Shape Shifting Leaf Monster

We went to the boat this weekend and definitely against our better judgement given the forecast of heavy rain. We just about managed to dodge a soaking for a cheeky night out to Whaley Bridge. It was worth it given an amazing curry at Zayka. The food is so different there. 

But then again, we keep meeting the unexpected. It wasn't the rain that we fell foul of. On the short trip from Furness Vale to Whaley and on our return, we fell into a black hole at the junction between Whaley and Bugsworth. A black hole where the tiller stops working and a boat on full forward power - goes backwards. A boat ahead of us was being manhandled out of the same predicament which will be hereafter known as the Bugsworth Bermuda triangle. We were forced to stop only to suffer the same fate. We hadn't run aground, as we first thought, as the boat could rock about happily.

We eventually fathomed it, and our theory was confirmed on reading the blog of NB Star, which is copied here:

The boat gradually loses power with all the symptoms of a plastic bag wrapped round the propeller  Yet look in the weed hatch, as I did several times, and there's nothing.

 After being reduced to a virtual standstill while trying to pass a line of moored boats the mystery was finally resolved when a fierce bout of alternately reversing and going forwards saw a cloud of leaves appear from the rear.

A passing boater who watched confirmed "it's leaves; they wrap all round the prop". And of course, when you stop to check the weedhatch, they just drop off again!

We might be more understanding the next time a train is delayed because of  'leaves on the line.' This is what shape shifting is all about - disappearing and reappearing as something frightening and unfathomable by all rational means. 

Rocky continued to learn about what goes on with canals and he must have been mystified by Princess Lucy's backwards motion because of the leaf soup. He patrolled vigorously but was quite well behaved on the stern deck and at least didn't try to launch himself off at every narrow or duck crossing. We left Jemma to rest down below and no doubt sigh heavily. She must be fed up of the young Rocky getting all the attention. Like us, she was young and flighty once. Here is a picture of a youthful Jemma with our gorgeous late and great rescue dog Crystal.

It is fair to say that Jemma is looking more portly,or stately, or any other suitable euphemism, than her younger self. Sadly, so do we. 

Narrowboat Alchemy: Turning Pine into Ash

Princess Lucy is lined with ash, and she looks very nice. However modifications and improvements are needed in some areas, and any new wood really needs to match the old wood.

Having searched the world for a local (and affordable) source of ash, and failed, I set about looking at alternatives. Staining or colouring pine seemed to be the obvious solution. The grain patterns are not too different, so it's just about getting the right 'colour.' The internet, where I fully expected to see a man on YouTube giving me the precise answer also failed me, so without boring you about the precise steps along the way, I will go straight to the answer.

Coloured varnish was the answer. But Beech varnish proved a bit to yellowy or orangey, although fairly close, and Medium Oak varnish was a bit too grey and mucky, although again fairly close. The answer was a 50/50 mix of beech and light oak (I used Wilkos) followed by gloss yacht varnish.

The result (of a part of the new shower surround) is shown here.

Next week: "Lead to Gold" using 2H pencils from Woolworth's and a tin of Red Cardinal Polish.

Jem shows Rocky the ropes

We decided to have a night away on the boat this weekend to see how Rocky would cope with eating and sleeping aboard Princess Lucy. More to the point, to find out how we would cope with 2 dogs with very different 'issues' in such a tight space. Jemma can't manage the steps and has to be lifted in, and out of, the saloon whereas it proved almost impossible to keep Rocky in. He really is a racing snake and slithered out of the front hatch in a nano-second but fortunately only ran to find the Captain who was in the process of ferrying things to and from the Landrover. When we got under-way to Whaley Bridge, we had both dogs up top and there was quite a tangle of leads and tripping hazards. It occurred to us that this may have been the first time that Rocky had seen water or ducks before. It was certainly his first experience of moving at walking speed.

The narrows proved a particular challenge as we tried to stop him from stepping off every time the bank appeared close enough. It's fair to say, that Jemma was showing off by playing the old sea dog (this is a complete lie as she has been the biggest pain in the neck up top before). We got to Whaley and had a lovely walk up the old railway incline and then fed them, got ready and went out for dinner. In spite of trying to wear Rocky out and putting on the radio, he barked and barked as we walked away. Fortunately we weren't moored near any other boats.

It was all a bit stressful and this was followed by a terrible dinner at Memories of India. There was a complete amnesia about the importance of good service. We waited well over an hour for starters, then nearly as long again for our main courses. By this time, we had drank most of the wine and were past caring about whether the food was good, bad or indifferent. The answer to the delays became apparent as we saw huge cauldrons of food disappearing outside followed by most of the waiting on staff. We guessed they were providing catering for an outside function whilst we sat waiting patiently for our meal in an increasingly deserted restaurant. We must have become invisible and trying to catch the attention of the one remaining waiter failed.  A long drawn out meal was the last thing we needed on the first occasion of leaving the two dogs on the boat. As it happened, they were fast asleep when we got back so there was no harm done. After a bedtime walk and cuddle, they both slept peacefully all night.

The next morning we woke to glorious sunshine and headed for Bugsworth Basin. As usual, we were in complete ignorance of the fact that there was an event on: this time a steam rally, and we couldn't find a place to tie up. We only wanted to go there to let Rocky have a run but it was very crowded. so we went back to Furness Vale. En route, we had never seen so many happy shiny people using the tow path for leisure purposes. Walking, jogging, cycling, ambling. We had pleasant discourse with other dog lovers who admired the new addition to our canine crew. One lovely little girl shouted at us from a bridge "Wow a boat and a dog!".

So all in all, not a bad first time cruising for Rocky. He even lay down in the sunshine on the Stern deck as we headed back home. Jem seemed happy to be the old hand who could show him the ropes. We viewed this performance with more than a little irony.

A Great Uncle Receives Very Important Visitors

Some visitors to Princess Lucy are very special indeed. Some time ago, the captain received a polite request from James and Harriett White, great nephew and great niece, to visit the boat. A day was arranged right at the fag-end of the summer holidays. Oh how the Captain worried about these V.I.P. twins and whether everything would be ship shape for their arrival. The itinerary was planned, a short cruise to the historic Bugsworth Basin and preparations for the twins were made. Up to the last minute, the Captain paced the floor, racked by persistent doubts: would they be bored? Would they be underwhelmed by this little boat? Would the Peak Forest Canal hold enough to entertain such important little ones?

Well, as it happened the sun shone and the twins were an absolute joy to have aboard. James even managed to steer the boat - without being able to see over the top of her. Quite a feat. They found peeping the horn and feeding the ducks a right laugh.

They marvelled at everything including the labyrinthine basin at Bugsworth.

Such is the joy of being a child. Everything is potentially fascinating when you are open to new adventures. They, or possibly their mum, Shelley, brought a picnic and they were absolutely no trouble at all. In fact they were the opposite. They proved to be a 'great' niece and nephew in every sense of the word. A complete success, and of course this was much to the relief of their GREAT Uncle!

I don't do floors

 
The planned trip to Sutton Lane along the lock-free Upper Peak Forest and Macclesfield canals was aborted due to bad weather. There was also some uncertainty as to whether our new rescue dog, Rocky the greyhound, would need more time to settle into our house routine before tackling life aboard. The weather had the final say but we had thought maybe a little spin to Bugsworth Basin or Whaley would provide some familiarisation and lifeboat training. But even this was abandoned due to quite heavy rain that had not been forecast by the Met Office.

Fair weather sailors we may be, and in the end an afternoon snooze (grown-ups and doggies) and the fitting of the DAB radio was all we could manage. Except there is no DAB coverage at our mooring in Furness Vale! We were at least able to play our music downloads through the speaker system which runs throughout the boat.

We just couldn't keep Rocky off the fixed seating and a website for greyhounds suggests that they just 'don't do sleeping on floors.' Funny because Jem was just the same when we got her. After the first night, we found her trying to sleep on a hard backed dining chair instead of the fluffy dog bed we had provided. Now, of course, she is too elderly to jump up on sofas like the young Rock star but we keep reminding her that, at his age, she was just as annoying. 

After a visit to the vets for micro-chipping which was also abandoned due to Rocky's extreme reaction, we've all just about had enough for one day. So we will now settle down with a fire and a glass of something chilled to watch Harry H. Corbett in the 1964 canal-based film called The Bargee. It is only thanks to someone tweeting that Brian of Alton (coalboat) bears more than a passing resemblance to this famous Steptoe and Son actor, that we discovered the film. 

Rocky Rescued

Hi, this is Jemma the dog here. For once I can get on the laptop to write on my own blog! Understand that there may be the odd spelling mistake which can be credited to my poor education and fat paws.

Today we went to collect the gorgeous Rocky from 'Just For Dogs' near Brailsford, Derbyshire. This is a rescue centre run by a dedicated team of people who clearly are all about getting their dogs re-homed rather than turning decent people away because they don't happen to have a side gate to their garden (this is a true story by the way!) Just for Dogs are wonderful with those homeless hounds who are on 'death row'. As I was myself awaiting execution at Green Lane Kennels Tutbury, way back in 1999 when I was adopted, this is a most miserable state of affairs that I know about. 

Rocky is a handsome fellow. At 2 years old he is a typically laid back whippet/greyhound. I have had to put him in his place a couple of times for getting over familiar! No one of my age appreciates being humped. He needs to show respect for the dignity of an elderly lady like me - but all the signs are good. Although do we look a bit like little and large, I think we may become good friends. 

There is a rumour of a possible weekend on Narrowboat Princess Lucy. This will depend on how Rocky settles into the house first and whether we can live in a really small space together at such an early stage of our relationship. It could be interesting as we could easily fall over each other (or all fall in the canal), or better still, tip the Captain overboard. 

But Rocky is an elegant, dainty footed, narrow dog, and therefore should be suited to a narrowboat. 

If we do go away, I'll no doubt blog about it here.

(More pictures below)

Shirkers, Staly-Vegas and the addition of lace

Staly-Vegas, all at peace in the sunshine

Our plans to spend a couple of days in Manchester changed a little when our "lock crew," especially recruited for the 18 Ashton canal locks into Manchester, cried off. Maybe it was the advice to be ready for all weathers, hard work, to be prepared for grease marks on clothes and strictly no high heels, that finally scared them off. In the end, we all bottled it. Especially Jemma who had been pacing up and down for a solid 4 hours down the Marple flight. 

So having dropped down the 16 locks from Marple, we reached Dukinfield junction, but instead of heading West to Manchester, we thought we might go East, on the Huddersfield Canal. Ever the adventurers, we had no idea what lay ahead. 

The first lock on the Huddersfield was protected with anti-vandal straps and this was really the first time we had used, in anger, the (Midland Chandlers) handcuff keys. All went well on the bottom gates, but on the top gate paddle straps, the outside diameter of the key was greater than the hole it had to go in! Ten minutes furious filing and swearing sorted it and we were on our way arriving in Stalybridge late that afternoon.

Only a boating trip would include somewhere like Stalybridge in the travel itinerary, and we knew nothing about the place. Our ignorance intact, we set off that evening on the Manchester train to meet our very glamorous "shirker lock crew" friends. It was a mere 14 minutes by train into the impressive Victoria Station.On the way back around ten, we wondered why everyone seemed to heading out of Manchester on our train. When they all got off with us, the penny dropped.

Portuguese Lace Door Curtain bought in Bridport

On the platform at Stalybridge a girl told us, “Did ya know they call it Staleh-Vegas? Ya guaranteed a good night here.”

Staly-Vegas is a strange place. It is an old mill town that having been very prosperous during the industrial revolution is now struggling with its identity. Apparently the plan was to develop a kind of 'cafe culture' in the town but clearly that didn't work out given the number of cans that litter the tow path. The prettiest thing by far is the canal which around 2000, was restored through the town centre where it had been culverted. (In fact we met a council worker who had been responsible for much of the culverting a few locks further up.) We hadn’t planned to go much further, but it took all of one day to travel up from Stalybridge to the water point and then beyond lock 12 to wind (having failed so closely at the entrance to Scout tunnel).

More vintage lace recently added

The rest of Stalybridge is unremarkable excepting that it has a shop advertising "tripe and sandwiches". Now there's a vegetarian nightmare. More than half of the town centre shops are boarded up, and as we were advised there is a vibrant night-life, with the noise and mess that goes with it.We did enjoy a boogie on deck to Michael Jackson. Well it would have been rude not to.

On our way up for water, in the pound between locks 9 and 10, we passed a boat heading West. Our first mate took the boat into lock 10. But the Captain of the boat we had passed remained at the previous lock. “A boat was sunk in that lock, lock 9, last week. If she gets into trouble, I can flush some water down from here.” Now it took us a while to fathom what he was rattling on about. But, yes, two boats in the last couple of years have sunk in lock 9.

Marple Crew

It seems that the bottom gates leak badly, the top gates are fairly OK. So if the pound is already low, there is a fair chance of running aground as you enter (or leave) the lock. If this is the case, with the bottom gates leaking badly, there is then only a few minutes before the water will stop entering the lock, and the lock will then drain. The boat is not so much sunk, as dry docked at about 20 degrees! There are some links here HERE to the previous events, (note: these are not for the faint hearted).

We met our (entirely cheerful and reliable) Marple crew at Marple bottom lock, and after a quick spin back over Marple Aqueduct and through Hyde Tunnel, we huffed and puffed our way up the locks. At lock 12, the Captain’s little finger was mangled between the balance beam and the windlass. Captain did a little dance in sort of clockwise circles, his right hand between his legs. He chanted words that must have been Anglo-Saxon, but did he complain at all over the next 2 days about his bruised and throbbing finger? 

It is good to do locks ... occasionally. It makes you appreciate the Macclesfield Canal and the UPPER Peak Forest. After rocking it in Staly-Vegas and avoiding the potential horrors of lock 9, Furness Vale is going to seem very pedestrian.

New Life as The Princess Lucy

The boat can now begin to take on its new life as Princess Lucy. As part of the Canal Time fleet she was called Grasshopper 101 and painted  a vivid turquoise. We still see some of these boats and call out to each other -  'Look it's our boat!'. For the last six years, she lived out her existence as 'Florence II' with her previous owners. Last night we finished putting on the vinyls which we bought from The Graphics Boat Company. And we were quite pleased with ourselves for not making a spectacular balls up. Imagine living with the shame of a spelling mistake? Although we have seen plenty of other boats with misspelt names. Their owners obviously think it is funny to call their boat something like 'Anonymouse'.

Preparation is everything and so having watched a demonstration video, we copied their method. And it worked beautifully. You need a water spray, masking tape and a credit card. Patience, care and that's it.

She seems to be quite proud of her new name. Gone forever are 'Mike and Sheila' and 'Florence II'. She is still a long way from being fully painted but we figured that with a boat, it's a bit like the Forth Bridge.and it will be done as a matter of continuous maintenance.

She is now freshly painted black up to her gunwales, has cream name panels and will get a bit of red before the end of the summer. Next year, we will continue to paint the roof cream and finish the rest.

This latest flurry of smartening up is all in preparation for our trip to Manchester at the weekend. The more we get to know and love her, the more we also see how scruffy she is. TLC is needed and at least looks a bit tidier when our visitors meet her for the first time.

You will see from the photograph that we settled on 'Sheffield Basin' for her affiliation and, coincidently, our new boating friend Sarah very kindly gave us a postcard which is an old print of the historic Sheffield Basin. It's a lovely water colour and shows The Straddle Warehouse which still dominates Victoria Quays today. There are plans to take Princess Lucy to Sheffield next winter and so the name and the postcard is quite fitting. We both work in Sheffield and it is our adopted city. Given the number of times we have been snowed in, at home in the Peak District, it would be good to have a base in the city for when the bad weather comes in.

Jemma came with us and spent a few hours sniffing round the Furness Vale marina while we worked our magic with the water spray. She is unimpressed by the new name (probably thinking it should have been named after her) but at least she really does seem to be happy at Furness Vale. There are gorgeous views across the valley, its peaceful and she always makes a new friend - dog or duck - they all look the same to her with her fading vision.

Thugs in Whaley pelt us with Bourbons

Things continue to progress, albeit at the leisurely pace fitting of a narrowboat. We spent a lovely weekend pottering about the canal and the marina.We cruised all the way from Furness Vale to Whaley Bridge to give her an outing (about half an hour) and to meet up with Alton for a pump out on Sunday. We both thought we heard Alton whilst we were still in bed, having learned to pick out her distinctive chugging sound. So there was a bit of a scramble to get up and make ready. It surprised us to see Alton but without Brian and Ann-Marie. It is great that they can get away to Spain and still continue to provide their service to boaters.


On Saturday evening, it turned out to be much sunnier and nicer that the weather forecast had predicted. We mixed Cava cocktails with strawberries, kiwis, mango, passion fruit and orange juice. Our neighbours arrived in time to sample the recipe.


After a curry at Zayka we returned for coffee and to finish up the cocktails. It was just about warm enough to sit in the saloon and have the doors open. All was very chilled when some lunatic pelted us with a Bourbon biscuit. Now this wouldn't be the usual weapon of choice to liven up a a bunch of boozy boaters, but it had an effect.

We have paused the work on the shower room because the Captain is intent on smartening up the outside during what is left of the summer. That said, she looks rougher than ever at the moment as he has peeled off all her old lettering. The names of the previous occupants continue to haunt us. Even with the vinyls removed, the names MIKE and SHEILA are etched in undercoat. We hope to start to put things right by painting her in new livery, done in stages and adding her new name. What we achieve before we go on our next trip to Manchester will depend on the weather. This means we have had to make a final decision on the outside colour scheme and the name.
If you google the name 'Lucy Belle' you get quite a few hits for an international porn star. So we have decided this association is not something we want to promote. She will be named 'Princess Lucy' after our beautiful granddaughter and in homage to Tim and Shane Spall and their boat 'The Princess Matilda' - which they also named after their granddaughter. We have been much inspired by their courage and fortitude. Tim fought off the most aggressive form of Leukemia and they took to the seas in their dutch barge and sailed round the coast of Britain. It took them years to complete their circumnavigation of England, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. Tim continued to make films to pay the bills so they kept having to leave their boat in various ports for months - including Penarth in South Wales, where the first mate lived for 2 years. We loved their boat and their story.

The tea is now brewed, and so it's time to spend more time what we do best: looking at the work to be done. Now, where is that bourbon?

Scythes and Ice Cubes

We spent another relatively lazy, and lock free, weekend cruising from Furness Vale to Sutton Lane (and back). We saw Brian and Ann-Marie working as hard as ever on Alton, and as usual that made us feel guilty (only for a moment though). 

But it is high time we ventured further and next month we will tackle a good number of locks as we aim for Manchester city centre. There are also very woolly plans to get to Sheffield for an extended stay there, but these ideas are very much at the beer mat stage.

The Macclesfield canal is even prettier at this time of year: The ducks have their new broods, the herons are as abundant as ever, and the greenery surrounding the canal is just stunning. Only a couple of months ago, we saw hundreds of new ducklings, so we wondered why there were more ducklings, so soon after. Maybe they are just a bit later, or maybe (as Wikipedia suggests), the "still sexually potent males remain on standby to sire replacement clutches (for female's that have lost or abandoned their previous clutch) or forcibly mate with females that appear to be isolated or unattached". There you are then.

Spot the boat!

This greenery however, is seriously encroaching across the canal in many places, and how those boats with smarter paint jobs than ours, (that would be most of them) navigate through the trees and brambles, and keep their polished scratch free finishes intact, is a mystery to us all. We are about to paint the boat (up to the gunwales) with the "famous" Andy Russell matt black ... but it will be tempting to carry on above there!

The towpath banks too are becoming overgrown, and we did wonder (briefly) whether the boat could accommodate a scythe. It cannot. After the very hot weather of this weekend, we already have plans to carry a mains powered fan, and we still haven't fathomed where a mop bucket might live.

Considering it was 30C in the cabin on Monday, Jemma coped quite well. She paced around a lot and kept a watch on all quarters, but she does that anyway. First mate was worried about her in this heat, and she devised a cooling technique involving rubbing ice cubes around Jemma's chuff. Jemma seemed to like it.