Thursday, May 02, 2013
May 2013 - Alton's Schedule
Well it's the 1st of May so time to update our schedule as follows:-
Wed 1st: Red Bull to Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc)
Thurs 2nd: Road Deliveries to Caldon Canal, Macclesfield, Manchester Piccadilly
Sat 4th - Sun 5th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge
Mon 6th - Tues 7th: Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge to Droylesden, via Marple, Hyde, & Ashton Under Lyne
Tues 7th - Wed 8th: Ashton under Lyne to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) via Marple
Sat 11th - Sun 12th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge
Mon 13th: Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc)
Tues 14th - Fri 17th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to River Weaver via Congleton, Kidsgrove & Middlewich
Sat 18th - Sun 19th: River Weaver to Ellesmere Port Boat Museum via Middlewich & Chester
Mon 20th - Thurs 23rd: Ellesmere Port Boat Museum to Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc) via Chester, Middlewich, Kidsgrove & Congleton
Sat 25th - Sun 26th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge
Mon 27th: Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc)
Thurs 30th - Fri 31st: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Etruria Canal Festival via Congleton & Kidsgrove
Sat 1st - Sun 2nd June : At Etruria Canal Festival, demonstrating fendermaking, drinking beer & catching up with friends :-)
Don't forget, the above schedule is our plan, but is subject to change due to stoppages, traffic, customers, pub stops etc. So if you do need supplies, to ensure delivery please give us a call or text on 07791345004.
Also you can track us on waterexplorer.co.uk or follow "Coalboat" on Twitter.
Renaissance Canal Carrying
Friday, April 19, 2013
Alton's Easter 2013 Run to the Port Part 2
Up at 6am Tuesday morning, we had the Middlewich locks to ourselves. Our first customers of the day where up & waiting below Big Lock, then it was the lovely winding pound. We were kept busy with customers at the flashes, Orchard Marina & Anderton. Our aim was to get to Acton Bridge to deliver to Davenports Farm shop, we had a good run & I set about deliveries with the Barrow whilst Ann Marie winded Alton & returned. We decided to crack on back through the tunnels & as darkness fell we were still serving customers around Anderton. We finally tied up outside the Old Broken Cross pub & grabbed a well earned pint.
We needed to be at Nantwich to reload on Thursday morning so I made for an early start, leaving before dawn & rousing Ann Marie from her slumber just before we reached Middlewich. We made our way up the locks, calling in to Middlewich Narrowboats with supplies on the way. Out on the Middlewich Branch the blustery winds had got up again, making it very difficult to get in to serve customers. We took a left at Barbridge Junction & got busy for a couple of hours making deliveries. We finally reached Nantwich about 7pm, we were just serving a customer when we saw Mike Askin on fuelboat Victoria & James Bills & friends Karoline & Ali on fuel boat Archemedies heading towards us. We had a quick natter with them & as they were planning to tie up for the night we all arranged to meet up at the Black Lion for tea and a coalboaters banter. We had a cracking night in the pub, catching up on each others news & talking coal & diesel (yawn!) & finally got thrown out after midnight.
Renaissance Canal Carrying
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Water Levels were down about 5 & 1/2" on the Upper Peak Forest & Macc summit
Renaissance Canal Carrying
Alton's Easter 2013 Run to the Port Part One
Renaissance Canal Carrying
Friday, April 05, 2013
Winter Returns & Alton's Schedule April 2013
Mon 1st - Wed 3rd: Ellesmere Port to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) via Chester, Middlewich, Kidsgrove & Congleton.
Thurs 4th: Road deliveries around Macclesfield, Whaley Bridge & Caldon Canal. Fri 5th: Road deliveries to Hyde, Ashton-under-Lyne & Manchester Picaddilly.
Sat 6th - Sun 7th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge via Macc, Bollington, Poynton & Marple.
Mon 8th - Tues 9th: Return Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc)
Wed 10th - Fri 12th: General road deliveries to Congleton, Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Anderton & River Weaver
Sat 20th - Sun 21st: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge via Macc, Bollington, Poynton & Marple.
Mon 22nd - Tues 23rd: Return Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc)
Wed 24th - Fri 26th: Oakgrove to River Weaver (via Congleton, Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Anderton & Acton Bridge)
Sat 27th - Mon 29th: River Weaver to Ellesmere Port (via Middlewich, Nantwich & Chester)
Mon 29th - Thurs 2nd May: Ellesmere Port to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) (via Barbridge, Middlewich, Kidsgrove & Congleton).
Please note the above schedule is our plan, but this is subject to change due to stoppages, weather conditions, traffic or customer demand. If you do need supplies, to ensure delivery please call or text you order to us on 07791345004.
Renaissance Canal Carrying
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Audlem Mill Fendermaking Course March 2013
Next we started preparing the core for our button fenders, we used 36mm rope to form 4 cheeses, which we bound with the packing knot again. Gradually we bound the cheeses of rope & the chains together. By 4pm we were all well on our way to completing our cores.
I had a pleasant (pre-birthday) evening, celebrating with Ann Marie, Dan & Emy, having a few pints of fine ale at the Wharf in Macc followed by an excellent italian meal at Briscola in Bollington.
Sunday morning came round all too quickly, but everyone was keen to crack on with their button cores & very soon we all had a good strong basis of a fender. Starting hitching & setting the spine of the covering is one the trickiest parts, so we took some time & care to get this right. By lunchtime our button fenders were starting to take shape. Christine cooked us a wonderful all day breakfast which we all enjoyed tucking in to.
During the afternoon we got into the rhythm of hitching & learnt how to add in more rope using the fendermakers splice. Dan was the first to finish producing a very creditable button fender. With a final encouragement of coffee & cream cakes, one by one we finished our fenders. The look of satisfaction on everyone's faces was a picture as you can see in the photo. We'll be looking out for some very well made fenders proudly adorning their owners boats over the coming weeks.
So a big thank you to Jim, Lesley, Frank, Dan & Emy for being such a good friendly, down to earth bunch. Also a huge thank you to Peter & Christine for their organising hosting & catering, they always make us so welcome at Audlem Mill. If you are interested in canal crafts & books see there website http://www.audlemmill.co.uk/ or call in for a warm welcome.
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Saturday, March 02, 2013
Flippin' Freezin' February & Alton's Schedule March 2013
Over 16th - 19th Feb we did our usual run from Oakgrove to Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge. The weather was amazing, with clear sunshine during the day & a frost at night. Everyone was in such a good mood to finally see some proper sun, fishermen greeted us with a cheery "Ow Do?", ramblers smiled and called "Good morning", farmers out in the fields were whistling away & our customers where in such a good mood, it seemed liked we'd brought the sun with us & they were delighted to see us :-).
We had a good, busy run, arriving at Bugsworth Basin after dark on Sunday eve. We retired to the Navvy to grab some tea & sample some of their fine ales in the company of the lovely Sue & Dave on nb Beefur, Frank & Tracey on nb Cuthbert & our good friend George Boyle. A good evening was had by all swapping boaty stories & catching up on the towpath telegraph.
On Monday morning we were busy straight away serving customers at Buggy Basin, after supplying Sue & Dave on Beefur, we met up with Martin Fuller & his partner on the hansom tug Cutter. After we bunkered them up with solid fuel, Martin very kindly gave us a quick tour of his boat. Cutter had a lovely feel to it, Martin crafted the boat himself, it was full of clever & quirky innovations, even the solid fuel stove with back boiler for heating & hot water had been designed & built by Martin.
The sun continued to shine as we made our way up to Whaley Bridge & back along the Peak Forest Canal to Marple. I hopped off the boat nr Strines to get a few photo's of Alton from Marple Ridge, they didn't turn out too bad but the view of the valley I was hoping to get in the background was a bit misty.
At Marple we stopped for a couple of deliveries to canalside houses before tieing up at Adlington & sampling a pint of Deuchars IPA at the Miners Arm's (under new owners), first pint was poor, but replaced with pint from fresh barrel.
We awoke to a frozen canal on the Tuesday morning, but the sun showed it's face again, so we thoroughly enjoyed our icebreaking back to Oakgrove. It was just so lovely to have a run with no rain & despite the frosty weather it was great to see everyone having such a sunny disposition :-).
Well it's the 1st of March so time to update our schedule as follows:-
Sat 2nd - Sun 3rd: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge
Mon 4th - Tues 5th: Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc)
Wed 6th: Road deliveries to Hyde, Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylesden & Manchester Piccadilly
Thurs 7th - Fri 8th: Road deliveries to Congleton, Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port
Sat 9th - Sun 10th: Fendermaking Course at Audlem Mill
Wed 13th: Road deliveries locally around Macclesfield & Poynton etc
Thurs 14th - Fri 15th: Road deliveries to Middlewich, Anderton, Northwich & River Weaver
Sat 16th - Mon 18th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge
Fri 22nd - Sat 23rd: Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc)
Sun 24th - Wed 27th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to River Weaver via Congleton, Kidsgrove & Middlewich
Thurs 28th - Fri 29th: River Weaver to Ellesmere Port Boat Museum Easter Boaters Gathering via Middlewich & Chester
Sat 30th - Sun 31st: At Ellesmere Port Boat Museum Boaters Gathering
We love the atmosphere at the Easter Gathering at the Port, if your there feel free to knock on Alton's cabinside & have a cuppa & a natter.
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Saturday, February 02, 2013
Alton's February 2013 Schedule
Sat 2nd - Sun 3rd: Oakgove (Macc Br 49) to Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge
Mon 4th - Tues 5th: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc)
Wed 6th - Thurs 7th: Road Deliveries to Hyde, Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylesden & Manchester Picadilly
Fri 8th - Sun 10th: Road deliveries to Congleton, Kidsgrove, Wheelock, Middlewich, Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port.
Wed 13th - road deliveries locally to Macclesfield, Poynton etc
Thurs 14th - Fri 15th: Road deliveries to Middlewich, Anderton, Northwich & River Weaver
Sat 16th - Sun 17th: Oakgrove (Macc Br 49) to Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge
Mon 18th - Tues 19th: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc)
Wed 20th - Fri 22nd : Road deliveries to Congleton, Kidsgrove, Wheelock, Middlewich, Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port.
Wed 27th - road deliveries locally to Macclesfield, Poynton etc
Thurs 28th - Fri 1st March: Road deliveries to Middlewich, Anderton, Northwich & River Weaver
Please note the above schedule is our plan but it may vary dependent on traffic, customer volumes, stoppages and weather. So if you need supplies or have any questions just give us a call or text on 07791 345004 to ensure delivery.
Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals