Splendid Isolation Cruise - Week 1

 Wednesday 7th October - Diglis Basin to Oddingley

Today we begin our autumn cruise, the weather has settled for us and all is ready for the off!  Originally our plan was to head down onto the river Severn and turn right towards Stourport. However because of the persistent heavy rain over the last few days the river has been closed due to strong currents making cruising too dangerous, so we moved to plan b - use the canals!  Having said that, this morning the river between Worcester and Stourport was opened, but we decided to stick with plan b and head up the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

Gill Hellings is the Lead Volunteer Lock Keeper at the Diglis Locks, Dave works with her when he is volunteering as a Lock Keeper. She very kindly opened and closed the swing bridge out of the Basin for us as we left this morning. 

Ella looking very smart with her hull newly blacked and all the rust spots touched up, we are very proud of her!  

After about 3 hours we came to a stretch of water between two locks which had a very low level of water, it was down by about 2.5 ft and the boats coming towards us were reporting getting stuck on the mud banks.  It was reported to Canal and River Trust and quickly Joe was on the scene assessing the problem and requesting water to be sent down from further up the canal. We were then asked to moor up for about an hour until the water levels had recovered and then we could proceed.  How ironic that we had decided against using the river due to too much water only to get stuck on the canal with not enough water!!  

Beautiful autumnal colours from our mix of deciduous trees, the best time of year before the leaves begin to fall into the canal.  Once that happens it tends to slow the cruising down as the propeller drags the leaves along with it, and we spend ages going between forward and reverse gears to shake the leaves off. 

We moored up at Oddingley opposite the church, we were the only boat there this time and spent a very pleasant evening in splendid isolation!

7 miles, 14 locks, 5 hours 42 minutes   

Thursday 8th October - Oddingley to Stoke Prior Lock 27

We set off this morning from our mooring, Toby and I walked until we got to Dunhamstead Tunnel, then got back on the boat.  We stopped at Bridge 35 Chandlers for diesel and to replace the stern rope which looked as though someone had tried to cut through it with a blunt knife!!

As we come into Stoke Prior there is a new development being built on the site of the long passed Stoke Prior Salt Works.  They produced salt from spring water, underground springs passed through a salt bed which gave the water a 38.4% salt content, higher than that of the Dead Sea.  The works finally closed in 1972 due to cheaper imports from abroad.

We moored for the night below The Queens Head, last time we came through they piped music through to the garden which played all evening, so this time we moored further away to avoid the disturbance.  We went for a walk up the Tardebigge Locks and met NbGalene, who we met on our last cruise.  It was lovely to see them again!  

A beautiful sunset at a delightful isolated mooring, we are doing really well so far with self isolation.

6.5 miles, 11 locks, 1 tunnel, 4 hours 30 minutes.

Friday 9th October - Stoke Prior Bridge 27 to Tardebigge Top Lock

A beautiful start to the day, a gorgeous view from the boat before we set off for the day to tackle the Tardebigge locks.

A short sharp shower as we begin our ascent, also modelling the latest in wet weather gear, can’t miss me wearing this can you?  

We were really lucky meeting Keith, a volunteer lock keeper, he worked with us from the bottom to the top.  Dave and I worked 5 locks in turns and we flew up the locks in just under 3 hours, a record for us!  

This was quite interesting, this was at one of the locks alongside the reservoir, I expected the boat to come out of the lock and pass me on my left as normal, but instead he stayed on the right.  There were about 5 crew with him who had gone ahead to the lock we had left ready for them, and then he couldn’t get off the side, most odd!!  

Before he left us, Keith gave us comprehensive directions to the Tardebigge Inn where we could have lunch, I didn’t have the heart to tell him we rarely visit pubs these days!  It was very kind of him and we really appreciated all his hard work. 

We moored up in the pound of water before the Top Lock and spent the rest of the day relaxing and going for a walk.

2.75 miles, 30 locks, 3 hours 30 minutes 👍👏

Saturday 10th October - Tardebigge Top Lock to King’s Norton

We climbed up through the top lock and pulled over at Tardebigge Wharf to get rid of rubbish and top up with water.  Then it was lock free cruising with three tunnels, Tardebigge, Shortwood and Wast Hill, 2.25 miles cruising underground! 

Poor Toby is a little bemused by the sudden darkness and can barely keep his eyes open, he is safely tethered to the boat whilst we go through Wast Hill Tunnel.  The Wast Hills Tunnel was built in 1796 and is 2726 yards long, making it one of the longest in the country.  There are several ventilation shafts along its length which were initially used for the tunnel's construction.  The central airshaft once had a steam driven fan for smoke clearance. It is wide enough to accommodate two narrowboats but there is no towpath.

Dave was in the bow whilst we passed this boat, you can see the headlight and the bow as we draw level with it.  Very pleased to say no contact was made and once it was past it is surprising how much space there is between the two boats, still doesn’t stop me hugging the wall of the tunnel to make sure we are clear of the other boat.

We moored up for the night at Kings Norton Visitor Moorings and walked in to the village.

 In 1878 The Village Board School was opened, it had been built by William Hale, and the children from the Old Grammar School moved here.  In 1882 the school changed into a Boys and Girls Mixed School with a separate Infants school.  The photos show the separate entrances for the girls and boys.  The irony was the modern signage showing the separate entrances for each of the year groups due to COVID situation.  

8.75 miles (2.25 miles underground), 1 lock, 3 tunnels, 4 hours 6 minutes.

Sunday 11th October - King’s Norton to Waring’s Green Wharf

A lovely sunny morning, a glorious day to cruise, we left our mooring, Dave drove the boat and Toby and I walked over the bridge and along the Stratford Canal.  Here is Ella turning right onto the Stratford Canal.

Lock 1 is the now defunct guillotine lock, a good view of Ella coming through the lock with the guillotine raised.

We then come to these disused works beside a non existent swing bridge over the canal.  It was originally a lift bridge which was damaged by a lorry during WW2 and the owners Great Western Railway clamped the bridge shut.  Eventually the GWR agreed to jack the bridge up to allow passage by boats and following several campaign cruises it was agreed to fully repair the bridge.  However it wasn’t until Nationalisation that a fully operable swing bridge was installed.  All that is left today is the narrowing of the canal.  

Shirley Drawbridge is out of action again, it was working last time, but not the time before.  It was badly damaged by a lorry a year ago and it has been temperamental ever since.  However, it does mean that we don’t have to get off the boat to get through! 

We moored up for the night at Waring Green Wharf, walked to Wedges Bakery for supplies, then a walk along the canal, a very pleasant day and a delightful mooring. 

This is the end of our first short week on board Ella, we have been fortunate with the weather and we have met some pleasant people.  We have lit the fire most evenings and the boat gets nice and warm all the way through, so far we are warm and relatively dry, and remain in splendid isolation!  

7.75 miles, 1 tunnel, 1 moveable bridge, 3 hours 6 minutes.

Lock Up Cruise Week 9

 Monday 31st August - Tardebigge Top Lock to Queen’s Head

First lock of the day, opposite the pump house which was originally built between 1805 and 1825 as a pumping house to provide water for the Tardebigge Locks. A James Watt beam engine lifted water by 60 feet. The pump operated until the 1930s when the system fell into disrepair.  It has since been renovated and is now used as very pleasant apartments.

We took it in turns to work the locks, 5 locks each  and swap over, it was my turn to drive the boat here and these kind gentlemen kindly pulled their boat over for me to give more room - how sweet!  

We completed the flight in just over 4 hours, no help and passing just two boats, we got into a good rhythm and it was very pleasant weather so we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I walked 5.5 miles, well over my 11,000 daily steps and celebrated the end of the second month of my 1,000,000 step challenge in aid of Diabetes UK.

2.25 miles, 29 locks, 4 hours 30 mins.

Tuesday 1st September - Queen’s Head to Oddingley

An early morning shot of the Queen's Head, just love the reflections in the water, a lovely calm start to the day.  

This was a very noisy lock as the farmers were moving the cows from one side of the canal to the other over the bridge, you can just see the cows peering over the top of the bridge.  It seemed as though they were more interested in what we were doing than getting across the bridge!

The sedge had grown up on each side of the canal and the passage between was getting narrower as we made our way down it, I think we would have struggled to pass another boat!  We passed a couple of canoes and when they saw us coming they tucked into the sedge and we lost sight of them, most eerie experience!

We moored up at a favourite mooring of ours, Oddingley Church and went for a walk back to Dunhampstead to look at the Forge which was open when we passed it on the boat but had shut by the time we got there.  One day we shall get to visit! 

6.75 miles, 12 locks, 1 tunnel, 4 hours, 30 mins.

Wednesday 2nd September - Oddingley to Diglis Basin

A beautiful morning for the last day of our travels, blue sky, sunshine and a light breeze.  A lovely cruise down into Worcester, most enjoyable!

The final straight, down towards Diglis Basin, by this time the rain had set in and we did get a little damp before we were safely moored up.  Dave opened the swing bridge and we slid into our mooring forwards this time, put the roof up and settled down for some lunch before packing the boat up for the day and returning to our flat.

6.5 miles, 14 locks, 4 hours, 18 mins.

Some statistics for this trip - 496.5 miles, 402 locks, 253 hours 48 mins cruising time, 13 tunnels and 10 moveable bridges.

Some thoughts for this trip 

• We are very pleased that we have got right across to the east of England and navigated some amazing waterways.
• Weather wise we have experienced all four seasons in our 2 month trip - it has been cold enough to have the heating on, hot enough to moor in shade, windy enough to stop cruising for a day and wet enough to pull over and batten down the hatches!  
• We have had two named storms in August!!!
• We loved the variety of locks on the River Nene and River Great Ouse - guillotine, manual and electric, radial and enormous mitred locks.
• The Middle Levels were an experience in themselves, we definitely want to revisit and explore the drains which are navigable other than the direct route through.
• Salter’s Lode and Denver Sluice and the Tidal Great Ouse in between, all amazing, certainly put all our knowledge to the test and a thrilling challenge.
• Friends made and met along the way, passing and waving, stopping to chat and sharing experiences, people we know we shall continue to meet up with as we carry on our waterway journey.
• This trip has confirmed for us our mutual love and delight for traversing our stunning navigable waterways!  

Lock Up Cruise Week 8

 Monday 24th August - Nelson’s Wharf to Radford Semele

We made a fairly early start this morning as we are going to work a lot of locks today.  The Stockton Locks are all wide locks and quite hard work.

Then to our delight we met Brian, a volunteer lock keeper who helped us through some of the locks, it was quite busy as there is a Kate Boats hire place in Warwick and you see a lot of their boats.  

In this photo I am leaving the lock and coming towards the camera, preparing to pass the boat coming towards me, we only need one gate open as these are wide locks and we aren’t sharing this lock.  

Soon after this we joined up with NbGalene, the owners of this boat are true Europeans, she is from Brussels and he is from Athens, they were very much taken with the Greek flag we are flying.  Their boat is moored at Droitwich Spa whilst they overwinter in Athens, and in spring, summer and autumn they cruise the waterways.  What an idyllic way of life! 

We moored up at Radford Semele and we found a walk along a disused railway, called the Offchurch Greenway, a lovely open view across the fields, spoilt only by light rain towards the end of the walk.

We saw this sign on a bridge, I found it quite amusing, is this an avocado farm?  One wonders....

6.5 miles, 20 locks, 5 hours, 54 mins.

Tuesday 25th August - Radford Semele

Today the forecast has been for heavy rain followed by high winds so we decided to sit the weather out and stay for another night.  

This time we walked into Radford Semele itself and had a look around the church and it’s grounds.  The church was destroyed in 2008 by an arson attack and it took 5 years to restore it and reopen.

Wednesday 26th August - Radford Semele to Hatton Station Bridge

Grape Escape is another Bourne Boat, newer than ours, they were moored up behind us and come from Lancashire.

I was impressed by the quality and colours of this beautiful mural as we came through Leamington Spa, there are quite a few as you come through the town, but this one particularly caught my eye.  

Once out of Leamington Spa we stopped at Kate Boats to buy two new anti vandal keys as we have managed to lose both of ours!  Then we continued on to the first of the locks in Warwick.  Here we met a Black Prince hire boat called Phoebe trying to get into the first of the locks, but they managed to ground themselves on a mudbank on the far side.  The boat was being driven by a very young girl who wasn’t tall enough to see over the roof, so it was hardly surprising!  We pulled over for water after the locks and discovered this boat was going up to the Saltersford Arm, turning round and coming back down again.  When we got to the Saltersford Arm, as I was preparing to turn to the right, I was staggered to see nbPhoebe being driven backwards at terrific speed across my path and in to the bushes just before the arm.  They then spent another 15 mins trying to turn the boat to head back towards the Cape of Good Hope locks, still with the young girl at the tiller and various adults shouting instructions.  I don’t think I have seen anything so frightening in all the years I have been on the canals!  

Dave Is heading towards the lock and as he came under the bridge there was an articulated lorry stationary above him, it did look quite amusing but by the time I got the camera ready the lorry had pulled away! 

Looking up the flight of locks the way we are going, the Hatton flight are 21 in total, all wide locks and we did them all on our own, we passed a few boats coming down but we had no-one to share the lock with.  It was hard work, we shared working the locks, and I managed to clock up my 11,000 steps (4.5 miles) by the time we had got to the end of the day.  We were proud of the 4.5 hours it took us to complete the flight!

The view back down the flight from Hatton Top Lock, and the sun has come out for us!  We then continued on for a little way further and moored up at Hatton Station Bridge for the night. No need to go for a walk today, steps and miles accomplished and we were both shattered!  

8.5 miles, 23 locks, 8 hours 24 mins.

Thursday 27th August - Hatton Station Bridge to Kingswood Junction

The view from the side of the boat as we get ready to set off on the cruise for the day.  A gorgeous sunny morning with no locks until after Kingswood Junction.  So Toby and I cast Dave off and walked along the towpath.  

The canal goes through Shrewley Tunnel, wide enough for two boats to pass each other, there is no towpath and the horses used to walk over the top and down through their own 37m horse tunnel.  Toby and I did this walk and this is the horse tunnel heading down to rejoin the canal.  The tunnel is notoriously wet with cascades of water dropping at regular intervals! 

We realised quite quickly that we were at the end of a queue of 4 boats waiting to go up the Lapworth Locks and with rain forecast we decided to stop and moor up for the day rather than work the locks in heavy rain - we were rather pleased we did! 

Instead we went for a rather wet walk around the junction and as far as the little canal shop where we bought some delicious cake and a lovely rag rug to match the colours of the boat, very pleased with our little purchase.

4 miles, 1 tunnel, 1 hour 42 minutes.

Friday 28th August - Kingswood Junction to Lapworth Lock 5

An early start this morning, with the intention of getting up the Lapworth Locks before the heavy rain sets in again this afternoon.  Bringing the boat round to the first lock of the day, the first narrow lock since the ones on the Northampton Arm after leaving the River Nene.  Very welcome after the wide locks!  

We worked our way up the locks, a line of four boats, and one volunteer, which meant that there were plenty of bodies around to help open and close locks as we made steady progress.  I do enjoy this flight of locks as there are so many twists and turns within the short pounds of water.

We moored just below lock 5 as a deluge of rain soaked everything in a short space of time, and waited for the rain to stop.  Then we went for a walk in Lapworth village to see the church.  

I’m afraid Toby doesn’t like getting wet and was keen to get into his bag and dry off for a while whilst we had lunch.

The church has two unusual features, the first is a passageway through a porch which was originally meant to be a Grand west entrance which was never finished, it has an anti room above the porch which was used to store holy relics.  The second feature was the detached tower This was built to the north of the nave in the 14th century. The spire was added later, and it was not for another 400 years that a connecting passage was built to join the tower to the body of the church.

1.5miles, 15 locks, 3 hours 6 minutes. 

Saturday 29th August - Lapworth Lock 5 to Kings Norton Junction

A bright start to the day and 4 locks in quite quick succession, so Toby and I worked the locks and walked in between them.  These are the last locks before the Tardebigge Flight of 30! 

We then continued walking and worked a further two manual lift bridges, they were very heavy and hard work!  The final lift bridge is an electric one which was done for us!  Very kind! 

Going through the last lock of the day, the guillotine lock which is always left open but dates back to the time when canals were individually owned and monitored the water on their canals.  Hence this one only being a depth of 1”! 

Today we moored up just past the junction and went to explore Kings Norton.  Now a suburb of Birmingham, it still retains its village green feel and boasts some excellent ancient buildings.  This is the Old Grammar School which poses some unanswered questions.

The early 15th-century timber-framed upper storey is older than the ground floor which was built in brick in the early 17th-century.

This building is The Saracen’s Head, originally the bailiffs house and manorial Court, the oldest part dates back to 1450 and was used as an inn from the 18th Century.

On our way back to the boat along the towpath we passed this Wall of Hope created by school children from King’s Norton in May of this year.  A lovely idea, simple wooden plaques with little messages of hope written on them and nailed to a wooden fence.  Originally there were 200 plaques but Passers Byers are encouraged  to add their own message and there are many more now.

11.25 miles, 4 locks, 1 tunnel, 3 moveable bridges.

Sunday 30th August - kings Norton Junction to Tardebigge Top Lock

A lovely bright start to the day, and we set off early to make our way through the three tunnels before the rush.  This is Wast Hill Tunnel, the longest today at 2493m, I had to pass two boats in this one.

This was the last tunnel of the day, Tardebigge Tunnel, only 530m, and I passed one boat, a day boat with twin headlights, this was a little confusing as I only expect to see one headlight! 

After we had moored up and eaten lunch we went for a walk around Tardebigge and enjoyed the beautiful countryside and the church on the hillside. 

Ella moored below the Top Lock, ready for the busy day tomorrow of 30 locks in a 2.25 mile stretch through the Worcestershire countryside.

8.75 miles, 3 tunnels, 1 lock, 3 hours 30 minutes.