18th -24th May........SHATTERED!

Well, we had a re-check for our certificate on thursday morning then had a call from my brother regarding him being on a caravan club rally in Wrenbury and the fact that i said we were setting off and would be there for the bank holiday weekend....Ha don't think so.....it was this weekend..do we or don't we, 21hrs!! had a quick think and thought what the heck..
We never normally move more than a couple of miles as we need to retrace to get the car with us as were still working the odd day till xmas but my Brother said he would take us back for the car, great.
We set off from Stockton Heath Warrington at 2pm, just about made the Preston Brook tunnel, thank goodness else that would have put us another hour behind. Met a couple at Dutton stop lock and a little chat and said bye as they went on their way. We got through the stop lock and a mile or so on the same couple were mooring with smoke coming from their engine....This was one of those moments that normally you wouldn't question but when your time is so limited you do think twice but then the fact that there would be help only half an hour away with a tow if they needed one we moored and gave a hand, had another chat, fixed the boat and left having exchanged names etc, you know how it goes so i would like to say Hello to a lovely couple on SERENA, Judith and John,who are living aboard thanks to the kids taking all responsibility of the house so they could get on with life. Hope everything's O.K. and that you managed to find the Blog...Anyway the next tunnel was again perfectly timed and we made it to Middlewich at 11pm 9hrs later.
Next morning we set off at 7.30, no breakfast, that was done in shifts. All the locks were falling so well for us and only hit a queue at Swanley which we thought was going to happen along the way but alas as we reach Venetian empty lock, no queue.
We went up the lock here and had to stop for milk as we hadn't a clue when the next chance would be but this then led to smelling food and having egg & chips in the cafe.3/4hr later we were on our way again and not long after this decided we had had enough sun over the two days so we put our canopy up and dropped for some of the littler bridges, last minute wrangle....It was our first time onto the llangollen but we were well aware of the small locks and even though we knew we still read the lift your fenders sign before entering and commented on how tight it must be.
Tim jumped off with Kal and i waited then steered into the lock as i got about 10 foot in we stuck solid. Forward or reverse was useless..OMG i thought weve got one of those boats that has been built too wide Ha HA....no i don't think so...front fenders were down...how the heck. Tim jumped onto the roof and tried to push them down but it wouldn't work so i got the bread knife and ventured out of the cratch, cut the ropes, got covered in horrible slime off the wall...YUK.. and Tim gave them anothe push but still stuck...I went back to the helm and tried to reverse and thank goodness it worked...What idiots we felt, glad nobody was around!!!!!!
We continued on our journey and discovered that not far from Wrenbury one of the locks had been out of action for 4hrs!! lucky again.
Meanwhile my brother had been ringing me from work checking on our progress..it was now about 7pm and he called me. He had finished work gone home got ready and had left warrington at 6.45 we arrived at Wrenbury at 7.15 ish 20hrs travelling hrs over 1 1/2 days later whilst he had got there in just 45minutes!!!!! I am sure we enjoyed our journey more though as it was fantastic....
They have all gone back to work now and were still here. Heading to Marbury today, sounds nice and the weather is a little cooler giving my sunburn a rest!!

MAY 6TH TO 17TH

Headed up the trent as far as dutton stop lock...nearly stayed in Anderton to visit the Stanley but just about managed to resist....The following day we went to Moore and i bought some of their oak smoked bacon, a treat every time we pass and I don't eat any other bacon in between..
We reached Walton BMBC around 6pm and were greated by Jackie and Eddie who kindly helped us moor up. Walton BMBC have just constructed a timber Gazeebo, few windows and a door and it could be a club Ha Ha... It's just the ticket and with the addition of the wood burner evenings are a treat.
Our evening was enhanced by other BMBC boaters and a greattime was had by all, lovely to see familiar faces and to have a chat, singalong and maybe some of us had a little too much to drink...not me of course..

Sorry to friends who's picture isn't on here but this one took ages to upload for some reason so it's the only one from the night...
We stayed a couple of nights at Walton then ventured up to Thorn Marine in stockton heath for our Boat Safety check and we failed.....What.... small gas leak which has been sorted now but still to be rechecked.
Today my Sons came and we headed off for a cruise along the canal and lunch. Lovely to see them again...don't they grow up fast

Where are we now....5th May

Well we have been on the weaver since the 29th april and are at the minute in Northwich, spent far too much money being near the town../ Tomorrow we are heading back up the lift to get fuel, havn't filled up for about 8 weeks so thats done really well.
Once filled up, watered up and toileted we are off to dutton just before the stop lock at Preston brook tunnel. Staying there the night then off to Walton to the BMBC moorings for Friday night to catch up with friends then up to Thorne Marine for boat safety check on tuesday 11th....if anything happens i will let you know....

More visitors...

15th April.....Welcome to our dear friends Steve, Denise and their children Drew and Bobby... It was another nice day so we cruised along near Marbury Park and had lunch, very nice I may say and then went on to just after Harral brokerage where we about turned and headed back.... THE LITTLE ONES APPARENTLY HAD A GREAT TIME AND TALKED ABOUT 'THE BOAT' ALL NIGHT AND AGAIN THE NEXT DAY. Thanks for your company guys, hope to see you again soon.
A week later Tim's other brother Andy and his wife Marg came so we went back down to Anderton and back to the weaver.

Jonathan's Birthday...14th April

Jonny managed to get down to us on his birthday so we had a trip down the river on the way to Northwich the trip boat as coming up quite fast behind so we headed over towards the bank to let them pass as we were in no rush. Unfortunately we didn't see the wood sticking up about a foot out of the water and as we steered the boat parallel to the bank we went over the wood causing the boat to nearly capsize, it was terrible Matthew was not impressed especially as he can't swim!! We continued with me skitting Mat for being scared...my heart was pounding!!!Any way the sun was cracking the flags, well it would have been if the wind wasn't freezing and it was time for luch.
Jonny came with his partner of 5 years donna and my other son Matthew. After luch we took them up the Anderton boat lift and moored on the trent & mersey..a lovely day

IT'S BEEN ALL GO...BUT ALL FUN

Hi everyone, thanks for coming back. It's been almost a month since my last post and it's been busy.
Just after my last blog some young lads decided to set fire to the bank just ahead of us so we set off, me with jug in hand to put it out......If you could have seen me trying to reach the water at the side of the river bank with my jug you would have fallen in laughing. Not only that but the effort of getting down the bank, getting the water and climbing back up was rediculous with so little water so i tried throwing it from the waters edge, ha will say no more.....Fire out, we decided to move..didn't want to die in a burning boat and as the offenders were almost obviousley the young men messing about in the launch that had moored behind us we changed our mooring to Anderton.
That in itself wasn't a good exprience as it was dark and Tim took the boat along the rver whilst Kal and i drove the car to Anderton, still needed for work at the weekends.
Once parked we had to find our way from near the car park to the river and as we hadn't been through the paths before that wasn't easy especially a it was now dark and scarey.
We entered the park and once about 300yds in there were some youths gathered, we passed them and i prayed that they didnt follow us and at the same time felt we were in a very dangerous situation. Luckily nothing horrible happened and we reached the bank and waited for Tim to arrive....it was such a relief to see the boat coming.