Annual Report

Twelve years of Briar Rose ownership completed.  This year's usage went back up again as we had a long autumn cruise, and our Crick trip had a few extra days at the start too.

During the year we travelled on the following waterways:

• BCN New Main Line
• BCN Old Main Line
• BCN Titford Canal
• Birmingham and Fazeley Canal
• B&F Digbeth Branch
• Coventry Canal
• Grand Union Digbeth Branch
• Grand Union Leicester Line
• Grand Union Mainline
• Llangollen Canal
• Middlewich Arm
• Montgomery Canal
• North Oxford Canal
• Prees Arm
• Shropshire Union main line 
• Trent and Mersey Canal
• Whitchurch Arm

Curiosity on test

The May Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on Curiosity, by Boating Leisure Services.  This boat will also be at the Crick Boat Show at the end of May.

Rain

I came up to the boat after work yesterday.  The Eberspacher took a couple of goes to get running, but everything else was fine.  I was woken several times in the night by torrential rain, and this morning the marina road was more like a lake.

I had to go to Dunchurch Pools for a boat test, but I was ready early so I stopped at the little car park by the penultimate Stoke Bruerne lock and walked along to see how the Tove was doing.  The overflow entry of the river was running, showing how much water there is about.

The boat test went well, and despite there being some rain, the sun struggled out for the five minutes we needed it.

Andy Dence boat on test

The April Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on a spec boat by Andy Dence.

Halewick on test

The March Canal Boat is in the shops, and includes my boat test on Halewick, by MGM.

Russell Narrowboats on test

The February Canal Boat is out, and has my boat test on a stock boat by Russell Narrowboats. 

Christmas Cruise: Day 4

An alarm at 3.45am, as I had work this morning.  It was a ten minute walk along the towpath to the car, which we had moved into Cosgrove on Christmas Eve.  It was clear and cold, with bright moonlight.

I came back to the marina after my shift, and Adrian had walked along to meet me.  We walked back to the boat, passing these characters in Cosgrove.

After lunch we set off back to the marina.  

The lock needed turning, and we had an audience of walkers to watch us come up.  

Unlike every other day this short trip there wasn’t a breath of wind.  Even the marina was still, which sometimes means it’s harder to spin round to reverse into the berth, but actually it all went extremely well.  An hour after setting off, we were all secure in our berth.

We have nothing planned for this afternoon; tomorrow we head home — me via work, and Adrian via his aunt and uncle in Kent.

1 mile, 1 lock.  (3 miles, 2 locks)