Looking for a bed

Hello, I am really struggling with the signal tonight, it is pretty hopeless in Buxton, which is quite surprising considering what a big town it is. Perhaps being surrounded by hills has something to do with it. I have tried to upload the pics but it's taking an age, so I will do this post another time, perhaps tomorrow.

Yes, I did get to Buxton, but there is a funny story to tell. After plodding through miles of mud along the Dane Valley Way, I couldn't keep up the mileage slipping and sliding everywhere. I got to the Youth Hostel at Gradbach at 4.30pm hoping to get a bed, but found it was fully booked with a private party. Nothing else to do but to plod on and hope I could get to Buxton before it got dark. I thought my best bet was to try and walk faster along the roads, so I came off the footpaths. I found myself climbing a massive hill towards the village of Flash, big mistake, Flash is the highest village in England, this slowed me down a lot. I asked someone where I could get a bed for the night, and they said go up to the main road and there is a pub up there which has rooms. Thank goodness I thought, it was 5.30pm and I was ready for stopping.

Luck was not on my side, they had no vacancies, so I asked if they would call a taxi for me as I had to go into Buxton to find a bed. The taxi came and I asked the driver to take me to the town so I could find a bed. He drove around a few streets looking for a place, we stopped at a couple of B & B's, they wanted £70 which I thought was too much. I suggested that he drop me in the High Street as he had to go off and pick up another fare. I think he was a bit concerned that I wouldn't find somewhere, and I don't know how it happened but now I am sitting in his house talking to his lovely wife. Yes they offered to put me up for the night. So, thank goodness I found the best taxi driver in Buxton.

Anyway I must sign off, as we have been nattering away and it's nearly midnight. I will be taken back to Flash in the morning to continue my walk. Toodle pip 

Day 1. Ellesmere Port to Huxley

The pics are flying on tonight, so I might as well get these from day one posted up. Sorry but they are out of sequence with the rest of the trip report, so cast your mind back to the beginning. I left Ellesmere Port on Tuesday morning after having a fab night with my friend Linda. The route from her house took me past the second biggest Marks and Spencer store in the UK, the biggest being at Marble Arch London. The Coliseum Retail park is a massive place. I went past Blue Planet which is claimed to be Britains best aquarium. Passing underneath the M53 motorway, and headed towards the village of Stoak, I saw a sign on the grass verge saying Stoak Country Park, a park for a peacefull and quiet walk. I laughed, I don't think so with the motorway traffic roaring by.  

 

Through the other side of Stoak I joined the Shropshire Union Canal, and passed under the M56. The traffic noise was particularly loud at this point as it crosses the M53.

 

Looks like someone has set up a permanent home in this barge. They have built steps into the bank from the road, and planted up a vegetable patch. They have cobbled together a shed from scraps, and there is a settee to sit out on and relax in the makeshift garden.

 

I followed the canal right into the centre of Chester, and decided I could spare a couple of hours to look around. I tried to follow the wall around the city, but there were some parts of it which were closed for maintenance. I got myself a free map from Tourist Information. The place was very busy with visitors. I noticed that there are a lot of very attractive black and white timber buildings.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a charge of £5 to go in the Cathedral, so I didn't bother. I must say that it looked more like a big church from the outside, nothing spectacular like some cathedrals I have seen.

 

This lovely ornate clock is on top of the wall which goes over the road.

I climbed the steps for a closer look.

 

 

Nobody going out on the boats today.

 

There is an open air Roman amphitheatre. Several school parties were having a history lesson.

I just caught the tail end of this old crock, coughing and spluttering along at two miles per hour.

The ruins of this church have been left standing at the back of the rest of it, which has been rebuilt and repaired.

The suspension bridge over the River Dee is having some repairs done.

 

I picked up the canal again at Boughton and continued to follow it past Christleton, through Waverton, past Hargrave, and came off at the marina and headed for Huxley on the road. It was 5 pm and I was ready for finishing. A call to Mo and she came and picked me up and took me to her house. The rest you know I think.

Chester needs a whole day to look round, but at least I gave given you a taste of it. Hope you like my pics. Maybe I'll make another trip there.

I've been listening to Tom Jones on the tele while writing this, there are loads of channels to chose from.. He sounds really good, still a good blues session singer. At least it drowns out the bump bump bump from downstairs. Toodle pip.

Day 3. Sandbach to Congleton

My umbrella has been up and down like a fiddlers elbow today. It was raining when I left Sandbach this morning, and it was raining when I finished at Congleton tonight. Surprisingly though I managed to stay dry apart from my feet and mud splattered legs, ha ha. Here I am ready for the off, just about to leave The Wheatsheaf.  

Compared to other hotels of a similar price (£40), I wouldn't say this was great, it was adequate. No soap/shower gel in the bathroom. Breakfast was basic, no cereals or fruit juice, no jam/marmalade. I had two eggs, two mushrooms, one tomato, two slices of toast, and a spoonfull of beans, plus a cup of coffee.  

Twenty minutes after leaving the hotel I was back to the canal to continue my journey. Here I am going over the M6 motorway half a mile south of Sandbach Services. Headlights on, the spray is severely limiting visibility. I'm glad I'm not down there.  

Here is one narrowboat owner trying to be self sufficient. Herbs, tomatoes, and salad leaves are growing in pots on the roof.  

Look at this sweet little nautical theme summer house someone has built in their back garden, overlooking the canal. A lovely place to sit, if it isn't raining. It's like a posh shed, I could live in that.  

On I plodded in the rain. I decided to come off the canal and walk on the road for a while, maybe my boots wouldn't get wet so quickly. Then I got back on again at Rode Heath and followed it through to the Red Bull junction where one canal goes over the top of the other. Here I turned left towards Congleton. 

  

This is Ramsden Hall, a lovely stately home on the opposite side. A bit further along there was a stile and a footpath to Little Moreton Hall. I was hoping to go and see it, but the path was like a mud bath, and a notice said there would be a charge at the entrance to the drive as it is a National Trust property. Oh dear, I don't think I'll bother.  

Most canal bridges go straight across from one side to the other. This is a bit different, a snailly bridge. They built them like this so that the horse could go over the top when the tow path changed from one side to the other.  

  

I made the decision to finish a bit earlier tonight, because if I had gone on for another couple of hours and headed off into Derbyshire, there was a good chance I would not be able to find anywhere to stay. Best to be sure, I don't want to be walking in the dark. I popped into the Tourist Information office in Congleton and they found me a bed in The Bulls Head. The room is nice, soap and gel in the bathroom, We'll see what the breakfast is like tomorrow. I don't think the landlord was best chuffed when I requested breakfast at 8am. He has a disco tonight so he won't be getting to bed very early. Ooops.     

Coffee anyone? 

It's looking like it might be Buxton tomorrow night, it is forecast to be sunny, yipeee, it will be great.

Day 2. Huxley to Sandbach

Wow, we have photographs tonight, not many because I didn't take many today. I have spent most of the day following canals, and they get a bit samey after a while. First pic is me and Mo, taken just as we were leaving her house this morning. She wanted you to see her amazing apple trees, there are masses of apples on them. Last night we had some of her apple pie with lashings of ice cream on top, yummy.

 

Mo took me back to where she picked me up yesterday, can't have me cheating can we, ha ha. She decided to walk part the way with me from Huxley to the canal by road, then along the canal from Whartons lock almost to Tiverton. This is the view from the pub next to the lock, across to the remains of a castle high on the hillside.  

We came across some people taking their boat through a lock a bit further along, and got chatting to them. Amazingly the man had met Mo before at a Folk Festival. As soon as the boat was clear of the lock the man decided to walk the mile with us to the next lock. Him and Mo were chattering away like long lost buddies about their love of folk music.

 

After Mo left me to go home I got to Bunbury Locks. There are two locks together here, it's like the boats have to go down two steps to the lower level. Here are the instructions. 

I watched a couple take their boat through, the water level is dropping so the boat can go underneath the bridge. 

I thought this phone box looked lovely, it's in Warmington. The people in the village have stuck their photo's of the Jubilee celebrations on three sides of the windows, inside the glass.  

Opposite is Warmington Church.  

Spotted next to a fishing pond, lots and lots of Canada geese. Is it time they are getting ready to fly away I wonder.  

I followed the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk as far as Wheelock, I was hoping to make Alsager but realised that it was going to be impossible to do before it got dark. I found a shop in Wheelock to pick up some provisions, enough for tea tonight and lunch tomorrow. I'll be filling up with a big breakfast in the morning so that should last me most of the day. I asked a man if there was a B & B nearby, but the only place he could think of was a mile and a half away in Sandbach, so here I am.

Ooh it was lovely to soak in a hot bath tonight. I have a small blister underneath my right heel, but I can put up with it. I spent a lot of time walking through wet grass today so my boots and socks were well soaked again. They are on the top of the radiator now, hopefully they will be dry by morning.

I have seen lots of boats today, and had a chat with a man who was doing some diy on his boat. He had taken the door off and was fitting a cat flap. He has two dogs and two cats living on his boat with him. The cats are microchipped and will have a state of the art cat flap which only opens on their approach and no other cats can pass through. One of them was just like my Mayze cat.

I reckon I have done about 18 miles again today. It was a lovely sunny morning, with about half an hour of rain about 1.30pm, so not too bad really. I've come to the conclusion that canals are a bit boring, I don't fancy miles and miles of plodding along in a boat, and all those queues to get through the locks. I hate queueing up for anything. Off to read a few blogs now. Toodle pip.

Day 1. Can't upload the pics

Hi, I'm failing miserably tonight to upload some photo's of Chester, for some reason they just aren't going. The signal is good, but the little whirlygig goes round and round, and nowt happens, so I give up. It's almost 11.30pm and I need my sleep.

I've done about 18 miles today and taken two hours out to look round Chester, and finished at Huxley, midway between Waverton and Tiverton. Mo came to pick me up and bring me to hers, and tonight we have been out to her local pub for a musical night. I'll tell you all about it when I get to upload the pics and write a proper post.

There were a few heavy showers this morning but I had a lovely sunny afternoon walking in my designer shorts. The brolly came in usefull. I'll sign off for now, I might have to hold this post back till the end of the walk, as there will be more photos to upload tomorrow.

Anyway, so far so good. slight soreness on my right heel but I think that's because the wetness came through my boots. Starting off with dry socks and boots should be more comfortable tomorrow.
Goodnight.

These boots are ready to walk

Hiya bloggy pals. It's piddling it down in Ellesmere Port tonight. I'm sitting here in my friends posh lounge looking out over the garden through the patio doors, and it's coming down in stair rods. Linda is tapping away on her computer checking her works emails, and we both have one eye and one ear on the tele. I must say though it is a distraction, I can't work with background noise, so blame her if I talk a load of crap. Her lovely hubby made us a great dinner and I have got a posh bed to sleep in. Linda has been my friend for 25 years, she's an ex trucker like me.

The journey on the train started well, I had a lovely lady sat next to me and we chatted all the way to Doncaster. She was going for a job interview, and if I was doing the interviewing I would definately give her the job. At Sheffield someone else filled her seat, but there wasn't any conversation forthcoming from a big burley bald bloke who was plugged into his music machine and reading his kindle. I then changed trains at Manchester, for Liverpool. At Liverpool there was a short walk from Lime Street Station to James Street Station, where I boarded the train to Ellesmere Port.

I had an hour or two to kill so I thought I would go to the Boat Musuem and start my coast to coast walk. This is where the Shropshire Union Canal meets the Manchester Ship Canal. I didn't go into the museum because I didn't have time, and it costs £5.50 for a ticket. But I had a stoll around the outside of it. There is  big hotel nearby, the Holiday Inn. Here are a few snaps I took.

Tomorrow morning I am going to pick the canal up again and head off to Chester. I'll be up about 6.00am when Linda gets up, and out for about 7. Hope it's not raining, keep my fingers crossed. Toodle pip

These boots are made for walking

Catch you on the other side :o)

Eight inches long and knobbly

Well they are really trying hard. The cucumber plants in my home made greenhouse have lots of little yellow flowers on them, but it looks like we are runing out of time. If there is no more sunshine they won't turn into cucumbers, what a shame.

But hang on a minute, what's this then? Hey, I've got one, says she dancing around all excitedly. I've got a cucumber. It may be only eight inches long and knobbly, but it is a cucumber. Whoopeeeeeee.

And another one, it's only six inches so it's got some catching up to do. But I don't hold out much hope for the baby cuke next to it. Shame, I don't think it's going to get much past the hairy caterpillar stage.

Still plenty of these left. My five courgette plants have been going mad, I've had some whoppers from them.

And if you look closely you can still see some runner beans on the plants. I have to get my step ladder out to pick these, and search inside that great mass of tangled runners. It's amazing how you think you have picked them all, then you look again and find some more.

Shame that the spuds didn't do so well, but who needs spuds anyway, I don't have to eat them, plenty of other veg to choose from at the supermarket. My tomatoes haven't ripened either, they are still green and no bigger than marbles, but I'm not that bothered. I'm going off tomatoes a bit. The veg that I have had from the garden has saved me money because it has meant I haven't had to go shopping so often, and my bills have been less because I haven't had to buy as much. I've eaten runner beans and courgettes every day for the last few weeks.

I don't do over winter growing, the garden is tidied up and left till the spring to start again, and I will probably do the same again next year. Toodle pip.
PS. The cold has gone completely  :o))