Sykes Hollow to Middlewich

Another lovely day for cruising. Pup-out light came on in the morning. Church Minshull was £21 + Blue so we went on to Middlewich. Kings Lock Chandlery gave me the 30 litres of diesel they'd promised as part of filling the tank.

138 litres diesel (81 engine hours). Pump-out at Middlewich Boats: £15 including blue.

Went through the first three northward locks and tied up on the 48 hour moorings before the recreation ground.

Calculated 160 engine hours since last engine service (Oct 2013 / 1000 miles).

8 miles, 6 locks, 5 hours engine

Tattenhall marina to Sykes Hollow

Mixture of cloud and sunshine. Lot of traffic coming the other way. Put some preservative on the wooden chimney collar support before we left and again in the evening.

10.3 miles, 7 locks, 6 hours engine

Chester to Tattenhall marina

Came up the Chester staircase and the next 5 locks with NB No Brass. Stopped to fish for their dropped windlass. Weather mixed, with a little sprinkling of rain at the start. Let the engine running while we stopped at Tesco and again when we looked for the windlass.

9 miles, 8 locks, 7 hours engine

Ellesmere Port to Chester

Sunny morning, grey afternoon. Finished going round the rest of the museum, and tried to see Dawn, but she wasn't there today. Filled up with water at the museum tap – that meant having to move the trip boat.

Masses of weed for the first part of the trip. Lunch at Bridge 134. Tied up in the basin at Chester, deciding not to go up the staircase tonight.

9 miles, 2 locks, 4.5 hours engine

Shroppie Bridge 134 to Ellesmere Port

Another good day for travelling. Booked in with the Museum personnel and tied up in the lower basin. Explored quite a lot of the museum and went for a walk to see the Manchester Ship Canal.

5 miles, 2 locks, 3 hours engine

Chester to Shroppie Bridge 134

Nice day for travelling, and came down the Chester staircase with Tony and Karina on NB No Brass. Hardly any traffic on the Shroppie. Tied up just before Bridge 134 to meet up with Alastair and Sue.

4.5 miles, 3 locks, 2 hours engine.

Tattenhall marina to Chester

Lovely warm, sunny day. Shared the locks down into Chester with NB Chief. Moored up on the 48 hour moorings in the centre, trusting everything will be OK here. There are five or six other boats here, so a measure of shared security.

7.5 miles, 5 locks, 3.5 hours engine

Tattenhall marina to Wharton's lock and back

David and Jo, Lewis and Charis came for a sunny Sunday afternoon's boating, with food. Great time. Tried three times to moor up on the towpath on the way back to cook the evening meal, but couldn't get near enough without grounding.

6.3 miles, 2 locks, 4 hours engine

Sykes Hollow to Tattenhall Marina

Mostly cloudy, occasional shower, a little sun. Started at 8.30. Even so we were pushing it a bit to get to Tattenhall in time to complete the rest of the journey home.

Some of the gates / paddles on the wide locks on the Shroppie were appallingly difficult.

10 miles, 7 locks, 5 hours engine

Middlewich to Sykes Hollow

Early phone calls to Tattenhall and Leightons indicated (a) we could stay at Tattenhall marina, no problem; (b) it was not imperative to get the eye tests done immediately, but my lenses probably needed to be replaced – one of them is four years old. We decided to go home to have all that done, which probably means leaving Erin Mae at Tattenhall for about a week. So instead of calling with Kings Lock Chandlery today, we came straight on up the Middlewich Branch.

Grey day with occasional spots of rain. Most of the traffic against us except for one very slow learner / hirer in front for the last hour before a late lunch opposite the Aqueduct marina. Only one other boat tied up at Sykes Hollow when we arrived.

7.5 miles, 2 locks, 3 hours engine

Wheelock Lock 61 to Middlewich

Up early to prepare for getting through the problem pound and lock, but first rumours were that it wasn't going to happen. So ran the engine from 8 as a battery charging measure. However, CaRT going us all moving reasonably quickly, even though the pound was still low.

Rain at lunch-time, but a sunny afternoon, so came on to Middlewich. All that meant the engine did a good stint today. Wanted to moor before Kings Lock, but there wasn't a lot of room, so came round on to the Middlewich branch of the Shroppie. Nice 48 hour mooring just before the second bridge.

7.5 miles, 12 locks, 8 hours engine

Rode Heath to Lock 61

Horrible morning forecast (and realised), so got up late. Set out at 11 as the showers were beginning to die away. Usual mixture of straightforward and horrible lock gear. Nice sunny afternoon.

Encountered a stoppage due to failure of lock 63, so ended up in a long queue above lock 61, to wait overnight. Went down to see CaRT working on the lock, and we're promised we'll be on the move in the morning.

3 miles, 8 locks, 3.5 hours engine

Westport Lake to Rode Heath

Sunshine and showers as we came through Harecastle tunnel and down the Cheshire locks to Rode Heath. Some of the paddles were really stiff. Wind was a problem when trying to navigate some of the short pounds. An oncoming boater emerging from lock 52 was very slow. At the same time the bywash suddenly increasing from the pound above took Erin Mae's stern, and drove the bows right across the pound and almost into the oncoming boat.

Moored up just short of the winding hole at Rode Heath. Nice spot with a good view across the valley.

6.5 miles, 12 locks, 6 hours engine

Barlaston to Westport Lake

Windy, sunshine and showers, some very heavy. Late lunch at the top of the Stoke locks before the final hour to the Westport Lake moorings. Wind made some manouevering very tricky.

8 miles, 6 locks, 5.5 hours engine

Weston to Barlaston

Woke up to find the gas had run out – the spare, to my surprise, was also empty. That meant a quick start to get up to Stone for replacements.

2 gas cylinders from chandlery in Stone. Late lunch above the 4th lock. Then decided to push on through the Meaford flight, and tied up just after bridge 103 in Barlaston.

10 miles, 10 locks, 7 hours engine

GH Marina to Weston

Bought a new mooring line from GH Marina.

Phoned Ribble link office, who advised that the earliest date for north passage would be 23rd September, so change of plan needed. Will probably try to traverse the Pennines via the Leeds and Liverpool, since Nicholson's says the locks are 60 feet.

Setting out, went via Anglo-Welsh and bought a spare throttle / gear cable. Keith gave me a plastic cover he had for the Morse control lever hub.

Having set out late, only made it just north of Weston lock before tying up for the night.

3 miles, 2 locks, 3 hours engine.

Purchases

Ribble link website advised certain items were mandatory, so bought lifejackets and extra length of anchor rope from MC in Penkridge. Also bought stainless steel chimney and a galvanised liner. Discussed paint for the chimney collar and concluded hull blacking paint would do.

Housework

Clear up after children. Pump out at the marina.

Wolseley Bridge to GH Marina

Home on a very rainy morning.

3 miles, 2 locks, 3 hours engine

Wolseley Bridge to Wolseley Bridge

Went up to Rugeley for ice-cream. Winded and came back to Bridge 70. Another visit to the wildlife centre.

6 miles, 0 locks, 3 hours engine