Cruising towards Birmingham

After a lovely weekend in Bristol seeing friends and then a day with our son, David, we came back to Leo on Tuesday. On Wednesday Ian drove the car back home and came back by train.  Finally on Thursday we set off for the summer as proper boaters without having to go back each day for the car.

Before going on to describe our travels, one feature this week has been the baby birds we've seen.  So here they are:

Greylag Goose goslings seen near Burton on Trent

Lots of Mallard ducklings seen at Whittington

Moorhen chicks near Drayton Bassett

Our last posting was from Burton so here are some photos for the couple of days before the Bank Holiday weekend:

Branston Lock is remote but is only a short distance out of Burton

After a less attractive few miles alongside the busy A38 the canal turns away from the road and uses a short section of the River Trent.  The photo shows the barrier to prevent boats being swept over the weir seen beyond.  Alrewas Lock follows to lift the boat off the river.  Given the heavy rain on Wednesday morning we were glad to get off the river and not get trapped by floods.

Here we have just turned left at Fradley Junction onto the Coventry Canal.  The white building is the Swan the famous and popular pub at the Junction.

We left Leo for the weekend at Huddlesford where the Wyrley and Essington used to branch off the Coventry.  Straight ahead in the picture was the Wyrley and Essington which is now just a short branch used for private moorings.

After our enjoyable non-boating weekend, Thursday took us south down the Coventry Canal (or what is commonly called the Coventry Canal - see below) turning right at Fazeley Junction onto the Birmingham and Fazeley to moor at Drayton Bassett:

 The oddity about the waterway between Fradley and Fazeley Junctions is that the section from Fazeley north to Whittington was built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal company and the section from there to Fradley was built by the Trent and Mersey Canal company but later sold to the Coventry Canal company.  This waterway was to have been built by the Coventry but they ran out of money.  The stone photographed above near Whittington marks the division between the two sections.  The difference is still marked in that north of the divide canal bridges have numbers and south they have names!

Here is Fazeley Junction looking under the bridge to the Birmingham and Fazeley canal.  Beyond is Fazeley Mill.  Much of the industry round here was developed by Robert Peel the father of the famous prime minister of the same name.

This is Drayton Turret Bridge, a rather novel footbridge over the canal.  No-one seems to know why it was built in this style.

From our mooring we had a walk to the village of Drayton Bassett. On our return, Ian painted the gunwhale on the port side and Helen made rhubarb crumble with fruit from home.

On Friday we ascended the 11 Curdworth Locks, our first significant flight of locks this year.  We've found the Birmingham and Fazeley has few boats moving and we only met a couple of boats coming down:

Here Leo waits below Curdworth Bottom Lock for Helen to empty the lock

With 11 locks and some fair sized gaps between them, it was well worth getting a bike out so here is Helen cycling from one lock to the next while Ian pootles on Leo across the lock pound.

Locks 4 and 5 are pretty close together as this shows.

We moored at the top of the locks and walked into the village.  St Nicholas Church is a fine Norman building with a few windows unchanged from the 1100's and this photo shows the fine decorations painted 900 years ago.

























Today we've come up the 3 Minworth Locks and turned left at Salford Junction onto a little known and little cruised section of the Grand Union:

Our first tunnel of 2018 was Curdworth Tunnel.  Only 50 metres long but last time we came through here we managed to bump the side tearing our cratch.  It is very narrow because of the towpath running through, but we got through unscathed this time.

Just before Salford Junction a factory has been built over the canal forming another and rather longer tunnel, though this one has windows at the side.

Salford Junction is just a few yards ahead with the Grand Union going left under the sloping bridge below the elevated M6 motorway.

It is a very tight turn onto the Grand Union but we managed it without any prangs.  Just after the turn the canal crosses the River Tame on an aqueduct underneath the pillars of the M6.  Straight on under the grey bridge is the blue building of Star City where there is a secure 24 hour mooring.  That is where we are spending the night.

Tomorrow we will press on out of Birmingham to Catherine de Barnes.  We will be visiting Birmingham properly later in the summer.

And finally we have been trying out a paint restorer called Polytrol.  Here is a before and after:

Left is the starboard side which is yet to be treated.  You can see the fading and streaking caused by sun and weather. The lettering is also faded, especially the red bits.

Right is the port side which Ian treated this afternoon.  it really looks much better.  Previously we have used a polish that needs heaps of elbow grease and takes off a layer of oxidised paint each time.  The Polytrol is simply painted on and then rubbed off after 10-15 minutes before it sets.  It is said to soak in and rehydrate the paint.  So far we are pleased with the results and aim to do the rest of the boat.

Going West on the Trent and Mersey

After a week in dry dock being blacked, Leo went back in the water last Friday and on Saturday we drove down to Trent Lock and boarded her for the summer.  Unusually for us, we are keeping the car with us this week as next weekend we are planning to go down to Bristol for a weekend with friends and then to Frome to see our ex-boater son, David.  So we have been cruising short distances in the morning and cycling back for the car the afternoon.  This has been interesting but does constrain how far you go and what we do in the afternoons.

It was pretty miserable on Saturday so we delayed our start until Sunday and cruised as far as the reach below Aston Lock:

Mick at Kingfisher Narrowboats kindly extracted Leo from the dry dock and left her just outside

 The River Trent was fairly full, though not in flood, with the level markers either close to or on amber.  So plenty of revs up the river towards Sawley Lock seen to the left under the bridge here:

 We were expecting the confluence of the Trent and Derwent to be a bit tricky to cross but in fact it was easy and so we were once more off the river and onto the start of the Trent and Mersey Canal.  Below shows us sharing Shardlow Lock with a new narrowboat called 'Now it's Springtime'.

 We cruised under the A50 and then moored round the corner far enough from the noise of the traffic.  After a cold cloudy day the skies cleared and we had a lovely sunset:

  Our cycle back to Trent Lock took us past the Heritage Centre by the canal at Shardlow.  Usually we've found this closed but on Sunday it was open so we looked round.  It proved to be an interesting local museum, mainly but not entirely about the canal and its history.  There were some fine photos of flooding of the Trent.

 On Monday we carried on to stop at a new place for us - the Ragley Boat Stop, a pub with its own mooring on the offside.

It's nearly bluebell time but this is a wood full of Forget me Knots giving a similar blue haze

 We came through Swarkestone Lock with a narrowboat called Anya and the photo below shows us following them above the lock:

The Ragley Boat Stop served good wholesome food at £4.99 per main course with a pudding for £1 extra.  Just right for hungry boaters.  Not only that but they had a large car park and were happy for us to park the car there for 24 hours.

On Tuesday we had our friend Steve who came to join us for the day as we cruised to Burton.  No cycling today as we used Steve's car to move ours to Burton and then both came back in Steve's car before we set off.

We love the spring colours in the trees as they come into leaf as this shot on the approach to Willington shows

Steve happily took the helm and even remembered which way to point the tiller.  He also brought the sun which was very welcome after a couple of cold days.

As we prepared to set off a share boat, Dawn Rose, passed us so we had welcome company through Stenson Lock which was well manned by volunteers so the passage of this deep and fierce lock was a doddle.

Stenson is the last wide lock and above you can see us leaving Dallow Lock which is the first of the narrow locks on the Trent and Mersey.  As you can see we made good use of our extra crew.  We picked up some rubbish round the prop below the lock which is a new experience round here.

After reaching Burton and enjoying tea and cakes onboard we used our handy car to give Steve a lift back to his car and all three of us ate out again at the Ragley Boat Stop before saying goodbye.

Today (Wednesday) has started very wet so we've taken the opportunity to update the blog before getting underway.  Another short hop and cycle back is on the agenda this afternoon.

Delivering Leo for Blacking

We have spent a lovely week taking Leo from her winter mooring at Newark to a boatyard on the Erewash Canal for blacking.  So we drove down to Newark on Monday afternoon and set off about 5 pm on a lovely evening.

We cruised under Newark Bridge and past the Castle shown here.  At Town Lock the lock keeper was off duty.  A paddle was open at the top end of the lock and we misread 'Far paddle' and 'Near paddle' as meaning the two ends of the lock  rather than the two sides at one end.  Never mind, we sorted it eventually.

Here is Helen in lovely evening light steering Leo past Newark Marina and on towards Averham weir.  We were a bit surprised how fast the river was running, but at least it is now out of flood.









We moored overnight at Farndon after just three or four miles and ate a nice meal at the Boathouse pub.  On Tuesday we carried on up the still strongly flowing river.  Much of the day we were running at 1800 rpm which is quite a lot for Leo.  We moored at Gunthorpe and enjoyed a drink at the Unicorn with friends Jeff and Sue on Rubbin' Along who we had passed at the public moorings at Newark.  It was good to meet up with them again.  On Wednesday evening we cruised just a short way to a mooring we've not used before just above Stoke Lock.

Here you can see Rubbin' Along just ahead of us cruising under Gunthorpe Bridge, the only crossing of the Trent between Newark and Nottingham.

Rubbin' Along carried on to Nottingham but we stopped above Stoke Lock to wash and wax one side of Leo and we then enjoyed a walk in the sunshine to Stoke Bardolph and back along the river.

This picture was taken on Thursday morning.  It was amazingly still with the water like a mirror and promising a fine hot day which was duly delivered.  Boiling hot really for April.








So on Thursday we carried on into Nottingham:

Here is an unusual view of Nottingham taken from the river as we approached upstream.  By now the river had gone down a few feet and was running at a more normal speed so life on Leo was a bit easier.

At Nottingham we came up Meadow Lane lock off the river onto the Nottingham Canal which avoids the river for about 6 miles.  We shared Castle Lock with this canoeist.  We managed to avoid squashing him.  This picture is of the old Fellows, Morton, Clayton warehouse in the centre of Nottingham.

We chose to spend Thursday night at Beeston, another place we've not stopped before.  We had tea and cakes at a new cafe by the lock and sat on an upper terrace with fine views of the Trent. This picture of the river below Beeston weir shows Clifton Hall which we've not noticed before.


On Friday morning we went through Beeston Lock back onto the Trent and up to Cranfleet:

Here is Leo coming to the landing stage for Cranfleet Lock.  To our surprise the lock was surrounded by CRT volunteers one of whom waved a green flag to invite us in.  We shared this and Beeston locks with a Sea Otter.  At Trent Junction we climbed the lock onto the Erewash.

After having lunch and using the services to leave Leo full of water and with an empty toilet, we moved across the canal to leave Leo ready to go into the dry dock shown here.  Mick of Kingfisher Narrowboats is going to be busy next week reblacking her.






We plan to go down to see Leo out of the water next week and will then be back onboard next weekend to set off on our summer travels.  Where are we going?  Well you'll just have to come back here to find out.

Thinking about boating for 2018

We drove down to Leo yesterday after a couple of months away in Hawaii and New Zealand and found our boat in a surprisingly good state after the bad winter weather we've heard about.  Her tank is now filled with water, the bed is made up and the curtains are back up, so she looks much more homely.

Ian has spent quite a while over the autumn trying to make the suction toilet work properly.  At the end of last season it refused to retain its suction for more than a couple of minutes at a time.  In the end Ian fitted a switch so you could turn the flaming thing off when not in use!  So, after having the sucking bit and cassette in pieces at home, replacing seals and refitting it on Leo including reassembling the cupboard it lives in, yesterday was the moment to test it.  Imagine Ian's delight when it all seemed to work properly.  So fingers crossed we will have a fully functioning toilet if you come and stay on Leo this year.

Everything else seemed to work too, no water leaks, the engine started first time and no water in the bilges.

We have an odd start to boating this year.  First Leo will set off for just a few days in the middle of April to travel up the Trent to the Erewash Canal where her bottom will be blacked in the last week of April.  We will then collect her and leave her for a further week somewhere nearby while we visit friends in the West Country by car not by boat.

So we reckon we will finally set off in the second week in May.  So, where to go?  We have no firm plans yet but we are talking about basing ourselves mainly in the Midlands.  We have a wish to visit Stratford (Warwickshire, not East London) again and the River Avon so that might be a first journey.  After that who knows?  Perhaps we'll fill in some of the less desirable and uncruised (by Leo so far) bits of the BCN and maybe the East Anglia waterways too.  One way or another we hope to see friends both boating and land based sometime over the summer.

Happy boating.

Journey's End

Well we're now back home in Yorkshire, having left Leo near Newark for the winter.  This blog posting completes the story of our canal cruising this year.

On Thursday night we moored above Holme Lock, just downstream from Nottingham.  Among the swans on the river was this black swan - not a common sight except in London parks.

Our fuchsia and geraniums have flowered all summer long.  People have praised our rooftop garden, though to be fair more people have commented on our plastic ducks!  However the flowers are now past their best and we left them dug in under a tree by Holme Lock.  We wonder if they will come up next year.

On Friday morning we came through Holme Lock with another narrowboat called Kleine Monde (small world).

Gunthorpe Bridge is made of concrete and probably dates from the 1930s.  However it really is quite attractive with the detailing on it.

Below Gunthorpe Lock, steep wooded slopes line the river to the east with flat meadows on the other side.  As this photo shows the weather could have been better.

At Fiskerton there was space at the end of the pontoon for visitors, so we stopped for the night.  High piling dominates one side with fields on the other side.  We had a meal out at the pub, 'The Bromley' just above the boat.  Pretty good food and not too pricey.







On Saturday morning we cruised the last few miles into Newark.

Having turned to face upstream to moor, we then had to spin Leo round to carry on downstream.  You can see the pub behind Ian.

The river below Fiskerton is very bendy with distant views of Staythorpe Power Station.  Eventually the river passes the Power Station and then the long and unprotected Averham Weir shown here.  Each of the posts had a cormorant on top.

Above the weir we entered the cut that goes through the town of Newark, leaving the Trent behind.  The tall spire of St. Mary's Church is clear ahead.

Our last lock in 2017 was Newark Town Lock seen here in front of the castle.

Below the lock we passed under the Town Bridge.

And here is Leo in her winter mooring.  Later on Saturday afternoon we walked to the station and caught the train back home.  Newark benefits from the main line train service and is very close to the A1.









So that brings us to the end of boating for 2017, though we might go out for some short trips.  In fact we are off to Newark tomorrow with the car to unpack the boat and do the engine service that is due.  So the final stats for this year are that we have travelled 922 miles and through 522 locks.  We have been cruising for 5 months from mid April to September.  So now we'll hibernate and think about where we'll go next year.