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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