May 18th to 23rd

Tues 18th and it's a lovely start and a great forecast for the week. We cruised down the GU to Gayton. Noted ex working boats Balham & Edgeware moored on way to Gayton and which were once so smart and now look so sad. Replaced empty gas & did loo & water at Gayton and set off towards Northampton (Noton). Mo (nb Balmaha) told us we'd need a bigger windlas for the Ouse so bought one at Gayton. Made steady progress, crossing with one boat, but why are the handrails on the bottom gates so arranged, what is an easy step across on most other narrow canals I didn't feel I wanted to risk on the Noton flight? We stopped for the night just past the M1, not too quiet but not a bad mooring. The water on the flight is beautifully clear and blue/green coloured, but why so much running down the byewashes? Note more good BW mooring policy. Only 6 1/2 miles and 13 locks but we were tired.

More BW mooring

Wed hotter still and we poddle down onto the Nene and tie up on the moorings by the footbridge over the river before wandering into the town for a look see and to see what was on at the cinema (Orange Wednesdays) but none of the films appealed to both of us. A shop at Morrisons almost on the river. Good night. 4 miles & 4 locks.

Well on Thursday I wandered into town first thing to buy a padlock to fit to our fuel filler plus got Carol an anniversary card..more later. We were off through first lock, but it was worked for us by the crew of The St John's trip boat whilst they waited for their passengers, and then we stopped to attend to our levels, our water tank gauge has failed yet again and as such we have to keep topping up, I'll change to a stand pipe indicator shortly. We moseyed along a short way when we were alongside the excellent moorings at the Brittania and it seemed rude not to stop. The "Directors" was excellent, so good I had another!

By now it was warm & it was shirt off time. The next lock was pretty hard work, around 60 turns to wind the top paddles, nearer 80 on the lower ones, but after this the EA had put on much more mdern gearings only needing about 20 turns each way.


This day all the guillotine bottom gates were electrically operated, slow but not tiring. After 9 locks & 8 miles we'd had enough & got a mooring above Barton lock, not the best mooring, but we had seen no better ones.

Friday 21st. I had been getting worried about our slow progress as we had a time to get to March & unless we get a move on we'll not get there. This morning was bright sun from first light, but there was a heavy dew.

Standard thing happened, just as I was casting off a working boat came the other way, followed shortly afterwards by 2 more. We progressed, then as we approached Wellingborough our new poly V alternator belt gave up the ghost, I fitted the spare, but am very worried as to why, especially as we now have no spare. We tied up at the town moorings, Carol went off the the nearbt Tesco. She was so relieved to see it as the 22nd is my birthday & the 24th our anniversary & she had no cards!! I went on-line to get motor spares firms & spend about 3/4 hr ringing around to try to get one, but to no avail. I re-tightened the belt and hoped, and did so again when we stopped for the night. Hell our car had one on it for 16 years & only replaced it because it started squeeking a bit, but then Lily has a mch more powerful charge rate.


After lunch we made steady progress before tieing up after Lower Ringstead lock, pretty hairy mooring but hadn't seen any others. The non electric guillotine gate and take a lot of spinning of the stainless steel wheel to lower & raise the guillotine. An hour or so after mooring up a chap came along with a bag of pellets wanting to know how long we would be stopping. He had rented the bank & had been feeding the fish along it for weeks! We covered 12 miles and 10 locks. I looked on-line for somewhere to stop on Saturday & decided on a pub at Ashton, it reviewed pretty well, but notes I had about cruising the river said it got busy at weekends, so it's an earlier start tomorrow.

May 22nd and its incredibly hot for the time of year, barely a cloud seen & touching 25 degrees. Lovely collection of cards but poor Carol, I had said I'd like some ratchet ring spanners which she asked for in Screwfix (which stocks 2 types) but she had been given a large set of normal spanners, but which I already have! Bless her she tried, and Sam & Hannah got me a new tie, perhaps they are trying to tell me something.

There was a very heavy mist as we cast off but by the time of the first lock the sun was through. Went hard aground as we left Denford lock, a big shelf of gravel had been brought down the side channel and it took us a lot of effort to get off. We decided to top up our water tank at Upper Barnwell lock, except that the pressure was so high that it bst our hose in about 6 places (tried it next day on a more normal tap & it worked OK). We made it to Ashton & turned into the mill stream, but no obvious spots, but some annoying gaps that would have made one, but at the end we got in, or at least got the bows in.

A lovely mooring, and our meal at the Chequered Skipper was excellent. Ashton is a lovely little village, built by a Rothschild in 1900 using tradition methods, and where the World Conker Championships are held. The day had been bright sun all day. 14 miles & 8 locks.

Sunday and it was bright sun all day & we walked into Oundle to get papers & I'd run out of coffee. Quite an intersting place, but we were away at 11.20.

We shared locks many times during the day, not just with boats but also people jumping in!

Carol & I kept our shirts on all day, as well as our hats but I'm sure many of the people we saw by the river will be red raw tonight. Fotheringhey church has an impressive setting, but it looks a it clean cut, we'll be stopping by many of the places we have noted on our way down river. Shame some can't read the notices on some moorings, but moorings are difficult on this river!

We tied up for the night just past Wansford havving passed under the A1. Another wild mooring site where I used the plank to get off & on.

13 miles & 7 locks, stopping at 5. ( Just had a big worry, computer just shut down as I was trying to save this, thought I'd lost it all!!)

All week we have been suffering from "snowstorms" of seeds from grey willows.

2010 cruise May

11th to 16th May 2010

Much later than last year we set off after a wonderful winter seeing people & going places, more of that later perhaps.

So at just before lunch we set off with full water & fuel tanks & empty loos, plus a new drive belt to the domestic alternator that should see the end of our problems with this device, plus with two hydraulic pipes replaced to stop the annoying little leaks in our drive system, all should go well. We had to stop at Br 61 (we always do) where we had a long chat with Mary Matts plus another couple Carol recognised. It turned out they were friends of friends to whom we had been introduced over tea to hear about their experiences of living afloat in the early ‘90’s as we were then thinking about it but were far from sure we would take to it. You can guess what they told us!

We eventually left, had a late lunch & popped up Foxton Locks with no-one either way. The weather was fine but cool winds, but not cool enough to stop Carol wanting one of the delicious Bennetts ices from the Top Lock Coffee Stop, and I had to keep her company. All this hard work meant that about a mile further on we tied up just short of Laughton Lodge, one of our favourite spots. The chap on the boat in front came over to ask why, with all 2000 miles we chose to tie up just in front of him, but he was soon appeased with my explanation (or was it my smooth tongue?).

12th to 14th May

It was cold overnight & we had to bring in our bedding plants overnight, Carol wants to plant them out but I can’t get all the troughs on the front deck so they stay in their seed trays. Morning dawned bright but soon clouded over and then started a slight drizzle, but as we exited Husband Bosworth tunnel it had turned to rain, and with the cold wind we got thoroughly chilled, so much so that as soon as we had passed the Welford Arm we stopped, tied up on the Avon embankment and put the boiler on & Carol cooked a lovely meal from a new recipe she had just picked up & couldn’t wait to try out, lovely!

So in 2 days of cruising we have managed 10 locks and about 9 miles, gosh this is hard work. When it warms up I’m sure we will be better but Thursday was bright and cool and yet we only got as far as Crick, all of 10 miles, where we went to the Red Lion to eat.

Yelvertoft marina is nearing completion but I bet they are concerned that they already had a small landslip on the bank down to the basin.


As to the Red Lion be aware if you eat earlyish like us, the pub didn’t open till 6.15 and kitchens until 6.30. I had a weird “bitter” by Cameron brewery that was as pale as a lager shandy......and I have to say I struggled to drink it but I never throw beer away, even lousy American beers. Others have told us they enjoy eating at this pub, certainly it is a lovely & popular place, but we will not chose to eat there again.


We popped into ABNB to have a chat with Barry Watson who used to moor alongside us at Debdale. Good to see him again & interesting to hear that they are selling boats very rapidly at the moment, though only when owners sell at “realistic” prices, though who says what is realistic?

Crick tunnel on Friday was wet as ever & we followed a boat not showing any lights & crossed another, must have been interesting for them with the boat we were following, and went straight down Watford locks.

The lock keeper was bored so had got out his strimmer, though I’m sure there are contractors supposed to do this. Bright day but wind still cold. Dredging below the locks.


As we approached Buckby Top lock 2 boats exited including the smartest working boat I have seen, Scorpio, with a brand new paint job & the hold freshly painted too. So at least the top lock was set for us, but every other one was both against us & with bottom gates open! We saw the culprits as we reached the bottom as the crew of the BW boat Pochard crossed the gates, having tied up, you guessed it, on the lock moorings, despite there being plenty of moorings available. I have notified BW, but I doubt it will do much good.

We stopped at Whilton having managed 14 locks & about 7 miles.

Sat 15th & Sun 16th May

Well we really worked hard on Sat, moving just over 2 miles before stopping short of Weedon on a bright afternoon and watched qualifying for the Monaco GP. The forecaster on Friday night said he was pleased that the weather was now warming up & that he would be moving his bedding plants out, so that was good enough for Carol to get her troughs done.

Whilst she did this I went for a walk around Weedon to sort out somewhere to eat with Sally, John & kids on Sunday lunch. I reckon I walked the better part of 5 miles before deciding on using the Waterway at Stowehill Wharf. During my walk I walked away from the A5 and into Weedon proper and was pleased to find the old Royal Ordinance Depot as mentioned in Nicholson. No wonder I hadn’t been able to see it from the canal as it was hidden by the railway. These are interesting buildings from the early 1800’s, still with water in the canal arm between the buildings, but currently unloved and by the looks of it being used for storage. A sad end for the location that the Royal family would have removed to had Napoleon invaded Britain. Look at this site for interesting info. www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/w/weedon/index.shtml

Sunday saw us tootle along the 2 miles to stop just short of Stowehill and had a lovely meal before we did a short cruise to & fro before a typical Carol Sunday afternoon tea followed by Rummikub session. A lovely day, and warm weather forecast. Fortunately we were able to record the GP and watch it without knowing the result & without interruptions.

So what a busy week. Any problems? Well our water tank gauge has packed up again, I think this is the 5th, though the last one in November was ruined by water leaking from the water pump. We have twin pumps & both failed within short order, still pumped water but leaked, I found they had leaked when I pulled something from our under-floor storage place in the stern to find it wet, so water was all through the boat. I found the source, ordered a new pump plus a repair kit, and found the repair kit didn’t work as well as being quoted as the same price as a complete pump……it went back. I then found that by using a really superb glue I was able to seal the two halves of the pump together, but wonder how long they will last. We now have 2 pumps working & 2 spares!! As to the gauge I’m wondering if to replace it with the sort of sight tube I had on the previous boat & which always worked & didn’t leak!

Our plans for this Summer are down to the Fens. We have been to Peterborough but not onto the Ouse which Mo & Vanessa on nb Balmaha (http://balmaha.blog.co.uk ) reckon is lovely. We are away from Lily for just over a week at the end of the month as our daughter & son-in –law both want us to spend a longer period of time with them. We have just heard we can tie up for this time at Fox Narrowboats wth power so now we can go down the Nene.

Sunday 11th to Sun 25th October Back to Debdale

Sunday 11th Still moored in central Birmingham it started cool and damp, ideal for the 15000 runners taking part in the Birmingham half marathon which started & finished near Symphony Hall. I saw many low order runners as I went for the papers, and in early afternoon we saw more as we walked to the Birmingham Back to Backs. These are several old basic houses, built in the early 1800’s around a court, each of them 3 storeys high by one room wide and with very steep spiral stairs. They are back to backs because there is a single brick wall between houses, one facing the road, the other the court. As restored they show a house as in 1820, 1870, 1920 and 1970.

They are National Trust properties and only viewable on a guided tour which was excellent. They are alongside the Hippodrome Theatre and we must have parked our car by them on our trips to see pantomimes there over the years.

Monday 12th was a fine bright day but cool and I set off to the Museum/Town Hall and joined a queue at 8.45 to see the newly discovered Staffordshire Hoard of Saxon gold and garnet treasure found earlier this year. I met a charming couple in the queue and Carol joined us by 9 and we chatted away merrily whilst waiting to get in. It was the penultimate day on display in Birmingham before the treasure is sent to the British Museum for full conservation and documentation and there had been immense queues despite the museum staying open till 11 on two nights. It was interesting, but Carol & others wished they had washed off more of the mud, and only a very small pert of the hoard was displayed. The craftsmanship was brilliant, and the treasure hunter will be over £1m better off!
We had a coffee with our new acquaintances & exchanged email addresses before we returned to Lily for lunch & then off to Sea World which, being none too busy we enjoyed.

Tuesday 13th we did some shopping with Carol looking for an outfit, and failing, before we went to watch “Up”, the new Pixar movie in 3D. It was excellent.

I knew of Boulton & Watt, but not William Murdoch but this freshly re-gilded statue caused me to look in Wikipaedia. It’s worth a look, but briefly he wanted to work with Boulton & Watt so walked down from Glasgow. Boulton was so fascinated by the wooden hat Murdoch was wearing that he gave him & job & he made great improvements to the working efficiency of the Boulton & Watt engines. He also invented gas lighting and was a significant force towards the development of the dyestuffs that were developed from the coal tar by-product. He would have been fabulously wealthy if he wasn’t employed on a contract where his inventions became the company’s.

Wed 14th started bright & warm for the time of year. We cast off at 10.30 & met a new fuel/pump out boat coming through the Worcester Bar and reversed back to tie alongside to get a new gas bottle and add diesel. Note he seems to be alongside Sea Life every day. We stopped at the services at the Mailbox and were off. We came across this work starting half way to the Stratford Canal where they are constructing a new bridge to facilitate work to the railway alongside the canal. An interesting way of using tyres.


Steady cruise meeting perhaps 10 boats and stopping near bridge 15 on the Stratford. 12miles

We passed this boat that seems to be being fitted out. The hull sides are almost as high as Lily’s roof so how will it ever be able to cruise?

Thursday 15th Overnight rain and very damp and misty as we got up, but it wasn’t cold. It got wetter as we cruised towards Kingswood Junction and after 4 locks and 2 lift bridges we’d had enough at 1 and stopped for the day. Having worked the lift bridges with Carol I asked how a single handed boater we met at a lock how he coped……with difficulty as there are no landing areas on the operating side of the bridges. 5 miles & 4 locks

Friday 16th A fine day though not warm and we had a pleasant cruise through the Lapworth flight having a pleasant chat at lock 19 with a waiting boater as we filled with water at the slowest tap imaginable. After filling & emptying we passed through onto the Grand Union and tied up having done 1 ½ miles and 15 locks.


At the bottom of the locks is this old telegraph pole with notches for about 14 cross pieces. Not things of great beauty and part of our canal heritage, but I reckon we are better without them, though my erarly memories of roads is of them lines with these poles.

Saturday 17th Another fine day but we were not cruising much but just did 5 miles to a winding hole and returned to moor at bridge 66. After and early lunch we walked to Baddesley Clinton (NT) and viewed this historic house with a history from the 1400’s. It had several priest holes within it & despite numerous searches, no priests were found. If you visit, catch the talk about the house, and be aware that there is a very good restaurant on site. We only had drinks there but the food looked good and it was busy.


Brazilian GP qualifying finished off the day. 5 miles.

Sunday 18th Cool overnight, we have been using our boiler/heating for the last few days. Away around 9 after filling at the nearby water point we reached Hatton Top Lock about 11.30. Here we met a couple from New Zealand who were ready to go down, but they had a problem with their heater not working. We lent them one of our phones to call Kate Boats and I dipped their fuel tank to find barely 1 inch of fuel there. The handbook with the boat talked of a gas heater but there was none to see, Kates said they would bring fuel and meet us down the flight.

2 boats exited top lock before we entered and another 2 entered as we exited. We had struck up a great rapport with Rowan & Suzanne and shared sandwiches they had made and coffee and biscuits Carol had made. Though we worked well as a team we had a slow trip down having caught up with a very slow boat and also with the fuel stop & work to get their heater working, but the weather was fine and we were enjoying the company. We stopped below bottom lock just after 4 when the GP was about to start. Rowan & Suzanne were behind & we agreed we would try to eat together at The Cape of Good Hope & they walked there to see what time they finished serving as the GP was not likely to finish much before 7. They hurried back to say she wanted to finish at 6 as the cook was going out so we hurried off, recording the race. We were glad we did as it was not just excellent food but brilliant company, they are a couple much like us, and they have come over the last 3 years for a 10-14 day cruise on the canals.

We caught the race later on after they had left after coffee and more nattering and what a great ace it was! 7 ½ miles & 21 locks.

Monday 19th A fine morning & we set off with our friends to return through 2 locks & then to Kate Boats, but not before they had insisted that on our trip to New Zealand we should cancel our hotel booking in Wellington and stay with them! Incredible! After waving goodbye we moved on to tie up outside Tesco to provision for Sally, John, Sam & Hannah joining us on Thursday. A big bill later we set off after 1 in sun, but the day got worse as we cruised through Leamington and on to the Radford locks. After 4 of these locks we tied up just past 4 as it was cool and drizzling. 7 miles & 6 locks

Tuesday 20th Threatening weather but it was only damp. We were away around 10 and cruised to The Cuttle by 12.30, mooring near The Two Locks pub where we had such good meals last year. We shared locks with Harebell, a beautifully painted boat but one suffering from a very iffy gearbox. I was not surprised to hear it was a Hurth, considering on our previous boat we got through 3 gearboxes in just over a year. I insisted that the engine/gearbox supplier (Beta) should change it to a PRM box and never a scrap of bother afterwards. The poor chap on Harebell had bought the boat (used) just over 4 years before, had a gearbox change by Calcutt Boats. After just over a year it failed again, they repaired it & then it lasted just 60 miles, and they refused to do any more work on it!!! He got another engineer to sort it, but after only about a year the trouble was back! I think he was interested to hear our experiences.

After stopping and lunch and letting the engine bay cool I went into the weed hatch. I had been putting it off as the water has cooled, it seemed to clear at times, but then was back rattling the tiller. I found a cycle tyre nicely wrapped around it, but fortunately something had cut through the metal reinforcement & my knife was able to do the trick, though one of the wires embedded itself into my finger. I celebrated by working on our tax returns!!!

We rewarded ourselves with the incredibly excellent Steak & Kidney pie at the Two Boats, plus an enjoyable treacle pud for me. We had an interesting chat with Chris, the landlord. He & Michelle have only been there 3 years and he loves it, finding it a pleasant change from covering 48000 miles a year working as an engineer for car insurers. 2 miles & 5 locks

Thursday 22nd After staying put and completing the returns & Carol cooking hard on Wednesday at lunchtime on Thursday, Sally, John, Sam & Hannah joined us for our last few days.

Weather fine in morning but showers during the afternoon as we worked up locks and onto and round Napton junction. It was a pleasure to have a good team working the locks and we tied up about a mile past the junction in a lovely mooring. 6 miles & 13 locks

Friday 23rd was a glorious day, sunny & little wind. We stopped in Braunston to deal with services & to collect some side strings from Tradline Fenders and we entered Braunstom locks about 12 and almost immediately caught up with a boat with many in its crew & a real novice on tiller so we stopped for lunch below the 3rd lock.

After lunch we collected another pair of slow boats but cleared the locks in good time. We met 2 boats in Braunston tunnel but were very excited about a mile the top side of it to see something swimming in the water. It looked too big for a mink & it looked tan in colour, so we reckon we saw an otter!

We carried on to Watford locks, arriving at about 4 & with me thinking we would have missed the opportunity of clearing the flight that day, but on Fridays, I was told, they are open till 6. The locks were clear & most were set for us & I think it only took us about ½ an hour to work up the 7 locks. We carried on in the still lovely weather to moor opposite Crick Marina at about 6. 13 locks & 11 miles.

Saturday 24th was wet overnight and continued that way with intermittent showers through the morning, but the forecast had been far worse! Carol & the girls stayed below doing arty things whilst John, Sam & I enjoyed dodging rain and wind. It brightened after lunch and we continued until stopping about a mile past Husbands Bosworth tunnel, where we met 2 boats. Summit pound down about 4 inches and very shallow in places with us rubbing over something at bridge 28. 13 ½ miles

Sunday 25th A beautifully sunny day, but with a strong wind. It took much pushing to get Lily off the mud and against the wind as we cast off. Third day with Sam in charge of the tiller.

Approaching Foxton.

Laplander, a steam powered ice boat built around 1830 was moored at bridge 60.

We arrived at Foxton at 12 with flight empty & water being run down to the Kibworth pound. I must have been barely 40 minutes before we were out, we had a large crew & plenty of willing helpers in visitors.

We decided to have Sunday lunch at Foxton Locks Inn (a mistake, the meat was overcooked & dry). We had pudding & coffee on Lily before setting off for Debdale where we arrived at about 3. 6 miles & 10 locks.


6 months and 4 days after setting off we have run the engine 573 hours. I have yet to tot up the miles & locks covered, but it has been a wonderful 6 months, but we had to get home as Carol’s social diary started up on 26th!! We have met some wonderful people, seen some wonderful places and had some unique experiences. Roll on 2010!

Worcester to Birmingham via Tardebigge

Tuesday 29th we arrived at Diglis locks on another lovely day and locked up out of the river into the Birmingham & Worcester canal, a mere 30 miles and 51 locks to Gas Street basin.


Having used the services we climbed up the next 2 locks we found a good mooring with easy access to the city centre and the railway stations. Very dusty towpath and poor dog fouling control, but not aywhere near as bad as in Bishops Stortford. We did more sightseeing around the centre, including me visiting a very impressive closed church & the Guildhall (not a patch on the one in Bath last year).







Wednesday 30th a simple train journey to Narborough, but one where a ticket from Worcester to Narborough was quoted at about 3 times the cost of a ticket to Birmingham plus one to Narborough. Be aware. The journey the next day Thursday 1st was much more interesting! We travelled from Worcester to a small place called Barnham near to Chichester in West Sussex. I couldn’t believe it when the Trainline search showed there was one train we could use all the way with no changes, who would have imagined someone deciding a train should run from Gt Malvern to Brighton! We boarded at 11.02 and got off at 15.30….. a 2 car train, it had toilets but nothing to slake the thirst, fortunately we had bought a sandwich before boarding and had taken water. Very scenic route with the train changing direction twice we went via Gloucester and Bristol, plus Trowbridge, covering part of our cruise last year. Good to see the family again, but our journey back was to be via London, but as we arrived at the platform in Barnham we were told there had been a fatality (a jumper) a few stations away and our train was cancelled. Eventually we were put on a train to Brighton, where we changed to a bus replacement service (engineering works) to Hayawards Heath, on to Blackfriars on a very full train past Gatwick. To Paddington by tube and then a busy train via Oxford where we had to move forward 2 carriages as they were being dropped arriving in Worcester via every halt you could imagine over 6 hours after arriving at Barnham. Fortunately the Tesco Express by the station was still open to let us get some milk. Trains can be great, sometimes not so.

Monday 5th and we thought a work colleague & his wife might appear for coffee, but when there was no sign by 11.30 I called & they were still packing away their caravan, so a brief shop & we were off up locks. Weather was fine and it was a lovely warm afternoon. We covered 7 locks and 3 ½ miles in the day stopping close to the brand new Worcester Warriors rugby stadium, a bit before we crossed the M5.

Tuesday 6th and after overnight rain it was dry as we rose and were away by 9.15 (early for us) and up through 5 locks with some fine drizzle, fine afterwards. We stopped below bridge 36 and after lunch walked across fields to Hanbury Hall (National Trust). House was OK ish but had virtually no original furniture. Gardens were interesting including the accurately recreated parterre. 5 miles 5 locks.



Wednesday 7th and we had heavy overnight rain and I washed off the rest of Worcester’s dust. It was bright at first but cooled. We stopped for water at Stoke Works where the pub opposite does a weekday carvery lunch at just £3.99. We didn’t try it as Carol had prepared something but it looked busy.





We then carried on through Stoke Wharf where we found the much needed Elsan disposal point that did not appear on our Nicholson map. The Black Prince base there had around 21 hire boats in, including 3 brand new ones and it looked as if there were 3 more under construction so they must see a future in hiring.

Many bricks on the flight show their maker's mark.

We carried on through the Stoke flight and moored opposite the Inn at the bottom of the Tardebigge flight.
This lovely house is close to Stoke Top lock.
The locks had been simple to operate and quite fast and water levels were good, but before we turned in for the night we had gained a list and were aground. I pushed Lily off, but at 2.30 Carol woke me, she could hardly stand as she got out of bed, I reckoned we had a list of at least 20 degrees and were firmly aground. It was cold and very dark as the moon had yet to rise and it took much pushing from the bank with the pole with Lily in reverse to get free. We then moved forwards to the lock bollards, getting the bows in fairly well but with the stern well out. I then set off back the 200yards to the lock below us & found the top gate wide open. I pushed it shut, there was not a great amount obviously flowing through the bottom gates, I even had to draw a paddle slightly to get the top gate to close tight. A boat had come up behind us in the late afternoon and obviously the gate had opened and let the water out.

Back to bed & eventually to sleep, but at 7.30 there was a crashing & banging as water was let down from the lock above. A BW chap had fortunately done a trip down the flight first thing (using his mower as transport) and started moving water down.

Thursday 8th dawned cold.

Very misty and damp but clear and brightened to a glorious day. We were off at 8.30 and for the whole flight had every lock for us! Having started in sweatshirt & fleece before I’d got 2/3rds of the way up I was in T shirt.
nearing the top.


We met 2 boats just over half way up and cleared lock 57 at 12.45 & stopped for lunch having done 29 locks and walked around 6 miles (to-ing & fro-ing opening & closing gates) in 4 ¼ hours. Rested we moved on the our last lock before Birmingham at the Top Lock which is quite deep, and was against us. When I’d emptied it & Carol had got Lily in I couldn’t close one of the gates, resorting to probing the cill with our pole to see if we could find a rock, but to no avail. There being 2 BW chaps at work in the yard just above the lock, I asked them to come & look. They used their long handled flat tyne rake to scrape around, the cill was very deep, I’d guess about 6 feet, bad we were still faced with a gate that would not close. Eventually we reversed Lily till her prop was above the cill and gave it some welly in both forward & reverse, and the gate closed!

Tardebigge church.

Plaque at the top of Tardebigge commemorating the meeting that gave rise to the Inland Waterways Association in 1946

These hulks are all that remains of some old boats.
After filling with water at the yard we cruised on through Tardebigge and Shortwood tunnels and tied up in Alvechurch. Alongside a pub, but again not going in!! I walked in to the village, some interesting old buildings but not a lot else, but got a paper and some tomatoes. 30 locks & 6 miles in 7 hours cruising.

Friday 9th started overcast and cool and basically stayed that way. We cruised on easily to Wast Hills tunnel, meeting several boats including one chugging along happily with its Bollinder sending up puffs of exhaust smoke and giving its special sound. As we reached the tunnel a boat was just entering and OH BOY!! We went through in neutral much of the way, the 2726 yards taking 70 minutes and the boat in front zig zagged from side to side. I walked to our bows and called out to them to see if they were in trouble but got no response other than me hearing a foreign language. In fairness to them they did manage to get straight and let and on-coming boat pass, and he told us it was a CanalTime boat!

Before we left the tunnel two other boats had caught up with us and gave us a toot, and as we left the tunnel our leaders were still wobbling to and fro at far below our tickover speed. We spoke to them and in broken French English he said it was very difficult, they had just started from Alvechurch. What a poor place to set such boats, either an enormous lock flight one way, or one of the longest tunnels the other way. They let us past, but the following boats had longer to wait.

We reached Gas St around 2.30, tried to moor in Cambrian Wharf but no room and reversed back to moor alongside the NIA. Just 11 miles.

Amazing things have happened to us this year, and this day was to give us another. We walked around the city a bit and decided to have a curry as it was Friday. We went to the Celebrity restaurant right alongside Broad St Tunnel. We had been there many years ago, and this time it was even better. Nowhere near as cheap as our tremendous Vishal in Leicester, but our two dishes were fantastic. Coming out at around 7.30 we saw throngs heading for the NIA and I asked who was on to be told it was Michael McInver who is someone Carol had been going on about for weeks & who I had seen very briefly on TV. We walked to the box office and got tickets on the third row (Carol’s birthday approaches, its part of her present) and had a great time. Even greater was the fact that 10 minutes after curtain down we were back home.

Saturday 10th a lovely warm day and we needed a big shop, we had emptied out pretty well so it was off to Tesco at Fiveways and later we went to the Museum & Art Gallery. During the afternoon we went to Symphony Hall and bought tickets in “the gods” for the evening CBSO concert which feature Tchaikovski’s 4th. It was magical, and then when we came out there was a band playing live, and pretty well, at Brindley Place, so we stopped there, and then did a bit of a wander to the Birmingham Festival of Light event.

We are stopping here a few days more.