July Braidbar visit

The main reason we moored where we did last night was because it’s close to our friends who are looking after the car.  This morning we walked along and picked it up, and drove up to Braidbar.  There’s been more progress and we made more decisions.  More detail on the Kingley Vale blog.

We had lunch in a cafe in Poynton and took my watch into a jewellers in town to see if they could repair it; the minute hand moves randomly, and you can no longer adjust the time!  Then we drove back to Nantwich and did a big shop at Sainsbury’s as we can get the car quite close.  Then we dropped the car back and walked back to the boat.

Cheshire, eventually: Day 14

After I’d posted the blog yesterday we had a call from Carol and George (ex Rock’n’Roll and Still Rockin’) in response to a message we’d sent earlier.  They came round for a cup of tea — and volunteered to combine their morning walk today with helping us down the remaining Audlem locks.  Of course the help is nice, but more than anything it’s lovely to see them, and give them a proper canal fix!  This morning the first boat headed down the locks before 7am, and before 8 another couple had been past.  We set off at about 8.15, thinking we should get into the procession before any more boats came along.

George and Carol parked by the Shroppie Fly and walked up to meet us, bringing their own windlasses.  Carol worked ahead, often joining the crew of the boat in front, while George and I stayed at the lock we were in.  We were also chatting a lot, so the only photographic evidence I have that they were here isn’t very good!

Audlem is always a pretty flight, but unusually the notorious bywashes were hardly running at all today, and some of the pounds were even a bit low.

For most of the run, we’d caught up with the boat ahead, and they’d caught up with the boat in front of them.  Then the lead boat moored up after Lock 11, and at Lock 12 there were boats coming up.  We still had to turn the one by the Shropshire Fly, though.

There’s a water point below that lock, and an Andersen hire boat which had been using it pulled off as we came down.  That meant there was an extra boat between us and the next lock, so the last couple seemed to take quite a while.  When we got to the bottom, we moored up, put the kettle on, and plied our helpers with chocolate biscuits to say thank you.  Then we said our goodbyes; I’m sure we’ll see G&C soon, because we’ll be in this sort of area for a while now.  Before setting off again we got the washing machine going, and waited for the wash part of the cycle to finish.  By now the sun had really come up, but there was a very stiff breeze which had a bit of an edge to it.

We had lunch on the move, then arrived at Hack Green Locks.  This always seems to be a place that never goes as smoothly as it should, and today there was a bit of hanging about while a CRT man prodded at the wooden buffer on the cill of the top lock, which is at a jaunty angle.  We were also following a hire boat down.

The wind was ridiculous at times, but at least it was mostly head on.  I would have lost my hat several times if I hadn’t had the chin strap deployed.  We reached Nantwich and crossed the aqueduct.

After the aqueduct the canal turns a right angle, and suddenly the wind was from the side, meaning I had to put some power on to avoid being blown sideways into the moored boats.  As the water point was free, we stopped to top up the tank and also use the handy recycling bins.  We then had trouble getting away from the side, which seemed odd as the wind had been blowing the other way earlier.  Immediately after the water point is the bridge which marks the end of the former Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal; beyond it is what used to be called the Chester Canal.  It’s all the Shroppie these days.

We’d originally planned to moor just before Hurleston Junction, but going up the locks at the start of the Llangollen would be more convenient, so we decided to do them.  Adrian jumped off at the junction bridge while I brought the boat round.  You have to take quite a wide arc here, and the wind was now sideways on.  Fortunately the bottom lock was empty and Adrian got the gates open quickly, and I was able to let the boat be blown level with the lock, at which point I gunned it into the chamber.  The only photo is from once I was in there.

There was a hire boat coming down the second lock, so we could swap — although they had to go back and re-open one of the gates which had swung shut.  The first member of crew to come down to my lock explained that the strong wind was blowing their boat onto the side; I did feel like asking what she thought it was likely to do to me.  Anyway, I managed to get round them and into the lock.  The next two pounds were very low, as much as 18 inches down, which made crossing the pounds tricky.  At the top, there are fantastic views across to the hills of east Cheshire and north Staffordshire.

There’s also a sign above the flower planters, which suggests there’s been an issue.

We moored up through Bridge 1 at the top of the locks at just gone 4pm.  It’s been another long day, but with good company and a couple of stops thrown in.  It’s been one of those rare trips where the number of locks exceeds the number of miles, and by quite a margin.

9 miles, 19 locks.  (113 miles, 139 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 13

Finally, we have arrived in Cheshire, having started the day in Staffordshire and crossed Shropshire.  We knew we had quite a journey to do today if we wanted to get back on schedule, so with lots of miles before the first locks I got up first and got us going.  We set off at 7.15 and they were already moving the day boats about at Norbury Wharf.

At Grub Street cutting, I took the photo which has to be taken.

The former Cadbury works at Knighton was looking much neater than we’ve seen it recently, and the boat moored outside says the owners are ‘profiteers in all things decent!’.

We crossed the border into Shropshire, but the weather was so different from yesterday that The Wrekin was only a vague outline on the western horizon.  The sun hasn’t really come out at all today, and it’s around ten Celsius cooler.  Before Goldstone Wharf, there are a collection of camping pods, which don’t yet appear on Google maps.

Woodseaves cutting is deep, narrow, and very green.  There are also the remains of several land slips.

We hadn’t seen many boats all day, but when we got to Tyrley Locks, a boat coming up the top one said we had four boats in front of us.  The cottage by the lock now has flowers all over it, rather than UKIP banners.

Adrian was working these locks, and discovered that the boat in front of us was a single hander who didn’t want any sort of help from anyone.  Even when he’d left a lock he would rather faff about with a pole than let someone else close the gates.  Consequently, our progress was slowed quite a bit, although the five locks still took only just over an hour.  At the bottom of the locks, the tree stump man has had a makeover.

Fortunately, the single hander had stopped for water in Market Drayton, so we slipped by.  We had lunch on the move, then arrived at Adderley Locks which I was working.  There was a boat coming out of the top lock, and the second one was full and the gate had swung open.  There was a boat going down in front, but we also passed two more boats going up.

Between Adderley Locks and the top of the Audlem flight we crossed from Shropshire to Cheshire.  At the locks, we still had the boat in front, but there’s always the stand of goodies to choose from by the top lock.  We ended up with some flapjack and a pork pie for lunch tomorrow.

Below the top lock, one of the local cows was having a paddle.

We followed the boat down the top two locks, and we both wanted to moor in the next pound.  The other boat had had a look at what was available, and opted to stop before the official moorings, but thought we’d fit into a space a couple of boats ahead.  Fortunately, we did.  We’d been on the move for more than seven hours, which is the sort of day we’re not really supposed to be doing these days!  Just along from us was another Braidbar boat, Hollingworth, so we went to say hello to Alex and Alan and their four miniature dachshunds.

When we had the share boat, Debdale, it was based at Norbury Junction for a while so we did the Shroppie a lot.  But looking back at our journeys on this boat, we’ve realised this is the first time we’ve done the canal heading north.  The previous four occasions have all been southbound as we seem to have used the Shroppie as the way back from places.

16 miles, 12 locks.  (104 miles, 120 locks)

Crick boat show winners and widebeams

The August Canal Boat is out, and includes the first part of our review of Crick Boats.  This one covers the three narrowboats which came top in the vote for Favourite Boat, plus the two widebeams.

Cheshire, eventually: Day 12

The first confirmation that the tree blocking the canal had been cleared came from a boat which came past just before 8pm last night.  This morning boats started coming past at around 6am, trying to make up for lost time.  We set off at about 8.15, heading initially only for Brewood, where Keith Wilson was coming to fit the new cratch cover.  We got there in about 45 minutes, and found plenty of mooring space.  We had enough time to go to the Co-op for some food shopping.  The village is really nice; just up from the canal is a house with a lovely garden, and plants for sale.

In the centre of the village is Speedwell Castle.

Keith arrived at 10, and set to work.

It took about an hour and a half to fit the new cratch cover, but at least the moorings there are in a cutting so we avoided the worst of the day’s heat.  When we set off again, the first significant feature was the Stratton Aqueduct over the A5.

The Shroppie alternates between cuttings, which were really nice today — dappled sunshine and relatively cool — and long straight embankments.

We had lunch on the move, did the one lock of the day at Wheaton Aston, and then topped up the water tank (we’d begun some washing before setting off from Brewood).  Then we went to Turner’s for diesel, and for those interested in such things the price was 86.9p, which is significantly more than the 81p we paid at Shobnall.

Cowley Tunnel is the only one on the Shroppie and is hewn out of the rock.  

On the other side, we said hello to our friends Sharon and John and their new-to-them boat.  Further along is another interesting garden, and it seems the house is for sale if you fancy taking it on.

It turned out Sharon and John were heading to Norbury Junction to turn around.  We had moored at Norbury, and when they arrived we suggested a drink.  The pub is shut on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we got the chairs out on the towpath and had G&Ts and crisps and a good catch up.  A big plus was that they took our old engine oil to add to a future tip run — for which we are very grateful.

12 miles, 1 lock.  (88 miles, 108 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 11

While we were having breakfast this morning, a stoppage notice came through saying there was a tree blocking the canal at Brewood.  We decided we’d set off anyway, so Adrian went to open the stop lock at the junction, while I brought the boat round.

The lock theoretically takes the level down by four inches; today it seemed more like two.  I always have trouble even telling which side it’s level with.  We went a hundred yards to the water point, and got the washing machine going with the bedding; we’re hoping that with it being so warm at the moment, everything will dry fairly easily.  We then carried on to the moorings between Bridges 7 and 8, which are some of those provided by the Shropshire Union Canal Society (SUCS).  We were all moored up by 10am!

I decided to walk up and have a look at the tree to see how bad it was.  It took a good half an hour to get there, and it was quite a big willow which had cracked and fallen over from the towpath side.

One boat was already there, struggling to get anywhere near the bank, and a few more have gone past since.  As I walked back, I thought I’d have a closer look at some of the bridges.  Bridge 10 carries what the Pearson guide book calls the ‘carriageway to Chillington Hall’, which explains why it has such elaborate balustrades.  The overgrown footpath I found going over it was something of a disappointment!

After lunch, we washed the towpath side of the boat, which badly needed doing.  It’s been very warm, but cloudy rather than sunny today.  Just before 3pm an update to the stoppage notice came through, to say contractors would arrive at Brewood between 5 and 6pm, and the navigation should be open by the end of the day.  That meant we wouldn’t be going on today, and we were glad we’d stopped in a nice spot, rather than having to moor in the deep cuttings between here and the stoppage.

3 miles, 1 lock.  (76 miles, 107 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 10

I was awake early for some reason this morning, and eventually I got up and walked up to seemingly the only shop in Tipton which has a full range of newspapers (we’d done a recce yesterday).  I bought the only copy of The Guardian they had, because I’d been told The Water Road would be featured in the best podcasts of the week section.  It’s a very nice review, but you can always rely on The Grauniad to mis-spell something, and in this case it was the title.

Hopefully they’ll get it right when it goes online on Monday.  We ended up setting off at about ten to eight; I pushed the boat as far out into the channel to try to avoid all the weeds, but still managed to get some round the prop.  A quick blast of reverse got most of it off though.  We made our way back to Factory Junction, where the old buildings are some sort of community centre.  The locks we came up yesterday are beyond the bridge on the right, we were going round to the left.

It’s funny how you don’t seem to see coots in the countryside  but urban areas are full of them.  They build their nests so they’re floating free, so they must occasionally wake up and find they’ve drifted overnight.  One just through the junction had built on a floating piece of wood.

Coseley Tunnel was the first major feature of the day.  The portal this end not only has very dangly brambles, but also some impressive steps up to the road above.

After the tunnel the weed was much less.  Even around Deepfields Junction, where we’ve got stuck in the past, was pretty clear.  And for lots of the stretch the water is clear enough to see hundreds of fish, as well as the weeds and the plastic bags.  As we approached Wolverhampton, the was an odd obstruction, but there was nothing to say what the problem was.

We got to the top of the locks in a much better time than I’d feared, thanks to the weed being much less bad than it could have been.  Since leaving Stourport on Tuesday, we’ve climbed just over 425 feet; now we were about to start going back down again.  We went into the top lock at a minute to 10.

The first couple of locks just needed a top up, the third was empty, but after that they were all pretty much full.  And in the main part of the flight they’re close enough together that I could go ahead and get the gate open.  We met two boats coming up, which also helped.

Our luck ran out at lock 15, because after that they all needed filling — and it was becoming increasingly hot too.

The lower part of the flight passes close to Wolverhampton Race Course, and there was a Motorfest event on, from which we could hear the rather excitable PA person describing all sorts of jumps and tricks.  We were quite relieved to get to the bottom few locks, which are more shady (and Motorfest was on a lunch break).

We completed the 21 locks in exactly three hours, which we thought was pretty good going.  Having to turn the final third of the locks really slowed us down.

We carried on to Autherley Junction and moored up, it was 1.15pm.  Fortunately there’s a bit of shade here, and there’s also a nice breeze.  It’s always good being near a junction for entertainment value.  So far we’ve had someone being very confused by a hire boat coming out of the junction backwards.  We’ve also walked round to the hire base for an ice cream.

8 miles, 21 locks.  (73 miles, 106 locks)

Cheshire, eventually: Day 9

It seemed pretty chilly when we set off this morning at about 8.15.  Just through the bridge ahead of where we moored is the Merry Hill Waterfront development.

After about half an hour we reached Blowers Green Lock, which is a deep one at 12ft.

Above the lock is a junction.  Straight ahead are the locks up to Park Head and the Dudley Canal, which isn’t open to powered boats; the Dudley Canal Trust runs electric trip boats from the other end.  We were turning sharp right, moving from the Dudley No 1 Canal to the Dudley No 2.  We were thinking of stopping for water here, but the tap is out of order.

Along this canal there are rather nice mile markers (actually they come every half a mile) in the shape of the Cobb’s Engine, and there are different information signs too.

There’s a lovely iron bridge over the end of what used to be the Two Locks Line.  If it was still functional, it would have allowed us to cut the corner off.

It came as a bit of a surprise to see a boat coming the other way, particularly as it was in a slightly narrower section which used to be a tunnel.  There’s a high bridge over it, which has spawned one of those names that always seems a bit mangled.

We reached Windmill End, where there were a few boats moored.  A boat was on the water point here, so we didn’t stop.  The junctions here all have nice bridges, but there’s not really a view of the Cobb’s Engine House, because of the trees.

Netherton Tunnel is over 3000 yards long, and takes over half an hour to get through.

I amused myself in the tunnel by trying to take a photo up the air shafts.  Once I’d worked out how to stop the phone doing the nighttime thing where it wants you to stay still for three seconds, the results were better.  I’m quite pleased with this one.

After the tunnel we went under the aqueduct which carries the Old Main Line, then at Dudley Port Junction turned left onto the New Main Line.  This is looking back, so we came from under the right hand bridge.

All the Factory Locks were in our favour, so we made light work of them

At the top, a boat had arrived to go down, but was so close to the lock we couldn’t get out until they’d reversed a bit.  It’s also very weedy, and we seemed to have very little forward propulsion.  That combined with the other boat being in the way meant the turn left towards Tipton seemed like hard work.  The weeds and the water lilies have grown a lot since we were here a few weeks ago.  We needed to stop to clear the prop, so we thought we’d combine that with a visit to the water point by the park — but there was a boat moored there, and the hosepipe wouldn’t reach.  We set off again with a clear prop, only for a boat to be coming through the next bridge.  After we’d gone through we turned around at Tipton Junction and retraced our steps, mooring at our usual spot outside the health centre.  The other boat here was also moored there last time we were here in May, and was also here (although in a slightly different place) in 2023.

This afternoon it’s been sunny but windy.  I’ve spent the time editing a couple of podcasts.  As we’re in Tipton, we’re treating ourselves to another visit to Mad O’Rourke’s; hopefully they’ll have some Peaky Blinders, which they were out of last time.

10 miles, 4 locks.  (65 miles, 85 locks)