Very laid-back day cleaning the boat, catching up on emails, planning our new route and watching the local wildlife. Tomorrow, we start the climb up the Marple flight but just prior to the flight is the Marple Aqueduct which is paralleled by the Trans Pennine railway. The aqueduct was completed in 1800 whilst the viaduct … More Further Wanderings to Romily –  17th June 2022

You know how we said all good plans of mice and men go astray – well it has happened again. Fraser’s nephew Alistair is flying from Sydney to Manchester via Doha, to spend two nights with us on the boat to get an abridged experience of why his aunt and uncle do this weird pastime. … More Pub Crawl around Marple –  16th June 2022

Great surprise this morning as we were not woken up by the noisy Canadian Geese. Pretty cruisy day as we just need to go down to the junction of the Ashton Canal and turn right onto the Peak Forest Canal. From there it is a further hour or so to the Maple aqueduct where we … More Ashton Canal to Peak Forest Canal –  15th June 2022

All good plans of mice and men have been thrown out the window. Reports from Canal and River Trust at 1.00pm today indicate that Lock 60 is now repaired but only one paddle can open; lack of water in the canal where we were yesterday has not been resolved; vandalism around Lock 35 where the … More New Plan – Ashton Canal –  14th June 2022

Today was to be our most challenging day with regards to getting through an area of the Rochdale Canal that has a reputation for harassment and possible problems with the locals. Mostly young kids who can create difficulties by jumping on your boat and maybe nicking stuff. You just don’t know how much of it … More Bandit Country –  13th June 2022

Instead of the dirty dozen, it was the dirty nine today. We started the infamous western end of the Rochdale Canal this morning, all on our ownsome. From our spam marketing campaign of other boaters in the basin, unfortunately, we did not get anyone who wanted to ascend the Rochdale nine with us. So, plan … More New Territory – The Dirty 9 –  12th June 2022

Very busy day. In fact, 17,000 step busy day. It was a day off the canals doing a lot of sight seeing. If you are not a Coronation Street follower, you might want to avoid this particular blog as that is where we spent a couple of hours of the day. It was a 20-minute … More Corrie, IWM, Trafford Centre –  11th June 2022

It was meant to be another one of those days where there would not be a lot to blog about, but once again we have been proven wrong. We were up early and cruising by 8.00am which was a record for us so far. We had 13 miles to cover to get into Manchester plus … More Manchester –  10th June 2022

Well, what we thought was going to be a slow and quiet day turned into something totally different. We set off from Runcorn with Di trying to get her 10,000 steps in for the day, and Fraser following in hot pursuit (as you can only but do in a canal boat). She managed to walk … More To Lymm We Did Go –  9th June 2022

We were dreading cruising today as the weather forecast from last night showed that it would be raining all night and also right throughout the next day. It is not that enjoyable hanging off the back of a canal boat in the sopping rain with balancing tiller, brolly and a warming cuppa. Thankfully though, the … More New Ground for Us –  8th June 2022