We set off this morning in glorious sunshine at around 09:15, a short stop at the Marple junction water point for a top up and we were on our way. Out of the junction and turn right and we joined the Peak Forest canal. About an hour into the trip and it started to rain […]
A lazy start today setting off around 10:30. Our plan was to go to Marple Junction, stopping off at Higher Poynton on the way for water. Because of the lack of water the canal was low and several boats ended up aground when passing. Nearing Higher Poynton there were several Braidbar boats around . These are built in […]
Glorious sunshine greeted us as we arose this morning. After breakfast it was time to set off the couple of miles to Macclesfield to drop Ben And Claire at the railway station for their return jorney to Surrey. Mooring up near bridge 37 we all walked into town for some shopping and to find the railway […]
Having gotten the train from Woking in Surrey, we met with Shell Bell at Stoke-on-Trent in the early afternoon. After a swift cup of tea & a tour of the boat for Claire, we were on our way, heading North towards the Harecastle Tunnel. Having never done a lock before, Claire was thrown in at […]
Today was quieter than yesterday, although we still had ten locks to do. Really working on the bingo wings. We followed a couple from Kings lynn on board there narrowboat Napton Lass down the locks and they gave us some good information about moorings on the Ouse. If we could find moorings there it would be […]
According to our schedule we were aiming for bridge number 83 today. At the beginning of our journey we passed through the new bridge where the Armitage tunnel used to run before it’s roof was removed in 1971 to combat the subsidence effects of coal being mined nearby. The notice says you must send a crew […]
A few statistics to begin the blog tonight. Today we have travelled twelve miles in ten hours and have worked eleven locks!!! This very busy day began at nine o’clock. We set off from Branston and our aim was to make up for the time we lost on Monday so that we can be at […]
As per usual it was very windy as we set off. We had to take the boat across to Aqua to have some fairleads put on. We were going to get the bus into Burton while this was being done but decided we would stop at Shobnall to go to Sainsburys. Having filled up with […]
It was after a long train and bus journey that we finally reached Willington at 6.15pm. We were so grateful that Stuart (who had been putting the central heating in Shell Bell) turned up at the station to pick us up. He took us back and showed us how the heating works. It looks very […]
We have been at home in Bungay this week whilst the work is being carried out on Shell Bell, she should by now have been blacked and the central heating should have started to be installed, I will phone tomorrow to get an update. The purchasers of our house sent there surveyor round today, so […]