Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Bridge 25 on the Ashton is full of Rubble, Rubbish & lots of Wire, Aided by a Fallen Tree!
Gill Joins us for a Potter near Sandbach
Ann Marie Enjoying a Birthday Cruise on the Weaver
Heron Fishing from an Old Barge on River Weaver
Refuelling River Tug Kennet prior to it's Taking Part in the Thames Jubilee River Pageant
Serving the "Much a Do" Aussies at Anderton
Passing CWDF's Daniel on Steamboat Emily Anne
A Canalworld Discussion Nano-Banter at Barbridge, with Cheshire Rose, Post Code, Cloggy, Auntie Fab et al!
Twitter's Hungry Snapper Joined us around Middlewich
Contractors Working on the New Buttresses near Br42 Macclesfield
The Merry Month of May :-)
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
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Alton's Schedule - May 2012
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
Thursday, May 10, 2012
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.
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!
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.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Report from the Port
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
Thursday, April 05, 2012
Run to the Port Easter 2012 Schedule
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
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