Narrowboat Debdale

Share sold

2011-05-20T08:42:00.002+01:00

We're delighted, and a little sad, to say that our Debdale share has been sold. What's more, it was thanks to this blog!

We wish the new owners many happy years of cruising on Debdale, and we'll look out for her on the cut.

Debdale share for sale

2011-04-26T10:51:00.000+01:00

Our one-twelfth share in Debdale is now officially for sale.

This share gives three weeks holiday a year -- two in high season (April to September) and one in low season. For this year, it has a fortnight in June and a week in October booked. Most of this year's running cost contributions have already been paid.

For next year, the share will be at position 3 in the rota for chosing weeks, so it will be very easy to get the weeks you want for 2012.

The share is priced at £5950.

For full details of Debdale and the share, please click here.

End of an era

2011-04-17T08:55:00.000+01:00

After four very enjoyable years with Debdale, we've taken the plunge and are buying our own boat.

It's all happened remarkably quickly. We saw it online last Saturday, viewed on Sunday, had an offer accepted on Monday, and a survey on Thursday. The purchase is due to complete after Easter, and Adrian will go and pick up the keys on the day of the Royal wedding.

I've started a new blog for the new boat here.

Once the other owners of Debdale have had first refusal on our shares, they'll be up for sale. So if you want to own a share of this fantastic boat with friendly owners and an efficient private synicate, please let us know.

Ducklings

2011-04-10T14:48:00.000+01:00

At Hatton Locks, where we stopped for lunch at the cafe, on the way back from somewhere else.

Indigo Dreaming

2011-04-09T09:45:00.001+01:00

Yesterday, a day more like the middle of August than early April, I joined Sue on Indigo Dream for a trip through west London. She'd posted on the blog that she was due to single hand from Paddington Basin to Uxbridge, but had been told there was a lot of rubbish in the canal and was worried about having to go down the week hatch. So I volunteered to go along and lend a hand.

I arrived at Paddington Basin and found Indigo Dream under the glass footbridge. After teas and coffees were made, we set off in fantastic sunshine, through Little Venice. There were a surprising number of boats on the move, including an enormous hopper barge, pushed by a tug, which pulled out behind us. The skipper asked us to warn any oncoming boats.

We made a couple of brief stops -- at a canalside Sainsbury's to buy lunch, and at Packet Boat Marina to drop off some rubbish. We moored at the end of a fantastic day's boating just below Cowley Lock on the GU main line. I'm sure Sue will do a much more detailed account, so I'll let the photos do the talking.

Little Venice

A40 flyover

Aqueduct over the North Circular

Wembley

Terrapin

Bulls Bridge Junction

GU Main Line

Mooring at Cowley Lock

Shared Ownership Show

2011-04-07T11:33:00.001+01:00

The May edition of Canal Boat is in the shops. Not much in it from me this month, just a news report on the Shared Ownership Show held at Braunston last month.

Birthday Cruise - Day 4

2011-04-03T18:05:00.000+01:00

The Bridge 8 moorings are very nice. There's the hum of the M54 in the background, but not enough to notice.

We woke to a much sunnier day than we'd been expecting, and set off at 8.30. This is a stretch of the Shroppie we've done many times, but it was looking beautiful in the sunshine, with signs of spring everywhere. Buds on many of the bushes look fit to burst open, and many of the trees have bright new leaves.

We had to turn Wheaton Aston lock (our only lock of the day). Once down, we stopped at the water point and filled the tank.

Setting off again, we passed a man washing his boat on the Wheaton Aston visitor moorings. He said he was probably going to make it rain. About two minutes later, the rain started. It lasted only about ten minutes or so, but included several torrential downpours, and by the time it stopped I was pretty wet. Then the sun came out again, and within half an hour or so everything was dry.

As we went along, we cleaned the inside of the boat. Adrian did the kitchen, I did the bathroom, and Adrian vacuumed. We had a quick lunch on the move before arriving back at Norbury Wharf. Just as we approached, there was another shower. We tied up in the rain, but it had pretty much stopped by the time we needed to load the car. We were on the road by 2pm, and had a pretty good journey. The worst hold up was two miles from home, where there'd been an accident on the opposite carriagway of the A27.

12 miles, 1 lock. (40, 12)

Birthday Cruise -- Day 3

2011-04-02T18:53:00.000+01:00

Dimmingsdale Lock is a very good mooring, dark and quiet. The only morning sound was birdsong. We had a very relaxed start, which included a cooked breakfast. It was 9.40 before we set off, filling the lock and going down. I was just opening the gates when an old working boat with a cargo of boy scouts arrived at the top of the lock. I explained that we were winding and coming straight back up again. Adrian quickly turned the boat and came back into the lock, and we had no shortage of helpers to wind the paddles.

Once we were on our way again, we passed two more old working boats crewed by scouts. They'd told us they'd started at Wolverhampton yesterday, and were heading for Birmingham.

After about 40 minutes, we moored at Wightwick. We got out our National Trust membership cards (those of us who'd remembered to bring them), and were at the visitor reception waiting for it to open at 11. We did two tours of Wightwick Manor: one about how they care for the collection, then a "freeflow" look round the house. It's a fantastic house, with great gardens, and well worth a visit. Both tea rooms were rather disappointing, though, so we had lunch at The Mermaid instead.

We set off again at 2pm, and passed a procession of boats based at Norbury through the locks. These included several ex-OwnerShips boats and Norbury's new hire boat, Ember. By now, the sun was out and it was quite warm.

We turned back onto the Shroppie at Autherley Junction, and continued to the SUCS moorings between Bridges 7 & 8. Having moored up, we sat in the well deck with wine and crisps in the sunshine.

8 miles, 6 locks (28 miles, 11 locks)

Birthday Cruise -- Day 2

2011-04-01T17:03:00.000+01:00

We had high hopes, weatherwise, for today. The forecast we saw before going to bed last night suggested that by lunchtime the sun would break through the clouds, and the temperature would reach 19C. Neither happened.

We were awake quite early. There wasn't enough power in the batteries to get the Webasto going (not entirely surprising, seeing as the boat had been idle for several days, and we'd only boated for ten minutes last night), so showers were off the agenda. We had a quick breakfast, and set off at 7.30. It was a good while before we met another boat.

After Wheaton Aston lock, we decided we'd light the fire. The coal is a variety I'm not familiar with, as rather than the usual ovals, the nuggets are hexagonal. We've got only what's in the coal bucket; there's no bag on board. But I'd be interested to know what it is, as it seems to light easier than Taybright, and burns slowly too.

We're very familiar with this section of the Shroppie now. The only surprise was that the moorings (Wheaton Aston, Brewood, Bridge 8) were very empty. We passed Chertsey at Stretton Wharf, then went over the A5. We had lunch on the move just before Autherley Junction. Napton Narrowboats had lots of boats in, but didn't seem to be blocking the canal quite as much as usual. They were confident it wasn't going to rain, as they were painting the roof of one of the boats.

The stop lock was against us, but it didn't take long to turn, given that the rise is about three inches. Then we turned right onto the Staffs and Worcs, heading south. Soon afterwards, we saw an orange flashing light ahead. BW were dredging the canal. They had a hopper and a dredger, but there was just room to pass, and they beckoned us on. Unfortunately, we ran aground trying to get round them, indicating that the edges need work as well as the middle.

Compton Lock was in our favour. Once down the lock, I dashed off to the shop to get some washing up liquid. Last time we were here, I waked to the Spar shop; this time, I went to the Nisa because it's closer, and was very pleasantly surprised. It's very upmarket, with a deli counter and a little bakery section.

I caught up with Debdale before Wightwick Mill Lock, and we did a swap: shopping for windlass. This lock and the next one were against us.

We moored up for the night at the offside moorings just above Dimmingsdale Lock. It's a lovely spot which we've seen before, and which has been recommended by several people. There's no satellite tv, but the internet signal is very strong. Tomorrow, we start heading back.

20 miles, 5 locks.

Birthday Cruise -- Day 1

2011-03-31T23:00:00.001+01:00

One of our fellow owners is ill, so he and his wife had to cancel their planned three week trip. It means we've been able to get a few unexpected days on board. Today is my birthday, so we've christened this the Birthday Cruise.

I spent most of the day getting ready: shopping and packing. I loaded the car and set off at 3pm. At 3.30, I picked up Adrian from his office, and we headed for Norbury Wharf. Much to our surprise, we were delayed only one, past an accident which had happened just minutes before, on the A34. We arrived at Norbury at 6.30, unloaded the car, and set off. Several of the other ex-OwnerShips boats were there at the end of their weeks, with the owners cleaning and packing before their final night on board.

It meant I had quite an audience for as I pulled forward out of the line of boats, and turned to go south. It can be quite tricky to spin the boat around with lots of boats on the wharf, but it all went well, and I even got complimentary comments from one of the crews.

We've never seen the moorings on the Shelmore Embankment at Norbury so empty, with just a couple of boats there. We pulled over after a couple of hundred yards, moored, unpacked, and went to the Junction Inn for a birthday dinner.

Where to turn?

2011-03-27T09:17:00.000+01:00

We've got an unexpected three days on board next weekend, as one of our fellow owners is unfortunately ill.

With only three days, we won't be going very far, but we plan to head south onto the Staffs and Worcs. But it's not clear where it's possible to turn. I know there's a winding hole above Wightwick Lock, but we'll probably get a little further than that. Nicholson and CanalPlanAC say there's a winding hole below Dimmingsdale Lock. Pearson doesn't mention it, and I can't remember. Does anyone know?

Upton-on-Severn

2011-03-21T16:17:00.000Z

To Upton-on-Severn today for a boat test. It wasn't as sunny as we would have liked (by which I mean it really wasn't sunny at all). It's often difficult taking photographs of narrowboats on big rivers -- they look very small. Fortunately, the marina has a workboat, so Andy the photographer was able to use that as a platform.

Braunston

2011-03-20T16:50:00.001Z

Today we were up early and headed to Braunston. The main purpose of the visit was to have a look at the boat share show, now run by BCBM. But we couldn't resist a walk up the locks, and then tea and cake at the Gongoozler's Rest floating cafe.

Then we walked round the show, had a look through BCBM's newest boat, and chatted to Paul on the Waterway Routes stand, where we saw his impressive new canal maps, which can be downloaded and printed, or even better, loaded onto a phone or PDA.

Later, we headed to the National Trust property, Canons Ashby, which is about 20 minutes drive from Braunston. We had lunch sitting in the garden outside the cafe, and had a look round the house and grounds, before heading home.

Stourbridge flight

2011-02-24T13:52:00.000Z

On Sunday, we thought we'd like to break our journey home with a canal fix. So I sent a text to Lesley on Caxton, to see if they were still at Merry Hill. She phoned as we ate breakfast, from halfway down the Delph Flight.

A couple of hours later, we parked the car at the end of the Stourbridge Town Arm, and walked along the arm to the bottom of the Stourbridge Locks.

We continued up the locks, and eventually found Caxton at Lock 8.

This is a route we've tried to do a few times, but have always been thwarted -- by rivers in flood, a breach, and stoppages. So it was good to be able to help work Caxton down the bottom half of the flight.

Locks 9 and 10 are very close together, Bratch style, with a large side pond.

Slightly further down is the historic Dadsfords Shed, and a huge bottle kiln from the glass industry.

Once we were down the locks, Lesley supplied us with very welcome tea and coffee, plus plenty of advice for our planned trip on the Weaver in June.

Dutton Locks

2011-02-22T09:24:00.000Z

On Saturday, we visited family near Chester. We were telling them about our plans to go down the Anderton Lift and visit the River Weaver during our fortnight on board in June. It turns out that one of their regular dog walks is down by Dutton Locks on the Weaver, so we went to have a look.

On the way, we cross the Weaver at Acton Bridge, passed the Black Prince hire base on the canal, and went back over the canal. We parked the cars, walked across a field, through a reserve owned by the Woodland Trust, and then came out to the weir stream round the locks, which is crossed by a rather nice white bridge.

This bridge (which is a bit rotten in places), appears to be earmarked for demolition, although there's no sign of anything happening at the moment. There are two locks: large, and enormous.

Above the locks are the remains of a partly sunken boat.

It was a useful trip. We spotted visitor moorings and a water point, and even though the river is fairly wide, it's not of epic proportions.

Start of the season

2011-02-20T17:45:00.000Z

On Friday, we went up to Norbury Wharf to check Debdale's winter works, and to help our fellow owner who was re-hanging all the curtains after cleaning. It was a bitterly cold day and just a few boats were going out, so the basin was quite full. Debdale is along the far end of this line of boats. Debdale was due out on Saturday, at the start of a busy season. Once we'd made sure everything was OK, we headed further north and ended up having quite a canal-ish weekend. Of which more over the next few days.

Moment in Time on test

2011-02-15T08:35:00.000Z

We've been away, and during the holiday the March edition of Canal Boat came out. It includes my boat test of Moment in Time, a Fernwood boat which has been planned down to the size of every cupboard and drawer.

Back at base

2011-01-17T19:19:00.001Z

Today's Norbury Wharf blog post reports that Debdale is back at base again, in spite of a delay at Penkridge where a tree was down across the canal. It means all the winter maintenance work due in the next few weeks can be carried out.

UPDATE: Both Sue on No Problem, and Geoff from Seyella have published photos of Debdale's triumphal arrival.

Lunch, and a chance to move

2011-01-14T22:34:00.001Z

We met for lunch today with the crew of nb Chance (well, most of the crew. Oscar the dog stayed at home). We discovered a few weeks ago that Doug and James live just a few miles away from us. As they're in the process of having their new boat built there was plenty to talk about. They're blogging about the build.

On the Debdale front, there should be movement in the morning. Shutt Hill Lock is open, Tixall Lock doesn't close until Monday, and the ice is gone. Some of our co-owners are making the journey from Tixall Wide back to Norbury. I suspect it's been one of the longest periods of time that Debdale hasn't moved: it's a mere 49 days since the ice brought us to a halt, on 27 November.

Royal Docks trip

2011-01-09T13:31:00.001Z

As is often the case when they're planning a special trip, Sue and Richard from Indigo Dream put out an ivitation for others to join them. And so it was that on Friday I joined the crew for another expedition onto the tidal Thames. Also taking up the invitation were Kath and Neil from Herbie, and Alison, who'd posted a comment on the Indigo Dream blog.

At first, the day didn't look promising, weatherwise, with a poor forecast, and plenty of rain falling from the sky. But hardy boaters aren't put off by a bit of rain, and we all had our waterproofs with us.

After tea, coffee, and doughnuts, we set off along the Limehouse Cut, new territory for me.

The original plan had been to get onto Bow Creek via City Mills and Three Mills locks, but there was a problem with the amount of water coming down one of the rivers, so we were to go through Bow Locks. But we first took a quick side trip past the famous Three Mills and up to Old Ford Lock, with the new Olympic Stadium looming overhead. We were to be part of a convoy organised by the St Pancras Cruising Club, and a couple of the other boats were just coming down the lock.

Back at Bow Locks, we moored up, had more tea and coffee, went to the safety briefing, and watched the first boats being locked down onto Bow Creek.

We were in the last locking, so there was also time for one of Sue's signature lunches before it was our turn in the lock. The level of Bow Creek had risen remarkably quickly, so we didn't have so far to drop.

Bow Creek is very twisty, has plenty of bridges, and often has the DLR running alongside or over the top.

The good thing was that the weather was showing signs of brightening up considerably; the bad thing was that my camera decided it didn't like its battery anymore, and having delivered this message, kept turning off. I suspect some water had got in, as it worked fine a bit later, and has seemed OK every since.

What it means is that I have no photos of the spectacular turn out onto the Thames, opposite the O2, or of us going through the Thames Barrier, or dodging the Woolwich Ferry. However, there are plenty of photos in Sue's blog post and in Neil's. Also, as we approached the barrier, I was allowed to take the helm, so wouldn't have been taking photos anyway. Here's one of Richard's photos, to prove it.

As we neared the Woolwich Ferries, which cross the Thames every few minutes and look enormous, Sue asked if I was happy to negotiate a way through. "I'm happy," I said, "but are you?" Fortunately, I was trusted to keep out of the way of these large ships; we managed to get past while they were unloading and loading.

Next came the turn into the lock, and I was a bit worried about how the tidal flow would affect our line. But in fact the Thames was like a mill pond (it had been all the way down, certainly a lot less bouncy than on our previous Indigo Dream tidal adventure back in August), and while there was a slight feeling of going sideways at one point, crossing the tideway was very easy.

At the lock, we went alongside one of the other convoy boats and tied up. They were using just a quarter of the lock, and we could have fitted at least twice the number of narrow boats in the space. The last couple of boats came in, and the vast lockgates closed behind us. Fortunately, the camera started working again.

Entering the Royal Docks, it seemed to be a bit of a free for all, with everyone eager to get going. We had to turn right past the end of the runway of London City Airport, then cruise down the northern side of the runway. There was loads of activity with planes coming and going, while on the ground was the little BA Airbus, which goes to JFK in New York.

As we cruised past the offices of Newham Council, we tried to get as many staff as possible to wave to us; to their credit, most of them did. Then it was past the Excel Centre, were there were some enormous gin palaces moored for the boat show. In many ways, and much to my own surprise, the cruise through the docks was my favourite part of the whole trip.

We moored at the end of the docks, and joined the other crews for a drink, standing in the rain as the dark decended. The views back towards the city were spectacular.

Alison had already left, but the rest of us (who were all cold and wet) returned to Indigo Dream for more drinks and chat, before starting our journeys home. Sue and Richard are always great company, and very generous with their invites to such trips, and it was also really nice to meet Kath and Neil. I'd never met them before, but (perhaps thanks to the blog) felt as though I'd known them for years. The return trip is on Monday, but unfortunately work will get in the way.

Saving Salamander

2011-01-06T09:21:00.002Z

The February edition of Canal Boat is out, and includes my article about Salamander, a composite-hulled Dutch barge, which the owner had to finish himself.

A plan comes together

2011-01-05T19:24:00.000Z

Sarah from Chertsey has posted some very useful information about the stoppages on the Staffs and Worcs. It means that (thaw permitting) there's a window of opportunity to get Debdale back to Norbury Wharf. A couple of our co-owners are keen to carry out the rescue. So nothing can go wrong...

Icy New Year

2011-01-04T16:15:00.001Z

One of our co-owners spent a couple of nights on Debdale over the New Year holiday -- even though there was no water on board. Hopes of a thaw were high, and there was even some water round the boat at times, but an expedition out into the Wide showed that the ice was still very thick in places. He's posted a set of photos and a video on flickr, including this one.

A frozen month

2010-12-29T10:33:00.000Z

It's now a month since we left Debdale frozen in at Tixall Wide. In the intervening time, plans were made for a rescue, but the weather didn't co-operate. It seems there's now a widespread thaw, although the webcam at Great Haywood Marina still shows plenty of ice. Of course the next problem will be that stoppages between Tixall and Autherley Junction mean that whoever rescues the boat will have to go the long way round, back through Birmingham.

2010-12-25T00:01:00.001Z

Easy All on test

2010-12-07T07:42:00.001Z

The January edition of Canal Boat is in the shops, and includes my review of Easy All, a 67footer by Heartwood. David's photos of the exterior look particularly good this month; you'd never know that we spent the morning dodging showers, that it was really windy, and rather cold.

Christmas Cards

2010-12-04T08:25:00.001Z

The internet connection where we were stuck at Tixall Wide was very good, so I took the opportunity to order some Christmas cards using some photos of Debdale in the snow. I used Picnik to add text, then uploaded the photos to Moo. The cards, which were ordered on Sunday arrived yesterday, and will be in the post this morning!

New gloves

2010-12-02T10:08:00.003Z

When it comes to buying equipment, nothing beats a personal recommendation. So we were all ears when Lesley from Caxton told us about her perfect boating gloves, as she helped us down the Farmer's Bridge Locks. Gloves are difficult: woollen ones get wet, but waterproof ones often stick to your windlass, making it difficult to wind paddles up and down. Lesley recommended Grippi Waterproof gloves, so while we were iced in at Tixall Wide we looked them up on the internet. They were two pairs for the price of one at the time (not any more, apparently), and the two pairs could be different sizes. They arrived yesterday. Perhaps the eight inches of snow in the garden means that today is a good day to try them out.

Winter Cruise photos

2010-12-01T22:46:00.000Z

I have uploaded a set of photos to Flickr from the winter cruise. Looking at them, the change in the weather from dank and misty at the start of the trip, to clear blue skies, to snow and ice, is quite remarkable.

Winter Cruise - Day Ten

2010-11-29T18:28:00.000Z

Not so much of a cruise, really; just winter. Last night was no less cold than the previous one, so all the water we'd cleared had frozen over again. Also, the forecast for the rest of the week was getting worse rather than better, so we came to the conclusion that we probably wouldn't be able to move at all, let along get back to Norbury Junction by Thursday evening.

So we started preparations to return home. Adrian rang Norbury Wharf to find out what we'd have to do to winterise the boat, and then rang the next owners, due on board next weekend. Then he phoned Great Haywood Marina to get the name of a local taxi firm, to take him to Norbury to pick up the car.

We both walked along to Haywood Junction to dump rubbish, and to meet the taxi. We happened to bump into Sarah from Chertsey there, so while Adrian set off, I was able to go and have a look at Chertsey.

Then it was back to Debdale to pack, and drain down the water tank. It took the best part of an hour and a half!

Tixall Wide isn't the easiest of places to get to, but once Adrian had returned, he found the way to Swivel Bridge, so at least we didn't have to carry all our stuff right the way back to the junction. He'd also borrowed a hydrometer from Anglo-Welsh, and bought some anti-freeze. Norbury had said they protect the boats up to -15 Celsius, but it would be a good idea to up the protection to -20C. We checked the central heating system and the engine, and topped up the anti-freeze as necessary. Once the water system was drained, we also disconnected the water pump, and tried to make sure there was no water left inside.

Then we took all our stuff to the car. It took three trips along the snowy tow path. When we were loaded up, we headed back to Great Haywood, went for lunch in a pub in the village, and headed for home. Adrian said the Shroppie at Norbury Junction is frozen solid, and every canal we passed or crossed on the way home was frozen, even the K&A as it goes under the A34 near Newbury. The temperature on the way home never got higher than 1.5C

It's not the way we envisioned the trip ending -- and it had been very enjoyable up until the weather intervened -- and we'll also have to sort out getting Debdale back to Norbury Wharf, once the ice has gone.

Winter Cruise - Day Nine

2010-11-28T14:53:00.001Z

It was an exceptionally cold night. The Met Office said it was -7 in these parts; I wouldn't be surprised if it was colder here on Tixall Wide. By the morning, even though the fire stayed in (it's been alight constantly since we lit it on the first day), we had ice on the inside of the windows and the window frames.

We had a cooked breakfast, then at about 8.45am decided to see whether we could move. It took about 20 minutes to move the boat at all. We were frozen solid. Once we were free, we tried to get back out to the channel cut by boats yesterday; even though it was frozen, the ice didn't look as thick. However, getting there proved impossible, so after the best part of an hour we gave up and decided to walk to Great Haywood to get a paper. The junction was frozen, but the moving water had kept the canal clear just below the lock.

Having been to the shop, we walked to the farm shop, but nothing caught our fancy (not at those prices, anyway). We then carried on to the marina, where we knew Bruce and Sheila are moored on Sanity Again. The office gave us directions to their pontoon, but they weren't at home. We met them shortly afterwards, just outside the farm shop, and spent quite some time talking. While we were there, a boat came down the Trent and Mersey from the north, but went straight past the junction.

This afternoon, we've made another couple of attempts to get away -- we'd like to be off the wide, as this seems to be where the ice is thickest and the weather the coldest. But, although we got slightly further each time, the ice is just too think -- up to two inches in places. So we've given up. The sun appears to be having some effect on the ice, so we'll hope for a less cold night and a warmer day tomorrow. We also live in hope that another boat will come by (Chertsey, are you stuck too?). In the meantime, we have food, water, diesel, coal, internet, tv, and reading material.

0 miles, 0 locks. (73 miles, 69 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day Eight

2010-11-27T17:48:00.001Z

I looked out the window when I got up to go to the loo at 5am, to find it snowing, and the canal both frozen and covered in white. By the time we got up properly, there was a good covering of snow everywhere.

We set off at 8.20am, and took quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to get away from the mooring. I swung the bridge, and Adrian made the left turn onto the Trent and Mersey -- not easy with the ice. The noise going through the ice is incredible.

People were just emerging from their boats, and the snow seemed to have made everyone cheerful. The first two locks were for us (a first on this trip).

Above Shade House Lock was a magical scene of snowy trees and a frozen canal.

At Kings Bromley, we passed a small basin filled with former OwnerShips boats. The other side of the bridge, at the Wharf, I'd been looking out for Chertsey. Sarah was on board, and said they were busy trying to get the engine started. I didn't dare stop for a longer chat, as getting going again through the ice is difficult.

We were breaking ice for the best part of three hours. I'd been worried that the narrows at Armitage might have been well frozen, but in fact they were clear. The whole way, the ice was very variable: at some points, the canal was clear; a few yards away, the ice could be nearly half an inch thick. We finally met another boat coming the other way by the Ash Tree boat club. They said they'd come from Great Haywood, so we knew things would be a lot easier for the rest of the day.

We stopped at Rugeley and went to the nearby Morrisons for shopping. It was packed; the whole of the town appeared to have seen the snow and thought it necessary to stock up. Then we had lunch, and set off again at 1.30pm. Boats arrived at Rugeley while we were there, and we passed several more during the afternoon. In fact, I think we've seen more moving boats today than any other day so far -- not difficult as some days we haven't seen any.

There was excitement at Colwich Lock. I went to set the lock, and a group of walkers arrived at the lock. A cow in the neighbouring field jumped over the stile onto the bridge, apparently wanting to say hello to all the people. One of the walkers went to make sure it didn't get through the gate onto the towpath, and the cow headed back -- but rather than recrossing the stile, it went over the corner of the bridge parapet into a bit of scrub land, then into the canal. Adrian wondered if the cow was going to land on the bow. A couple of minutes later, the cow swam across the canal, got out, and was last seen heading off down the towpath followed by the farmer.

There was much more snow at Colwich Lock and northwards than we'd had at Fradley. At Great Haywood, we should really have stopped below the lock where there were plenty of excellent moorings. But we decided to carry on through the lock, onto to find no space at all. It meant we had no choice but to turn onto the Staffs and Worcs, and head for Tixall Wide.

We've never seen the wide so deserted -- there appears to be just one other boat hear (apart for a sunken one). Getting in to the side was quite tricky: we had to crash through the ice to get to the bank. Whether we'll get out again in the morning remains to be seen. It was 4pm by the time we moored up.

13 miles, 5 locks. (73 miles, 69 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day Seven

2010-11-26T17:38:00.000Z

Another very cold night, and there was plenty of ice on the canal. It was thick enough to hold ducks (although several of them did fall through a bit further along).

We walked down to Streethay and caught the bus to the National Memorial Arboretum. The journey was only ten minutes, most of it thundering along the A38. It's an amazing place, dominated by the armed forces memorial, but with dozens of other smaller memorials, to everything from Northern Ireland, the Merchant Navy, prisoners of war, and those who've been killed on the roads. We spent several hours looking round, even though it was very cold, and it's often very moving.

We had a good lunch in the cafe, then caught the bus back. It takes a bit longer as it goes through Alrewas. But we were back at the boat and on the move shortly after 2pm. As is becoming normal for us, we had the unambitious target of Fradley Junction, and we were mooring around an hour later. We walked down to the BW office to dump some rubbish. The moorings below junction lock were the emptiest we've ever seen them.

3 miles, 0 locks. (60 miles, 64 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day Six

2010-11-25T17:31:00.000Z

Another clear moonlit night, and another frosty morning. We set off at 8.20, and I walked down to set our only lock of the day. Having completed the last Curdworth lock, we're now at the lowest point of our trip, having dropped nearly 250 feet since Wolverhampton.

The main landmark before Fazeley Junction is the Drayton Footbridge.

At Fazeley Junction, we were pleased to see that the Junction House is being lived in; it was boarded up the last time we were here.

We stopped at the water point to fill the tank, and while it was filling I went to the nearby Tesco Express to top up on shopping. We set off again in lovely sunshine, although it was bitterly cold. The only other time we've done this stretch from Fazeley to Fradley was in August 2007, on our first trip on Debdale. Today, the canal looked loveley.

We spotted a couple of bloggers today. Guelrose was moored at Hopwas, and just north of Huddlesford Junction was Derwent6. We moored up shortly afterwards, opposite the moorings at Streethay Wharf. We had lunch, then walked over the bridge to the wharf to see Kevin Blick, who's refitting narrowboat Harry.

11 miles, 1 lock. (57 miles, 64 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day Five

2010-11-24T16:50:00.001Z

We woke to a lovely morning -- frosty, sunny, and with the moon still high in the sky. We'd slept reasonably well, in spite of the noise of the M6. It's a constant hum, so relatively easy to tune out. As it was cold, we treated ourselves to bacon and eggs, before setting off at 8.20. We were quickly at Salford Junction, under Spaghetti Junction, and making the very tight right turn back onto the Birmingham and Fazeley.

There's lots of industry along the canal, but there are still kingfishers flashing across the water. At Minworth, the canal really is a stripe of nature through the industry. The top lock is very attractive with its collection of cottages.

I don't know what used to be made at the Cincinnati works, but it's not made there any more. The site has been bought by Urban Splash (the company which owns the land next to the Walsall Town Arm, and hasn't yet built anything there). I hope that when they get round to doing something at Cincinnati, they convert the rather elegant building rather than knocking it down.

We had to make an unscheduled stop just below Minworth Bottom Lock, to remove a piece of rope from around the prop. Then it was out into the country towards Curdworth with its short tunnel.

The Curdworth flight of locks begins shortly afterwards. The sunshine meant there were great scenes everywhere, in spite of the M42 running alongside. We had to turn every lock (I don't think we've had a single lock in our favour all trip), and a few locks down caught up with a single hander. Fortunately (for us, not him), he had to stop to clear his prop, so let us go past.

We decided to carry on until after the tenth lock, and then stay put for the night. We are becoming part time boaters! So we moored at 1.30pm next to Kingsbury Water Park. After lunch, we made good use of the sunny weather by taking a walk round some of the lakes. As we set off, a boat came up the lock below us, and another, Aldridge, came down the lock above us. We haven't seen that many boats for a long time.

The water park is a huge place, covering a vast area both sides of the M42. We saw only a very small part of it, but it looked beautiful in the late afternoon sunshine.

9 miles, 13 locks. (46 miles, 63 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day Four

2010-11-23T18:24:00.001Z

We had a great evening last night. Lesley and Joe, and Jill and Graham came round for a drink, and we were even joined by Paul from Waterway Routes, but he had to go and get a train home. Then we all went for a meal. We chose the Slug and Lettuce at Brindleyplace (fifty per cent off all food on Mondays).

This morning, we were looking forward to a fast run down the Farmer's Bridge Locks, as we'd roped in Lesley and Joe as lock crew! We were off before 8, but it turned out we weren't quite early enough. As we arrived at the top lock, another boat, Avington, was just going into the second one (they'd also been in front of us when we came up the Wolverhampton flight). It didn't really matter, because the extra pairs of hands meant we could turn each lock as soon as Avington left it. We got into a good rhythm of going ahead to set the locks, so we probably wouldn't have been any quicker even without a boat in front. Halfway down the flight, Joe too over the helm.

Farmer's Bridge is probably my favourite flight of urban locks. There are great views everywhere, and always something to look at.

We got to the bottom in an hour and ten minutes, and stopped to put the kettle on and make tea for our crew, before saying goodbye to Lesley and Joe (and Fletcher and Floyd). It's been great spending time with them, and we really appreciated the help this morning.

With a boat in front of us (even though they'd be well ahead because of our tea stop), we decided on a change of plan. We'd been going to head down the Aston flight and as far along the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal as we could. But we decided to turn right as Aston Juntion and go down the Ashted Locks instead, followed by the Garrison Locks, which we'd never done before.

Ashed Tunnel is narrow and uneven, and starts directly after the top Ashted Lock. There was plenty of water in the flight. Halfway down the flight, there's a great view of the Bullring.

At the end of the Digbeth Branch, we turned left left through Warwick Bar. Then it was just a short distance to Bordesley Junction, where we went under the elegant bridge onto the Saltley Cut.

It starts straight and wide, with lots of bridges into the distance. The Garrison Locks turned out to be much nicer than we'd been expecting (although the sunny day may have helped).

As we're not short of time on this trip, we decided to stop at the pontoon moorings at Star City. Lesley and Joe have stayed here, and said it was fine. It was about 12.30 when we arrived, and I knew we had something round the prop. Opening the weed hatch, I was surprised to see how clear the water was; it was probably the best view I've had of the prop, and I could clearly see the plastic bag causing the problem.

As we were moored next to a cinema, it seemed the idea time to go and see a film. So we checked the times, and after a quick lunch went and saw The Social Network. We were the only people in the cinema. The moorings here are much better than we were expecting; there's access to Star City via a gate locked with a BW key, and I'm sure the vast majority of people who go to Star City don't even know the moorings are here. Spaghetti Junction isn't far away, so there's a certain amount of traffic noise, but even that isn't as bad as we thought it might be. All in all, it's been a thoroughly enjoyable day.

5 miles, 24 locks (37 miles, 50 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day Three

2010-11-22T17:26:00.000Z

The moorings at the Black Country Museum are both noisy (being next to a busy road), and bright (as the BW service block is very well illuminated). However, it was extremely heavy rain which woke us up during the night.

We left at 8 o'clock, and turned right onto the Old Main Line. Our route to Birmingham had been the subject of some discussion, as we've done the journey between Wolverhampton and Birmingham several times over the years. On one occasion we used the Factory Locks at Tipton to move between the levels of the New and Old main lines, and most recently we used the Smethwick Locks. So this time, we decided to take a left turn at Brades Hall Junction and use the Brades Locks to take us down onto the Gower Branch and onto the New Main Line. The Brades Locks include the BCN's only staircase pair.

At the bottom, Brades Hall Bridge has very low headroom, and we had to stop and take off the chimney and the internet antenna.

After completing the third (single) lock and the rest of the Gower Branch, we turned right onto the New Main Line, wide, deep, and straight. We went under the M5 on its huge concrete pillars, and under the Old Main Line on the Stewart Aqueduct.

As we approached the city centre, we turned off round the Oozells Stree Loop, and spotted that Sherborne Wharf must be one of the few marinas in the country with two electric boats: Waterway Routes, and Felonious Mongoose.

We moored at the end of the Oozells Loop, had a shower and lunch, then went to find Lesley on Caxton, moored just round the corner. Later in the afternoon, we went along to have a look at The Cube, as it was just a huge hole in the ground when we were last here. Then we walked into town through the Frankfurt Christmas Market, which has taken over virtually all the centre of town.

This evening, Lesley and Joe, and Jill and Graham from Matilda Rose are coming round for a drink before we all go out for something to eat. Tomorrow, lots of locks.

9 miles, 3 locks (32 miles, 26 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day Two

2010-11-21T18:00:00.000Z

The fire stayed in all night, so the boat was nice and warm in this morning. It was a promising looking day, although it was still cold. We left our moorings at 8am, and an hour later reached the stop lock at Autherley Junction. We turned right onto the Staffs and Worcs, and then left to go up the Wolverhampton flight of 21 locks.

We last did these locks on a hire boat in 2006. The bottom lock was against us, indicating a boat going up ahead. At about the third lock up, a passer by with a windlass in a bag helped set the lock, and told us there was a problem ahead, with the pound between locks 4 and 5 about 2 feet down. He said he'd knocked on the lock keeper's front door, but he was still in bed.

There's plenty of interest up the Wolverhampton flight, including the racecourse at the bottom, lugubrious blue brick railway viaducts, and various factories. By one lock (16 I think), there's a cage on the offside containing a family of marmosets.

We reached the top lock at 1pm -- not bad going seeing as we'd had to turn every lock. We pulled into the Broad Street Basin to fill up with water and have lunch.

Afterwards we set off again heading for Dudley. Both the previous times we've tried to moor at the Black Country Museum, there's been no room and we've had to moor outside; this time there were plenty of spaces, so we turned and moored at abour 3.45pm. A few minutes later, it started to rain.

Add caption

11 miles, 22 locks (23 miles, 23 locks)

Winter Cruise - Day One

2010-11-20T16:52:00.000Z

It was past midnight when I got home from work last night, but even so we got up at 5am, and were on the road at 6 heading for Norbury Wharf. A trouble-free journey meant we were there just after 9, and quickly unloaded the car and stocked up with coal. Just after 9.30 we were heading south, having spun the boat in the basin. It was a cold and misty day, so we lit the fire and hope to keep it in for the whole of our fortnight! I steered while Adrian unpacked and put everything away.

There were only a handful of boats on the move, but typically we met both northbound ones at bridges. We made our way through Gnosall Heath, through the diminutive Cowley tunnel, and on to Wheaton Aston, where we moored up for a lunch stop and a warm.

Setting off again, we went up the lock, much to the delight of a family who'd been hoping to see a boat. The stretch through Brewood was exceptionally slow, with a couple of miles of moored boats. We moored on the Shropshire Union Canal Society moorings just south of Bridge 8, at around 3.30. It's another spot we've passed lots of times and liked the look of, but never stopped before. It's lovely and quiet (even though the M54 is only a mile away), and very dark.

12 miles, 1 lock.

Crunch time

2010-11-19T07:58:00.000Z

This month's contribution to Canal Boat is a piece about a boat which had a tree fall on it, and was repaired by the guys at the Nantwich Canal Centre.
Also in this month's magazine is a piece by Amy from Luck Duck, about their trip up the Cambridge backs.

Winter Cruise countdown

2010-11-17T20:39:00.000Z

Our two-week winter cruise starts on Saturday. We're planning an early start, so we can get to Norbury Wharf in good time and set off. Norbury does quite well in the pre-Christmas winter stoppages this year: the route north is blocked at Hack Green Locks, but we have plenty of options going south.

We're planning to do the Black Country (or Staffordshire) Ring. We've done every part of the route at some time or another, but never all together in the ring. It's a route that in the summer would be a fairly easy week, so even with the short November days, we'll be able to take things fairly easy. Still, we'll have a few busy days, particularly near the start of the trip, as we need to get up the Wolverhampton 21, and then a couple of days later there'll be plenty of locks as we descend out of Birmingham. We're also hoping to meet up with a couple of fellow bloggers, and we'll keep an eye out for other familiar boats who might be lurking en route.

Hampstead Lock, River Medway

2010-11-03T15:18:00.000Z

Yesterday, I was at Hampstead Lock on the River Medway in Kent. It's only a few miles from where I grew up, yet I don't ever remember coming here before. There are a couple of marinas nearby, filled with plastic boats, and the lock itself is very large -- large enough to make even double locks look small.

First Dawn on Test

2010-10-23T15:14:00.001+01:00

Looking at this month's Canal Boat, you could be forgive for thinking that the boat test on First Dawn was written by Kevin Blick. after all, that's what the by-line says. However, there was what I'll call an "attribution error" in the office, and it's actually my work. As long as they pay me and not Kevin...

Debdale Wharf

2010-10-21T21:57:00.001+01:00

View Larger Map

I've been to Debdale Wharf Marina today. Not because it's the place Debdale is named after, but for a boat test. In common with most marinas, getting a boat out and back in again isn't made easy. Still, we had a nice run down to the bottom of Foxton Locks and back. It was beautifully sunny, and bitterly cold. Unusually, I forgot to take my camera, which is why I've resorted to a Google Maps image.

September Cruise photos

2010-10-10T08:21:00.000+01:00

I've uploaded almost 160 photos from our September cruise into a new set on flickr.

Shropshire Union Canal Society

2010-10-08T16:06:00.000+01:00

We've been meaning to join the Shropshire Union Canal Society for a while, and we've finally got round to it. We sent off the form as soon as we got back from the Llangollen trip, which was entirely on the Shropshire Union network.

The society does lots to improve the canal, not least providing country moorings in some lovely places. Among the information given to us by the lock keeper at Hurleston, was a SUCS leaflet detailing where all their moorings are. Even though we've been based on the Shroppie for a couple of seasons, we'd never seen the leaflet before, and in came in very useful when we were on virgin territory, to know that ringed moorings were available; most of them aren't marked in the guides. The list of moorings is also available on the society website.

September Cruise - Day 15

2010-10-01T19:38:00.000+01:00

Rain overnight, and it was still raining when we made the short journey from our mooring to the basin at Norbury. I spun the boat and backed onto the wharf, and the car was soon packed and we were off.

First stop was Nantwich Canal Centre again, where I had one last thing to pick up from Bill. While we were there, we had a look at several of the brokerage boats, to see what you can get for your money at the moment. Then we had tea and cake in the cafe before hitting the road.

The weather on the way home was horrendous, with heavy rain and spray making the motorway driving very difficult. We decided to break the journey by stopping at the Hatton Locks Cafe near Warwick for lunch, as it's not far off the M40. There were a couple of boats nearing the top of the Hatton flight, all crew members looking soaked and miserable.

Being Friday afternoon, the traffic was heavy all the way home, and we didn't get in until nearly 5pm.

It's been a great holiday. Just going to Llangollen and back felt much less ambitious than last year's three-week voyage. But it was good to retrace steps from (we calculated) 13 years ago. And we've discovered that it's actually quite nice to moor up at lunchtime, go and explore, and decide to stay put for the night. But the highlight has to be the Montgomery Canal. The weather was fantastic, the scenery superb, and the feeling of being on a secret waterway, a complete contrast from the Llangollen, made it feel extra special.

September Cruise - Day 14

2010-09-30T23:00:00.019+01:00

A complete change from yesterday: we woke up to a lovely sunny morning, although it was quite cold. We set off straight up the Adderley Locks, crossing with three boats on the way. Two hot air balloons were making the most of the weather.

At Market Drayton, we filled with water then moved through the bridge to the moorings, and walked into town for a few bits of shopping. Then we checked emails, as there was no signal at Adderley, and Norbury never has one either.

We set off again after lunch, and found ourselves as the middle boat of three going up the Tyrley Locks. The boat ahead lifted a paddle each time they left a lock, and I did the same for the boat behind.

It always seems a long slow journey back to Norbury, partly because of the miles of moored boats on the way. It's moderately interesting to look at them the first couple of times, but after that the novelty wears off.

We moored on the visitor moorings just short of the basin, leaving ourselves a couple of hundred yards to do tomorrow. We then had a go at washing the outside of the boat, but whether we made it better or worse was a matter of some debate. It began raining shortly afterwards anyway, so it won't have made much difference.

15 miles, 10 locks (152 miles, 112 locks)

September Cruise - Day 13

2010-09-29T23:00:00.001+01:00

I had to pick up a few things from Bill at the Nantwich Canal Centre first thing, so we reversed back to the water point to fill up while I was doing that. At the same time, I asked if there was en engineer who could have a look at the still-leaking water pump. It was becoming a real pain having the water turned off all the time, except when we really needed it. Ian the engineer confirmed what we'd suspected, that we needed a new pump, so Adrian backed through the bridge and brought Debdale into the basin, where the work was carried out.

It all meant that we didn't get away until 10am, but at least it had stopped raining. Below Hack Green Locks are two BW flats, full on new lock gates. Both locks are getting new gates in November.

We started up the Audlem Locks, planning to stop after the first four for lunch. At the third one, it began to rain again, and within minutes was really quite heavy. The fourth lock was done in a downpour, and we were soaked by the time we moored up. Soon afterwards, it cleared and the sun even put in an appearance.

After lunch, we made good progress up the locks, until a hire boat turned a lock in our faces. The crew claimed not to have seen us, which must mean they either didn't look, or they're blind. We moored for the night at the bottom of the Adderley locks, and there was a beautiful sunset followed by a dark starry night.

9 miles, 17 locks (137 miles, 102 locks)

September Cruise - Day 12

2010-09-28T18:03:00.000+01:00

It was a cool, misty start to the day. Marbury Lock was the first of the day, and we appeared to be on our own. As we approached the Wrenbury Lift Bridge, a boat pulled off the moorings and followed us through; they then operated the next bridge, so we were back in front. But by the time we reached the top of the Baddiley Locks, there were two boats in front of us. It was a while before we started meeting boats coming the other way. It was a similar story at the Swanley Locks, but at least it gave us a chance to talk to plenty of other crews, particularly the two ladies on the boat in front. By the time we reached Hurleston, we were in front because they'd stopped for fuel.

We were quickly down the locks, with just one boat coming up, and turned right towards Nantwich. When we reached the town we moored in a space on the embankment, and went over to the Nantwich Canal Centre. Adrian put some washing in, and we had an excellent lunch at the cafe. While we were there, Bill Saner, the MD of the Canal Centre came over (my review of one of his boats will be in the next edition of Canal Boat) to talk about another story -- so we ended up having a look at the work that had been done on a boat badly damaged by a falling tree.

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking a walk into Nantwich, which turns out to be a very nice town with lots of interesting buildings.

Back at the boat, we sat in the cratch reading the paper and watching the boats go by. It's clear that you have to be at Nantwich early to get a space!

10 miles, 10 locks (128 miles, 85 locks)

September Cruise - Day 11

2010-09-27T19:13:00.000+01:00

Rain overnight, and it's been a very dull day all day, with the odd shower of light rain. At least it made the journey through the meres quite atmospheric. Adrian went to Tesco for a paper, and we set off at 8.30. It was nearly an hour before we passed a boat coming the other way, but after that there were dozens of them -- most of them hire boats.

I'm afraid I find this lock-free section fairly uninteresting, particularly the two long straights across the Whixall Moss reserve. We made very steady progress, so decided to pop up the Whitchurch Arm for a lunch stop. The arm isn't very long, and we winded and moored near the junction end.

Leaving the arm, there's no right turn towards Grindley Brook, so I took the boat along to the winding hole, while Adrian stood by to lift the bridge. We arrived at the top of the Grindley Brook locks at 2pm, and had to wait for three boats to come up. Once we were going down, progress was quick, and there was another boat following us down. At the bottom of the staircase, there were three boats waiting, and there were boats at each of the three individual locks.

While I waited at the bottom lock, Adrian went to the nearby petrol station to get some coal, and my sister and family arrived for another visit. They had a ride down the lock and through the railway bridge (which is almost long enough to be a tunnel), which little Rachel was very excited by. We moored up at the visitor moorings, and had a couple of hours family time, during which Rachel fed the ducks, waved at boats, and said "door" for the first time.

Once the family had gone, we decided to do another hour, and went down three more locks, mooring for the night on the Shropshire Union Canal Society moorings just above Marbury locks. We're all on our own -- a first for this holiday.

16 miles, 9 locks. (118 miles, 75 locks)

September Cruise - Day 10

2010-09-26T18:21:00.000+01:00

The Navigation Inn was excellent. Very friendly atmosphere, a lovely bar with a roaring fire, and fantastic food. We'd have no hesitation in recommending it.

We woke this morning to another fantastic day. There was frost on the roof of the boat, a clear blue sky (with the moon still visible), and mist rising off the water. We wanted to be at the foot of the Frankton Locks in good time, so because of the speed limits we set off just after 8am. It was very cold, yet very sunny, and the canal looked spectacular. It's so quiet, it feels like a secret waterway. We were soon at the Aston Locks, which were in our favour, largely because we were the last boat down them. We met the only moving boat we saw on the canal today at one of the widest parts. Above Graham Palmer Lock, the level was very low. We made a quick stop at the services on the Weston branch for water and to dump rubbish, then went to the waiting area for the Frankton Locks. The only other boat due to go up was already there. I went to find the relief lock keeper to let him know we'd arrived. The other boat set off up the locks at 11.30, and we followed. There's a stall selling eggs and veg at one of the individual locks, so we bought a red cabbage. Between the two locks is a beautiful cottage on the off side.

At the staircase locks, we talked to a couple who were on their first hire boat holiday and had stopped to see locks in action before tackling them themselves. They only picked up their boat yesterday, but already seemed to have caught the bug.

We thoroughly enjoyed our excursion down the Monty. It's beautiful, secluded, and has plenty of interest. It will be even better when there's further to go -- although I hope it retains something of its secret status. The Shropshire Union Canal Society is currently running a fundraising campaign for the restoration. A barrow of boulders costs £5 -- surely something all boaters could afford to donate.

At the top of the locks, we stopped on the visitor moorings for lunch, and were entertained by a Black Prince boat trying to wind in the junction, and getting wedged across the corner several times. We then continued to Ellesmere, planning to stock up at Tesco for the rest of the week. We moored just outside the arm, on the junction.

After shopping, we decided to stay put, and sat in the cratch, reading and watching the comings and goings. It was sunny and warm; perfect.

9 miles, 8 locks. (102 miles, 66 locks)

September Cruise - Day 9

2010-09-25T18:19:00.000+01:00

There was absolutely no need for us to make an early start today. Even so, we set off at 8.30, on a fantastically sunny morning. We were soon approaching the two New Marton locks; the first was in our favour, and a boat was just coming up the second.

Shortly after 10am, we were moored on the lock waiting area at Frankton. I chatted to the relief lock keeper, David, who's been doing the job only since April. He's worked for BW for years at the Ponty aqueduct, but until he was asked to cover for the full-time lockie at Frankton, had never ever seen a lock!

Three boats were due to go down onto the Montgomery Canal, but the other two hadn't arrived by the time we set off. Four boats were coming up, and they were all waiting. The lock opening hours are 12 noon to 2pm, but we got underway at 11.30, and were at the bottom of the four locks (two are a staircase) by midday. We made a brief stop to dump the rubbish at the service point at the Weston branch, then continued down the shallow Graham Palmer Lock, before making a lunch stop at the Perry Aqueduct.

The Monty is beautiful, particularly on a lovely sunny day. There are speed limits of 3mph above Aston Locks and 2mph below them. We saw loads of butterflies and dragon flies, thousands of water boatmen, and big fish jumping out the water. The water is shallow, and at times the channel is narrow; at one point, a winding hole looked like a much better prospect than the channel itself. I was glad I had a map, so I knew I had to go under the bridge.

At the Aston Locks, the towpath was busy with people and families walking and cycling. Two boys out with their grandmother helped at the top lock, and two girls with their father and grandfather assisted at the second. Three of the four of them said they'd never before seen a lock being used. There aren't many boats on this canal. There are boats on permanent moorings at the bottom end of the canal, but we've seen very few visitors; in fact, assuming the two other expected boats followed us down Frankton Locks, we've calculated that there can be only nine visiting boats here tonight. It's a complete contrast to the Llangollen, where there are boats everywhere (and, I suspect, has the highest proportion of hire boats anywhere on the system).

We continued to the end of the current navigation, winded, and returned to the service point at Maesbury Marsh to fill up with water. There's good pressure at the tap, so it didn't take long. Then, at about 4.30, we went through Bridge 79 and moored for the night. We went for a walk round the village and visited the Canal Central shop and cafe. We plan to eat tonight at The Navigation Inn, beside Bridge 79. The former canal company building, Sycamore House, is just beyond. It's been a fantastic day's boating.

11 miles, 10 locks. (93 miles, 58 locks)

September Cruise - Day 8

2010-09-24T22:00:00.004+01:00

Trevor basin proved to be a very quiet mooring, once I'd been out at 10pm to ask the Black Prince boat behind to turn off its engine.

Heavy rain overnight, and it was still raining in the morning although it cleared up later. Brian and Mike left after breakfast, picking up their car from Anglo Welsh. We set off at 8.30, straight over the aqueduct. At Whitehouse Tunnel, we arrived at one end at about the same time a boat arrived at the other. They turned off their tunnel light to indicate that we should come through. It turned out to be a very unusual boat -- wheel steered from a position at the front.

By 10am, we were moored up at the north portal of Chirk tunnel. The towpath there is very soft and muddy, so we were pleased to find a couple of rings to moor to. We walked into Chirk, past the very sweet smelling Cadbury factory, to stock up for the next few days.

Next we make the one mile walk across the fields to Chirk Castle, where we walked round the fantastic gardens with fantastic views, had lunch in the cafe, and looked round the castle.

Setting off again, we had to wait for one boat to come through Chirk tunnel, then we headed through. At the other end, the Shroppie fly boat Saturn was just coming off the aqueduct, being towed by another boat.

We moored up at New Marton -- another early finish. Mid Wales Narrowboats, which seems to be the same as Maestermyn Cruisers and Welsh Lady Narrowboats, had clearly released a load of boats this afternoon, as a whole procession came past. The water pump is still leaking, but turning the water and the pump off makes it stop, so we'll just turn them on when we need them, and let Norbury Wharf sort it out on Friday.

7 miles, 0 locks. (82 miles, 48 locks)

Hillmorton Update

2010-09-24T17:57:00.000+01:00

You may remember my post about Hillmorton, in which I mentioned that Badsey's Cafe Bistro declined to serve us, as last orders were at 2pm, and we were a few seconds late.

The owner has now posted a comment in reply. I'll leave you to make up your own mind about it.

September Cruise - Day 7

2010-09-23T22:00:00.002+01:00

Today was supposed to be a non-traveling day, being tourists in Llangollen. But the discovery of a damp patch on the carpet, which we traced to a leaking water pump, meant a change of plan. Norbury Wharf arranged for Anglo Welsh at Trevor to have a look, but they had to do it today as tomorrow is changeover day for the hire boats. However, we managed to fit in a couple of touristy things first.

We walked up to Horseshoe Falls on the River Dee, where the water is diverted into the canal. As it's world Heritage Week for the aqueduct area, the Meter House was open. This is where the water is controlled, and was fascinating. Under the floor is a huge pipe which narrows and then widens again, in order to draw water from the river. 16 million gallons a day is taken for the canal.

Brian and Mike decided to go into Llangollen and walk down to Trevor, while we set off on the boat. Once there, we had a pump out and got some diesel, and an engineer had a look at the water pump. He replaced a seal and tightened things up; we'll keep monitoring it to see whether it's worked.

We moored through the bridge in the basin, and went for a walk down below the aqueduct to view it from river level. We had to wait ages for a boat to go across!

The weather swung wildly between heavy rain and warm sunshine. In the evening, we went to the Telford Inn for steak pie.

4 miles, 0 locks. (75 miles, 48 locks)

September Cruise - Day 6

2010-09-22T21:31:00.000+01:00

The most Septemberish morning of the trip so far: misty, with the sun breaking through. We set off at 8am through beautiful countryside. We started meeting boats coming the other way almost immediately, but by the time we got to the New Marton Locks, they were coming thick and fast. There were three waiting at the top of the second lock, and three more were just approaching. Fortunately, we didn't meet any in the narrow sections at Chirk Bank, immediately before the aqueduct. When we reached the aqueduct it was clear so we went straight across.

It was a different story in the short pound between the aqueduct and the tunnel, both of which are one-way working. There was one boat moored and two ahead of us waiting for the tunnel. A boat emerged coming the other way, but another couple of boats had already started coming through behind it. By the time they emerged, a boat was coming across the aqueduct, so they had nowhere to go. There was a bit of chaos for a few moments much to the amusement of the gongoozlers.

Once through the tunnel, we had our first encounter with a hire boat from Maestermyn. It appeared the boat was going to leave its moorings right in front of us, but the crew thought better of it, and decided to drift out from the bank instead. The woman at the helm was standing on the rear deck tugging furiously on a rope -- which was attached to the roof. She seemed surprised the boat wasn't responding.

We stopped for lunch at the moorings just before the lift bridge at Froncycllte. While we were eating on the front deck, the Maestermyn boat came past, weaving all over the canal and crashing into a narrow. Unfortunately several boats were coming the other way, all of whom were confused by its antics.

Then it was time for the main event, the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. It took ages to get across, as the Maestermyn boat was in the lead, and seemed to have trouble steering, even though the trough is wide enough for only one boat. But we enjoyed the crossing in the sunshine, talking to loads of people on the towpath, all of whom were enjoying the view.

We were dismayed to see the Maestermyn boat trying to make the turn to Llangollen. But after a fair section on tickover while it veered back and forth across the canal, the crew let us pass. The views of the mountains, one of which has the ruins of Dinas Bran Castle on top, were great.

The narrow sections were hard work against the flow, but at least nothing was coming the other way. We stopped at the BW portacabin to pay for our moorings (the first time we've ever paid to stop anywhere), and went into the basin. It was quite busy with boats, but Adrian did an excellent spin and reversed onto a pontoon. Rain had begun to fall, but we took a walk into town (where the shops were just closing, it being 5pm). We had a drink at the Bridge End Hotel before returning to the boat. It's now raining hard, but at least tomorrow's forecast isn't as bad as it was earlier.

15 miles, 2 locks (71 miles, 48 locks)

September Cruise - Day 5

2010-09-21T20:48:00.001+01:00

A lovely sunny morning, which turned into a warm day. We set off at 8.30, and soon had three lift bridges to work near Whitchurch, which was just as well as we had a lock-free day in prospect. There was another lift bridge just before Prees Junction, where we turned right onto the embankment across the mosses nature reserve. We stopped at a lovely mooring at Blake Mere, and had lunch at a picnic table overlooking the lake. It was then just a short journey to Ellesmere, where we turned up the town arm, winded in the basin at the end, and slotted into a vacant space. Ellesmere was busy with boats, and the junction is very attractive, overlooked by the former canal company headquarters.

We shopped and did a circular walk taking in the town centre, The Mere, and the canal. On the way back to the boat, I stopped to talk to Jan and Dai, the bloggers from Jandai. We set off again, stopping for water at the BW yard, before continuing until just beyond Frankton Junction where we moored for the night, and went for a walk around the junction.

17 miles, 0 locks. (56 miles, 46 locks)

September Cruise - Day 4

2010-09-20T20:51:00.001+01:00

We woke to leaden skies and some drizzle, but it soon brightened up. The Baddiley Locks were just around the corner from our mooring, and they were all in our favour thanks to an enthusiastic hire boat coming down. The next notable features were two lift bridges. The first was lifted by windlass, but the second was the electrically operated one at Wrenbury, which has flashing lights and stops traffic.

The next section of canal is long and fairly straight, through rolling countryside. The Shropshire Union Canal Society has put in excellent moorings in several places, all of which look like great places to stop. Four isolated locks followed, and we met boats at each one, some of which were returning from the canal weekend at Whitchurch.

Then it was on to Grindley Brook, where there are three individual locks followed by a staircase of three. We were lucky in following a boat up, and being allowed straight into the staircase with no waiting at all.

At the top, we filled with water, then moved down to the moorings and tied up for lunch. Afterwards, we had a visit from my sister and her husband, and their daughter Rachel, who's 18 months old. She enjoyed feeding the ducks and waving (very seriously) at passing boats. She got quite excited as she spotted boats approaching, and fortunately every boater waved back!

8 miles, 13 locks (39 miles, 46 locks)

September Cruise - Day 3

2010-09-19T20:35:00.000+01:00

It rained on and off overnight, and was still raining when we set off down the rest of the Audlem locks at 9am. There were a few boats coming up, which helped. There were more boats at the Hack Green locks. When we got to Nantwich, we squeezed onto the end of the water point, in front of another boat. While the tank was filling, Adrian went to the Nantwich Canal Centre shop to buy a new kettle. We then moved through the bridge and immediately moored up for lunch. The whole time we were in Nantwich, there were non-stop boats in both directions.

After lunch, we made the short journey to Hurleston Junction, to join the melee trying to get onto the Llangollen. We waited short of the bridge, while Brian and I went to find out what was going on. There were three boats in front of us, so we helped them all up the bottom lock. One of the boats was an old 70 footer with a vintage engine and a completely incompetent crew who didn't seem to have any idea what to do. It took them ages to get into each lock, and another age to get out again. It was quite windy across the pounds, which are very short, and their slowness caused all sorts of problems for the people coming down. At the top lock, the lock keeper gave them a right talking to, for allowing their children on the roof of the boat, among other things.

In all, it took more than an hour and a half from arriving at the junction, to leaving the top lock. Still, in spite of the frustrations of the boat in front, it was all good humoured, and even the weather had visibly cleared up, with even some blue sky appearing.

Once out of the top lock, we quickly caught up with the slow boat, which seemed incapable of going any faster than 1mph. Our tickover was too fast for them. Eventually, they let us and the following hire boat past.

We continued up the two Swanley Locks, then moored for the night in a lovely spot between bridges 12 and 13, on some Shropshire Union Canal Society moorings. We had a lovely roast chicken for dinner.

13 miles, 12 locks (31 miles, 33 locks)

September Cruise - Day Two

2010-09-18T23:00:00.001+01:00

We set off at 8.30 on a lovely sunny morning. The Shroppie was looking at its best, with the contrasts of the Shebdon Embankment, and the Woodseaves Cutting. There were very few boats coming the other way, although we met a hotel boat in a fairly narrow part of Woodseaves. It was only at Tyrley Locks that we started meeting boats coming up.

We stopped for water at Market Drayton, and Brian and Mike walked into town. It sounds as though it hasn't improved any, with plenty of closed shops. The majority of the others are charity shops. We carried on once the tank was filled, and they caught us up for lunch just beyond Bridge 66.

There was a rain shower while we were stopped, and a few more once we'd set off down the Adderley Locks. There's a stand at the top lock selling eggs and cakes, and we came away with some cup cakes. By the time we reached the top of the Audlem flight the rain was more persistent. There were a few boats coming up to start with, then we were at the back of a procession of boats going down.

We took the last mooring space below Lock 11. We're some way out thanks to the Shroppie shelf under the water. We had a walk round Audlem, then went to the Shroppie Fly for a drink before eating on board. It's been raining most of the evening, so we're hoping it will have passed through by the morning.

14.5 miles, 21 locks. (18 miles, 21 locks)

September Cruise - Day One

2010-09-17T20:30:00.009+01:00

A day dominated by a drive which at times I thought would never end. It started with a trip to Heathrow to pick up Adrian from his delayed flight. Our friends Brian and Mike who are joining us for the first week agreed to go to Norbury as arranged to receive our Tesco delivery. Then Brian drove to Trevor where we'd arranged parking for his car, and we went direct to there to pick him up. It was 4.45 by the time we eventually got to Norbury Wharf, but we left in record time, just fifteen minutes later.

We moored up just after 6 at Shebdon Wharf, right on the aqueduct. We retired to the Wharf Inn for a few drinks, before eating on board and having an early night. On the way back from the pub I took a photo of the aqueduct (although it was getting dark, so not a great photo).

3.5 miles, 0 locks.

Delayed

2010-09-17T08:18:00.000+01:00

By now, we should both be on the road. Adrian should be driving a hire car from Heathrow to Birmingham Airport, and I should be driving from home to Birmingham to pick him up, from where we'd continue to Norbury Junction. But a big storm in New York last night means his flight is four hours late, and instead of arriving at 7.40 this morning, it's now expected at 11.31. So I'm going to go to Heathrow to meet him, and our friends who are spending the first week with us will go to Norbury Wharf to meet the Tesco delivery. Once we've done the car shuffle, I'd be surprised if we get much beyond the junction bridge today!

Planning

2010-09-10T13:34:00.000+01:00

This time next week, we'll be in the process of starting our September cruise. We'll be heading from Norbury Junction up to Llangollen, somewhere we haven't been since our very first narrowboat holiday more than ten years ago. On that occasion, we started from Trevor, got as far as Wrenbury where we turned, then went up to Llangollen itslef before returning to Trevor. Llangollen will look very different this time, as the basin has been built since then.

Next Friday won't be a typical start day, though. Adrian will arrive back from a work trip to New York first thing in the morning, and is planning to get a hire car to drive to Birmingham Airport, where I'll pick him up. Then, because we've got some friends with us for the first week, we'll do a car shuffle, depositing their car ready to be picked up at the halfway point.

I notice that the finalised winter stoppage programme was published yesterday, after several months of consultation. British Waterways seem to have gone to much greater lengths this year to ensure that us winter boaters still have somewhere to go. we've got a fortnight planned in late November, and our idea of doing the Black Country Ring slowly looks to be completely clear of stoppages.

Hillmorton

2010-09-05T20:41:00.000+01:00

To Hillmorton Locks today for a boat test. As you might expect on a Sunday morning, it was very busy. We were following boats down the top lock, but at the middle locks it was a case of one up one down. For some reason, I took only one photo, and even that has very little in it.

We moored up below the locks, by which time it was raining, so David could do the interior photos, and I could have a closer look at the boat. Then it was a walk back up the locks, in the hope of lunch.

Arriving at Badsey's Cafe Bistro at approximately 30 seconds past 2, we were informed in no uncertain terms that food stopped at 2, and we were too late. Apparently a party of four for lunch isn't worth staying open for. We instead went to the Royal Oak, just along the canal next to Blue Haven Marina. And I didn't take any photos there, either.

Aldermaston Wharf

2010-08-29T21:42:00.000+01:00

On the way home from the IWA National yesterday, we went through Aldermaston and saw a sign for Aldermaston Wharf and visitor centre. The centre was closed, although there was a wedding party there having photos taken. But we walked down the canal past Reading Marine to Padworth Lock, where two narrowboats were about to come up, and a widebeam was waiting behind.

Back the other way is Aldermaston Lift Bridge, where they're building a new waiting area, and beyond is Aldermaston Lock, which has scalloped sides.

There were plenty of boats coming and going, but the electronic mechanism on the bridge makes boaters wait for several minutes before opening it again. It's not surprising. The whole process takes quite a long time, and because it's quite a busy road the queues build up quite quickly.

IWA National Festival

2010-08-28T21:59:00.000+01:00

Today we've been to the IWA National Festival at Beale Park near Pangbourne on the Thames. The sun shone, and there was plenty to see.

They said 450 boats were booked in to visit the show. And having walked from one end of the river moorings to the other, I think don't think they were over-estimating.

River Wey

2010-08-27T21:50:00.000+01:00

Here's the final instalment of Sunday's Thames trip on Indigo Dream, in which we turned off the Thames onto the River Wey. Immediately after the turn, there's an array of possible ways to go, of which the correct one is the least likely looking. Then it's just a short distance until you reach the stop gate.

I'd read about this, but it wasn't until I'd seen it in real life that I fully understood what was going on. Through the gate is a reasonably sized pound, with Thames Lock just round the corner, under the bridge. There's not enough depth to get boats over the cill into the lock, but a lockful of water let into the pound raises the water level enough. Having spoken to the lock keeper, a little narrowbeam Dutch barge and Indigo Dream went into the stop pound. A boat was coming down, and once they'd left the lock we went in.

The rule in Wey locks is to turn off the engine, use ropes, and leave the gates open on exit. The lock keeper does all the work at Thames Lock, and she was quite gentle with the paddles, which is probably just as well, as they let a huge jet of water into the lock.

Next to Thames Lock is a lovely little cottage, which doubles as the lock keeper's office. Once we'd risen in the lock, Richard went to get a Wey licence, and ask the lock keeper about moorings. It took a little while, and we suspected that our locking companions would have already gone up in the next lock, Town Lock, which is approached across a large pool. In fact, they'd had to turn the lock, and we arrived just at the right time.

The third Wey lock is Coxes Lock, which has a huge mill next to it. The building has been converted into flats, and at ten storeys tall it must house a lot of people.

By this time it was beginning to rain, and by the time we got to New Haw Lock it was quite steady. Consequently, I seem to have omitted to take its photo. The lock has angled metal arms as balance beams, because the road bridge is too close. It seems they've been there only a couple of weeks, replacing ropes, which by all accounts made opening the gates very hard work.

We moored up just above the lock, in front of the old working boat Fulbourne. It was just after 8pm, and getting dark. We'd planned to go to the pub next to the river, which has a Thai restaurant, but they don't do food on Sunday evenings so we all went to the Chinese restaurant instead. It had been a long but very enjoyable day, with some great boating and excellent company, topped off with good food. Adrian and I then got a taxi to Woking station, and a train back to Guildford, where my car was parked.

Thames Locks

2010-08-25T22:13:00.001+01:00

Back to Sunday's trip up the Thames on Indigo Dream. Above Brentford, we encountered traffic of varying sizes, from apparent paddle steamers to little sailing boats.

Soon we arrived at Teddington Lock, the end of the tidal Thames. As there were lots of boats, partly because of the SPCC convoy and partly because of all the people heading for the IWA National Festival at Beale Park, we were directed to the huge barge lock. We were the last boat in, of seventeen. Even so, there was plenty of room.

At Kingston, there were three unusual, huge boats moored up. I'm assuming they don't actually go anywhere.

The next lock, Molesey Lock, is just past Hampton Court. There was a bit of a scrum to get in, with a large white plastic cruiser particularly keen to make sure he wasn't left out. The lock keeper didn't seem that concerned about packing the boats in, so we ended up waiting for the next locking. We shared with a number of narrow boats, a cruiser, a day boat with a birthday party on board, and a rowing eight.

At Sunbury Lock, the lock keeper was determined to get as many boats as possible in. We were packed in like sardines, with the 70ft narrow boat next to use quite close to the bottom gates.

After Sunbury, our next destination was Weybridge, where we were due to turn off the Thames onto the River Wey.

Aston Marina

2010-08-24T19:44:00.000+01:00

Today I've been to Aston Marina on the Trent and Mersey near Stone in Staffordshire, for a boat test. It's much more than a boat park, having a huge farm shop selling local produce, and a rather up market bistro.

The marina itself is still fairly empty. But it's changed a lot since we came past on Debdale during our September cruise last year. Back then, it was still at the "little more than a hole in the ground" phase.

Tidal Thames

2010-08-24T06:00:00.005+01:00

The forecast for Sunday had been less than promising, so it was no surprise to wake up to a dull, damp, day. It was raining as we walked down to Limehouse basin, for another redezvous with Indigo Dream. On the way to the boat, we met Halfie, preparing for the same trip as us: up the tidal Thames to Teddington and beyond. There was a convoy of around fifteen boats setting off, and we'd be in the last locking.

As we went round to Limehouse Lock, where we picked up another couple of passengers, Bea and Henry, who'll be doing this trip on their shared boat next weekend, the sun came out. Then it was into the lock with two other boats. They hadn't done the trip before, and wanted to follow Indigo Dream, so we were first out onto the tideway.

The water was a little choppy, but not too bad. It's only really when you look back and see how small narrowboats look on the river, and how they're bobbing up and down, that you realise that we must look the same.

There was plenty of boat traffic, so Richard was at the helm. He's done this several times before. It wasn't long before a Thames Clipper loomed up behind, although he both slowed down and waved.

Tower Bridge is the first real landmark. To be absolutely correct, you should go through the right hand span, but as there was no traffic around, we treated ourselves to the centre span.

After that, the landmarks come thick and fast: City Hall, the Oxo Tower, the South Bank Centre, the London Eye, and the Houses of Parliament.

After Vauxhall Bridge, I took over on the helm. There's much less commercial traffic on this part of the river, although I did still have to steer into the wash of some large boats. It's noticeable, though, that the water is much calmer, because there's less traffic. Soon we were passing the Battersea Power Station, and then on through Putney, Fulham, and Hammersmith.

Before long, we were at Brentford, where the other boats from our locking were leaving the Thames to join the Grand Union.

They were replaced by boats who were just joining the river from the GU, so we still had quite a convoy on our hands as we continued towards Teddington.

The next part of the journey will be in another blog post, otherwise this one will reach ludicrous proportions.

Thames Barrier

2010-08-23T13:59:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, I had to go to work.

Adrian, however, didn't. So he joined Sue and Richard of Indigo Dream, plus a whole convoy of boats, on a trip from Limehouse to the Thames Barrier. It was organised by the St Pancras Cruising Club.

At some point, Adrian might get round to writing a few words about the trip. Until then, here's a selection of his photos. It won't surprise you to learn that by the time he was back on dry land, his face was aching from smiling so much! Work really does get in the way sometimes.

Summer Run and Caxton's stretch

2010-08-10T17:41:00.000+01:00

A bumper Canal Boat for me this month. First, there's mu boat test of Summer Run, a Cauldon boat shown at Crick, with a parking place for a mobility scooter on the front.

Then there's an article about the stretch that Caxton had back at the start of the year.

In between is a piece by the Editor, Nick, about Barry and Sandra from Northern Pride, surely one of the most visually pleasing blogs around.

Castlefield

2010-08-06T20:34:00.002+01:00

Adrian is in Manchester for the weekend, for the birthday party of Alex, who joined us on board Debdale for a few days last September. He's staying at the Hilton in the Beetham Tower, and has a view of Castlefield from the window. (I, however, am working all weekend.) You can see where Debdale was moored during our visit last year -- and here's a photo taken from Castlefield looking back at the tower.

Mobile internet

2010-08-04T15:40:00.000+01:00

Our mobile broadband contract with 3 had expired, so they sent us an offer for a new, faster dongle. The cost was the same, but the monthly allowance was a lot less, down from 5GB per month to 1GB. We rarely use anything like 5GB in a month, but it’s nice to know it’s there. So Adrian rang them and said we’d like the new dongle, and we’d like to keep paying the same. And we’d like to continue our existing allowance. After a while, they said yes.

When the new dongle arrived, we discovered it had nowhere to plug in the antenna we stick on the roof of the boat to improve the signal. A bit of research turned up a little device which plugs into the antenna, and connects to the dongle merely by touch. It’s held on with a bit of velcro.

I can’t yet tell whether it works. The connection with the antenna doesn’t match, so I’ve had to buy an FME to SMA connector from eBay. So it looks as though all the savings from the 3 contract are being spent on all the bits and pieces to go with it.

Self managed

2010-08-03T21:16:00.000+01:00

So, after Saturday's owners' meeting, Debdale is now officially self managed. It was a very productive and useful meeting, with a number of owners taking on various jobs, and lots of decisions taken. For example, from next year, we'll change from a Friday changeover day to Saturday.

Owners' meeting

2010-07-31T11:00:00.000+01:00

Newbury Waterways Festival

2010-07-25T17:08:00.000+01:00

This afternoon, we paid a visit to the Newbury Waterways Festival. It's organised by the K&A Canal Trust. The boats were moored upto five abreast, and included the Narrowboat Trust pair Nuneaton and Brighton in their new livery.

Victoria Park, next to the canal, was full of stalls all around the boating lake. It was like a traditional fair, with attractions like a coconut shy. We bought three ducks for the duck race.

Dragon boats

2010-07-15T23:30:00.000+01:00

In my late break at work this evening, I hopped on the Hmmersmith and City line to Paddington, to watch some of the dragon boat racing on a stretch of the Paddington Arm.

There were numerous teams taking part, many in fancy dress or team outfits. The course itself was very short, taking between 30 and 40 seconds for each race, and everyone seemed to enjoy being yelled at by the instructors from the company organising it.

Poyntz Bridge

2010-07-11T17:51:00.000+01:00

Today, the Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society was swinging Poyntz Bridge on the Chichester Canal. This bridge is usually left open, so it's not often you can walk across. There are school playing fields on the other side.

The Chichester Canal Trust trip boat was making its regular excursions down the canal, so the bridge had to be swung out of the way.

In spite of being a canal which is only a couple of miles long and not connected to anything, the water was quite busy. In addition to the trip boat, there were half a dozen rowing boats, and later a load of canoes and kayaks too.

Oakapple on test

2010-07-05T16:00:00.000+01:00

The August issue of Canal Boat is out, and includes my review of the Barn Owl boat, Oakapple, which won Best in Show at the Crick Boat Show at the end of May. This test was carried out at Shirley on the North Stratford Canal, as the owners made their way back home to Worcester.

Zoe on test

2010-06-11T17:12:00.000+01:00

The July issue of Canal Boat is out, and includes by boat test of Zoe, a widebeam by Piper Boats. This test was done on a lovely sunny at Apsley Marina on the Grand Union.

Droitwich Canal

2010-06-07T12:45:00.002+01:00

Part of the reason for visiting Hanbury Wharf was to see the restored locks at the end of the Droitwich Canal. They were completed in 2002, according to a plaque, and it's hoped it won't be too much longer before they're back in use. Here's the junction: Worcs and Birmingham Canal continues to the left, Droitwich to the right.

Beyond the bridge, which has a chain across it, are a few moored boats. It's a pleasant spot, apart from the busy road which runs alongside.

The locks will probably need a bit of tidying up when the Droitwich Canal re-opens, to remove the plants growing in the walls. The water level in the pound below the lock is a couple of feet lower than it should be, but even so, it's a deep lock.

There are three locks in total here.

Shirley, Alvechurch, and Hanbury Wharf

2010-06-05T22:18:00.001+01:00

To Shirley on the North Stratford today, for a boat test. We parked at The Drawbridge and walked down to where the boat was moored between bridges 9 and 10. The summit pound is several inches lower than it should be, and it's a deep draughted boat, so we spent quite a lot of our trip dragging the bottom. At the Shirley Lift Bridge, we probably upset quite a few motorists, as a large lump of rope round the prop meant that our progress through the bridge was extremely slow -- quite a large queue had built up by the time we made it. It was lunchtime by the time the test was completed, so we went to the pub for lunch with David, the photographer, (in payment for our parking!) You'd think that as hyalf a dozen boats came through the bridge while we were there, I'd have at least one photo. But I haven't.

Leaving the pub at about 2pm, we decided to visit a couple of other canal places that we haven't seen for many years, and about which we remember nothing. We did the Stourport Ring on a hire boat some ten years ago, but memories are very few and far between. So first stop was Alvechurch, where we parked near Bridge 64 and walked along the tow path to Alvechurch Boat Centre and back. The tow path was well used, and lined with yellow irises.

A little Anglo Welsh day boat came chugging along, and at ABC there were loads of hire boats, presumably between outings.

We decided to head for Hanbury Wharf, near the junction of the Droitwich Canal. Our route took us through Stoke Wharf, where we passed the Black Prince base. We parked at Hanbury Wharf, hoping for an ice cream, but the shop was closed. So after a look at the locks on the Droitwich, we went to the Eagle and Sun for a cold drink and a slice of cheesecake, sat outside overlooking the Worcs and Birmingham.

Then it was back home, via the M5 and the M4, a route which somehow seems more pleasant than the long slog down the A34.

Lady Teal

2010-06-04T07:00:00.002+01:00

One of the boats (yes that is a boat, not a brick) which had long queues all day at Crick, was the widebeam hotel boat, Lady Teal. The queues were so long, we made do with looking through the windows. Lady Teal was fitted out by Milburn Boats, and will operate on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. It's based on an L&L Short Boat, so it's 60ft long, and 13ft wide.

Laplander

2010-06-03T07:15:00.000+01:00

One of the old boats at Crick was Laplander, a steam powered ice breaker. As we walked along the tow path, we could hear the distinctive sound of its whistle. The chimney is so tall, a crew member has to lower it to get under bridges.

Ellesmere Port and the MSC

2010-06-02T14:44:00.000+01:00

Speaking to Richard and Sue of Indigo Dream the other evening about Ellesmere Port and the Manchester Ship Canal, reminded me that I never got round to posting some pictures from our visit (by car) in April.

One of the first things that struck us was that we couldn't understand why the bridge over the lock down onto the MSC needs to be swung, as there appeared to be plenty of headroom even before the water was let out.

Later, I learned that the water level in the basin at Ellesmere Port has been lowered, while work is carried out on the broad locks. The level is down by as much as four feet, meaning that much more of a sunken boat is visible than usual. It appears that normally only the top of the funnel sticks out of the water.

On the day we visited, the Ship Canal was flat calm, and would have posed no problems at all to narrowboats. We've investigated doing the trip from here to the River Weaver, but the Ship Canal company insist that shared boats aren't allowed,

The view across the canal and the Mersey to Liverpool was great, with both cathedrals clearly visible.

Indigo Dream

2010-06-01T16:16:00.001+01:00

Sometimes, a lack of planning works really well.

It became clear during Sunday that we didn't really need to go back to the Crick show on Monday, so we began to wonder what canal-related activity we could fill our Bank Holiday Monday with. We knew Sue and Richard from Indigo Dream had been moored at Billing Aquadrome on their way back up the Nene, so wondered if they might need a bit of help with some locks. As we were driving away from Crick, we established that they were just entering Blisworth Tunnel and planning to moor at Stoke Bruerne overnight. We'd been wondering where to eat that evening, and thought Stoke Bruerne would be as good a place as any.

And so it happed that as Indigo Dream emerged from the tunnel, we were just walking up to the tunnel mouth. We knew there were no moorings above the locks, so grabbed a windlass each and worked the boat down a couple of locks to the long pound, where there was an Indigo Dream sized space on the visitor moorings. It wasn't long before four humans and two dogs were sat under the patio heaters at The Navigation, eating, drinking, and talking. And toilets were mentioned only once, and even then only in passing. It was a really enjoyable evening, and it was gone 10 before we headed back to our hotel which turned out to be only ten minutes away.

The next morning we were back at Indigo Dream again, with the intention of providing a lock crew for the decent of the remaining five locks. On Richard's advice, we parked free beside the penultimate lock, then walked up to the boat where we were plied with tea and coffee before setting off. A passing remark from Sue about steering saw Adrian hesitate for almost half a second before taking the tiller. Richard and I worked the locks -- I'd forgotten how large and heavy these Grand Union lock gates are. We thought a rather frail looking couple were going to wait for us in the lock below, but they didn't. However, we caught them up at the next lock, and they were grateful to be able to stay on their boat while we did the work. There were a few boats coming up, some of whom even knew what they were doing.

Once at the bottom, we stayed on board for a couple of miles, surprised at how busy the canal was. There were boats in both directions, including Nutfield and Raymond. At about noon, we hopped off and left Sue and Richard to continue their journey back towards London. We'd had a very enjoyable morning in excellent company, and are looking forward to seeing them again in London during the summer. We walked the two miles back to Stoke Bruerne in about half and hour, and saw Nutfield and Raymond again, just leaving the lock where the car was parked.

In the village, the whole place was swarming with people. We went for lunch at The Boat. We sat outside even though it wasn't very warm, and watched the trip boat loading up for its first visit of the day to the tunnel mouth. There must have been about 35 or 40 people on board, each paying £3 for a trip lasting about 25 minutes. Then it was back in car for the drive home, which was successfully completed before the Bank Holiday traffic really got going.

Crick Show 2010

2010-05-31T18:55:00.000+01:00

We decided to make a weekend of Crick, even though I was at work on Saturday. Adrian came up to London on the train and met me at work. We were on the road as soon as the 1700 news was out of the way, and arrived at our hotel on the outskirts of Northampton a couple of hours later.

Saturday had been a rainy day, so we weren't too disappointed not to have been at the show, and the forecast for Sunday was much better. Sure enough, although it was breezy, Sunday was bright and sunny. Our media passes let us into the show before the doors were open, so we were able to start talking to builders and looking at boats before the crowds built up. Several firms said that although the number of visitors to the show on Saturday had been lower than usual, the people who had braved the rain were serious buyers. Among the boats we looked at during the day were the Fernwood, William Piper, and Stoke on Trent Boats. We also had a chat with Bruce Napier and Sheila and had a guided tour round Sanity Again, their new Braidbar.

As we were waiting to look at the Barnowl boat, Oakapple, the editor of Canal Boat, Nick, came along with a camera man. They're making a DVD of Crick boats. We had a look round the boat, then kept the crowds at bay while Nick did an interview with Stuart, the boat builder. Oakapple went on to be voted the best boat at the show.

The show seemed a lot smaller this year. The number of boat builders was down, but the biggest change was in the land based area. There was only one big marquee, and the stalls outside also seemed a lot smaller. We chatted to Paul from Waterway Routes, and later in the day went to find Fiona and John from Epiphany who were on the NABO stand. During the afternoon, we also went for a walk along the towpath, spotting such boats as Alnwick and Derwent6, although both had no-one at home.

By late afternoon it was obvious that many people had already headed home. We went for a drink in the sunshine, amazed to find it was nearly 6 o'clock, then headed back to the hotel. On the way, we formulated a plan which resulted in a lovely evening ... of which more later.

Crick Show

2010-05-20T13:46:00.000+01:00

My media pass for the Crick Show has arrived, and it's a big improvement on last year. In the past, the media pass has consisted of a bit of paper, wonkily put through a photo copier. This year, it's a proper credit-card sized piece of plastic. I wonder if the organisers have arranged a similar upgrade to the weather?

Kidderminster Mural

2010-05-18T15:39:00.002+01:00

Dropping down Kidderminster Lock is like moving from one world to another. At the top, you have the idyllic scene of the canal and the lock, overlooked by the impressive church and its grounds. Below the lock, you're under the ring road in a lengthy underpass.

Sue on No Problem had blogged about the mural, but I still wasn't quite prepared for how dramatic it was. A series of faces of a young man through the decades. It's certainly a big change from how it was before.

1920s and 1940s:

1960s:

1980s:

2000:

2010:

Moorhen chicks

2010-05-17T05:49:00.000+01:00

We spent a long time watching five moorhen chicks and their parents at Kinver. The adults were continually going backwards and forwards with food, and having to round up the chicks after they wandered off through the reeds. And while there were ducklings at every turn, this was the only family of moorhens we saw.

May Cruise Photos

2010-05-16T05:30:00.001+01:00

I've put a set of photos from our May cruise on flickr. There are almost seventy of them.

Revilo on test

2010-05-15T13:11:00.000+01:00

This month's Canal Boat was waiting for us when we got home, and it includes my review of Revilo, a 60ft boat by GWV with a Russell Newbery engine in the back. A lovely boat, and really quite special to steer.

May Cruise - Day 8

2010-05-14T20:00:00.001+01:00

Just a couple of hundred yards to go this morning, in light rain, up to the basin where we reversed onto the wharf. We got there just in time, as a few minutes later boats started arriving back in all directions. Then it was just a matter of loading up the car and heading home.

It's been a great trip, in spite of the cold weather and a couple of days of rain. We couldn't remember much about the lower half of the Staffs and Worcs, yet it's a beautiful canal with plenty of interest. The unplanned jaunt onto the River Severn added to our enjoyment.

May Cruise - Day 7

2010-05-13T14:29:00.000+01:00

We set off at 8.30, straight into Wightwick Lock. At Compton Lock, there was already a boat going up. We turned back onto the Shroppie at Autherley Junction, and went through the stop lock.

The boat we'd see earlier was just ahead of us, and managed to get their stern stuck on the end of the slipway at Napton Norrowboats. A lot of pushing and pulling wasn't working, so we attached a rope to our bow, and gave them a tug backwards. Eventually, they came free.

It was fairly sunny, and even warm at times, as we headed towards Wheaton Aston. Once down the lock we stopped at the water point, and had lunch while the tank filled. We then washed one side of the boat. Of course, during the next stretch towards Norbury Junction, we went through a rain shower.

We got to Norbury at 4.30, and moored up on the towpath side, leaving just a couple of hundred yards for the morning. We washed the other side of the boat, which was promptly followed by the inevitable shower of rain.

18 miles, 5 locks (105, 75)

May Cruise - Day 6

2010-05-12T20:28:00.001+01:00

A sunny start and end to the day, but in between we had rain and even hailstone at times. We left the moorings at Kinver at 8.30, having spent quite a while watching the moorhen chicks, and a family of ducklings. The first few locks were in our favour, including Hyde Lock, with its lovely lock cottage with the garden gates like mini lock gates.

Gothersley Lock was full, so we knew we must have someone in front of us. As we passed Ashwood Marina, we noticed Breaking the Ice moored outside, facing the other way from on our way down. At Greensforge Lock, we caught up with Xilion Rose, and I had a chat with Malcolm and Annie. We stopped at the water point, and this time got the slower tap (the more northerly one), so spent the best part of an hour there. In fact, we were there so long we had lunch while we were waiting.

At Botterham Staircase Locks the broken paddle had been fixed, which makes you wonder why some have BW Aware notices on for years. When we arrived at The Bratch, Xilion Rose were on their way up, and the lock keeper said we could follow them. The sun also came out for the first time in several hours. In spite of it being a wet Wednesday, there were still a few gongoozlers around. Ebstree Lock and Dimmingsdale Locks had both had the balance beams repainted. There were wet paint signs, but Adrian found it difficult opening and closing the gates without getting paint on him. Above Dimmingsdale Lock is a fantastic mooring, on the off side. It had been empty on our way down, but had a boat on it today. We carried on to Wightwick, mooring for the night immediately below Wightwick Lock.

12 miles, 18 locks. (87, 70)

May Cruise - Day 5

2010-05-11T21:50:00.001+01:00

You'd think that a Monday night in Worcester would make for a nice quiet mooring. But we were woken at 3am by some drunken lads running up and down the roof. We didn't get a lot more sleep after that.

We left Worcester at 8. It was sunny but very cold, and progress was a little slower against the flow of the Severn. There were very few other boats about, but we joined one in Lincomb Lock, the last before Stourport. They let us leave first, as they wanted to watch us enter the locks up to the basin so they knew where to go (although it wasn't an entirely successful plan, as they over-shot and had to double back to get into the bottom staircase). Then it was up the York Road Lock, where we started meeting boats coming in the other direction, many of them Alvechurch hire boats. Although it was still cold, the sun came out for prolonged periods, making stretches of the canal really attractive, like Caldwall Lock.

At Kidderminster Lock we came up behind a Black Prince boat with a couple of South Africans on board who took everything very slowly. They didn't like using the gate paddles, so each lock took an age. At Wolverley Lock, there were boats all over the place, and we also met a boat in the narrow section just after Graham Booth's house (and boat) at Wolverley.

Our mooring for the night was at Kinver, where we saw our first moorhen chicks, on a nest on the other side of the canal. They provided plenty of entertainment. In the evening, we had a great meal at The Vine, next to Kinver Lock.

21 miles, 14 locks. (75, 52)

May Cruise - Day 4

2010-05-10T18:01:00.002+01:00

A cooked breakfast to celebrate a non-working Monday (although I work only 50 per cent of Mondays anyway), then we set off at 9am. We were soon in Kidderminster, with the picturesque lock below the church -- although what you can't see is the ring road over the tail.

We stopped at the moorings by Tesco to restock, and I mopped the roof of the boat. It was lovely and sunny and quite warm. Setting off again, we were soon in Stourport. Our plan of mooring at York Road for lunch was scuppered by a lack of space, so we went down into the basins and filled with water while having lunch. Then it was down the two staircases onto the River Severn.

We'd had a plan to moor on the river pontoons, but there were no spaces there either, so we decided to head down the river and go through one of the big Severn locks. Having done that, we made a snap decision to carry on to Worcester -- it's only about three hours, and we could easily get back in time. The river was lovely -- flat calm, very little flow, great reflections. Swans flew overhead and swallows darted about catching flies. Progress was quick and we were soon in Worcester.

The river in Worcester was very busy with rowers and canoeists. We went down past the Cathedral before turning near the locks up to Diglis Basin, mooring on the river between the railway bridge and the pedestrian bridge. We were on our own to start with, but first two more boats then another arrived, so we were four narrowboats all moored together.

19 miles, 12 locks. (54, 38)

May Cruise - Day 3

2010-05-09T21:03:00.002+01:00

We woke to bright sunshine, a great contrast to yesterday. We set off at 8.30, and were the first boat down The Bratch. The lock-keeper's son helped us through.

Botterham staircase locks were quite slow, as there's only one paddle working on the bottom lock. I was expecting the BW Aware ticket to have a date of 2003 on it, but in fact it was only put there last week. We last did this canal about ten years ago, but neither of us can remember anything about it. This came as a big surprise to us, as it's so picturesque -- you'd think we'd remember a lot of it. Pretty lock followed pretty lock, with lovely stretches of canal in between, flanked by red stone cliffs and bluebell woods. We stopped for lunch next to the remains of the round tower beyond Gothersley Lock. Nowadays there's just a wall about three feet tall. It used to look like the tower at Gailey.

We soon reached Stourton Juntion, but carried on down the Staffs and Worcs. Hyde Lock has a lovely cottage with garden gates shaped like lock gates. Whittington Lock is even prettier, and the lock cottage there is for sale. Debdale enjoyed Debdale Lock, even though it's not the Debdale she's named after (that's on the Leicester Line).

The pub garden next to Wolverley Lock was packed with people enjoying the sunshine. We moored up for the night just below the lock, and roasted a chicken for dinner.

13.5 miles, 18 locks (35, 26)