Ann Marie Enjoying a Birthday Cruise on the Weaver

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Heron Fishing from an Old Barge on River Weaver

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Refuelling River Tug Kennet prior to it's Taking Part in the Thames Jubilee River Pageant

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Serving the "Much a Do" Aussies at Anderton

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Passing CWDF's Daniel on Steamboat Emily Anne

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

A Canalworld Discussion Nano-Banter at Barbridge, with Cheshire Rose, Post Code, Cloggy, Auntie Fab et al!

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Alex Helped us on the Chester Locks

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Twitter's Hungry Snapper Joined us around Middlewich

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Lots of Water on Bosley Locks

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Contractors Working on the New Buttresses near Br42 Macclesfield

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

New Mills from the Canal

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Serving New Customer Ray on Owl

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

The Merry Month of May :-)

Well what a merry month that was, we've been out & about doing lots of boating, selling plenty of fuel & meeting & tweeting some lovely people.

We've done our regular run up to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth, down to Hardingswood Jn, down to Middlewich, to Chester & the Port, back to Middlewich & up to Preston Brook, down the lift, up & down the Weaver back all the way to Whaley Bridge, before heading down Marple Locks to Ashton & Droylsden & back to Macclesfield to reload.

We met lots of new customers as well as meeting a few people we only no in the virtual world of Twitter & Canalworld Discussion Forum, so that was a lot of fun! The highlight was having a lovely warm sunny day on the river to celebrate Ann Marie's Birthday, low point was having a very tough journey down on the Lower Peak Forest & Ashton, the air was blue!!

Sorry we haven't had much time for blogging, but our schedule has been hectic & we've been doing lots of micro-blogging & bantering on twitter. I'll try & post a few more photos & comments as time allows ;-)

Cheers, Brian
Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Alton's Schedule - May 2012

Sat 12th - Sun 13th: Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc) to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth.
Mon 14th - Fri 18th: Bugsworth to Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port.
Sat 19th - Tues 22nd: Ellesmere Port to Chester, Middlewich, Anderton & River Weaver.
Tues 22rd - Fri 25th: River Weaver to Preston Brook, then back down T&M through Middlewich & Kidsgrove & back to Oakgrove (Br49 Macc).
Sat 26th - Sun 27th: Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc) to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth.
Mon 28th: Bugsworth to Marple & Ashton under Lyne
Tues 29th: Ashton under Lyne to Marple & Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc)
Thurs 31st: Oakgrove (Br 49 Macc) to Kidsgrove on route to the Etruria Canal Festival


Please note the above schedule is our plan, but it may vary dependent on traffic, customer volumes & stoppages. So if you need supplies it's best to give us a text or call on 07791345004 to ensure delivery.

Cheers, Brian & Ann Marie
Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Fun, Friends, Fenders & Falling Trees!

Well it's been a md busy month and I'm afraid our blogging has suffered! However, whilst weve been quiet customers old & new have been featuring us in thier blogs.

Ann Marie met up with Fiona & John on NB Epiphany, who called in for supplies whilst we were tied up at Oakgrove. We then featured in their very comprehensive & interesting blog: http://nbepiphany.co.uk/

On the same day Brian was having a short boatmans holiday helping George & Irene Boyle bring Badger back up the Cheshire Locks on their way back from Elesmere Port Easter Rally. He had a fun day & managed to keep in touch with a few updates & photos on Twitter, much to Irene's annoyance

Over the weekend run 28th to 30th April the weather was atrocious and we had some serious fun in the wind and rain. After leaving Marple on the Sunday morning, the wind was blowing a serious whooley, after passing through bridge 21 near Strines, we suddenly heard a tremendous creak & crash, as we looked behind we saw that one of the tall pine trees had fallen over the canal & was resting on the cottage on the opposite side of the canal, Brian managed to get a quick photo as we made our escape!

We carried on battleing against the wind, near New Mills we passed the trip boat the Judith Mary & gav e our friend Paul the steerer a wave, soon after Paul phone us to say that he had broken down, due to a broken oil feed pipe, so we reversed back towards New Mills to pick up the tow. Oh what fun towing a trip boat of passengers backwards in gale force winds!

Our antics where also caught by Geoff on NB Seyella on his blog: http://www.seyellas-journey.blogspot.co.uk/

After completeing the towing we served our remaining customers at Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth, one of our new customers around here is NB Rakiraki, which is a hostel boat operated by Ruth & Mark trading under the name of  "Wandering Duck" for more details see: http://wanderingduck.co.uk/ . After we'd tied up for the night we nipped in to the Navvy at Bugsworth for a pint and bumped into Ruth & Mark, so stopped for a good (duck) gossip with them!

On Monday we where held up for a while whilst the  tree surgeons worked on the fallen trees at Strines, it was interesting watching them work, they did a very good job & earn thier money

Once back at base Brian has been very busy with fendermaking, he's never had such a full order book! One job was a set of fenders for a Small Northwich Motorboat currently being restored, they were a satisfying job to see complete.

It was even better to see them fitted, with Sarah from Chertsey showing an excellent photo in her blog: http://www.chertsey130.blogspot.co.uk/

This week Brian has continued working on fendermaking & ropework, whilst we also prepare for our next Cheshire Run, we will post an updated schedule here soon or alternatively follow "Coalboat" on Twitter, which we try to update daily.

Report from the Port

On Wednesday lunchtime we set off again from Middlewich heading across the new cut. Thanks to John & Gillian for keeping an eye on Alton & to the owner of Lady Margaret for retrieving one of our cloths which had blown off in the high winds.

We had heard via the towpath telegraph that there was an emergency stoppage on Cholmondeston Lock starting at 4pm & so pushed on to try & get through. We arrived at 4.10 but the BW Lads had heard we were on our way so where waiting to lock us through, nice one chaps! We made our final deliveries of the day at Calverley before tieing up, having tea & catching a much needed early night.

Thursday morning we made use of the shower at Calverley Services & set off. Through the morning we were passed by Mary on Swan & Malcolm on Greyhound, both on their way to the Port. We stopped in Chester for some last supplies before buttying down Northgate Staircase with Ally & Derek on Taurus. We tied up for the night at Chester Basin where we had a natter with other boaters followed by a lovely dinner aboard Caracus with Jason, Viv & family.

On Friday morning we set off in convoy with Taurus heading for Ellesmere Port with a few deliveries on the way. We arrived at the Port about lunchtime & lots of people congratulated us on our 10th Wedding Anniversary, it was even announced over the tannoy! We had a pleasant afternoon catching up with friends old & new. In the evening we smartened ourselves up (lots of people didn't recognise us!) and went for dinner at the Holiday Inn (where we had our wedding reception). We had a lovely evening, with good food & good company as we dined with Jan Burnip who happened to be eating there. By the time we got back to the Museum we missed the talk but had a good time socialising & chilling out.

We had to be up early on Saturday to load diesel as we were nearly out of stock. The delivery was fairly prompt so we soon had full tanks again. We decided to treat ourselves to breakfast in the museum cafe, Brian had the works whilst Ann Marie went for a bacon butty. We were joined again by Jan Burnip & joked that we thought she was stalking us.

We had a busy afternoon with lots of visitors including the Fletcher Clan John, Kate, Abby, & Dani as well as Brian's Dad Bernie, Brother Mike & Canadian friend Gary. We also boated around the museum with various people on board making deliveries to other boaters & to the museum.

In the evening we ventured into Chester with Bernie, Mike & Gary, having drinks at the Spitting Feathers Brewery Tap followed by dinner at the Albion (a pub we've wanted to visit for a while). The food was simple but wholesome & the beer similar. We even got to meet up with Brian's Cousin Marieanne & partner Jason. Suffice to say a good night was had by all.

Finally a round up of attendees, historic narrowboats at the Port where:-

Alton
Ariel and Joe
Badger
Buckden
Fenny
Greyhound
Kenilworth
Lindsay
Lead Us
Marcellus
Rudd
Saturn
Seaford and Alperton
Spey
Stamford
Starling
Swan
Towy

Wide boats:-

Humber
Parfield
Sarah Abbot
Severn

Plus a good selection of more modern narrowboats including Small Northwich replica Hadar & Tug Taurus.

Whilst the numbers of visiting boats was down on last year & the weather not so kind, we still had an enjoyable Easter weekend at the Port

Run to the Port Easter 2012 Schedule

It's a bit late but here is our Schedule for our Easter run:-

Fri 30th - Sat 31 March: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove Br49 Macc
Sun 1st - Mon 2nd April: Oakgrove Br49 Macc to Middlewich
Wed 4th - Fri 6th April: Middlewich to Ellesmere Port.
Sat 7th - Sun 8th April: At. Ellesmere Port Easter Gathering
Mon 9th - Tuesday 10th April: Ellesmere Port to Anderton via. Nantwich & Middlewich
Wed 11th April: River Weaver
Thurs 12 th - Sat 14th April: Preston Brook to Macclesfield
Sun 15th - Mon 16th April: Macclesfield to Whaley Bridge.

Please note the above schedule is subject due to stoppages, traffic etc. So if you need supplies please phone or text us on 07791345004.

Have a happy Easter & if you are around Ellesmere Port over the weekend feel free to knock & sample some of the delicious Brimstage beer we have on board.

Cheers, Brian & Ann Marie

Two More Final Farewells: RIP Maureen Show & Aileen McGuigan

On Friday Ann Marie & I attended Maureen Shaw's Funeral. Maureen lived at Wardle Lock Cottage in Middlewich for over 40 years. She was a real character of the cut and would always pop out for a chat when I was passing through "her" lock. She would ask after various old boaters I may have seen on my travels & if my brasses weren't polished she'd give me some grief! Maureen had some wonderful tales to tell of working the boats, but she didn't look back through rose tinted glasses, many times she had very sad memories & tales of good people working hard over long hours. It was a privilege to know Maureen & the towpath was thronging with mourners watching as her coffin was loaded on to the Clayton's motor Tay steered by Jim Taylor which took her down through her lock & on down the Middlewich Locks to the Town Wharf.

There then followed a funeral service at St Michael & All Angels Church, which was packed with those wishing to pay their last respects to a wonderful woman. It was a lovely simple, traditional service which included a song written in her memory, a touching eulogy & a cracking photo of her, mop in hand on the butty Ethel. All in all a wonderful send off for a lovely woman.

Then on Friday afternoon we retuned to Alton at Whaley Bridge to load our last supplies before starting our journey to Ellesmere Port for Easter.

We had a surprisingly busy couple of days prior to reaching Oakgrove on Saturday night. Here we reloaded once again before heading off south on Sunday morning. At the top of Bosley our good friend Terry (Serendipity) was waiting to help lockwheel us down the flight, thanks for the single handing tips Terry!

We had a good run, with a nice sprinkling of customers before tying up at Church Lawton that night. After tea I walked back up to Red Bull to join George Boyle for a pleasant drink & natter in the pub.

On Monday the weather took a turn for the worse but we still had a fair run down the Cheshire Locks with more deliveries as we went. That afternoon we tied up at the bottom of our friends John & Gillian's garden in Middlewich where we were leaving Alton whilst we attended my Sister Aileens Funeral service on the Wirral.

Aileen funeral, or "moving on party" as she called it was a unique event for a unique woman. Ann Marie, Fiona, Mike, Rob, Tony & Myself were pallbearers. We draped the coffin in a rainbow flag, Matty & Sparky sang & played some of her favourite music including "Moonshadow" & "Sounds of Silence", friends & family told of their memories & read out from her letters, notes & poems.

Later we continued to celebrate Aileen's life with a big party, with plenty of home made food, Mike's wonderful beer & our own home made music. We displayed Aileen's artwork & people brought photo's & memories.

I'm sure Aileen was looking down on us all, smiling, crying, laughing & singing, she saw that we really were having a "moving on party" to honour her life & people from all walks of her life were there for her.

Let's just hope & pray that the coming weeks & months can be a happier time for us & all the McGuigan Clan.

Another Goodbye - RIP Aileen McGuigan

Well as you can see I've not had much chance to update the blog for a couple of weeks, due I'm afraid to more difficult times for the McGuigan family.

As many of you know, my big Sister Aileen has been very ill for some time. Last week we all gathered together to celebrate her 47th Birthday, but unfortunately her health deteriorated rapidly this week. With my Dad Bernie, my Brother Mike & Sister Fi we have been at her bedside 24hrs a day all week helping to care for her & make her comfortable. This evening Aileen passed away peacefully with myself & Fiona at her side. All the staff a Beechcroft were amazing treating her & us with respect, dignity & compassion, so a huge thank you to them.

Aileen was a great Sister, a real character & a good Mum. She touched many peoples lives in so many different ways & will live on in our hearts.

Thanks also to all those who have been in touch over recent days & weeks, it's great to know we are in peoples thoughts & prayers, you are a kind & caring bunch. Also thanks for all the offers of help & support it's much appreciated.

Our good friend George Boyle will coming out of retirement once again to help Ann Marie operate Alton this weekend doing a one way run from Oakgrove (Br49 Macc) to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth. If you need supplies please call Ann Marie on 07976811073.

Thanks, Brian

Forty Shades of Green

Following my Mum's funeral I've wanted to spend some time with my Dad to help him begin to come to terms with things. So last week we spent 3 days staying with our very good friends Dan & Hilly Fletcher & family. We did a bit of walking & plenty of talking & enjoyed good food & good company.

This week Dad wanted to return to Ireland to spend time with family & friends in familiar surroundings. So on Monday we caught the ferry over to Dublin from Holyhead leaving Ann Marie to do all the hard work of loading Alton & doing lots of road deliveries & other jobs, THANKS AM I owe you!

We stayed with Auntie Patsy in Killevy near Newry at the foot of Slieve Gullion. This is a wonderful part of the world with great memories for our family & we were made very welcome by the McCarthy Clan who really helped lift our Spirits. We had some good chats & some quiet time to reflect. We visited Mums friends & family and we were made so welcome. We also had a day in Belfast visiting the Harland & Woolf Shipyard (they were amazed when I said. I owned a H&W vessel!) and also had a lunch & a pint in the wonderful Crown Bar.

Today I climbed Slieve Gullion 1880ft in the mist with Dermutt & his dog Buddy unfortunately we didn't get to see much of the amazing view of "Forty Shaded of Green" that I remember from my childhood days. After saying our farewells we managed to get a bite of lunch & a pint of porter in Temple Bar before heading to the docks.

We're now on the ferry back home & hopefully Dad will cope over the next few months getting back into some routine.

We're out delivering with Alton this weekend (Ann Marie has everything loaded & ship shape in my absence), so tomorrow were setting off from Oakgrove (Br49 on the Macc) heading north through Macclesfield, Bollington, Poynton & Marple. Then on Sunday onto the Upper Peak Forest Canal (now that the Strines Aqueduct Stoppage is complete) to Bugsworth & Whaley Bridge.

RIP Eleanor McGuigan

It is with great sadness that I have to say that my Mum passed away yesterday 11th February. She had not been well for the last few weeks but her death was still a great shock to us all. Mum was always the linchpin of our family with a heart of gold & would talk to anyone. Her passion was nursing & she worked for 52 years, in hospitals on the Wirral & Liverpool. She loved her work & her family, they were her world. When my terminally ill sister Aileen suffered a stroke last August it hit all the family hard. Aileen came home to my parents and we worked as a family to care for her, but in the end we couldn't cope with her needs & she went into a local care home in November. Mum felt she had failed Aileen & sank into a deep depression, she battled through Christmas to make it a special time for us all. In the New Year she became increasingly ill & run down, getting weaker & weaker. Despite many visits to the doctor nothing was diagnosed, so her sudden death yesterday morning was such a shock to our whole family. We will miss her so much she was a wonderful Mum & Granny.

Obviously we haven't operated Alton this weekend as we've been with the family on the Wirral. Our plans are to head home Monday evening and then run Alton on the Macc from Fools Nook to Marple Tuesday & Wednesday 14th/15th February. We've decided to cancel our Cheshire run with Alton & will instead cover these deliveries by road to allow us to spend more time with the family & help with arrangements.

Finally a big thank you for all the kind words in texts, emails & phone calls, it has meant so much to us.

Wintery Weather

Well Winter has finally arrived over our last couple of runs and trade has certainly picked up, which is good news for us! Alton has been doing quite a bit of ice breaking and Bill & Ginney on Wilver captured a few good photos's showing "before, during & after" which they have posted on their blog http://moblog.net/view/962720/the-show-must-go-on?ac=1 .

The ice has generally only been an inch or two thick at most so hasn't really given us as much trouble as the last 2 years (so far!) and in fact it's been quite good to have some real fresh winter weather instead of rain.

Alton Serving Green King at Lyme Green

Ice at Dawn

Near Disley

Alton Tied up at Bugsworth Basin

Serving Woton Near Danes Moss

Finally here's a little clip of Alton icebreaking on the Macc.

Wow what a Weekend!

Alton Running Light on our Return

Just a quick update. It's been a manic 4 days for us on our last 4 day run on the Macc & Peak Forest Canals. Everyone had obviously been listening to the weather forecasts so after such a mild winter on the whole it was just great for us to be so busy again. We stopped at Bugsworth late on Sunday eve & had a pleasant catch up with George & Irene Boyle at the Dog & Partridge then back at the Navvy at Bugsworth.
Whilst the Weather has been cold, we have still had some beautiful days & we've really enjoyed the boating as well as all the usual banter with customers. We've broken ice most of the way back down the Macc today & have sold out of diesel & most brands of solid fuels. So tonight Brian has been back out in the van delivering more supplies to customers. Bring on the Winter :-)

Petter Pampering

Before Christmas we decided it was time to give Altons Petter PD2 engine a bit more care than just its usual oil change. So we arranged to call up and see Charles Mills at Vintage Marine Diesels at Poynton. Charles soon set about stripping off the engine covers & shrouding and ducting.

The Cowling Stripped Off

The removal of the fan and pulleys went OK but back at the workshop, pressing out the bearings was a bit more difficult and in the end 2 pulleys broke, so Charles had to get busy machining up a couple of new ones.

Fan & Pulleys Removed

Cleaned up Fan with New Pulley

After a clean & degrease Charles set too with the re-assembly, including new filters.

New Filters & Pulley

Charles Re-assembling

With a sump full of fresh Morris oil the Petter soon fired up sounding well with good oil pressure.

Healthy Oil Pressure

Working over 2000 hrs a year we hope the Petter will continue to give us good service (touch wood) now that it's had some TLC. We certainly know lots of boaters love to here that beat of that exhaust note ;-)

New Year 2012

Happy New Year! Well it's been a good & busy start to the 2012 so I'll try & catch up with our news on the blog over the next few days. Our first coal run was over the New Year period & we celebrated by tying up at Disley and were joined by my brother Mike and George & Irene Boyle for a very pleasant evening at the White Lion with a fine selection of real ales. We got back to the boat at 3am so we treated ourselves to a lie in until our first customer of the day Annie on Brave New World  came alongside about 9am and roused us from our slumber!

Ann Marie & Irene at The White Lion

Ann Marie & Mike at the White Lion

Annie on Brave New World Heading off after topping up her Supplies

We had a busy day on Sunday the 1st grabbing breakfast & lunch on the go whilst Mike stopped in bed till mid afternoon nursing a hangover! A few other boaters seemed to be struggling with hangovers and weren't their normal chatty selves, but there seemed to have been a few good parties and "boaters get togethers".

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year from Alton & Crew

Well our last round before Christmas was fun. An inch or so of ice most of the way from Macclesfield to Whaley Bridge, accompanied by snow, sleet & hail. Then on Monday the weather turned milder & it poured down with rain all day & we were soaked to the skin! Anyway we hope all our customers received a bottle of Red Willow "Smokeless" smoked Porter. In Brian's opinion this is a super beer & we wanted to support this great new Macclesfield Brewery (see http://redwillowbrewery.com/blog/). So cheers everyone & here's to a good new year.

A big thank you to everyone who gave us Christmas cards & gifts, we are always so overwhelmed by your generosity, home made Christmas cake & mince pies, panatone, bottles of wine & beer,biscuits & chocolates, even a bluetooth headset so we can answer the phone hands free. But what we really appreciated was the very kind words from you all, it's just so lovely to be appreciated & we know we are so lucky to work within a community of such good people.

We had a good old fashioned family christmas staying with my (Brian's) parents on the Wirral. We were amazed to still have my Sister Aileen with us to share Christmas day & my parents looked after us all so well, love you Mum & Dad.

Today it's back to work for us. We're loading Alton this morning & if all goes well we're hoping to start the round later this afternoon, so that we can hopefully have a reasonably early finish for New Years Eve before heading onto the Peak Forest on New Years Day.

All the best, from Brian & Ann Marie

Badsey's Tipcat & Button

On our way back from visiting my Sister Fiona near Peterborough we decided to stop for lunch at the Badsey Cafe at Hillmorton Locks http://www.badseys.co.uk/ . Here Ian & Lesley Lauder run a lovely little canalside cafe with there GU motor Badsey moored right outside. One reason for calling in was that I had recently made a set of stern fenders for Badsey & it would be good to see them fitted, they looked pretty smart even though I say so myself. We had a delicious lunch & a good chat with Ian & Lesley about the joys & tribulations of running an old working boat & they were more than happy with their fenders having recently completed an Autumn run down to London.

Peter tucking in at Wagamama

Peter & Ann Marie at IWMN

Peter Playing with Ice!

My Sister Aileen

A Well Earned Break

After such a busy last round we felt we deserved a few days off catching up with friends & family. On Tuesday evening after clothing up Alton & tidying round, we set off on a long drive across the country to Glinton near Peterborough to see my (Brian's) Sister Fiona, Brother-in-Law Rob & our 2 year old niece Ellie. We had a great couple of days with them, we celebrated Fiona's Birthday at the Golden Pheasant at Etton http://www.thegoldenpheasant.net/ with delicious food & fine ales from Castle Rock & Batemans. We also went shopping in Stamford & to Ellie's toddlers group where we got to make paper chains & joined in the parachute game, all good fun. On Friday I made my way back up to the Wirral to see my other Sister Aileen. She had been very poorly all week, eating & drinking very little. I was very lucky to catch her on one of her few good days. She was smiling & alert, able to say a few words. I took her out to the Canarvon Castle pub for lunch & although she struggled to feed herself she enjoyed a big bowl of hearty mushroom soup & big hunks of bread. I felt so lucky to be able to spend some happy time together it was so good to see Aileen smiling & laughing again.

On Friday evening & Saturday we had our Godson Peter to stay with us. He was in good form & he loves to stay in "his" forecabin on Alton. We stayed in on Friday, Ann Marie made us nachos & flour tortilla's for tea, then we all settled down to watch Monsters Inc on DVD which we all enjoyed. Saturday morning we went off to the Imperial War Museum North, where we had an interesting time with quite a few hands on things for Peter to do. The exhibition on war correspondents was very good & thought provoking. Later we went into Manchester city centre to the Christmas Market followed by noodles for tea at Wagamamma - yum. So after all that chilling we were well rested for getting back to work!

FMC Badger

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of George & Irene Boyle's new boat Badger on my facebook page. It caused quite a bit of comment, with one person in particular stating that the boat was painted in the wrong FMC livery/colours. I mentioned this to George & he very kindly showed be an old photograph of Badger when it was fairly new resplendent in FMC black & white, very similar to how it is today. So I think that's settled that discussion. Thanks George!

Winter Draws on

We set off from Oakgrove about 7.30 on Saturday morning, with the rain falling & a chilly breeze it felt like winter had started. Our first customers where at Gurnett & then in Macc, we were fairly busy & the phone was going with some regularity with orders coming in. The rain eased off later in the morning but came again throughout the afternoon with some very heavy showers. By 6pm we'd reached Poynton & decided to call it a day. Brian nipped down to the Boar's Head for a drink, they had Brain's Merlin's Oak on as a guest ale so he decided to try a pint. Unfortunately it was a very mediocre, with very little taste at all, so I suppose in some ways it complemented the regular Black Sheep & Thwaites Best Bitter that were also available.

We set off from Poynton at 8am with the wind and rain making there presence know again. We had a busy morning in Poynton, High Lane & Marple with lots of people stocking up on solid fuels. We also noticed that more people are now purchasing fuel additives. We now stock Fuelset http://liquideng.co.uk/ & Marine 16 http://www.marine16.co.uk/index.html , see their web pages for more details on these products.

From Marple we continued down the Upper Peak Forest and the weather turned even worse. We served our last customers of the day at New Mills before continuing on in the dark to Bugworth Basin. We got ourselves in the cabin to get warm, dry & changed into fresh clothes. We decided to treat ourselves to tea at the Navvy, Ann Marie enjoyed navigation chicken, whilst Brian made a pig of himself with the mixed grill. Clean plates all round made it clear we enjoyed the food and were ready for it. On the beer front there were the usual suspects of Black Sheep & Tim Taylor's Landlord but there was also Buxton High Tor at 6.3%, Brian decided to try a pint of this Indian Red Ale and was rewarded with a lovely malty yet hoppy beer that was surprisingly easy to drink. Later we were joined by George & Irene Boyle & we had a very pleasant evening catching up with each others news. Suffice to say we were the last customers to leave as the night just flew by in good company. We came out of the pub to find a light covering of snow had fallen. But we soon settled down to sleep in our cosy warm cabin on Alton.

We reset the alarm a few times on Monday morning but eventually dragged ourselves out of bed by 7.30. We had to sweep the snow & hail of the gunnels before we could start. Our first customers were on Polestar moored in the lower Basin, this was a new customer for us & it was good to meet such a lovely friendly couple who had been helping on the IWPS work party on the previous day. We continued our deliveries with a busy morning around Whaley Bridge & Furness Vale. At some point we realised that our shunting pole had gone missing from the cabin top at some point, so please keep your eyes open for a 7ft ash shaft & with a curly pigs tail hook on the end.

The weather continued to be atrocious with a mixture of rain, sleet, snow & hail. We finally tied up at Poynton wide after serving our last few customers as darkness fell. We had good old Fray Bentos Pie, potatoes & veg for tea & then chilled out in the cabin & got a much needed early night

On Monday the weather seemed even worse, if that was possible! We donned some extra layers, swept the gunnels & cloths of snow & set off by 8. We still had quite a few customers to catch on the way back, so we took it in turns to steer & grab some breakfast, eggy bread mmm! We had some good drops of coal in Bollington & around Macc & we soon found we sold out of Pet Coke, House Coal & various brands of Smokeless, it's certainly good to be busy! So all in all we had a very successful if rather knackering coal round.