We have indicated with a red dot where we currently are and the direction we are headed. So we have skirted around the north of Birmingham and are now heading down the west. Not too many people are aware that there are more canals in Birmingham than there are in Venice. Birmingham has 35 miles … More The Venice of the UK – 30th June 2022
Off and out of the blocks by 8.45am. Not in any particular hurry today but wanted to get to the town of Penkridge by midday as they have a market day on Wednesdays. We have been chris-crossing with the M6 all day and at times it has been right on top of us. Supposedly the … More Stan Laurel the Barber – 29th June 2022
“Of what” you may ask. It is 19th years to the day since we moved from Australia to Canada expecting to do a two-year stint – well, we all know that didn’t happen. Of those 19 years, we think we have probably spent at least two of them outside of Canada travelling. Talking about travelling, … More 19th Anniversary – 28th June 2022
Did the Swan die?? No, the swan did survive. It kept pecking until 9.00pm and then did not start the next morning until 8.30am – it is one very lucky bird. Another bird that we were lucky to see is the UK Kingfisher. They are very difficult birds to catch a glimpse of but once … More Kingfisher Day – 27th June 2022
Time for some reconciliation of what we have done to date. Since we left the Over Water Marina (yellow dot) on the 6th June, we have travelled for 20 days (pink dot). This is a distance of 130 miles (209k’s). We have done 81 locks. We headed off at 9.00am and by 9.15am we had … More Full Steam Ahead – 26th June 2022
We moved up the cut for an hour and then pulled in at Scholars Green where we were awaiting the arrival of John and Lynne. Lynne is the sister of a good friend of ours in Calgary. Each time we have been on the canals, we have met up with the guys along with Lynne’s … More Scholars Green – Another Pub – 25th June 2022
We have not moved along the cut at all today. Our plan was to at least motor for an hour. Instead, we came across a better plan involving spending four and a half hours in a pub with some good friends. First task of the day was to do some further route review as new … More Status Unchanged – 24th June 2022
So, in the last three days we have almost completed the Macclesfield Canal. It is a very rural canal with wonderful vistas of the countryside. Would highly recommend it to any potential boaters. We had done it back in 2016 and two things are different this time. Firstly, it has been magnificent weather. Back in … More Bosely Flight to Congleton – 23rd June 2022
So, what are the repercussions of us not making the top of the Bosley Locks by the end of cruising today??? We would be locked up on the Macclesfield Canal until enough cats and dogs rained down to let us out. We estimated that we had 5-6 hours of cruising today to reach our intended … More Top of Bosley Locks – 22nd June 2022
What was meant to be a day of just two hours cruising to Macclesfield ended up with us becoming side tracked and not getting to Bollington until 7.30pm. Bollington is about an hour short of Macclesfield, so we are going to end up having to cruise about 5-6 hours tomorrow. Our first side track was … More Ultra Busy – 21st June 2022
Rowkin Rovings Blog 