scenery – Narrowboat Firecrest

Let’s go to Lymm

“…Shall we hang around at Anderton or shall we nip up to Lymm for a few days?” Bit of a no brainer really. The canal is relatively quiet, probably due to the Bridgewater Breach blocking navigation so unless you’re happy to wind and retrace your steps, what’s the point of travelling this way…. because in spring it’s alive with new growth and full of potential.

Especially in the sunshine

Even the storm clouds lend sense of anticipation

Although I wont deny I wasn’t relieved to see a clear sunrise

We ran the gauntlet of a fishing competition. Sorry guys

We waved and tooted our horn for the kiddies crossing the bridge

And we discovered narrowboats arent the only floating home, although im not sure a floating nest is the safest abode for your chicks

And when it comes to transporting your animals and your business, this mobile florist had set up her stall in Lymm, her pet pooch even had its own sunshade

Lymm ticks all the boxes for us to declare it a holiday destination

Centred around the 17th century stone cross, the village itself was a hive of activity. Originally agriculture was the predominant occupation, but a Slitting Mill also produced iron nails for the wider community. The arrival of the canal in the 1750’s again increased the prosperity of the growing town. And during the industrial revolution trade became focused on cloth, with the production of fustian, a fabric similar to corduroy. I’ve written about Lymm in several previous posts if you want to know more.

But like us the Victorians recognised its charms and escaped here to stroll through the leafy woodland around the dam

While we were walking around Lymm dam, we saw our first cygnets of the year.

And coots on the canal

And of course as we were in holiday mood, we got to dine out. Someone was celebrating her birthday and the waiter got to hear about it, so my dessert arrived in style. There are several nice restaurants in Lymm, this time we chose Elmas, who make the nicest Tiramisu I’ve had in a while

But alas, we had to get back to the Paintshed so we couldnt linger longer at Lymm, back through more lovely leafy bridges

Under magnificent trees,

And past curious cows

back for one last mooring on this particularly pretty stretch of the Trent and Mersey Canal, before we get our necessary jobs done.

This week’s cruising has been a real pleasure.

You light up my life, just one of the reasons I love waking up on a narrowboat.

What a difference a few hours make when the light changes. This is actually just over a week ago when we all thought summer had arrived. We had moored at a favourite spot of ours at Burston. It was peaceful and calming, (apart from the Canada guessed

I’m usually up at the crack of dawn to make the most of the sunrise, (and a cuppa). Only the view had disappeared

I’d like to pretend I watched the mist clear over the next hour, but I didnt, I snuggled back under the warm duvet. However the next day the world had turned pink.

And I remained mesmerised as the colours changed over the next hour

The day was going to be another good one.

Im not the only one who enjoys early mornings

Of course I couldn’t ignore the sunset, although that was looking the other way.

Burston is a pretty little hamlet, a half hour circular stroll takes you over the bridge and up to the village pond where the swans stand guard

And more daffodils

Now the good thing about the clocks springing forward is I get another week or two of seeing the sunrise at a reasonable hour, but I’m off the boat this weekend returning the car to our daughter so no 7am photos today. Unfortunately it also means I missed meeting Adrian and Adam on their new boat Kingley Vale yesterday.

Better Late than Never

We are now cruising we should have been cruising 9 weeks ago when the culvert collapsed and stopped navigation. Better late than never. The change of scenery above and below Macclesfield is quite dramatic, We’re no longer in the Peak District, and we do miss the hills, but the view is made a lot better with the promise of 4 days of sunshine on the forecast.

Looking back towards Sutton, south Macclesfield

Although looking forward, those clouds ahead seemed a bit heavy

And sure enough 2 minutes after we’d moored up, the heavens opened

And we woke to the warning red sky in the morning and a heavy frost.

But the sunshine quickly warmed us up and we were ready to go down the Bosley Flight.

12 locks over the next mile, not the longest flight but one of the prettiest, and all was going well until we got halfway down. The pound was sadly lacking in an essential element – water. We don’t know if a paddle hadnt been dropped, or it could simply have been a very leaky lock,

We reckoned it would take 3 or 4 locks worth to refill the pound. It took about 20 minutes

We managed to run through enough water to float our boat and I’d gone back to check all the paddles were down, when I heard an almighty bank on the bridge above me. Two cars had collided, thankfully there weren’t any serious injuries to the drivers, although I’m fairly sure both cars were written off.

The rest of our journey down was uneventful, until lock 12 when we got chatting to a family out for a walk, of course we roped them in to work the lock for us and as a reward, we treated our young gongozeler to a ride. (If you’re reading this, thankyou for your help)

All done in 2 hours and 5 minutes, roughly 10 minutes a lock

And Eric had his reward, better late than never, boaters breakfast for lunch.

South by NorthWest

With the culvert fully repaired we finally got the go ahead to travel south, and we’re facing the right direction

But of course to get off the Peak Forest Canal back onto the Macc, we had to travel north. Confused? Yes, perhaps this is what happens when you hang around too long.

And this canal really gets its grip on you

Is this art? Or does someone just have too much time on their hands?

There’s definitely some odd characters on this canal

But we were happy to finally be cruising with a purpose, and it was mild enough not to need our thick coats on. No more sitting around, watching the world go by

Just enjoying the views

And at last turning south back onto the Macc

Meandering amonst the meadows

We weren’t quite sure what to expect from the Thames. On the Trent, mooring was more or less restricted to the floating pontoons around the locks, and we had to call ahead on our VHS radio to alert lock keepers we were approaching, but not on the Thames.

The Trent’s frequent electric charging posts were a real bonus, just paying for what we needed on our precharged card. But it felt a bit like a motorway, plenty of boats getting from A to B as quickly as possible. The Upper Thames has a very different feel. Its a lot quieter, and people are simply enjoying the river. And the riverside pubs.

We’ve taken to the challenge of wild mooring. Who needs armco or pins when you can tie to a tree.

And poor Eric got stung by the nettles as well

Ok we do, but its been a novelty that we’ve enjoyed. Perhaps its the time of year, mid May, that everything is fresh and green.

So many trees, hard to see where the river flows

Or even yellow

We found ourselves a bit of steep bank that we could get close enough into to be able to get on and off

And a field full of buttercups

We a footpath into the village of Eynsham

Just outside of Eynsham, so whilst I sat in the field with my little electric spinning wheel

Eric sat on the roof of the boat wiring in the last of our solar panals. Needless to say retro fitting panels that require wiring being threaded up, under and behind every conceivable obstruction is not to be recommended and all I can say is no wonder it took him so long to psyche himself up to tackle the job.

Whilst Eric was engrossed in his project, I thought I’d take myself for a walk up that hill, only to discover that its part of the Wytham Woods estate, owned by one of the Oxford Colleges. It is a research site containing ancient woodland that has remained under strict preservation since the 1940s and the general public are not allowed in without special permission. Perhaps next time we are here, I’ll be better prepared and will get that permission in advance.

In the mean time I’ll just happily watch another sunset

The Notorious Narrows and Shallows

The last 4 miles into Llangollen is notoriously known for being narrow and shallow, and full of blind bends and happy hirers. We seriously debated whether to take the boat or catch the bus. Not one to shirk a challenge and so what if we scratched the paintwork, we set off on Firecrest to complete our journey. I say we, I set off on foot to see us safely through the Trevor basin bridge, but I quickly realised I was walking a well trodden and very well maintained footpath. As the stone slope up this bridge shows just how well worn.

I’m not sure what H&S would have to say about this slope

But it was a beautiful walk, so i just carried on.

I suspect this hotel garden features in many wedding photos,

some lucky to live just off the towpath

Who doesn’t dream of a white picket fence

But the last mile the canal was cut out from the rock face

And although the photos don’t show it we could still see jagged edges sticking out. Luckily there is signage informing boaters that it is single way transit for the next couple of hundred metres and advices a crew member to walk ahead. Luckily I did so and was able to call Eric on when I saw the route was clear.

Thankfully on this journey we had anticipated the majority of boats would set off in the morning leaving a fairly clear run upstream. And it proved a wise plan to wait for rush hour to be over as I only had to phone back to Eric and tell him to wait twice. Not that waiting was a problem when faced with the magnificent scenery around us.

And our reward was to arrive in llangollen unscathed with a choice of mooring, all with electric shore power and water points. (And I’d more than clocked up 10000 steps on my fitbit)

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