Narrowboat Serafina: First Day Out Crusin'

Serafina has been cleaned from top to bottom with only a little bit of work to do in the engine bay. I left the engine bay until last because we wanted the engine fully serviced from the start of our cruising so we knew exactly where things stood. Turns out it did need a good service! Every filter was changed and new oil as well. There was also some extra maintenance required on the stern tube bearing that surrounds the propeller shaft, this problem had been picked up by the marine surveyor a few weeks back.

We set off from Festival Park Marina in Stoke-on-Trent around 11:30am heading north along the Trent and Mersey Canal. After around 45 minutes cruising we came to the Harecastle Tunnel, over 2.5 kilometres in length and down to a height of 1.8m in the centre. This tunnel is staffed by a Tunnel Keeper at each end and we managed to arrive as a few boats were exiting the tunnel at our end but then the Tunnel Keeper informed us he would taking lunch for half an hour before we could enter. The tunnel was cold and wet and as advertised, it got quite cosy in the middle. The most important thing was that I remembered to change my sunglasses for clear before entering! The trip through the tunnel took about 45 minutes and being dead straight you seem to be able to see the exit for quite a long time without getting there.

People are quite friendly on the canals and with two other boats moored up behind us also waiting, it was a good time to have a chat. We had planned to moor up after the tunnel, there were quite a few moorings shown on the map. Turns out the people I chatted to had been this way quite a few times and were quite experienced boaters. They advised us that the moorings weren't the best in the world, the kids are regularly quite annoying to boaters.

We took the boaters' advice and turned at the junction to the Macclesfield Canal and found some nice moorings only a mile or so on from the junction with a winding (turning) hole nearby. We sat down for a cup of tea around 4 o'clock and only a minute later as a boat was passing, suddenly their dog leapt through our side hatch, ran along the passageway and out through the front doors...just a quick visit!