Lunchtime fix

I felt I needed a quick canal fix this lunchtime, so I went for a walk along part of the Grand Union Paddington Arm. From work, I got the tube to Westbourne Park, a station I've never used before. The Grand Union pub and a rather ornate bridge were indiations that I was in the right place. I walked along the towpath towards Ladbroke Grove. No moving boats today (I missed Epiphany by a couple of days!) but I was pleased to see a couple of huge barges next to a building site. It looks as though they've been used to transport materials to the development. Once I got to Ladbroke Grove, I walked down to the tube station, which turned out to be a bit further than expected. Then it was just two stops back to Wood Lane, and work.

Farmer's Bridge

Friday 14 November 2008. The most surprising thing on this evening was how few visiting boats were moored in Birmingham. There were three at the end of the Oozells Street Loop. And that was all. There were none on the main line, none at the top of Farmer's Bridge, none on the visitor moorings at Cambrian Wharf. The other side of the Broad Street Tunnel, there were none by Gas Street Basin, and none along by the Mailbox.

Knowle Locks

We broke out journey to Birmingham on Friday by having a walk at Knowle Locks. We came up the locks during our September cruise, and completed the flight so quickly (thanks to pairing up with a hire boat with a multitude of crew, and a bit of synchronised boating to get from one lock to the next), that we didn't really have time to look around. This time, we found a little car park by Bridge 73 and walked down the towpath to the locks. The pounds are very wide, and you can clearly see where the six old narrow locks used to be. The lock cottage, which is the same design as the ones at Stockton and Cape, is being renovated. Just above the locks is Stephen Goldsbrough Boats, although I understand that Stephen Goldsbrough himself no longer owns the business.

Owners' Meeting

Today we've been in Birmingham for the Debdale owners' meeting. We actually went up yesterday (via the Hatton Locks Cafe for lunch, and Knowle Locks for a walk), and stayed in Birmingham overnight. There's a Frankfurt Christmas Market in the city centre, and a huge Christmas tree at The Mailbox, built on a platform over part of the canal arm.

We could see Gas Street Basin from our hotel room.


We'd met most of the other owners at last year's meeting, but there were a couple of couple who were new to us. The big decision was next year's mooring: we decided to leave Stockton Top and move to Norbury Junction on the Shroppie.

Fiddlesticks Free on test

The December issue of Canal Boat is out, and contains my review of Fiddlesticks Free, by Cauldon Boat Builders based in Stoke on Trent. This was a quality boat, full of good ideas. And it was a lovely sunny day, in spite of a downpour just before we started.

River Medway

Del and Al from Derwent 6 left a comment on the last post about Teston Lock saying it was their home town. I assume they're talking about Maidstone, which is just a few miles from where I grew up, and gives me an excuse to post a photo of the Medway as it goes past the Crown Court in Maidstone. It was a very dull, wet day, so the photo is rather dark.

The narrowboat said Tonbridge on the side, so I guess it's Medway-based, and hadn't done the tricky/exciting journey from the Thames estuary.

I remember times during my childhood when the river was in flood, that it often came up the top of the arches of the bridge, flooding the subway into town in the process. That's a lot of extra water!

Teston Lock, River Medway

We spent the weekend in Kent, mostly at a family wedding. There was time on Sunday, though, to visit Teston Lock on the River Medway. It's accompanied by an impressive weir; in fact the whole lock is rather imposing, being very large and having massive gates.

Weedon, Calcutt, and Little Venice

Sue from No Problem spotted Debdale at Weedon the other day, and I've taken the liberty of reposting her photo here. It's nice to know where Debdale is when we're not on board!

Yesterday was spent in the Calcutt area on the Grand Union, doing a boat test. It was a lovely sunny day (although very cold), but the towpath was much drier than it had been in August when we last did a test on that stretch of canal.

This morning, I was very early arriving in London for work so I stayed on the tube to Warwick Avenue, walked down to Little Venice, and had lunch in the sunshine. There were no moving boats about, but there were plenty moored down the Paddington Arm, including one called Iron Maiden and another with Ogden's Nut Gone Flake painted on the side. I'm sure another blogger spotted the same boat and mentioned it a while ago, but I can't remember who it was and (so far at least) a search has failed to find the post.

I got the tube to work from Paddington, which gave me the opportunity to try out the new Wood Lane station on the Hammersmith and City Line. It's right opposite work, and so avoids the schlep up from Shepherd's Bush to Television Centre. It's a very smart station. I wonder how long that will last!

Narrowboat Dreams

I've just finished Narrowboat Dreams, by Steve Haywood. It's perhaps an indication of how much I enjoyed it that I read the whole thing in three sessions: two train journeys and a post-night-shifts afternoon. It perhaps takes a little too long to get to the meat of the journey across the Pennines via the (then newly re-opened) Huddersfield Narrow and Rochdale canals, but even so it's very funny and is full of vividly described characters and places.

I was particularly keen to read it because I've already begun thinking about our three week trip on Debdale next year. At the owners' meeting in a few weeks time, we're hoping to move the boat to a base a bit further north. And depending how far north, the South Pennine Ring is a strong contender as a route (as long as we can fit through the Standedge Tunnel -- the satellite dish is a bit of a worry). But there's plenty of time to find out about that, and despite many of the problems Steve Haywood experienced along the route, the book has increased my appetite for a double Pennine crossing.