Haigh Hall - Leeds and Liverpool Canal

There were 5 boats waiting to go up the locks when they opened at 8 o'clock.  We managed to be one of the first with a couple we had arranged to travel with via the Wigan Flight Crew Facebook page.  (Well worth looking into if you are traversing these locks, it can match you up with other boats and the volunteers know who is needing help.)

Well we set off and got to the middleish bit where the boats on the previous afternoon had to spend the night, to discover that there was no water in one of the pounds above and we had to wait about an hour for the water to be stabilised.

Meanwhile David discovered the insides of a duvet around the prop which took him and the man in the boat behind quite a while to removed. He had a Prop Mate which was a kind of long hook with a round handle.  It was definitely the right tool for this particular problem.

So by now we were having to empty the locks first.  We did meet Ariandare on the way down though, but that was only for 1 lock.

The volunteers were excellent, they all worked very hard and it made a difficult journey almost a breeze.  I still ached all over by the top.

There is a metal structure at the top lock to keep the doors from collapsing (or something) and in the joint this wagtail had made a nest.  She kept popping back with food for the brood inside.



We arrived at the top of the locks at a quarter past one and went on to Haigh Hall for the night.  My, the trees have grown.  You used to be able to see right across to Preston previously.

I cheated slightly with card, the house and sign are bought toppers!  I diecut the pink patterned paper and the green one (which is dry embossed) and fixeed them to a white panel, matted onto orange and green card and then onto a white card blank.

Wheelock - Trent & Mersey Canal

Still coming down the Cheshire Locks (Heartbreak Hill).  Today we got as far as Wheelock.  This time doing 14 locks in 3 1/2 miles and taking 3 hours.  I feel like a rag doll.  I was promised a pub lunch but it never materialsed (again!)

Still, the weather has been good to us and this is the beautiful sunrise this morning.

I love this picture, it was taken outside the Bishop of York's palace on the River Ouse just outside York.

The moorhen is sat on her nest inside a tyre fender.  This time I used the picture I matted it onto silver, black, pink and then more black card before adding it to a pink card base.

The sentiment I made using a computer and matted that also onto pink and black card.

Bridge 24 - Oxford/Grand Union Canal

Yet another early 5.30 start.  we reached Hawkesbury junct around 8.15 and moored up at 10.15.

A toadstool home.  I could live in one of those!  This one was printed out and coloured by hand.  I added a glossy varnish to the cap (see where the red ran?) and then matted it onto some green card.  I then matted more card onto more green card and fixed it to a red card base. 

The sentiment was made on the computer and also matted onto green card and both were fixed with foam tape to make then pop out.  Daisies were added as decoration.

Stonely Green Bridge 10, Llangollen Canal

Surprising what you can find on lock gear!

The morning was spent in Chester, we caught the bus just past the bridge at the top of Hurlston locks.  David bought a very expensive box of chocolates and then we came back.


So, we set off at 1 o'clock and stopped at Stoneley Green Bridge at 3 o'clock, having travelled just over 3 miles and done 2 locks.  Enough for one day.

Don't know what this card is for really, could be a birthday card, or a thank you card, or a retirement card, or a new home card, or most things really.

I just matted the picture onto blue and then silver mirri card and stuck it onto the front of a white card blank.  Three blue gems were stuck onto the bottom to give it a bit of a lift, and that was it really.

Salthouse Dock, Liverpool

 Last night we went to the Theatre to see a play about the 1st World War, made me cry, but it was lovely with music and morris dancing, and a lost way of life.

Just for a change, we booked a trip on a boat!  The Manchester Ship Canal.  A six hour journey from Liverpool to Salford Quays is run by Mersey Ferries, one way by boat and then a bus back.

We left Liverpool Pierhead at 1110 and set of at very low tide for the first lock into the Canal. There does not seem to be a speed limit here and the wash from the boat would make most narrowboaters blanch.

Travelling past Ellesmere Port and seeing the lock from a different angle, and then just a wall dividing the canal from the river..








The creme, though, was going through the Barton Swing Bridge and seeing it from a different angle.  We have seen the bridge open a couple of times, but to actually have it open for us to go "under"?!

I saw this moorhen on her nest outside the Bishop of York's Palace on the River Ouse.  I thought it an ideal picture for a new home card.  So it was matted onto white, black, pink and more black card and stuck onto a white card blank.

I made the sentiment on the computer and matted that onto black card to finish it off.

Cuckoo Wharf, Birmingham and Fazeley Canal

Another cold day.  The driver of this car does not seem to be able to read a sign.  It is at the bottom of the Curdworth locks and was so close to the lock beam that I had to push against the bumper to get the gate open.  I was hoping that it would set the alarm off, but no such luck.

So, on up the pretty Curdworth locks, with daffodils trying hard to burst open and then the 3 Milnworth locks.

Just before the long factory bridge David had to get around this car.

We emailed the Fazeley office to report it and Rachel said we could have salvadge rights if we could get it out.

We finished up at Cuckoo Wharf.  We've never stayed here before.  There are visitor and long-tern moorings here plus a work boat mooring.  The work boat seemed to be partly on the visitor mooring, so we moored up on an empty long-term mooring.




Not very clear, but it s photograph of a moorhen on her nest made inside a tyre finder.  The photograph was taken by the Bishop of York's Palace.

I matted the photo onto white card, cut the edges with deckle scissors then matted it again onto navy, pink and more navy card.  It was stuck onto the front of a white card blank.

The sentiment was printed on the computer, cut with the deckle scissors and matted onto navy card.

Salthouse Dock, Liverpool

 Saw this while I was out browsing today.  Cute or what?

Some toppers stuck onto a cream card blank.  The sentiment was made on the computer.

Gas Street Moorings, Birmingham

Too many drunken young men trying to climb the locked gate have caused it to come away from its hinges. So, we have to wait over the weekend before someone can come and fix it. Why do things always happen on Fridays?

Last week it was our electricity. A man had spent two days on the moorings, checking all the electricity stanchions, then just after he left our electricity went off. The emergency man was called out but he didn't have the right bits to fix it so we had to spend the weekend on batteries. Still, at least it got us into cruising mode, turning off lights etc.

Caroline and Curtis have just moved into a house with a garden (from a 3rd floor flat) so that the two cats and the puppy have somewhere to play.

This is the card I made for their new home. I got the idea from one of last months card magazines and adapted it slightly. The "boxes" are made from brown card, folding out flaps on two of them to look like open boxes. I stuck them down with sticky fixers so that they stood out and filled the gaps with shredded newspaper to look like packing. I stamped out a cat and a bowl and cut out a bone. The bowl and bone are sticking out of the top box and the cat is trying to jump up into it. I actually wrote all the wording, which I am not keen on as my handwriting is crap, as I didn't have time to print all the bits out.

Long Moll's Bridge (No 76)

Leaving Tixal early in the morning was lovely, the Great Crested Greebe was fishing, the swan was nesting, a cock and two hen pheasants were pinching food from under a bird feeder at Tixal Lock and the bushes were beginning to sprout. And what with the lambs and the foal, spring must be on the way.

We stopped by Midland Chandlers for some filters and stuff, as usual they didn't have it.

Then we moored out in the countryside again, but even so the M6 was not far away and you could hear the rumble of traffic.




The photograph of the nesting moorhen was taken beside the Bishop of York's Palace on the River Ouse. This bird is nearly as batty as the one who keeps nesting by the Gaol at Reading.