Monthly Archive: October 2013

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Duly delivered

           From Westport Lake to Longport Wharf involves only a very short cruise. The canal is wide, and being Stoke-on-Trent, features a bottle kiln.              Instructions were given to pass the Wharf (and the slipway),  then wind shortly afterwards to turn back to bring the bow onto the slipway.             The turnaround was all but completed when nb Smine hove into view (a further contraction from It’s...

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Briefly (3)

          It’s been Delivery Day minus 1… Ramsdell Hall railings to Westport Lake.           The dog walkers had walked the dogs and the farmer fed his cattle by the time Cleddau pulled away from the black and white railings on Friday morning. First pause was at the watering point just before Hall Green lock. This sign must have been displayed for a while (issued in the days of British Waterways) but the wording is apt.             Down then (by a...

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Briefly (2)…

          It was a good decision to start early(ish) so as to be boating ahead of the promised rain…            Away from the southern outskirts of Macclesfield by 0930, first stop the Oakgrove Swing Bridge.  The Captain lurked in mid canal while Boatwif, the Bridge Operator, went ahead. A couple of cars raced across the bridge while the right key was being selected for the control panel. Once the key is in and a finger is on the OPEN button...

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Briefly…

         Cleddau is on the move, a brief (relatively speaking) trip from Poynton on the Macc to Longport Wharf on the T & M at Stoke-on-Trent.            It’s for some winter works, a sort of grand MOT – hull inspection and bottom blacking, some engine works – and, most importantly,  “a nice bedroom”. That’s what Mike Adkins, project manager, has promised. This boat only gained a wardrobe when the Captain lived aboard and needed somewhere to hang his suit. It...