Peak Forest Canal Carrying Company/Renaissance

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Alton's October 2012.

Well better late than never, here's the rest Alton's October schedule:-
Thurs 11th: Road deliveries around Macclesfield & surrounding area
Fri 12th: Road deliveries to Northwich & Anderton as well as Hyde, Ashton & Manchester Piccadilly in the afternoon / evening.
Sat 13th: Oakgrove Br 49 Macc to Marple
Sun 14th: Day off to help with the Canal Clean-up on the Lower Peak Forest & Ashton Canal
Mon 15th: Marple to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Tues 16th: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Wed 17th :- Road deliveries to Anderton, Northwich
Fri 19th:- Road deliveries to Chester & Ellesmere Port
Sat 27th - Sun 28th: Oakgrove Br 45 Macc to Marple, Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 29th - Tues 30th: Bugsworth to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc

Please note the above schedule is our plan but it may vary dependant on traffic, customer volumes & stoppages. So if you need supplies or have any question please give us a call or text on 07791345004 to ensure delivery.

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Friday, October 12, 2012

Breaks, Breaches & Banters

(Photo by Mike Askin of Victoria as we left the Anchor, High Offley, on the Shroppie).

The past month has been another hectic one (no change there!), but it started with a wonderful weeks break in Aldburgh, Suffolk to celebrated by Brother Mike's significant birthday. We walked on the beach, swam in the sea, had a wonderful tour of Adnams Brewery & Distillery with Headbrewer Fergus Fitzgerald & drank far too much Adnams ale & ate too much fish & chips.

We then had a family weekend in Peterborough we're our Niece Ellie was baptised & we where proud to be her Godparents.

Since then we've worked none stop & things are a bit of a blur! By Sunday 23rd of September we where moored on the river Weaver in Northwich in the teaming rain. Next morning the rain was still teaming down, we headed down river to Acton Bridge & Dutton Locks for deliveries, the river was starting to rise. We winded & made straight back for the Anderton Lift & back on the T&M. The rain got heavier as we headed back to Middlewich & the canal had flooded the towpath in a number of places, at Croxton water was flowing over the bank & a tree had fallen. At the aqueduct we could see the Dane had come right up. We locked up Big Lock, to find the Town pound flowing like a river due to the brook over flowing into it. We finally tied up for the night in darkness above Kings Lock. The rain continued for pretty much the next 2 days as we made our way back to Macclesfield looking like 2 drowned rats. Suffice to say that all this rain, then caused the breach at Dutton & damage to the embankment at Croxton which will significantly curtail our boating on this stretch of the T&M this winter.

Our plan had been to do our usual fortnightly run up to Whaley & head straight back to the Weaver for the Acton Bridge Steam Rally on the Weaver, but due to the T&M stoppages this wouldn't be possible. So instead we headed down to Nantwich on our regular run & thought about having a potter up the Llangollen. We knew we'd have a bit of a struggle getting through Hurleston Locks so decided to wait till evening to make our attempt. On entering the bottom lock we came to a stop within 6" of being able to shut the bottom gates. As soon as we tried to start flushing Alton in, boats arrived from all directions. So after shifting some of our load we backed out of the lock & decided to give the Llan a miss this time (we'll be back again though :-)).

Earlier in the day we'd seen our friend Mike Askin on the Royalty motor Victoria heading south from Nantwich, so we contacted Mike to see if he fancied meeting up the next night at one of my favourite pubs, the Anchor at High Offley & he was up for it.

We set of before dawn & had a fantastic day on a bit of cut that we'd not travelled on Alton before. The Sun shone as we made our way up, Audlem, Adderley, & Tyrely locks & we had a magical day boating down the Shroppie with the Wrekin keeping us company on the horizon to the west. We tied up before dark, grabbed some tea & headed to the Anchor. What a cracking night we had with Mike, Darren & Hazel as well as a few others. The 6X went down very well & the company was excellent, we talked "old boats" to our hearts content.

I've been trying desperately to update the blog for the last few nights, but I cannot keep my eyes open, so suffice to say :- To be continued......................

Night All!
Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Alton's Delivery Schedule September 2012

(In photo our Nephew Ethan took to boating like a duck to water!)

We've had a fun month in August with plenty of boating as well as catching up with friends & family. We started out with our regular fortnightly run from Macclesfield to Whaley Bridge & back. Then our friends Dan & Emy came up to see us & we headed off with them to the International Citroen Car Club Meeting at Harrogate. We had 4 days of chilling out with friends, there where Citroens of every size shape & type, wonderful catering, (many from Citroen H vans), excellent entertainment & of course a superb range of beers at the real ale bar. By one of those amazing coincidences that show how small & intertwined the world of narrowboats & 2CVs are, we camped next to a couple with a french registered 2CV, they overhead our twitter name of "Coalboat" & came over to chat, it turned out they'd previously owned the tug Baltic, the Big Woolwich Greenlaw & also the tug White Heather, so we had a great time reminiscing with them.

The next week we had our Canadian rellies over to stay. Ann Marie's Sister Karen, Husband Brad & kids Josh, Ben & Ethan all really enjoyed their time staying with us on the boats. We visited Trentham Gardens where we got soaked in the rain but still had a fun day doing daft stuff like the barefoot walk, messing about in the maze & visiting the barbary macaques in the Monkey Forest. We also had a lovely day out boating down Bosley Locks to Congleton, everyone mucked in steering the boat, working the locks, pushing on shafts & even serving customers. On their last night we had a slap up meal at Dolce Vita in Marple followed by a visit to the brilliantly old fashioned Regent Cinema to see the mind boggling film Bourne Legacy .

After all that fun & frolics it was straight back to work with a full schedule of boating for myself & Ann Marie. For our first few days up to Bugsworth & back down the Macc we where joined by our good friend Tom Fletcher, who had come to experience a few days working boating with us. We put in some long hours to arrive at Ellesmere Port on Thursday eve, assisted as usual on the last leg by Alex from Bewitched. Having re-loaded we set off again for the T&M north, the Middlewich Branch was busy with Bank Holiday traffic queuing at the locks & the top of the T&M was hectic especially around the tunnels. It was a relief to get down the lift & onto the big water of the Weaver. We decided to run right down to the lower end of the river at Weston Point Docks which was nice & quiet. We stopped the night at Acton Bridge, before heading up river on Tuesday to the upper reach above Vale Royal Locks. By the following day we were back at Macclesfield to re-load diesel & solid fuel for our run once again to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth. The weather was pretty good & customers were very kind keeping us going with coffee & choc ices (thanks Sue on No59 & Sue on Carbis :-)) & even beer & wine of an evening thanks to the Crews of Verity Anne & Slicer. Once again we met some lovely folks, some for the first time, but best of all it's lovely to see some of our old regulars returning with tales of their summer jaunts, looking forward to seeing a few more of you in the coming weeks.

Anyway below is our planned schedule for September:-

Sat 1st - Sun 2nd: Oakgrove Br49 Macc to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 3rd: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Thurs 13th: Road deliveries to Hyde, Ashton & Manchester Piccadilly
Fri 14th: Road deliveries around Macclesfield & surrounding area
Sat 15th - Sun 16th: Oakgrove Br 49 Macc to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 17th: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Tues 18th - Fri 21st: Oakgrove Br 49 Macc to Congleton, Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port
Sat 22nd - Mon 24th: Ellesmere Port, to Chester, Middlewich, Preston Brook, Anderton & River Weaver
Tues 25th - Thurs 27th: River Weaver & back to Middlewich, Kidsgrove, Congleton & Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Fri 28th: Road deliveries around Macclesfield & surrounding area
Sat 29th - Sun 30th: Oakgrove Br 45 Macc to Marple, Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 1st Oct: Bugsworth to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc

Please note the above schedule is our plan but it may vary dependant on traffic, customer volumes & stoppages. So if you need supplies or have any question please give us a call or text on 07791345004 to ensure delivery.

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Friday, August 03, 2012

Alton's Delivery Schedule August 2012

We'll I haven't kept up my promise of keeping the blog up to date! But as usual we've been keeping busy :-). We had a really good run to Chester & Ellesmere Port & then over to the Weaver. This trip we put in some long hours to give us a bit more time on the river, so we journeyed up to Vale Royal & then right down through Hunts, Saltersford & Dutton Locks to Frodsham. The Lockies have been really helpful & flexible and we've met some lovely people even getting an odd chance to stop for coffee & cake or a beer or two at the end of the day.

We managed to get a few days off last week & had a lovely time with our 7 year old Godson Peter, followed by visiting the Audlem Transport Festival where we stayed aboard Badger with our good friends George & Irene. The festival had a lovely atmosphere & we enjoyed catching up with friends amongst the boats & various other forms of transport.

Anyway below is our planned schedule for August:-

Thurs 2nd: Road deliveries to Hyde, Ashton & Manchester Piccadilly
Sat 4th - Sun 5th: Oakgrove Br49 Macc to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 6th: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Sat 18th - Sun 19th: Oakgrove Br 49 Macc to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 20th: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Tues 21st - Fri 24th: Oakgrove Br 49 Macc to Congleton, Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port
Sat 25th - Mon 27th: Ellesmere Port, to Chester, Middlewich, Preston Brook, Anderton & River Weaver
Tues 28th - Thurs 30th: River Weaver & back to Middlewich, Kidsgrove, Congleton & Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Sat 1st - Sun 2nd Sept: Oakgrove Br 45 Macc to Marple, Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 3rd Sept: Bugsworth to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc

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

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Amazing View from Disley across the Valley to Kinder Scout this Morning

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Orange Netting Again!

More orange "rash" netting found in the cut at Br 21 UPFC. This stuff is a nightmare to get off the prop.

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Quick Twitter update

@Coalboat: The Macc & Peak Forest summit is on level & reservoirs are full, so at least all that rain has done something positive http://pic.twitter.com/HqZQ7aCk

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Monday, July 16, 2012

Meet the New Banner, same as the Old Banner (Nearly)

At Anderton lift we found the new C&RT banner in place.

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Getting Involved with Waterways

Yesterday near Anderton, we managed to get a huge BW banner wrapped around the prop.
Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Friday, July 06, 2012

Alton's Delivery Schedule July 2012

Sorry for the lack of blog updates, life has been even more hectic than usual! I promise to get posting a bit more regularly ;-).

Thurs 5th: Road deliveries to Hyde, Ashton & Picadilly
Sat 7th - Sun 8th: Oakgrove Br49 Macc to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 9th: Whaley Bridge to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Tues 10th - Fri 13th: Oakgrove Br 49 Macc to Congleton, Kidsgrove, Middlewich, Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port
Sat 14th - Mon 16th: Ellesmere Port, to Chester, Middlewich, Anderton & River Weaver
Tues 17th - Thurs 19th: River Weaver to Preston Brook & back to Middlewich, Kidsgrove, Congleton & Oakgrove Br 49 Macc
Sat 21st - Sun 22nd: Oakgrove Br 45 Macc to Marple, Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 23th: Bugsworth to Oakgrove Br 49 Macc

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

Renaissance Canal Carrying - keeping carrying on the canals

Monday, June 11, 2012

Altons Schedule June 2012

A bit late as usual, but here is our schedule for June

Fri 1st: Red Bull to Etruria
Sat 2nd - Sun 3rd: Etruria Canal Festival
Mon 4th: Etruria to Oakgrove Br49 Macc
Wed 6th- Thurs 7th: Oakgrove Br49 Macc to Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Fri 8th: Whaley Bridge to Bosley
Sat 9th - Sun 10th: North Rode Vintage Rally near Bosley
Mon 11th - Wed 13th: Bosley to Middlewich, Anderton & River Weaver
Thurs 14th - Fri 15th: River Weaver to Preston Brook & back to Middlewich
Sat 16th - Sun 17th: Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival
Mon 18th - Tues 19th: Middlewich to Nantwich, Chester & Ellesmere Port
Wed 20th - Fri 22nd: Ellesmere Port to Chester, Middlewich, Kidsgrove to Macclesfield
Sat 23rd - Sun 24th: Macclesfield to Marple, Whaley Bridge & Bugsworth
Mon 25th: Bugsworth to Oakgrove Br49 Macc

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

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