Delays at Grove Road Services

Water! We finally have a full tank of water! What a relief. We set off from Stalybridge, straight into the first lock of four on the journey. It wasn't long before we reached the second but we were in the second a long time. Lock 6 West is a utilitarian structure with flat, prefabricated concrete walls. It is located bang smack in the centre of Stalybridge and it was broken. The notched bar used to winch the paddles open had come out of its channel and wasn't catching on the cog used to wind it upwards. There was a second paddle but the anti vandal lock on this had either broken or erm, been vandalised. Either way it wouldn't open when Will tried the key in it. Stuck inside the lock, thankful she wasn't claustrophobic, Vicky telephoned CRT and reported the issue as urgent. Meanwhile, Will was being inundated with curious inquiries from people wanting to know what was wrong and wanting to help. He eventually managed to open the vandal lock manually by pushing the broken springs. This allowed him to wind the paddle open and water came gushing in to fill the lock. Phew! The phone signal inside the lock was poor and Vicky all but got cut off from the CRT so we wrote a note for the engineer to find and carried on with our journey.

The scenery quickly changed from grey to green. We passed Canadian geese on their nests or mustering their hatched broods, we saw glades of richly hued bluebells beginning to thin out and the year's first yellow iris blooms. A number of electricity pylons came into view and Vicky radioed Will (who was walking Tiger) to tell him about a unique site she'd read about. When the Huddersfield Narrow Canal was officially closed it was filled in and an electricity substation built on the land. When engineers were working to reopen it, they had to figure out how to get past this obstacle. Like Rosen's famous Bear Hunt they didn't tunnel under it, they didn't go over it, they went through it 😂 The most practical solution was to divert the channel slightly to the east where a single pylon stood. We hadn't realised it was on this stretch of canal but the channel narrowed to one boat width and Vicky found herself driving Rainboat through the legs of a 179ft tall electricity pylon. Apparently it is the only place in the world where you can travel between the legs of a pylon by boat. It is so unique it even has its own Wikipedia page 😂 Ok, it's a little tongue in cheek making such a big deal of this but we did find it fun.

From Pylon 4ZO251B we went into Lock 8W almost straight away. Immediately beyond lay Grove Road CRT services and its wondrous water tap. We'd seen hardly any other boats so moored very close to the service point as we wouldn't be blocking anyone and could refill before we left. Whilst it had water, the compound no longer contained waste or recycling bins. The last ones were 24 locks behind us in Marple. The closure of these services is really beginning to impact on continuous cruisers such as ourselves.

Perhaps it was the excitement of boating through the pylon but the journey left Vicky pretty much bed bound for the next five days. When she had enough energy Will took her and the dogs out for a trundle in the Escape. Unfortunately it isn't as good on uneven ground as her broken powerchair so we couldn't go far. Ableworld engineers have said they can't fix the snapped foot peg so Will spent some time on the phone and they will try and send it to the manufacturer to see if they can do anything. One thing is for sure, it isn't going to be a quick fix so we are thankful we bought a temporary replacement instead of hiring one.

Will kept himself busy during our stay by visiting the local shops at Millbrook, only to find 8 out of the 10 of them closed for refurbishment. He returned to Rainboat announcing he'd bought all the fruit in the village... 3 bananas and 4 oranges from the two shops 😂 He caught up with composting, only for one of the coolbox handles to break, spewing its contents into the engine bay. He therefore took full advantage of being stationed next to a water point, removing most of the detritus using the wet and dry vacuum, then hosing the entire bay down, pumping and vacuuming the water out, generally giving it a thoroughly good clean 👌🌟

Late on Wednesday morning we saw two boats reversing back towards us. Their crew told us that the pounds between locks 11, 12 and 13 were drained and they couldn't continue. Having only a limited time on board, they were having to reverse to the nearest winding hole to turn and go back the way they'd come. We knew that Lock 26 was drained to repair a damaged cill so the lack of input from the water upstream could be the reason. If this was the case it would be easily remedied. If it was something else it could see us stuck for a longer period. Another boat was coming up the lock behind us. Each time the lock was used it would take water from the pound we were in, lowering the water level 😬 At least we'd got access to clean water!Baca lagi