Birthday Cruise -- Day 1

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.

September Cruise - Day 14

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)

May Cruise - Day 7

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)

New Year Cruise - Day Seven

When we looked out just after midnight last night, there was already a very hard, sparkly frost, and ice was beginning to form in around the front of the boat. This morning, we were woken up by a tremendous cracking noise -- which turned out to be a load of ducks breaking the ice. It was a beautiful morning: cold, frosty and sunny. We set off at 9.30, breaking the relatively thin ice between Market Drayton and the Tyrley Locks. There were quite a few walkers about, and we all wished each other a happy new year. At the locks, there was quite a bit of ice about, and the frost was so hard it looked like snow.

There was no ice through the Woodseaves Cutting, but along the next stretch, towards Goldstone Wharf, the ice was up to half an inch thick. We could see that a boat had left the moorings there, so we were no longer carving a path through the ice. It turned out to be the Anglo Welsh boat we saw yesterday -- we met shortly afterwards heading back towards base.

By now it had clouded up, and soon started snowing. At first it was just a few small flakes, then the flakes got bigger and the snowfall heavier.



We stopped for lunch and a warm up at the Knighton moorings, where the sun came out again. After lunch, we continued back to Norbury, passing the miles of moored boats. At Norbury, we decided it would probably be wise to spend the night in the basin, as more freezing temperatures are forecast tonight. Even so, getting into a mooring alongside another OwnerShips boat, proved hard work. We had to smash lots of ice with a pole to get close, but if it freezes it will save even more work tomorrow morning.

11 miles, 5 locks. (35, 50)

New Year Cruise - Day One

Having looked at the weather and seen how much warmer it was, we took the decision to head to the boat. We set off a little bit apart, in two cars, as we'll be heading in slightly different directions at the end of the trip.

I arrived first, just before 1.30, and was relieved to see the canal was mostly liquid. The temperature was 7 or 8 degrees, and it was a nice sunny afternoon, with plenty of walkers on the towpath. It was still very cold on the boat, so I immediately lit the fire and put the central heating on. I unloaded my car onto the boat, with more difficulty than usual. We knew Norbury Wharf would be closed, and that there would be no vehicle access onto the wharf itself. What we didn't know was that I'd have to climb over the fence. I knew Adrian's mum wouldn't be able to do that, so I set off northwards, mooring just beyond the bridge, opposite Starcross.

At around 2.30, Adrian and his mum arrived, and we made several trips along the towpath to unload the car. We decided not to go any further today, so we sorted ourselves out and had an early dinner on board.

200 yards, 0 locks.

September Cruise - Day Twenty-one

We left Coven at 8.10 on a cold and cloudy morning for the final leg of our journey. About an hour later we turned from the Staffs and Worcs onto the Shropshire Union at Autherley Junction. Napton hire boats were moored four abreast across the canal on the other side of the stop lock. As we continued north, we passed a surprising number of boats heading south, considering that the canal doesn't go anywhere at the moment. As the morning went on, the sun came out, although it was still quite chilly especially in the long cuttings. We stopped at Brewood and found that Pip and Roger from Windsong were moored a couple of boats along. This time, we were able to have a proper chat.

We walked into Brewood and found a good selection of shops. The butcher was particularly good. BW were doing a lot of work along the canal, mowing and strimming the towpath and clearing lots of overgrowth on the offside.

We set off again for Wheaton Aston to fill with water. All three water points were occupied when we arrived, but Windsong were just about to leave so we took their spot. We had lunch while the tank filled, then continued north, passing Windsong again moored up for the weekend in a nice open spot. It was about 4.15 when we arrived at Norbury Junction, but not wanting to spend the night in the basin we tied up on the visitor moorings. There was plenty of late afternoon sunshine, so we went for a walk up to the bridge. We saw a report on the local TV news the other evening about how the stoppage on the Shroppie is badly affecting businesses like Norbury, now that there's so little passing trade. But the yard does seem to be making the most of the stoppage in one sense: there were eight boats moored across the canal.


19 miles, 2 locks (264, 190)