Ashton Boatman

It's bank holiday Monday evening and I'm staying on board "Hazel" tonight to get her batteries fully charged ready for her first guests of the year. It's an airbnb booking so not her proper work, but it helps to subsidise the well being work. We've applied for some grant funding. If we get that we can cut down on airbnb's so that more of the people who really need it can enjoy time on "Hazel".

We charge the batteries at the garage of Dixon & Smith, Motor Engineers, in Dukinfield, who kindly let us plug in. It's an easy job to shaft her across the aqueduct and tie on the outside beside their garage. It can get interesting in windy weather though. Tonight is a little breezy but very sunny. A lovely summer's evening with doves cooing, other birds twittering, occasional trains passing and the constant murmur of walkers chatting on the towpath.

For many years Dixon & Smith used their great skills and ingenuity to keep my succession of old Ladas running, then the WCBS tormented them with a series of old vans. Now they are semi retired and, though they still do some paid work, spend much of their time working on their own vehicles, which include motorcycles and two beautifully restored 1950s American pickups.

I'm staying in "Hazel"s back cabin. The conversion is all cleaned and sanctified ready for our guests. The back cabin is in some disarray because its winter overhaul is not yet finished. I like staying in here anyway, especially in Winter when I have the range alight to keep me snug and boil my kettle. Too hot for that tonight so I have a flask.

Can't wait to get boating again. It's been a long winter.

Here's a picture of "Hazel"s interior.

Today Aaron and Nessie brought "Forget me Not" and "Hazel" back from their time under the motorway bridge to Portland Basin.

On the way we passed this lovely conker tree that we planted a few years ago (do kids play conkers any more)?

There was a bit of water bird agro as we passed a woman and her child feeding the swans from a bag. A goose climbed out on to the towpath and tried to grab the bag, which fell to the ground and spilled its contents. The swan was not happy and chased away the goose together with its wife and children.

Now they are back at the basin we have to get them cleaned up and ready to go back into service. Any volunteers?

I'm currently not too well with long haul covid, but I took the time today to visit a volunteer called 'Nessie' who's doing some repairs on  'Hazel'.  I wanted to see how he was coping without much help during the lockdown.

Nessie told me that over the past few days he's been preparing boards for Hazel's roof using a planer thicknesser.  The wood came from some Leylandii trees he got from a friend's garden.  When the boards are planed to the right thickness they are bent with g clamps.  When they are released they'll 'remember' some of the bend and will fit on a curved roof.

Nessie likes to tell me what he's doing in fine detail, so I was down there a little longer than I anticipated.  It's great though when you meet someone who takes so much pride in his work and does a really good job.  Some people are just like that! 

If you're new to this blog you might not have seen my GoFundMe page.  It's the first time I've done this sort of thing.  It's for a good cause, namely to buy us a new van because the old one has broken down for good.  We can't manage without a van, either at the charity shop or the boatyard.  If you can spare a few quid then THANK YOU!

Fundraiser by Chris Leah : Help the Wooden Canal Boat Society Buy a Van (gofundme.com)

At last we've got away from Ashton for a few days with "Forget me Not" and "Hazel". We're running the trip with the crew socially distanced from each other and from the guests. Me and Aaron are in for the whole trip, with a back cabin each. Other people come and go as they can to help us through the locks and lift bridges.

The water level was low and we struggled to get clear of Tameside. Dunkirk bridge and Captain Jack's moorings were particularly bad. I was very pleased to see that the long promised dredging has started though, even if we did have a hard time getting past the dredger. The mud is being unloaded at Warble boatyard.

It was a lovely afternoon as we swung the pair round the tight turns at Gee Cross,

Towards Woodley there were some very odd ducks. Are they Grebe? Any ornithologists reading this?

Today we worked up Marple locks. Liz, Peter and Kim came to help. Tomorrow we're on to Bugsworth. Darren is coming to help. More crew needed for the return trip.

Today we re-opened the shop after about 6 months closed.

Later some of us took "Forget me Not" and "Hazel" out on a training trip.

We've had a very pleasant couple from Worksop staying on "Hazel" for a week and they booked a trip up the Peak Forest. We went up to Marple on Friday, a glorious summers day, winded and returned as far as Chadkirk. The crew were me, Aaron, Liz and Darren. We all wore masks whenever we had to come close to each other, maintained strict separation from our guests and sanitised the tiller etc when we changed steerers.

Aaron, Liz and Darren cycled home once we had tied for the night. I stayed aboard "Forget me Not". The crew returned for a 2pm departure on Saturday to bring the pair back to Portland Basin. Liz's husband Pete came too.The weather wasn't quite as good but still an enjoyable trip.

I decided to cycle over to the Heritage Boatyard today. There are a lot of cats that occupy the boatyard. They're not feral, they all have homes to go to and servants to look after them. They just like to hang out in the boatyard. I don't mind as they help to keep the vermin at bay, and they seem to have learned not to crap all over the walkways.

I opened the door to the boatyard to be met by one of them retching among my potato plants. In front of the engineering container I found a clue as to what had upset pussy's stomach.

This particular ex rodent was pretty much undamaged, except for being dead, but I suspect my feline friend had consumed one of its relatives. They must have been brave rats, or just infected with the Toxoplasma gondii parasite. This nasty little organism lodges in the animal's brain and makes it seek out rather than avoid it's predator.

After disposing of the corpse I wandered over to the canal side. I noticed that the water was moving, indicating that the locks were in use. Sure enough, after about 15 minutes a boat appeared heading towards Ashton.

It was called "Goliath" and was the first boat I'd seen moving since the lockdown. The steerer said he was going to Yorkshire via the Rochdale as Standedge tunnel is still closed due to social distancing difficlties. I wished him luck.

It was a nice sunny Autumn day and we had a good turnout of people, a lot of them coming recycling for the first time. Enjoyed it. Come and join us next month 4th, 5th and 6th November.

"Southam" took a dip whilst tied at the Heritage Boatyard. That was Friday morning. Now, Sunday, she's up again thanks to Kim, Stephan and a few pumps. She's not taking on a huge amount of water but one of her pumps has stopped working. I think that's what caused the problem. I got there just a bit too late on Friday to prevent her going down.