Back on the Macc.

We came up Bosley Locks yesterday morning in heavy drizzle, as usual. If I had a pound for every time it's rained when we've done this lock flight I'd be rich!

It's been 18 months since we left the Macc. and there's been a noticeable deterioration in the state of the locks and the towpath. This large hole has appeared but instead of being filled in it's been fenced off.

This lock landing has collapsed and fenced off, which makes it difficult for single-handers to get on or off their boat and the towpaths are a disgrace. The mud was ankle deep and there are pot-holes and deep ruts all over the place.

But on the plus side (?) BW, in collaboration with the Lottery Fund, have installed 2 education boards beside the locks.

Despite us being first up the flight and passing 4 boats coming down,  a third of the locks were over half full and had to be emptied before we could go in.  This was entirely due to leaking gates as you can see here.

We've been travelling with David Cummins who bought one of our boats several years ago and who's since become a good friend.   He's single-handing so followed us up the flight and despite having to empty locks for us, then re-set them for him coming up behind us, we managed a fairly fast ascent.  1 hour 50 mins. after we set off, this was David coming into the top lock.

This is Hovis Mill in Macclesfield.  We moored here at Macclesfield Canal Centre for 5 years and as Thursday night is "Lad's Night Out" we moored on the visitor moorings and went out.

Harecastle Tunnel

When we arrived at the South portal of Harecastle Tunnel this morning we had a short wait while 2 boats came through the other way.

It soon passed while I cleaned the windows and Chico taught Roger to play ball.

I started off on the back of the boat as we went into the tunnel, although I wasn't sure how long I'd be staying there and had dug the hoover out from under the bed just in case I bottled out and had to go inside.

Looking back, this is the fan control room. Once you're inside the tunnel they close the doors behind you and switch on the fans to suck all the exhaust fumes out.

It would have been good if they'd switched the fans on before we went into the tunnel as the first couple of hundred yards were really foggy and quite spooky.

Inside the tunnel the roof level varies quite considerably but you can tell where the low sections are because of fluorescent painted markers.

Some sections are very low and you need to duck right down

but others are quite high

About 500 yards before the North portal is this painted skeleton. Someone obviously had a good sense of humour!

I managed to stay on the back of the boat all the way through the tunnel. It was a lot less claustrophobic than I'd expected as we have a magnetic based work lamp that plugs into the 12V socket in the engine room and which illuminates the tunnel where you stand, rather than just relying on the tunnel light on the bow.

This was the North portal, the light at the end of the tunnel. It had taken us 35 minutes to get through and I really enjoyed it.

Maybe next time I'll drive!

Stoke on Trent - The Potteries

Another lovely day saw us carry on through Stoke on Trent, passing the huge recycling plant / incinerator on our way.

The area around Stoke on Trent is known as The Potteries for obvious reasons. It's been the centre of the British pottery industry since the 1800's and one of the dominating features of the region are the 46 remaining bottle kilns which have been preserved as listed builings and can be found at various places along the canal system.  If you'd like to know more about The Potteries and bottle kilns you can read about it  HERE

 This pair of bottle kilns stand between 2 blocks of flats beside the canal at Hanley.

At Etruria C&RT have posted advisory notices on the locks.

You see plenty of boaters dropping the paddles instead of winding them down and I'm all in favour of trying to re-educate these people, but this particular paddle gear is physically incapable of being dropped. You HAVE to wind it down.  It's just typical of the old BW and new C&RT that the sign is posted in the wrong position. It would have been far more appropriate to post it on the lock below.

We moored for the night at Westport Lake.

It's the last mooring before Harecastle Tunnel which we'll be going through on Wednesday morning.  I'm not sure yet if I'll travel through the tunnel on the back of the boat with Roger, or make an excuse of doing the washing up and hoovering and hide inside. I'll let you know how I get on.

Meat Free Monday

Don't you just love a good pie? I know a "real" pie needs a top and a bottom but somehow I don't think this applies to veggie pies, they just don't seem to have the same depth of filling to carry off a double crust like a meat pie does.

This pie uses one of my favourite autumn vegetables. Baby pickling onions are a lovely ingredient that's usually only available for a couple of months and, while I don't care for pickled onions, they're perfect for use in pies and casseroles as they're mild and super sweet. They're particularly good gently braised with green peas and chopped little gem lettuce but that's a recipe for another day.

This pie is incredibly easy and incredibly tasty too.  As I've said before, I'm totally incapable of making pastry that's edible, so once again I've used ready rolled puff pastry and that just makes it even easier!

Cheesy Veggie Pie - serves 2
10 baby pickling onions
2 large cauliflower florets
1 large carrot
1 small yellow pepper
1 teaspoon butter or spread (I used Flora Buttery)
1/2 veg stock cube
1/2 pint milk
100g strong cheese grated (I used cheddar)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons cornflour
about 1/3 of a packet of ready-rolled puff pastry (I used Tesco's own brand)

Peel the carrot and chop into bite sized chunks. Cut the pepper into bite sized pieces and break the cauliflower into smaller florets.

Peeling the baby onions is easy and you don't get the same problem with tears as you do with larger ones. Put them in a jug, cover with boiling water and leave for 2 mins. Drain and cover with cold water. Again leave for 2 mins. then cut off the root and just pull the skin off.

Melt the butter in a medium sized pan and gently sauté the veg for 5 mins with the lid on.  This develops the full flavour of the veg. Add enough water to just cover the base of the pan by about 1/2 inch and the crumbled stock cube and simmer with the lid on for 15mins.  until the veg is just tender when poked with a sharp knife (you're not boiling the veg just steaming them in the stock).  Be careful not to over-cook them at this point as they'll carry on cooking in the oven.

While the veg is cooking, make your cheese sauce. Heat the milk in a small pan until almost boiling. Mix the cornflour with a little water and slowly add to the milk, stirring continuously until it boils and thickens. Turn off the heat and add the Dijon mustard and grated cheese and mix well until the cheese has melted.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the veg and place in your pie dish.

Turn up the heat and reduce the stock for a couple of minutes until you only have about a tablespoonful left,  add that to the cheese sauce and then pour the sauce over the veg.

Take the pastry out of the packet and cut off just enough to cover your pie. Cut a couple of holes in the pastry to let any steam out and stop it going soggy.

Put the pie dish on a baking tray and cook in a pre-heated oven Gas 7 for 30 mins till golden and crisp.

Serve with green veg on the side.

Enjoy!

Stone to Stoke

When I opened the blinds on Sunday morning I could hardly see across the canal and the bridge which was 50 yards away was just a hazy outline. It was thick fog, the first we’ve had so far this year. That didn't deter a hire boat though, as it went rushing past at 8am with all the curtains shut and a solitary figure on the back clutching his mug of something or other. He didn't slow down when he went past us and next thing there was a loud bang as he'd driven into the bridge. He must have been in one hell of a rush to get somewhere as it hardly slowed him down and I heard the revs increase again when he finally made it through the bridge hole.

By 11am the fog had burnt off and it was another glorious day so we carried on to Stone and found a mooring quite easily. We had a wander over to the Food and Drink Festival but they were charging £6 each to get in and the beer tent was run by the Titanic Brewery and Roger doesn't like their beer, so we didn't bother. Later in the afternoon I was shopping in Morrisons and overheard a conversation where the people were complaining that they'd been to the festival, but they thought everything on sale inside was very overpriced and they wouldn't bother going again.

There's a new Aldi supermarket in Stone and after a quick trip to re-stock the cupboards this morning we carried on up Stone and Meaford Locks. Most of the locks on the Stone flight leak badly, this was one of the better ones!

We're now moored near Stoke on Trent, opposite Stoke City Football Club. It's a lovely spot, just a shame we're right beside the busy main railway line.

A day for bumping into friends

This is one of the reasons we love mooring at Tixall Wide so much. It's such a beautiful place, especially early in the morning and especially in the Autumn when the trees are changing colour.

We would have liked to stay longer, but had to press on again.  After getting a pump-out at the Anglo-Welsh hire base, we queued for almost an hour to get water. The delay couldn't have happened at a better time as it meant we bumped into friends on 2 boats who we'd have otherwise missed. We've arranged to travel with one of the boats in a couple of weeks, down off the Macclesfield Canal and into Manchester. Later this afternoon, we bumped into another old friend. We used to moor next to Helga & Klaus on n.b.Sebeq at Macclesfield Marina. Sadly Klaus died and this is the first time Helga's taken the boat out for a decent cruise in 2 years.  We're going to meet up again when she get's back on the Macc after doing the 4 Counties Ring.

The canal's been very busy today, mostly the SAS (Saturday And Sunday) brigade coming out of Great Haywood marina for the weekend and we've had to queue at locks for the first time in months. Luckily there were as many boats coming down as going up so plenty of people to chat to.  One lady had just come from Stone and told me a funny story.  They'd been coming down Star Lock when a guy off a private boat came to help her with the lock gates, so that his boat could come in when her's had gone out.  When the lock was empty, he asked her if she could manage to get the boat out with just one gate open or did she need both?  What?  She told me she thought he was having a laugh, but he was deadly serious. She said she just looked at him in disbelief and asked did he really think you could get a 6ft 10in wide narrowboat through a 3 ft 6in  gap?  For those among you who aren't boaters, you can only get out of a double width lock through one gate, not a single width one.

It's been another beautiful cruising day, mostly warm and sunny, although a bit chilly out of the sun.

I like returning to canals that we haven't been on for a long time; you see things that are still in the same place and condition as before, like this Gypsy caravan

and also things that have changed and been improved. These retirement bungalows have all been fitted with solar panels since last time we passed.

Their gardens are just as lovely as before and I particularly liked these sunflowers.

In previous years we've stopped here at Salt by Bridge 82. If you turn left on the bridge and walk about half a mile into Salt village you come to the Holly Bush Inn which has a really good restaurant and serves amazing Greek Kleftiko Lamb.

We're now moored in the middle of nowhere, somewhere below Aston Lock.  We decided not to carry on to Stone today as we'd heard about the Beer & Food Festival and a couple of boaters had said that the moorings in town were full.  I know it's not like us to pass up a beer festival but, when we were in Birmingham, we did so much socialising and eating and drinking out that we're just happy chilling out for a while.

Tixall Wide

It's been another glorious day; a bit windy but lovely and sunny and perfect for cruising down to Tixall.

We were last here in May 2011 and I'm sure Tixall Lock cottage has had a make-over. I certainly don't remember it looking as smart as this.

The by-wash has definitely been smartened up. It used to have all sorts of gnomes lurking about and I seem to remember one that was either flashing or mooning at you as you peered over the wall.

Tixall Wide is one of our favourite mooring places on the whole canal system. It's almost like mooring on a lake and the variety of bird-life here is amazing.  We've only been here a couple of hours and have already seen a kingfisher, swans, mallards, coots, a cormorant and a great crested grebe.

Roger's been fishing off the back of the boat but hasn't had much luck as yet, neither have the fishermen on the bank behind us. Maybe the cormorant has eaten them all?

We've put in a couple of long days getting here which means we can now have tomorrow off and make the most of a beautiful spot. We'll probably carry on again on Saturday.