Narrowboat Firecrest

December decisions. We do love living on a boat, but sometimes it’s management is hard work. We wanted to travel south, but events were conspiring around us so we set off north on the Staffs and Worcester. December became an exercise in time management, getting us from A to B on the right day. Thankfully non of our days were long cruises and although we were conscious of various deadlines we still found a lot to enjoy, even misty mornings have a certain beauty.

Our first stay was in Penkridge with a convenient train station so I took the opportunity to visit Mum in the Lakes. Whist Eric got on with some work…..

And when I got back we set off in the snow to reach Stafford,

Thankfully the snow didn’t last too long, and the canal didn’t freeze, although it was bitterly cold. The sun shone and we got our rainbow as we slipped and skidded our way up to the vaccination centre for our boosters

Our next stop was to reach Great Haywood Marina on the Trent and Mersey. Because that was the only marina we could find that had a week’s temporary mooring for Firecrest whilst we both returned home.

But en route we had a windy night on the Tixall wides.

It was lovely to be home for “First Christmas”, knowing if we had left it another week or two, there was a possibility we wouldn’t have been allowed to get together, and this was the first time Tim and Heather had been together since January 2020.

Once we were back on board Firecrest, we set about retracing our steps back onto the Staffs and Worcester, a brief stop in Stafford for the very convenient Aldi, and a peaceful plot in Penkridge, where we got our flu vaccine. Ironically our quiet mooring in Penkridge runs parallel to the M6, it would be noisy in summer with windows open but we had battoned down the hatches so not disturbed.

We got to be good Samaritan’s the week before Christmas when we were flagged down by another boater, they had sprung a hull leak and their overworked bilge pump had drained the batteries. They were in serious risk of sinking cause they were already paddling in water. Thankfully Eric had a spare pump and enough battery power, to stop it getting any worse whilst they waited for professional help to arrive. The boat was new to them and even though they’d had it out of the water for a survey, the problem hadn’t shown up. They hadn’t heard the boaters acronym “Bring On Another Thousand”
Our maintenance was relatively painless this time, as Eric did the generator service and oil change.

I consider it to be a fair exchange of labour, cause I happily cooked a big roast duck for our Christmas dinner, from Russell’s, the first class butchers… not the canal

We continued cruising south to see out the year, and had and amazing day with our friends Helen and James on new years eve.

What a finale, we’re back on track, heading south and looking forward to an exciting adventure in 2022

We kept our colour well into November.

The time had come to study the planned winter closures list and, whilst also keeping an eye on any unwelcome restrictions that might hamper our cruising plans, decide where we wanted to be for Christmas. At the end of October we were all still optimistically planning our parties and big family gatherings. We knew we had to be off the Llangollen by 8th November but it was noticeable how much quieter the canal was becoming with fewer and fewer hire boats so we took our time wandering around some of the gorgeous villages.

Nantwich is only a short cruise off the Llangollen. And the Shropshire Union towers over the town on an embankment, via an aqueduct, making it a popular mooring spot.

We could only get onto the 48 hour, and I regret not spending longer here because its a fascinating town with a lot of history. Although a lot of the black and white “tudor” buildings are relative victorian youngsters, after many originals were destroyed by fire.

We continued down the Shroppie at pace, stopping at some lovely places on our way, Audlem Mill, on the wharf is now a museum and craft shop,

We gave thanks for some lovely rainbows, after some torrential rains

We ploughed through some pretty hairy overflows on the locks

We wondered at the amount of boats that must have used this canal over the years, looking at the depth of wear on the metal bridge protectors

We marvelled at the feats of engineering, building bridges like this which contained the telegraph pole

But although there were some lovely moorings

We found this part of our journey frustrating, had the canal been built for speed, with long straight cuttings? I guess so, although we were mightily glad we weren’t cruising at the height of summer having to negotiate narrow stretches with on coming boats.

We had also fallen victim to some poor planning, albeit partly our own fault, needing to pick up fuel meant we hadn’t stopped to enjoy the nice places for longer. We were in the midst of the fuel supply crisis, and had declined paying £1:10 per litre, in favour of getting to Wheaton Aston who were still only asking 79p, saving ourselves over £100. And although autumnal leaves are beautiful in the sunshine, they are anything but once they are in the canal. Leaf soup made progress hard going.

But we made it to the end of the Shroppie

From green leaves to gold.

Having nudged well into September whilst we were in Chester, and having done the zoo, and Ellesmere port, it was time to get the passports out and cross the borders. Well I should say border but it’s in competition with some of the canals for its wiggliness, and we crossed it several times, half the time we didn’t know if we were drinking in a Welsh or English pub.

So it was back down the Shroppie and onto the Llangollen. We ambled along, stopping to explore the little market towns of Whitchurch and Ellesmere, but relishing the lovely rural views.

But of course we were heading, along with every hire boat in the country, to aqueduct territory, with Chirk

And the Pontycysllte

What an experience.

Of course having got to Llangollen, we also continued on foot to the Horseshoe falls where the mighty River Dee is channelled into the start of the canal, so water can be moved to quench the thirst of the people in the Midlands

I guess with the scenery being so spectacular, it’s understandable why it’s such a popular canal, but we happily made a detour onto the Monty for a bit more personal space,

Although it didn’t stop us taking advantage of the picnic tables to meet up with boating friends and enjoy a BBQ together.

This has certainly been a cruise well enjoy looking back on

Summer saw us cruising purposefully along the Trent and Mersey,
We said goodbye to April under the cherrytrees at Shardlow

And moved swiftly through May as the leaves turned green

We took the opportunity meeting friends from Mercia, at Fradley Junction, at Burton and Rugeley, before we arrived in Stone to meet with Mike Carter, who was going to do our Boat Safety certificate inspection. Thankfully we passed.

With just one further obligation to fulfil by the end of May, we arrived in Stoke to have our second vaccination. We were lucky enough to moor right opposite the Middleport pottery, where we caught it looking it’s absolute best with our favourite photographic dark combo, storm cloud and bright sunlight

In our four years of cruising we still get excited seeing our industrial heritage along the canals. But I will save you from the 100’s of photos I took of the bluebells as we took ourselves onto the Caldon canal for a mini break at beginning of June, they really are a May favourite.

The Caldon canal is a true gem, often overlooked by some, probably cause it’s narrow, twisty and home to the notorious Froghall tunnel, which has the lowest possible headroom on the system. Only the brave or foolhardy attempt to traverse it. I’m not sure which camp we are in but we won our silver propeller for reaching the Froghall basin.

June was a lovely month, we were healthy and happy being able to explore again. We returned to the Trent and Mersey, slipped through the Harecastle tunnel and turned right onto the Macclesfield. Last time we had been this way we were leaving Braidbar in our brand new boat in June 2017. We had been ploughing south in order to meet up with friends, (in the days before we realised you can’t rely upon a cruising plan for more than a day at a time, if that) we were determined to enjoy the Macclesfield more this time. Tim joined us for a few days and encouraged us to leave the Towpath and climb Mow Cop

It was lovely to see James and Donna at Braidbar. What with one thing and another, June and July became a leisurely and relaxed summer, I was welcomed back to the fabulous Wiseheart & Wild craft studio and with Tim living close enough to cycle, we filled our days with the pleasure of friendship. We meandered up and down the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canal back to Bugsworth basin

Eric did some more work on the arials and solar panels

Our initial plans for the year had been to pick up our thwarted 2020 goal, to visit Chester. We had planned a convoluted route through Manchester, onto the Bridgewater, back down the T&M onto the Middlewich branch before heading north up the Shroppie….but we were thwarted yet again by a broken lock in Manchester that required a complex repair.

August saw us returning down the Macclesfield, and turning right and going north up the T&M before we reached the Middlewich branch, “a new to us” canal. The weather wasn’t brilliant, but it was certainly dramatic.

And we finally made it to Chester by the end of August

And of course the zoo was a highlight

It might have been a bit stop start year, but yes there were some memorable moments to look back and smile about.
We weren’t going anywhere in January whether we liked it or not, the rain turned to snow and the water turned to ice. But the world lost its gloom and doom for a week as everything sparkled for us in Market Harborough. The canal looked magical and our spirits were lifted.

We’d been lucky enough to get into one of the moorings with a water point so we snuggled down to make the most of another 3 months of official lockdown, the Co-op was within walking distance and we cruised once a month up to Debdale to pick up fuel and I soon learnt where to find the sweetest flowers.

February we were beginning to get bored, we’d had more snow and ice but the towpaths were muddy so walking wasn’t much fun. Despite it being a lovely place, we were ready to say goodbye to Market Harborough.

Officially we still were only permitted to cruise for essential services. We’d both been called for our 1st vaccination, but with no accessible centres or dates nearby, what better excuse did we need to plan our move.
We would march in March, as we headed north up the Grand Union canal. Fueled up with bacon butties

and a fond farewell from our MH friends

off we set into the sunset at Kilby Bridge where we caught the bus into Leicester to be jabbed.

CRT lifted our cruising restrictions in April and it felt like the some degree of normality was returning Eric finally got around to wiring in the first of our solar panels – when he wasn’t chatting to our fellow boaters.

But we had to remember it was April and whilst we might be basking in sunshine one day,

On some mornings, we were still waking up to sharp frosts

We continued up the river Soar, through Loughborough, briefly up onto the River Trent before turning left onto the Trent and Mersey Canal as spring merged into summer