Caught the bus into Oswestry. A nice town with a museum and several charity shops. I got a pair of trousers (32in waist like all the others I am wearing at the moment) and seven Wilbur Smith books, some of which I have read but are worthy of reading again. Found a presentation Whisky tin , just the right size for a spaghetti holder, it holds four 500gm packets. my travelling companion got a couple of books and a couple of new glasses to replace the ones that got broken recently. One of the old glasses simply shattered when she poured some water into it.
Dinner consisted of pot roast chicken, onions, mushrooms and carrots with roast potatoes, roast peppers roast sweet potatoes, green beans and broccoli. Watched England beat Hungary 4-0. About eleven pm the sound on the TV went quiet which is due to the batteries being flat, I checked and they were down to 10.6 volts.
2nd horn.doing.jots - 5 miles 4 locks - Weston Branch facilities
Checked the batteries first thing in the morning. 9.8, this usually means that the batteries are stuffed, broken, defunct, in need of replacing. Although we were out all day yesterday it was overcast so the solar panel did not have a chance to replenish them and I forgot to check when we got back from shopping. I probably should have run the engine for an hour or so. Hey ho, live and learn.
Travelled for five or so hours which is enough to charge the batteries, what we don't know is if they will hold a charge or not.
Saw two kingfishers and a sparrow hawk on the journey and identified those little iridescent bugs that skitter about on the surface of the water, Whirligig Beetles.
At eleven this evening the TV was still going strong so hopefully the batteries have not suffered irreparable damage/
3rd wacky.baseless.concludes - 5 miles 6 locks - St Martins
Checked the batteries first thing again, 12.2, I think they have recovered. Mizzled all day.
Arrived at the bottom of the flight just before half eight for first pass through the locks at nine. Walked up to the top lock, no lock keeper at eight fifty five. On the way down the lock keeper arrived at about half eight so I was beginning to wonder if we had been forgotten. The lock keeper arrived bang on nine. Only one boat booked through today so I guess we made it OK. Half way up the flight the lock keeper asked if the boat was called Louise. When I said it was Dennis he realised the we were not booked in and that there was another boat coming along later. So the previous lock keeper had not noted our change of plan after all.
Got stuck in the middle pound as there was not enough water in it until the lock keeper let some more down.
Once we were moored up at St Martins I caught the bus into Oswestry for some ice cream and a few other provisions.
Quite a pleasant journey today. We had to wait while a boat came over Chirk Aqueduct before we could cruise that and then we waited in the pound between the aqueduct and the tunnel for two boats to come through the tunnel. Four boats went into the tunnel do we waited for them to complete their journey and then a few moments to see if there was anyone coming in the other direction. There wasn't so we set off through the tunnel.
Shortly after the tunnel we spotted some sycamore on the bank suitable for turning on the lathe so stopped off and loaded that on the boat. I put the largest log on the roof and rolled it gently over the far side and watched as it toppled over the handrail and into the canal. I grabbed a spare rope and shimmied along the gunwale until I could lasso it and drag it to the front of the boat where I managed to lift it back on board and settle it on the roof safely.
Settled down to a game of scrabble and an early night.
5th foot.consumed.animal - 1 mile 1 tunnel - Close to Fronscyllte
I took a walk to find a better mooring spot and settled on a spot just short of Fronscyllte where we were half way between the railway and the road, much quieter than last night. No internet, no TV, no phone, no noise.
I had intended to walk along to Trevor to check out the moorings in the basin there as it is possible to catch a bus into Llangollen from there. At it turned out I chickened out of walking over Pontyscyllte aqueduct, too high and I would have had to walk back again. my travelling companion had done this walk yesterday but had gone down the side of the aqueduct to the valley below as she also felt uncomfortable crossing the aqueduct.
We ended up turning around before the aqueduct and mooring up at Fronscyllte proper as we can get a bus into Llangollan from there. Bus goes four times a day, whereas it goes every thirty minutes from Trevor.
I always like to check things out , so I caught the bus into Llan. It stopped just by the lift bridge at Fron, which was really convenient.
The scenery from the bus was absolutely stunning and I mentioned this to the bus driver who admitted that he is used to it as he has lived here all his life, but did remember stopping at one point to admire the view of the mountain opposite as the colours were particularly stunning that evening.
Checked out Llan and caught he last bus back. It did not go down the hill to Fron this time so I checked that it would pick me up from the bottom of the hill the next morning. Apparently not, we will have to climb the hill to get the bus tomorrow.
Caught the bus at the top of the hill, again the scenery into Llangollen was stunning. The first thing we did was walk along the tow path to Horseshoe Falls, the source of the water for the canal. The water here is really clear as the only boat that traverses this section is the horse drawn trip boat. There were far too many fish to count but we did identify dace, roach, gudgeon and perch with possible sightings of minnows.
The bright sunshine kept us looking for shade most of the way and at one point the river Dee was close enough to be accessible from where we were so we clambered down the bank to cool our feet in the water.
The local rescue team were practising saving drowning people from the rapids just above where we were paddling so we wandered along to get a closer look. my travelling companion volunteered to jump in and be rescued but they politely refused her offer.
It took us nearly two hours to walk the one and three quarter miles to the falls what with the paddling, fish watching, gongoozling the rescue team and taking pictures.
The walk back was much quicker and once in town we looked for Kelly's Award Winning Chippy, but it was closed so we had to settle for Nemo's fish and chips. We shared a large fish and large chips between us as we find that is adequate nowadays.
my travelling companion checked out both charity shops and came away with a couple of items of clothing and a set of six butter knives to replace the mish mash of knives that she currently has. While she was doing this I enquired in the butchers about the 'Enlarged 1904' plaque in the wall above his shop. He thinks it was enlarged by building towards the pavement and showed me a picture roof the shop in 1904 with all the carcasses hanging up outside. While waiting for the bus I popped into the museum to ask if they knew anything of the history of the butchers building and was told that one of their staff had researched all the buildings in Llangollen, but he was on holiday at present, however if I email him he will provide me with all the information I want. I have his email address.
The bus dropped us off at the bottom of the hill on the return journey. Back at the boat I had to run the engine for a while as although it had been sunny all day the boat had been sat in the shade so the batteries had not charged. No TV signal so we watched the first three episodes of 'Northern Exposure', a tale of life in a little Alaskan town.
Sunshine all the way, possibly the nicest travelling day we have had in a long time. No problems at either of the tunnels or the aqueduct but the queue for the locks at New Marston was at least twelve boats long. It took nearly two hours to get to the front of the queue which is quite quick but I think this is because there were no boats coming up the flight so as soon as a boat left the lock it was being filled for the next boat instead of waiting five minutes for the upcoming boat to navigate in to the lock before it got filled.
As the boat ahead of us left the lock I spotted a boat approaching and did the right thing and waited for them. They approached very slowly, pulled over a couple of hundred yards back and looked as if they were mooring up, so I closed the gates and filled the lock. A woman from the upcoming boat wandered along to the lock and said that they wanted to come up through the lock. I said to the that it looked as if they were mooring up and no one from their boat had a windless in their hand so it was reasonable to assume that they were not coming through the lock. She returned to her boat and came back with a windless. Through that lock and there was a queue of three boats at the next lock as there were several boats coming in the opposite direction which slowed proceedings down.
Free and clear we decided that it was probably too late to be sure of a mooring in Ellesmere arm this evening so moored up early at a quiet almost treeless spot in preparation for the thunder storms predicted.
Set off at sevenish to try and avoid the forecast rain. About half a mile before reaching the facilities a boat, Argy Bargy, pulled out in front of us and proceeded very slowly. After a few moments he indicated that I should go past, which I did. We got to the facilities and there was just enough room to get Dennis in at the end of the mooring, overlapping by eight or nine feet or so. Got the hose out and started filling the water tank and Argy Bargy appeared behind us obviously wanting to use the facilities. Now I sort of felt a bit guilty. Chatted to the crew of the boat in front of us (Heart of Oak, crewed by a 27 year naval veteran and his wife, Jack) who we had seen on the Ashby last April/May.
While we were waiting for the water tank to fill a plethora of boats arrived from all three directions (the facilities are at a junction). Made full use of the facilities and moved along down the arm.
Dropped my travelling companion of on the far side and moored up. The arm is narrow enough that with Dennis tied up at the back I can push the front over the other side for my travelling companion to get back on. She collected another four or five kilos of damsons which are now ripe, nearly a month after the ones we got at Audlum.
I did a major shop and then investigated the 'Sausage and Cider' event happening this weekend. The local cricket club is hosting the function to raise funds for their pavilion and there will be live music all three evenings and a cricket match on Saturday afternoon. Could be fun.
While the chicken was roasting in the oven I had a look for the 'Plantation' as I had been told there were plum trees there, but I could find no trace of them, apple trees and damson trees in quantity but no plums.
10th
A nice quiet day after all the excitement. Spent the morning catching up on the journal.
Spent the day at the Sausage and Cider Festival hosted by the Ellesmere Cricket Club who are raising funds for a new clubhouse watching the cricket match against Chelmarsh. Ellesmere won by five wickets. I had a sausage in a bun and a baked potato and my travelling companion had a sausage in a bun. We both refrained from the cider as we could see the issues that other cider drinkers were having with the wasps.
my travelling companion collected another four kilos of damsons after the match.
Only moved around the corner and moored up close to the entrance path to the Plantation, an area of woodland that has been donated to the local community as the owners could not afford to maintain it and the people of Ellesmere wanted to continue to use the pathways.
After investigating the Plantation on foot we returned to Dennis just in time to avoid the rain and hunkered down for the rest of the day.
the different trees in this picture.
The main tree is a beech.
Spent the morning and some of the afternoon going round The Mere at Ellesmere.
We wandered along the pathway as far as we could before going back to the visitor centre for a coffee.
Along the way several things caught our attention, including the quiet space and several of the sculptures on the sculpture trail.
While my travelling companion drank her coffee we watched the birds on the mere. I have never seen so many cormorants together in one place, there must have been over forty of them and at one point they were all diving at the same time. It was just like the dolphins rounding up a shoal of fish into a ball and the gulls swooping down on them.
On the way back my travelling companion found some more damsons that were just ripe and beginning to fall on the ground so once we had imbibed a cup of tea she set off to collect them. She returned and hour later with a few kilos and promptly set off again to repeat the scrumping exercise. She must have got six or seven kilos in total. I know what she will be doing all tomorrow morning.
14th
Hunkered down and waited out the rain. Processed all yesterdays damsons.
I tried to get a what3words location but although the GPS bit works the internet connection is so bad that I can get no map update. I have two tablets and it took two days to get them to agree on the location, so I am fairly confident that the location I do have is correct. Both tablets eventually showed the same what3words but both of them displayed the highlighted box in amongst a grid of similar boxes, nothing but boxes. No underlying map, not even a blocky impression of where I might be.
On the way we stopped off at Bridge 54 and took a walk around Coles Mere. Halfway round we came across a dead mutilated swan, probably the result of a rogue owner letting their dog off it's lead even though there are many signs up asking people to keep their dogs on a lead in the bird sanctuary. Apart from that it was a very pleasant morning.
Back at the boat my travelling companion took the tiller while I put a load of washing in the machine. We have to wash by hand but at least the spinner means the washing is dry enough to hang up inside the boat.
About three miles short of Whitchurch (our proposed destination) we met the fuel boat so took the opportunity to fill up with diesel and replace an empty gas bottle. While we were filling up a boater came along the tow path and gave the diesel man a jar of damson jam and proceeded to tell us where the damson orchard is. Plans are made to be changed. We cruised about a mile and found the spot just as described and pulled over for the night. Watched a couple of episodes of Northern Exposure.
There are three picnic benches and two barbecue stands in the damson orchard and I took along a chair, a broom, a very large blanket,the tiller handle and a pair of gloves. I made sure I was wearing long trousers and I put on a pair of shoes (the first time in nearly eighteen months due to my swollen foot). Spreading the blanket on the ground I first stood on one of the picnic tables and shook some branches, that got quite a lot. Then I re-positioned the blanket and climbed one of the trees and shook it, got some more. Then it was my travelling companion's turn, so she climbed up and shook a few branches. We repeated this at each tree that we could easily get to with the blanket. We got a goodly haul and still left some for other people, of which there was a steady stream, but none as dedicated and determined as we two.
Spent the afternoon washing the blanket and processing damsons.
Our current haul from the past few days scrumping amounts to fifteen one litre Mason jars and five half litre Mason jars full of processed damsons. my travelling companion gets through about a litre of damsons a week in her porridge and as a desert with ice cream some evenings, so we should have enough to last till Christmas! Only three empty Mason jars left so perhaps we should see about getting some more as I am sure we will come across more fruit before we get back to Iowner.
Found some damson trees that have not been touched, probably because they have a load of stinging nettles underneath them. Long trousers and a pair of shoes took care of that so an early morning foray before we set off gave us another four kilos of damsons.
Passing Whitchurch Marina I saw the water hose fall out of the filler into the canal. One of the cleaners took the hose out of the canal and replaced it in the water filler without making any attempt to clean it. I rang them and told them of the incident and asked if they had any comment before I put this observation on Trip Advisor. They claim that they thoroughly disinfect all the tans once a week and felt that this incident would not cause anyone any harm, however the manager that I was talking to assured me he would talk to the member of staff involved.
my travelling companion processed the current days batch of damson and, as usual, she was sampling them as she was processing them. This time she ended up with a little ulcer on her tongue.
Shopping in Sainsbury's Whitchurch for tea and Aldi for a free range chicken.
Popped into Whitchurch in the morning to do the charity shops, got two pairs of trousers 34in waist, and a programmable robot arm kit.
Stopped off at Grindly Brook facilities and while we were there one of my sandals broke. A short way after the flight we spotted the fuel boat so pulled over and topped up with diesel and got a bottle of gas. While we were there a boater came along and gave the fuel boat man a jar of damson jam that he had made. He proceeded to tell us where the damson trees and blackberry bushes were and we decided to stop off there if we spotted the place. We did, we stopped. The way to get these damson is to get a chair to stand on and reach up and pull the branches down with the broom handle which we will do tomorrow.
I went for a walk to see if I could find the blackberries the guy had mentioned but I could not find any. When I got back to the boat another boat had pulled in and as I walked past the owner mentioned that if the boat behind him (our boat) moved back a bit of or forward a bit he could move hos boat to get the sun on his solar panels. I want back and checked with my travelling companion that she was OK with me moving the boat and she was so I moved Dennis back far enough that we had the sunshine and there was room for the other guy to get the sun as well. He was most surprised when I knocked on his boat and told him I had moved Dennis. He seemed quite embarrassed that he had been talking to me about moving my boat. Got chatting to him and it turns out that he is a Canadian who lives on Vancouver Island and spends six months each year over here on his boat on the canal.
Watched Brighton and Hove Albion play football against Leicester, It really does not seem fair two against one.
19th tulip.rejects.defenders - 4 miles 4 locks - Glebe Covert
Spent the morning getting yet more damsons for preserving and a few for eating as they are.
We were cruising along quite happily when it started to rain. We decided that it would not last so continued on to our target mooring place but re-appraised the situation at Marbury Lock where we pulled over and moored up. While going through the lock I noticed some damson trees that had not been touched. When it stopped raining I went back with the chair and broom and picked a couple of ice cream cartons of ripe plump eating damsons in about five minutes.
For some reason my tinnitus reared it's ugly head this evening and was a problem for a while. It had crept up on me unawares as I had not noticed it for a day or two. It's usually there in the background but this evening it jumped to the fore. I put my headphones on and listened to music all evening whilst not disturbing my travelling companion.
Started the day getting more damsons for preserving, twenty minutes saw us getting three kilos, two for preserving and one for eating.
Just before we set off I spotted a pentagon on the side of a building which reminded me of Mr Therm, the Gas Board character of the fifties.
Pleasant and uneventful cruising in the sunshine.
21st purely.overdone.kipper - 3 miles 4 locks - Nantwich Aqueduct
Got to Hurleston in time to see the rubbish skip being taken away. As the driver started lifting the skip up on to his lorry half a dozen rats leapt off the skip and scurried away willy nilly into the undergrowth. It is said that we are never more than twenty five feet from a rat.
Once at Nantwich I walked into town to see if I could get any more Mason Jars as the twenty one litre jars and the six half litre jars we have are now full, but was unsuccessful.
22nd smoke.jetliner.coasters - 7 miles 15 locks - Coxbank
Got through the second lock of the day (Hacks Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, but don't tell anyone) and found an apple tree with nice eating apples on it. Stopped off and collected a dozen or so for immediate eating as we have no more preserving jars left.
At the bottom of the Audlum flight the little six foot plots at the first lock are awash with vegetables. Most of the cabbages have been ravaged by caterpillars but the runner beans were there in profusion.What was much more tempting were the raspberry bushes that were covered with ripe juicy berries ready to eat. I thought hat they were out of season but obviously not just here. However I managed to curb my desire to continue foraging as they were in a cultivated area rather than growing wild.
Got o the first lock and entered it straight away as another boat had just left.Filled the lock and on trying to exit it found that the boat got stuck halfway out. Reversed back and tried again gently. Still stuck. Reversed back again and started to investigate the problem with a long stick. my travelling companion was probing with a stick when another boater came along and started telling her what to do*. Red rag to a bull. Had he spoken to her as an equal rather than as an inferior being she could have overlooked it but, being stressed already she reacted and told him not to boss her about. He went off in a huff and refused any more assistance.
The probing revealed that there was indeed something immovable in the water about eighteen inches below the water level. Got the boat to the back of the lock and emptied it. This revealed that the cill buffer had become detached and was now blocking our exit. Phoned CRT and waited for assistance to arrive.
A team of four arrived and assessed the situation.
First they got the eight boats lined up waiting to come into the lock to back up far enough for us to moor up outside the lock and then assisted us to leave the lock in reverse avoiding the by-wash coming in at a rush from the offside throwing us against the bank. If we had tried to reverse past all the moored boats we would have been thrown against them and possibly cause some damage.
Then they roped off the lock area with that tape saying 'Keep Out Aware' and left. Apparently another crew will be along with equipment to sort out the problem in a day or so.
24th
Hung around all day doing nothing, waiting for CRT to get their act together
25th tomato.emailed.snippets - 5 miles 7 locks - Market Drayton
CRT quick response team arrived just before seven am and started erecting and 'A' frame to hang a small winch on so they could lift the buffer up, swing it over it's recess and lower it into place. That all worked and we were on our way by nine forty five.
There were twelve boats lined up to come down the flight and probably more than that waiting to come up the flight.
Stoney stares with no eye contact from the first seven boats. Yesterday when my travelling companion went for a walk she was ostracised as being the culprit who has caused all this delay! We both felt like pariahs as we made our way along the line of boats.
Got to Market Drayton where we made good use of the facilities and I went into town to replenish the food store.
Pot roast Free Range chicken with carrots, shallots, green beans served with roast potatoes, roast sweet potatoes and roast peppers for dinner followed by stewed apples and damsons with ice cream.
26th tortoises.thrashed.poster - 7 miles 5 locks - Knighton Grange
Last minute dash into Morrisons to get some green vegetables. Loaded up my trolly with seven items and queued up for the self service checkouts because the belted checkouts were five deep in people waiting. I like using the self service checkouts when I only have a few items as I can take my time and not be harassed to make room on the belt for the next customer, especially when the next customer is not wearing a face mask.
Anyway, the customer service operative at the self service checkouts asked me to use a belted checkout. I initially ignored him as they were so busy and I would have had to go to the end of a queue five persons long and be in a non socially distanced area. He then asked me again to use a belted checkout but his tone was quite aggressive. I was at a loss as to how to respond as I had not had time to think it through so I just left him with the trolley of goods to replace on the shelves at his leisure and walked out. There was nothing urgent about any of the purchases, but I did not say that when I contacted the store to report the incident.
Once underway I did a load of washing and got it spun and hung up to dry.
About two pm we caught up with a dawdler so after an hour or so at a snails pace we pulled over and moored up for the day.
Chicken pie made with carrots, shallots and green beans, topped with mashed potatoes. Used the chicken fat instead of butter to make the white sauce.
27th signs.gossiping.interviewer - 12 miles 1 tunnel - Wheaton Aston
Saw a moorhen eating a small fish and a short while later saw a duck trying to eat a larger fish. Saw a hobby sand a mandarin duck.
Stopped off for some wood but the chainsaw chain came off the guide and got a bit bent so had to give up.
We were passing a house with a rather nice garden and nicely manicured lawn when I spotted the robotic lawnmower ambling along in it's pre-arranged course ensuring the quality of the cut.
At Wheaton Aston there was a guy selling off all his bits and pieces as he was selling his workboat. He had an old chain for my saw which I purchased for a £, a bit blunt but it might do at a pinch if necessary.
28th resembles.roaming.sandles - 500 yards 1 lock - Wheaton Aston
As we came through the lock we spotted five large pieces of ash beside the lock three on the tow path side and two on the opposite side. We moored up a couple of hundred yards from the lock and went back and collected the first two pieces with the wheels and manhandled them onto the roof. Went back for the two on the opposite side and we were stood there pondering how to get them across the lock without dropping them in the canal when a boat started working it's way through the lock. I told the woman working the lock why we were hanging about and she had a couple of suggestions before I said that we were planning to reverse our boat into the lock and pass the logs over to the tow path side and our rear deck. 'Oh' she said, 'You can pass them over our rear deck if you want to'. Clenched fist pump out of her sight.
Result, both pieces on the right side of the lock, put them on the wheels and took them to the boat. We both needed a rest before trying to get it on the roof and while we were resting I got into conversation with a woman walking past by telling her I was waiting for a strong young man to help us lift the logs onto the roof. She was off to the shops and asked if we needed anything, I politely declined.
After some rest and recuperation we managed to get these on the roof
Back for the last and largest piece. It took both of us to get it on the wheels and back to the boat. There was no way we were going to get this on the roof as it was and I felt that the chainsaw would be inadequate as it was until I could get a new chain for it so we put it on the back deck. I made that sound really easy. What we had to do was lie the handle of the sack truck on the back of the boat with the wheels on the path with the log on the sack truck, then slide the log along the truck till it was touching the top of the handle. Then by lifting the wheels we could stand the log up on the rear deck and work it into a safe position for transport while not being too much in the way.
Moved off the lock operation mooring to the other side of the bridge and moored up for the rest of the day as rain was forecast.
The woman I had been talking to earlier came back and asked if we had been lucky finding a strong strapping lad to help. Told her we had to do it ourselves in the end.
29th first.rally.activism - 11 miles 1 lock - The Laches
There is a really large ash tree down at w3w upwards.stretch.staple, just south of bridge 17 near Wheaton Aston. It is cut up into two foot lengths just waiting, no begging to be collected. It is at the top of the embankment about thirty feet up from the tow path, above a path which is about ten to fifteen feet above the tow path. Might check to see if it is there next year.
Stopped off at Autherly Junction for shopping. Got waylaid in the Home and Motor shop where I found three one litre and three half litre Kilner jars, so we can start looking for fruit again, preferably apples but will accept anything if it's free. Did some ordinary shopping as well and got back to the boat before the torrential rain set in. Rain over I finished the ordinary shopping and we then set off again to get away from the noisy roads and railways. Stopped around half four for the day.
30th
I fitted a couple of bricks in the fire, one either side so that the space for a fire is about half the normal size. Perfect for the late spring and early autumn when we don't want a full blown fire all day. With a half load it keeps the boat warm but not too hot as it would if the fire were full size.
No travelling today as rain is forecast for most of it.
I occupied myself by baking a fruit cake. Instead of sugar I used stewed damsons in the recipe and it turned out as good as, if not better, than a christmas pudding, I was well pleased.
Sorted out the details to participate in the Thunderball lottery and set up an online account. Picked our numbers and days of the week to do it and the number of weeks to go for and paid, now all we have to do is wait and collect our winnings!
