Whilst we were living it up in Alnwick, Firecrest was enjoying a peaceful weekend in Stoke’s Festival Park Marina. It’s not somewhere we’d choose to moor permanently, the power hook up trip is only 6 amp and the H&S fairies shouldn’t be allowed to look at the state of the pontoons. But for a few nights, it’s ideal. It gave us peace of mind, the staff are friendly and helpful, it’s got facilities, and a big Morrisons close by. And the Iris were in bloom so it was pretty as well.
Festival Park Marina
I’d collected the replacement solar panels from home, so our plan was to cruise towards Stone, looking out for a suitable mooring for some serious DIY. Cause those panels were too big to be stored in the boat for long. We’d also treated ourselves to a new boat pole that was still being oiled ready for its life under the elements.
not an ideal storage place for the panels…. or for my temperament
We’ve cruised through Stoke a few times, and love the heritage buildings along the canal
I’d love to know more about what goes on at a Bone and Flint mill
Some have been preserved and are still in use, Whist sadly, some are ready to fall down if they don’t recieve any care and attention.
The conical kilns of the potteries might not be unique but they are a special part of our heritage and should be valued.
But mooring in central Stoke isn’t the most appealing so we cruised on to Barlaston for a rural view.
The Wedgwood Mooring at Barlaston
And some ducky company
No, you can never have too many photos of ducklings
We thought we’d be able to do the panels here, but the spring pollen, blossom and seeds were swirling through the air fast and furious, which meant that by the time we’d got to washing one end of the roof, the first end was already covered in bits that would pollute the glue. So pretty though it was, we moved down through the equally pretty Meaford lock flight.
The Meaford flight, above Stone
And onto the Whitebridge Lane moorings at Stone,
Looks like Eric can wash the roof here to his hearts content
With a Heron for company and trees that wanted to keep hold of their spring leaves.
Several of the family have springtime birthdays, so it’s not uncommon for us to gather together to celebrate a “royal birthday,” mine was the significant one this year so I got to choose the location.
One place we’ll never get to on board Firecrest is Northumbria, and a place I’ve always heard good things about is the Northumbrian coast. I chose to rent a house in Alnwick. (Of course when we made this choice we thought we’d be cruising over the leeds and liverpool canal, which meant it wasnt quite such a long drive, but there you go, plans change) The Physicians House in Alnwick sleeps 10 so plenty of room for my closest family and friends and ideally located for us go off and do our own things during the day and gather to eat drink and make merry in the evenings.
This was just the start of the merriment, I can’t post photos of what came next
Alnwick itself is a perfect little market town, protected by its castle,
Alnwick Castle
And birthplace of Henry Percy, who became known as Harry Hotspur, because of his speed when it came to doing battle with the marauding Scots. (also known for his part in the downfall of Richard II, his part in Shakespear’s Henry IV part 1, and for his family lands being the site of a certain London based football club.)
What a fine figure
The castle is open to the public, but our packed weekend meant we just didn’t have enough time to visit it. Instead we took a short drive out to Craster and walked along the beach to see the dramatic Dunstanburgh castle. Turner had a similar idea but he thought it needed to be a bit more dramatic when he painted in in 1798
I think we had better weather
I’m not sure that I agree.
Dunstanburgh Castle
Due to its isolated location, it wasn’t maintained and fell into ruins after the war of the Roses (1455-1487) Nowadays it’s home to the seabirds.
Razorbills
I’ve always loved being by the sea, and one of my favourite childhood pastimes was playing French Cricket on the beach. In those days it was usually with a pieces of driftwood, but Amanda had come prepared.
The Alnmouth Beach French Cricket Team 2025
Diana and Chris had also come prepared with some silly races
I think we provided entertainment for the whole beach
But we generally just enjoyed being a family all together
The smiles say it all
We went on wild walks through the rock pools
The Bambough Beach Babe
Bamburgh castle was magical
Sea mist rising from the hot sand in front of the castle
I even learnt to fly, albeit only for a few seconds
Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks
Whilst we couldn’t squeeze in a look inside Alnwick castle, we did go into the gardens with its amazing water features and scary poison garden
Alnwick gardens
It was hot enough to eat lots of icecream but we were too full of maltezer birthday cake,
It was a truly memorable weekend, and I wish I could have included so many more of my friends and family
Eric and I will return to Northumbria, in a smaller property for a proper explore in years to come but for now, I am a happy 60 year old and I have a rail card.
….and 25 locks from the bottom lock at Wheelock to the top lock at Red Bull, Kidsgrove. No wonder it’s known as Heartbreak Hill. Even the summit of that big hill Everest is only 5.5miles above sea level, but I’ve more sense than to attempt that only carrying a windlass. Not to mention my dodgy logic. We set off from Ettiley Heath at 7am so as to beat the heat.
Early morning mist at Ettiley Heath
The forecast was for the hottest day of the year so far, mid 20’s, so we only planned to cruise until 11 then find a tree to moor under.
Entering Wheelock Bottom Lock, the start of the flight
As per ususal we gave a big sigh of relief that our chosen mode of transport took us under the M6 and not along it. Although to be fair, the country would be a very different place if we still relied on the canals to get goods from A to B.
That caravan is nearly as long as Firecrest,
We found our tree after 12 locks and settled down to watch the world go by, except it didn’t, the canal is exceptionally quiet, only 6 boats in the whole day cruised past us.
Chells Hill
The next day was a lot busier, although some people had the right idea.
Wonder what they serve at the Red Bull pub?
We’d done the hill in 2 days, and it really wasn’t too bad. It’s a pretty section of canal and there’s several nice mooring places to break up the journey. Plan B had been to turn onto the Macclesfield canal here, but alas, due to the April breach we were now onto Plan C, travelling south. We topped up at the very convenient canal side Lidl, and set off through the tomato soup to go through the Harecastle Tunnel.
“Who said red and green should never be seen”
I didn’t manage to catch the skeleton on camera very well this transit, it must have been running away….
The Harecastle skeleton
or was it running to catch us, either way I wasn’t hanging around to find out. After 38 minutes underground we were happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
the end in sight
We moored up outside the Middleport Pottery to plan our next adventure
After 4 lock free months it was time to get back into the swing of things.
Passing the entrance to the Middlewich Branch
There are just 5 locks on the Trent and Mersey going through Middlewich, which allowed us to stretch those muscles and start building up some stamina again.
Kings Lock on the Trent and Mersey, Middlewich
And of course after all that hard work….. with the help from three volunteer lockies, we had to reward ourselves with the best fish and chips on the cut from King’s Lock Chippie.
After all we were celebrating my birthday
Chocolate Fudge cake, with the appropriate number of candles
Yes we did eat it all, but not in one go. We moved on to Ettiley Heath where we tried to bribe Mike Carter with a slice when he came to do our Boat Safety inspection. He wasn’t having any of it, not that he needed bribery, Firecrest is well maintained and passed with flying colours.
Looking towards Watchlane Flash at Ettiley Heath
We moved onto Firecrest in 2017. You might have noticed that after 8 years we have finally added our painted Firecrest image as a blog icon so if you have stored our blog on your home pages or own blog roll hopefully it will be a little easier to see. Apologies that we still don’t accept comments on our posts.
Plan C is to travel south, aiming towards Rugby by mid summer. We might take a detour through some of the Birmingham canals that we’ve not yet cruised but we’re taking full advantage of our new found freedom to decide later.
First we were going to call in to Uplands Marina for an overnight stop. We had completely forgotten to include the side hatch window inserts in the repaint contract, and honestly who would want blue curtains on a green boat. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As soon as we realised, Nick offered to do them whilst we cruised up to Lymm.
Sometimes blue and green make the perfect combo
Plus we still had some electricity left on the meter so we might as well charge up the batteries, especially as we still haven’t replaced the solar panels that were removed before our repaint. Not having our full solar capacity was most frustrating when we were enjoying a mini heatwave.
Enjoying the evening sun at Dutton
Leaving the lovely spring greens behind
Marbury woods, Northwich
we travelled through the 2000 year old salt mines and brine pits of Eastern Northwich, past the Victorian Lion Salt works, which is now a fascinating museum and well worth a visit.
The Lion Salt works museum
Through the modern day chemical processing plant currently run by Tata
From the ancient salt mines to the modern chemical works.
Onto Middlewich, where we moored against a perfect painting edge for Eric to touch up the blacking
Another opportunity not to be missed
Whist I kept a eye on the wildlife
Or were they keeping an eye on me?
One of CRT’s new volunteers for checking boat licences Wont be long now
One of the prettiest canal villages is Lymm on the Bridgewater canal. I’m sure this house must have been photographed more times than the narrowboats that cruise past it. We were lucky to get moored in over the bank holiday weekend.
It looks good even when the sun’s not shining
The village is easy to stroll around and very picturesque, is it any wonder it regularly wins best village in bloom prizes
Lymm lower dam,
And I’d give them a prize for the best dressed Christmas tree as well. Not surprised it’s an all year round tree
Im not a great fan of yarn bombing, but this is first class installation art
As usual we debated which one of us deserved to be put into the stocks, but I reminded Eric that there’s a good butchers in Lymm and I’d bought steak for tea
The Lymm Cross and it’s stocks
We decided to walk a little further out of Lymm on this visit, heading north towards the Manchester Ship Canal. Our route took us past the Slitting Mill. This is where iron bars were cut into sheets for use making nails, one of Lymms many varied industries during the industrial revolution.
The Slitting Mill
It’s not really very interesting to look at from the footpath, but the Lymm heritage site has some interesting photos of its excavation
As we carried on along the footpath, sniffing and sneezing as the hay-fever took hold
Until we came to the big canal. Looking west we could just about see the Thelwall Viaduct carrying the M6 over the MSC and the river Mersey
Looking to the left you can just about see the Thelwall viaduct
The Ship canal was opened in 1895 making Manchester the third busiest port in Britain, despite being 40 miles inland. In its heyday, the canal carried up to 18million long tons of commercial cargo, but with the increasing size of container vessels the ecconomic viability of it dropped that to less than 7 million long tons by 2009. Peel Holdings who own it have plans to reinstate its use as an atlantic gateway in a major effort to reduce road congestion. The plan is to increase the number of containers shipped from 8000 in 2010 to 100,000 in 2030. Narrowboats and leisure craft are not encouraged but can use the ship canal for a hefty fee and some stringent regulations which include a strict no mooring policy Maximum length 600′ x beam 65′. Perhaps we could hitch a ride inside one of the containers, or perhaps we should just stick to the “proper” canals
Peel holdings also own the Bridgewater canal, and are responsible for repairing the breach just beyond Lymm. We had hoped to see the temporary coffer dam and see the progress being made, but it was quite a hike and last winding hole was just beyond Lymm, so we winded and re-moored on the 14 day mooring where Eric took advantage of the hard edge to touch up the gunwale paint. (Which hadn’t been part of the PaintShed’s remit)
We’ve still got a fair bit of sorting out to do on board Firecrest after the repaint, so we decided to take a short lock free cruise onto the Bridgewater canal whilst we got on with the chores. (Except for the stop lock) We’d be able to do 12 of the 39 miles before we had to wind due to the breach. While we waited for the time slot that allowed us through the Preston Brook tunnel, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to pick a bunch of wild garlic that’s growing in abundance in the woodland along side the brooks right now. The leaves make a tasty addition to most savoury dishes, but the flowers look great too.
I love a little vase of wild flowers, but only ever pick when they are growing in abundance
Just after the tunnel is Preston Brook Wharf, where we believe Eric’s great grandfather, Willie Jones, worked as a porter. We suspect it’s changed quite a bit since his day.
Still a hive of activity it seems
It was a fabulous day for cruising, but we had removed some of the old solar panels before the so feeling a bit frustrated that we couldn’t generate any of our own. But in true bank holiday style the sunshine decided to take a holiday too. We had a night in Stockton Heath pottering.
A very convenient mooring, with an easy stroll into the town centre
Eric’s mum worked here as a switch board operator during the war years. She had to walk over the swing bridge that spans the Manchester Ship Canal, if she got her timing wrong and it was open, it meant she was late for work. An unforgivable offence in those days- using the bridge as an excuse just didn’t wash. The bridge is still in operation today so we went for a walk over it. But we dwardled to look at the view.
Looking west, you can see more swing bridges over the big canal
Continuing our journey our nice little canal took us under the M6,
It doesn’t look that impressive from our side, but the noise from the motorway certainly was.
To the honey pot village of Lymm
Think we got the last of the nicest mooring
We treated ourselves to a pint at Lymms microbrewery and sat chatting to an old guy who was a boater and had the misfortune to be moored close to the breach when it happened. Oh boy did it sound scary. Again so lucky it happened overnight, and no one was cruising. He told us we wouldn’t be able to get close enough to see the breach now as it was all cordoned off. Amazingly he was also on the canal when the previous breach happened 50 years ago, in almost exactly the same spot. Then he remembers how all the local boaters became part of the volunteer team that helped provide the manpower to fix it. He was given a commemorative brass plaque to mark the event. This time Peel holdings (who own the Bridgewater) will be managing to repairs, and in their latest statement, they are estimating the canal will reopen for navigation in December 2026
On New Year’s Eve we had sat planning our cruising route for the upcoming year, “let’s go north along the Bridgewater and do the Leeds and Liverpool West to East….” Well that plan sprung a leak didnt it. A great big one, when on New Year’s Day the Bridgewater sustained a catastrophic breach at Little Bollington. It wasn’t rocket science to know this wasn’t going to be fixed in a few weeks, more likely a few years.
Taken from the IWA website
Fellow continuous cruisers and prolific Vloggers, Taylors Aboard, had the misfortune to be moored close enough to be directly affected by this breach. They provided some excellent drone footage of what they woke up to on New Year’s day, and the ensuing aftermath documenting it in real time. It was a horrific experience and we can only thank God that no one was actually injured or worse killed that day.
Plan B, we’ll go via the Macclesfield, through Manchester and bypass the breach, until, guess what….on April fools day, just above the Bosley locks, the Macclesfield breached as well. Not quite so catastrophic as the Bridgewater, and will probably only take a few monts to repair. But somewhat more frustrating as CRT had been aware of the potential problem and had executed a temporary repair back in November. I’m not going to cast blame because it’s not straightforward, but we can’t help but wonder why “they” let this happen.
The 2025 Macclesfield breach (photo from Manchester evening news)
We’re still not totally sure what Plan C is, but as we left Uplands Marina, we decided to turn left and take a few days heading towards Lymm, about as far as we can get before the breach. Despite it coming up to Easter Weekend, the canal was quiet, which is a good thing as the Barnton tunnel is one way and relies upon boaters not entering if someone else has got there first. And with awkward angles entering the tunnel that’s not easy. Luckily, the oncoming boat travelling south realised just in time and didn’t hit us while we were inside.
Unfortunately we weren’t quite so lucky when we passed through bridge 211. I’d hopped off so I could take another photo of our lovely shiny boat,
Forgive me, it’ll be a while before I stop posting gratuitous photos of Firecrest
When we saw another boat coming towards us,
Umm, that looks like a tight squeeze
Although Eric steered to the side, it was shallow, he grounded and couldn’t move,
No it’s not a contact sport….
And yes we sustained our first scratch. Oh well it had to happen sometime, just wish it hadn’t been on day one. And to be fair, it was accidental, not malicious. We moored up for the night at the site of the 2012 Dutton Breach. And while I enjoyed the lovely evening view, Eric got the touch up paint out and got rid of the scratch.
Looking down towards the River Weaver and the rail viaduct
Although we loved our original colour scheme, of dark blue with a maroony red trim, it didnt take us long to realise just how much heat a dark coloured boat holds when it’s baked under the summer sun. Yes I’m sure we could fry the proverbial egg on the sliding hatch if we’d been daft enough to try. The red had worn through and faded badly. The blue had become blotchy with patches of the red mix showing through.(It was an old style coach paint)
Still an attractive boat, if a little battered and bruised
The pale grey roof paint washed off and ran down the sides causing grubby streaks, and we couldn’t wash the sides without ending up with a blue cloth. There were flakey bubbles and rust spots. In short Firecrest was looking shabby. But professional boat painting doesn’t come cheap. We debated long and hard, shall we splash the cash or not. OK it was actually an easy decision, we don’t know how long we shall continue to live aboard Firecrest, but we wanted a smart looking boat. In October ’23, we had seen enough lovely boats bearing the PaintShed logo that we approached Nick from N.B. Marine Services and asked him to repaint Firecrest. 2025 was completely free, so we booked ourselves the March slot.
The Paintshed in January
Of course we had no idea what colour scheme we wanted, only that it had to be paler than the original. Over the next 15 months I filled up the memory card on my phone camera, snapping boats in all colours of the rainbow. Eric refused to allow me to go Barbie pink, but some pretty shades of purple were considered, teals and turquoises are always a head turner, but they didn’t quite fit our name Firecrest. I was adamant I wanted a joyful bright coloured boat in preference to a subtle but elegant one. Brunswick Green seemed to fit the bill.
Not sure how a picture of a steam train made it into a post about Firecrest, but hey, look at the colour
Then of course we had to choose which of the three Brunswicks, light, mid or dark… and a contrast trim. We settled on Light Brunswick Green, BS225 for the main colour, Sea Green BS217 for the panels Current Red BS539 for the Red accents (I’m sure that ought to be currant red, but it says current on the tin) Biscuit BS 358 for the coach lines And Coat Grey BS 7076 for the roof. Mixed from Supertune Automotive coach enamel
In January we booked into Uplands Marina, where the Paintshed is based.
Just in time not to get stuck on the cut
And whilst we were waiting for our slot we (Eric) did some serious tinkering on board, enlarging cupboards (thankyou Kevin for your help here), tackling some blackened woodwork, and removing 5 of our solar panels. The panels were showing signs of deterioration so it was an ideal opportunity to replace them. We loaded the car more than once with boxes and boxes of “stuff” with the intention of sorting, and decluttering while we enjoyed the home comforts of “unlimited” storage. And as Nick and Lee were going to remove the portholes so they could apply the spray paint, we took them home so Eric could polish and lacquer them.
Now there’s a man who takes pride in his work
We met with Robin Wagg our sign writer, and agreed upon a stylised image of a Firecrest to add to our name panel. We’ve decided to remove the Braidbar logo panel and replace it with something more descreet. We think Rob’s done an amazing job.
And of course, we also needed new canopy sides to complete the look. So Kinver, who fitted our original covers were called in to make us some more.
Smart green canopy sides
The green fabric isn’t a brilliant match but its good enough, As you can see we have a Yorkshire rose emblem on the bow. I wanted a Lancashire rose painted on the other side and a tudor rose on the button but was talked out of it. Despite dire warnings about choosing paint schemes at Eric is proud to be a Yorkshire man, and we both liked the simplicity of the design so I accepted defeat.
After a glorious few weeks of perfect cruising weather while we were under cover, we were finally ready to wave goodbye to Uplands Marina and the Paintshed, dodging the showers under grey skies.
Finally on the move again
But we weren’t downhearted. Neither of us can stop smiling each time we look at our shiny boat.
A picture paints a 1000 words
Roll on many more years cruising the canals. Give us a wave if you see us. Many many thanks to Nick and Lee at the Paintshed. You’ve done an amazing job and we’re a pleasure to work with.
2024 was a difficult year. We got stuck on the wrong side of the Macclesfield breach, (the 2023 one at Scholar’s Green)
Well and truly stuck as the snow fell and the canal frozen over,
then just as we got moving again mum died unexpectedly, there were more breaches blockages, flooding and landslides hindering our plans to spend the summer on the mid levels around East Anglia,
Only 3 months later than planned but we finally arrived on the Northampton Arm ready to take East Anglia by storm
and when we finally got to Northampton, the powers that be were playing politics about dredging around Salters Lode lock – which meant that we couldn’t get to Cambridge anyway. So a change of plan took us across country through Warwickshire
Leaving Stratford upon Avon for our first river cruise of the year
and into Gloucestershire to get to Sharpness.
Looking our over the Severn Estuary from our mooring at Sharpness,
That was an exciting new location for us and we’re very glad we did it. The remainder of the year saw us travelling up the Severn,
Enjoying wide open space, but with limited mooring on the Severn
and the Shropshire union for the autumn.
Autumn on the shroppie
to reach Chester in November.
Moored in Chester under the wall at King Charles garden
We were booked in to have Firecrest repainted at the Paint Shed (Uplands Marina, near the Anderton Boat lift) in March so we knew we wanted to overwinter close enough to negotiate any potential closures planned or otherwise, so we booked ourselves into the marina from January. Just in time to get frozen in
Frozen in at Uplands Marina, January ’25
I left Eric tinkering on the boat whilst I went home for some family time. After all the emotional upheavals we faced in 2024 I was drained. But after a minor delay in starting the repaint we have all emerged shiny and energised to start afresh. Of course in true narrowboating tradition our plans to cruise the Leeds and Liverpool canal west to east have been thwarted, first by the catastrophic breach on the Bridgewater canal over NewYear, and then by the breach two weeks ago on the Macc, our plan B route. Yes we could go across to the River Trent and go north that way, we may still opt to do that . There’s still a lot of family stuff going on which we need to prioritise but for now we are celebrating being back out on the cut listening to the rain on our shiny new paint work, what colours did we choose.
