Sunday, June 3, 2012

Crick and the Flotilla

We hired a car from Enterprise on Friday, so we could go to the Crick boat show plus check out some Jubilee events in the Macclesfield area.  The hire car company still wanted 2 utility bills in my name and address, but settled for a UK bank statement in my name!  They said I will have to go through the vetting process everytime we need to hire a car, never mind £78.00 (or $120.00) for 6 days is pretty good going.
We went to Crick on Saturday morning (another early start).  We were joined by brother Russ and his wife Tracy.

We enjoyed the show and checked out prices and facilities at a few marinas as there is a good chance we will live in a marina for a few months over winter.  We liked Aston Marina near Stone and Overwater Marina at Audlum, any comments would be much appreciated.

Whilst walking around we met a few blog readers, namely, Chris and Steve from NB AmyJo  Sharon and Richard from NB Oakapple and Gary and Sam from NB Muleless (to be!); it was great to meet you all and have a chat and thank you all for reading this twaddle!  I hasten to add....how did we meet these people?  They all recognised the two doggies Bombo and Sam! 

We also bought a few knick knacks at the show, we really enjoyed it.

This morning we were woken up by rain and wind - and upon getting up and inspecting the outside of the boat we realised the boat was completely covered in overnight crap from an overhanging tree !  We had to move the boat to go and get water anyway, so it was a good chance to clear it off !  I have never been so cold and wet driving the boat - by the time we got to the water point at Mr Grumpy's house (Macclesfield water point) I was freezing, so I had a hot shower and put on the full wet weather gear and thick jumper etc.  After the tank was full I washed most of the crud off the boat.  I was going to back up and turn the boat in the marina but it was just blowing too hard, so we pulled it back to the 24 hour moorings and that will do 'till tomorrow.  We walked the dogs back to the car and brought it closer to us.

By now it was 2 o'clock so off to the pub (puss'n'boots) for lunch and watch the Jubilee flotilla on the big screen.

I asked the barmaid if we could watch it on the TV - she obliged but gave the TV lots of V signs and wobbled on about how much the Royal Family cost her!  There were all ages in the pub but Elaine and I were the only ones that watched it!  The locals were making a fair few comments on the event and I think they were really glad when we left so they could watch a replay of a 10 year old rugby game.  We both really enjoyed it - such a pity about the dismal weather. Tomorrow night we are off to White Nancy to watch the lighting of one of the beacons, methinks they will need a truck load of firelighters!

As I am typing this we have just had our first collision.....at least it wasn't my fault!  He did shout sorry on the way past ... no biggie, it's blowing a bloody gale out there! On the plus side I can now say "bloody hire boater" ... yee haa, I am now a true narrowboat blogger!

10 comments:

  1. We spent last winter at Overwater, great crew led by Janet, good facilities, very quiet at night, have booked to go back next winter, Audlem a great little village, good pubs & shops, also Nantwich not that far away for larger shops. Drawbacks, long drive from road which got rutted in the rain, tho it is due to be tarmacked this year, pump out whilst good we thought was expensive at £15 for only 3.5 mins & no pause or tank additive, we went into Nantwich to get a weekend trip in & to pump out & a change of scenery. Looked at Aston as well before deciding, but for us Overwater won because of the better dog walking.
    Alf

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  2. Hello again, Re Marinas. If you are thinking about over wintering in this neck of the woods, then Swanley Bridge Marina is another one you might consider. http://swanleybridgemarina.com/ Its location is again within rural Cheshire farmland, with its own private woodland walk. It is very similar to Overwater in that it is also new, with some lovely facilities. It is right at the start of the Llangolen Canal, just before the first of the Swanley locks. The difference between the two is that the village of Audlem is a 20 minute towpath walk from Overwater, where the country town of Nantwich is a similar distance from Swanley, with all its facilities, including large supermarkets, and Nantwich Canal Centre is also close by. For day to day needs there is a small convenience store a short walk away in the village of Burland.

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  3. Overwater Marina is great - friendly people and all the facilities including a cafe on the marina. It's not too big and is set in nice grounds. I understand that the owners operate a small boat to take moorers across the canal so that the walk into Audlem does not entail walking over a sometimes very muddy field to the nearest canal bridge. Audlem is pleasant with a good selection of shops and a bus service.

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  4. Ken and Sue nb CleddauJune 4, 2012 at 5:04 PM

    Sad reaction from the Macclesfield barmaid! Other Macc residents were glued to the pageant all afternoon. Will you see the Teggs Nose beacon from White Nancy? - my son in law is lighting it. He was worried about the dry state of the the grass and undergrowth a while ago but not now!
    I hope that your Bromsgrove visitors found you today - they are our Relief Crew. Give us a wave if we are on board Cleddau (moored at Higher Poynton on the right, going Nth, just after you pass Bailey's Trading Post).
    Ken and Sue (also known as Boatwif) nb Cleddau

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    1. We didn't go to the beacon in the end, we were glued to the tv watching the concert. Should be going through Higher Poynton later this week.

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  5. Hi Elaine and Paul, Chris and I just want to say a very big thank you for your hospitality today and genorousity in showing us round your lovely boat. We have not made any decisions yet, but it has certainly helped. We love nb Caxton/the Manly Ferry and wish you many happy years afloat. Thank you again Jennie and Chris.

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  6. Hi Guys
    No problem we will see you around!

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