This was it – after ten years in Todmorden, one of those living aboard Swallow, it was time to make the big move to Manchester. Swallow would no longer be a country boat, and I would no longer be a country girl – the city beckoned us. Todmorden has been my home for a decade …
You don’t just fire up a narrowboat’s engine and set sail into the sunset/drizzle/whatever. In advance of Swallow’s three-day journey to Manchester, I had a fair bit of sorting to do. A big part of this was simply sorting out all the stuff I had on land. When you have a mooring, you tend to …
Autumn is here, and it’s time for Emma and I to set sail from Todmorden to Manchester along the Rochdale Canal. We did this journey with Swallow in the opposite direction in October 2013 (you can read about that here). This time, we’re taking Emma’s boat, Flo. As Flo is 8′ wide, we can’t take both …
26th October – Chadderton to Punchbowl Lock, Littleborough Rochdale Canal We ploughed on through some fairly boring canalway, through Rochdale was a highlight – despite the main lock on the centre being a pretty tough one, we were greatly encouraged by three drunk guys who helped us out and shut the gates behind us. But…we …
25th October – New Islington to Chadderton Rochdale Canal – the ‘Manchester 18’ locks For me, this was the most gruelling day of the trip. We did more locks on other days, but these particular 18 locks, running from Manchester city centre to Failsworth on the outskirts, truly are challenging. Big heavy gates, often-faulty mechanisms, …
The stern gland greaser is a mechanism which keeps the stern gland watertight, by squeezing grease around the shaft to form a seal. You have to give it a twist and squeeze some grease down there each time you stop, as moving the boat breaks the seal each time. The greaser, which screws up …
Thursday 24th October- Manchester City Centre Bridgewater Canal to Rochdale Canal This was a toughie – the notoriously difficult ‘Rochdale Nine’, the first nine locks of the Rochdale canal taking you through the city centre. It all started off beautifully though – waking up in Sale was just gorgeous, a sunny, cold autumn morning and …
When I saw that my journey included three tunnels on the Trent and Mersey Canal (Barnton, Saltersford and Preston Brook) I thought they would be great fun. In reality, I found them pretty terrifying. They are narrow, cold, and obviously very dark – you rely completely on your headlamp and the tiny light at the …
This was it – Swallow’s big journey. Emma and I had taken plenty of time off work and we set sail from Golden Nook Farm, just east of Chester on the Shropshire Union Canal, to bring Swallow to her new home in Todmorden. We had a bed, a porta-potty, a stove for warmth, a camping …
The weather is getting colder and nastier with every passing day and I’ve decided that I need to set off moving my boat in a couple of weeks’ time. The engine is (nearly) fixed, the electrics are (nearly) in and despite dreams of cruising a finished houseboat down the canals at a leisurely pace, I’m …
Not the boat’s maiden voyage, obviously. But my first trip out on her. Today Dad and I said goodbye to Taylor’s Boatyard and set sail to…well…we weren’t really sure where. All we knew was that we had to go south, then east, through a few locks and along til we reached a farm where the charming Eric …