Out on a Lymm & Alton's Schedule July 2013

We might have had to miss out on one of our favourite events, Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival but we were determined to get up & running for Lymm Transport Festival. We just about made it having suffered a few teething problems with the new engine on route, thanks again to Tim Leech for his help before, during & after the Lymm event. Anyway it was well worth the effort, Lymm was a lovely festival, one of the highlights from the boating point of view was the wideboats Severn (L&L short boat) & the West Country Keel Pauline. It was a lovely weekend with a great atmosphere. There was all kinds of transport from bicycles to horse drawn milkfloats, Citroen 2CV's to Ford F100 pick ups as well as some tractors & agricultural machinery. On Sunday afternoon there was a parade of boats which I had fun doing an informal commentary to the crowd on the bank around Alton.

Anyway, a bit later than planned, here's Alton's Schedule for July 2013

Thurs 4th: Road deliveries to Hyde, Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylesden & Manchester
Sat 6th - Sun 7th: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Marple, Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth Basin
Mon 8th - Thurs 11th: Bugsworth Basin to Ellesmere Port via Macclesfield, Congleton, Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Nantwich, Barbridge & Chester
Fri 12th - Sat 13th: Ellesmere Port to Anderton, via Chester, Barbridge & Middlewich
Sun 14th: River Weaver
Mon 15th Anderton to Preston Brook
Wed 17th to Fri 19th: Preston Brook to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) via Middlewich, Kidsgrove & Congleton
Sat 20th - Sun 21st: Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Marple, Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth Basin
Mon 22nd: Bugsworth Basin to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc)

Don't forget, the above is our planned schedule but this may be subject to change due to traffic, stoppages, customer volumes, pub stops or other things outside our control. So if you do need supplies, to ensure delivery please give us a call or text on 07791345004 & we'll arrange delivery.

Renaissance Canal Carrying

Petter Problems - Alton gets a new PD2M

Things didn't quite go to plan for us last month. We had a good run down to Etruria & a lovely weekend at the rally catching up with old friends & making new ones. Then it was going to be a case of boating back up to Whaley Bridge for our regular round & straight back down to Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival. However on our way back from Whaley Alton's Petter PD2M started making a horrible clattering/knocking noise.

We tied up at Marple and Jim Ling, Tim Leech & Charles Mills all came to pronounce the death sentence on the engine! It looks like a big end had gone. We borrowed a boat to tow Alton back to Oakgove which Ann Marie said was her worst days boating ever ;-) ! Back at base our good mate Paul Dawson set too with the spanners, he's been an absolute star as usual. We hunted for a replacement engine & found a couple. Steve Priest had an engine that had been rebuilt but need re-assembling, he worked wonders & had the engine finished by Sunday ready for us too collect. It was good fun getting it into the van! Monday saw us at Stafford Coal Yard to unload the engine & use their forklift to help assemble the engine & box, before using the Hiab to crane them back into Alton. The following day Paul & Tim, completed the installation, making sure the engine was carefully aligned. So all in all, back up & running in a week wasn't bad.

Finally huge thanks to everyone who helped us including George Boyle, Pete Sharp, Jim Ling, Tim Leech, Charles Mills, Steve Priest, Dennis Wellburn & most of all Paul Dawson. The offers of help, advice & support were wonderful, it really is a great community on the cut!


Renaissance Canal Carrying