London Calling Week 19 - Alvechurch to Diglis Basin

Monday 7th October - Alvechurch Visitor Moorings

Today we have decided to stay in Alvechurch opposite Withybed Moorings of Alvechurch as there is rain forecast for most of the day.  So a quiet day catching up with chores around the boat.

Tuesday 8th October - Alvechurch Visitor Moorings to Tardebigge Bottom Lock

An early start this morning as we intend to complete the Tardebigge locks by the end of the day.  This is Alvechurch Marina with a lot of the hire boats back in for the end of the season.

The conditions were perfect for todays cruising, calm and dry and the bridge showing a perfect reflection in the very still canal. 

The weather is looking really good for our descent of the Tardegigge Locks, blue sky, light breeze and feeling quite warm.

We met up with Tom, the lead volunteer lock keeper on the flight.  He assessed Dave for his Lock Keeping Certificate at the beginning of our cruise, and today he presented Dave with his Certificate of Competence.

At this stage the sky became very threatening and with three locks to go, the heavens opened and we completed the flight in torrential rain, I don't think I have ever got so wet in such a short space of time!

5.4 miles, 30 locks, 2 tunnels, 5 hrs 12 mins cruising time.

Wednesday 9th October - Tardebigge Bottom Lock to Oddingley

An early morning shot of our mooring below the Tardebigge Bottom Lock.  The days cruising was pleasant and we stayed dry, but not many photos taken.  

We moored up for the evening at Oddingley opposite this picturesque farmhouse with the church behind it.  The weather was beginning to turn wet and windy again, so we called it a day.

7 miles, 13 locks, 1 tunnel, 4 hrs 30 mins cruising time.

Thursday 10th October - Oddingley to Diglis Basin

A better shot of Oddingley where you can see the farmhouse and the church clearly.  Another early start to complete our tour and get back to Diglis before the rain forecasted for this afternoon.

Hurrah, we are getting close to Worcester now, not much further to go!

Passing Perdiswell Leisure Centre, where Dave goes swimming when we are living in the apartment.  

The autumn colours are beginning to show through now, but unfortunately as we went through this bridge we managed to pick up a zip up jacket around the propeller so we had to pull over and Dave went down the weed hatch to cut it off.  This is the first time in the whole of this cruise that we had fouled the propeller, quite pleased about that!

We arrived back at Diglis Basin by 1pm, moored up on our pontoon and had lunch before gathering essentials to take back with us to our apartment.

  

6.5 miles, 14 locks, 4 hrs 42 mins cruising time.

Some thoughts and statistics to finish off with.

Highlights 

• the exploration of new canals to us, the Grand Union, the Paddington Arm, the Regents Canal, the River Wey and the Kennet and Avon Canal.
• the Aylesbury Arm and the delightful mooring in Aylesbury at the end of the arm.
• the Wendover Arm and the secluded mooring at the end.
• Stoke Bruerne, the busy canalside village.
• London - so pleased we did this and didn't listen to other people telling us it is impossible to moor and meeting Fraser and Di on nbAnge de L'Eau.
• River Wey - a beautiful river with some super towns and villages to visit.
• River Thames - especially Goring eating at the Miller of Mansfield and meeting Professor Alan Brookes and taking the opportunity to buy the painting he did of our boat!
• Newbury - reliving past memories and meeting Mark and Di on nbEnbilulu.
• revisiting the Oxford Canal and meeting up with Clare and Pete on nbBilly.
• visiting Birmingham and discovering the Birmingham Rep Theatre.
• the time and effort friends and family have taken to come and find us on the boat, a big thank you goes out to all of you, we have loved seeing you all.
• the successful BSS assessment at Aynho of nbElla which also affirmed the outstanding craftsmanship of Bourne Boat Builders.

Not so highlights

• the poor state of some of the locks especially on the Grand Union and Kennet and Avon Canals.
• the Olympic Park
• the unfortunate incident concerning our river licence at Teddington Lock.

Statistics

Cruise duration - 18 weeks or 126 days

Total miles - 582.4

Total locks - 656

Total tunnels - 14

Total moveable bridges - 32

Total cruising time - 352 hours

Total number of cruising days - 85

Average cruising time per day - 4 hrs 6 mins.

London Calling Week 18 - Wootton Wawen to Alvechurch

Monday 30th September - Wootton Wawen to Lowsonford

Another good day for cruising, a lovely sunrise early in the morning.

We spoke to the lady who runs the farm shop at Yew Tree Farm and she lives in this barrel roofed lock keepers cottage.  She also features in series 2 episode 5 of Celebrity 5 Go Barging!

The barrel roofed cottage at Lowsonford is now owned by the Landmark Trust, which lets it out as a self-catering holiday home for up to four people. The lock is called after Ned Taylor who was born in the cottage in 1921 (as part of a family with eleven children); he was a life tenant of the cottage.

4 miles, 8 locks, 3 hrs 24 mins cruising time.

Tuesday 1st October - Lowsonford

We spent a quiet day in Lowsonford as heavy rain was forecast.  We walked up to Finwood Hill Farm and bought some beef and pork for meals.

Wednesday 2nd October - Lowsonford to Waring's Green

Woke to a lovely dry morning and the prospect of a dry day for working our way up the Lapworth Flight of locks.  Whilst waiting in a lock we are bombarded with the noise and sights of vehicles racing along the motorway over the canal.  Which do I prefer?

At Kingswood Junction we go straight on heading up the Lapworth Locks.  The finger post shows three destinations which we have been to on this trip.

Good to see volunteer lock keepers out on duty, we were happy to accept the help of Pat on the left all the way up the flight of locks, made the journey so much faster and easier.

An excellent view of the locks as we approach, the Lapworth Lock Flight consists of 26 locks in all with locks 6 to 14 immediately next to each other - the locks themselves are single locks with double bottom gates. In between each lock there is quite a large pool / pound of water available for any transitting narrowboats needing to wait their turn - these mini-reservoirs are also very useful for providing an immediate water source to the locks.

Bridge 32 is a cast iron canal turnover footbridge

 i.e. the towpath changes sides and to accommodate the towrope and avoid un-harnessing and tangling up the tow-rope was guided round an iron "cotton reel".  Simple but very effective.  We arrived at Warings Green and moored up for the night, we were very pleased with the days cruising.

6.75 miles, 28 locks, 2 moveable bridges, 6 hrs 36 mins cruising time.

Thursday 3rd October - Warings Green to Birmingham, Oozell Street Loop

Today's journey into Birmingham is completely lock free, apart from the guillotine lock towards the beginning of the Stratford Canal.  This lock is always open, and you can see where it gets its name from!   These type of canal locks were used to control water flow between canals owned by different companies - water was a valuable commodity. The guillotine stop lock mechanism is still there and shows the gearings, chains and iron gantry as well as the oak "guillotines" at each end of the lock.

King's Norton Junction where we turn right, the Toll House is all boarded up and ready for some serious work after a fire in February which caused a lot of damage.

Edgbaston Tunnel is the only tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal to have a towpath and just recently the towpath has been widened over the canal to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists, is this really necessary?

We moored up in the same place as last time, at the beginning of the Oozell Loop Visitor Moorings, not so busy as on the main canal with fewer people walking past.

We went for a stroll and found that one of the bridges has been renamed Black Sabbath Bridge in honour of Birmingham's heavy metal rockers.  A photo opportunity on the bench?

The area in front of the library and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre is now a large stretch of water with fountains, Toby was most impressed!

Gas Street Basin with iconic barges and the modern Cube in the background, extremely colourful.  The reason for Gas Street Basin’s name? Simple – it was the first street in the city with gas lighting.

14 miles, 2 moveable bridges, 2 tunnels, 4 hrs, 54 mins cruising time.

Friday 4th October - Birmingham

Today we went for an explore around the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham.  We followed the canal down Farmers Locks, all these modern buildings which have grown up around and beside the canal, the old and the new together.  

The Coffin Works was established in 1882 by Alfred Newman and his brother Edwin. Originally brass founders, they predominantly made cabinet furniture until 1894, when the company moved to the present site on Fleet Street and began to specialise in the production of coffin furniture. Newman Brothers continued to specialise in this area until, due to competition from abroad and failure to modernise, they were forced out of business and ceased trading in 1998. They produced some of the world’s finest coffin furniture, including the fittings for the funerals of Joseph Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother.

 The Chamberlain Clock is the most visible and perhaps memorable of the many historic landmarks and interesting features to see in the Jewellery Quarter. This fine clock tower, located centrally at the junction of the districts main streets (Vyse St, Warstone Lane & Frederick St.), was erected in 1903 in honour of one of Birmingham's favourite sons & most respected public servants, Joseph Chamberlain, MP for the area in the late 1900's.

 Warstone Lane Cemetery is well known for its catacombs.  The catacombs were built because of a sandpit problem on the site, providing added capacity by creating a sort of tiered burial ground. The catacombs had been open to the public – daring those who were brave enough to venture into them. Unfortunately, they were sealed with lead and pitch as part of the regulations arising from the Birmingham Cemeteries Act and due to the emission of unhealthy vapours. However, plans are afoot to regenerate the cemetery and re-enable access to the ancient catacombs.

The Birmingham Jewellery Quarter has a prestigious background with a history spanning over 250 years, having been a mecca of jewellery production since the 1800s.  It rapidly expanded during the 19th century when a taste for fashionable jewellery really took off. Tradesmen worked from their homes or in small workshops and business flourished, with jewellery production quickly becoming a thriving industry that led to the expansion of the area with new streets, elegant properties and fantastic profits.  In 1824 the Birmingham Assay Office was granted permission to hallmark goldware and by the beginning of the 20th century some 30,000 people were employed in the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, and in the 1970s UK jewellers of the area began to trade to the public to make its appeal even more far-ranging. To this day the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham is responsible for around 40% of the UK’s jewellery production, with some of the biggest names in the jewellery trade continuing to operate from this impressive area.  In the evening we went to the Birmingham Rep to see 'The Prism' with Robert Lindsay and Tara Fitzgerald, an excellent play.

Saturday 5th October - Birmingham

Today we are spending another day doing some retail shopping and catching up on some chores around the boat.  In the evening we watched some of the walkers on the 10k Shine Night Walk in aid of Cancer, very colourful indeed and all in a good cause.

Sunday 6th October - Birmingham to Alvechurch 

On a bright and sparkly morning we prepared the boat and left Birmingham for the second time on this trip. We stopped to put on water and then continued on our way.

Back at the Junction with the Stratford Canal we continued on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal towards Worcester.  Yes, there are 58 locks as we leave the plateau that Birmingham is built upon and descend to the River Severn.

As we approach Wast Hill Tunnel we noticed this circular part of the canal, the tunnel is wide enough to pass another boat and in the day of horse drawn boats, steam powered tug boats would pull the boats through the tunnel and this was where the tugs would turn round.

Wast Hill Tunnel is the longest tunnel on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and took us 31 minutes to traverse and we passed 2 boats coming the other way!

Quite an impressive shot taken with our new camera!  We arrived at Alvechurch Visitor Moorings and moored up opposite Withybed Moorings of Alvechurch, a quiet and peaceful spot.

11.5 miles, 2 tunnels, 4 hrs 36 mins.

London Calling Week 17 - Turners Green to Wootton Wawen

Monday 23rd September - Turners Green to Lowsonford

A much pleasanter day after a day of rain yesterday.  The plants are enjoying the rainfall and these violas are looking very good at the moment.  Dave took the boat on to the water point and we filled up with water before continuing on to Kingswood Junction.

Toby and I walked on to the junction, this is the view of the junction taken from the arm that connects the Grand Union Canal to the Stratford Canal.

I love these bridges that occur on the Stratford Canal, they are split down the middle to allow for the horse rope to pass through rather than undoing the rope. Today many of the splits have been filled in, but they still look wonderful. 

NBElla hovering and waiting to get into position to enter the next lock, the conditions were perfect, dry, light winds and warm in the sunshine with very few boats moving in either direction.

3 miles, 9 locks, 3 hrs 12 mins cruising time.

Tuesday 24th September - Lowsonford

After heavy rain overnight and more rain forecast for the day, we decided to have a quiet day in Lowsonford.  

Wednesday 25th September - Lowsonford to Wootton Wawen

A very much better day today weather wise and we made an early start on our cruise to Wootton Wawen.  A cheery wave from Dave as he works the lock.

The bridge after the lock still has the split through the middle where the rope attached to the horse could be passed through without untethering the horse.

This is a little bridge over a road, quite interesting as the towpath is part of the iron trough that carries the canal, you walk below the level of the water.  We moored at Wootton Wawen and walked down to Yew Tree Farm Shopping Village which has a favourite clothes shop and a good farm shop.

4 miles, 8 locks, 3 hrs 18 mins cruising time.

Thursday 26th September - Wootton Wawen to Stratford-upon-Avon

A bright and early start as we have a lot of locks to descend today.  We are approaching the Anglo Welsh hire base, but it seems all quiet at the moment.

This is the end of the Edstone Aqueduct.  The aqueduct was built in the early 1800's and spans a road and the Alcester Railway (now the Great Western Railway) via a 250 yard cast iron trough sitting atop 13 brick piers, which vary in height from eight to eleven metres.  The towpath runs along the right side and forms part of the baseplate of the trough.  It is the longest aqueduct in England.

As we came into Stratford we met a Canal and River Trust volunteer called Peter.  He is the lead volunteer for the West Midlands and can sometimes be sen at the Diglis Locks in Worcester.  This was just after there had been a huge downpour and everything was soaked!

The final low bridge before Bancroft Basin where we shall moor for the next few days.

This shows just how low these bridges have been, as we cleared the bridge we passed a line of school children who were very excited to see a boat emerge as they walked by.

7 miles, 17 locks, 5 hrs 24 mins.

Friday 27th September - Stratford-upon-Avon

Today we spent the day on the boat and exploring Stratford.  A walk through the town found many of these buildings, this is a town house c1500, recorded as an inn since 1655-61 and now The Falcon Hotel.

This shop is open all year round, The Nutcracker Christmas Shop sells everything you could possibly want to do with Christmas, the shopkeeper was from Crieff in Scotland where they have a Christmas Village.

Saturday 28th September - Stratford to Wootton Wawen

Today is nbElla's 4th birthday, she was launched 4 years ago at Rode Heath on a beautiful sunny day, thank you for 4 marvellous years!

An early start this morning, leaving Stratford in brilliant sunshine, hoping to get to our mooring before the rain sets in.  A the moment it is calm, sunny and very pleasant.  Some of the moorings in the Basin were occupied by hire boats that had been left as the company had gone bust, such a shame.

Paul was a Canal and River Trust employee who works along this stretch of the canal, today he was having to solve a number of problems, stuck gates, low water in pounds, boats stuck in locks and jammed paddles.  We were grateful for all the help he was able to give us, thanks Paul!

NbHarry Hudson had been abandoned in Stratford as the hirers found it all too difficult, she is 70ft with two bathrooms and the hirers were two elderly Americans who had never been on a narrowboat before.  

Here nbElla passed a boat going down the flight of locks.  Unfortunately the pound below this lock was very low and the boat got stuck in the lock and had to wait for Paul to help them out.  After all the locks we thought we would moor at Wilmcote, but the sun was still shining so we decided to continue on to Wootton Wawen.

This is us going over Edstone Aqueduct, this photo best shows how I felt as we began our crossing, the boat hides the iron trough and there is a weird sensation that you are flying through mid air.  We have been over the Welsh Aqueduct, longer and higher but I don't remember getting the same sensation.

Looking over the side at the road below, there really is nothing to stop anything falling off!

7 miles, 17 locks, 6 hrs 12 mins cruising time.

Sunday 29th September - Wootton Wawen

Spent a quiet morning on board and then met up with Anne and Steve to celebrate Ella's 4th birthday.  Anne and Steve were there when Ella went in the water and have joined us each year to mark the date.  Tomorrow we continue cruising heading towards Birmingham.