Going home

We are waiting for a train at Great Haywood. There is a railway near the marina but the train won't stop for us! We will just have to leave the boat in the marina and get a taxi to Stafford. The train stops there on the way south.

We are obliged to sort out a few problems back home. Home is where we live, be it on the boat or where we were before living on Moore 2 Life.

While sorting out the problems we can both enjoy being entertained by our grand children - two young boys and their pets.

Red or White ?

Just like that 100 year war all those years ago about the colour of roses, we are now in a dispute over the colour of diesel. The Europeans are not happy with us. Were they ever?

They wanted us to pay more for the red diesel that we use for moving our boat. That we are doing. We have to work out the proportion we used to move and what we used for heating and power. Red diesel is usually only heating oil so we are paying the full 'road' price for moving the boat. How silly is that!

Now they want us to use white diesel and pay the full tax on all of it in our tank. It was suggested that we had separate tanks for red and white so we could still use the red for heating. How silly is that! The suppliers on the cut do not make much on selling the stuff so would not have a separate tank put in.

Our engines do not really like the red stuff and may well run better using the white diesel. The engine may well use less of it because it would be better quality.

A short walk

It was  cooler on Saturday afternoon so we explored the country lanes from bridge 86.  One way took us down to a river where Molly enjoyed a swim.

The other way got us through a narrow track that opened up to see this village pond at Burston.

Parting company

It was back in March that we joined up with Seyella at Gt Haywood.  At that time No Problem was heading south and we north.

Our journey with Geoff and Margaret turned out to be a voyage of adventure and discovery.  We had set off together in snow and parted in a heat wave.  We had got all the way to Manchester via the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals, meeting Rock n Roll on the way.

We parted at the top of Stone on the Trent n Mersey.  We moved on down through the locks with the help of Geoff and CRT volunteers and were lucky to find a space to moor.  It had been so hot that day that we simply stopped all activity for several hours in the afternoon.

We went shopping in Stone early next day.

Over the hill

We had stopped at Church Lawton and walked a path guided by Ann's magic map on her phone.  It made us jump when suddenly the Church bells rang a peal just behind a hedge.  The church was so close but unseen behind that hedge and the sound was so loud.  Bell ringing practice is usually on a Thursday. A cool evening walk down to a stream in the woods and back up to the canal.


Well after all that heat it was a treat to get into the tunnel to cool off and have a shower as we went through.  We all stopped at Westport lake and sat out with chairs and a table enjoying cups of tea from Geoff n Margaret and eating Ann's freshly made sponge cake.

After a walk round the lake we moved on to Etruria and decided to moor on the Caldon canal just before the lock.  It was quieter with a large patch of mowed grass to sit out in.

Going up the hill

It is slow progresses we head up the hill towards Stoke. We are only moving about every other day because the tennis at Wimbledon just has to be seen. Oh such joy to see Andy Murray win all those matches and the final. 

We stayed near Wheelock after topping up with water and loosing the unwanted. Then there was that day when we stayed put and put the white sheets outside the windows to keep cool.

Next day we made a run for it early to get up six locks while the day was young and cool. It has been a while since we have been this way so we noticed that many of the single pairs of locks are back in operation.

Just like at Hillmorton on the Oxford canal we have a choice of which lock to use. But here they are deeper. The six locks got us up 80 feet!

Another early start got us up to Rode Heath.

An Orchid hanging on the lock gate.

Middlewich locks

It was a treat going up the locks in warm sunshine. Several boats going down with helpful crew members.  Geoff joined the queue of four as we started up.

 Some of the locks are suffering severe failures on the canal system s here in lock 74.  Now fitted with bracing poles that a boat can get under.

We found a space at the top of Kings lock and waited for Seyella.