WE'RE BACK!!!!!

Well here we are back on board, both of us, it's only  taken six months !!!

But the irises are blooming....

...the visitors are having a good time...

..and we have a new addition!

We also have sunshine, can't really believe it but this is day two of sunny, warm weather!!! Marvellous.

And so, on to Braunston, NO LOCKS!!!!

OOPS! Nearly forgot this bit, and how could I? We came to a very dramatic stop ten minutes into our re-start thanks to this bit of wood wrapping itself  round the propeller. John Mechanic Man to the rescue, with his hammer, all was well!!!

Wensleydale

Spring has finally arrived up North , so off we went to Wensleydale !

Castle Bolton, also known as Bolton Castle. I have no idea why, but it is impressive.

Aysgarth Falls, beautiful, plenty of walks and picnic places.

  The village of Hawes, where Wensleydale cheese is made - no photos, sorry, too busy eating it!!!          
    Sculpture 'Spring Gathering' carved by Andris Bergs.                                                                                                                                                                

And so to lunch! The Red Berry Pavlova did contain some 

Wensleydale cheese and was as yummy as it looks.

Well, that's it for our lovely weekend. John is heading back to Rugeley to carry on manfully alone (he loves the kudos!!) and I will be staying in Middlesbrough until Dad is well enough to leave. Don't expect too much from the Blog in the meantime as John reckons he has his hands full and I'm not there. I also have the camera....See you soon I hope!!!

Back in the UK

APRIL 19th, and here we are at the seaside! 
Redcar to be precise. So does this mean we braved the North Sea in our little narrowboat and ran aground under the Redcar Beacon? Weeellll,       no.
Unfortunately one of us IS grounded- me, Judith. Dad has been taken poorly and needs some TLC for a while, so John has been single-handing the boat since the end of February. This looks likely to continue for a week or two yet, so we got together again for a weekend and enjoyed the delights of the North-East, starting with the Redcar Beacon.
Now I know it has had a bad press and I have not been a fan, but it is actually quite good. I found myself liking it! and the views were great. What can I say? Go and see for yourselves, it's worth a visit!!

No sign of any narrowboats here then, so where is it now? The breach on the Trent and Mersey, Croxton end, has been fixed since February so an escape was possible, cruising south towards Macclesfield. From there , John , disguised as a Russian ice-breaker, battled on alone to Stoke on Trent.(You remember the snow and gales in Feb/March? Well, at least it's stopped raining....)
The boat is now resting peacefully at Rugeley while we catch up!

Heading Home... En Route Chez Nous...

Misty mornings at Anderton Country Park.
A beautiful and ideal mooring...

Dad made it at last! (Thank you Martin and Alison ) Along with cousins not seen for decades...Hello everyone!

Halloween in Northwich...

And HOME!!!!

Here we shall stay until the canal re-opens and (we hope ) the rain stops...


See you all again in April 2013!!

And STOP!

The Trent and Mersey Canal. The boards are trying to keep the water in following the breach further up the canal.

Le Trent and Mersey Canal. Les bastainges sont la pour garder l'eau dedans apres la breche plus loin.

 Second line of defence, mud!
We are moored 6 miles from here, still afloat.This is the end of the line...Estimated repair date 2014.


Deuxieme ligne de defense, le boue! Nous amarre 10km d'ici,toujours a flot! C'est le fin du canal...Reparation estime d'etre fini en 2014.

                                                       




 High and dry..





Echoue!

Nine boats left stranded. Both ends of the canal closed.
Earliest repairs to the least damaged section, December 2012.
Time to go home and start again in April 2013...

Neuf bateau laisse comme ceci.
Le canal fermer en deux cotes.
Reparations sur la partie le moins endommage, Decembre 2012.
C'est le moment de rentre a la maison et recommence en Avril, 2013 

Northwich

The Anderton Lift gets us onto the River Weaver from where we can moor in Northwich   town centre.

 This, however , is the first view from the river, the soda works which eventually brought ICI into being.It is strangely attractive actually!!!

 And here we are moored at Town bridge. Weather's looking threatening...

Never mind, there's a rainbow! All will be well...

 Into Northwich,to some pretty buildings...




....and interesting parks,

and a lesson to us all!!

The Anderton Lift

 It really is a trip down memory lane! This Morgan is the same year and the same colour as the one we had in the dim and distant past....


C'est vraiment une voyage dans la memoire! Cette Morgan etait le meme annee et le meme couleur que le notre, il y a des annees.....

 But, on we go! To the famous Anderton Lift which takes boats from the safety of the Trent and Mersey Canal and deposits them 17m below onto the River Weaver.


On y va! The Anderton Lift, qui sert comme une ecluse. C'etait construit en 1875 et permit les peniches de quitter le caneau et arrive sur la riviere, 17m au dessous.

Now, listen carefully...


Ecoutez bien!

Into the caisson..

Down we go...



On descend doucement...

And out we go!





Et voila!

Easy!!



Facile!