Bath and Bristol on our to do list

Rocky has been quite adventurous lately. We recently had a rest and recovery weekend aboard Princess Lucy and on one of his walks, he made an impressive attempt at surfing. Either that or he was building a life raft. He found an old pallet in the River Goyt just down from The Peak Forest Canal at Whaley. Perhaps he was frustrated at not being able to take the tiller.

At least it made a change from him trying to find a sheep round every corner.

Visitor Moorings in Bristol

We have just returned from our first cottage break with Rocky in a converted barn in the ancient village of Compton Bishop in Somerset. He got to run his heart out on on the beach and had fish and chips in Weston Super Mare, so this was altogether a different holiday to boating. However, we decided to check out the possibility of bringing our boat down to Avon. This would be the furthest South she could get to from the Peak Forest. At our usual snail's pace, it could take 6 weeks (maybe more). But with work interrupting our boating adventures, this can't happen any time soon. It's at the ideas level but Rocky still insisted on checking out the visitor moorings outside the Arnolfino Art Gallery. Because you never know. It might happen one day.

Bristol harbour is most impressive especially on a steamy summer day where the number of visitors in flip flops and shorts could persuade you that this is the South of France. It is full of boats (and ships) of all shapes and sizes and the harbour is lined with smart cafes and bars. People messing about sipping skinny lattes.

The modern cosmopolitan version of this harbour betrays little of its massively important role in the slave trade except for the naming of Pero's bridge after an African slave brought to Bristol.

We met a Big Issue seller with his lovely little dog Reggie who told us that they were just about to kick off the huge Bristol Harbour Festival and how good it is. So we were much attracted to the idea of hanging out there on Princess Lucy.

Bath

We also had a trip to Bath and found the moorings there to be right on the edge of surely the most attractive regency city in the Western hemisphere.

Unfortunately the prettiest moorings (see picture) are now closed following the eviction by Somerset Council of a line of liveaboards. Rumour is that the council plan to install electric and water facilities and charge for future use of the moorings. The moved boats appear to be still on the Avon, but to the south of the city in a CaRT controlled section . There was still plenty of spaces though and Rocky was happy enough with them, and the Avon.

Dream on Rocky. You have to have a dream. We'll get there one day. You'll see and by then you'll be on the tiller whilst we do the locks.

Whaley and the Water Weekend

Our last post was largely about the weather, and in particular about the inaccuracy of weather forecasting. The theme could continue here, but, hey, let's give the weathermen a break. You know, I just don't care anymore about the weather, and I possibly now regret my petition to have all weather people put on Performance Related Pay.

But staying on he subject of the weather - just for a moment - the Whaley weather swung violently between that very wet rain, and that very beautiful sunshine. Saturday was mostly wet, and you might have expected a dismal turnout. But the trip boats continued to fly past full of customers (flying so fast that one of the wee Bollington day-trip boats pulled the pins from of one of our neighbours). Yes, like me, the Whaley people also didn't care about the weather, and on Sunday when the sun did come out, all of the people who did care about the weather came as well, and the place was buzzing.

We arrived on Friday night and tied up and the end of a line of boats who we later found out were 'traders.' I don't think anyone noticed we had nothing to sell! We did have Rocky though, who seems to be adored by everyone. Perhaps we could have charged folk to stroke his neck?

We had fabulous food out on Friday at Casa di Pizza and on Saturday at Zayka. Work friends and neighbours popped in to see us and on Saturday evening (just as the rain subsided) First Mate served a bunch of us with cocktails (Passion Fruit Martinis - and very nice). After two of those, the world seemed good, and I was at peace with the weathermen.

The weekend wouldn't have been complete without Alton chugging by, and although we didn't need anything this time, near enough everyone else seemed to, including a jump start for Gracie (although a push start would have been more impressive!)

Here is the final picture from the weekend, so sing along everyone ...

What a difference a day makes

Twenty-four little hours

Brought the sun and the flowers

Where there used to be rain.

Weather or Whether....

We enjoyed planning our Spring Bank jaunt to Bollington. We were fastidious in booking ahead for restaurants, calculating routes and packing food and clothing. Then the weather forecast was so dreadful, predicting relentless downpours for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that we came very close to staying home under the duvet for the entire holiday. It had rained hard on Thursday night and First Mate had been miserably soaked to the skin on Rocky's walk. So we were justifiably wary of three days of the same.

But on Friday, reckless as ever, we made the decision to go and see what happened. We could, after all, always come back to Furness Vale the next day.

We got to the boat at 5.45 and cast off for the 2 hour cruise to The Strines. It was supposed to rain. It didn't. We made fabulous time due to another boat doing 3 out of the 4 swing/lift bridges for us. We tied up in sunshine, walked to the Sportsman in sunshine with Rocky for dinner. He clicked with another boater's dog, Gale, and lay on the floor French kissing her. He was happy and we were happy.

On Saturday, we did not lie in but instead cast off at 8 am, made it to Bridge 25 in the dry and tied up at noon. It then rained very heavily during our afternoon nap but miraculously cleared for a sunny walk to see the Historic Narrowboat gathering at the Adelphi Mill. This was a meager showing with Alton and two other boats but it was gloriously warm and pleasant strolling over the viaduct to reach them.We had dinner with Rocky and more new canine pals at the Windmill. It was excellent. On Sunday we made it to Marple and in fair amount of sunshine. Had a lovely walk down the lock flight, chatted to a number of boaters including this one!!!  and had a good dinner at Marple Spice. On Monday we came back to Furness Vale, again in sunshine with just one spit of rain which amounted to nothing. So, all this boring detail is leading us to the main point, that if we had gone on the weather forecast, we would have had none of these pleasures.

We have just returned from preparing Princess Lucy for Whaley Water Weekend. She is decked with flowers and has had her roof accessories painted but downpours, thunderstorms and plagues of locusts are predicted. We are definitely going and in hope that we can defy the weather forecasters again. The main header picture for this blog is of late and lovely Jemma basking in the afternoon sunshine at the same festival which we happened on purely by chance last year. But then someone did say that 2013 was the first time in ten years that the sun had shone and they normally expect to get a soaking. Ever the optimists, Our next job is fitting solar panels.

Macclesfield draws nearer every day.

We are attempting the prize for the slowest cruise ever to Macclesfield (from Furness Vale). In the first 3 days, we have made it to Poynton, so that's an average of an hour and a bit each day! We are on target, and achieving our goal by lying in bed drinking at least two mugs of tea, having a two course breakfast, walking Rocky for an hour and all before setting off. An hour or so later we have made the few miles needed and we stop for lunch and siesta. Then it's afternoon tea followed by Rocky's afternoon walk. Then time for cocktails and dinner.

One downside of these short cruises is that we have to run the engine half the day to keep the batteries charged, and the wine chilled, but it's a small price.

This evening, we had a poor welcome from the Boar's Head at Poynton and won't be rushing back there. In spite of booking in advance, it seemed to be an effort to seat us, serve us and we had to pay up front because they had "run out of tabs" ??? We ate mediocre food in front of a giant TV footie game. Very sociable. Anyway we were soon back aboard Princess Lucy where the bar is well stocked and the atmosphere rather more convivial.

Previous meals out have been the very friendly (humans and dogs that is) Sportsman at the Strines, and the outstanding Murillo's in Marple (Spanish).

Above is a picture of Rocky where he should be, and below, one of where he shouldn't be!

Sad news for fans of Jemma

Jemma aboard Princess Lucy

The greatest little boat dog in the world passed away this evening. Anyone who has owned a pet will know how it feels to face up to the fact that they are near the end of their lives. Seeing them struggling and knowing that there is nothing to be done is very hard. The kindest and bravest act is to put them to sleep but this is truly awful. You can keep putting this moment off but this morning we decided that Jem was in too much distress to carry on. She had trouble breathing, walking, sitting, seeing and hearing. All those ailments together add up to a miserable existence.

She has had the most fantastic life roaming the Peak District and in the past year exploring the canal network. She loved every minute of her life until it reached the point that she couldn't enjoy it anymore. We have no idea how old she was but we rescued her in 1999 and thought she might between 1 and 2 years old then. That would make her 15 or 16 - a terrific age for a canine.

Jemma with Lucy on 16th March

This is the last photograph of Jemma. It was taken this weekend when the real Princess Lucy came to stay. She is pottering about on the end of a leash quite happily with Lucy. A visit from our little angel was much appreciated. She was, as usual, very sweet and gentle with poor Jem . She understood that Jem was old and slow and couldn't see very well and was the perfect companion. It was lovely to see them together especially as we knew this would almost certainly be the last time Lucy would see Jemma.

We will carry her memory through this blog. It will always be Jemma's blog.

Oak Heaven

Jemma has been a bit quiet on the blogging lately. Truth is she is old and very very snoozy. Not much has being going on in terms of cruising in NB Princess Lucy. Jem has had a couple of brief visits but only to check up on the work in progress. Rocky's walks have taken him even further afield to check up on work at Bugsworth Basin which is drained and walls are being rebuilt.

What has been going on, is a fair amount of work. The TV has been moved to a better position under the gunwale and is now sitting in a rather fetching 1960s style unit. There is now a solid oak floor throughout. It looks very good indeed. Not quite like a new Braidbar, but not far off. After battling with the mud covered beige carpet over Christmas, the clean, warm and utterly serviceable oak is just heavenly. We have replaced the grubby old steps and boxed in all the 'dust trap' piping round the toilet. So the oak is seamless and makes the boat look bigger. 

We are similarly thrilled with the brand new Ikea sewing machine, which allows us to create curtains,cushion covers, even throws for the seating area. It was going to cost hundreds of pounds to have new saloon curtains made and we certainly can't afford to have professionally made covers for the seating. A modest investment of £45 meant that we could buy ready made lined curtains and just take them up and modify throws for the seats. It will look fine. More pictures to followr. 

Plans for the future include a refit to the galley which is to include a compact automatic washing machine. Why is this exciting? Because it means that if we can do a bit of washing, then we can go away for longer. A bad thing about the journey home last year was having to come home with 2 weeks washing including clothes, 2 lots of bedding, lots of towels, dog blankets. It took some time to recover from that as first mate is accustomed to keeping on top of the laundry

There are enormous technical issues to tackle to do with power consumption and involving a pure sine wave inverter. Captain is sanguine about resolving these.

Note from Captain: Yes, this (Candy Aquamatic 100F) washing machine has a peak load of 1300 watts which although low compared to most machines, still takes a hefty draw on the batteries - even with the engine running. It is the heating cycle that hurts. In fact the rest of the functions - spinning - draining and so on are insignificant by comparison. Now, washing machines only ever take hot water in on washes 60 degrees and above, so on most programmes we would be heating water from cold. The devious plan is to permanently  feed mixed (25 to 30 degrees) water into the cold fill. This will significantly reduce the heating time (with most washes 40 or 30 degrees), and therefore reduce battery drain by a massive amount.

With the floor laid, we are hoping to have a massive spring clean and go away at Easter. That is if Jem is up to it and if the weather is somewhat kinder than last Easter. 

Christmas on Princess Lucy

Marple

We realise that conversations with passing helmsmen are like ones with your dentist: fleeting and unfinished.

At the very moment we were untying to leave Marple, the man on the only other moving craft shouted "You don't want to go anywhere in this. I wouldn't if I didn't have to."

We replied to him, but he was gone.

Hovis Mill, Macclesfield

The combination of his advice and the palpable feeling of wet and wind (to which he referred) necessitated some quick rethinking in the Princess Lucy saloon. Surrounded by muddy towels and muddier dogs, it seemed that staying in Marple for an extra day would be advisable. We kicked back and rearranged planned visits from family so that we could entertain them in Marple rather than Disley. We swapped restaurant bookings at Sasso for Dolce Vita. It is all part of narrowboat life and it worked out fine.

Overall though, the weather was much kinder than our interpretation of the met office symbols suggested. Perhaps we need to understand the meaning a bit better. The three hour forecast periods often had a heavy rain cloud symbol, and an 80% chance of rain, but presumably that means an 80% chance of any rain during that 3 hour period, so it could be just 5 minutes? Indeed it often was. We had several days of lovely sunshine and crisp winter weather.

At Sutton Lane, it was such an honour to receive a visit from the real Princess Lucy who decided to make a break from the paparazzi just when she was called to the photo shoot. In this picture, her cute little face is horribly distorted by the effort to escape from the limelight.

One highlight of our week away was probably being stranded in Marple and unexpectedly finding the 'Dolce Vita' restaurant. On a wet and windy 30th December we booked a table at 6:30 thinking that on the night before new year's eve, no one would venture out. However, it was full and we actually had to wait for someone to vacate our table. We have now found three superb restaurants in Marple: Murillo's (tapas), Marple Spice (Indian) and now Dolce Vita.

Poynton on Boxing Day

The lowlight, I think, was the mud. With 2 dogs and the 2 of us, that gives 12 legs to mess up the place, and it was a constant battle to keep the boat from looking like a farm yard. We just about managed it. On Christmas night, we had a running buffet and sat down with bubbly and a lovely fire to watch 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

Jemma really perked up on the trip. A week before, she had major dental surgery that left her in some pain. We observed her turn a corner in her recovery when she realised that she would be sniffing along some of her favourite tow paths. She couldn't decide which were best - Marple, Macclesfield, Poynton or Sutton Lane? We think it was probably Sutton Lane given how long she spent mooching about there. She looked happy for the first time in months. Rocky B. had some lovely off-leash runs too.

When we planned the trip, we wondered if he would be able to come off his lead but Marple, Poynton and Macclesfield proved to have fabulous, safe and varied walks for a young greyhound. There were woods, disused railway lines, lock flights and no farm life.It was blissful. He met lots of other dogs and had a fine old time showing off in his selection of winter coats. He also had something of a holiday romance. The friendly landlord of The Wharf Inn at Macclesfield introduced him to his gorgeous lurcher cross - Chloe. Rocky was smitten and I have a feeling we might have to go back there soon. So definitely a success for the doggies who care nothing about how muddy it all gets.

First Prize for boat Decoration at Furness Vale

Some things were never in the Princess Lucy budget but just sneaked in. We have a lovely Christmas tree on the bow that has already survived an 80 mile an hour gale. To celebrate the fact that it is still there we have added (LED) Christmas lights.

We appear to be the only decorated boat at Furness Vale Marina, and as such, we claim our prize. Unlike Pillings Lock, the marina has no liveaboards, and many of the boats are winterised, so perhaps this is not surprising.

The plan this time is to spend Christmas week on the boat. We will not be going far, but if the weather forecast is correct, far enough to experience the rain and gales and spill a few strangers' sherries as we helplessly bump into their carefully moored boats.

36 lock free miles on the Macclesfield and Upper Peak Forest canals is the challenge. And with eight days allocated, the maths (4.5 miles per day) makes it sound easy. I hope so.

Convalescing aboard will be Jemmathedog. A few days ago she had 4 teeth removed. But with 2 gone from one side, 1 the other side and one at the front, it has really left her no safe place to chew and she is wandering around the house looking glum and confused. Perhaps some fresh sniffs on previously unexplored towpaths will be the tonic she needs.



Our tonic will hopefully be some lazy days on the boat interspersed with some short dog walks (for Jemma) and longer dog walks (for Rocky), meeting up with family and friends to include some meals out at Sasso (Disley), Murillos (Marple), Sutton Hall (Gurnett Aqueduct), Lazeez Indian (Macclesfield), and just maybe the odd pint in the Wharf and Waters Green Taven at Macclesfield.

Unless there are any other entries, we we will celebrate our self awarded first prize for Christmas boat decoration at Furness Vale with a small sherry! No one else seems daft enough to be on board.

Before and After

Nothing hip about this bath

When we bought our boat, there were things we loved and a couple of things which almost put us off. What we liked particularly was the warmth afforded by the ash panelling, the large stern deck area for socialising, and the big bed in the aft cabin. The bathroom and lack of stove were the serious downsides. The multi-fuel stove went in first and made the saloon into a cosy space. But the issues with the old bathroom have taken until now to resolve.

The first mate's sister says we are spoiled and that is was fine, but the truth is that we both loathed the dismal, dingy feel of the bathroom. It was so dark, and the fittings were old, bog standard Canaltime.

Hot shower anyone? And where's my drink?

You can see them again and again in boats of this age. It was screaming hire boat, looking tired and lacking personality. We had to steel ourselves to go in there for a wash and brush up mainly because in the long dark days of last winter, you could barely see to do anything.

Ta dah! This weekend, we stayed at the marina in order to add some finishing touches to the newly fitted bathroom. Apart from the floor that will be replaced when we do the rest of the boat, it is finished and quite transformed.

Wind, rain, sweat and toil, bring it all on. 

Gone is the one miserable down lighter, the beige aqua panel, grubby sealant and plastic hip bath. There was absolutely nothing 'hip' about that bath. It looked like something invented for a Victorian water treatment. You could just imagine an under weight consumptive being lowered onto one of its ledges.

Now it's all bright and cheery, tiled and chromed. It is very warm and welcoming with its heated towel radiator and thermostatically controlled shower. The first thing that young Rocky did was get into the shower but it is definitely not for him or Jem. This is for grown-ups after a long day's cruising.

Whilst one crew member shakes a cocktail in the galley, the other can be foaming away the grime of the day in our mini spa.

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.