For those who are not avid followers of the blog or anyone who missed last week’s blog, as small recap ! we broke the boat propeller, one of the three fins is out of line by a couple of inches, which means forward is fairly noisy with some vibration on the tiller, but reverse is very noisy and not very effective either, therefore we need to get the boat to a boat yard, for a Monday (9th August) morning slot in a dry dock to fix the problem. So, we have 55 miles and 90 locks to do, by Sunday evening.
On Monday, we drive back from Lyme Regis, do some shopping then return the hire car to Birmingham airport, so don’t manage any cruising.
Tuesday, on checking the rear bilge, before setting off, the boat has taken on about 1 cm of water, could be something to do with the damage or there was a lot of rain over the weekend and could just be that. 1 cm is not a lot and not of real concern yet, we speak to the engineer who agrees we continue to the boat yard, and continue to monitor the bilge.
So, we set off, as soon as we leave the Stourbridge arm, we are at the bottom of the Stourton locks (16 locks) thankfully help arrived in the shape of “John”, not sure he is an “official Canal & River Trust Volunteer” but he helps out, setting the next locks for us, which is a great help. Not long after the Stourton locks we hit the Delph locks (8 locks), no help this time, but not many boats around, so we just cracked on with them. After 8 ¼ hours of cruising we moored for the night just south of the Netherton tunnel (one for the morning !) A nice mooring site except for the significant number of Flying Ants around on the tow path, we just kept the doors and windows closed!
We set off on Wednesday morning with a plan to get to the other side of Birmingham that day (there are few good moorings, other than in the Gas Street Basin, and that is still in the middle). First the Netherton tunnel, 3,027 yards which takes about an hour to cruise, the Netherton tunnel is a dead straight wide two way tunnel, and thankfully we did not meet another boat in the tunnel, out the other end we get to the Birmingham Canal Navigations – Main line, which is a very wide canal, the “boatway” (motorway) of its time. we can confirm the fact often quoted that Birmingham has more canals than Venice (we’ve seen the CRT sign). A left turn at Old Turn Junction to the top of the Farmers Bridge Locks (13 Locks), struck lucky again, CRT volunteer on hand to help us through these locks, which descend 81 ft between office blocks. We are making good progress and no more water in the bilge.
A right turn at Aston Junction on to the Digbeth Branch, and yes you’ve guessed more locks, 6 this time, but no more help. Then another right turn at Bordseley Junction on to the Grand Union Canal and 5 more locks, a couple of which were really tricky paddles to open, we then passed Birmingham City University. The CRT Volunteer had advised us not to moor in Birmingham or Solihull, so we cruise another 6 miles to near a village called “Catherine de Barnes”, a couple miles away from Birmingham airport. A total day’s cruising of 10 ½ hours, our longest day by far, and so far we have been blessed with good weather.
Thursday, we are now on the Grand Union Canal, and the locks are now Grand indeed, which can take 2 narrowboats, side by side or 1 wide beamed boat. Today we only had 1 set of locks to do, the Knowle locks (5 locks) dropping a total 41 ft 10 inch. We were not joined by another boat in the locks, which makes it slightly trickier as the boat drifts about when paddles are opened. On coming out of the first lock, two boats were coming up out of the next lock, so Roger had to avoid those, then the boat got caught by the wind, because of the dodgy propeller was unable to fight the wind, so went with it and ended up doing a full 360’ turn, in the lock pound, before entering to lock, no problem, no harm done!
By mid-afternoon, we were getting close to Hatton Locks (21 locks),when the rain started (the forecast was terrible) so decided to moor up of the rest of the day, and the weather did indeed get a lot worse.
Friday, the Hatton locks down into Warwick, 21 double locks, again it was surprisingly quiet, so no company in the locks, but again CRT volunteers, who were great, 21 locks in only 3 hours – result, which meant we had some time to walk around Warwick (didn’t do Warwick Castle – it is a £26 entry fee, so you need to spend all day there to get anything like your money’s worth). Cruised on a couple more miles, and a couple more locks, then stopped for dinner at the Moorings Pub. Great Garlic Prawns!
Saturday, as we had made good time earlier in the week, we have time for a walk around Leamington Spa, before cruising on near the Fosse Way (Roman Road). When the weather broke again we moored up and did some house work and laundry
Sunday, needed to get to the Boat yard by the end of today, but only 4 miles and 8 locks to do. But after 3 miles and 6 locks we passed the engineer enjoying a coffee on the tow path near his boat ,and he advised us that as the boat yard is near the Blue Lias pub it was a bit congested, and suggested we moor before the last 2 locks. so as instructed we have moored up 1 mile and 2 locks short of the boat yard. So we have done 54 miles and 88 miles.
And to the Boatyard tomorrow morning !
| This Week | Total | |
| Locks | 88 | 410 |
| Miles Cruised (approx.) | 54 | 575 |
Travurple 