Almyne 2011
Mon, 1 Aug 2011
6 miles 8 locks
Heading towards Chester, covering new ground, travelled for nearly five hours today.
Tue, 2 Aug 2011 9½ miles 8 locks
Made it into Chester. The last three locks are a staircase and doubles. The gate on the first one was almost impossible to close. I had to run a rope around the balance beam and tie the other end to a stanchion, then lean on the middle of the rope to get enough leverage to close it.
As I left the last of the three it started to rain, and I mean rain, not drizzle but great big wet golf ball sized drops, I was soaked in seconds and there was nowhere to moor up, so I just had to keep going for about another two miles.
Eventually found a suitable spot and moored up, went inside, stripped off and had a cup of tea.
That's enough travelling for today.
Wed, 3 Aug 2011 9 miles 6 locks
Back into Chester. Up the staircase of three, struggling again with the top one.
Found somewhere to moor up in Chester itself, did a little shopping and a lot of sightseeing.
Chester really is a beautiful town with many old buildings and facades still intact.
Chester is unique in that it is still legal to shoot a Welshman after dark with a bow and arrow.
Thu, 4 Aug 2011 10 miles 5 locks
Fully stocked up with provisions I set off towards Hurleston, the start of the Llangollen canal where I will find out if Almyne will get through the first lock after all the plating that went on the front last October.
Arrived late afternoon and inched slowly in, got stuck. Reversed out and tried again, got stuck again. Once more into the lock dear friends, got stuck. This is not going to happen, Almyne has put on too much weight.
Hurleston lock is the narrowest on the canal system. It was originally built as a seven foot six canal, but over time the first lock has bowed a bit and sagged in the middle, so that now the absolute maximum
is six foot ten inches. I made it two years ago, but not this time. Bother.
Moored up disconsolately for the evening, but it was made much nicer by seeing a big bright moon, the first time for a long while.
Fri, 5 Aug 2011 11 miles 4 locks
Ah well, never say die, off to Middlewich today.
Pleasant journey, a bit overcast, like so many days so far this year.
Tue, 9 Aug 2011 1 miles 4 locks
After mooching around in Middlewich for the past few days I decided to go to the other side of town, up towards The Anderton Lift. That meant going all the way along the Wardle Canal, the shortest one in Britain , all of 35 yards, through the lock and hang a left. Three more locks and found a good mooring place where I pulled over and settled in for a couple of days.
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 3 miles 1 lock
Got to get out of town so that D'fer
can have a decent run. He likes the passing traffic of people when we are moored up in a populated area but I have to keep him relatively restrained so that he doesn't wander too far.
Moved along towards The Anderton Lift and spotted Rob
so pulled over so that the dogs could all play together. Not such good idea as it turns out as Bostic is in season and D'fer let his hormones take over his brain, what little there was of it just disappeared under a plethora of pheromones. Even though I had moved to give him a bit more freedom it didn't work out like that as I had to keep him tied up.
Sat, 13 Aug 2011 3 miles 1 lock
Back up to Middlewich to give Rob a break.
Had dinner about half seven and got D'fer's dinner ready, put it down for him. He sniffed at it, ignored it and went outside. He wandered around for a few minutes, came back inside, sniffed his dinner and went out again. Half an hour later he was nowhere to be seen. I set off walking.
An hour later I reached GlueSniffer. The back doors were open and there were no dogs to be seen anywhere. Banged on the roof and managed to rouse Rob from his drunken slumber.
His hearing is much better than mine and he could hear the dogs on the opposite side on the canal romping through the bushes.
By this time is was dark so out came the torches and we both started along the tow path towards the nearest bridge, calling to the dogs all the time. As we approached the bridge all three dogs came bounding over it. D'fer was no problem, I put him on a lead straight away. The other two were a little more difficult to catch but we managed it.
I now had a long trudge back to Almyne with D'fer in tow, and in disgrace, in the dark. Made it back by about half ten.
Needless to say D'fer is tied up until he is well away from temptation. Only time will tell if he and Bostic got up to any tricks that they have not been taught.
Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10 miles 4 locks
Off towards Nantwhich today. Blynda
is arranging to visit with Gaynor
Hilton and Aaron sometime soon, and Nantwich will be a good place to be so that I can take them for a trip and get back the same day.
Found a good stretch of canal on which to wait for their arrival, sometime in the next week or so.
Wed, 17 Aug 2011 3 miles 3 locks
Moved down below Nantwich for a change of view, stopping off at the facilities on the way to top up with water and diesel and get rid of all the rubbish before the arrival of the guests who will probably arrive in about two weeks. D'fer is now allowed off his lead.
Heading towards Chester, covering new ground, travelled for nearly five hours today.
Tue, 2 Aug 2011 9½ miles 8 locks
Made it into Chester. The last three locks are a staircase and doubles. The gate on the first one was almost impossible to close. I had to run a rope around the balance beam and tie the other end to a stanchion, then lean on the middle of the rope to get enough leverage to close it.
As I left the last of the three it started to rain, and I mean rain, not drizzle but great big wet golf ball sized drops, I was soaked in seconds and there was nowhere to moor up, so I just had to keep going for about another two miles.
Eventually found a suitable spot and moored up, went inside, stripped off and had a cup of tea.
That's enough travelling for today.
Wed, 3 Aug 2011 9 miles 6 locks
Back into Chester. Up the staircase of three, struggling again with the top one.
Found somewhere to moor up in Chester itself, did a little shopping and a lot of sightseeing.
Chester really is a beautiful town with many old buildings and facades still intact.
Chester is unique in that it is still legal to shoot a Welshman after dark with a bow and arrow.
Thu, 4 Aug 2011 10 miles 5 locks
Fully stocked up with provisions I set off towards Hurleston, the start of the Llangollen canal where I will find out if Almyne will get through the first lock after all the plating that went on the front last October.
Arrived late afternoon and inched slowly in, got stuck. Reversed out and tried again, got stuck again. Once more into the lock dear friends, got stuck. This is not going to happen, Almyne has put on too much weight.
Hurleston lock is the narrowest on the canal system. It was originally built as a seven foot six canal, but over time the first lock has bowed a bit and sagged in the middle, so that now the absolute maximum
is six foot ten inches. I made it two years ago, but not this time. Bother.
Moored up disconsolately for the evening, but it was made much nicer by seeing a big bright moon, the first time for a long while.
Fri, 5 Aug 2011 11 miles 4 locks
Ah well, never say die, off to Middlewich today.
Pleasant journey, a bit overcast, like so many days so far this year.
Tue, 9 Aug 2011 1 miles 4 locks
After mooching around in Middlewich for the past few days I decided to go to the other side of town, up towards The Anderton Lift. That meant going all the way along the Wardle Canal, the shortest one in Britain , all of 35 yards, through the lock and hang a left. Three more locks and found a good mooring place where I pulled over and settled in for a couple of days.
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 3 miles 1 lock
Got to get out of town so that D'fer
can have a decent run. He likes the passing traffic of people when we are moored up in a populated area but I have to keep him relatively restrained so that he doesn't wander too far.
Moved along towards The Anderton Lift and spotted Rob
so pulled over so that the dogs could all play together. Not such good idea as it turns out as Bostic is in season and D'fer let his hormones take over his brain, what little there was of it just disappeared under a plethora of pheromones. Even though I had moved to give him a bit more freedom it didn't work out like that as I had to keep him tied up.
Sat, 13 Aug 2011 3 miles 1 lock
Back up to Middlewich to give Rob
a break.
Had dinner about half seven and got D'fer's dinner ready, put it down for him. He sniffed at it, ignored it and went outside. He wandered around for a few minutes, came back inside, sniffed his dinner and went out again. Half an hour later he was nowhere to be seen. I set off walking.
An hour later I reached GlueSniffer. The back doors were open and there were no dogs to be seen anywhere. Banged on the roof and managed to rouse Rob from his drunken slumber.
His hearing is much better than mine and he could hear the dogs on the opposite side on the canal romping through the bushes.
By this time is was dark so out came the torches and we both started along the tow path towards the nearest bridge, calling to the dogs all the time. As we approached the bridge all three dogs came bounding over it. D'fer
was no problem, I put him on a lead straight away. The other two were a little more difficult to catch but we managed it.
I now had a long trudge back to Almyne with D'fer in tow, and in disgrace, in the dark. Made it back by about half ten.
Needless to say D'fer is tied up until he is well away from temptation. Only time will tell if he and Bostic got up to any tricks that they have not been taught.
Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10 miles 4 locks
Off towards Nantwhich today. Blynda
is arranging to visit with Gaynor Hilton and Aaron sometime soon, and Nantwich will be a good place to be so that I can take them for a trip and get back the same day.
Found a good stretch of canal on which to wait for their arrival, sometime in the next week or so.
Wed, 17 Aug 2011 3 miles 3 locks
Moved down below Nantwich for a change of view, stopping off at the facilities on the way to top up with water and diesel and get rid of all the rubbish before the arrival of the guests who will probably arrive in about two weeks. D'fer
is now allowed off his lead.© Chris Giles 2021
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