Autumn Cruise Week 3

Monday 24th October - Bancroft Basin, Stratford

Today we have spent the day in Stratford.  Helen (my sister), Matt, Victoria and Paris came to visit us from Wootton, Bedford.

We had a lovely day wandering around the old historic buildings in the town.  We had lunch in the Garrick Inn, an attractive timber framed building thought to be the oldest public house in Stratford-Upon-Avon and a walk along the River Avon to see the chain ferry being pulled across the river.





We rounded off the day with tea in Hobsons, a delightful bakery with delicious cakes and scones.  Many thanks to Helen for coming to see us, it was great to see you all!

The Royal Shakespeare Theatre at night. The next production is the Tempest which starts in November.










Tuesday 25th October - Stratford to Wilmcote

Set out from the basin at 9.30 and cruised gently out through the locks leading out of Stratford.






Some of the bridges are incredibly low and we only just managed to get under with our pots still on the roof!

The lock mechanism is very close to the bridge, so instead of a beam there is this strange mechanism.  It makes the gate incredibly difficult to open and close.

We worked our way through the Wilmcote locks and the water levels were quite low. We didn't get stuck at any time but there was definitely very little water below us in the locks.

An excellent view of the autumn colours and the locks all in a row.














A lovely example of the split bridges peculiar to the Stratford Canal.  It meant that with the horse drawn boats they didn't have to disconnect the horse, but feed the rope through the gap in the bridge.  They are very narrow though.

End of the Wilmcote Locks and a gentle cruise on to the village of Wilmcote where Mary Arden's House is.













Moored up and Toby the guard dog has taken up residence on the towpath guarding the boat.
Looks very fierce doesn't he??












We learnt from this plaque that the Stratford Canal is one of the first canals to be fully restored and reopened to the public.













We walked into the village and found Mary Arden's House.  It is now a working Tudor farm so....












...as we had Toby with us we could only look over the fence!!  Maybe they didn't have dogs on Tudor Farms!!  We went for a drink in the Mary Arden Inn instead!







Wednesday 26th October - Wilmcote to Wootton Wawen

Set off for a gentle cruise down to Wootton Wawen, crossing the Edstone Aqueduct and climbing up one lock.

The aqueduct crosses over a road, railway, river and footpath.  It is the longest aqueduct in England and is unusual because the towpath is below the level of the water and forms part of the base plate of the trough holding the water.

It is similar to the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct as it has no barrier on the off side of the channel.














As we approached the village of Wootton Wawen we could see where they are building a new marina, hidden at the moment behind the trees.











We stopped at this marina for diesel and unfortunately for us the weather closed in and we got drenched in very heavy drizzle. This is also a base for Anglo Welsh hire boats.










Once we were moored up we walked to the Yew Tree Farm Shop to stock up on supplies and then on into the village to visit the Saxon Sanctuary.
It is one of the oldest structures in the Midlands and as the photo shows the church has been added to over the years.  The tower is thought to date back to 900's












In the churchyard was the most stunning copper oak tree, quite majestic!
We walked back to the boat and settled down for the evening.









Thursday 27th October - Day in Southampton

Today we hired a car from Enterprise, they collected us from the Navigation Inn at Wootton Wawen, took us to Redditch where we picked up the car and drove down to Southampton to see our youngest daughter, Annie.  

We had a delightful day, a walk in the New Forest and afternoon tea in Brockenhurst, and an added bonus - Pete, Annie's fiance had taken the day off to see us as well!!

Friday 28th October - Wootton Wawen to Lowsonford





A gentle cruise to Lowsonford passing over Yarningale Aqueduct, another metal trough with the towpath being part of the base plate.  This replaced a wooden one washed away in a flood during 1834. 







Once we got to Lowsonford we stopped to put on water and then did the final lock before mooring up for the night.  Beside the lock is another barrel roofed cottage which is owned by the Landmark Trust and is available for holiday lets.  These cottages were built for the lock keepers who looked after the lock and the stretch of canal up to the next lock.

Saturday 29th October - Lowsonford to Waring's Green.

Made an early start today as we knew there were a lot of locks to get through.  28 locks in 7 miles, a very busy day!!

We passed another of the barrel roofed cottages.  They are peculiar to the Stratford canal and the reason for it is that they were made using the same template as the brick bridges.

A definite similarity!!















The canal passes under the M42, extremely noisy and very fast!!  We travel on this motorway when we go to visit our daughters.













Here is Kingswood Junction where the Stratford canal passes very close to the Grand Union Canal and is joined by the Lapworth Link.












We then continue up the next 9 locks spaced only a few yards apart.  Among this flight is a very handy canal shop, but mooring is very difficult!!











Spot Dave working the locks, fortunately for us a boat had just come down so all the locks were in our favour and we didn't meet anyone!







We finally arrived at Waring's Green, taking almost 7 hours to complete this trip, but it was great fun and we really enjoyed ourselves.  Once moored up we visited Wedge's bakery and stocked up on lots of tasty goodies before settling down for the evening.  

Sunday 30th October - day in Waring's Green

We decided to have a day off cruising and carry out some essential jobs around the boat.  A walk with Toby and a visit to the Blue Bell, a rare cider house, will complete this week's cruise.   

Autumn Cruise 2016 - Week 2

Sunday 16th October - Compton to Dudley Black Country Museum

Today we are heading back along the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal to Aldersley Junction where we turn right and begin our ascent of the Wolverhampton 21 locks.

We set off at 7.45am as the locks can take between 3 and 4 hours to complete and everyone advises you to do them early in the morning.
I'm afraid it was very heavy rain for the first hour of our trip and we both got rather wet!








We passed a boat at the top of Compton Lock who was also going up through the locks so we felt much happier having someone else with us.






Dave dressed for the rain!  We tried cruising with the pram hood up but it soon had to come down as many of the bridges are rather low and it wouldn't fit under.  We resorted to using an umbrella!

Once we arrived at the junction there were two boats waiting so I hovered on the left hand bank.  Dave went to find out what was happening and discovered that a lone boater had been waiting for another boat to arrive as he didn't have a water conservation key to open the locks.  This hire boat (pictured here) lent him a key and 40 minutes later he was able to get into the lock after the sole boater.






Eventually the canal and river trust sent out a volunteer to open all the locks for the lone boater in order to help him along.

As we climbed up the locks we passed under a railway bridge with a Virgin train crossing it.  Where ever there are canals the railways follow very closely.

The paddle on this lock had no safety catch and kept dropping down as soon as I took the windlass off.  So here I am holding it up with the windlass!

Lock 13, half way up the flight, still enjoying myself and yes the sun has come out, so sunglasses on!!

We are almost at the top, lock 3, and the railway is now running alongside the canal heading into Wolverhampton.

Wolverhampton Top Lock - we made it!!  
21 locks in 4 hours 10 minutes, thoroughly enjoyed it but it is relentless - no stopping, lots of walking, but fortunately the weather was brilliant for us!  
We needed to pull over at the top as the propeller had got jammed and we weren't making much headway.







Dave investigated the weedhatch and pulled out various scraps of plastic bag which had got itself wound around the propeller, not too bad but enough to slow the boat down.

Soon after this pipe bridge we caught up with the lone boater from first thing this morning.  Unfortunately he was having problems with his engine and after travelling at a snails pace he eventually pulled over to try and sort it out.

Coseley Tunnel is 360yds long and is wide enough to pass another narrowboat but we didn't have to do that, thankfully!  It also has a towpath on both sides of the canal which made the tunnel feel very wide and high.

Approaching Factory Junction we turn right to head towards Dudley tunnel and the Black Country Museum.  It is only a short cruise down to the mouth of the tunnel and the museum.









Our greeting as we approached the museum was not very pleasant as a group of young children, 7-8 year olds were under the bridge throwing things at the boat and using appalling language.  Fortunately the moorings are secure as there is a padlocked gate before the bridge.  However another boat had to move as the children upset her so much!!

We winded the boat in the stubby arm that is now the museum waterways and moored up beside the museum.  As it was nearly 5pm we decided to shut up for the night and reflect on our adventures of the day.








Monday 17th October - Visit to the Black Country Museum

Another glorious sunny day and after walking Toby we left him on the boat and went into the museum. 

Transport around the museum is usually by tram but today they were undergoing essential maintenance.













Instead they were using an open sided bus driven by Bob!















We saw the mine, many of the buildings in the area suffer from subsidence owing to the mining which went on in the past.

We called in to the school and watched a lesson being conducted, then ate fish and chips cooked in the traditional 1930's way using beef fat.  They were delicious but no good for vegetarians!!











We found the old working boats and marvelled at how the family used to live in such small living spaces.













One of the characters told us about the boat and how they managed to live on it.  He was very convincing!!  Well done Simon!
We finally visited the local pub, The Bottle and Glass, and chatted to more of the characters, they were all brilliant and very well informed.

From here you can take a trip into the tunnel in special boats.  Passage through the tunnel in powered craft is not allowed as there is no ventilation.  However, you can choose to leg your boat through or have it towed through.  These children looked as though they had enjoyed their visit! 








The rest of this week has been very busy and full of very exciting adventures.

We made our way to Birmingham and spent a day exploring the city.

We then left Birmingham and continued down to the junction with the Stratford Canal and turned left onto that canal.

We worked our way down through the Lapworth Locks and the Wilmcote Locks and finally arrived in Stratford on Sunday evening.

I would like to thank the canal and river trust volunteers who helped out on the Wilmcote Locks, thank you Paul and Richard.

Unfortunately the Blogger program has failed to save the work I have done, so I am having to post a truncated version of this weeks adventures.  Many apologies for this and hopefully normal service will resume next week. 

Autumn Cruise 2016 - Week 1

Welcome back to Ella's blog and welcome to all those people who will be receiving the blog for the first time.

We have spent the last few weeks deliberating over where we should head for on this cruise.  At this time of the year it is always dictated by the winter works carried out by the Canal and River Trust, they use the period between October and March to carry out repairs and essential maintenance on the canals and locks.  It soon became apparent that the route from Overwater to Stratford will be open in the period leading up to Christmas, so we decided to make Stratford-Upon-Avon our destination once again!!

Monday 10th October - Overwater to Audlem Lock 3






Woke to a wonderful sunrise over the lake with the geese taking off in the distance.









We reversed out of our pontoon, turned right on to the Shropshire Union and headed for the Audlem flight of 15 locks.

Lovely flight of locks, the by-waters were very gentle and it was a real delight to work our way up them.

The leaves on the trees are just beginning to turn to a slight coppery colour.








We headed for the long pound between locks 3 and 2 where there are some visitor moorings with beautiful open views all around and moored up for our first night.

Tuesday 11th October - Audlem Lock 3 to Market Drayton






A beautiful morning with a perfect reflection on the canal. 

Dave walking Toby over the cross over bridge, such attractive bridges.

If you look very closely you can see the back of a cow as it walks across the bridge, a second before it was looking at the boat - most odd!

We moored up on the embankment just past Market Drayton as the dark clouds gathered and a rainbow appeared.  I was very lucky to get the heron sitting at the top of the tree, I always think they are perched precariously!!








Wednesday 12th October - Market Drayton to Goldstone Wharf





As we were in Market Drayton we decided to walk into the town in the morning as it was market day.

Then we set off for Tyrley Locks and said hello to Mr and Mrs TreeTrunk having a cuddle on the canal bank.












Love the cottages at the top of Tyrley Locks, always makes a delightful picture.

As the seasons begin to change, it is marked by the trees shedding their leaves, and I love to see the leaves drifting gently down to float on the surface of the canal.

This bird was flying along the canal in front of the boat and then landing in the trees close by.  I was fortunate to capture it as we passed beneath it, any ideas what it is?  A bird of prey, but which one?













The height of the bridges in Grub Street Cutting shows the depth of the cutting and I always marvel at the man hours of toil it must have taken to hew this out of the rock.













As we approach our mooring for the night at Goldstone Wharf the view is obscured by smoke from narrowboat woodburners, another sign of the change of the seasons.






Thursday 13th October - Goldstone Wharf to Norbury Junction

Another beautiful morning - how lucky are we?  













As we cruised past some moored boats, a kingfisher was boat hopping and even had a short lift on the bow of our own boat!!













The Anchor Inn at High Offley, we moored here during our summer cruise but today we just wave as we pass.













Deep in a cutting, there are some very old boats and tucked away under a ramshackle awning is an old car, could it be a vintage Rolls Royce?
Why is it there?  Fascinating!!







At the end of this cutting we cruised to our overnight mooring at Norbury Junction.  We had a lovely walk with Toby along the canal and back through the woods before the light faded and we closed up for the night.

Friday 14th October - Norbury Junction to Brewood

Harvest time - tractor busy ploughing and the gulls busy eating, hopefully worms and not seeds!!

Beautiful aqueduct over the A5, we cruise quietly over the roar of lorries, cars, vans etc rushing towards unknown destinations.








We arrived at Brewood and chose to moor quite a distance out of the village as the canal goes into a bit of a cutting and can be quite dark and cold. We chose a spot opposite fields and watched the farmer cutting the silage and a machine gathering it up into bales, all very efficient and the whole field was done in under 30 minutes.  Most impressive!

Saturday 15th October - Brewood to Compton

The trees and bushes are laden with berries this year.  Is this a sign of a hard winter to come?

We continued to the end of the Shropshire Union Canal and made our way through the stop lock of 6 inches on to the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal.
This is Oxley Marine where we filled up with diesel during our summer cruise.

We cruised through Compton Lock and through Wightwick Mill Lock before turning the boat in the winding hole before Wightwick Lock.

We then cruised back to Compton and moored up for the night opposite these new developments - canalside luxury 2-bedroomed apartments.
We met up with Anne and Steve for a delicious meal in their local pub, a wonderful evening and many thanks to them for coming to collect us from the boat.







On Sunday we begin our cruise up the Birmingham Canal Navigations, we return to Aldersley Junction and turn right, but owing to the fact that it has been a long day cruising I shall include it in next weeks blog.