Things of sun, wind, celaphods and pubs

Monday 25th October to Sunday 31th October

11 Miles, 3 Locks – for this week

Totals: 351 Miles, 361 Locks, 10 Tunnels, 9 Swing Bridges

I have spoken to a number of other boaters this week and without exception the consensus has been that the weather this week has been most unpredictable – not in the sense that the conditions have been terrible, but in the fact that the weather on any particular day has born no resemblance to the day before or the day after,

Invariably it has been sunny bright conditions one day followed or preceded by blustery winds and/or rain. Marvellous one day, miserable the next.

Sunset over Middlewich

I have spent time this week just staying put – a couple of days at Church Minshull mornings where it was particularly nice being sheltered from the wind; this was followed by two consecutive days at the moorings above the Venetian Marina; and lastly more stationary time at Calveley.



the beautiful Cheshire plains

I have to say that the last of these gave me further opportunity for more pub research – it has meant that the next time we visit here we have to spend at least two days so that we can visit both pubs.

My copy of Nicholsons only comments on one of them – under the name of The Goldmine Bar and Grill (at Bridge 104) which has been reopened under the new name of The Davenport Arms – good food and beer and I managed to take in the whole of the Blackburn v Chelsea game.

A bit further up the road (a nice one kilometre walk), and iconed but not named in the guide book is The Tollemarche Arms – again good food and beer – I did find myself drawn back to here for the Sunday roast – an excellent meal.




Mist rising

What a difference a day makes

I guess I also need to acknowledge what I would believe to be either the direct or at least indirect efforts of the Shropshire Canal Society – there are vastly more areas where the grass has been kept down, but more importantly where mooring rings have been placed to make it easier and more reliable to moor up and not have mooring pins move about in soft ground that we currently have in most places.

Sunday brought summer time to an end – officially, that is, as I am sure that summer actually ended some time in September, but the resultant early sunset (dark now by 5:30) are equally compensated by an earlier sunrise.

As an early riser, it makes no difference to me whether the clocks are set 1 hour or 2 hours ahead of GMT, but I guess it makes a difference to those who enjoy sleeping in.

The funniest comment that I heard this week was from a woman packing her things from boat to car at the Calveley BW water point when she said “I go home when the clocks go back as the nights are longer” – I know what she meant by this but in thinking about it in the strict sense of what was said – the nights are no longer really that the night before (I know they get progressively longer) – it reminds me of the statement we hear in Australia from Queenslanders who are against Daylight Saving – “more daylight in the evening will fade the curtains quicker” and from country people – “the cows will give less milk”.

Really this is a case of mind over matter – even the news on the radio this morning suggested that the changing of the clocks affected people so badly that some take up to a week to recover from the change – PLEASE give me strength.

That was my rant for this week.

One last comment “Vive le celaphod” – with the passing this week of one “Paul the octopus” and the extra-ordinary predicting powers, we must now reflect on the powers or lack thereof of Tottenham goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes (nicknamed “the octopus) – if only his hearing had told him that the ref had not blown his whistle. Go ManU.