Week 8 and home

Total of 302 miles 141 locks

14:40 26/07/2010 3.57 miles 7 locks

And so to home! In the rain, not serious but made Watford locks more interesting!

Only a couple of boats in front of us in the queue, so we soon made it to the top and off through the tunnel back to our mooring. It seems strange to be back here at Crick after all this time away, still it will be nice to go home and see the state of the garden.

(later) Bushes all growing out of control despite the work of alison to cut them back, and we now have cows just over the fence, much to Bella's excitement.

17:23 25/07/2010 5.24 miles 6 locks

Sunday morning madness had set in and by the time we reached the Braunston flight there was a big queue, so we floated around for our turn, eventually locking through with a boatload of young families ( 6 adult 5 children) out for a long weekend, they had been told to 'see the tunnel', which of course involves doing all the locks twice, before returning the boat tomorrow. Now moored at Norton junction ready for the last run home tomorrow through Watford locks.

17:18 24/07/2010 7.23 miles 3 locks

Strange lack of wildlife around here, plenty of cows however! Proper herds all of one type unlike the ratbag collection we have in Buckby. Enough traffic at Hilmorton to make the locks easy, including a young mum who raced everywhere on her bike and insisted on helping us through the locks. We found a pleasant mooring outside Braunston and watched hireboats wizzing by.

19:34 23/07/2010 10.5 miles

Very slow run down to Rugby, a queue of 5 or 6 boats behind a Rose day boat, it eventually moored at Newbold - on the water point and went to the pub! Still it was a great relief to get out from behind them. They reapeared late afternoon having found the throttle thundering back towards Rose to return the boat before the end of the day. We shopped in Tesco and moved on to the golf course to moor for the night. The weather gradually improved with the sun coming out late afternoon.

16:51 22/07/2010 12.6 miles 1 lock

Today's cruise is through Nuneaton outskirts, not very inspiring, but suprisingly clean in the canal, I only counted one bike, and a water tank that had fallen off an allotment! Bedworth is even less inspiring eventually going past the large waterside rubbish dump (sorry it pretends to be a working boatyard), a huge school and finally a golf course, before we hairpin round at Hawksbury junction off the Coventry canal on to the North Oxford. As we pssed through the stop lock the heavens opened and we had steady rain for a short time with thunder in the background. It soon stopped however and we were able to moor in Ansty in the dry. Very tame Moorhen here it keeps trying to come inside the boat.

16:52 21/07/2010 4.61 miles 11 locks

Glorious day, mainly sunny with a bit of wind, headed off for Atherstone flight, and within the space of one lock saw Chris and Helen walking down the other way - what a difference having them around makes. Even so the locks fill extremely slowly, and at the beginning there was little traffic in the opposite direction, so it took around four hours. We rewarded ourselves with chips from the 'chippy'. We are now sitting near the BW Hartshill yard in the evening sun, drink in hand. What a hard life.

18:56 20/07/2010 10.9 miles 2 locks

Well don't speak too soon but we had an excellent days cruising, weather forecast horrible, we had warm air, sun and no rain! And talk about lucky, Glascote locks which had huge queues coming this way went we went down them, had no traffic at all, so we quickly zipped through ( quickly is not quite the word here they are the slowest locks to fill I think I've ever met). Not much wildlife around here, its strange how some parts of the canal have ducks, geese, kingfishers and moorens in abundance, whilst others hardly any. Tommorrow we pray for a fine day as Atherstone locks are hard work in the wet (or dry)!

20:19 19/07/2010 8.91 miles 3 locks

First away from our moorings in nice sunny weather, but we were in for a shock, the bottom Fradley Junction lock had a queue, 5 or 6 boats long. By the time we got through what felt like hours later there were even more boats in the queue. No idea why, but probably not helped by no boats coming the other way - very strange. We took on water at the junction and then got stuck behind two boats competing to see how slow they could go! We do not go fast, but having to drop in to neutral to avoid catching them up is a bit much.

Week 7

17:23 17/07/2010
rest and recreation day in Tixall Wide.


17:26 16/07/2010 9 miles 7 locks
 Good run in somewhat blustery conditions, water level way down in some of the pounds, which slows  progress. BW are doing a good job with 'spot dredging' through bridge holes and lock entrances, the crew
 we saw when coming the other way at Tixall, have now advanced about two locks, but there is evidence of
 their work all along the canal. They were distracted this morning helping to remove fallen Willow trees,  the winds last night brought a few down. Part of the route goes through Acton Trussell, it looks and  expensive place to live, with new canalside houses with extensive smart gardens.

 20:03 15/07/2010 4.48 miles 5 locks
 Easy run down through Gailey. Looked bad at first, three boats at the locks in front of us. Luckily two  were taking on water and one was coming up. So all of a sudden we were first in the queue and away  through the locks. A couple more Kingfishers were spotted on the way, but nothing else of note. Moored  before the first of the Penkridge locks and met Jan for a pleasant lunch. Our mooring is opposite a  Moorhen nest, and we have spent a lot of time watching the male (?) bringing nesting materials, yellow  leaves, and only yellow, as well as various bits of green reeds. A Heron has fished next to that, and a  male swan has fought off Mallard chicks who might endanger his baby!

17:27 14/07/2010 9.17 miles 1 (stop) lock
 Made a good start as the weather forecast was foul, making good progress down the last of the straight  and narrow 'Shroppie', we will miss it when we turn the corner at Autherley Junction. Shopped at  Morrison's as usual and quickly turned out in to the Staff and Worcs Canal. More bends in the first two  miles than in the whole of the Shroppie!!. We decided to continue until the weather broke, but lunch  intervened and we moored just past Calf Heath Marina. It was damp on and off, but never really wet. We  have had sunshine since then, but now can hear thunder in the distance, so will batten down the hatches.

17:22 13/07/2010 10.1 miles 1 lock
 Last day with 'crew', but only one lock. Wheaton Aston was remarkably quiet, even the garage had no  customers. They have done a good job making a tidy landing stage, so filling up will be easier in  future. At the moment Norbury Junction are the same price, so no need to fill. We reached Brewood in  good time and were able to get Alison on to a 2pm Taxi, she was home via train to Birmingham by shortly  after 4pm. Worth remembering for the future. We moved on out of Brewood to Lower Pendeford farm moorings for the night,  eeing two or three Kingfishers as we went, so the cold winter did not kill them all off.

16:20 12/07/2010 9.66 miles 0 locks
 Woke up to rain, and it continued all day, so the 'man on the rudder' was left out in the rain whilst  the crew hid inside, very wise of them. A few other hardy souls out but mainly quiet with no excitement.  Services were taken at Norbury Junction as on the way out, a very pleasant and helpful staff. We soon  reached Gnosall  No-sull) and moored near a Pub for the night, and they serve food on Mondays so we  might be going out for a meal. Alison leaves us tomorrow, we will miss having crew.



16:15 11/07/2010 8.63 miles 12 locks
 Water looked a little low today, was that good, or bad? As it turned out good because the fierce by
 washes around the locks, first at Adderley and especially at Tyrley were almost entirely noticeable by
 not being there! It made the locks a much more pleasant experience. So much of this canal is on
 embankments or in cuttings as it is almost the only stretch of canal which did not follow the contour
 lines but plowed straight to its target.

Week 6

20:41 10/07/2010 3.95 miles 13 locks
Long flog to Audlem and back up the 13 locks, the ladies managed to shop whilst I was taking on water and chatting to Dave from Greensleeves. Very hot but overcast and muggy all day. Ended with a BBQ.

20:39 9/07/2010 2 miles 4 locks
Excellent quick trip down the Hack Green locks turn around and back up the locks with the gates all set for us by a following boat. Visited The 'Secret Nuclear Bunker', a possible seat of government in case of nuclear attack.

19:58 08/07/2010 3.2 miles 13 locks
Had a BW boat moored above us last night, guess what, in the morning they were broadside on across the canal, apparently not trying to turn just 'lost it'. 'We do know what we are doing they We were soon down the rest of the flight in to the Audlem moorings to set off shopping. Great place to shop Audlem, one of most things, and it is nice to see shops that were empty last year now with occupants. We were soon on our way again and through the last of the locks. We moored on a Shropshire Union Canal Soc. mooring before Hack Green. Mixed weather, no real rain, but not much sun.

16:05 07/07/2010 8.55 miles 12 locks
Early start from Goldstone Wharf hoping to beat the rush through Woodseaves cutting. We succeeded in this not meeting a single boat. The locks at Tyrley had just the right amount of traffic, one boat in each lock going each way, so we had a fast and uneventful passage despite the fierce bywashes. We soon passed Market Drayton and were soon in the 5 locks at Adderley, all without rain. The weather deteriorated then and as we came out of the last lock the rain really started, however we moved on down to the top 2 locks at Audlem, seeing 2 Kingfishers as we went. We are now safely moored with the rain having stopped and the sun trying to come out. What a difference having extra 'crew' makes to operating all those locks.

17:39 06/07/2010 9.99 miles
 Quick run in the sun up to Norbury Junction for the usual services and then on through the cutting, which starts with the interesting double arch with inset telegraph pole. Not much traffic and a nice stretch of canal. We started to list the birds seen so far, Herons, Crows, Kingfisher (1), Cormorant, Buzzard (see photo last week), Baby owl being harassed by Magpies, he was sitting tight on a pole. Swans, Ducks, Geese. Not doing too bad so far.The final stretch of the canal starts to give views over to Wales, not to be visited this year. Moored opposite the pub and tried for a phone signal, but rubbish, that's canal travel for you. Tomorrow we head through Woodseaves cutting (narrow) and then through 12 locks, so I suspect an early start and a good breakfast is called for.

20:06 05/07/2010 8.2 miles 1 lock
Moved on from Bridge 7 to Brewood to await the arrival of Alison, worked well, taxi delivered her just before 1, and we were soon underway again, heading through very straight canals towards Norbury. As usual on this canal there are miles of on-line moorings, why don't they build marinas here rather than up the Leicester Section? Found a good mooring in Gnosall ready for the run through Norbury.

Week 5

20:20 04/07/2010 5.91 miles 1 lock
Early(ish) start to get around Autherley Junction and on to Morrisons before finding a mooring for the night. An interesting stretch of canal, with a short very narrow section where the canal builders could only cut a narrow cutting through hard rock, luckily we met no one. The junction was clear so we navigated the hairpin bend and entered the stop lock. Having searched in the grass for rings we eventually moored to go shopping. Stocked up again we moved off a couple a bridges to moor to meet Alison on Monday. Unfortunately the wind was howling and the guide books suggestion of one foot out from the bank was more like three. Bella refused to walk the plank, so after a conference we decided to move on, and arrange for Alison to catch us up by taxi.

14:47 03/07/2010 4.95 miles 1 lock
Good start to the day, Gailey lock was left for us to go through, otherwise its a difficult lock, with the entry under the A5 and invisible in the dark. Then the water point was empty and the rubbish bins clean and tidy. Viking Afloat opposite were busy turning boats around, typical Saturday morning activity for a hire fleet. After leaving Gailey the canal winds in an alarming fashion through the middle of a chemical works past Calf Heath marina and on to Slade Heath for the night.

19:44 02/07/2010 2.2 miles 4 locks We met up with friends from Crick (Evenlode) in the morning so exchanged news, they have had a very exciting journey, including crossing the Mersey! Then we walked around Penkridge before setting off to Gailey.A very pleasant country run, apart from the motorway coming and going beside the canal.


19:37 01/07/2010 4.68 miles 6 locks
Well we cannot sit around all the time so we set sail for Penkridge, 6 locks and plenty of country views, but also of course the M6 motorway in the distance! Stopped at Midland Swindlers (Chandlers) for essential spares as the shower pump was on its last legs! Luckily they had a service kit at a very reasonable price, so I was all prepared for a night of hard work in Penkridge. Our friend Jan lives here and luckily was in, so we went to the pub for lunch and took advantage of her kind offer for a major shop using her car! The evening was spent inside a cupboard mending the shower pump, it certainly sounds a lot more healthy now.

19:36 30/06/2010 Sat around for a day enjoying doing nothing.

19:12 29/06/2010 6.6 miles 1 lock.
On the move again having spent a week enjoying Tixall Wide, we turned around and went for water and gas at the Junction, before heading once again up Tixall Wide and on the the first lock. This was made more interesting by a BW Dredger in the lock mouth, luckily we arrived before he attempted to dredge the lock otherwise we would have been held up for some time. We were soon away and cruised around Baswich, Weeping Cross to our mooring at Wildwood, just before the next lock.