels like a significant passage point – the movement in our case between CRT’s North West and West Midlands regions. Suddenly we were encountering more boats moving, more hire boats which is good to see – commercially for the businesses that run them but also for the people being brought onto the waterways to enjoy and appreciate everything they have to offer.
Stoke on Trent is a favoured spot for us to overnight – I used to work for the BBC in the Potteries and it holds fond memories. The place is as vibrant as ever – potteries remain and in many cases thrive here although they no longer use the canal which was built to service them and the mines in the area. New service industries like Vodafone and bet365 are springing up, but like in any UK city we encounter, homelessness and dereliction are alarmingly still apparent alongside the shiny new exteriors and evident economic wealth. After heading through Stone, we passed beneath under the evidence of 18century industrial show in many places including the regimented beauty of the red and brindled brick Salt Bridge at Salt now a Grade II listed structure.
This week with its new month, has heralded the start of autumn, with atmospheric, dreamy misty mornings. It’s set me musing…
This week’s travelling turns out to be a bit of a metaphor for life – if something feels frustrating, you feel stuck in a rut, trapped (by your own actions or someone else’s) – take control of at least part of your life and make changes. It will bring new perspectives, new energies and revitalise you. Our work is still the same, our home is still the same, but by taking control and choosing a new route to go in, we are experiencing new perspectives, new positive energies and feeling revitalised. Try it for yourself – it can be something small, or big – the choice as they say, is yours. Enjoy your week and whatever control you choose to take to make a change, to feel liberated and empowered.
The week ahead for us will be a chance to catch up with friends, family and our post! It will also be a daunting one as we head tidal on our first leg of the River Trent and its tidal waters – gulp!
The River Trent will be a lot wider and more intimidating by the time we head onto it
There is only one way to go right now for us, and that’s retracing our steps – literally.
We are currently moored some yards from the junction of the Macclesfield Canal with the Peak Forest Canal having come up the Macc this week. Our aim was to head down the Peak Forest Canal via the Marple Flight onto the Ashton Canal and then nip into Manchester to join the Rochdale – finally!
However, the best laid plans of mice, men and continuous cruisers regularly go awry as Rabbie Burns sagely advised!
If we go up to the junction we can’t turn left there because that leads to the 16 lock Marple Flight. Lock 7 is suffering from subsidence on the lock side and a movement of the wall of the lock chamber so none of us can start the flight from either end.
Steve spoke to an engineer on site this week who has told us that they will have to monitor the lock for some time to evaluate movement. It was an experienced boater whose boat got stuck in the lock, extracted her boat and raised the alarm. Had it been a less experienced boater the situation could have had very serious consequences.
So it looks like the Marple Flight won’t be open for weeks at the very least. Option 1 is to sit here and wait…and wait…and we’ve worked out we’re not brilliant at waiting at someone else’s behest for unidentified periods of time. We can’t wait here indefinitely either. We can get water here but we need to dispose of rubbish and empty the chemical toilet cassettes and we can’t do that here as CRT sold off the former facilities for housing and the new ones aren’t up and running.
This will be the new Marple services block
There are facilities at Bugsworth Basin if we turned right at the junction but we couldn’t get to them either as there’s a faulty lift bridge along there that can’t be lifted to allow boats through.
The update on that is not looking like a quick fix either. “..we have identified several issues that are making the bridge inoperable. Whilst we continue to liase with out contractors who are making the replacement parts, which has an approximate lead time of 6 weeks…” They are doing a lift of the bridge for an hour or so on a Thursday from next week so we could go to the services eventually but it’s a canal dead end at Bugsworth Basin and Whaley Bridge.
The only realistic option is to turn and go back the way we came, all the way down the Macclesfield Canal (which has been lovely as it always is), back onto the Trent and Mersey.
From there we could go for Option 2 back the way we came, up the Bridgewater into Manchester to the Rochdale but Lock 87 which was the reason for us doing the detour we have is still out of action. A bus lane closure has had to be requested to enable the repairs and it appears that this should be in place on 20 September so somewhere after that date the Rochdale could be accessible. However even if we did get on locks 81 – 65 are out of action because of a problem at lock 77 (see the pattern of the 7s? It was Lock 57 on the Trent and Mersey where we waited earlier in the summer!). Then locks 43 – 41 are out of action because there’s an old mill being demolished which is collapsing into the canal and may result in debris needing to be cleared from the waterway. So the Rochdale isn’t looking brilliant – there’s a fallen tree at 31, but that will probably be sorted relatively quickly, and there’s a paddle not working on lock 11, which should also be easily resolved.
So getting onto and up the Rochdale really looks frustrating from every angle. We’ve been told it’s beautiful which is why we wanted to cruise it en route to Ripon Basin in Yorkshire, the most northerly point on the network but that beauty will still be there next year… or the year after if the Rochdale remains navigable.
What other Options do we have? Well, the whole reason for going up the Rochdale was to get to Yorkshire and there are other ways to do that.
Option 3. Back down the Macc, up the Trent and Mersey, turn onto the Bridgewater, onto the Leeds and Liverpool and head up the Wigan Flight of 23 locks although there seems to be a problem with one of those locks at the moment due to vandalism. There’s a water restriction the entire length of the canal which could create multiple issues and is unlikely to be rapidly resolved.
It is amazing – stuck as we are, we do seem to have multiple options. Option 4 is to go to Yorkshire via the Midlands and strike out in an easterly direction. Down the Macc, along the Trent and Mersey, onto the River Trent, the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, Aire and Calder, Selby Canal, River Ouse and Ure Navigations before heading onto the Ripon Canal. That’s 267 miles 5¼ furlongs and 84 locks which is the least number of locks of any option. As a route it has 23 moveable bridges, just one tunnel (Harecastle aka the Scarecastle which we know well) and includes the excitement of 57 miles ¾ furlongs of tidal waters, some 15 miles 2½ furlongs of commercial waterways, small rivers, large rivers, narrow locks, broad locks, large locks and one major waterway lock.
We can’t stick to this timescale but if we can keep moving we should at least get there!
So Option 4 it is – Yorkshire here we come – via yet another route!
On a more serious note though, the frustrations we have faced this summer with the network in the North West lead us to ask if there is a way continuous cruisers like ourselves can support Canal and River Trust to maintain and repair canals more effectively than they are doing now. We want this historic network to be available to our children, grandchildren and their children to enjoy.
The Trust is a charity. One which is spending significant time and sums publicising the fact that it believes future funding cuts by the government are putting our canals at risk. The funding cuts are in the future and obviously a worry but the situation NOW is also a serious concern, at a time when funding has not been cut, but appears to indicate that the charity is unable to manage the job it has committed to. How those of us who want to help and who use the waterways regularly can help is something that remains to be explored. Currently, we collect rubbish from the waterways as we travel, and we report issues that we experience as soon as we see them (often to be told CRT are already aware of them). This year, we have experienced 5 closures when we have been told by regular users of the stretches where these issues have occurred, that these stemmed from incidents that had been previously reported. Prevention is better than cure, and that means economically – issues that are left, only to be dealt with when a collapse happens, are invariably more expensive, and more time consuming. This is an increasing problem with an ageing, historic network.
The network is recognised as historic and specific parts especially soOn the aqueduct (on foot of course – can’t get the boat down here because the locks are shut)
How can those of us who care and want to help, support CRT to look after the waterways more effectively? I don’t have an immediate answer, but I do believe that all of us who passionately believe in the value of our waterways need to be involved as part of the solution.
Holidays can be delightful opportunities to catch up with family and friends. As more hire boats appear with families on board, we left the canal last week to catch up with significant others in bricks and mortar life.
Lovely as it has been, it’s also lovely to come back to our gently rocking home. Possibly one of the best feelings is turning onto the towpath where we moored to see our home both where we left it and in the same state as we walked away from it. We were lucky this time that friends from a nearby boat kept an eye on nb Preaux, sending reassuring WhatsApp updates on a regular basis.
On our return, we find there has been a big change to our boat – she has shrunk. Her 50-foot frame is now housing us, a boatdog, and an energetic 5-year-old who appears to come with SIGNIFICANT LUGGAGE. Small as he is, he fills the boat delightfully – crayons, papers, books, toys, all add to his clothes, shoes and make us wonder how boaters with children on board full time actually manage! Boatdog finds it entertaining – more small spaces for her to curl up in and more cuddle time.
Ever since he was born we’ve been hugely lucky to have Tommy aboard for overnight stays, and now school features large, our summer holiday together is a long-awaited, eagerly-anticipated annual treat. We combine our time together with trips to see family so he, and we, get the fun of watching generations grow up together.
Last year, we headed to the delghts of Cornwall and family there, this year to Yorkshire, where teenagers proved patient, thoughtful, and went out of their way to make his time special. Parks, scavenger hunts, and an evening football match – they thought of everything to make his time with them fun, and he benefited immensely from seeing for himself what it means to be a totally terrific teenager.
They and he, enjoyed time with us older generations – identifying leaves, berries, wildflowers and birds. All generations exchanged stories, memories, knowledge, and also totally different perspectives on family members – many long gone. All these threads add new colours and strands to the rich tapestry of family.
Tommy at 5¾ was able to educate us all about Pokemon. He’s fluent about the names and skills of the characters on hundreds of cards, if a bit hazy still about how to play the associated games or swap duplicate cards.
This intergenerational learning is invaluable for us all. It makes us all feel valued, part of a greater unit, and reinforces our sense of belonging. Information, skills, attitudes, and habits are shared, observed, and understood. It’s a time to get multiple perspectives on those imponderable questions of long hot summer days (or wet soggy ones) like this year’s Are there crocodiles in canals? and Why aren’t there crocodiles in canals? and Where do people come from?
In less mentally challenging conditions, it’s amazing how everyone joins in on a scavenger hunt, and the treasures from oak apples (product of the gall wasp), spiky sacs of sweet chestnuts to feathers (swan, pheasant) become sought after by us all, surrounded by stories of the natural world surrounding them. They have been transported triumphantly back to our boat before they finally make their way back to his home, accompanied by no doubt sightly garbled recollections of the stories surrounding them.
Once back at the boat he was keen to find the surprises that are always hidden somewhere on board, and within seconds new games, books and Great Granny’s Smartie contributions were unearthed.
Together we’ve become enthralled with the humours horror of David Walliams’ Ratburger and obsessed with poring over Martin Handford’s Where’s Wally Now? (Don’t have a problem with Wally but we are all struggling with Woof the dog who is only ever seen by his stripey tail!).
Summer holidays are for many families a really special time for intergenerational learning, sharing and relationship building. We are lucky that it’s been the same for us, but we’re aware that it isn’t just within families where this wonderful learning happens.
A Heritage holiday boat passing our mooring
For many canal holidays are a great place of family time and learning. Whilst in the past holidays were restricted to just days now and again, rather than weeks, canals themselves are historically the scene of intergenerational learning – when cargo boats plied the waterways, whole families lived on the water because it made economic sense – the barges were places of work and home, and the more hands available to help speed the cargo on its way meant the quicker they were able to deliver the quicker they were paid and could take on the next load. Perhaps because of their unique way of life, boaters like travellers were a close community and often married other boaters.
Children learned by observation – of their parents, siblings and peers. Often families worked the same waterways so for example on the Leeds Liverpool Canal many generations would see each other as they worked like the Martlands around Burscough or the Vickers near Preston. Children would be learning how to handle the horses, ropes, cargo and boats not only from their immediate family but from uncles, aunts, and grandparents also on the cut.
Observational learning is something we’ve been grateful for – watching other boaters and learning from them, grateful too for the generous sharing of knowledge on the cut which comes from boaters young and old keen to help others enjoy the life we find so rewarding. Maybe in years to come we can all join as a family on one of the Navvy camps helping to restore our canals.
We took a boat 34 years ago to our wedding not a narrowboat but a ferry boat with Jimmy the ferryman at the helm. I wore white with white wellies.
The waters were not a canal but those of Loch Linnhe. Our destination was the Cathedral Church of St Moluag on the Scottish Island of Lismore. Ours, on The Glorious Twelfth, was the first marriage that year in the register.
We should have used this name for our boat!
Since that amazing day we’ve been blessed with two amazing daughters, their delightful partners and a fantastic grandson who is now five. We’ve shared our life together living in England, France, Switzerland and now on a narrowboat crusiing GB waters. We’ve walked companionable miles with our canine companions who over the years have included working cocker and clumber spaniels , a dachshund, a Cairnish terrier, a lab cross collie and now a cockerpoo.
We’ve climbed career ladders and chosen to step off them, realising that living life to the full means much more than living to work.
We’ve learned much – about each other ourselves, formal and informal knowledge, and now know…
Compromise isn’t the end of the world and can earn you brownie points for the future.
Keep doing new things together and having adventures together
Give in sometimes
Keep separate tubes of toothpaste
Particularly living on a 50ft narrowboat 24/7 – take walks together and separately – the therapy of walking puts things in perspective and its easier, less confrontational, to have difficult conversations when you’re side by side
Ask yourself- does it really really matter to stick to whatever your point is? Will the world end if you back down?
Keep some of your own interests – relish time apart
Remind yourself regularly what you loved about your partner in the beginning and see it anew
Invest in each other- with the things that really matter- time and shared experiences
We married for better and for worse. We know we couldn’t have done better but we also know we could have done a hell of a lot worse!
We gave ourselves a real treat to celebrate our anniversary this year – a night in an historic hotel with a big bed we could exit on both sides and a BATH. Boaters will understand our delight!
It really was a wonderfulway to celebrate 34 years together.
Is it that we have created a life with less to worry about that makes living and working afloat good for our wellbeing?
Is it that we live more simply?
That we travel more slowly?
That we live amid and amongst nature?
That water, with all its beauty and calming properties, forms a permanent backdrop to our lives?
That we live in a constantly changing, stimulating landscape?
It is all of these things, and this week has brought into stark focus two additional crucial elements that add significantly to wellbeing – belonging and community.
We have been lucky this week to get hold of the car and be able to support boater friends on nb Warrior with lifts to and from hospital, and to have the support of other boaters in our time of real need – at 4.25am on Wednesday morning to be precise.
For the first time ever, we found ourselves cast adrift, almost completely and literally. It is seriously disconcerting amid the normal noises of a narrowboat in a wet and windy night to suddenly feel a huge thump. It shouldn’t be possible. Tied bow and stern, front and back by ropes to the side of the canal a boat has the capacity to rock a little in wind, to bump gently only because there is a small amount of give in rope but not enough to result in a thump. I opened an eye. Boatdog stirred in her bed as Steve was hastily dressing and heading out into the howling darkness.
Only that evening we had turned and headed our way back to find a mooring after a week of travelling which had led us to find 2 day limited moorings, followed by a longer term mooring so silted up that we ended up leaping on and off the boat to reach the towpath. (Our gangplank is currently off the boat still – a casualty of reducing the amount on the boat roof to go across the River Ribble and through Manchester). Then we went to a mooring further on but better, and then returned to where we needed to be to find a single mooring ring which needed to be supplemented by a mooring pin. The mooring ring is a steel ring fixed in this case within cement on the towpath – solid, secure, and the rope from the boat runs through it from and back to the boat.
There are two main ways such a mooring can come loose – the knots you tie on the boat can unravel if not tied securely, or the rope is cut. We knew the rope on the ring was securely tied – when we had arrived at that mooring we had swapped the rope at the centre line with that at the front to give us sufficient length to tie secure knots.
The rear or bow was a different story. It seemed from what was left behind that rings had been removed from the area, and so the bow demanded that we hammer in a mooring pin to attach our rope. We had multiple attempts to find a good place – the first few were just too loose, not gripping, but sliding into the ground like butter – never a good sign as that means they slide out as easily. We could see other areas of fractured divots, indicating where other boaters had also faced issues. Finally, we got a pin to stay firm and attached the rope. It seemed fine, and when we checked it before bed, it seemed to be holding.
During the night, the rain came down, softening the soil, and the wind built up. Eventually, the pin gave up, and as the wind pushed the boat out, the pin pulled loose, setting the boat free as it was dragged into the water complete with the rope attached to it. Our boat, our home, our office, our workshop, pivoted right across the canal. The front remained attached but struck the boat ahead of us as it was flung around by the wind.
Steve made it out into the wet, windy dark by jumping from the bow onto the towpath to find the couple from the boat ahead of us already out, woken by the thump of our boat on theirs. Our centre line was too short to reach the bank from three quarters of the way across the cut. Our neighbours lent us a rope to add to our centre line, and Steve made his way along the gunwhales to attach it and bring the extended line back to shore. Together, they tugged from the slippery wet towpath against the gusting wind to bring the boat back. I emerged on the bow, recovered the rope and pin, and found myself utterly confused about why we should be resting against another boat when we hadn’t double moored! It took a moment for me to realise the situation, and by then, with difficulty and the help of our neighbours, we were returning to safety.
We were completely across this part of the cut when we awoke
It took three pins and numerous attempts by torchlight to secure the bow to a mooring. With every thump of his mallet, Steve winced at the noise ringing out across the cut, and we were convinced waking every boat in earshot. (It turned out not everyone had been woken, as the wind took the noise away as rapidly as it had whipped away our boat). Steve then found hinself staying awake to watch the mooring anxiously until the wind died, it got fully light, and we could move the boat to a more secure spot where we could moor on chains to piling.
Still watching mooring pins as dawn breaks
Our neighbours on nb Splash were immensely generous with their time and assistance in the damp, dark and howling early hours. Whilst not able to take up our offer of a daytime thank you drink as they were moving on, I am sure we will meet them somewhere on the network at a time we can actually exchange names and thanks once more.
Such is the generosity of the boating community, and it is a valuable part of life afloat. Over our years we have lost count of the number of times we have come across boats half moored and half adrift, or completely adrift, and we have in each instance re-moored them to the best of our abilities, the most recent just a few weeks ago. Not yet have we come across a boat with people on board or at night in that situation, but I have no doubt that if we did we would come to their aid just as our neighbours did for us this week.
That’s what community and belonging is about – supporting others when they need it and hoping there will be support for you when you are in need. Living afloat is good for us – full of calm, karma, and community. It’s an excellent recipe for a satisfying, if not always easy, life.
Water has ruled the start of this week for us – too little and too much.
The Bosley and Marple flights which between them account for 28 locks on our journey, have both been subject since 5 July to restrictions due to a lack of water. Both flights were due to close on 31 July because there just wasn’t enough water in the reservoirs that feed both the Macclesfield (Bosley) and the Peak Forest (Marple). The significant rainfall that we’ve been well aware the area has been experiencing for the past few weeks has now led to Canal and River Trust extending the closure notice to 14 August. They have said they will keep reviewing it though, so there is hope that we could extend our stay in the delightful village of Bollington in what’s known as Happy Valley. Our life is after all a journey, not a sprint, it’s about savouring experiences and enjoyment.
Even water collection and waste disposal can be a healthy sporting and pleasant experience
So last Saturday saw us moored on the River Dane aqueduct at the foot of the Bosley Flight, ready with 10 others waiting for the Sunday opening of the locks at 8.30am. The flight is currently open from 8.30am on Sundays and Thursdays with the last entry up or down at 1pm.
We and others began the day clad in waterproofs from head to toe, helping those ahead of us.
I headed up to Lock 8 with Unforgettable, the first boat for its owner who had just bought it and is single-handing up aiming ultimately for York – maybe we will see them there in due course. Unforgettable was ahead of Forget-me-Knot the 94 year old power for Hazel a 108 year old wooden butty (unpowered) boat, whose original purpose was to carry salt. Through Bosley Locks the two cannot travel together, so a crew of volunteers emerged through the rain to come and act as ‘horses’ bow hauling, or towing the butty up the entire flight. Every moment I glimpsed them it was through driving rain so I don’t have any pictures of them making their way up the flight. My pictures were from later in the day as they moored up in Macclesfield, or passed us the following day.
Hazel is now working as a wellbeing boat, supporting people to improve their mental health by getting close to the water, to nature, getting people active whilst also enabling them to experience the values of a slower pace of life for a time Profile – NCBA (national-cba.co.uk). These are all advantages those of us who live afloat are well aware of and it is wonderful to see one of the old wooden working boats coming back to life providing such a vital service to communities.
We were well behind Hazel – about 4 boats behind, just behind Wojtek named after the wonderful soldier bear who lived with Polish troops until he retired from active service and found a new home in Edinburgh. Edinburgh: Soldier Bear Statue in Honor of WWII’s Wojtek the Bear Unveiled at Princes Street Gardens (warhistoryonline.com) The floating Wojtek’s crew are headed for Sheffield where they will moor their home and take up places at Sheffield University and Sheffield Hallam University next term.
With six boats coming down we were able to benefit from crossing over in the pounds at times which speeded our passage up the flight. Sandpaper weather was a feature of the day – wet ‘n’ dry, wet ‘n’ dry.
We managed the services at the summit – I dropped off the rubbish bags and an Elsan to empty whilst waiting for the final inches of the lock, and Steve dealt with those whilst I moved the boat on slowly, clearing the lock for the next boat, and reuniting at the next bridge. Boatdog and I then jumped off so she could enjoy a good walk to the first of the swing bridges, a key and button operated one. The second is a manual swing bridge just outside Macclesfield.
Whilst others were stopping in Macclesfield one of our favourite locations was calling us – Bollington.
We have little time on the boat this week as we will be heading south to bid a fond farewell to our lovely sister-in-law, Linda who died last month, and whose funeral is this week. She was amazing – suffered hearing loss as a child after contracting rubella but shd didnt let that or worse to come hold her back. Myotonic dystrophy is cruel but Linda taught us all to win with the hand you’ve been dealt, and make the most of the life you have.
We were brought together by marrying two brothers in the same year. Since then we’ve shared much together over the decades in England and in France. For many years in the UK we lived not far from each other. Christmas and particularly Boxing Days used to be great family get togethers usually involving nerve-wracking dramas of trifle transportation and ferociously competitive games.
Getting together at Thrupp
In recent years although unable to access our boat, she has been able to visit us afloat, and we were hugely grateful to be able to see her in May at her lovely home when we were working nearby.
It will be an emotional week, but we don’t have to worry about leaving the boat thanks to Bollington Wharf who found space for Preaux whilst we have to be away. Since we made it up the Bosley Flight it’s been a strange time – Steve will only be on the boat for two and a half days this week because his mum needs help with hospital appointments and other items, so we have grabbed time together with gratitude when the rain paused, to blow away the cobwebs.
The climb up the Gritstone Trail to White Nancy perched on Kerridge Hill has to be one of our favourite walks just as Bollington has to be one of our favourite locations on the canals. Shaped like a sugar loaf, White Nancy was built by the Gaskell family in 1817 to commemorate the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo. It was originally a summer house or folly but the entrance to the inside was blocked many years ago.
The views from the top are expansive – across the Cheshire Plain to the mountains of North Wales and the Pennines to the north and east.
Climbing up to see the beauty laid out beneath you is breathtaking. It was the first visit for Boatdog 2, a walk which Cola her successor made and enjoyed several times even in his old age. Walks and views like this make us hugely grateful, not just for the life that lets us discover them, but also for the health to be able to enjoy them. Linda’s sad loss makes us determine once more to make the most of every moment.
That gives us pause for thought, and pause in our travels for a while if we can. We have now got ourselves to just 22 miles and 34 locks from the Rochdale Canal. Steve is perhaps more excited at being just 38 miles and 69 locks from the Yorkshire border!
What will determine our next move will be the opening times of the Marple Flight which we need to tackle before they close. At the moment the locks are open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 8.30am with the last entry at 12 noon because of low levels in the feeder reservoirs. We won’t make those locks this week because I don’t want to singlehand the boat down the flight while Steve is away on those days this week. We would love to be able to make it down the locks on Tuesday 15 August but that all depends on whether the rainfall means the locks really will have to close on 14 August in which case our last chance to travel up will be the Glorious Twelfth. It could be one way to spend our wedding anniversary (no. 34) although we had planned a somewhat quieter day!
Another week, another set of new experiences, new views, new challenges and new knowledge. Life afloat may be many things, but boring isn’t one of them.
Last weekend we took ourselves part way up the Middlewich Branch off the Trent and Mersey, in part because we could, and we wanted to keep moving. We went far enough up to turn, and then headed back down, making our way slowly back up the Trent and Mersey to join the boats pausing at Wheelock waiting for Lock 57 to be repaired. It was good to meet up with other boaters, some of whom we’ve known online but not in person for some time, and others who we had met on the Ashby last winter. Convivial conversations in the Cheshire Cheese passed some time, and we enjoyed walks along the canal, strolls into historic Sandbach and took a bus to Crewe, but our poor internet connection pushed us into another move.
Moored with coalboat Halsall at Lock 59 away from the M6
We took ourselves from Wheelock up to lock 59 and walked up to see the progress at the damaged lock. The original heel post was being braced with steel by a specialist team of two by the time we got there, but impatient boaters had circumvented the locks and chains over the weekend before the scaffolding was put in place, and caused more damage in the process. Engineers determined that the second heel post needed bracing, and a balance beam needed adjustments too. The weather wasn’t kind to those repairing but they soldiered on. One of the team said he had to tumble dry his clothes twice when he got home that night.
They worked solidly for two days to complete all the repairs, the scaffolding team came from Sheffield, and by Wednesday afternoon ahead of expected schedule, the lock was able to be tested by coalboat Halsall – keen to move on and keep to their promised schedule, delivering diesel, coal and gas to boaters across the T&M, Caldon and the Macclesfield. By early afternoon we too were moving through the lock in sunshine, assisted by Canal and River Trust staff checking the lock as we went.
In the repaired Lock 57
Four hours, four miles and 12 locks later after negotiating some low pounds and blustery winds which buffeted the boat about, we were mooring for the night at Church Lawton. We were glad of Halsall’s company for much of the journey but they carried on as we stopped, keen to get to the Harecastle Tunnel for an early passage next day.
For us the next day brought sunshine and showers to join us through 7 miles and 7 locks, that took us onto the Macclesfield Canal to Congleton Wharf. The Macc is one of the most delightful canals, historic market towns and villages cluster along its route. It hosts beautifully crafted bridges and views to the Peak District never fail to lift the spirits.
My spirits needed lifting as before we turned on I was so busy concentrating on getting the boat safely into the lock through the wind and rain that I looked down not up and forgot the low bridge before Lock 41. I walloped both the internet aerial and our wonderful new chimney from The Little Chimney Company. Both are now in need of remedial work.
Still, we are now safely on the Macc where water restrictions have been lifted somewhat. Both Bosley and Marple flights of locks currently only open 2 mornings a week were due to be shut due a lack of water on 31 July but that has now been extended to 14 August which means we can take a more leisurely approach to travelling north.
We took time to moor up in Beartown aka Congleton. The story goes that the town, famed for bear baiting used money left to it to buy a town bible to buy a new bear when their previous one died just before a Wakes week in the 1660s – the holiday of the time commercially for tourists and townsfolk to flock to the town and its then ‘key attraction’.
More palatably, the town was home to Elizabeth Wolstenholme Elmy, who Emmeline Pankhurst called “the brains of the suffragist movement”. She was a determined but tiny woman if the lifesize statue to her really is lifesized.
Another of the town’s statues was created by sculptor Amy Goodman after local people raised thousands for its creation. Treo was a Labrador cross who saved countless lives sniffing out buried explosive in his work with the army in Afghanistan.
Congleton was a centre for leather work, lace making, cotton spinning and ribbon weaving. It also housed a silk mill built in 1752 that was once one of the largest textile mills in the country. When we move on we will pass through Macclesfield, Bollington and Marple, where more mills rise proudly alongside the canals reminders of the silk, corn, and cotton industries, which once thrived here.
Congleton’s Old Silk Mill
We aim to pause at Bollington, heart of Happy Valley for a time as we like the place so much and which is good for a stop as we have other demands on our time apart from travelling. Once there we will be just 31 miles and 45 locks (about 20 hours journey time) from Ducie Street Junction, our connection to the Rochdale Canal.
Our detour. Dotted line indicates route yet to complete to reach the Rochdale
Those travelling the way we originally intended, through the heart of Manchester from the Bridgewater Canal are expecting an update on August 1 about the damaged lock 87 which resulted in our lengthy 97 mile 83 lock absolutely delightful detour to access the Rochdale Canal. It’s not a race but even with our pauses we need to make along the way, will we arrive on the Rochdale waters before them?
Years ago I ran a higher education Master of Arts degree in communications. This week has brought home to me again just how vital good, clear communication is to us all.
In the mass media we’ve seen again the resulting maelstrom of rumour and speculation that takes off when hard facts are not communicated clearly. People interpret what they hear in their own ways colouted by their own knowledge and experiences. Communication isn’t just about how and what is delivered but how that is received.
Here on Narrowboat Preaux this week we’ve been both poor receivers and experienced good and poor communication.
This as you’d expect has resulted in frustration, irritation, wasted energy and mistrust as well as relief, appreciation and clarity.
We started last weekend waiting to hear news of the damaged lock that was stopping us getting through Manchester onto the Rochdale Canal, a cross-Pennine route much heralded for breathtaking scenery but one which has faced significant issues of vandalism and water shortages over the years.
Our aim in travelling the Rochdale this year en route to our eventual destination of Ripon (the northernmost end of navigable waterways) was in part, a fear that such were the Rochdale’s reported issues over past years, if Canal and River Trust had to save funds they might look at closing one of the three transPennine routes. The Rochdale could be a likely candidate. Use it or lose it they tell us, so we want to use it.
But we couldn’t even get onto the Rochdale. We subscribe to a Notices and Stoppages service delivered via email by Canal and River Trust (CRT). You select the waterways you are interested in (or towpaths if you want to walk or cycle) and any issues appear. Seems an excellent use of technology but one of the keys is that any communications system is only as good as the quality of the communications being communicated.
Stoppage notice no. 1 about Lock 87 came a week last Thursday. At the beginning it appeared to us and others, that this [and indeed on a subsequent lock stoppage which became equally important to us and was reported as the same issue] was going to be a short stoppage. In reality it then appeared that perhaps CRT were falling into the quagmire of telling people what they thought they wanted to hear, and diluting the pill rather than delivering the full bad news. Or perhaps we had been interpreting the communication with what we wanted to hear, or maybe those on site were telling the comms team what they thought they wanted to hear, or indeed maybe the comms team weren’t asking all the right questions. The possibilities for a shortfall in communication are legion – as anyone in any business knows.
Lock 87 which would be part of our route through Manchester onto the Rochdale Canal had, we were told last week, been investigated by a team including engineers so they knew what the problem was (a heel post becoming disconnected from a gate). Email 1 reported it in such a way it sounded manageable and repairable and set a date for the next update – a good thing to do.
The arrow marks the position of a pivotal heel post
Five days later the update arrived finally at 5pm in the evening on the day promised. It said that they needed more specialist contractors to explore the issue and so they’d be on site later in the week. That didn’t seem in line with what we had first heard via email but much closer to what people from boats close to the site who had spoken to CRT staff at the damaged lock had initially been told. It seemed that the initial message had been watered down.
The second email made clear the issue was sounding like far from a quick fix, and we, along with many others were moored on the Bridgewater Canal, were now vainly waiting to head up the Rochdale.
Heron, walkers and us on the Bridgewater
The Bridgewater Canal is a private canal, and the reciprocal agreement with CRT is that a CRT licence holder can notify the Bridgewater that they wish to navigate their waters and do so for 7 days without incurring additional charge. Then they must wait 30 days before returning for another 7 day period, or start paying a charge which we understood to be £40 a week. So, if Lock 87 was going to take some weeks as now looked likely. Between email 1 and email 2 several boaters had outstayed their 7 days on the Bridgewater Canal but there had been no recognition at that stage from CRT that as the problem was due to a failure of their system, they had reached some agreement with the private canal company to mitigate the problem for boaters.
An email to the interim Director of CRT’s North West region on behalf of ourselves and other boaters in this situation resulted in an impressively rapid and unambiguous response, both from him explaining he had asked someone to come back to us asap, and an equally rapid email from that someone tasked with resolving the issue. The latter email was able to be posted on relevant boater social media sites to support those facing overstay charges to be part of a negotiated solution. CRT also came up with a suggestion to move waiting boats through one locked lock into a space between locks (a pound) in the centre of Manchester. We could all sit there together until repairs were complete.
It’s a fine line between the two canals!
That would move us off the Bridgewater by a matter of a foot or so, but living cheek by jowl with other boaters in such close proximity in the centre of a city, unable to move forwards or backwards or have hot water for showers (generated by moving the boat in our case) and waiting for however long it took to complete repairs sounded nothing short of a nightmare scenario to us. We knew some boats were already locked in but believed they might not be permanently occupied. We declined the offer of imprisonment and decided that as we were unable to make the 8 mile, 6 lock journey from our then Bridgewater mooring onto the Rochdale, we would move the long way round – 98 miles and 85 locks.
We made it off the Bridgewater just in time to meet our 7 day access limit.
We knew there was a lock (No 57) which had a problem en route on the Trent and Mersey, and we knew of lock flight restriction times of use because of a lack of water on the Macclesfield and Peak Forest Canals, but we thought it was doable, particularly as we’d heard boaters near the Lock 57 issue had been told – wait for it…. “That a straightforward fix had been manufactured and would be installed within days.” Guess what? Communications were a little out. A business boat owner who spoke to those on site reported a different situation as he had hire boats and holiday makers stuck beyond the lock. The minor repair originally suggested was apparently a more major repair which could take some weeks. Boaters were still heading towards the lock from both sides in the belief that it would be fixed by the time they got there.
More route planning underway…
This miscommunication or misinterpretation of communication is causing problems, yes there’s the delay and the hassle of trying to find a route which is open and navigable, but if not more serious is the lack of trust created in the communications. Each message now needs to be interrogated – we can’t take anything at face value.
It isn’t just us, continuous cruisers who, to be honest, could shuttle between locations sorting out waste and water en route, but there are the businesses that depend on it. Holiday boat hire companies who are having to spend time and money shuttling holiday makers to boats in locations they didn’t want them to be, shuttling staff to boats away from base to clean and prepare them for new customers. Boat sharers have to get back to base to hand over to the next occupants. Work boats conducting repairs and maintenance or commercial working boats ferrying diesel, coal and gas – all are impacted by not only stoppages but the communications around them.
For all of us, it is better to know the potential extent of a problem from the beginning. Give us the worst scenario and then we’ll be ecstatic when it isn’t as bad as thought rather than be too optimistic first off. Some CRT staff, those allegedly undertaking the first evaluations, are also losing face because it appears from the communications that they aren’t able or properly qualified to initially assess situations properly.
Lock 57’s latest update was due on Thursday 13. We bet the updated notice would come out at 5pm – just as everyone is leaving the office. Just what happened with the last one! Cynical? Yes. It pinged in at 17.03.
It sent us into a fever of interrogating what was set, and planning once more. It’s a challenge we’ve set ourselves up the Rochdale to Yorkshire for the winter. Perhaps it will take us until winter to get there!
The tiny green blob is us- the red blobs are current stoppages
Currently all 3 routes over the Pennines are blocked. Middlewich was our last chance to turn away from the blockages, turning down the Middlewich Branch towards the Shropshire Union which we did. Many boaters, private or holiday, we met this week have decided to go down the Middlewich Branch to the Shroppie and then off to either the Llangollen or Chester. All are fluent on the woes of Lock 57!
We are still determined to head for the Rochdale, the question is how? Despite everything I’ve said about CRT communications, we have to believe them, to keep the faith. We feel we should get through this stoppage on the Trent and Mersey in the next two weeks (accepting there may well be another stoppage, another lock broken somewhere else in that time). We also know (thanks social media) that another boat we met up with on the Ashby in winter is waiting at the damaged lock, and they say there’s a good pub not far away so the delay won’t be too much of hardship.
Our next considering is will we then be able to get through the Macclesfield and Peak Forest flights before water shortages stop the limited flight usage all together? CRT were saying 31 July was when they would close the flights completely and to be honest if I had to be trapped somewhere, the Macclesfield is quite lovely. We need to travel to a family birthday and very sadly a family funeral in the coming weeks, so we have to factor in safe places to stay and days with no travelling.
At the minute we think we can manage it all – it’s going to be a few slow short days followed by some long days of long distances with many locks in whatever the weather brings, but we will coddywomple on.
It’s not all sunshine and roses out here!
Our goal remains to get up to the Great Wall of Tod by the end of the first week in August. Will we? Who knows? Having got there will we ever get back? We’ll let you know – concisely, clearly and accurately we hope!
Pickingupducks 