20th Nov.  The cold weather has arrived and the last two mornings we have been breaking ice but the compensation has been beautiful sunny days just right for walking familiar paths.  We finally succumbed and turned on the central heating but it has been well below freezing the last few nights.  Last weekend's open boat afternoons pulled in 30 people.  Too numerous to mention here but you know who you are and we were very grateful you came.  It was good to see you all.  During the week we have also received Deborah Cowsill & son Jack, Ann Alison & Cath Bolton and Cath again with daughter-in-law Kate & grandson Jack.  More guests than miles travelled by boat.  However Maureen had a train ride to Chesterfield and Roger returned by bus to Chapel-en-le-Frith for the first time in nearly 7 months.  In between all that Roger did a 500 hours engine service and with the help of daughter Heather & partner Chris we found a supplier of calor gas to replace a bottle.  We also took a ride with them over the Derbyshire hills to Castleton where with several thousand others we watched the Christmas lights switch on.  Very pretty and very nice mulled wine in the Cheshire Cheese.  We are amazed how many boats are still moving.  Most are locals out for a few days enjoying the sun before hurrying back to their marina but there are one or two like us braving it out with nowhere else to go!                  

With the weather so cold this seems like a good time to move the log on to Winter 2005 where the next entry will appear.      

6th Nov.  Almost there now, just 1 more lock to go.  This week has been somewhat wet and windy but not too bad.  On Tuesday we walked the 2 miles up to Mow Cop, a local landmark north of Stoke.  Under beautiful, clear skies we could see for miles across the Cheshire Plain to the Welsh Hills with the Wrekin and the Long Mynd away to the south.  We picked out many of the places we had sailed passed during the last couple of months and also saw our route south in January.  Having spent the next three days in Congleton we came a little way north on Friday and tonight we are moored one lock short of completing the scenic Bosley flight, from where we can look back the few miles to Mow Cop.  Friends David & Jane Forshaw came a visiting on Saturday and brought better weather than had been forecast so we were able to offer them a short round trip before an excellent meal in the Robin Hood pub at Buglawton.  Today we have climbed Bosley Locks with the help of Carol Trasler & Geoff Shalders, back for more lock winding but also bringing a little sunshine.  This stretch is probably the prettiest part of a very pretty Macclesfield Canal with the escarpment of Bosley Cloud and the first hills of the Peak District looking down on us.  With the clocks changing last weekend the days are getting noticeably shorter which means we cruise for even less time each day.  We are therefore having to keep an eye on our batteries which are recharged when the engine turns.  Over the winter we shall no doubt be burning some diesel just to ensure our lights glow and the T.V. works.  But before then there is one last lock and a final 22 miles to Whaley Bridge.               

30th Oct.  Someone's been 'avin' a larff with the weather this week.  After mentioning the rain last week we were deluged with the stuff over Sunday night and into Monday morning.  The little River Churnet went walkabout and the view from Denford Aqueduct on Monday afternoon was quickly resembling that from an ocean liner - water everywhere.  As we came back from Leek on Wednesday the River was returning to its usual course and then on Thursday we were soaking up the afternoon sun in 70 degree F. temperatures again.  A word of congratulations to the City of Stoke on Trent & British Waterways.  They have finally realised that a nice hard surface towpath may be great for cyclists, joggers and walkers but is impossible for boaters to moor against.  The mooring by Westport Lake is much improved and from there into the city the towpath is being given a soft waterside edge.  Sadly the potteries themselves are not joining in.  The Royal Doulton factory shop is no more than 50 yards from the canal on the offside.  There are mooring rings on the towpath side but access is over one bridge, up to what looks like a busy road then down a slip road and across their car park, probably half a mile.  Worse still the Burleigh pottery at Middleport comes right down to the water edge but with no mooring either side we have no idea how a boater would get to it.  We would be reluctant to carry anything heavy and breakable all the way back from either.   If you are going to travel over 900 miles to have your battery charger breakdown we recommend you make sure it happens just 15 minutes away from the man who installed it.  David Johnson from Matrix Controls Ltd was very happy to pop along on his way home and possibly even more delighted than us to discover it was just a loose connection.  Thank you David, our first problem with Ramyshome fixed so easily.                

16th Oct.  It has been a week of visitors. After daughter Heather & partner Chris left on Sunday evening we walked up to Beeston Castle the following morning under blue skies.  From the top we enjoyed spectacular views, from Liverpool in the NW to The Wrekin on the southern horizon and the hills of the Cheshire/Derbyshire border just about visible away to the East.  Maureen's parents flew in from the south of France on Tuesday and stayed for 2 nights but sadly brought the rain with them.  However they drove us into Chester and we spent the day Christmas shopping, lunching and dodging the showers.  Thursday saw us back into Middlewich for the third time and on Friday we turned south on to the Trent & Mersey Canal crossing the Cheshire Plain to Wheelock ready for the climb up the 26 locks of "Heartbreak Hill".  As always when we have heavy lock work we get extra crew in so were delighted to welcome Alan & Helen Thompson, friends from Buxton for the weekend.  Having recently returned from their own adventure in the Himalayas they of course proved equal to the task of turning paddles and pushing gates and not bad handling the tiller for first timers.  Their, and our, reward was another beautiful, sunny weekend - when will it end!  Tonight we have reached the outskirts of Kidsgrove on the northern edge of the Potteries.  Doing a quick calculation from the last mile post we reckon it is just 43 miles by boat to Barton Turns Marina where we started out 23 weeks ago but the log now shows 860 miles & 630 locks completed.  Where did it all go?              

9th Oct.  Tonight we are back at the Shady Oak pub - yes we did say that last week but we really are here again.  The fourth time we have moored here and the third time we have partaken of food and drink at the pub!  But we haven't just be sitting around all week enjoying ourselves!  We finally reached the northern end of the Shroppie when we sailed into the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port on the 5th.  It was the 5th August when we started up the Shroppie. 2 months to get 66 miles, not bad going eh?  The journey through Chester is quite dramatic as in building the canal part of the old moat was used and we pass immediately below the northern wall before descending the 3 staircase locks which were cut out of the solid rock.  Chester is an interesting, historic city,  very compact and with the walls just about complete they provide an easy walkway around and above the centre.  But like Warwick there are so many other attractions that little has been done with the canal itself and again we heard mixed messages about mooring in the city.  The final 8 miles to Ellesmere Port are pleasant if not spectacular.  Several stretches are very weedy and quite a lot of rubbish meant keeping a watchful eye out to avoid catching things on the propeller.  Even at the Boat Museum there was a lot of rubbish and weed in the water which cannot look good to the visitor arriving by car.  But when you can do go and visit the Museum.  There is a lot of work going on at present improving and refurbishing the site and some of the exhibits but it is worth a visit and the Waterways Trust need our support.  We also saw several big ships moving on the Manchester Ship Canal which is just over the wall.  Daughter Heather and boyfriend Chris joined us this weekend to help with the Chester locks so of course it rained but only till mid afternoon on Saturday and we held off locking until it had passed.  Now we are preparing for our French guests who arrive on Tuesday.                 

2nd Oct.  Well, we have been going with the flow this week.  Quite literally in fact as we made our way back down the Llangollen Canal.  The flow of water in the canal seems to increase the speed of the boat by the equivalent of another 150 revs so Chirk Tunnel & Aqueduct are about holding the boat back rather than counting the bricks as we struggled through on the way up.  Mooring up at locks, etc. becomes a little more difficult and one or two low bridges are tricky to get right with the boat chimney up.  The weather is certainly cooling off.  We have started to keep our coal fired stove burning overnight but so far only run the central heating one morning, just to make sure it was working OK.  Sadly too we have seen more rain recently.  As we reached Ellesmere on Wednesday the rain was so heavy we decided to moor up for the rest of the day.  To date, the first time we have given up because of the weather.  Despite all that, the Llangollen has certainly proved itself as a grand canal to cruise, up there with the Gloucester & Sharpness as the prettiest canal this year but we still have the Caldon & the Macc which will give them a run for their money yet.  And this week it is quietening although there were still several boats coming up Hurleston Locks as we descended on Saturday.  Tonight we are back at the Shady Oak pub on the Shroppie, just beyond Beeston and below the Castle having hardly seen a boat moving today.  Next stop Ellesmere Port & the Boat Museum.