Perfect Harmony

Perfect Harmony
Moored at Huntingdon

Friday 15 June 2012

15th June '12

I hardly know where to start today..... don't expect coherence (probably too late to warn this if you're a regular reader!)

Last night we decided to go out for a quick walk with Paddy. I fancied going up to see the village of Wedgewood since when the factory was built in the late 1930's they built 100 houses for the workers plus a church and school. John had spotted a footpath on the map (going in the other direction) so that's where we went. It started OK the footpath had a good surface although appeared to be little used. Suffice it to say it deteriorated as we went along to the point that although the arrows pointed in the direction we went, we couldn't find the exit to the field. We went through a gate leading to an obvious farm track and so we followed in the direction we wanted to go. Many cow-pats later we came to a farmyard with no obvious exit and so had to re-trace our steps - we'd been out for about 3/4hr by now and the drizzle was getting heavier. As we went through the field before the track .... what should we see but a stile with arrows - the one we had missed earlier (heaven knows how). Anyway we decide rather than go back the way we knew we would continue onwards (why, I ask myself?) and we find our selves on a road with a signpost to the Wedgewood factory so we go that way. Eventually we get back - over 1 3/4hrs later, tired, wet and (in my case) pretty miserable.

During the evening the wind increased rather worryingly and we had the grand-daddy of storms overnight with tremendous winds and torrential rain, Paddy was terrified and I can't sleep in high winds so the two of us spent most of the night sitting on the settee waiting for it to improve. John went out at about 3am to tighten the ropes and promptly went back to sleep, Paddy and I went to bed a bit after 4!

At 8.30am it was dry and calm and the sky looked reasonable so we ignored the weather forecast since it's been wrong so often lately. Bad move - we find ourselves going through Stoke in the pouring rain - nowhere to moor, even if we'd wanted to and both of us had had enough. After the last lock in Stoke we stopped to have lunch and dry out a bit.

Then - great excitement - we finally go past Festival Park which is the furthest north we have cruised in the past and enter waters new!!!!

Some really interesting architecture showing the industrial past in the area. The canal feels really different, it was very winding and much nicer than south of Stoke. We had a small incident with my hat! John suggested that I put up the umbrella (it has started raining again almost as soon as we set off again) and I tried but the wind was against me and while I was fighting with the blessed thing, my hat blew off into the canal. John went into reverse. I grabbed the boat hook and after a bit of fishing I managed to hook it up and it is currently drying out!! Whether it will ever be the same again I don't know but at least it didn't end up at the bottom of the canal. ( Iforgot to relate that John dropped a lock key in a lock a few days ago but managed to find it with his magic magnet - very impressive!)

We then came to Hardcastle Tunnel - do you remember our adventures in Braunston Tunnel? Well John had fitted a second headlamp to ensure that never again would he not be able to see in a tunnel, so we approached this one with total confidence. I'm not sure how long it it but it takes 45min to get through and there are extractor fans to keep the air sweet, which means that they have to shut the doors behind you - boats can only go through in one direction at a time. So we start out and the headlights shine up well and we can see everything beautifully. THEN..... about 20 minutes in BOTH lights go out. Totally unbelievable - I had already put all the inside lights on so there was some light but it was a LONG time before we got to the end. Poor John's nerves are shot to pieces and we are moored up just below the lock we came through after the tunnel.

We have decided to complete the Trent and Mersey and go up to Preston Brook. We have just gone past the junction to the Macclesfield and hope to do that another time. This way we will go up to Manchester and do the Bridgewater Canal and then decide where we are going when we get there.

Now we are going to have a quiet evening with a large scotch or two and stay here tomorrow morning so we can visit a Chandlers to buy something to hopefully sort our headlight problem out - and replace some lost fenders. Hopefully the weather will improve otherwise we shall just stay here for a day or two - we are at Kidsgrove for anyone who is following our progress.


The tunnel while the headlight was working properly!

We are now going downhill again - I am going to do some sums and see how much we have climbed in the last week. Watch this space......

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