Guest crewing

With Adrian spending time with him mum, I've taken up a very kind invitation to join the crew of Chance.  This morning, I drove to Alvechurch where I left the car, and got three trains.  The first took me to Birmingham, including the stretch alongside the canal through Bourneville; the second retraced ninety per cent of the route (although without stopping), before going to Droitwich; the third was a ten minute journey to Kidderminster.  There I found Chance moored near Tesco.

This afternoon, we made the short hop to Stourport, with just a couple of locks on the way.

Having moored above York Street Lock, we went for tea with Bob and June on Autumn Myst, which is moored a couple of boats away, then went for a walk around the basins, and through the town.  There are some lovely cottages down towards the river.

The town has nothing much to recommend it.  We did eventually identify a place for dinner tonight, though.

4 miles, 2 locks.

Elusive birds

It got quite chilly yesterday evening and overnight.  If I'd thought, I might have lit the fire.

This morning wasn't as grey as forecast, and I set off back to the marina at 8am.  On the way I saw a kingfisher, but managed only a very blurred shot.  A little further on, there was a green woodpecker, but once he was up in the tree I couldn't get any sort of photo at all.  The swallows were swooping over the marina, and even they wouldn't stay still long enough for a photo.

I got back into our berth easily, packed, and got in the car.  I'm currently en route to the next part of my excursion.

1.5 miles, 0 locks.  (4 miles, 0 locks)

Short trip

Normally at this time of year we'd be out on our autumn cruise.  But Adrian's mum is ill, so he's spending the time with her.  I'm off work, though, so I've organised a little excursion -- of which more over the next few days.  I'm on board Briar Rose for just one night, to break the journey.

I arrived at the marina at just after 4.30 this afternoon.  Following my usual policy of not spending a night in the marina unless necessary, I unloaded the car, got the boat ready and set off at 5pm, turning left out of the marina.  As I was making the turn, a boat appeared from my right.  It turned out they were going into the marina, so it was just as well I was out of the way.

It had been sunny the whole journey up, but it was quite blustery across the marina and there was a big black cloud which appeared overhead.

I had a pleasant trip along to Kingfisher Marina, where I turned in the marina entrance.  As I did so, I was able to have a quick look at the boats in the paint dock at Baxters.  Both look very nice and shiny; one is dark blue, the other black and white.

As I retraced my steps, the black cloud had moved aside, and the tower of Hanslope church picked out by the sun against the dark sky looked quite spectacular.

I moored up in a spot I've used before, just short of Bridge 62.  Fortunately, the towpath is no longer as overgrown as it was earlier in the year.

2.5 miles, 0 locks

Back to work

The forcast overnight rain never materialised, but it was much calmer this morning.  It was also a lovely day, with blue skies and sunshine.  I set off just before 8 o'clock, and got away from the side at the first attempt (proving that the wind was nowhere near as strong as yesterday.  This is looking back at my mooring, on the left between the two boats.

It really was a stunning morning to be boating -- the sort of morning you should be setting off, not going back to the marina.

I resisted the temptation to carry on past the marina entrance, and turned in.  Of course the wind here was much stronger, but it was at least blowing straight down the jetties.  I spun the boat in front of our berth and reversed in.  It was probably my best ever entry to the berth, not even touching the sides.

There's not a great deal of packing to do, so I'm topping up the water tank so it's ready for next time.  Then it'll be in the car and off to London.

1 mile, 0 locks.  (2 miles, 0 locks)

Bugbrooke and Cosgrove (yet again)

The weather this morning was cloudy, but after some discussion we decided to do the boat test anyway.  I walked up the towpath to the marina where my car was parked, and drove the 25 minutes to the boat.  While the clouds remained, there were also times when the sun broke through, so we just about got away with it.

During a short trip out on the boat, we had to wait while an enormous widebeam came through a bridge.  It must have been the full 12' wide -- I'm still wondering whether they managed to get past a Wyverne Shipping hire boat, which had decided to moor in one of the narrowest sections in the Bugbrooke cutting.  Once the test was done, we went to The Wharf Inn at Bugbrooke for a very nice lunch.

Throughout the day the wind has been getting stronger and stronger.  It made getting the test boat back into its marina quite tricky, and when I arrived back at Thrupp Wharf to park the car, the wind there was also very strong.  I walked back down the towpath to Cosgrove, and consulted the weather forecast: tomorrow morning, the wind is due to be much less strong.  I decided that regardless of whether I returned this afternoon or tomorrow morning, I needed to turn the boat around -- and the conditions would help me decide.

I struggled to get the boat off the side, such was the force of the wind -- not helped by a little plastic boat having moored very close in front;  I was worried about being blown into it.  It's only a couple of hundred yards down to Cosgrove Lock, where they's room to turn above.  It's surprisingly sheltered there, but once I was about two-thirds of the way through the turn the wind did the rest.  It also then tried to push me into the side of the trip boat which moors by the lock.

Consequently, I've decided to delay getting back into the marina and onto our pontoon until the morning, so I went back into the space I'd just left (although of course I'm now facing the other way, which might confuse the permanent moorers across the canal when they get back from work).  I'm due at work tomorrow, but it's a late shift so I'll have plenty of time to get back to the marina.  Of course with all such decisions it's one I may regret tomorrow, if the wind doesn't die down or if the rain due tonight is slower to pass through than forecast.

0 miles, 0 locks.  (1 mile, 0 locks)

Cosgrove again

I came up to Briar Rose after work this afternoon.  I got away from London quite early, and arrived at about 3.30.  The corn field above the marina has been harvested, so the boat was covered in dust.  The cratch was also full of little bits of straw.

The reason for being here is that I have a boat test in the area scheduled for tomorrow.  Of course that means that the sunny weather is coming to an end, so I had a chat with Andy the photographer about what we should do -- because cloudy days don't make for good photos.  We'd both like to get another test in the bag, so we've agreed that we'll go ahead, unless it looks really awful in the morning, in which case we'll postpone.  Having checked again, the forecast for the week ahead is completely different from a couple of hours ago, so we might be lucky tomorrow.

Not being a fan of staying in the marina, I got the boat ready and set off.  I only come down to Cosgrove, so that I can easily walk back to the car tomorrow morning, but there was plenty of room and I'm moored in my favoured spot, opposite the permanent moorers.  Since I've been here, quite a few boats have gone past, including a dayboat being overtaken by a kayak.

Once I'd moored up, I got the broom out and swept the side of the boat and the roof.  It needs to be washed really, but as least it's got rid of the worst of the straw, and the multitude of cobwebs.

It's quite windy, so that could make turning and getting back into the marina interesting, but I'll deal with that tomorrow.

1 mile, 0 locks.

Aqualine on test

The October issue of Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test of the new British built Aqualine.

There's also a piece about shared ownership, and how it can be a good stepping stone between hiring and owning.