Life's a Bitch by Stitch

 We left Tattenhall on a wet October afternoon with the over ambitious plan to get to Manchester and back within the week.  With rainclouds overhead, and the need for waterproofs, it didn't bode well.   A first night was spent in a favourite spot above Stone Lock in Beeston.  This photo was taken by him on a previous visit a few weeks earlier.  We woke up to a similar view with clear skies and sunshine but it was cold.  The first part of our journey towards the Middlewich Arm was fairly familiar and the day got warmer.  Once on the canal we had a couple of locks to negotiate before lunch.  That's when I fell in trying to reach land.  It wasn't so warm after that (even without the dunking) and, by the time we reached Middlewich, we were ready to call it a day and find a mooring - but there weren't any.  That meant doing more locks and tying up alongside the waterpoint in the middle of town.  Then they left me to go and get dinne...

  It seemed a long time since we reached the dry dock and left Knot-a-Yot for work on its bottom.   Plans changed when the Anderton Boat Lift broke down (just after we’d been on it) so we couldn’t get back onto the canal.   Then we got stuck in the dry dock for a couple of weeks and finally got it onto the river where it remained moored (thanks to Matt and his family) until Wednesday this week when we set off to go down onto the Manchester Ship Canal.   Of course, I didn’t realise how exciting this trip was going to be – just us and another barge, Kingfisher, that had been with us in the dry dock and needed to get back to Todmorden.   It was raining when we set off and a bit chilly after weeks of sun.   We had to go through three large locks, all manned so no real effort apart from trying to keep the boat at the side as the gates closed, the water emptied downstream, and the other gates opened....

Nearly didn’t happen as they caught COVID and she was still positive when we set off on Saturday 9 th July.  It was a hot start to the holiday and it was going to get hotter.  We were off from the marina and heading towards Beeston before lunch then had a few locks to navigate, luckily with some company so it wasn’t too difficult (not that I’m much use with locks or steering.)  I kept watch as we went up through the staircase lock at Bunbury and he did it right.  It was fairly familiar ground (water!) as we headed for Barbridge where we moored up for the night.  The next day we headed past the junction to Llangollen and we were in new territory.   Nantwich was the first stop and what a nice place that was (although one resident shouted from her car, “Take your dog home!”)   We headed on hoping for better company and stopped on the edge of Audlem, a rather attractive large village. Monday morning we set off up 15 locks – all single – but by ...

My last blog left you wondering if they were going to sell Knot-a-Yot after a difficult passage.  Luckily for me, they decided to keep it and base it in this lovely marina about an hour from home.  We made a few trips back and to to sniff out the area, do a few jobs like putting a new door on the back to stop me escaping!  But then came the opportunity to go further afield and they headed for Chester on a very pleasant spring day. We passed over a mile of moored up boats before entering the attractive suburbs of Chester which we'd only previously seen from the A41.  What a difference!  Gardens swept down to the canalside adding a fair price to what must be expensive property.  I was more interested in the wildlife - ducks and moorhens. We soon found ourselves at the turning point near to a pub, The Cheshire Cat, and somewhere to moor up for the night.  Now I'm not keen on cats but I put up with this location (even though they didn't take me with them w...