Thursday 30 July 2015

Last of and Leaving Liverpool

Well, I suppose the good thing about rubbishy weather is that you sometimes get a great sunset, and Liverpool was no exception in this stake.
 
Sunset over Salthouse Dock
Having dispatched Aunty Nancy and Jane back up to Edinburgh on Thursday, the boat was back up to full capacity on Friday with the arrival of Mike back from work and my cousin Diane for the weekend.


On Saturday we had a wee scoot down the docks to fill up with diesel at the marina.  It was quite windy and there were lots of canoes out and about so we had to keep our wits about us - those of us that have wits, that is..... ;)
In the evening, Mike's friend Dickie came to take us on a pub crawl, but in true Quaintrelle style we started off with cocktails on board.

Dickie and Mike and a Margarita

Contrary to how we look in this picture, we were actually enjoying ourselves!!  Dickie takes a lot of snaps and we were never quite sure when he was or wasn't doing so ;)
 And then the pubcrawl; The Baltic Fleet, The Bridewell, which was an old police station, complete with cells - and surprisingly, I can't remember the name of the third one.....oops!!

Queenie and I having a wee laugh to ourselves in the Bridewell

Well-oiled by the last pub - time for pizza and kebab!!
 Sunday was spent recovering and seeing Di off back to Edinburgh again.  It was very wet and windy.
It was an early start for us on Monday as we had to leave Liverpool and you have to be at Mann Island Lock for 9am.  We were sad to leave our neighbours of the last 12 days, Jayne and Mike from NB Dawn Owl, who were great company, and got up to wave us off!  Unfortunately the wind and rain were still with us and we were soaked within minutes of leaving our pontoon.

Waiting to get up through Mann Island Lock
 Once up the Stanley Flight which takes you out of the docks and back onto the canal, the rain stopped and we had a pleasant cruise.  We had a moment of excitement as our engine reached the milestone of 1000 hours running!!!  This is the equivalent to a cars milometer, but we measure hours our engine has done on a narrowboat.

The convoy going through bridge 6 on the Leeds Liverpool canal.
 
Reaching 1000.0 hours on the engine.
We moored up through Bridge 10 next to Clinton and Sharon on Tacet.  We'd been in a bit of a quandry, as we had planned to do the Lancaster Canal next, crossing the Ribble Link on Friday 31st.  However, a collapsed culvert at Rufford put paid to that, as the canal is now closed and we can't get on to it.  Canal & River Trust are estimating it will be closed until the end of August :(  We decided to continue our journey up and over the pennines heading for York, but just go very slowly (not that you go anywhere fast on a narrowboat!) as we now have an extra two weeks to do it.  Mike decided to go back to work this week for three days, leaving me home alone on Quaintrelle.  Last night and tonight I'm in Parbold (which we keep wanting to call Parboiled, like our potatoes before we roast them!).  It's a lovely wee place.  Tomorrow I'll head on and pick Mike up at Appley Bridge and on Saturday we will do the dreaded Wigan Flight!!!

If we survive that, you'll hear more from me next week ;)

Friday 24 July 2015

So Much More Than Just The Beatles

To say we are enjoying Liverpool is somewhat of an understatement.  We are absolutely loving it!!!!  (Well, I am - Mike is working in Grantham this week, poor lamb.)  It's a fantastic city, with everything more or less within walking distance of our mooring at Salthouse Dock.


Our mooring at Salthouse Dock by night
 Before Mike headed to Grantham for his brief return to the rat race, we managed to do some touristy stuff - and there is plenty to do.
Despite living on a boat, our first port of call was the Mersey Ferry.  The ferry is a 50 minute ride with commentary and two stops where you can hop on/hop off.  We got off at Woodside to see the U-Boat Story, where they have U-534 on display.  It was really interesting, worth the stop and included in the cost of your ferry ticket.  There's also a fantastic cafe there serving locally produced homemade food.  From the ferry you get fantastic views of the Liverpool skyline.  And yes, they play 'Ferry 'Cross the Mersey'....

The Mersey Ferry sporting it's Razzle Dazzle livery in tribute to the dazzleboats of the Battle of the Atlantic.
 The next day we headed away from the waterfront and up to the city's two cathedrals; the Anglican Cathedral which is the largest anglican cathedral in the world and the Catholic cathedral which was built in the 60s.  The Anglican is an imposing building, huge, majestic and I loved it.  Lovely clean lines inside, simple, but effective.  It was only completed in 1979, having taken 74 years to build!!

The interior of the Anglican Cathedral

There are wonderful 360 views from the top of the tower.
The Catholic Cathedral is completely different, with the appearance of a wigwam from the outside!  Inside they have used stained glass to it's full potential, creating the most beautiful light.
The two cathedrals are completely different, but both so impressive and well worth visiting.
Near the cathedrals is the Chinatown area of Liverpool, where lives the oldest chinese community in Europe.  The stunning gate was made in pieces in Shanghai and brought to the city.


With Mike safely away earning us a crust, I booked onto the tour of the Oldest Commercial Wet Dock in the world.  It was designed and built between 1709-1715 and is now underneath the car park of the Liverpool One shopping centre (which I must admit to frequenting since our arrival here.........).  You book at the Maritime Museum (which we've also visited), and the tour is free of charge.  The guys who do it, Dan and Yazz are brilliant.  They clearly love their subject and really bring the history to life in a very entertaining way.  This is a 'must do' if you visit Liverpool.

A very small corner of the Oldest Commercial Wet Dock in the World
 With Mike away, I decided some company would be good, so my Aunty Nancy and cousin Jane came down for a couple of days.  Bedding was then turned around on Thursday for the arrival of Diane on Friday.

Aunty Nancy and Jane on the Ferry

Me and my Favourite Aunty Nancy enjoying a glass of wine.
 We leave Liverpool on Monday 27th July, though not quite sure where we're going.  The plan had been to head up the Lancaster Canal, however, a collapsed culvert at Rufford (the entrance to the canal!!) has now closed the canal, they estimate until the end of August :(  So there will be some planning over the weekend for an alternative route - watch this space!

Thursday 16 July 2015

We're Going Down to Liverpool to Do Nothing....

Well, to be honest, we're going to do quite a lot as we're in Liverpool for 12 days - it's our summer holiday :)
We were hugely excited about coming to Liverpool as every boater we met who'd been there said we'd love it and no matter how long we were there it wouldn't be long enough.  With such a build up, you'd think there was only one way to go......
To get there, you have to go through quite a few swing bridges

Mike lets the traffic go after closing the bridge after us
 
This heron was on his way back from Liverpool and said he couldn't recommend it highly enough


You have to book to go into Liverpool as passage is assisted with fantastic CRT staff and volunteers on the locks and swing bridges and we arrived at the meeting point, Hancock's Bridge 9, the afternoon before.  There was only one other boat with us, Dawn Owl from Macclesfield, with Jane and Mike on board.
By 8.45am the next morning, a few more had arrived to join our convoy.

Our convoy waiting for CRT to arrive and get us going
It's rather a pretty route, though you need to watch out for the shopping trolleys scraping the bottom of the boat as you go under some of the bridges.....  The water was so clear you could see every bit of rubbish below.  People are trying to clean it up though, we saw two lots of dog walkers, armed with black bags and litter grabbers tidying up as they walked their dogs.  They waved enthusiastically at us and I shouted a thank you for picking up the litter.

One of the convoy coming through one of the pretty bridges
 The excitement was building as we neared the Stanley Locks which would take us down into the Liverpool docks and within sniffing distance of the Mersey.

Exiting the last of the Stanley locks we are dwarfed by the biggest warehouses I have ever seen!!!
The journey through the docks was almost as exciting as doing the tidal Thames through London.  Suddenly in front, above and beyond you are landmarks you have seen for years on the telly - and there we are, cruising past.  I lalalalala-ed the theme tune to the Liverbirds all the way through :)

The Liver buidling with its famous birds comes into view - oh, we had a lockie hitch a lift - that's him in the blue hat at the front :)


Coming out of the tunnel straight to the museum

The tunnels were low, but not low enough to remove the chimneys

Exiting the Mann Island lock

Looking left as we enter Albert Dock
Our moorings at Salthouse Dock - just a few along from this boat
It was just amazing!!! Fantastic!!! Exceeded our highly built-up expectations.  The joy was only added to when we were told the electricity was free as the batteries for the meters have run out and are too expensive to replace, so they just let it run on - and there's water on each pontoon too!!!  I feel a bedding wash coming on......
We've only been here one night, but are loving it.  Liverpool has done a wonderful job regenerating it's dock area, whilst keeping much of the history in place.  There are museums, bars and restaurants on our doorstep yet the moorings are peaceful and very safe.
Tune in next week for the invasion of the Bensons!!
 

Monday 13 July 2015

Big Bad Manchester and more..

It's been a bit of a strange 10 days.  A month or so ago, Mike was contacted about some work in Grantham, but only got confirmation once we were well away from being near Nottingham and were heading towards Manchester.   

We spent two nights at the pretty town of Lymm, where we met up with Mike's ex-colleague Neil.
We set about finding some secure moorings in or around Manchester to leave the boat whilst Mike went to Grantham for the week and I headed north to see mum and my brothers.
Mike had read about secure moorings in Salford Docks and indeed the Visit Salford website suggests if you're travelling in your boat why not moor up there?  Why not??
1. No one seems to know about this.  Mike spent hours on the phone and only finally got somewhere when he rang the PR people for the website who found someone in the council who rang back.
2. It was going to cost £27 each way to access the Pomona Locks to the docks.
3. It's not really that secure.  Mike phoned the local police - there's a lot of car crime in that area.
4. No one else moors there, so there are no other boats around at all.
5. Yes, there are pontoon moorings, but they are fenced off on the landside, so you'd be stuck on your boat.
The bottom line; Peel Holdings/Bridgewater Canal do not want you there.  They've obviously had to put in the facilities as part of the regeneration plans but clearly don't want to manage them.

Meanwhile, we headed into Manchester and the Castlefield basin for the weekend.

Passing the football ground

We rather liked this big sign on the side of an old canal building - still regenerating


Urban scenery as we reach the centre of Manchester
 We moored up for the night at Castlefield and discovered there was a festival on for the week with nightly concerts.  There were some good acts and we managed to get tickets for the Saturday night to see Super Furry Animals and The Charlatans.

Castlefield by night.
We also visited Salford Docks, where the BBC now has a home at Media city and I was delighted to find the Blue Peter garden - complete with presenters' and pets' footprints!!!

Is it just me, or does Lesley Judd appear to have really big big toes??
We found secure moorings for £6 a night at Stretford Marine Services.  These guys are great, really helpful and we were happy to leave the boat there for the week.
On our return I collected my brother John who joined us as far as Wigan.  On Wednesday this week, we go into Liverpool for 12 days, which we are very excited about.

Crossing the Barton Aqueduct

John taking a turn at driving

One of the few mill buildings now left in Leigh
Deep concentration required

The Orwell Pub in Wigan, one of the few renovated canalside buildings

Wednesday 1 July 2015

Harecastle, Heartbreak & A Bit of A Lift

Well, here we are... a week since the blog was born and a week of photos to sort through....and I can't remember what fontsize I did the first post in - can anyone tell me how I can save my font choices so it does them automatically??
Anyway, enough of my tech inabilities, where were we... We spent the morning of the 25th at the Middleport Pottery.  Full of history and one of the few remaining bottle chimneys in the town of Stoke on Trent, this is a great place to visit and learn about pottery making.  They still make pottery here, Poole pottery has been made here since 2011, I think it was.  We then headed back to the boat, grabbed a quick lunch and made our way to the Harecastle Tunnel.  Not without trepidation as a boater died in the tunnel last year when he hit his head and fell unconscious into the water.  The tunnel is manned at each end and you go through in convoy as it's too narrow to pass another boat. It's very low in places, so you have to duck - you can just make out the gauging chains hanging at the entrance to make sure you're not too high to pass through.

Queuing for the Harecastle Tunnel - the final boat just coming out.

The exit - North end - of the tunnel.
 Once in the tunnel, they close a door behind the last boat and turn huge fans on to circulate air through - all quite exciting, if a bit scary, not to mention noisy!  I think I was so relieved to be out, that I convinced myself I'd quite enjoyed it ;)

We continued on down what is known as Heartbreak Hill.  It's a flight of locks which are spaced just far enough apart to have to get back on the boat inbetween, but close enough that there's not really time to do anything other than wait for the next lock to appear.  Some of us approached Heartbreak Hill with more energy than others.....

This is a picture of the pretty iron work on the little bridge.....
 We continued along the Trent & Mersey, taking us under the M6 and through some stunning countryside.  They use a particularly pretty font on the bridges and locks on the T&M.

Locking down under the M6

Pretty bridge near our mooring at Bramble Cutting
 On Saturday we took the Anderton Lift, getting the last slot at 5.30pm to take us 15m down on to the River Weaver.  We'd been chatting with Chyrell and Sam from NB Calon Lan, and met them at the bottom also looking for a mooring for the night as the locks were now closed.  We found a bit of bank and moored up and then spent the next three days travelling the Weaver with them and their gorgeous dog, Angel.


The Anderton Lift - Magnificent Victorian Engineering.

The Stunning Vale Lock on the River Weaver

Sunset at Acton Swing Bridge

Northwich
Last night on the Weaver with Calon Lan - Angel was already in bed.  Happy Times :)
On Tuesday we came back up the Anderton and took in the last leg of the Trent & Mersey and this morning came through the Preston Brook Tunnel (at 9.10am!!!!!  Unheard of, us being up that early - must be the heat getting to us!!) and on to the Bridgewater canal, which we did not expect to be so pretty.


Bridgewater Canal
We have reached the beautiful little town of Lymm where we will spend a couple of nights.  Tonight we're meeting an old colleague of Mike's called Neil.  Last night we met an old colleague of Mike's called Nicky.  I'm thinking of renaming the blog - Mike Queenan, The Reunion....... anyway, hope you were sitting comfortably when I began, and are still comfortable at the end of this week's ramblings.