Dog Blog: Cruises and Calendars for good causes…

Anyone who reads this blog will know that our two great obsessions are Indigo Dream and our rescue greyhounds, Blue and Lou.

There’s now a great opportunity for you to indulge our obsessions AND raise money for Greyhoundhomer, the shelter where we adopted Lou.

Cruise for Greyhounds

On Saturday 17th October, then again on Sunday 25th October we’re offering a return cruise from Paddington Basin to City Road Basin, taking in the sights of Little Venice basin, London Zoo, Camden Locks and much more. It’s a good 6-hour cruise so we’ll need to set out at 10am in order to make the best of the daylight. We’ll provide a simple lunch on board. There’s no ‘cost’ as such but we’re asking everyone to make a charitable contribution of £20 per head direct to Greyhoundhomer.

Places are limited to 8 people (and their dogs – Blue and Lou will be on board) and we still have a few places left.

If you’d like to join us then reply here or email us on richard at nosek.co.uk

Once your place is confirmed we can send you details of where to send your donation, as well as details of where we’ll be meeting.

Greyhound Calendars

Greyhoundhomer have produced a fantastic calendar for 2010 – it’s full of cute greyhound photos and at £6 it’s a bargain. Blue and Lou are on the front cover AND are Miss and Mr November. Why not buy a calendar and bring it with you for the London cruise where Blue and Lou will sign it with a muddy pawprint

Calendars can be ordered from the Greyhound Homer website: http://www.greyhoundhomer.org.uk/shop.htm

I know that you’ll be being pestered by a multitude of charities in the period running up to Christmas; if you can support one of our favourites then that would be great…..

The Odyssey 2009: Day 56

Saturday 3^rd & Sunday 4^th October

Saturday….

Blue stretched out on the train - he was disgruntled when he had to make way for the crowds a few stops down the line....

Oh dear, here’s the final proof that I have indeed turned into a soft cissie southerner. I vetoed a cruise on Saturday on the basis of the rain and gales promised in the weather forecast. Richard didn’t protest too much – it meant that he could relieve a bit of work pressure by doing a few hours in the office and I did some much needed domestics around the house.

By 4pm, though, we realised that we’d have to go up to the boat on Saturday night in order to have any chance of having a full day’s cruise on Sunday. We were a bit weary and this may have led us to choose to travel up to Wolverton by train. Now, this didn’t prove to be a disastrous decision, but our trip wasn’t quite as we’d envisioned when we discussed it in the comfort of our armchairs.

There are direct trains to Milton Keynes from East Croydon; thinking that would be the least stressful option for the dogs (they have travelled on the London Underground but it’s probably their least favourite mode of transport and we could not remember if there were stairs, rather than escalators, up from the Northern Line to Euston). What we hadn’t realised that the train from Croydon would become jam-packed, mainly with football supporters who, fortunately were just a bit loud rather than troublesome. We were in the ‘disabled’ area of the train, which has enough floor space for the

Lou likes to hide her head under the seat - if she can't see it then it can't upset her.....

dogs to lie down on their little travelling sheepskins. Lou lay down and buried her head under my seat; this left Blue nearer to the aisle where he was disturbed by people shuffling on and off the train. The train was slow and we discovered more train stations than we believed possible – the train stopped at each and every one and also between a few of them. It took two hours to get to Milton Keynes, where we found that we had a 45 minute wait for a connecting train to Wolverton. We were hot and bothered – the dogs had been very well-behaved on the train but they were at the stage of needing to settle down. We wandered out of the station to look for some food and found, instead, a long queue of taxis, the first of which was a huge modern cab with enough floor space for the dogs and a driver willing to carry them – fantastic. The cab to the Canons Industrial Estate, just by our mooring, cost £10 – worth every penny.

The dogs were so pleased to be on the boat – Lou leapt onto the sofa and snuggled down with the clear intention of not moving until the following morning. Blue was restless until he’d eaten a big supper then he, too, retired for the night.

Fine moorings by Bridge 69 - secure and quiet

Unlike the dogs, we didn’t have a supply of tinned human food on board. We’d rung round the local pubs with little success (one number unavailable and no answer at the next). Fortunately it had stopped raining so we headed off to search for food in Old Wolverton, glad of the fresh air after the stuffy trains. We first walked to Bridge 68 to check out the only pub in Old Wolverton – the Galleon; the phone number’s unavailable because the pub is shut and boarded up though there’s a sign saying that it will be reopened – date unspecified.

Out next destination was the Crauford Arms on Stafford Road. We followed the road rather than the towpath and it’s quite a walk. We were really weary by this point but things started to look up when we found a garage shop which sold milk, so our morning lattes were guaranteed. The Crauford Arms looked like a music pub (there was a decent band on when we walked past later) and didn’t seem to be doing food (we may be wrong there) but we’d spotted a takeaway a little further on. We had a choice of an uninspiring chippie or a proper Chinese restaurant/takeaway. We decided on a sit-down meal at the Silver Sea (01908 313976 MK12 5LW) – it was lovely – it’s amazing how a good meal and a few beers can wash away the tension of a tedious journey.

We got back to the boat by 9.30pm and offered the dogs a walk – they weren’t the least bit interested; we were relieved as it meant that we could fall straight into bed. The mooring was very quiet and peaceful – just what we needed.

Sunday……

The new developments by Bridge 71 in Wolverton - there are good moorings here if you want a trip to Tesco...

Richard was up and about early and I thought that he’d be chivvying us down the canal. But he decided to polish the boat as the side that we haven’t done all year was on the towpath side. I vacated the bed (so that Richard could fold it away) and joined Lou on the sofa for a nice pack lie-in. Blue briefly rummaged around with Richard – there was absolutely no chance of him fitting onto the sofa with us girls…..

I snoozed while Richard polished, though a couple of things kept tickling my senses (nothing to do with Richard’s polishing machine!) – the one was the rumble of a big engine; the other was the delicious smell of baking bread, presumably from the nearby industrial estate. I’d assumed that the engine noise was a boater charging the batteries, but it proved to be coming from the huge rail/train workshop opposite.

Much to Lou’s relief I eventually got up and left her the whole of the sofa. I’d been spurred into action by the tales being told by a man who’d stopped to chat to Richard on the towpath. The man (we didn’t get his name) admitted to being ‘over 80’ and had rich memories of the canal as it was when he was a child. Fascinating hearing stories of where all the boats made their deliveries; then there were the tales of the big freeze of 1947 – of the lads taking a car down the iced up canal; of the 47 boats frozen in at Bolbeck and, best of all, of the ice breaker boat coming through towed by 8 horses.

I love this mural in Wolverton - the detail is tremendous

We set off with Indigo Dream gleaming in the weak sun that was pressing against the clouds. We winded just beyond Bridge 68 then headed back towards Milton Keynes. This is a great stretch of canal – even better than we remembered. There are miles of very good towpath and the ‘gentrification’ of the previously derelict warehouses in Wolverton (around Bridge 71) has enlivened the whole area. There are good mooring rings here – very handy for the train station and for the nearby Tesco; we’re not sure whether we’d moor there overnight – we certainly didn’t fancy leaving the boat unattended there for a few days.

A few things caught our eye when we moved on. The long mural celebrating transport in all it forms is still very eye-catching, though I was disappointed that some graffiti vandals have painted over part of the mural with their meaningless mess. The aqueduct gives a view over the ‘new’ town – the canal feels like such an integral part of the development here.

I hope that this awful graffiti isn't allowed to obscure any more of the mural though...

At Bridge 74, the town quite abruptly gives way to peaceful countryside and neat moorings, surrounded by wild meadows on the offside and patches of woodland flanking the towpath. This is where the canal loops away from the town to run past Stantonbury Park Farm and the Linford Lakes. The open countryside continues until Bridge 76, when the canal skirts around Great Linford. Nicholson’s uncharacteristically waxes lyrical about this village, and surprisingly I agree! The canal’s flanked by handsome public parkland with ancient standing stones and good access to the medieval village beyond. There are plenty of towpath moorings here, but there are also hidden gems of 48-hour moorings on the offside, giving good direct access to the village.

The stretch from Bridge 74 to 77 is a tremendous bit of canal, all the better for being so unexpected. Anywhere here would be a great place to moor for a few days to recharge our batteries and let the dogs take advantage of the ample rummaging opportunities.

Aqueduct overlooking the outskirts of Wolverton/Milton Keynes. Is that a roundabout in the distance?

It was such an impressive stretch that we wondered whether we could continuously cruise back up here if we failed to get our winter mooring. I can feel an intensive investigation of the stoppages list coming on……

We met up with fuel boat Ascot 104 at Great Linford and filled up with diesel (129l for £115 on a 60/40 split).  The man who served us was friendly and chatty – a real credit to the boating business community. I felt a bit better about wimping out of yesterday’s cruise after talking to the Ascot 104’s crew – apparently he’d had an awful day in the gale force winds.

There were a lot of Wyvern hire boats our and about today. But then again, it was perfect boating weather – by noon the sun had chased away the heavy overcast and it was as pleasant an October Sunday as we could have hoped for. In fact, it was more pleasant than most of the days during our so-called summer.

We were hoping to offload some rubbish at Gifford Park services (Bridge 78). But the rubbish disposal facility has been suspended because of illegal fly-tipping. I wonder what the story is – a pile of bin bags had been left there but I suspect that’s as a result of the suspension rather than the cause of it.

Unusual decoration in this length of long-term towpath moorings....

Past Great Linford, the canal continues to skirt the suburbs of Milton Keynes – it’s a surprisingly pleasant stretch of canal with good towpaths. The Pennyland Boat Basin looked like a very tidy long-term mooring spot.

There are ample towpath moorings along here, despite what seems to be an influx of winter moorers. However it’s worth keeping an eye out for the short stretches of 48-hour moorings on the offside. The offside moorings by Bridge 81A gave good access to some perfect rummaging parkland plus a pond for sploshing.

At bridge 82 it was good to see the signs advertising the Bedford – Milton Keynes link, that will be a smart link when built. It’s one thing to restore and old canal, but it’s excitingly ambitious to be thinking of building a brand new one.

We stopped for lunch a little further along where there is yet another stretch of parkland by the towpath. Blue and Lou had a good rummage here, while I did some rummaging of my own (in the food cupboard) and unearthed two jars of

Attractive canalscape...

Bigos, a polish cabbage stew. It sounds unlikely but it’s delicious (especially home-made), though the stuff in the jars wasn’t half bad. We lost Blue here for a little while – sometimes he just over-reaches himself and goes a little bit further away than he, and we,  intended. Richard and Lou formed a search party to look for him; in the meantime Blue had  found his way back to the boat and stood at the side-hatch whimpering with relief.

As we left Milton Keynes, the towpath gradually deteriorated. The edges are sheet-piled but the path behind it seems to have sunk, though I didn’t have this down as an area of mining subsidence.

As I mentioned, there are lots of moored boats in this area – possibly winter moorers. We were tickled by nb Fisher, which had a 2-seater leather sofa on the stern in just the right place for its steerers – now that is cruising in style. Further along, I really liked the artwork on nb Rameses II – simple but elegant.

There are plenty of dog-rummaging spots along this stretch of canal....

Derwent 6 recently commented that there are a few shopping trolleys in the water hereabouts, and so there are. For the most part, though, the water is remarkably clean for a suburban waterway. The only exception was Bridge 90B, which had a fair collection of garbage – maybe this would be a less desirable spot to moor.

There’s a picturesque group of houses by bride 92 – whoever developed them really understood the historical ambience of the canals.

We were having a fine days’ cruise but we decided to moor up early as we had to get the train home. We moored by Bridge 94, a short walk from Fenny Stratford Lock. There’s a convenient train station at Fenny Stratford but sadly there weren’t any trains today (there were on Monday). Never mind, we estimated that Bletchley train station was only a mile away. We settled down to some more polishing – giving the boat another coat of industrial polish plus a top coat. Indigo Dream is now so shiny that when Richard was standing looking at her I wondered whether he was admiring the boat or his own almost perfect reflection in the paintwork

Another cracked bridge on the Grand Union - just a bit of TLC now might save a lot of costly remedial (or demolition) work later

This is a good mooring spot – there’s a little lane adjacent, which suited the dogs for a short rummage. We had no trouble with Blue going further away than we wanted – he’d spotted a cut-out model of a cat in one of the gardens opposite and was absolutely transfixed. Lou caught on to his excitement but she’s far too sensible to be dragged away from her sofa for just an immobile statue of a cat!

I must mention that there’s a factory near Bridge 94; there was a most amazing sherbet-sweet smell wafting across the canal, which I assume came from the factory. I wonder what they manufacture there.

We set off for Bletchley Station with 35 minutes to spare – the walk across Fenny Stratford lock with its swing bridge was charming. The rest of the village (which merges into Bletchley) wasn’t half bad either, with neat streets of terraced houses. We did have one surreal moment when we thought we might have skipped to the Louvre in Paris as a giant glass pyramid hove into view. But it’s Bletchley’s futuristic leisure centre – totally incongruous.

Bridge 83 - site of the ambitious new Bedford and Milton Keynes Canal - wouldn't that be a great achievement...

Unfortunately for us, I walk slowly and the station was a bit further away than we thought so we missed our train by a few minutes (it pulled out as we pulled in!). We had half an hour to wait for the next one but amused ourselves by eating chocolate fingers and giving the dogs a big drink. The walk from the boat to Bletchley station was around the same length as their day’s walk at home – they were knackered!

The journey home was a bit wearing, though thankfully the trains were empty so there was plenty of room for the dogs. It’s always a bit of a dilemma – is it better to have a quick continuous journey or have a longer journey with occasional breaks? There are pros and cons each way – today we broke the journey at Watford Junction and Clapham Junction. We didn’t get home until 9pm (via a handy takeaway).

When we got home, the dogs were desperate to get through the front door and onto their duvets. They didn’t get up until gone midday and have been fast asleep on their duvets for most of the day – I doubt if Lou has spent more than 15 minutes outside all day! It’s not just the exercise – it’s the stimulation of their different experiences. Don’t worry though, they’re not traumatised – just tired. They’ll be ready to go again by Friday, though we’ll travel by car this time……

Horrible blocky modern road bridge....

But a boatlength later we came to this picturesque old bridge...

The Odyssey 2009: Day 55

Monday 28^th December

Bridge 28 (Nether Heyford) to Wolverton

We’ve had quite a varied cruise, which has made it seem like quite a big day. We knew we had to collect the car and drive home at the end of the day, but it was hard to believe that we’d actually have to stop cruising and leave the boat.

The Cheese Boat cruised past us this morning while we were still enjoying our lattes. We found out that they were aiming for Bridge 33, so we caught up with them there. We stopped off at their hatch, tasted some cheese, had a long chat and bought some cheese. They have many varieties and I like the fact that you buy a whole wax-wrapped round of cheese so they’ll stay wonderfully fresh. The Cheese Boat was wandering down to Stoke Bruerne for an event next weekend.

Well stocked with cheese, we moved on down the canal past the very smart Heyford Marina. Further on, we passed nb Moore2life – possibly a fellow blogger. I say possibly because we do read Moore2life’s blog but I think their boat is blue and I’m sure this one was green so I’m not sure if I’ve got the right boat. Sadly the crew weren’t around for us to check.

We do like the Grand Union canal. When we passed through the narrow corridor between motorway and railway yesterday I couldn’t help but think that “this is it” and that the canal would be swept into a bleak commuter corridor all the way to London. But I was wrong – the stretch today has been very pleasant surrounded by swathes of rural landscapes.

Bugbrooke Marina is not as grand as the one in Heyford, but it does have a very pleasant canalside house with a fine balcony. The whole area’s very attractive; we even met some exceptionally friendly fishermen here. We saw another sign of autumn today – twittering flocks of starlings gathering on power lines and in the trees, ready for their spectacular aerial displays. Of course, the drifts of fallen leaves on the boat roofs gave us another seasonal clue.

There are very good permanent moorings by Bridge 45 – once again with nicely fenced parcels of land, though they were a bit close to the railway. One of the boaters here has decorated his (or her) mooring with marvellously realistic wooden toadstools, up to five feet high and looking perfectly organic.

We also saw a friendly farmer today. I was curious as he was driving the farming equivalent of a golf buggy across a wide field by the canal. He overtook us then turned his buggy to face the boat to reveal his toddler grandson. I waved at his grandson and the child’s face split into a pumpkin smile and his granddad gave me a thumbs up.

The approach to the Blisworth tunnel is a fine stretch of canal. The wooded corridor leading to the tunnel is so silent that it has a real ‘end of the cut’ feeling; maybe enhanced by the prophetically named nb Ahab moored near the tunnel entrance.

Blisworth is a wet tunnel, though it wasn’t as bad as we remembered; it was particularly fumy in there today – not sure why. This is another 2-way tunnel and we met a few oncoming boats. We’ve always fancied a big antique tunnel light but today we realised that tunnel lamps really need to be angled. One boat passing us had a very bright light fixed centrally to the front cratch – it was dazzling and Richard really couldn’t see a thing. There are so few 2-way tunnels I guess that it isn’t usually a problem.

The approach to Stoke Bruerne was lined by historic boats, together with their crews walking the towpath in traditional costume. We guessed they were here for the event that’s happening here next weekend – we never did find out what the event might be.

We were amazed to find a mooring spot just outside the museum in Stoke Bruerne – we couldn’t quite believe our luck – we’ve always wanted to look at the museum. Because we felt almost guilty at having such a good mooring spot we raced around the museum. But it was fascinating and we must have a longer visit some day. We did find out that the newer sections of concrete lining in the Blisworth tunnel (the only really dry part of the tunnel) were installed in 1984. There was also an interesting exhibition about bomb damage to the local canals – I’m amazed that Braunston is still standing.

We’d though of having lunch at the museum café, but the food was limited to a few pre-packed sandwiches which didn’t look very appetising. As Richard’s a very good barista, we didn’t stop for a coffee either.

Stoke Bruerne had lots of visitors, even though it was a cool, overcast Monday in September. We had a fair number of gongoozlers at the first two locks; there are wonderful moorings below the second lock and the dogs were able to have a good rummage, though Lou was a bit reluctant – she’s knackered after 3 days of rummaging.

Having said that, both dogs were very good – there’s a busy road by lock 5 and I was afraid that Blue, in particular, would be drawn to it, but they were fine and stayed close to Richard. Lock 5 also has interesting signboards explaining the wildlife in the side pounds – given that the water was bright green there’s no doubt that there plenty of life there.

The bridge below Lock 5 has very attractive mosaic murals. There’s good parking between lock 5 and 6 – that might be useful for future car shuffles.

There are very good services below lock 6 – we stopped here to get rid of our rubbish and to fill up with water.

Moving away from the bottom lock, we noticed that water was being pumped INTO the canal. We were fascinated, because Richard had commented that there was too much water in the pounds above.

As you may have gathered, there’s lots to see and do at Stoke Bruerne – it’s one of my favourite places on the water. I’d have enjoyed an extended stay here but our target for the day was Wolverton. Despite the fact that the railway’s never far away from the canal, there are very few train stations.

Still, there were fine views to be enjoyed by Bridge 58 – so typically ‘English’ with rolling fields dotted with small villages and their imposing church towers and spires.

We’ve passed a few marinas that are due to open in 2009/2010 and we haven’t thought that any of them would be ready in time. Thrupp Wharf marina was no different, though the pontoons and services are in place, there was still a huge amount of landscaping work to be done – a few weeks’ work we estimated, but they’re due to open in 3 days’ time – good luck! There were lots of boats moored on the towpath nearby – we wondered whether they were waiting to take their places in the new marina.

A little further on we noticed the Taverner’s boat club – a length of online moorings protected by security gates and CCTV cameras. You’d certainly feel safe here but it has the limitations of access of any online mooring – it’s a long walk if you’re the furthest boat from the gate.

There’s a thriving boating community around Cosgrove Lock – it’s very pleasant here and there are fine 14-day moorings below Cosgrove Lock.

We were aiming for the moorings between bridge 68 and 69 at Old Wolverton, but it was a spookily deserted tunnel of trees. However, the moorings beyond Bridge 69 were much more attractive, and popular, there were few spaces left. We passed by and cruised on as far as the next winding hole, just after the aqueduct. But although the towpath is very well maintained and attractive, there weren’t any other boats moored here and we weren’t sure whether Indigo Dream would be safe if left unattended. We winded and headed back to Bridge 69. Richard dropped me off at Wolverton Station on the way back (by Bridge 71).

I took the train back to Nuneaton. Unfortunately the train was delayed by over 35 minutes; add the delays on the M1 on the way home and we had yet another late night – arriving home at 11.30pm.

However, we’ve left Indigo Dream in a good spot. We’re in the company of other boats, so it feels secure. There is very good parking in the adjacent Deans Road Industrial Estate with good access to the towpath – perfect for off- and on-loading. Delays made for a tedious journey home but the reality is that we’re very close to home now – 69 locks left over 2 weekends so that we get back in time for this event: http://www.greyhoundhomer.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=1984 Do come along!

The Odyssey 2009: Day 54

Sunday 27th September

Newbold Tunnel to Bridge 28 (outside Nether Heyford)

*** Just to confirm, we were, in fact, on the North Oxford Canal yesterday ***

Blue inspecting the lights in the Newbold Tunnel

As always, Richard was first up and took the dogs for a rummage, exploring the tunnel that we’d come through last night. There’s a very useful information board by the tunnel entrance explaining in some detail why there were multicoloured spotlights now lit along the length of the tunnel. The tunnel wasn’t lit when we came through last night – they turn the lights off at sunset so as not to disturb roosting bats. The lights, blue, green and violet, are angled in such a way as to illuminate the path and to form a perfect circle with their reflection in the water. It’s a nice feature and so good to have an explanation on the signboard.

Note: I should explain that we have fewer photos this weekend – we managed to leave both cameras at home though fortunately we did have our camera phones so the posts won’t be utterly bland and boring!

We got off quite early by our standards and cruised past the long length of moorings (48-hour then 14-day then long-term) just round the bend from the tunnel. We definitely stopped in the right place – we might have struggled to find a spot further along.

One of many murals along the canal in Rugby

Despite our rural surroundings, we’d moored just on the outskirts of Rugby. We were soon cruising above a huge retail park and bits of modern industry, looking strangely out-of-place next this old waterway. Rugby certainly seems to be proud of its heritage and celebrates it with murals on many of the modern bridges showing either scenes of rugby players (and their irregular balls….) or of canal boats and trains. I certainly felt that boaters would be welcome here.

Coming out of Rugby, the North Oxford excels, with a varied and beautiful landscape. There are many fine lengths of online moorings and there was plenty of traffic on the canal; nonetheless, it didn’t feel quite as congested as the southern stretch.

We spotted some fearsomely long-horned cattle by Bridge 86 prompting Richard to name the bridge “the little big horn” !

The approach to Hillmorton is unmistakable as a veritable forest of radio masts emerges from the landscape – the big masts may have gone, the Rugby time signal now comes from somewhere else and supposedly they don’t talk to submarines from there any more but there must be a hundred masts left– quite a sight. Hillmorton locks follow shortly after. I was surprised to see that we were locking up; the canal, which has faithfully followed the contours since Atherstone, already seemed quite high and I’d imagined that we’d be going down now. The flight was very busy, with a constant traffic up and down. A few boats just locked down, turned at the bottom then locked up again, which seemed a little curious. Fortunately the locks are paired here – there would have been quite a queue otherwise. The dogs had a very good rummage here and were exceptionally well-behaved.

Long horned cattle

We had a brief period of peace and quiet past the locks but a very nice stretch of online moorings slowed us down soon after. The moorings have their own plots of land attached and have road access – this would be a perfect arrangement for us with the dogs, shame it’s not a little closer to London. This slight bottleneck allowed us to catch up with the boat ahead and for the boat behind to creep up on our tail. We can’t complain – there were far more boats coming the other way, including a group of four hire boats, crews all dressed as pirates, with three competent skippers between them; the fourth skipper managed to swing his boat across the canal in front of Indigo Dream twice. There was no collision or any unpleasantness – I was just wondering what they were doing (they were so far across the canal I actually thought they were mooring……) and whether it was safe to pass!

We passed under Bridge 80 with some trepidation – it’s in a terrible state of disrepair. It looked familiar but we’ve not cruised this stretch before so where have we seen photographs of it? It surely can’t be the bridge that was partly demolished by a tractor and trailer last year – hasn’t that been repaired?

Dramatic viaduct....

There’s no doubt that this is a beautiful canal – it’s mainly surrounded by open fields alternating between the soft gold of hay and the fresh green of grazing pastures dotted with sheep or cows. A perfect place to ‘stand and stare’ – many boaters obviously do, judging by the lengths of moored boats.

We passed another blogger today – nb ubique

We arrived back on familiar ground when we got to Braunston. This really is boating ‘central’ – the moorings approaching the junction were jam-packed but there was plenty of room between the junction and the top lock – these are 48-hour moorings in the summer but 14-day from October to March. Braunston isn’t just boating central – there were also lots of walkers on the towpath – it’s a sudden transition as we’ve hardly seen a soul on the towpath up to this point. There are fine views of Braunston Church which is visible for miles and from all angles as the canal weaves round the village.

We noticed that Braunston Manor Hotel is for sale – now that would be a desirable location. It’s on sale for just under a million and a half pounds – less than I’d expected but still a tad out of our league!!!

The aptly named “Gongoozler’s Rest’ floating cafe was busy – it’s only a short narrowboat and all the tables were full. It’s good to see a canalside business doing well.

We commented on an immaculately painted green boat before we realised it was Celtic Kiwi – a share boat from the same ’stable’ as our old boat, Dragonfly. We’d heard that Celtic Kiwi was having her paintwork re-done – she looked magnificent.

Despite the large numbers of moored boats in Braunston, we had the big double locks to ourselves going up, though we did meet a few boats coming down (to our advantage). The dogs had an enjoyable rummage around the locks and were greeted by the rufty-tufty lurchers who live in the cottage by the bottom lock.

There was a LOT of water in the pounds today, with water cascading over the bottom gates at lock 5.

By the time we got to the top lock, the moored boats and gongoozlers had vanished leaving a profound stillness on the approach to the tunnel. The landslide here is shocking – it covers half the canal and obscures the tunnel entrance. It’s a 2-way tunnel and luckily there weren’t any boats coming out as we dodged past the landslip into the entrance. We did pass a few boats, inevitably where the tunnel curves into a chicane rather than where it’s dead straight.

We were surprised by how dry it was in Braunston Tunnel – we’d expected it to be much wetter.

We were astounded by the stretch between the tunnel and Norton junction – it’s been transformed. When we passed here 18-months ago the towpath was atrocious to the point of being unusable. Last winter, apparently, the whole stretch was restored and improved and is now in perfect condition, including the installation of some mooring rings. One moored boat here commented that in places it was too shallow to get into the bank, but the overall improvement has to be celebrated.

We started locking down at Buckby, though the dogs were unimpressed. There are good visitor moorings by the top lock but they’re also close to the road so Blue and Lou were confined. They were able to have a rummage further down though we got them back on board at lock 11 as there’s a road near to lock 12 (though well fenced and gated). Just as well – as the boat descended at lock 12, Blue, wearing an expression of extreme innocence, bunched himself up and hopped off the boat. Richard caught him and tied him up on principle!

The Buckby Locks have a strange feature – instead of the usual muddy water smell you get when a the lock drains, I caught a scent reminiscent of my granny’s hanky drawer – sweet and musky. I can only think that it’s from the algae growing thickly on the lock walls, or maybe someone’s liberated a load of mothballs into the canal!

The muscular presence of the M1 and mainline railway really try to overwhelm the canal here. There was a tremendous din from the trains, the traffic and the sirens of the emergency services going to attend some crisis on the southbound carriageway. I don’t wish anyone ill, but I did feel a little thrill of spite when I realised that the boat was travelling faster than the queue on the motorway.

Bridge 19 marks the start of some more desirable moorings spots as the motorway peels away from the canal – the sudden lack of noise is surreal. The stretch from Bridge 19 to 21 is thickly wooded, its dark and mysterious atmosphere enhanced by a gathering of new age boaters. They’d erected  a number of tents and gazebos just off the towpath and were sitting around a large bonfire. One of the boats was garnished with cannabis plants, undoubtedly being grown for the attractiveness of the leaves and for the rope-making fibre in the stems We felt like intruders in an arcane right and crept past quietly.

Bridge 21 is attractive, with a red brick arch and a tough blue brick parapet – it’s more intact than most bridges than we’ve seen this weekend! Strangely enough there’s a lighting shop near the bridge, specialising in LEDs – it may be useful in the future, we’re always after lighting.

Wheedon looked like a good place to stop, not least of which because it has four pubs close to the canal. But we’ve not done very well with pub grub this weekend so we decided to move on and eat on board.There were good moorings just after Bridge 25; we spotted the cheese boat here but it seemed a little too late to disturb them.

We carried on a little further in order to get away from the railway. We eventually moored up by Bridge 28 (just outside Nether Heyford). It’s a fine countryside mooring, opposite a canalside field sporting a few caravans. Richard had intended to take the dogs for an exploration of the footpath off Bridge 28, but the dogs weren’t interested – Lou was far too comfortable to move and Blue was spooked by the sound of a shotgun in the distance. I cooked dinner and Richard got on with some DIY before we settled down with a DVD – Ocean’s 13 – a happily brainless romp which suited our mood perfectly.

The mooring was exceptionally quiet and we had a very peaceful night.

The Odyssey 2009: Day 53

Friday 25^th & September 26th September

Hartshill to Rugby (Newbold Tunnel)

Friday…

The moorings at Bridge 29 - secure and welcoming...

We did our usual dithering over whether to drive to the boat on Thursday night after work (and get a full day’s cruising on Friday) or have an unhurried drive up on Friday morning, knowing that we’d then only cruise for the afternoon. In the end neither plan quite worked. We decided to drive up on the Friday but first sorted a multitude of little jobs at home (including liberating one of the larger fish in our pond, which had managed to swim onto the top of the net that’s intended to protect them from marauding heron).

We left home at 11am but with the comforting knowledge that we’d missed the rush hour and that we’d be at the boat in a couple of hours. It was not to be – there had been an awful car fire on the M40 (I hope no-one was hurt – the car was totally gutted) so we got stuck at a crawl for an hour, then we got caught in roadworks. We didn’t make it to the boat until 3pm.

Never mind, still time for a quick cruise down into Coventry to moor overnight in the basin. But the fact is that Bridge 29’s a really nice mooring – there’s a real feeling of community here, even though most of the boaters are just transient visitors. We got chatting to the crew of Gentle Jane, then to the crew of Briar Rose – they’re all ‘dog’ people. They persuaded us, almost subliminally, that the last thing we wanted to do was run the gauntlet through Coventry, why not moor here and come to the pub, the dogs are so happy here and the pub allows dogs in the back bar ……

Conical Heaps and holes in the ground....

So we decided to stay one more night – what a good decision. We wore the dogs out with a good run round the adjacent field (no casualties this time) then we headed off to Nuneaton for provisions and to scout out some parking near the station (Central Avenue). There’s a very good Asda in Nuneatons plus a range of the usual mix of big stores and high street.

As well as all the delights of a large town, the drive to Nuneaton from Hartshill is also fascinating. As you drive along the road into town (which runs roughly parallel to the canal but at a much greater height) you get occasional glimpses of a far off and beautiful view between the trees. You also get that strange attraction caused by a large void – there is a gargantuan quarry hole in the ground here. It seems to suck you in (even though it’s partly obscured by trees) and it’s this cutting away of the hill nearby that gives the wide vistas beyond. Of course, you can’t dig a big hole without creating a big heap and a bit further on there’s a characteristic cone of spoil. I’d say it’s a bit far to walk from the canal but if you happen to be driving that way then watch out for it.

Contented greyhound relaxing on the towpath (there were 2 others behind the boat); the outskirts of Nuneaton don't look too bad from here...

Once we were fully provisioned, we went off to the pub with the dogs – it was still only 7pm and it was nice to eat early (by our standards). The Anchor is full of friendly locals – they made a big fuss of the dogs, though Blue and Lou weren’t as relaxed as usual – probably over-tired and in need of their duvets. We were a bit that way ourselves! The beer was good but our meal wasn’t the most inspiring or perhaps we made bad choices – I think that Sunday’s carvery is better. Nonetheless, the warm welcome means that the Anchor definitely stays on our recommended pub list.  We were back on the boat ready for the last half hour of “Strictly Come Dancing”, which was about as intellectual as our tired brains could manage.

We had a quiet night on the mooring – this is a good spot, even though it’s not very glamorous to look at.

Saturday…..

We had a relatively relaxed start to the day and could easily have spent longer here – Blue and Lou love this spot with its perfect rummaging field. But we had to move on, as the song says “London calling…..” – the chilly evenings and shorter days are prodding us to get back before the stoppages.

Nuneaton - making the best of their canalside location...

There was still time for a long walk with the dogs and an even longer natter with John from nb Briar Rose (a Braidbar boat) who has fascinating tales to tell about his career working in the boating industry. If I understood him rightly, he has recently lost a much beloved Spanish rescue greyhound, though he is now besotted by his adorable springer spaniel (who conned me into throwing her toy down the towpath for quite some time yesterday evening!).

I eventually got the boat away at 10am. Richard had taken the car off to find a parking space on Central Avenue reasonably close to Nuneaton Station.

I was fascinated by the landscape on the stretch approaching Nuneaton. To start off with, it’s rural and inviting, with fine countryside moorings. Then there’s the landscape itself; to the left there are open fields showing the typical autumn patchwork of dusty golden crops and the rich brown of ploughed earth. But to the right there’s the strikingly man-made topography of the quarries – deep excavations, conical spoil heaps, trees and houses seemingly clinging precariously to the edges of these unnatural cliffs. But I believe that the quarries are long gone – on the far side of the road one of the quarries is already being developed for housing. I wondered about how they’d go about filling in and levelling these caverns – as Richard wryly put it “They make money from allowing deep holes to be filled” – so waste can be put to constructive use after all……

Skulls on nb Peace....

Richard cycled back from Nuneaton and I picked him up by Bridge 22. Despite its rough reputation, Nuneaton’s not too bad by water, during the daylight. The canal’s mainly surrounded by sports grounds and long lengths of allotments. It’s been a good growing year if the crops that we saw are anything to go by. We passed two moored boats by Bridge 19A who had three greyhounds between them, lying peacefully on the towpath. Later on we passed nb Nackered Navvy, who we’ve previously met on the K & A. We were bemused by nb Peace who had, in fact, decorated his bow with human skulls (well, models of skulls, we hope!).

There’s a useful boatyard at Boot Wharf in Nuneaton, selling diesel at  66p per litre basic price (114p propulsion). As we passed by we asked them whether the canal through the town was as troublesome as we’d heard. “Not really” was the reply. Shortly afterwards we asked nb Wild Rose whether she’d moored overnight there and whether she’d had any bother – “Yes” came the reply, “We had a drunk who nicked something off the roof”. So, mixed views of whether it’s ok to moor overnight in Nuneaton – we certainly didn’t have any trouble but we did pass through relatively early in the day. Such locals as we met on boats and walking along the towpath were very friendly.

Nuneaton’s contrasts carried on as we passed out of the town – one stretch had very nice canalside houses with positively ostentatious gardens full of statuary; shortly after we were flanked by dismal social housing with mean squares of grass littered with kids’ toys.

Working quarry just outside Nuneaton

Past Nuneaton, the Coventry Canal once again becomes a quiet countrified waterway – it’s been a revelation. We hadn’t been expecting much but it’s actually been fascinating and beautiful in equal measure.

There was an affable little community of boaters by Marston Junction and we admired a neat whippet on nb Northumberland. We were very tempted to turn left at the junction – the Ashby canal looked so enticing – straight, narrow and deserted. But we resisted, after all, we have to leave some unexplored territory for next year’s odyssey.

I’m afraid to report that our toilet tank was a bit whiffy after 2 weeks of no dosing and uninterrupted fermentation so we were after a pump-out today. The first potential was Charity Dock, marked as a boatyard on our Nicholsons. Well, what a place – it must qualify as the most eccentric site on the canal network (and there is some competition). The boatyard itself is a haphazard collection of moored boats, bit of boats,

One view of the unique entity that is Charity Dock.....

old scrap and lifesize human dummies, like you’d get in shop windows, dressed in a random assortment of clothes and wigs, and arrayed in strange postures. We mistook the only living person at the dock for a dummy until he actually moved. Although the yard apparently sells diesel (£1.44 per gallon said the sign – may be a little out of date!) they didn’t have an obvious pump-out point so we moved on rather gratefully.

The next bit of excitement was Hawkesbury Junction – a complete contrast to Charity Docks. Everything’s neat here – decent moorings (visitor and long term), accessible water points (but no pump-out) and everything cleanly painted and picturesque. The pub on the junction, the Greyhound, was very popular – according to the locals it’s a fine pub which serves a decent pint of Guinness. There are interesting signboards here – I was tickled by the fact that the stop lock has a rise of just over 6 inches, apparently as a result of a setting out error by Brindley or his Clerk of Works! It was also interesting that the Oxford Canal used to run parallel to the Coventry Canal for quite a distance until the canal companies settled their differences and built the ‘new’ junction at Hawkesbury in 1785. The turn at the junction looks tricky but it proved to be easy thanks to a wide entrance.

Note: nb Gentle Jane advised us that when approaching Hawkesbury Junction from Nuneaton take the first mooring that you spot on the towpath side before the junction – apparently it’s quite difficult to get a mooring on the other approaches and, sadly, the pub doesn’t have its own moorings.

The engineers on board were very concerned about the structural integrity of this bridge - we passed under quickly...

We were due to meet our friends Lizzie, Pal, Nathan and Sasha – now old hands at boating, having cruised several times around Birmingham with us. While we were waiting for them we moored up at the water point below the stop lock, filled up with water (good pressure here) and pressure washed the boat. She was filthy – covered in a thick layer of dust, possibly from the quarries, who knows? As she changed colour from grey to blue, it became apparent that giving the paintwork a good polish is so worthwhile. The polished side came up so much cleaner – the dirt doesn’t cling to it in the same way. Having found out how much a re-spray costs there is going to be a determined effort to slap more polish on …

Our guests arrived just as we were finishing our chores and we set off along the Oxford Canal – another new stretch for us. We decided to leave Coventry City for another year.

The North Oxford is a grand waterway – we spent the afternoon enjoying the simple pleasures of fine weather, good company and lovely scenery- who could ask for more?

Richard and Pal took the dogs for a long walk along the footpath which runs from Bridge 16 to Bridge 20 while I cruised along with Lizzie and the kids. Nathan refused to go for a walk – I think he was tempted to walk with the men but he just hates to leave the boat. Once again, the canal runs very close to the railway and Lizzie and I managed to get a freight train driver to beep his horn and give us a wave from his cab. Aah for the days when we’d have got that response because we were hot young babes rather than because we were on the back of a beautiful narrowboat

Newbold Tunnel - doesn't look very long from here....

In the meantime Richard, Pal and the dogs were having an eventful time. The greyhounds just don’t do stiles – they’re too big to go under and too wussy to jump over. Richard had some heavy lifting to do – Lou protested vigorously! They also safely negotiated a field full of sheep and ended up walking a lot further than they intended because I was looking for our rendezvous at Bridge 20 without realising that it’s an aqueduct not a bridge. I was a bit worried because I’d arrived at Bridge 24, but I hadn’t gone so far – this stretch of the Oxford Canal has been extensively straightened and the bridge numbers often don’t run in sequence – Bridge 24 is the next bridge after 20! When the men came into sight the dogs were trailing far behind them – they’re used to little rummages rather than long walks. They were so relieved to see the boat….

I’ve talked before about the hierarchy of old transport routes, with railways often being put above canal. Well, at the M6 bridge both modes of transport are put in their place with the canal and railway squashed impossibly beneath the vast motorway.

A few specifics did stand out; the stretch up to Bridge 34 is  a shaded cutting with obvious signs of landslips all along the offside. There’s a BW sign on the towpath side warning boaters not to moor here because of the risk of landslips and falling trees – I was a bit amazed at the number of walkers that were risking the path!

A bit later on we passed some good moorings at Oakwood with a useful canalside car park nearby. Bridge 35 is particularly scenic with an attractive canalside cottage. Bridge 37 is a quirkily pretty (and low) redbrick bridge. As we cruised into the late afternoon we were surrounded by pastoral views washed in gold by the lowering sun.

We stopped at Rose Narrowboats for a really good pump out. Whilst that was happening Pal explored the ice cream fridge and Richard explored the chandlery (having left his order with Pal). The chandlery is very good, excellent range, reasonable prices and knowledgeable service. Fortunately there was a queue forming for the services so Richard could not spend too much time in there …

Our destination for the day were the moorings just beyond the Newbold Tunnel (Pal had thoughtfully left a car here for their return journey) . The tunnel itself is deceptive – from a distance it looks as short as a wide road bridge – 25 metres rather than the 250 written on the map. But the map was right! It is a high wide tunnel with a footpath running through – it was dark when we went through but we found out more about the lighting the following day.

Fire exit blocked by a broom - the Barley Mow doesn't really deliver.....

We moored immediately after the tunnel as the visitor moorings further along were jam-packed. There are two pubs nearby – the Barley Mow and the Boat. Some passersby told us that the Boat wasn’t doing food so we went to the Barley Mow, which is dog-friendly. I’m afraid to report that the pub was hopeless – the food took over an hour to arrive and there was an interval of around 20 minutes between the first and last meal arriving at the table. The food was ok but nowhere near good enough to justify the wait (Liz’s chilli was the just about the worst she’s ever eaten and the garlic bread was horribly soggy; but at least the dogs’ sausages looked very good). Worryingly the fire exit panic bar is held closed with a broom stick – it would probably break if you were in a panic but that is not a good sign.

The pub’s tardiness made for a late evening. We said a reluctant goodbye to our guests but it was just as well, We barely stayed awake from long enough to see them off! This mooring is very quiet though and we all had a good night’s sleep.

The Odyssey 2009: Day 52

Sunday 13th September

Atherstone to Hartshill

Services at BW's Hartshill Yard

Our original plan for the week was to stop cruising on Saturday morning and be home ready for a full day of tidying up at home after the builders on Sunday. But the weather’s been too good and life on Indigo Dream is just too tempting. We were musing on whether to cruise a full day on Sunday but the morning’s weather told us to go home. For the first time this week the sky was overcast and it was cold without the prospect of sun to come.

Our plans were therefore dictated by the train timetable – Richard needed to get back to Kidsgrove for the car. He was disconsolate when he found out how few trains there were and that it would take an astounding two and a half hours to get there via Birmingham. I was perplexed – it was only when I overheard him ringing National Rail Enquiries again that I realised that he was asking them for trains to Kidderminster not Kidsgrove!

Distinctive clock-tower at BW's Hartshill Yard

The most convenient train to Kidsgrove left Nuneaton at 12.20 or so – plenty of time for Richard to enjoy an hour’s cruise to our final destination.

We needed a secure 14-day mooring and we’d rung the local BW office on Friday for advice. They recommended the mooring between Bridge 28 and 27, near to Valley Cruisers. It sounded fine, but road access looked a bit limited. We headed in that direction with the intention of mooring up sooner if we saw a suitable place. We fancied two mooring spots on the way:

Atherstone – the best moorings are 48-hour; the stretch just beyond the 48-hour moorings is 14-day but near a smelly chemical factory.

BW Yard Hartshill – ideal but they’re only 7-day

We cruised on – despite the cold we made the best of our morning – there was plenty to see, even in this brief stretch. The BW Yard at Hartshill is a thing of beauty – the buildings are very attractive and it felt very homely. We’d have loved to stop here if there had been a 14-day moorings available.

Our mooring - it's not beautiful but it seems to tick all the other boxes....

The other landmark was a distinctive hill in the distance – too big to be man-made but such a defined shape that it couldn’t possibly be natural.  We read later that it is man-made – one of the area’s famous spoil heaps, left behind from local quarrying. Our guidebooks seem to have different opinions on what was quarried here – we’d assumed coal but it was either granite or sandstone. Apparently the quarries may be deeper than the spoil-heap is tall – it’s hard to believe.

We found our ideal mooring just past Bridge 29. There’s a short stretch of 48-hour moorings then the rest of the sheet piling (with a few mooring rings) is 14-day. Bridge 29 carries a decent B-road for access and has a pub right by the bridge. There were also some very friendly boaters here – nb Gentle Jane were very helpful and reassured us that it was secure to moor here – everyone watches out for each other’s boats and the pub landlord walks his dogs along the towpath twice a day and keeps an eye on all the boats. The crew of the Gentle Jane were very kind – they actually told the pub landlord that we’d be mooring there and he promised to keep an eye on Indigo Dream.

With the boat securely moored, Richard cycled down to Nuneaton in time for his train. I forced myself to pack the boat up and do a deep clean – she was looking a bit lived in after a whole week’s cruising.

We were far enough from the road for Blue to have a rummage (under my watchful eye) – he was very happy to nose around under the disused railway bridge nearby. He was ecstatic when he caught a rabbit there! After that excitement both dogs were happy to settle on the sofa and observe me while I swept and scrubbed.

I eventually got the boat into the required state (i.e. clean enough to host a parent if necessary) and took the dogs for a stroll along the towpath (away from the road bridge). What a surprise – a few boat lengths along, we found a kissing gate into a perfect rummaging field – plenty of grass to run in, small copses of trees to explore and lots of rabbits – Lou caught one this time. For our dogs it is all about the chase, it is very rare that they catch anything particularly when they are inclined to do things like catch up with a rabbit then overtake it and decide to chase the next one.

Blue and Lou had a wonderful time just running around and rummaging – they were so happy – they flattened great swathes of grass with their contentment rolls. It was a joyful thing to see.

Note on rabbits: This field is perfect rummaging for me, Blue and Lou but don’t go there if you’re squeamish. The rabbits here are not well (myxomatosis) and they’re obviously easy prey (and not just for Blue and Lou). The field was littered with rabbit remains at various stages of decay.

The Anchor Inn - dog-friendly and good carvery.....

With the dogs well satisfied we got back to the boat shortly before Richard arrived with the car. It was gone 3pm by now so we went off to the pub for a late lunch. Not only does the landlord watch out for the boats but he also does a generous carvery and his pub is dog-friendly. Blue and Lou behaved impeccably, as you’d expect when they’re tired and have their sheepskins to lie on. They had a lot of fuss from the locals and enjoyed the remains of our carvery meat.

Note that there is a pub sign in the right place in Nicholsons but no write up.

After such a big meal there was an almost overwhelming temptation to stay on board, but Richard HAD to work on Monday and, as our parents always used to tell us, holidays have to come to an end sometime.`

We loaded the car and headed off, but we’ve come a long way south on our odyssey so the drive home wasn’t as onerous as we’d feared. We got home by 8.30pm and immediately regretted it – the builders hadn’t finished as promised and the house was indescribably filthy. Just as well that we have the memory of a wonderful week’s cruise to keep us cheerful as we sluice concrete dust off every conceivable surface…..

The Odyssey 2009: Day 51

Saturday September 12th

Fradley Junction to Atherstone

Fradley by day. Doesn't Indigo Dream look good - Richard's polished that side.....

Well here we are on day 51 of the odyssey – this time last year our odyssey was over – it’s been a tremendous summer.

We decided to set out early today – our mooring was a little close to the junction and we suspected that it would get busy later on. Before we left though, Richard found some excellent dog-walking – head in the direction of Alrewas, cross over the first lock and follow the footpath into some perfect rummaging woods.

With dogs satisfied, Richard got us through the swingbridge and we decided to stop for water at the point immediately after the bridge, which was surprisingly unoccupied. The water pressure wasn’t fantastic so it took a while to fill the tank – just as well. We were joined there by nb Treacle Dolly who have 3 greyhounds on board – Geri, Alice and Bonny. We let our two out and there followed a joyful greyhound bundle with very little commotion from Lou – she does tend to behave when there’s overwhelming odds. Treacle Dolly’s canine crew were

Me and two of Treacle Dolly's canine crew - see what I mean about Geri? The photos of the greyhounds together are blurred for some reason.....

aged 14 years, 11years, and 18 months – they were utterly gorgeous especially the youngster (Geri?) who had a very endearing habit of leaning in for a cuddle.

Our greyhound gathering might have gone on for longer but our water tank filled up and another boat came into the queue so we had to move on. It was delightful meeting though – I hope we run into them again.

Rather than the railway as our close companion today, we picked up the busy Ryknild Street dual carriageway, separated by barely a metre of scrubby verge. I doubt if the speeding drivers even knew we were there.

The Nicholson’s guide suggests that this stretch of canal is somewhat lacklustre, but we disagreed for the most part. We thought that Whittington Wharf had really pleasant mooring spots and we found the rest of the canal to be full of interest and much more congenial than we expected. It must be pleasant canal – there are plenty of boats here, to the point of being a little congested in places.

Our first views of the leafy Coventry Canal

Now, if you saw Indigo Dream waiting at a narrow bridge to let oncoming boats through what would you do – wait behind us or overtake? Wigtwizzle overtook us, causing chaos to us and to the oncoming boats – thanks a lot!

We had a more welcome meeting later on when we saw nb Waterways Routes passing the other way – they’re another boat that we met several times on the BCN Challenge. Gratifyingly they recognised us and waved cheerily. We received a complement for them later on in the day – another narrowboat that we met commented on the high level of skill and teamwork that Narrowboat Routes’ crew had shown going through some of the locks in Birmingham.

As we passed by Fazeley junction we felt the familiar pull towards Birmingham but the pull towards undiscovered country on the Coventry Canal was stronger.

Congestion at Streethay Wharf...

The canal continues to be pleasant – maybe not as beautiful as some but well worth a visit. Despite the fact that some of the bridges are graffitied, there are lots of moored boats looking safe and sound. The locals are friendly and Richard noticed a nice ’slow down’ poem by Bridge 74 which promised smiles for people going at the appropriate speed – so it proved, there were smiles and waves aplenty. The houses make good use of their canalside locations; sadly most of the gardens were far too narrow to moor a 60 footer though in some places some neighbourly negotiations had resulted in some narrowboats overlapping the gardens on either side.

Note: there’s excellent dog-walking around Bridge 68

The moorings around Alvecote are particularly attractive – there’s a basin full of working boats here and the nearby ruined priory and nature reserve looked like a good place to explore. There are also attractive moorings between Alvecote and Polesworth – surrounded by great dog-rummaging woods.

The junction with a short section of the Wyrley and Essington canal - I wish is still connected to the rest of the curly wyrley - now that would be great cruise....

We crossed under the M42 today – another indication that we’re really on our way south. Soon after the motorway we passed an unusual canalside teashop – it might have been the Pooley Fields Heritage Centre.

Note: Bridge 48 – watch out for swimmers in the winding hole and canoeists just after the bridge.

We uhmed and aahed over whether to moor in Polesworth or press on up the Atherstone flight. Well, you know us – on we went….

The Atherstone flight was nicely busy – just enough boats coming down to keep the locks set our way and to be sociable. There’s also less pressure here than on many flights as you can moor in the longer pounds – the basic pattern (at the bottom anyway), is to have two closely spaced locks then a long pound. There are particularly nice moorings between locks 10 and 9 with fine views over the open countryside. Unsurprisingly the railway line is close by but the noise doesn’t intrude. The locks are largely rural and the dogs had some good rummaging opportunities though Blue may have over-reached himself – he had a few illicit runs off the towpath and got thoroughly confused – we had to rescue him a couple of times. The bottom of the flight is particularly pleasant and the local people are very friendly; the frantic sound of the church bells being chimed as if to repel the devil himself completed the ambience.

Big sky....

Lock 8 has an interesting side-paddle which takes water from a side-pound – sadly it’s the only one left on the flight though you can still see remnants of the side-pounds at most of the locks. There’s an old adage about the Atherstone flight – ’slow to fill, fast to empty’ and so it proved.

There was the enticing smell of steak wafting across the canal at Bridge 43 – this is one of the few canalside pubs that is still open in Atherstone and the only one recommended by some local walkers that we spoke to.

Our guidebook mentions that the top lock and basin are beautifully maintained by the lock-keeper. They are very tidy but the weird tableau of two stuffed dummies (one with red painted bloodstains) falling down the well/sluice near the lock was very off-putting – not to our taste that’s for sure. On a more positive note, there are good services at the top lock and a huge canalside coalyard.

We moored a little way up from the top lock in an unassuming but popular spot reassuringly covered by CCTV cameras.

Mellow views from the Atherstone flight

Atherstone’s got a reputation as being a historic market town. A wander around town led me to wonder whether there’s a difference between historic and merely old! I have to say that Atherstone’s not at its best on a Saturday night. We left the dogs on board (they were exhausted) and had a wander around town. There are two canalside pubs on Coleshill Road (Bridge 41) – one is shut and the other isn’t recommended by locals. So we headed into town – it has narrow alleys and an open market square, a town built for horse and carts. But the main shopping street is the A5 – you’d never know by looking. But the shops are run down and many have grilles over the windows; it wasn’t even dark but many of the locals were singing drunk already. The presence of an ambulance with paramedic crew on standby in the high street further persuaded us to ditch the idea of eating out. We did, however find a very good Chinese takeaway – Atherstone House, by the back of the Red Lion hotel. We ordered a blowout takeaway and went back to the boat, where the dogs gave us, and the food, a rapturous welcome.

We spent a peaceful night here – despite our misgivings about the state of the high street, the canal was quiet and we had no bother.

Photoblog:

There are all sorts of businesses on the water....

The sun's breaking through.....

Canal users come in many shapes and sizes...

Pleasant suburban scene

At least this sign is on the offside - shame, the woods did look enticing!

I know it's a bit blurred but doesn't nb Waterways Routes look good against this multihued backdrop

I thought that the railway's contempt of the canals would inhibit them from having a boat, but here we are...

Decorative stern design.....

Watch for this boat in bridge holes!

Fazeley Junction - looking towards Birmingham

Bye then Lou...

Dodgy parking space!

Pastoral views from the Atherstone Locks

Even Blue has to rest sometimes.....

That's the old side pound to the right - sadly only one lock now has a working side-paddle

Working canalside coal yard at Atherstone Top Lock.

The Odyssey 2009: Day 50

Friday 11th September

Weston-on-Trent to Fradley Junction

So many beautiful views today...

The mooring at Weston on Trent was very quiet overnight, despite the passing of fast Pendolino trains nearby – it’s a good spot to wave at trains! The railway has been our constant companion today, as it was yesterday. The juxtaposition of these two rival modes of transport is interesting, we didn’t find the train intrusive.

We had a very relaxed morning, noting the passing of the many boats heading north; a few went south, but not so many as to make us dash off to join the rush.

When we eventually set out we noted that the moorings around Bridge 80 were still pretty full but there are good moorings by Bridge 77, though too far from the pub for us!

The canal was busy from Hoo Mill onwards; it was especially jam-packed with moorings around Hoo Mill Lock, though there were plenty of moorings available below the lock. I wondered why boaters like to cluster together like this, then my brain caught up with my day-dreaming – I may as well ask why do we live in towns and cities!

Ironically, I dropped the camera into the water bowl while photographing 'Wrekin havoc'!

I landed myself in the dog-house today when I managed to drop the small camera into the dog bowl, the new one full of water on the back deck! Oops! Unfortunately it’s wrecked, despite our attempts to dry it out; fortunately it is insured.

Soon afterwards we passed by the famous junction at Great Haywood. The service point here was as busy as ever. We resisted the temptation to take a little trip to Tixall Wide just to see if it was as beautiful as we remembered.

We left the River Dane behind today – the canal’s companion is now the River Trent. It’s a distinct contrast; where the Dane was hidden in deep valleys, the Trent runs alongside in a broad and open flood plain. There are stunning views here – the approach to Bridge 70 is particularly scenic. The road bridge over the river (by canal Bridge 70) is massive but the river itself is a shallow stream; I wondered whether the river rises to cover the plain in the winter (or should that be the summer, as we seem to get most of our rainfall in July now). Later on we left the Trent behind and picked up the River Tame. It was good to see the river Tame flowing wide and unfettered under the aqueduct. The last time was saw it was under spaghetti junction, buried unseen and neglected at the bottom of the heap.

The Trent plain makes for wonderful views

There’s good mooring just past Bridge 70 – the canal’s softly shaded here and the river’s on the other side of a shallow  embankment – it’s worth nipping over to get a view of the river. I though the dogs might like a splosh here but although there are numerous paths down to the river’s edge, there’s a foot drop into the water and they won’t jump that far (they’ll only step into shallow water). More adventurous dogs will love a swim here – I just enjoyed the view over the water. I’d suggested mooring here because it was such a beautiful spot with good dog rummaging, but Blue and Lou lost interest immediately and went back to their beds for a sound sleep. I don’t think they sleep properly when we’re on the move – they have to keep one ear open in case they miss something. I reckoned that this would be a good place to moor for the night – it’s tranquil and there’s a pub across the road bridge nearby.

I poached the pears that we were given in Kidsgrove – they were lovely, just perfectly ripe – thanks!

Where we moored for lunch

The next bit of interest was the town of Rugeley, which is another boating community. We bought a round fender from nb Lynneth – the boss was wielding a pint mug of beer and was a merry soul. He had very good rope fenders though, and a selection of tiller pins, though none as fine as our new greyhound. Rugeley is dominated by its power station – it’s visible for miles and we were surprised at how close the canal comes to it. We were also surprised by the proximity of a tower block which has been one of our landmarks when whizzing along the M6 toll – we hadn’t realised how far South we’d come, or that the canal came so close to the motorway.

We passed the afternoon in a mixed landscape of farmland and suburban gardens – all very pleasant. We were amused by one back garden who’d installed a dummy speed camera pointing at the cut (well, we think it was a dummy!) with a proper Trent & Mersey canal sign. A little further on we got a good view of Hawkesyard Hall, a fanciful construction in red

The fanciful facade of Hawkesyard Hall

brick, reminiscent of Hampton Court Palace, though on a much smaller scale.

We noticed a lot of boats carrying the Boaters Christian Fellowship (BCF) logo today – has there been a gathering nearby or is it a regular community here?

Note: nb Strait and Narrow says that the water point after Bridge 62 has very good water pressure

We were too busy looking around to pay attention to our map so we were taken aback by the BW sign warning of narrows ahead. The sign advises boaters to send a crew member ahead to warn boats coming the other way to stop. Richard, Blue and Lou volunteered and the dogs had a good rummage (once they were past the road); Blue had a very good time as he found a few illicit paths to keep him happy. The narrows are a remnant of an old tunnel which has had its roof removed at some point; it still retains its tunnel-like atmosphere with high stone walls on one side. The canal opens out at the far end of the narrows, with some useful moorings and a large pub nearby.

The Swan at Fradley - the most photographed pub on the canal apparently. Looks good at sunset...

The stretch down to Fradley is surrounded by woods and full of squirrels. The section above Shadehouse lock has 14-day moorings and would be a perfect dog-rummaging spot. But we were heading for the junction – hoping to get a mooring just after the turn onto the Coventry Canal. We were in for a shock – the nearer we got to the junction the busier it became, with a mix of long and short term moorings – all jam-packed. As we turned towards the swing-bridge Richard spotted that there was a 24-hour mooring spot right on the junction on the left just before the ‘narrow’ channel to the swingbridge. We couldn’t believe that it was a mooring, right there on the junction, and that no-one had nicked it! We got in quick! Just as well, we wouldn’t have had to cruise at least a mile down the Coventry canal before finding a free space.

We decided to eat on board – the Swan pub opposite seemed a bit busy and we had plenty of food on board. The dogs relaxed and we got on with a few more chores and watch the world go by. There’s plenty to watch here – the comings and goings by the pub, boats working up the locks, boats turning at the junction, walkers on the paths – it’s a good spot for lounging around. By chance we were moored opposite nb Trundles, a fellow participant on the BCN Challenge.

Luckily for us the sheer busyness of the canal heading towards Alrewas made it easy for us to resist the pull towards Shardlow, though we did regret missing the chance to bump into Sanity who was moored only a few short miles away. We had a quiet night on the moorig – it’s a big boating community and that’s always a good omen.

Photoblog:

A unique garden ornament

Haywood Junction

Aah he's just so handsome.....

More sweeping views

The railway's never very far away...

The River Tame....

What a gruesome tale...

Fine skewed railway bridge

Rugeley power station dominates

Canalside trampoline - how often do they land in the canal?

Big bird - we didn't catch the species but it looked proud and fierce

This is one of our landmarks on the M6....

That figure in the nightshirt is a model but it could have been a real person - you can never tell with some boaters

Meander....

A glimpse of the landscape.....

King's Bromley Wharf - huge mooring basin...

Softly wooded canal - there's lots of squirrels in those woods...

At our mooring in Fradley - it's been a long day....

The Odyssey 2009: Day 49

Thursday 10^th September

Kidsgrove Junction to Weston on Trent

It's not the best photo but I hope you get an idea of the scale of the new visitor centre at Longport Wharf (now a tremendous nature reserve)

We’ve had a cracking day’s cruising today – not in the doing of great deeds but just enjoying the simple pleasures of a fine stretch of canal.

I was wondering why yesterday’s blog was relatively short, then it occurred to me that we hadn’t actually travelled a great distance – 3 linear miles but 11 deep locks UP. Today’s been quite a bit busier, and a lot more satisfying. I must apologise for our photos – the early morning shots were scuppered by mist on the lens in the cool air; later photos were blanked out by the bright sunshine but we’re not complaining about that!

Our mission for the morning was to get through the first passage of the Harecastle Tunnel. The BW man had told us that if we got there at 7.30am then he could guarantee us passage through. The alarm was duly set – it’s an unnatural time of the day for the Indigo Dreamers!

The first of many bottle kilns

Richard got us underway and we arrived at the tunnel just in time – BW let us through first at 7.53am (along with the other boat who hadn’t made it through last night). Richard was on the helm and we got through in 30 minutes – no messing though he did get worried when he had no power just inside the portal but a quick burst of reverse worked to throw off whatever was round the prop. I sat indoors covering the dogs with blankets – it’s chilly in the tunnel, though I noticed that the temperature when we went in was an autumnal 7 degrees, by the time we got out it was around 13 degrees. The day was warming up nicely and we were set for a fine day’s cruising.

The Harecastle Tunnel is an impressive piece of engineering, so straight and perfectly aligned that you can see the pinprick of light at the far end. It is just a pinprick – it’s a long tunnel with somewhat uneven ceilings. There’s plenty of headroom but it’s easy to clang against the sides in the oppressive darkness (not that Richard did – that’s my trick!).  Being the first through, the air was quite clear – it gets a bit fumy later on (especially if you’re following other boats). Water levels seem much lower, we have seen a reference to water levels being 4″ lower because of a leak on the Macc Aqueduct but that still does not equate to Richard’s memory of having to duck right down in the low bit. Also we emerged relatively dry, not soaked as per previous memories and we missed taking a photograph of the skeleton as it is closer to the north portal than we remembered.

Fine old pottery buildings - still standing after all these years...

The Southern Portal is normally characterised by almost glowing orange water, but overnight the sediment settles; a local fisherman said that the water clears completely when there have been stoppages on the canal. Richard mentioned that the water was changing colour fast as our propeller stirred the muck at the bottom. The southern portal also gives a good view of the old tunnel opening  lying alongside – the old tunnel’s long lost to subsidence. Shame, with the Shroppie closed I reckon you could keep two tunnels in business here! There are better moorings at the southern portal, should you happen to get stuck overnight, but we were still surprised to see the long queue of boats waiting to go through. That was the pattern of the day – long lines of boats going North and just us going South with a succession of locks set our way – sweet.

There was plenty to see. The first thing of note was Longport Wharf, the reclaimed remnants of an old industrial site now converted into to a large Lakeland wildlife reserve. They’re in the middle of building a new visitor centre there which is perched on stilts and will give panoramic views over the water. There are very good 48-hour moorings here and, from memory, you can walk right around the lake (good dog-rummaging). We stopped a little way down and our two had a mini-rummage on the towpath – the first of many, they’ve been very active today.

Ripe for development - but into what??

I’m trying not to stray too much down memory lane, back to when we came this way on Dragonfly, not least of which because my memory’s very unreliable! We did notice that a huge derelict industrial site (possibly the old Shelton Works) has now been totally levelled – we wondered what would be built there – it’s surrounded by mixed retail/office developments. Of course it had to be Blue that found a gap in the otherwise very secure fencing in order to have a wander round the demolition site. I’m afraid the sound of us yelling “come here Blue” will disturb the peace of every canal in the country by the time we’ve finished cruising

It’s not all demolition though, the traditional buildings of Middleport Potteries still look very much alive, through it’s not clear whether the industry here is still pottery. You’ll see the first of many bottle kilns here. It’s fortunate for us sightseers that the hard-nosed businessmen that built these industries believed that these shapely kilns were the best way of firing their clay – they wouldn’t be here to grace the landscape otherwise.

The basin at Festival Park

The Doulton office and factory shop have a fine modern waterfront. It was near here that we passed nb Bounty of Narrowboatworld fame – we saw them at Teddington last year.

We got to Festival Park near Etruria by around 9.30am. This had been our planned destination had the tunnel been open yesterday, but with our early start we actually gained at least half an hour on our planned cruising day! We like Festival Park – there’s a reliable Toby Carvery here and, on previous visits, we’ve been able to persuade the chef to give us bumper parcels of leftover meat (for Indie, our old lurcher). There are also good ‘town’ facilities here, with things like a cinema and bowling alley – useful if you’re out with a family and want a bit of variety.

We had a bit of a challenge at Etruria junction – avoiding the temptation to ‘just’ pop down the Caldon ‘while we’re here’. This will be the first of many such challenges on the way home – we really need to focus on getting back to London before the stoppages start but we’ve already been talking about ‘just’ popping down to Shardlow (so that we’ll have had done the length of Trent & Mersey), and ‘just’ popping

The museum at Etruria Junction - well worth a visit

down to Coventry to see the city. I think we’re going to find it very hard to stop cruising at the end of the season (not that we will stop really – no doubt we’ll be flitting around London over the winter and we may try to explore the Lee and Stort in March if the stoppages allow ).

After locking up for many miles, the first deep lock down at Etruria is a shocker – it must be all of 13 feet and buried the boat in shade. (Table of lock depths here). There’s plenty of interest here and the china museum is well worth a visit if you have the time. Considering that the locks take the canal down to the depths of Stoke, there’s surprisingly secure dog rummaging here – right down to the fourth lock.

Note: the second lock has a sign telling boaters to shut their side-hatches because of leaky lock walls – make sure that you do – there’s a high pressure water spout about halfway down the lock.

That lock wall really does leak!

As we worked down the Stoke 5, we met an oncoming boat with a tale to tell. There was a huge amount of traffic coming up the canal – they’d been stuck in 10-boat queues at some of the locks yesterday. They’d set off at 6.30am today in order to beat the rush. They weren’t joking – I lost count of how many boats we saw coming the other way today – thirty, forty, maybe more…….

Stoke on Trent is vastly improved since we were last here. The canal/road improvement works were in full swing four years ago and we were channelled through a miserable culvert surrounded by the detritus of a major building project. It’s very fancy here today – with magnificent ‘M1’ standard towpaths (particularly for cyclists), generous benches and decorative signage. But when I thought about it, the development is all for towpath users – there are no moorings rings or facilities for boaters. This state of affairs continued right down to Barlaston village. Where there were hard towpaths, there’s weren’t any mooring rings or bollards; where there were ‘soft’ towpaths (for pins) or sheet piling, rocks had been heaped at the edge of the canal to

It may all be for towpath users but it is well done - we thought this bench was very smart

prevent boaters from coming close. We would have stopped at the shops at  Trentham or at Barlaston but they just don’t make it easy for boaters to stay.

As I suspect that some of the towpath improvements are part sponsored by the local council I did wonder whether the slogan “boaters are not voters” applied here – why should they put money into boating facilities when it’s the walkers and cyclists that will be paying the local taxes and keeping the local councillors in power. Ah, maybe I’m just getting too cynical….

To be fair, there is good mooring not far on from Barlaston by the famous Wedgewood factory. We weren’t sure whether the factory was still open after Wedgewood went under earlier this year. We asked some locals walking along the towpath – they told us that it the factory was just about clinging on. I don’t know what the future holds but, just in case, try and do the factory tour (if it’s still available) – it’s the best.

Things improved dramatically as we approached Stone. There’s a very pleasant stretch of canal past Barlaston – the woods are at a level with the canal and gave just enough shade to break the unceasing sunshine into sparkles on the

How close is that train??/

water. The railway line is uncannily close to the canal here – the trains pass by at head height – quite disconcerting.

As we passed another boat in this section a voice shouted out – “we read your blog” – it was nb Windsong – we read theirs as well!

The Meaford Locks were a perfect opportunity for a bit of dog-rummaging. The second lock down is by a road, but otherwise they’re rural and secure. There were good moorings in the pound between Meaford Road Lock and Meaford House Lock – there’s some particularly fine dog rummaging around Bridge 97 (or so Blue tells me, having explored extensively).

The Meaford flight gave us the first indication that there was a treat ahead. There’s an information point here boldly labelled “STOP AT STONE” – we used our BW key to extract a useful information leaflet enumerating the delights of the town.

What a town - individually lit mooring rings in Stone; apparently it makes the towpath look very pretty at night.

This is what we’d been waiting for. Stone is a boater’s town through and through – it trumpets its canal heritage at every opportunity and lays on every facility that a boater could possibly need. It was such a brilliant contrast to Stoke and its surrounding villages. There are fine moorings between locks 31 and 30 and the mooring rings on the approach to lock 30 are actually individually lit!

I saw Hadar moored up at the basin here and waved enthusiastically at what I hoped was the crew! They certainly waved back with gusto. We also met Elaine from Fulbourne here – this time on the helm of a different, and rather more modern, boat. She was unmistakable in her traditional boat-woman’s bonnet.

We moored up below Lock 30 in Stone on possibly the only bit of towpath that doesn’t have mooring rings! We got to the high street by walking to the next lock, crossing over the canal then turning second left. Stone has a bustling high street with everything that you might need, including a Costa coffee

The famous (or infamous!) Phyllis May

and many tasty looking bakeries. We were taken by the Crown and Anchor pub which does ‘black rock’ cooking – a hot granite stone is bought to your table and you cook your own meat/fish. We’ve only previously come across this in Ghent and it’s a great way to spend an evening. So great, in fact, that we bought our own ‘cooking stone’ in France. Unfortunately we were between servings – too late for lunch, too early for dinner – it’ll be on our list for another time though.

We took the dogs into town with us and, as usual, they drew a lot of fuss and attention – Stone seems to be a doggie town as well – there were lots of dogs out shopping! There’s a very good pet shop in town so we bought the dogs a new steel water bowl for the back deck. Don’t ask – given a full bowl of clean water indoors they’d much rather drink out of a manky bucket outside! This is our compromise – a decent bowlful of clean water outside – it’s been very popular so far.

There’s a water point immediately below Newcastle Road lock – it has really excellent water pressure but it does share the lock moorings so it was a bit congested there. While I was filling up, Richard visited the wonderful and now famous chandlery but didn’t find the bargains that he was looking for! Instead he need emergency first aid when he saw the price of a chromed cabin hook – £26.

You just can't ask for more...

Just above Star lock we saw the world-famous nb Phyllis May, immortalised by Terry Darlington (with a rather optimistic poster in the window offering signed copies of his books). We didn’t see Jim the whippet. We’ve always liked Stone but I did wonder whether the ‘narrow dog’ books had given the town’s civic pride a boost.

There are yet more fine moorings below Star Lock – “Stop at Stone”, the sign said, they certainly give you plenty of reasons to do so…..

The canal continues to pass pleasantly through the village of Little Stoke – the locals maintain wonderful canalside gardens and there are some very desirable end-of-garden moorings.

The locks are in relatively good condition along the Trent and Mersey but I was surprised that the top gate at Sandon Lock doesn’t leak at all, not a drop!

Beautiful reflections......

Richard chatted to the crew of what he called nb ‘Derring Do’ – he told me we’d met them before on the Stratford Canal. I was mystified – the name meant nothing to me until I saw the name written on their boat – ‘Deryn Du’ – welsh for ‘Blackbird’! (ok, you need to be a welsh speaker to get it – my cousin will laugh!). The crew were very genial and we picked their brains about pubs – they weren’t familiar with the area so we fell back on our old strategy – ring around until we find one that does food and is dog-friendly!

We headed for the Saracen’s Head in Weston on Trent. It’s a popular spot – the decent moorings around Bridge 80 were jam-packed so we reversed back a little way until we found a bit of towpath that might hold our pins for a night. The towpath’s soft and rough here (hope that makes sense), with very uneven edges making a torch and some sobriety a must for the walk back from the pub (speak for yourself Sue)

We had a very fine meal at the Saracen’s Head – all properly home-cooked. I had the tenderest steak that I’ve ever eaten – yum yum! The dogs were flat out but managed to lift their heads for their customary sausages and for a big fuss from one of the locals…..

Photoblog:

Wouldn't this little branch make a fine mooring.... Richard wants an office with its own little branch canal

These bottle kilns look as if they've just sidled in alongside these modern housing developments...

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Fellow Blogger - nb Mr David from Birmingham

There's good rummaging at Trentham Lock....

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Barlaston Boatyard - the crane is used to hoist the 'stop' planks between the canal and their private arm..

Hello Windsong, hope we meet again soon...

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Lou settling into one of her lock-side sleeping spots

Elaine from Fulbourne (sorry, didn't catch the name of the boat you were on today)

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They're working hard to get the new (and enormous) Aston Marina ready for opening in October - a bit ambitious maybe....

Blue and Lou have spotted some rabbits....

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Blue on the alert....

More beautiful reflections

Bridge 82 is quite handsome with its elaborate brick arch

Weston Hall must have a fine view back over the canal..

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Brilliant floral display, lovingly maintained - thank you, it's appreciated..

Indigo dreaming.....

The Odyssey 2009: Day 48

Wednesday 9^th September

Rode Heath to Kidsgrove Junction

A view from the top of Lock 53 - the water's already a strange colour; you can't see it from here but that valley is very deep

The day dawned bright today – both in terms of the weather and of my spirits (especially with the memory of our convivial evening out last night). Well, I say ‘dawned’, after our uncharacteristically late night the crew’s collective name of the ‘Indigo Dreamers’ was well-earned!

We had a relaxed morning, noting how few boats actually slowed down going past us. But despite our ‘tuttings’, Indigo Dream didn’t move an inch – that’s the power of a properly tied mooring!

Once we were up and about we once again divided our labours. Richard took the car off to Kidsgrove but this time he’d have to cycle back to our mooring spot. The locks come thick and fast here and I didn’t fancy single-handing through them. Never mind, it’s only 3 linear miles and it’s downhill! Kidsgrove is a good place for the car – there’s free parking at the station and we had worked out that he should be able to get a train back from our journey’s end on Saturday.

The attractively curved parapet of Snapes aqueduct

In the meantime, I walked the dogs up to lock 53 and, by coincidence, found a perfect rummaging spot; head for the derelict buildings below the lock and go through the open gates to the field beyond – there’s a well-worn path (though I’m not sure if it’s an ‘official’ footpath) which winds its way through the field and gives great views to the deep Dane Valley below. Blue and Lou had a great time here, rummaging through the overgrown thistles, looking for rabbits.

I was surprised by how lively the dogs were today – they’ve spent most of the day rummaging around the locks. There’s a certain pattern to their behaviour. If you want to find Blue then look to the next lock – he’s always scouting ahead; if you want to find Lou then look to the lock behind, she’ll be fast asleep in the grass and won’t catch up until she absolutely has to!

The canal finally decided what it wanted to be today – a beautiful and rural waterway well-suited to leisure boaters (and their rummaging greyhounds). The weather was stunning – we’re often lucky at this time of year.

Very scenic around these dramatic deep paired locks

Today’s stretch of the Trent & Mersey was very scenic. There are fine views over to the  distant Mow Cop, rearing dramatically over the landscape in complete contrast to the dusky depths of the Dane Valley nearby.

There were lots of boats on the move today – a nice mix of private and hire boats. We swapped locks with nb Muffin, whose owner was wearing a WRG tee-shirt. I wondered if they were on their way back from the IWA National.

Lou has spent a serious amount of time just lying the grass by each lock today. She seemed strangely reluctant to lie on her sofa. I think she really enjoys the feel of sunshine on her fur. We had to call her at almost every lock – she’d have just stayed at the bottom lock all day if she’d had the chance. It was good to see her bounding joyfully between locks though. The vet said she should be hopping lame with the level of arthritis in her knee – she proved him wrong today. Mind you, I did confine her to the boat later, we do now have to keep an eye on her exercise to get the balance between her having a good life and not putting too much strain on her joints.

The view over to the Mow Cop

We did meet another greyhound couple today – they were on a hire boat coming down at lock 48. Sadly they’ve left their greyhound at home – she’s too keen (i.e. has a high prey drive) and they didn’t trust her not to leap off the boat or down the towpath after little creatures. Fortunately ours aren’t quite so bad though I did keep an eye on them – there are an inordinate number of tiny Yorkshire Terriers along this stretch…..

Note: There are a number of footpaths leading off the towpath into the surrounding countryside around Lock 48

After a solid few hours of locking, we stopped for lunch at Church Lawton – there are moorings here and they seem to be 14-day – a useful spot for the future.

We weren’t plagued by the ‘rural’ aromas today, though we did wonder at nb Mellow, which has a permanent mooring by a large farm and it’s attendant giant tank of slurry. The tank has a ‘skull and crossbones’ warning sign plus a note saying “dangerous gases: do not enter”. Well, maybe the mooring’s very cheap…..

Services and moorings at the BW Yard at Red Bull

Note: There’s a lively bywash below Lock 46

We reached the famous Red Bull services by mid-afternoon – there are good 48-hour moorings here as well as the usual services. The moorings are a bit close to the road for our dogs though the yard may be gated at night. There are also mooring rings above Lock 42 – this seemed like a pleasant spot though it’s shallow offside.

We got to the last of the day’s locks and made a dash for the Harecastle Tunnel; we’d estimated that we’d be just in time to get through. But there was a narrowboat and its disgruntled crew waiting at the moorings. It’s a very long story but as of September 1st the tunnel’s on its “normal” opening hours – a few slow boats and a generally unhelpful attitude meant that the boats coming through from the South wouldn’t be out in time for us to start our trip, even though it was only 3.30pm.

That's the Macclesfield Canal being carried above us on this unassuming aqueduct....

Now we’ve heard different things about whether it’s safe to moor overnight at the northern Harecastle portal so we decided not to risk it. It’s not a particularly nice place to stay anyway. Sadly there’s no room to wind at the portal so we reversed back to the junction, reversed onto the Macclesfield and moored up by Bridge 97 (Macclesfield), pointing the right way for the morning.

I was particularly proud of our reversing. The other boat had reversed back before us and within 100 yards had given up on the tiller – the male crew hopped onto the towpath and towed the boat back to the junction while the ‘missus’ fended the front off the bank with an old broom. In the meantime, I neatly reversed Indigo Dream back, with the assistance of Richard as my ‘bow thruster’, using the pole to make adjustments at the front. It was a swanky piece of work. Buoyed by my success in successfully reversing round a 90-degree junction (which I used to be nervous about going forwards in the Dragonfly!) I carried on back down the canal until I heard Richard utter the shocking words that I never thought I’d hear from his mouth -  “Sue, slow down, you’re going too fast…….”

Pleasant moorings above Lock 42, and only a short walk back to the pub at Red Bull

It was very early when we moored up, so we settled down to some chores – Richard did some painting and polishing while I trimmed the deck mats, made the tea and caught up with the blog. He also had an expedition to Tesco – he’d thought it was very nearby, it’s not!

As we’ve moved further north, we’ve noticed that people are getting friendlier and kinder. Today was no exception – we’re moored below some back gardens. One of the locals popped his head over the hedge and offered us some pears – his tree’s had an abundant crops and he’s giving them away. He even delivered a bag to the boat.

Other than that, we’ve only seen one or two people on the towpath. Despite the proximity of the road bridge (and people shouting greetings from above) no-one seems to bother coming down to the towpath. My heart sank at 11.30pm when a mini-motorbike whizzed past the boat (twice) but we didn’t have any bother here at all.

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Photoblog:

I knew that Lou had overdone it yesterday

Lou enjoying the landscape - this is her typical behaviour at locks....

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Intriguing footpaths off the towpath - there's plenty of countryside to explore around here

Some of the paired locks need more than a little maintenance....

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Seeing dates on the lock structures all adds to the interest - this one is 1895; see how 'rusty' the water is here....

Unusual arch supports - reminds me of barrel staves

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Fine pack of 3 lurchers. We thought they might be too hot in the car but the owners, enjoying a lockside pint, assured us that the dogs were ok.....

I was worried by the sight of this weed - this pernicious stuff is what's blocking the Wednesdbury Oak Loop on the BCN; Hopefully there are too many boat movements here to let it take hold....

Precision parking.....

New boatyard - welcome comfort on the otherwise bleak final approach to the northern portal of the Harecastle tunnel