Retirement with No Problem

Humble Pie to British Waterways and bloggers meet at Weedon

2009-07-03T19:46:00.001+01:00

Close to Weedon to Nether Heyford, Grand Union Canal, 3 miles 0 locks

I had a reply from British Waterways, and they were actually on a mission to repair locks… Had I heard what that chap had said yesterday then maybe I would have known!

“Hello Sue. Thank you for your e-mail. I would like to take this opportunity to answer your question.

I fully understand your views if indeed they had gone by boat down the flight just to pick up a generator, however that was not the case.

At the weekend Lock 11’s top gate was badly damaged by a boater, action was require to carry out a repair on the gate working from a work flat within the lock chamber. The BW crew were instructed to boat down to Lock 12 to pick up a contractor and his equipment which included a generator. They then boated up to Lock 11 and the navigation was closed to passing traffic to allow the work to be carried out. This was done successfully and the contractor and his equipment was return to Lock 12 before the BW crew returned to Norton Junction.

As to the action of the BW staff dropping paddles etc, I am leaving the office presently to confront them about this, and can assure you that this is not going to be tolerated.

Kind regards

Kevin Hamblin”

I had humble pie for tea!

Three things have broken in the last 24 hours, first my phone just stopped working.. they keypad just would not respond to anything I pressed, so I took the sim out to put in my favourite camera phone that I had spare and was struggling to open the battery cover.. I did eventually only to find that the battery had blown and looked very dodgey indeed although it had been working just fine for taking pics.. new battery needed before I could use that one..

So that is one dud phone, I dud battery, and next today my main camera just gave up the ghost, I got a couple of snaps then that broke.. no idea what has gone wrong with it, but for sure it had been playing me up a bit for quite a while.. so no decent camera phone till I get a battery and no camera!.. I’ll use one of my older phones for pics until stuff can be replaced!

Here comes Narrowboat Herbie..

Aboard are Neil and his friend Rick.. Unfortunately Neil’s wife Kath was not aboard today. I have been following their travels on the River Nene and all points east.. I knew they had come back yesterday to Gayton and was hoping that they turned right at the junction.. Nice to have met you both.. and in the same place..

Narrowboat Seyella.. we had met Geoff yesterday as he hunted us down along the towpath to our mooring. But it was nice to stop for a cuppa aboard Seyella and more catching up with Geoff and Mags.. they are off up north for a while now..

And with Moore2Life also on the towpath that is a big blogger meet at Weedon today!

We passed Stowe Hill Marine today and it looked a bit deserted.. I had phoned earlier checking on diesel prices and they told me they had no diesel for sale.. today their little office looked empty and was padlocked up.. anyone know why?

We will wait for diesel until we get to Alvechurch Marina who have the cheapest pump price around here at 60p.. even beating Fred Tarry’s here at Nether Heyford. Post to pick up in the morning plus my freezer is empty.. there is a good butcher in the village.

Down through Wilton Locks and British Waterways antics annoy me

2009-07-02T19:57:00.001+01:00

Norton Junction to close to Weedon, Grand Union Canal, 3.5 miles 7 locks

Up early this morning and first away from Norton Junction before the heat of the day. We were not quite first away, a British Waterways tug and empty barge left half an hour before going down through the locks…

We spent a lovely evening at the New Inn at the top of Wilton Locks just sitting outside.. a couple of pints and a bag of crisps went down well..

All quiet now as we slipped away and joined the roar of the M1 to our left and the super fast Virgin trains to the right.. a canal right down the middle, hey we were here first! At least the roads and railways knew the best routes thanks to the early builders of our canals!

We caught up with the British Waterways tug and barge, and waited while one of their crew sunlounged on the bottom gate beam.. he only bothered to lift one paddle, well looks like they are not in a hurry, and eventually we came through lock 6 out of 7 only to be told to leave the gates open because the tug and barge were to return back up the locks.. I was surprised!

I was even more surprised when I passed it as I enquired as to why they had taken almost two hours to come down the locks, just one and a quarter miles.. “We have picked up some equipment”.. “What equipment?” I asked looking at the near empty barge..”A generator”… “A generator? For goodness sake, you telling me you came all the way down here to pick up that generator to take all the way back up?” “Yes” “Why didn’t you use the van you arrived to work in then?” I didn’t hear his reply to that, maybe a good job because for sure I was rather angry. There was another crew member aboard too.. now that made three of them. The extra staff must be there to make sure it doesn’t fall off?!

I will write to British Waterways asking for an explanation. By road it is less than a quarter of a mile further, which is probably a round trip of 20 minutes instead of 4 hours!

We were going to moor not long after reaching the bottom lock, but the wind was in the wrong direction for the motorway and I could even taste the fumes along along with the deafening sound of traffic, so we continued on until it was more bareable and settled before lunch…

Chairs and brollies were the order of the day from then on, and a visit from Geoff of Narrowboat Seyella who is moored at Weedon at the moment.. here Geoff’s dog Meg enjoying a bit of cool grass in the dappled shade of No Problem. It was good to see Geoff again, and we spent some time on the towpath chatting and catching up on what we had been doing since last we met.

Geoff was not the only blogger met today.. Narrowboat Skyy came round the corner and caught me out.. no camera at the ready and a quick hello goodbye as we passed each other.. will catch up with you two again later!..

It’s cooler now and Lucy and Meg are giving me the eye.. time for walkies me thinks!

Locks and Tunnels around Braunston and the air ambulance lands close to us

2009-07-01T20:03:00.001+01:00

Yesterday and Today, Br 103 to Norton Junction, Oxford and Grand Union Canals, 7.5 miles 6 locks

Setting off fairly early yesterday we passed Tia, the narrowboat of Carol and her other half who’s name escapes me. They had been at the Braunston Boat Gathering over the weekend selling their environmentally friendly products such as ecover..

We enjoyed the short trip to Braunston in wonderful weather, Lucy and Meg ran the towpath all the way even going over the turnover bridge (a bridge that takes the towpath from one side of the canal to the other) at Braunston Turn. It was at that point that Ann and Chas from NB Moore2Life appeared along with Molly their jack russell.. well all hell was let loose as all the dogs met!..

I was pleased to see the boatyard that restores old engines was still going strong, but I suppose they do specialise in antique engines, I don’t think there are many yards that can repair and restore like them..

A quick stop in Braunston to pick up some post and the usual bread and milk before going on through the locks joined by Moore2Life. Oh I must say how nice it was to see Vickie and Ian in Braunston, we have met them a few times now, they are from the Godmanchester area on the River Ouse, and Vickie stuck her head out to wish us well on our cruise down their home river.. Nice to have met you both again.

Nice to see the Admiral Nelson fully open again, a landmark Pub alongside the locks at Braunston..

Then the tunnel.. I didn’t have any problem with that this time. I have always been quite terrified of going through tunnels in the past, but since I went through the tunnel at Dudley this year on their trip boat my attitude has somehow changed, and to be honest I quite enjoyed it!

Five boats passed in the tunnel and only a hire boat managed to bump me, all the others I slid past nicely.. I feel sorry for hire boat steerers, no experienced at all at going through tunnels.. they always look petrified to me.. but it was only a little bump, and as I went past the skipper I gave him plenty of encouragement.

Today we collected a tesco order and just relaxed as it really was too hot to go down through Buckby Locks by the time Mr Tesco had gone and we put the stuff away.. we will leave early tomorrow to miss the worsed heat of the sun..

Bit of excitement though this afternoon when the air ambulance landed right across the towpath hedge from us, wow the dust and stuff it kicked up was tremendous..

There had been an accident on the A5 just by the locks here, nobody was injured actually, well only slightly, the crew were none too happy not to have been updated with that information after they were called.. I bet the farmer will be none too happy to see the hole in his barley field either!

They do a great job, and as a walker I am always comforted that these paramedics can get to any part of the country rural or not.

Blog readers at the window this evening off to enjoy a pint at the pub no doubt.. their narrowboat North Star is moored just up from us.. nice to have met you this evening you two!

Boats galore as we wait outside Braunston

2009-06-29T19:10:00.001+01:00

Moored Bridge 103 Grand Union Canal

The BBQ is on the go, so a moment to write the blog.. what a glorious day!

But yesterday I got a soaking as I chose the wrong moment to take Lucy and Meg for a walk, and came back looking like a drowned rat!

It was nice to see Adam and Adrian who have a part ownership in Debdale who’s blog is one that I like to follow. It always brings a smile to my face when I catch my eye on Debdale as we cruise the system because we never know where it is going to be during the time that Adam is not blogging.. I dive below to grab the camera!

This was interesting…

I have yet to find out what it is, but Vic thinks it is some sort of wasp. When it is flying it seems bright red, an insect for sure, not a butterfly, completely black except for some swept back wings with red blodges on them.. I have never ever seen one of these before. They are in the meadow opposite our mooring along the footpath that leads to Flecknoe.

This stretch of canal over the weekend has been end to end with boats, all hovering to pass through Braunston once the Historical Boat Show is over, and not long after 10am, this was the scene…

Not a boat in sight, only ours occupied the towpath between bridges 102 and 103. There are one or two narrowboats arrived now, and I notice Nesta is moored behind us.. must go and say hi to Graham and Hazel, they were not about when I passed just now.. not seen them since December 2007 when Graham kindly gave us, as well as the girls, a lift to Stafford Station on our way to spending Christmas with our family that year.

Well the BBQ is done, yummy, and later I am off for a nice long stroll.. hope I don’t get wet this evening! On the move again tomorrow..

Night out at Blue Lias and it's happy boaters all the way to Flecknoe

2009-06-27T19:36:00.001+01:00

Yesterday and Today, Bascote (Grand Union) to Flecknoe (Oxford Canal), 7 miles 13 locks

We have had a fabulous couple of days cruising meeting many boaters as we climbed the locks towards Braunston. Everyone seems to be in a great mood, and nobody rushing about.. super stuff. Yesterday we arrived early at the Blue Lias in Stockton so we could get a good mooring, and of course an excuse for a pint and pie at lunch time.. then we were treated to President and Kildare on their way to the Braunston Historical Boatshow this weekend, the smoke in the lock behind gave them away..

I knew that they had left Dudley in Birmingham on Thursday afternoon, and this was Friday around 2pm.. didnt they do well! They have travelled all night, but still the crew were just about enjoying!..

It’s always nice to see this pair on the move like this.. I remember the last time I saw them was on the River Ouse a couple of years ago when they attended the IWA Festival at St Ives.

Oh yes I must tell you about last night when I went walking.. I couldn’t avoid a load of what I thought was mud and had to trudge through it (as you do ). It was only when I got back I realised that this was no ordinary mud, but Blue Lias clay…

It took some getting off I’ll tell you!

We had a lovely meal in the Blue Lias with some friends who had caught up with us, and this morning we waited and waited for another boat before deciding to pull the pins and do the flight ourselves alone.. but hey ho, there were a load of boats coming down including a pair of ‘camping boats’ and the scouts were keen to lend a hand.. it took just one hour and five minutes to climb the 8 locks!

Lucy and Meg were wondering what on earth I was doing on the bridge instead of being on the tiller!

I couldn’t believe the size of Ventnor Farm Marina, it had grown two fold since I past last and so had the Calcutt Marina just across the cut from it.. and with the huge Marina at Wigrams Turn where the Grand Union meets the Oxford Canal it was no wonder there were suddenly an awful lot of boats about.. but what cheery crews! All day long we have met lots of lovely people, no hassles no problems, I wish everyday was like that!

We just kept going today waiting for a nice mooring to appear, and it was very shortly after the bridge that carries the footpath to Flecknoe that the perfect place was found for the rest of the weekend..

Hope those of you that went to the show at Braunston had a good time! For sure there are an awful lot of boat coming away and past us here this evening.

Fosse and Bascote Locks and we find more locking buddies

2009-06-25T19:45:00.001+01:00

Fosse to Cape, Grand Union Canal, 3 miles 6 locks

We have had a quiet couple of days enjoying this lovely weather. Yesterday we moored for the day and caught up with the post that had arrived from the south, and with that done off I went with Lucy and Meg.

These locks are interesting, in fact from the bottom of this set of locks, well Radford Bottom Lock all the way up through the Fosse Locks which are in the picture above they have used the now redundant narrow lock as a pump device which takes the water back up to the pound (a stretch of water between two locks) above. Each of these locks take 56,000 gallons of water each time they are filled, and the pump takes 20 minutes to put it back in the pound above after the boat has left!

Today on the move, and just as we pulled the pins NB India approached from behind.. great stuff, some lock buddies for our 6 locks today. These wide locks are so much easier if there are two boats, and the skipper of India was well experienced so both boats lined up and entered the lock together.. no ropes needed to hold one boat over while the other is brought in afterwards..

This is a recent looking lock cottage, not the normal type you see covered in flowers and ivy at this time of year..

Nonetheless, very nice right by Welsh Road Lock..

We were soon up the first two Bascote Locks and quickly through the staircase thanking the crew of India as they made their way onward to Braunston to the Historical Boat Show being held there this weekend..

Wonder if they will find a mooring anywhere near.. But not for us, and we put the pins in just short of Cuttle out in the country with lovely views over towards the Southam area.

And a fantastic walk this afternoon with the girls, it was a bit hot though, but we found some ‘cooling facilities for dogs’ as we wandered over towards the village of Long Itchington..

The little River Itchen provided some fun for both of them for 10 minutes or so.. Walking took us through the village and it was good to see the village shop and post office still thriving as well as the pub, although those down on the canal at Cuttle bridge were really busy, I was tempted to stop for a cool pint.. ho hum how did I not succumb!

It’s cooler now, I think I will go find a geocache or two and enjoy some late evening sunshine..

Warwick and Leamington Spa surprise me

2009-06-23T17:28:00.001+01:00

Budbrook Junction Warwick to Fosse, Grand Union Canal, 7 miles 6 locks

We weren’t in a rush to get away this morning, so I took the girls out to find a geocache nearby and also a post box was needed, and with both of that done we pulled the pins and made our way out of Warwick…

The pub by the locks looks inviting.. There was a guy making fenders in the little hut building at the far side of the pub.. it amazes me how they can twist and turn the rope to make wonderful patterns for fenders..

We did those two locks on our own, and were fortunate that boats were coming up as we left, those huge lock gates are heavy.. was nice to leave them open!

Almost tickover speed today in the warm weather while we enjoyed the surroundings of Warwick then Leamington Spa, almost one town as both seem to have no fields between them.. but lots of really nice areas canalside..

Yes very much better than when I was here last.. that was well over 10 years ago. We passed NB March Mole who had stopped briefly while a nip to a shop was done, the skipper called over asking if we were going through the next locks.. With the speed we were cruising today I told him it wouldn’t be a problem catching us up!!

So we shared the next 5 locks with this super little narrowboat. It was the first ever hire boat built for the Fox Boatyard in March on the Middle Levels, I know Kevin will be interested in that!.. There is a super article by Jim Shead about this boatyard.. linky

It’s very quiet where we have moored this evening.. just the birds singing no other noise.. I have taken out all the glass from the window frames.. fabulous..

Lapworth, Hatton and a family weekend aboard No Problem

2009-06-22T22:44:00.001+01:00

Today – Hatton Station to Warwick, Grand Union Canal, 3.25 miles, 21 locks
Weekend – Lapworth to Hatton Station. Stratford and Grand Union Canals 5.75 miles, 15 locks

On Saturday we dropped down the rest of the Lapworth Flight to just below the lock by The Boot Pub. We had arranged to meet the family there on Saturday evening, having found a safe place to keep the car for a couple of nights.

We were a bit worried at one of the lift bridges as it took all of our combined strength to lift it. The hydraulics seemed to be a bit stiff, maybe it was running out of oil or something.. but we managed it and on the other side a British Waterways barge just moored on the mooring for the bridge..

It wouldn’t have taken much to move it down a bit! Anyway a short time afterwards I saw some BW guys and reported the lift bridge difficulty, and they went to it straight away..

The family arrived and we had a great evening aboard catching up on all the news together and draining a lot of the recourses from the bar of No Problem!

Kiera and Niamh particularly enjoyed themselves this time, and really enjoyed the few locks down to the Grand Union Canal, although the weather could have been kinder..

Once we turned onto the wide canal at Kingswood Junction it started to rain, but we all enjoyed the trip to Hatton Station, about half a mile from the top of the big lock flight. A Sunday afternoon walk to the top of the flight then, and of course ice creams, tea and cakes all round at the little cafe..

Feeling guilty at my indulgence I suggested a walk down a few of the locks before returning..

Today they were all off home after a fantastic weekend, and Dan caught the train at Hatton for the quick hop to Lapworth to collect the car.. Shall we or shant we.. ho hum…

Yep lets do it, so this afternoon we moored on the top lock landing. I was waiting for a hire boat to come with 12 strapping 20 year old good looking lads going our way in a hurry!

We waited just under an hour, and we could see a boat approaching.. yep.. well not quite what I had in mind.. a crew of four who I guess were a little older than me!! So we set off around 3pm..

On past the British Waterways Buildings.. they are looking good now.. and it was a very pleasant trip down with this crew, their boat was built by them.. a couple of brothers and their wives. The build, shell and all, was started 30 years ago, and they just about finished it now. “We built a shell before this one, but me and my bro fell out so we cut it in half” I had to go inside No Problem because I started to giggle at the thought of that.. just he said it so seriously! But him and his bro were best of mates today I felt!

Amazing stuff.. there are always tales on the waterways!

It took about 2 hours and 20 minutes so the OAP crews did OK I think.. Bottom lock..

Those paddles are tough on that flight and the bottom gates are heavy too, but plenty of people lockside for our trip down. Our locking buddies were going on to the pub at The Cape, but I didn’t fancy a pub meal this evening so we put the pins in just before hand and when I looked at the map I could see we were very close to Warwick Racecourse.. I took the girls to explore after tea…

Gosh this took me back, I remember when I was a teenager I used to ride over the sticks when I worked for a racing trainer.. they looked bigger today.. WOW I must have been brave!

A taste of Birmingham as we tour the city by boat

2009-06-19T18:19:00.001+01:00

Today – Hockley Heath to Lapworth, Stratford-on-Avon Canal, 2 miles 2 locks

We have just come down a couple of locks today to find ourselves a nicer mooring to enjoy the sunshine in. All along this stretch of canal there are trees, and with the sun out for sure I wasn’t going to miss that!

But it is the story of the last few days that has me buzzing about Birmingham and the canals around it.

We left Dudley on Wednesday in the company of Paul Balmer again who joined us for the trip to Gas Street Basin in the centre of Birmingham.. I showed a picture on yesterday’s blog of us going under the massive structure that holds up the motorway, well here is another..

The old and the new, look at the little canal bridge leading to what is seemingly the countryside! In fact under the motorway we could see that the huge concrete pillars are beginning to fail, some have metal braces and heavy scaffolding supporting them.. yet the little canal bridge was built to last it seems..

Our cruise soon brought us to the three locks that would drop us down to the New Main Line… The Birmingham Level as it is called.. at the moment we are on the old line known as The Wolverhampton Level..

Such a shame that this building has been torched and the ~~hexagon~~ octagonal roof has gone (“The Smethwick toll house is Octagonal, not Hexagonal. It’s bad enough having vandals removing the roof, without bloggers removing 2 walls as well!” says Paul in an email this evening!) ... gosh why do people do this.. such a shame.. anyway, I have edited the roof structure.. so here we are then joining the Main Line on our way to the city centre..

We have just come from under the bridge.. Paul is happy enough to be captain for the day in the rain giving me a chance to totally relax and enjoy.. We put the pins in opposite Sherborne Wharf just as one of the rubbish boats came along.. Paul says they travel the canals almost daily picking up rubbish.. tis no wonder the place is so clean..

But with pins in we were treated to another cruise..

Aboard Waterway Routes. Paul has his mooring here in the centre of Birmingham at Sherborne Wharf.. and around the loops we went.. there are loads of loops off the main canals that used to serve the industry of the city..

Now we could see some of the bygone buildings that lined the canals, I remember when I was here in the seventies the whole of the city of Birmingham was like this..

But this will be pulled down and turned into flats soon too, just like the rest of the centre.. and on round the corner we get to the British Waterways yard, a hive of activity with the rubbish boats arriving to unload, and on the right these are narrowboats that have been repossessed by BW for non payment of licence fees.. when there are about 10 of them they are auctioned off, and after their expenses the owners get the residue of the sale price..

Gosh it was raining hard, it was difficult trying to keep the lens free of drips! After seeing some of the back door of Birmingham it was back to the centre.. here comes a water bus!..

That is one of the many trip boats on the right, the road over the bridge there leads to the city centre just a five minute walk away. We toured all the routes with Paul, even to the top of the Farmers Bridge Locks which lead the canal eventually to the Coventry Canal..

The Post Office Tower and after winding (turning) we went the other way to the Mailbox..

On the way back.. I spy!!..

It’s David and Brenda’s narrowboat Mr David!

Phew anyway there are tons of pictures, I will put them into a special album later so you can see them all.. We said a fond farewell to Paul, who gave us a wonderful time in Birmingham.. If it wasn’t for his Waterway Routes DVD of the Birmingham Canal Navigations we would never have brought No Problem here at all.. but all on the DVD is true, it is fantastic..

An evening out for us too.. I had been to take a look around at all the eating places earlier..

Deciding on the Pitcher and Piano right in Gas Street Basin.. there is a picture of that in yesterdays blog, but it was a disaster. Our meal came and I looked at Vic and he at me.. It looked horrid! Both meals looked horrid.. I had loin of lamb with rice and he chicken with potatoes in some sauce or other.. but the chicken was cold and the potatoes were also cold.. my rice was lumpy and well overcooked.. the lamb looked very old indeed it was wrinkled!

We declined the food and finished our bottle of wine before going to Cafe Royal just across the walkway.. Yummy yum yum.. duck done in a beautiful sauce and a fabulous braised meat dish for Vic cheered us somewhat.. and with a couple of beers we joyfully made our way back to No Problem!!

We were going to stay another day, but decided we would make our way out of the city on Thursday, so we moved from the BCN to the Worcester and Birmingham canal at Worcester Bar..

There used to be no passage between these two canals at one time. Just the ‘Worcester Bar’ This was to stop one canal company pinching water from the other and goods had to be man handled across the concrete into boats on the other side.. sense prevailed in the end and a lock was built so tolls could be collected.. but that has now been removed and there is just this 7ft gap to get through now!

I missed the corner at the Mailbox clanging into a BW barge that was moored there.. No Problem did not want to turn, and a little further along the reason was made clear when Vic brought up a number of plastic bags and packets from around the prop, enough to fill two carrier bags would you believe.. that made for better steering!

The canal out of Birmingham was just as quiet as anywhere else, and we travelled through the outskirts of the city on what seemed a green corridor, hardly seeing any houses.. just tree lined all the way. The left turn at Kings Norton was tight, and I was careful not to go aground on the far side after being warned from Paul..

On through the eclectic lift bridge and with the pins put in at Hockley Heath we reflected on what a surprising and wonderful few days we have just had.. gosh, I hope this blog is not too long and boring!

Oh and welcome to new bloggers Graham and Jill with NB Armadillo who we have been playing ‘leapfrog moorings’ with during the last week or so..

Graham decided to try out the clear waters at Dudley slipping off the gunnel.. hope those shoes are dry now Graham.. hey good luck with the blog..

This weekend we are meeting with daughter Wendie, Danny and granddaughters Kiera and Niamh, can’t wait!!

No Problem visits the centre of Birmingham for the first time

2009-06-18T22:55:00.001+01:00

Yesterday – Dudley Tunnel to Birmingham, BCN, 9 miles 3 locks
Today – Birmingham to Hockley Heath, BCN, Worcs & Birmingham and Northern Stratford Canals, 14.5 miles 0 locks

I felt like a country bumpkin yesterday evening as I wandered around the canal system in the centre of Birmingham, finding branches going here there and everywhere trying not to get lost.. It was raining but I didn’t care, just wished I had my towny clothes on instead of my country attire!

But before that we had the most fantastic cruise through to the centre from Dudley Tunnel where we have been moored for a couple of nights. I have been too busy tonight to do a blog properly so I will do that tomorrow as we have a bit of a pause here at Hockley Heath.. but I will put a few photos on from yesterday..

Under the motorway we went..

Under the bridges and tunnels…

And through the streets we went…. today we cruised to the Northern Stratford-on-Avon Canal, more tomorrow..

Black Country Museum and Dudley Tunnel

2009-06-16T23:09:00.001+01:00

Moored Dudley Tunnel, BCN

There was time to move this morning a little nearer the tunnel before we went to explore the museum. We winded No Problem (turned) before mooring at the services to do a pump out of our ~~loo~~ grey tank. We failed to do that a few days ago at Wheaton Aston as the machine was broken there.

Paul Balmer fetched me a ‘two for one’ entrance voucher yesterday which he found on the English Heritage site, so that was really handy and saved us £10.50 on the entrance fees.. thanks Paul it worked! xx

I had spied the steam narrowboat President through the railings last night, and after stepping through the doors of the museum and also stepping back in time we made our way over there to have a look at both President and it’s butty Kildare..

This is the home mooring for this pair, and we were lucky that they were in town today to go have a quiet look and a chat to the chap you see in the pic. These two are due in Braunston in about 10 days time for the Historic Boat Show that is being held there, but they won’t be leaving till very late in the day, doing what they call a ‘Fly Boat run’.

In days gone past some working boats were registered to travel all night and some were not. Fly Boat runs were undertaken a lot from Birmingham to London, of course it was much better to have goods travel that way.. That’s the pure basics anyway.. if you want to know more you will need to google it!

Here we go then, more pictures for you of our day back in time.. I know a lot of you enjoyed yesterdays pictures so this blog has a load more.. later I will put even more in an album..

The only think I see wrong here is the price.. £1.00 was certainly not bygone prices! All the funfare rides took me back a long way and gave me great memories of my childhood..

This whole place is fantastic, we actually went inside a coal mine, very authentic, even having to duck down along the tunnels with just a candle light to show the way.. extremely well done. In fact this is a real must for boaters.. even the pub only sold drinks that were available at the time… no lagers or wine to be had.. I was happy with a pint of bitter!

Dragging ourselves away, being disappointed that there were no volunteers manning the trolly bus shed which I was really looking forward to seeing, it was getting late, and we managed to grab a seat on the trip boat which went into Dudley Tunnel itself.. cor doesn’t he look ~~sexy~~ good in his hard hat!! ..

It definitely suits him! In the tunnel mine kept falling off everytime I looked up.. at one point it nearly fell in the canal much to everyone’s amusement.. …

Gosh it was a small entrance, for sure we would have to knock a good nine inches off the top of No Problem if we wanted to leg it through the tunnel. You are allowed to take your boat through the tunnel if it fits under the measuring gauge if you want to.. but no engines are allowed and you would have to leg it through by laying on the roof sideways and with your feet on the wall, you would need to ‘walk the wall’.. 4 hours worth of walking!

Trip boat will do!!

This is inside the tunnel.. yep more tunnels and further on inside there are massive caverns where limestone was mined.. there is more about this on their website if you are interested, but it is mind boggling. This tunnel is like no other I have been in.. look at the rough cut..

The board you can see is where later in the trip a couple of people laid head to head and legged us through a very short way.. they gave up after about 20 yards, they were knacked! Can you imagine doing that for 4 hours to get through this tunnel!

Anyway, we had a fantastic day around here, and tonight Lucy and Meg got their turn, and I took them for a long jaunt along the towpaths all the way to Bradshall Junction on the Old Main Line..

Here there is a staircase lock of two, with another lock not far way which drops the canal down to the New Main Line. The difference between old and new is not only the two different levels, but the New Line was built later and in an almost straight line for quite some way through Birmingham because what they now call the Old Main Line was full of bends and took working boats much longer to get through the city..

The other crossing that I saw tonight was Tividale Aqueduct..

This also runs to the Main Line, you can see at the lower level. I am standing on the aqueduct of the Old Line.. back behind me this runs under the Old Line to Netherton Tunnel which leads to the Stourbridge Canal and River Severn…. Gosh Old Line, New Line.. and all the levels are confusing.. hope I don’t leave you too confused, if I have, just enjoy the pictures then!

Meeting blog readers and we join the Birmingham Canal Navigations

2009-06-15T23:20:00.001+01:00

Today – Autherely Junction to Black Country Museum, Dudley, Staffs & Worcs and BCN
Weekend – Wheaton Aston to Autherely Junction, Shropshire Union Canal, 8.25 miles 1 lock

Before leaving Wheaton Aston we said hello to blog readers Nick and Caroline who were out on their first few days of their narrowboat holiday.. and onward they went after a chat and walk through..

We then moved up to the services with the intention of doing a pump out which is due for us, and there we met Mick and Jenny with their narrowboat Trundle. We met Mick and Jenny at Elton on the Nene last year and we caught up on all the news before a wave goodbye for now from them..

Then on with the business of pump out.. well that didn’t work after putting in my BW ‘credit card’ nothing! It was pumping OK but nothing was pumping out! I searched round for some instructions in case I had got it wrong, and when I reached up onto the top of the box I found a sign.. “Out of Order do not use”… gawd.. a tenner up the drain, or not as it happened!!

So pins pulled from Wheaton Aston making for the last quiet mooring before the noisy motorway and Autherely Junction at Hunting Bridge 7. Over the A5 aqueduct…

And on through Brewood where we passed hotel boats Duke and Duchess..

We hovered close to the bridge at Brewood as there were no moorings so that I could nip into the village to get some milk.. then onward to Bridge 7.

A popular mooring this, and when we arrived there was just about room to slot No Problem in between two narrowboats.. I was pleased about that, I didn’t want to go any further.. walking was on the cards around here, there are new permissive walks that I wanted to explore..

“Beep beep” alerted me to look out the window and another blog reader Alan and his family on NB Andante passed on their way to their home mooring close to Autherely Junction. It has been great this weekend to meet so many people that read the blog.. none said they got bored with it either!!

So Sunday saw us have a very relaxing day out on the towpath soaking up the gorgeous sunshine before moving close to Autherely Junction very late in the evening.. it wasn’t far, about an hour, but we were meeting Paul Balmer at the bottom of the Wolverhampton 21 locks the next morning fairly early, so thought I would have an extra hour in bed!

As we rounded the turn to the BCN sure enough Paul was just opening the gates.. he must have heard No Problem approaching, or hoped that the narrowboat he could hear was No Problem.. lovely to see Paul, and guess what, I managed to persuade Vic to let me work the locks today..

Well there is a few done! Lots of pictures today, loads in fact, I’ll put a few up..

I was amazed how rural this stretch is beings it is going right into the centre of Wolverhampton, the wild flowers are as good as out on the remotest sections of canals, totally unspoilt and so very little rubbish..

I noted at lock number 5 that the top paddle would not go down properly, and made a note to report that once we stopped tonight, but I saw a British Waterways Lengthsman walking down the canal.. “Ah I have noted a problem at lock 5” “Yep” says he as he walked on.. “Yeah, the offside top paddle won’t close properly” “Yep” he says and walks on a bit more “Just thought I would tell you, do you want me to report it to BW” “Nope.. that is why I am carrying this lot, I am just on my way there!”….

This area has been beautifully done with stone picnic tables…

Then before three hours was up we reached the top lock..

On through Coseley tunnel..

Paul took the helm today once we had cleared the locks. It was pure delight to be chauffeured along, Paul's knowledge of the Birmingham Canal Navigations is immense and he gave us a fantastic running commentary all the way to Dudley.. at one point he made me get aboard and ride into the next lock, pointing out a little tunnel for me to be able to get off just at the lock jaw so that I could get to the top of the lock.. just for little people you see.. it was so dinky … great stuff!!

I thoroughly enjoyed today, I was surprised how pleasant the journey was, there was no way surely that I was in the centre of Wolverhampton and Birmingham, but I was, and hey look at this….

Could it be a wild orchid on the BCN?…

A day out at the Black Country Museum for us tomorrow with a ride through the tunnel… but I won’t be legging No Problem through!..

A day in Wheaton Aston

2009-06-12T22:39:00.001+01:00

Moored Wheaton Aston, Shropshire Union Canal

An enjoyable day today at Wheaton Aston, where Carol from NB Calypso came aboard to paint the front panels.. I like the way she paints, and all the rest of No Problem’s roses and castles have been painted by her.

I love the first coat of the roses, they always seem to me to look like a load of dogs..

Maybe I should have told her to stop! But she returned this afternoon to put the final touches to the design..

And tomorrow I will take some pics of the finished panels as well as some other interesting art she did today. I played Mrs Mop for a while in the warm weather before taking Lucy and Meg for a stroll ..around another of my favourite walks on this canal, once again not walked during the summer before, and I it was lovely, thoroughly enjoyed.

I spied these two working boats in the cutting just to the south of Wheaton Aston Lock..

It was from Salmon that we got the majority of our winter wood at the beginning of the year when the crew were felling beech trees just south of Cowley, so I stopped to have a chat, and they were telling me that they had a hell of a lot of work on.. the early summer weather had made growth much more than normal, but they were having to be careful leaving some trees and bushes alone because there was still some nests with chicks in.. They actually take photographs of those they leave.. dunno why.. heh maybe they have to justify not cutting something down!!

Tomorrow we pull the pins from here passing through Brewood before deciding where to stop over the weekend.

We miss the worse of the weather cruising around Gnosall

2009-06-11T23:37:00.001+01:00

Today – Gnosall to Wheaton Ashton, Shropshire Union Canal, 5.25 miles 0 locks
Yesterday – Knighton to Gnosall, 7 miles 0 locks

Yesterday we were really lucky with the weather, just as we pulled the pins from Knighton the early morning the heavy rain stopped.. so a dry run to Norbury Boatyard where Simon and his team made light work of the one or two snagging items over from our fit out a month earlier. A fill of diesel and a gas bottle and away just after lunch. A busy canal with many narrowboats on the move, and we managed to get just the right spot to get our sky TV for the evening, and as we put the pins back in the heavens opened with vengeance, not only that but a vicious thunderstorm rocked No Problem in the canal!

After tea a walk with Lucy and Meg, along the disused railway line that runs from Newport to Stafford it was flooded.. this is the Road for the Millennium Way. They are still working on this long distance path, and there were new areas I saw that had been part paved for cyclists.. but very wet today!

This morning I popped into Stafford.. free bus passed used yeahhh!.. Needed some waterproving stuff for my coat and trousers, I got soaking yesterday evening walking with the girls.. it was OK when I set out but after that it tipped down..

We left Gnosall after lunch passing one of the two pubs in the village..

Then on through Cowley tunnel which leads to a wonderful cutting..

Of course we usually pass this place in the winter months, not during the summer, so it was really lovely to see it in ‘full bloom’, a magnificent cutting this. We noticed that our favourite moorings on this canal were taken by other boaters, in the winter we hardly see anyone!

Entering Wheaton Aston we see that Turners Garage was selling diesel at 48.9, I paid a penny more at Norbury Boatyard.. note where the diesel hose is in that oil can, the actually pump is about 12ft up the bank, and when we fill here I have to go to the top and shout to Vic how much is going in as he uses the trigger.. that saves overfilling, I usually know how much we want give or take 10 litres or so.. the road diesel is a little more!…

Turners accept boaters splits too.. they are on my special page..

We normally moor up close to the lock, but just as we passed the pub…

“Would you like me to take you out to dinner tonight?”… well you never seen anyone move as fast to the gear lever, and in reverse it went as I spied a mooring right beside where we were cruising!!

What a meal it was too, absolutely wonderful, in fact it was the best meal I have had for a very very long time..

But it was late afternoon when a knock on the boat had me out on the towpath, it was Barry and Carol who have painted our roses and castles on No Problem. We wanted our front side glass painted now that we have blocked them off on the inside during our refit.. we had hoped they could do that before we headed out of the area, but Barry and Carol had to head north by car, and it was going to be touch and go whether they would be back.. we passed their boats at Market Drayton and nobody was about so we thought that was it for this year..

But they knew our plans for this week and yesterday they set off to try catch us up!

Tomorrow Carol will do some painting for us, so we will probably stay here for the day. We have a day or so in hand on our cruising plan so that should not be a problem.

I’ll show some pictures tomorrow of what she has done.

A study of Tyrley Locks makes for a smooth climb

2009-06-09T21:59:00.001+01:00

Market Drayton to Knighton, Shropshire Union Canal, 6 miles 5 locks

Late yesterday I decided to take a walk with Lucy and Meg which included a geocache find as well as to have a look at the way the water was swirling out of the bywaters at the bottom of each of the five Tyrley locks we were to do today. Yesterday I was getting quite upset with the amount of water coming out of the bywaters at the base of each of the 15 Audlem Locks and the 5 at Auderley, surely there was a way of approaching the lock so as not to bang into part of the walls at the throat of the lock.

I walked an interesting field…

That is a common ol’ bamboo stick that most of you will use in the garden to prop up something or other, and this is where they start their life, or at least that is the plant that produces them.. I found this one lying in the field left over from last year..

Having found a difficult geocache.. it took me ages too, I went to look at the troublesome bywaters. I came to the conculusion that the problem was No Problem!

At a long 67ft, there is no way that I can get the bow into the still water at the lock entrance without the water pushing out the back of the narrowboat, but studying the water flow, I decided I would try and go round the outside of the flow and let the back swing round while almost stopping No Problem in the throat to let the wall gently steer the bow into the lock itself.. It worked a treat, and more times than not, there was no bump at all, so I was much happier today.. This is a very pretty flight, firstly going up between a rocky cutting, then opening up to the countryside again.. Here is the third lock up…

We were lucky today, at each of the locks one was coming down, so we made light of the flight.. the top lock has some lovely cottages right beside it..

I wonder if the people in that house voted in the recent European Elections!! I tend to agree with them, but maybe that is because I am retired, but I won’t go further on how I feel about that for fear of an out and out debate in the comments feature!

Woodseaves Cutting was magnificent today, so overgrown too, it was difficult for boats coming the other way, easy for me hugging the towpath side, stopping to let boats go by at the best places for them.. I fear a few have got the t-cut out tonight for sure..

We put the pins in at Knighton, a favourite place for me, I particularly like walking around here, it is managed woodland in part, but on a footpath I have travelled before, but only in the winter, looked very different today..

I need to head for those woods over yonder!! Guide lines for landowners in Staffordshire say “keep paths clear of crops to ensure that they do not inconvenience users” This was shoulder high broad beans in flower, and the farmer has left no path through his field. He is suppose to leave a one metre gap where a public footpath crosses. There was no way of going around this field, so across we went. I was more worried about losing Lucy and Meg and the only way I knew where they were was by watching the movement of the crop!

I kept talking to them though, but maybe I didn’t need to, they would have known where I was, but if a rabbit took their attention, then they might not have found their way back to me!

A fairly early start tomorrow, we are due at Norbury Wharf Boatyard for a couple of snagging items to be fixed since our refit there a month ago.. gosh has it been that long!

No Problem caught on camera at Nantwich and we shelter at Audlem

2009-06-08T17:52:00.001+01:00

Monday – Audlem to Market Drayton, Shropshire Union Canal, 7 miles 20 locks
Weekend – Moored Audlem
Friday – Nantwich to Audlem, 5.5 miles 2 locks

I wasn’t in the mood for shopping on Friday when we went into Crewe, I was feeling really poorly. I woke up very tired, and my muscles were aching, I knew something was wrong. But I don’t do ‘being ill’ so it was get on with it and stop moaning..

Pure minimum in Crewe then, getting what we wanted, although I picked up the wrong varnish in my haste to get out of the shop, and got a matt finish instead of a gloss one that I wanted, no worry, I’ll just change it next time I find a Wilkinsons.. the jobs will just have to wait..

I hadn’t checked the computer in the morning and missed a message from Kevin (Ketro) that he could see NP on the webcam of Empress Holidays.. then a phone call from friend Kevin who described what he saw on the webcam.. Kevin took a screenshot of NP while I was choosing varnish!..

On the end of the 48hr moorings.. but we didn’t stay 48 hours, we pulled the pins on Friday afternoon to move to the much quieter spot on the River Weaver aqueduct just below the 15 Audlem Locks. It was really quiet there, and the views were fantastic both sides of the boat. We arrived quiet late, and after tea out with the girls Lucy and Meg this is why we moved to Audlem on Friday…

And when that rain came it never stopped the whole weekend. I felt so sorry for the holiday makers about to tackle the 15 locks at Audlem.. some looked completely bedraggled as they ended their day mooring below the locks after a days worth of thorough soaking.. By Saturday morning I felt fine again.. so I dunno what caused me to feel so ill.. but it went as quickly as it came..

This morning was fine although the wind was cold, but pins pulled and onward up the locks.. These locks are very pretty, but it is a nightmare going uphill with the vicious side weirs shooting narrowboats across the canal just before entering the lock jaw.. bang, crash, cringe.. . At one, down came the one or two spice jars that are just resting on the shelf along with a pot of dried parsley… all over the floor.. ..

It’s OK for him up there, I wished I was on lock duty today..

No real damage though, and we decided not to stop for lunch today.. we do enjoy lunch on the go sometimes and today was one of those days with home made soup in large mugs….

We passed NB No Problem from Braunston “You must be the No Problem who write a blog, everyone is always saying hello to me and saying the enjoy the blog” said the lady crew member!.. Oh dear! “You’re the best looking No Problem of all No Problems we have seen oh apart from our own” said the guy.. ho hum! . Yep got to admit, his boat looked gleaming.. but it isn’t a continuous cruiser, our boat shows 365 day a year use!

Pins are in just the other side of Market Drayton. I like it here on the embankment, it’s not far from Tyrley Locks .. views to left and right again across the valleys…

Stupid white bollards and I spy loads of jeans drying on the Shroppie

2009-06-04T17:39:00.001+01:00

Church Minshull to Nantwich, Shropshire Union Canal, 8 miles 2 locks

A fantastic sun late last night as it dropped out of sight over the village of Church Minshull..

It always seems to happen doesn’t it.. you know when you have just pulled the pins a boat appears from under the bridge behind you.. So we waited a couple of minutes for that to pass and get away a bit before we pushed off and away just as another boat emerged from the bridge.. I bet he wasn’t too happy to find two boats in front of him now!

Two locks to do today, and both of them were very deep indeed.. We arrived first in the end as the boat in front stopped to let the crew off for a walk about a mile from the lock… Cholmondeston Lock.. what a mouthful.. was the second deep one..

Ah now, there are some lovely new bollards that I am suppose to put my ropes round in these narrow extremely deep locks… what a waste of money, I this it is a disgrace that these have been put on the sides of hundreds of locks. They have even been placed out of the way so as not to trip people up, they are no where near the edge of the lock where they should be if people are suppose to use them.. I suppose it lined someones pocket in bonuses to have these put in..

A quick stop at Hurleston Junction where the Llangollen Canal goes off into Wales. The farm at the main road bridge sells the most fantastic eggs.. I got a couple of dozen when we went through on the way to the Weaver, and there were plenty of double yokers.. so same again please…

On the outskirts of Nantwich I spy…

It’s Piston Broke!! I thought I would have a chat to Paul and Lynne later when I walked Lucy and Meg as they weren’t to be seen as we passed, but when I got back to No Problem after having been to the chandlers for oil and side fenders.. we lost one today.. Vic told me that they had turned round and had past him going South.. shame, but maybe we will catch up with them later..

We were lucky to find a space on the embankment after filling with water, tomorrow we are going in to Crewe to a tip top butcher that I found there on my last visit and to get some clear varnish.. I have one or two little jobbies to do..

A day at Church Minshull moorings and the jam is made for summer

2009-06-03T21:47:00.001+01:00

Moored Church Minshull, Shropshire Union Canal

We had decided to spend today at these lovely moorings and we were treated to a a view of expert grass collecting for silage. At 10 o’clock this morning all the tractors that would be involved were lined up in the field about a quarter of a mile away..

Suddenly about ten minutes later they were off, and we were then entertained across the valley for a couple of hours while three fields were done and dusted..

I spent this morning on the computer trying to get a bit more for our savings. Last year’s ISAs have now gone to a piddling amount of interest of less than 1%, so I managed to move that to a Marks and Spencer ISA giving a more reasonable 3.25% which will help a bit.. It’s hard to know whether to go for a fixed rate or variable.. and we decided that things can’t get much worse choosing variable… we hope we are right!

This afternoon was spent making jam for the summer, strawberry of course, our stash of blackberry and apple along with our fabulous hedgerow jam is all gone.. But it won’t be long ‘till I am picking rosehips, elderberries, haws and sloes along with blackberries together they make the most wonderful hedgerow jam.. Busy galley this afternoon then…

I had a devil of a job trying to stop Vic from keep testing it for setting!! Bet he has the jar open in the morning just to try it again!..

The sun made an appearance after tea this evening which drew me out on a lovely 5 mile circular walk. The farmers had been busy and all the fields had been cut making walking very easy.. no long grass..

I was saddened to get an email from British Waterways saying that the locks on the Basingstoke Canal will be closing in mid June ‘until further notice’.. that sounds like bad news for that canal, I need to find out more..

Middlewich comes and goes, a quick repair and on to Church Minshull

2009-06-02T21:44:00.001+01:00

Billinge Green Flash to Church Minshull, Trent & Mersey and Shropshire Union Canals, 10.5 miles 6 locks

We pulled the pins fairly early this morning, well on such a fabulous day all I wanted to do was trickle along enjoying what is suppose to be the last day of this little spell of fine weather.

We passed Barry with Narrowboat No 8 at the next flash along from the one we moored at. We had met Barry a couple of times on the Weaver and stopped to chat.. His other half is in New Zealand visiting family, and he is missing her a lot!

For sure if I had to travel alone for 5 weeks, I would feel much the same with Vic being away.. friends of our friends Geoff and Mags with NB Seyella, who at the moment should be just about on the Grand Union through Teddington Lock as I write, but I will take a look later and see..

Our first lock of the day was Middlewich Big Lock, this place looked a lonely place when we went down, it didn’t look any different on the way up either..

Just this one double lock, the next three on the Trent & Mersey are narrow locks, only one narrowboat can fit in those..

After this there is a sharp right turn straight into the next lock, and No Problem behaved impeccably with lots of gongoozlers (people who like to watch boats on canals) seeing if I could make the power turn.. yep and with applause from Vic I was well made up!

Then on to the junction itself where we would turn right under the bridge to join the Shropshire Union Middlewich Branch of Shropshire Union Canal..

Once again NP did me proud and she spun beautifully on this windless day. On into Wardle Lock and once again we needed a quick repair to our front fender..

The rubber tyre bit we have to protect the fender came free again and Vic had to use more cable ties to make it stay in place. Trouble is I like to sit the bow on the front gate especially if we are both working the uphill locks, so it does take some battering.. Wasn’t long ‘till it was done though.

A blazing hot day today, and even Meg was feeling the heat, finding a nice shady spot while we worked through our last lock of the day, Stanthorne Lock..

Some of the lock paddles don’t raise up that far, and sometimes it is difficult to see whether they are open or shut. I saw a brilliant picture of Curdworth Locks on Paul Balmer's blog of Waterway Routes where the tip of the paddle gear is painted in red. Now that is one of the better ideas from British Waterways in my view, you can see what I mean here —-> linky Brilliant! Certainly much better than the idea of putting square bollards at single narrow locks so us boaters can trip over them for sure!

So late this afternoon we found what we reckon to be the most picturesque mooring on the system.. I took this at about 8.30pm tonight. I can’t think of any other place apart from above the Weaver aqueduct at Audlem, and to be honest this one is better than that..

You can see we have removed No Problem’s windows to give us a really cool boat, and if you look carefully in the picture you can see the hills of Wales in the background.. wonderful place.

I waited tonight for the heat of the day to cool a little before taking the girls for a gentle walk, as you can see it is quite hilly round here and my legs were aching going up the hills. I thought maybe it was the heat of the day, but we have run out of Glucosamine Sulphate which I take. It was Derek and Dot of NB Gypsy Rover who told me to give them a try I guess a couple of years ago when I was struggling going up hill they worked really well and I have had no problems since.. Derek and Dot are currently cruising the Trent and Mersey Canal, and have been heros today rescuing a cat from the canal, well done you two!. Read all about it here —> clicky

Well I won’t get my supply from Simply Supplements for a week.. hope it doesn’t stop me from walking..

Back up the Anderton Lift and onward

2009-06-01T23:38:00.001+01:00

Valeroyal Cut to Billinge Green Flash, River Weaver and Trent & Mersey Canal, 10 miles 2 locks

Just a quick blog tonight for you just to say that we have come up from the River Weaver after our wonderful mooring over the weekend at Valeroyal Cut, and after collecting some bits and bobs from Mr Tesco and filling with water at Anderton we decided to cruise on very late in the day as it was just such a beautiful evening, not putting the pins in ‘till after 7pm.

A couple of pictures from Northwich as we passed through this morning..

This is another of the wonderful swing bridges along the Weaver, and this is a very interesting place by the river in Northwich..

This is the boarded up Quality Inn.. how lovely to have a room right on the edge of the river.. but not any more, I must find out why this looks so deserted.

Once back up on the Trent & Mersey Canal after travelling up the lift our cruise took us through the industrial part of Northwich as we double back on ourselves heading south..

I certainly enjoyed this town more on the river, although we did not stop today to visit the town, the weather was far too good!

We have settled this evening by one of the ‘flashes’ on this canal.. similar to the wide open space known as Tixall Wide. It is very quiet here and when I took Lucy and Meg out this evening late it was obvious that it was a bit remote from casual walkers. The towpath was alive with wild flowers, absolutely beautiful..

It is interesting that although we have cruised 10 miles today, we are only 2 and half miles as the crow flies from where we were moored over the weekend!

Right then, I better post this or it will be tomorrow!! .. Oh by the way, I have added the ‘My Tesco Deliveries’ to the left hand links column again.. there are more files to add, and as soon as I have re-written them I will upload them.. my website was hacked some time ago, and all my html files were altered.

No reason to move from Valeroyal Cut

2009-05-30T21:50:00.001+01:00

Moored Valeroyal Cut, River Weaver

Yesterday evening I took Lucy and Meg for a long walk to get over the antics of that day. I walked over Royal Vale Locks to see what was going on with the lock that collapsed…

This is a major major job for sure..

But a quiet area last night with the lockies gone home and the river dead quiet..

And the walk was simply wonderful..

I didn't sleep well last night, being upset with what happened yesterday and wondering just how much damage I had done to the paintwork. When we moored last night it was the side on the non towpath that was giving me anxiety, and I didn’t get a really good look until this morning when we turned No Problem round to tackle the paintwork.

But I need not have worried, I decided to t-cut the whole side while I was at it, and it came up a treat, no damage at all, I should have looked properly last night then I wouldn’t have been laying in bed contemplating suicide!!

Tomorrow I have decided to polish that side, the t-cut does take off some of the gloss, although you wouldn’t know it looking at the paintwork now, but the boat could do with a bit of a buffering.

Today has been beautiful, and out came the chairs and brolly in the afternoon as we soaked up the heat of the sun.. it makes things feel much better..

I will leave you with a view from our mooring late this evening..

A sunshine cruise but we get stranded on the flash at Winsford

2009-05-29T22:31:00.001+01:00

Aston to Winsford and back to Valeroyal Cut, River Weaver, 18.5 miles 4 locks

We decided to do a long cruise today because the weather was just glorious, and we were soaking it up poodling along on this river. Our first lock today was Dutton, and we were joined by NB Waimaru friends of Bruce and Shelia on NB Sanity

I don’t know how we got round to finding out that we had both met Bruce…we were just chatting about this and that as you do..

We didn't exchange names, but I have done some detective work, and it could be John and Nev.. now if that is right, then it is Nev's birthday today, and here they are stopping at Ashton Bridge for a celebration lunch..

Passing the Anderton Lift we head on south through Northwich, I did want to stop on the BW services to dump the rubbish, but a boat was moored there with deck chairs out, and a bottle of wine appeared from inside.. they were enjoying, and I wasn’t that desperate to be moored there, the rubbish will wait..

On through Hunts Lock to Royal Vale Locks where we arrived luckily just 5 minutes before the appointed time. These locks are only open 4 times a day in each direction!

I can understand why they are only open 4 times in a day… NB Paris is on the outside, we would later need help from that boat.

This chap is closing the gates using a capstan, he is walking round and round probably getting very dizzy! The larger lock is broken, there are contractors on the site.. wonder how long it will be until this chap can get an aching finger on the open button rather than an aching back turning this thing!

Then the first of two near total disasters as we reached a really low bridge.. everything had to come off the roof including the chimney..

It was the lowest bridge we had ever been under with this boat, and our flag mast that holds the satellite dish looked to be just about clearing by a smidge when it just snagged on a rivet would you believe.. that was enough to loosen the self tappers on the roof, and slightly bend the base plate. When we moored up Vic went up on the boiling hot roof fixing the problem.. the whole job took well over an hour!

But worse was to come as I went down the narrow cut that leads to a huge flash or lake where we need to turn as it is the end of the navigation.. as I went round the corner into the flash there was a small lad, about two years old far to close to the water’s edge, I had my eye on him, and just misjudged the bend and brushed the back of No Problem into the trees, and unbeknown to me it swept my back rope into the water…

Yep you guessed it… but I didn’t know that the rope was round the propeller.. the rudder was bouncing up and down, it happened as I had the tiller full over when turning, I thought something had happened mechanically as there was a lot of vibration.. help was at hand though from blog readers Simon and Pat of NB Paris, we were following them to the end turn.

As they came alongside to help they noticed the rope dangling towards the propeller… I was so pleased!!

How can I be so pleased that my own rope was round my prop!!!

A rope is much cheaper than a major repair job for sure!

A tow from Paris helped us not to go aground, and soon Vic had the prop clear but not before No Problem drifted into the trees… the t-cut will be needed tomorrow me thinks..

You told me to go to Weston Point so I did..

2009-05-28T22:46:00.001+01:00

Kingsley to Weston Point and back to Aston, River Weaver, 11 miles 0 locks

Well my perception of the river changed today, and I felt happier to be cruising on it, in fact enjoying it far more than yesterday.. We were going to turn way before the end, not wanting to go past the industry but…..

So onward we went all the way to the end… Well a lot of you persuaded me to do that, and thank you, I am so glad we did! The industry towards the end of the navigation is awesome.. all that pipe work twisting and oozing steam, amazing.

At the end the navigation is blocked off, the church is boarded up.. I have never seen a boarded up church, but it is in the way of whatever they are doing here, lots of construction work, and even a boat within a barge which amused Vic, look carefully..

After spinning round and at last heading No Problem in a southerly direction we decided to stop at Marsh Lock, this one goes out to the Manchester Ship Canal…

We have already decided that we would go out of here to Ellesmere next time we are along the Shroppie, or in to here whatever, now that should be fun!

But the lock is in a bit of a state, and I was wondering who was up for maintaining it…

It has to be British Waterways I feel, because as we left the pontoon a BW van was arriving at the lock, and shortly after that we passed a large cruiser, putting two and two together, that lock gate was going to be opened for the cruiser to go out…

Then the sun came out, and the wind was behind us. I think I just got a bit fed up with the wind being in my face for the last few days along with the chilly weather.. bring on the sun and drop the wind and suddenly I see a whole new river.

We usually like to find our own places to moor on rivers, tending not to use official moorings too much, and this we did tonight finding a beautiful mooring near the village of Aston..

Lucy and Meg love it, they have plenty of freedom here.. I was out walking tonight finding a super 4 mile circular route through the hamlet of Aston, and here passing what I now know as ‘Devil’s Garden’, gawd knows how it got that name.. we moored there last night with a couple of other boats, but tonight…

It looked like a boat park, with more of them to the right and left of the picture.. glad we found our ‘private mooring’! Some of those boats are doubled up too, maybe it is a boat club… I walked high out of the Weaver Valley, phew it was some climb up hill, but I made it without stopping and was sure puffing at the top.. I just kept thinking how many calories I was using up!

A good view from the top though made it all worth while..

Yet more wild garlic collected too this evening, dunno what to use that for yet, will let you know..

A visit to Barnton before the big locks of the Weaver

2009-05-27T22:56:00.001+01:00

Barnton to Kingsley, River Weaver, 6.25 miles 2 locks

The weather was poor this morning, so I took the opportunity to do a bit of overdue bookwork and walk with Vic up the hill to the village of Barnton to post what I needed to.. so we pulled the pins from our overnight mooring once the weather had cleared a bit after lunch…

We had no plan of where to stop, but we would go through the two locks in front of us before finding somewhere so we could see the dot in the sky for the satellite to pick up the European Cup Final tonight.. for sure Barcelona were a much better team on the night than Manchester United, but the English team have done really well this season with some very entertaining football..

I was surprised how big the locks were…

Also not knowing which of the pair of locks to use! This is Dutton Lock, and there is no pontoon on the left for that lock, so had to do a very quick maneuver to get over to the new visitor moorings before the wind spun No Problem round…

Once in the lock it was easy to imagine how big some of the shipping was that used the river in past times…

But there are some relics to be seen..

I wonder how long that has been there.. You know, I am not overly overly about this river. When I compare it to the River Nene and the rivers in East Anglia it is disappointing, but maybe I ain’t seen nothing yet, and this evening where we are moored the Nicholson Guide says “the Weaver Valley is a beautiful green narrow cutting…” Well yes it is nice for sure but not as nice as East Anglia…. Here is our mooring…

Maybe it is the weather that is giving me this view, we are on the way to where the Weaver meets the Manchester Ship Canal, I would be tempted to go through the lock at the end and travel the 6 odd miles to Ellesmere and enter the Shroppie, but I also want to go the other way upstream to the head of navigation at Winsford, taking a look at another noted area of beauty around the Vale Royal area.. maybe that will change my mind..

But I can’t knock the walking… This from the top of the valley overlooking the river..

And across some quality meadows..

The woodlands along the banks are alive with wild garlic and the smell is fabulous.. the leaves are too, to eat! The other evening I had a delicious mushroom and wild garlic omelette with cheese sauce.. it was yummy, and I had to save my calories up for the day to have that, then tonight we had a salad with wild garlic thrown it.. what a difference that makes.

I keep on forgetting to mention that Paul Balmer has produced another of his excellent DVDs.. I didn’t get to see this one yet, but I would expect it to be a top class watch as he guides his narrowboat Waterway Routes around the Stourport Ring. There are a couple of youtube videos to watch on that page too just to give you a taster of what these DVDs are like.. click here to see them

Furby noticed that the “Where we are now” page is still not showing on the blog.. I still have some rewriting to do of some of my pages, that is one of them. A while a go my pages got hacked on my server and I need to do some rewriting.. bear with me, I will get to do them all, I know “My Tesco Deliveries” is a popular page, it is not lost just needs sorting!

Going down at Anderton is No Problem and we get our first taste of the Weaver

2009-05-26T22:49:00.001+01:00

Anderton to Barnton Cut, River Weaver, 1.25 miles 0 locks, 1 lift!

Mr Tesco brought us a weeks worth of supplies ready for our trip along the River Weaver. I won’t have to worry about having to find shops for a week, we will be well fed and watered now!

Our trip down the Anderton Lift would be after 3pm, so I had time to walk the girls, do a bit of spit and polish, and to clean the inside of the cratch cover which was desperate for a clean. The dregs of winter have not been rid yet although May is nearly out, I am well behind with my spring clean this year.. no worry, problem is I just love being outside walking or doing something else instead!

Look at these two rogues…

I think this is about right, they should both be behind bars!!

Vic is chatting away to Les of NB Valerie while we wait to go into the cassions to get our lift down to the Weaver.. from the top the Silver Fox himself can be seen all the way down there all on his own watching our descent..

Gosh it was a long way down, and while I was taking a pic of Les, he was taking one of us all the way up here!

See I didn’t even look scared!! It was a bit blowy though.. “A breeze” the weather man said for today.. yeah right, some breeze, I lost my cap earlier in the canal and had to get the boat pole to retrieve it!

It didn’t seem right for a narrowboat being lowered down like that, it sort of bounced as the hydraulics did their job..

Going down the views towards Northwich were stunning, we had decided to go that way this evening, but as we were decending with NB Steadfast we changed our minds and decided to go downstream instead after being told of a very nice mooring just one mile away, that would do us for tonight..

An incredible structure jutting out from the hillside this is.. the other cassion is on it’s way from the bottom while we sink slowly.. there it goes passing us..

You can see the massive ram, the huge round thing that is pushing it up as our cassion pushes our ram down. Originally, before it was converted to electrical power, there was water across the two rams at the bottom, and as ours went down it pushed the water across and into the other ram to make it rise.. well basically.. if you are interested have a look at the Anderton Lift page where it explains far better, and with a diagram.

Thanks Les for this fabulous photo as well as No Problem leaves the lift ready to turn right downstream towards the sea. We were very lucky that he was around today to be able to take a series of photos for us to keep of this trip.. not many boaters will have pictures of their narrowboats working through the lift..

Once we had cleared a couple of chemical plants the river opened out to beautiful countryside, I could taste and smell the fresh water, absolutely fabulous. And after the hullabaloo above on the Trent & Mersey Canal over the Bank Holiday weekend it was peace at last, no boats and open water.. I’m gonna enjoy this week!