Dawn

Coming of the Dawn

Milky white water makes for a ghostly picture.

Sometimes it pays to be woken by a Cockerel!!! Although my idea of getting up at 6. something am isn't what I wanted, the dawn that greeted me was amazing. I didn't quite get the dawn chorus that Jo on Hadar had talked about because all I could hear was that blasted COCKEREL!!!!.  Where are we? Moored above Cholmondeston Lock on the Shroppie. We stopped on Saturday late morning because a certain person ( and it wasn't me ) wanted to watch the Rugby. As the TV reception was brilliant Ian decided to stay until Monday so he could watch England play Scotland on Sunday. England won. yeah.......Anyway Sunday turned out to be a brilliant day. Sun really warm and loads of fish to catch. I did notice though that there were more boats on the move then we have seen for many a week. Me thinks the cruising season has started. So I think I might have to start slowing down at bridge ole's!

monster fish

I can assure you that no harm came to this fish while taking the photo. I even let him have the maggot.

What did I say about only catching minnows???  The maggot was bigger then the stickleback!!!!

New gates at Lock 59, Heartbreak hill

Lock 59 having the new gates installed

Old lock gates

So glad that there are two sets of locks on most of the flight.

Heartbreak Hill on the T & M!!!!! 4 hours 40 mins from the top lock at Kidsgrove to the bottom at Wheelock.. I was utterly exhausted and I hadn't even wound paddles or open gates. No, I had fought against the wind and rain at every lock. At some of the locks brute force and ignorance was the only way to get in. Ian watched helplessly as I rattled lock after lock and watched his newly applied blacking disappearing at every bounce. Now you may wonder why we didn't just stop and let the gale blow over. Well... all the locks were with us and being loath to have another boat steal our lock we kept on going. Eventually we found a mooring below the last lock ( not the ringed 48 hour moorings as it was to noisy from the main road ) and tried our TV. That was fine. Then we tried the Internet. Not a hope!!!! That's why this blog is a day late. 

First Daffs and a poorly Judy

Maybe you have already seen your first open Daffodil but these were my first of the year. We had just reached the Hall Green Lock when I saw them. They certainly brightened my day especially after the worry the night before. We had moored at Vaudrey's Wharf by Biddulph Line Aqueduct on the Maccelsfield.The Staffordshire Way trail went under the aqueduct and I thought it would be a great walk for the "Woofits" in the morning. Unfortunately our plans had to change when Judy had another one of her "episodes". I am now extremely worried about her. She seemed to recover okay but I really want to know what causes her" so called faints" It happens either last thing at night or first thing in the morning. Usually she has been lying down for quite a while and I'm wondering if the sudden exertion of getting up causes the collapses. The vet has told me that her heart seems fine so what can the problem be??? When we get back to Sandiacre at the end of March I will take her to our usual vet Vets 4 Pets in Oadby Leicestershire for a full M O T!!!!

Jade at the top of Cloud

Would you believe it, Jade found a ball at the very top of the Cloud. She loved her walk and like most dogs travelled much further then Ian, She was exhausted when she got back to the boat hardly able to put one paw in front of the other. She just flopped down in her basket and refused to move for several hours.

Ians Pictures from the top of Bosley Cloud

So.....Ian made it. Took him an hour to walk from our boat to the top. As he climbed up the north face he encountered what he can only describe as "goat trails". Jade with her four legs had no problem but Ian said that he was very glad to have a walking stick  with him.

The view from the top was apparently very misty. I have done what I can to make the picture clearer. Bosley Locks stretch out in the distance

Spectacular Views.

Walking to Cloud

As we descended Bosley Locks Ian announced that he would like to climb "Cloud". Its over a 1000ft high and has ancient earthworks at the top. Now I quite like a good walk but just looking at it made me come out in palpitations. I told him in no uncertain terms that he could do it himself . So off he went this morning complete with walking stick, rucksack and Jade ( I wouldn't let him take Judy.) and told him he could wave to me from the top! 

My ball has a bird on it!

Its not just tits that like fat balls!!!!!!

Friendly neighbours

There were so many males persuing this duck that she must have felt our boat was a safe haven. It was only a short respite because the "would be" suiters were relentless in there quest to woo her and chased her off the roof. Glad I'm not a duck!!!! The saga of our batteries seems to have a good ending. Two days now and the electrics have stayed on. Unfortunately Ian's hydrometer broke and so he hasn't been able to check the specific gravity of the cells. We have briefly moored on a water point in Macclesfield so Ian can find a Halfords to purchase a new one. ( We tried to get onto the 24 hour moorings but couldn't get any closer then 3ft from the bank!!!)

Duck headgear?

Ive seen several ducks with a "beehive" topknot. I wonder what sort these are?

Reflections

Speaks for itself!!!

Our batteries are back

Yesterday our batteries were returned to us. Apparently 2 of the batteries were completely flat, and the other two were showing only a partial charge. I say again HOW DID WE MANAGE TO GET AS FAR AS WE DID!!! Anyway they are now fully charged and this morning Ian started the engine and........ the electrics tripped out again. Now we know it isn't the batteries. the specific gravity was where one expected it to be after a night with lights and TV. So Ian phoned the guys at Victron and said it must be the charger at fault. They asked him to perform a few tests one of which was bypassing the battery isolator. This Ian did and so far so good. They electrics are still on. Watch this space!!
Judy is still pacing but no mess this morning. She did appear to enjoy her walk and the new chewy we got her went down a treat.

Doggie senility!

Judy is having a bad time of it at the moment. We are still at Bugsworth awaiting results on our four leisure batteries. We bought them new 2 months ago and from then on we have had nothing but trouble, electrics tripping out, not charging properly and specific gravity reading in the cells almost none existent. Its a wonder we have got as far as we have. As we bought the batteries from this part of the world, Ian got straight on to the suppliers and asked for them to come and sort them out. Two days ago they came to collect the batteries and gave us another four to tide us over while our four were tested. We still haven't heard from them!!!!! We cant sit on these moorings for ever. After all it is only supposed to be 48 hours. Luckily we have seen the mooring officer and explained our position and he has agreed to let us stay until are batteries have been sorted. Anyway I digress. Lets get back to Judy. As you can see in the picture the boat is considerably higher then the path. This meant that Judy couldn't jump off or on the boat. Thank goodness we purchased a folding stool because now Judy only had a short distance to jump. Well, last night around 10pm Ian said he would take the dogs out for there last "Tiddle". Jade as always had to be first and consequently pushed Judy out of the way. Unfortunately Judy was just about to step onto the back deck when Jade did this. It must have unnerved her because she turned and tried to jump of the wrong side of the boat. Ian screamed at her to stop which, give her her due, she did straight away. But now she was completely confused as to what she should do and turned to get back to the cabin again. I had heard Ian's shout and rushed up to see what I could do. I tried to coax her back to the deck . No way was she having that. As far as she was concerned she must have done something really bad for her master to have shouted at her. In the end the combined efforts of Ian and myself managed to pick her up and carry her off the boat. She did perform for us last night but this morning we found a nice large package of "doggie do's" at the end of our bed. Not only that but something more unsettling was her constant pacing backward and forward with no sign of settling. I'm just hoping that this is short lived and that the events of last night hasn't permanently deranged her.

Bugsworth Basin

Whaley Bridge was impossible to moor in. As we went past Tesco there was boat after boat, and it then became clear that these were permit holders only moorings. Just before we reached the winding hole and facilities, a short stretch of bank was allocated for 7 day mooring. Only trouble was the bank had collapsed and the dreaded Defra rash was in place so even if you wanted to stop you couldn't. We used the facilities and then decided to do another mile back to the Bugsworth Basin. I'm so glad we did. Whereas Whaley Bridge was grey and dismal, Bugsworth offered us the tranquillity that we had grown used to.

Peak forest canal

This turnover bridge was at the junction of the Maccelsfield and Peak forest canal. We decided to turn left and head for Whaley bridge.

And anther spectacular mooring!

It's a deer, dear!

Wow, what was that? Cruising along and admiring the views I suddenly saw something in the distance to make me sit up and take note. I put the boat hard in reverse. "Deer deer" I shouted to Ian, who came running up from the galley. What do you want he said. "No! no! deer deer" I said again. "Look" he said "I'm here now what do you want". Well I felt this could go on for ever so I pointed in the distance and finally he got the message. I think its a young stag judging by the size of his antlers. I really had to zoom in with my camera to get this shot.

Its amazing, Just like buses. You see one and more turn up on the way. These though were penned but the young stag was, like us, a "free spirit".

unusual sights

At first I wondered what possessed this boat owner to do this to his boat. Then Ian pointed out they were porthole covers. Pretty unique, I thought. Now if only the rest of the boat looked as good!!

Another unusual sight. They're either flying geese or swans.

A traumatic start to the day

Today I woke early. Well early for me that is. At 7 10am I decided to get up and take our woofits out. Jade was eager to go as always but Judy seemed to want to stay in her bed. I called and called and eventually she jumped of the boat. No sooner had she started walking when suddenly her back legs gave way and down she went. Her head arched back and she started paddling with her front legs. It seemed for all the world that she was having a fit, but within 30 seconds she recovered and her tail started wagging again. By now Ian had heard my shouts and donned in an old tracksuit bottom rushed to my aid. Judy in the meantime, had managed to get herself up and looked at us as if to ask what all the fuss had been about. Well I couldn't stop shaking. I honestly thought her end had come. I still don't know what caused it. I think a trip to the vets is in order! In this picture Judy is at the back looking as if she hasn't a care in the world.

Yet another sunset

Good weather to come, I hope. This picture was taken at our moorings by Ramsdell Hall.

As I don't often get to be in my posts I thought I would put a couple in. After all I might forget what I looked like.

Had to get a picture of this roach. Its not often I catch any thing bigger then a minnow!