223 - The Tall Tale of the Winsford Flasher

In this vlog we leave Winsford Marina, we steer clear of the Winsford flash and we head north to Nantwich, after a few nights outside the Red Lion pub.
It's so nice to be able to actually enjoy the surroundings after the deluge of rain on our journey south.
We hope you enjoy the vlog
M&J&G
Music: Jeremiah Song - Dan Lebowitz
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Jo wrote a short book about her travels and how she met Michael.
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FAQ
Q. Why do you speed up some of the footage in your videos?
A. We don't, we film it as time-lapse footage. We do not have the battery capacity or data storage to film in real time as our cruises can last up to 7 or 8 hours. We use to the time-lapse footage to help tell the story of movement rather than showcase the scenery. We limit the amount of time-lapse shots we use in each vlog.

[@simonkelley7073]

Just to prove that the Weaver is not all sweetness and light, we've have a fun day today pushing upstream on a flooding (and closing) river from Saltersford Lock to the Boat lift to escape back to the canal before we were marooned. Standing on the back of a narrowboat heading up Barnton Cut in a monsoon was a bit of a moment, as was getting onto the lift holding moorings against a rather fast flow. Back on the T&M now; even the canal water level is up a few inches.

[@MinimalList]

Yeah, been raining like mad... we’ve got the Ribble to face in a few days, so woo fun! Glad you made it! M

[@TheKriswiccan]

thanks guys, i live in Canada but grow up i Winsford ,

[@MinimalList]

Funny ... I grew up in Canada, and (very briefly, for one video) lived in Winsford! M

[@lesleytagovailoa2256]

Great vlog, as usual. Michael you could totally make apple sauce, just peel and core the apples cut them up into chunk’s put in a saucepan with a little water and simmer until soft. Cooking apple may need a bit of sugar they can be tart. When cooked if they are still chunky I mash them with the potato masher. I like chunks my apple sauce.

[@mikethomas2138]

I live close to the Weaver. Your films showed the river off very well. Really liked that you didn’t speak badly about the chemical factory in Runcorn. I guess I’m going to be watching all your films now 😉

[@MartyRabbit]

Also there is a trick to mooring with current on your stern. Above the point you want to catch kick your stern into the dock with a burst of power and full rudder and when you are pointed at the bollard back hard and bring your stern in to touch.

[@MinimalList]

I’ve tried that, quite a few times ... usually with a resounding thud and then missing it by several feet! M

[@MartyRabbit]

@@MinimalList haha yeah there is usually a thud though with enough practice you can minimalize it. There is also another approach where you pull up into position and back just hard enough to overcome the current then wiggle your stern in a bit at the time. You don't really have to touch up, just get close enough to catch your stern line first. Each time you wiggle your stern the whole boat will slide over. You might enjoy reading Chapman's 'Small Boat Handling' and 'Piloting on the Mississippi River' on some cold dreary winter afternoons. I operated commercial vessels for almost 40 years and love seeing you narrowboaters operate. Look up "the Cahaba incident" for a scary downstream landing situation that has a surprise ending.

[@AmericasChoice]

The river cruises have a nice vibe.

[@MinimalList]

Thanks! We loved them! M

[@MrBblhed]

I believe I gave you a recipe for cooking apples in your potato cooker, or aluminum foil on your stove. Then again it is August so I imagine you don't want to light the stove just to cook some apples. Still, not talking the apples was probably wrong. I really like the way it looks like Godzilla is holding Michael's microphone so that was done right, or funny as the case may be. As for movies, I saw "The art of racing in the rain" at the drive in last night, I do recommend it for you as dog people.

[@MinimalList]

I’ll keep an eye out for the movie. The apple opportunity was just too much a surprise, we weren’t prepared to be offered them from twenty feet up! M

[@navigator902]

Thanks Folks for a beautiful day or so on your comfortable Minimal List ... Cheers. Historical views, old docks, and wonderful narration....AND the old boats and basins would die to just row through.

[@MinimalList]

It’d be a nice river to do by canoe or kayak, that’s for sure! M

[@jiloute22]

Navigation quieter than the channels, and certainly more enjoyable as you said, and also very beautiful views very well filmed

[@MinimalList]

Thanks! M

[@stephencurwood9469]

Minimal List no chances of the audible book? 😀

[@Leonard_Smith]

It is good to see that Michael has learned that backing down over disagreements is the only way forward...

[@MinimalList]

What disagreement? M

[@Leonard_Smith]

@@MinimalList Precisely, it is working like a charm! You have it cracked...

[@stephenlittle7534]

It's certainly different on the River. Glad you both had a better day. Yes those steps did look sad. Mint is growing well I love mint myself. I will have on everything.

[@MinimalList]

Every time the mint hits a bridge I sort of get it on everything back there! M

[@garycapson6713]

Nice pleasant cruse you had. Thanks for showing the railway bridges. Worked 31 years for the Canadian National Railway, as a Conductor in freight service. l Liked the Viaduct stone work.

[@MinimalList]

This country is full of interesting viaducts, but that great big one was pretty amazing! M

[@Spawn-td8bf]

Those lock ladders did look like they could use a bit of therapy. I agree, I wouldn't look forward to climbing them, sticking your hands in wet, dark, abrasive holes. I loved the eclectic collection of boats. Even the war-weary ones had a certain charm to them. Great job as always. You two sound like my wife and myself, but we've been married for thirty four years. Take care and God Bless, Paul from Florida.

[@MinimalList]

Thanks! If we sound like that now, wonder where we’ll be in thirty years? M

[@Spawn-td8bf]

@@MinimalList One golden rule we've always had, never go to bed mad at each other. Granted, there were nights with no sleep, but it has worked well. You'll be fine. :)

[@nbflyingfox4672]

Cheers Micheal and Jo yet another great vlog.

[@MinimalList]

Thanks! M

[@robinlong6477]

Astounded to see The Sorting Hat at 11:59. ;)

[@MinimalList]

Indeed... it was trying to figure out if that crane was a Hufflepuff. M

[@craigbowie8925]

Another quite enjoyable video. I especially like the artistic shot of George staring off the bow pondering the meaning of life. Hope you are both well and dry. Cheers -C

[@MinimalList]

I think he was probably pondering the lack of ball, but he is philosophical at times! M

[@debbiea6782]

So many different boats, so cool.

[@MinimalList]

Yeah, it’s nice to get on rivers/canals with sea access, you get a lot of very different boats than what you find on the standard inland canals! M

[@stephencurwood9469]

Made me chuckle when you moored up and talking about George. Sort of conversation we have about our dogs. 😃

[@MinimalList]

Glad we could give you a chuckle! M

[@rwbimbie5854]

Cooking apples.. the classic holiday Sweet Potato & Marshmallows bake is great with some apple chunks in with the yams. There are some decent Microwave recipes for brown sugar baked apples. Or even just low-simmer apple wedges a few mins in a butter & brown sugar pan.. great in a spinach or bitter leaf salad

[@MinimalList]

Yum. Now I want both a microwave and marshmallows! M

[@luanncrownover4]

What an interesting cruise today! Some beautiful old boats along your route. Safe cruising!

[@MinimalList]

Yeah, there’s quite a few nice old boats just south of Northwich. I liked the Duke of Normandy! M

[@johncallaghan8854]

Just downloaded Jo's Book to my Kindle, looking forward to reading it.

[@sharylfuller9277]

You will enjoy it ... read it in one sitting!

[@MinimalList]

Hope you like it! M

[@TheBoatingAdventure]

The river weaver looks great and certainly one to consider doing. I much prefer the wide rivers but the disadvantage can be the lack of moorings. Thanks for your vlog Take care.

[@MinimalList]

Thankfully with the low traffic when we visited mooring wasn’t an issue, especially North of the Lift. M

[@ianofsjkartwork]

Another enjoyable vlog well explained....thanks for sharing

[@MinimalList]

Thanks for watching! M

[@brianbarnes3327]

Have done that swing bridge and just made it under, it hit my very short ariel on the front, but luckily it was flexible so no harm done. It is a beautiful river though. Must go fown the boat lift again. Cheers Brian NB SAMPSON

[@MinimalList]

We caught it on a lucky day, given how much rain there’d been... other than the mint we cleared it fine! And yeah absolutely worth multiple visits! M

[@scottfw7169]

Boat named _Owrissa_ there at 10:02 has the appearance of a classic early 1900s yacht. And I'm not even going to try that railway viaduct's name really slow once!

[@MinimalList]

She was a pretty lovely boat, that one! And best not, it’s a real tongue twister! M

[@jb-pr8my]

An its royal mail not mail royal from someone who lived in winsford an moved to northwich

[@ournarrowboatquest4894]

Thanks Guys, another great vlog! I think we have decided on our summer cruise for next year. X

[@MinimalList]

Good choice! M

[@maggiekavanagh2801]

Another lovely vlog, just the sort of chilled out viewing that is needed on a cold, and very wet Friday night. I was half expecting another 'Michael investigates' when I saw the title, but eventually realised that the Flasher in the title is the flash.... Stay safe, and warm. Not long to go surely, before you can claim that silver propeller?

[@MinimalList]

The flash, and the poor fool who apparently tried to cross it! As of this moment (in real time) we’re at 18 locations, 19 in a couple of weeks max, but 20 is miles and miles and miles away! M

[@MrLordBaer]

you would think that having a old fashion string depth gauge would be a handy thing to have when ' exploring ' new areas.Maybe it would just be cool to be calling out " MARK TWAIN!!" on a canal.

[@MinimalList]

I’d end up calling out “HUCK FIN!” and no one here would know what I was going on about! M

[@solstar4778]

Minimal List true from born in Hannibal Missouri!

[@altacat9702]

Beautiful !! ...I can't say Royal Vail Rail Viaduct hahaha!! Thank You : ) ...got it after 20 tries..

[@MinimalList]

Turns out we got it wrong and it should be Vale Royal Rail Viaduct, which is even worse! M

[@altacat9702]

@@MinimalList Oh my ...that is more than a mouth full ...now I will have two to botch ...Thank You for the ride along !!

[@willsgetoff1157]

George looked really comfortable on the non-slip pontoon. You can't be far off the silver propeller challenge now?

[@MinimalList]

As of right this moment (after that video, which is behind us) we’re at 18 locations, with 19 a couple weeks off... we’re really unsure where 20 is going to be! And yeah George liked that pontoon, though it was murder on my knees! M

[@christinehammell6365]

You saw sad climbing slots in the lock Jo, I saw squares of chocolate.

[@MinimalList]

Ha! I saw the chocolate too!

[@stevemercer1793]

It's been said that a wife can tell her husband all sorts of secrets, confident in the knowledge that he will not listen and the secrets will be entirely safe. Personally, I think it's more that the husband will respect the confidentiality of what has been said and will, therefore, deny all knowledge of it (even to his wife) 😁 Lovely vlog, as always. Thank you.

[@MinimalList]

I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. ;-) M

[@johnneal7832]

I was thinking as i watched what a lovely stretch of water you were on there myself.Heres a bit of news you might like Micheal,it was on my newsfeed the other day,M&S are selling foot long fresh cream chocolate eclairs from monday,might nip in if im passing and get one,it would be rude not to really😁😁

[@stevegoodier1241]

Ironically the M&S in Northwich shut it's doors for the last time on the day this vlog was recorded...

[@MinimalList]

The eclairs do sound good! M

[@MinimalList]

Did it close just that day? I saw it the next, but assumed it had been shut down for a while. M

[@stevegoodier1241]

@@MinimalList It actually shut on that day (7th Aug) at 4pm www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/17844279.m-s-northwich-closes-final-time/

[@stevesnowball]

It's the Vale Royal Railway Viaduct, not the Royal Vale. Whether that's easier to say is hard to say. :)

[@MinimalList]

Well it’s obviously not easier to remember! M

[@stevegoodier1241]

Would be nice to know what you thought of Northwich...Ive lived there all my life so I probably don't appreciate it...Some folk like it there and others say there is nothing to go to the town for... Regards Steve

[@MinimalList]

We’ll talk a little more about it in the next video. Quite liked Northwich, though the big, and seemingly largely empty, shopping complex around the Odeon felt a bit odd. Obviously a lot of money put into it, but coupled with the empty storefronts on the Main Street it seemed at first like a bit of a ghost town area with a lot of bored kids. Once we got a bit further from the quay complex though it was nice. Funny to walk into the Salt Museum and discover that there was no Salt Museum! M

[@colinstewart173]

Still trying to work out how the blue bridge got it’s name ☺️

[@MinimalList]

Well, it’s actually the Hartford Bridge... but I think I can guess where it gets it’s nickname from! M

[@baitcommajail]

ANY time I hear a brit say "bypass", I flashback to Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy: MISTER PROSSER: I’m afraid you’re going have to accept it! This bypass has got to be built and it is going to be built. Nothing you can say or do - ARTHUR DENT: Why has it got to be built? MISTER PROSSER: Wha - what do you mean, “why has it got to be built?” It is a bypass! You’ve got to build bypasses!

[@MinimalList]

Sad, the imminent loss of Mr. Prosser’s little fur hat and the extinction of his illustrious bloodline. M

[@snvb2007]

Do you two have many water-side suppers with riparian entertainments?

[@MinimalList]

Well technically any meal we have at home is waterside, so yes? M

[@narrowboatersatlarge]

Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation - odeon :)

[@MinimalList]

Not sure the Greeks new about him when they invented the word, but damned good marketing! M

[@paulashton5990]

Frfom the title I hopped you would walk up to the flash and show it, I learned to sail there almost fifty years ago. I then lived in the village right on top of the rock salt mine.. .

[@MinimalList]

Sorry we didn’t get more footage of it. The rain turned the paths to muck, and that deterred us from walking around too much. Does look a nice place to learn to sail. M

[@david39348]

When you mentioned the, " the Winsford Flasher" I was expecting something else!

[@MinimalList]

Whyever so? We were obviously talking about the poor fellow who wandered into the flash with his boat! ;-) M

[@MartyRabbit]

What exactly is a flash. And where can I see it? Great video as usual.

[@MinimalList]

It’s an old word that originally just meant marsh, but these days it’s used to mean a (usually very shallow) lake created by subsidence, especially from salt extraction and mining. You can see one briefly on the timelapse footage as we enter and leave Winsford Marina, though we’ve encountered some on various canals. M

[@Si0bart]

Just noticed the sound is stereo ?, is this new or I've just never noticed before.

[@MinimalList]

Anything we record with the little Zoom unit where there’s two of us talking will be stereo. The voiceovers are mono, but duplicated across the channels. The iPhone footage is just whatever it records... I think they actually do have two mics, but they do that for signal processing and I think it ends up as duped mono. It’s a bit of mishmash. M

[@martyb7554]

when you get to 48 hour moorings are there people that check to see you dont stay longer?

[@MinimalList]

Not usually, though yes in some non-CRT areas especially where there’s a per night fee. Usually it’s an honor system. M

[@nw24153ns]

So on a 24 hr permit if you get there at 5PM (1700) on a Monday do you have to leave by 5PM Tuesday or can you stay until Wednesday morning and then leave? How closely are the moorings monitored for strict compliance or does it vary as to who owns the land you are moored to?

[@MinimalList]

Bit of a mystery that... some say 24 hours, others say 1 day, and we tend to interpret it more strictly in very busy / popular areas and more loosely everywhere else. It’s pretty cheeky to moor up at 10AM Monday and leave at 10AM Wednesday, but if you arrive near sunset then morning on Wednesday would generally not be frowned upon. They’re rarely monitored for strict compliance unless there’s a specific local fee, in which case they’re REALLY strict, especially on the Thames. On CRT waterways it’s normally more honor system. M

[@clairepapadatos1116]

Why don't you have a rain cover on the stern?

[@MinimalList]

We do, but it’s what’s called a Tonneau Cover, common on semi-trad sterns... you can’t move the boat with it up, it just keeps the semi-enclosed area dry when you’re sitting still. The full pram hood covers you see that form a little cabin really only work on - or at least seem to commonly exist for - cruiser stern boats. M

[@776281]

If a pet is a Haustier does that make George a Boothund?

[@776281]

Ein Boothund

[@The101stEagle]

Did you happen to run into Kevin Shelley at the BBQ?

[@MinimalList]

Yep, he was there.

[@davidsouth5691]

I live on the ohio river, maybe I,ll build me raft and Tom Sawyer it Cairo

[@MinimalList]

Not a bad idea! M