BCN Marathon Challenge (7th and final….) – Sunday 10am – 3pm

Rushall Junction (10.05am) to Tame Valley Junction

Here’s the final update – we’ll add photos next week when we’ve got access to our fast connection at home.

Now the Tame Valley canal was our least favourite bit of the BCN last year, so I was interested to see how we’d feel this year. It started out well; the canal’s surrounded by long green grass, spacious towpaths on both sides and friendly inhabitants. One cyclist slowed right down and plodded along with us, chatting about boating and asking about how we’d found the BCN. We were able to offer him lots of reassurance on that score. It turns out that he’s looking to buy himself a boat – probably around the 40 foot mark. Interestingly he said that there’s very few on the second-hand market – he reckons that even boaters are downsizing because there are plenty of 60 footers to be had.

Even though we’d dropped an awesome 65’ down the Rushall flight, the Tame Valley Canal still towers over the surrounding countryside. The aqueducts are impressive and the first we came across gave a fine view over the network of dual-carriageways and motorways beneath and around us.

I was starting to feel more well-disposed towards the Tame Valley. It was a lovely day – the heat waves were just starting to shimmer off the roof as the breeze shimmered through the grass. But as we went under the next road bridge the tranquility was disturbed by a solid clonk and the wild jump of the tiller in my hand. I kept her going for a little way but there was obviously something wrong.

We stopped on the ‘offside’ towpath (makes sense when you see it!) and got down into the weedhatch. There was plenty of garbage there, but that wasn’t the problem. We suspected that the rudder had actually been knocked out of its ‘cups’ – some brute force and spanners got us some steerage back but the tiller’s still not right. We suspect that the rudder’s also got something caught in it – we dislodged a large piece of plastic from the mechanism. The tiller moves well to the right but it takes my full body weight to move it to the left – so we’ll just be turning right for the rest of the trip 🙂

Nb Saltaire passed us here, after stopping to offer their help. We were also overtaken by a magnificently restored old BW tug Sickle towing a butty, though they slowed down later on and let us past.

The dogs enjoyed an unrestrained rummage while all this was going on, though they soon gave up on it – far too hot for running around. I have to say that there are worse places to break down – the sun was warm, the breeze was sighing sad songs through the grass and the birds were chirruping merrily in the bushes.

Needless to say, the Tame Valley went back to the bottom of my esteem after this little incident though I think I’m  actually being very unfair. It really is a pleasant canal – maybe it suffers from being a bit straight and monotonous but appreciating the lush towpaths and peering over the aqueducts should be enough for any boater. Add to that the ‘lovely-maned’ horses grazing near the Tame Valley junction and you have all the right ingredients for a good cruise.

According to a local walker, the whole canal was dredged a couple of months ago. We heard later that it was a site of a BCN cleanup campaign, so very well done folks.  I guess it was just a newly submerged fridge/car/washing machine that did for our rudder!

Tame Valley Junction (11.45am ) to Walsall Town Arm (2.45pm)

Yep – that’s 6 miles, no locks, no roving bridges, travelled in 3 hours!!!!!

This was new territory for us and started off promisingly. It’s undoubtedly an urban canal but the non-nonsense brick towpath is well-maintained. You can’t beat this stretch of the canal for variety – there’s the whole urban landscape of housing and light industry, retail parks and scrubby parkland as well as thickets of reeds and other wildlife.

However, as we cruised along the canal edges became blurred with vegetation and by the time we were just three miles down from the Town Arm, the canal was barely passable, both in width and depth. It’s not so much a lack of water as an abundance of mud, and all the life that it supports.

It was slow going. We’d caught up with nb Saltaire who, in turn, had caught up with the narrowboat in front. We made a slow convoy, as inefficient as a drunken conga line. No sooner had the first boat run aground and got free, than Saltaire was stopping to clear their prop (quite a performance on an old boat with no accessible weedhatch), then it’d be our turn. We’ve cleared more crud from our prop in the last three miles than we have in the entire rest of the trip round the BCN.

There were loads of cheery fishermen and friendly waves from walkers. Even the usually dour competition fishermen gave us a guarded welcome. Talking of fishermen, I’m not sure how it’s organised but there’s a line of houses with solid back walls keeping the canal folk out of their back gardens. There are numbers painted on the wall – at first I thought it was house numbers (which made no sense at all), but apparently it’s the numbers of fishing ‘plots’ or whatever they’re called.

We’ve been luck so far to only meet one boat coming the other way, and that, remarkably, in a place where they could get past. Goodness knows, there are plenty of places where you’d struggle to get two boats side-by-side here. It was slightly smug nb. May Sheridan who’d already completed the challenge, having been the second to hand in her cruising log.

We kept slogging on, stopping every 15 minutes or so to clear the prop. With our shallow draft we didn’t have any problems with grounding, but Saltaire at 2’ 6” hit a few mudbanks and the boat in front (didn’t catch the name) seemed to spend most of her time on the mud. My heart went out to Fulbourne, following along somewhere behind us. At 3’ 6” I have no ideas how she’s going to get through.

Things got worse when one boat overheated so they were then being towed by a deep draughted boat, followed by Saltaire, followed by us. The frequent stops meant that we picked up loads and loads on our prop including in one hit a high vis jacket, a bra (sign to be checked), a sari, an umbrella and something very sparkly.

Walsall Town Arm was a welcome and beautiful sight. It’s extremely smart, with good amenities and clear deep water – what a contrast. I feel terribly afraid for the Walsall Canal. I’ve had lots of ideas for how BW could regenerate the BCN (with an unlimited budget and worldwide goodwill between all parties involved, of course!) but I’ve shelved all my grand plans. The Walsall Canal has to be a priority – I fear it’s dying and will become unnavigable by the end of the year. Unusually, I can’t, in all conscience, recommend the stretch from the Tame Valley Junction to Town Arm when there is so much better crusing elsewhere on the BCN, so its recovery can only be in the hands of the professionals rather than enthusiastic amateus like us.

But let’s not end on a low note.

When we arrived at the Walsall Town Basin it was merry with boats and the good folk of the BCN Society who done such a great job of organising this event. You can’t run a marathon without a few blisters, and first aid was at hand in the form of nb. Away2service, who could not only fill us with diesel, but also sorted us a pump-out, fixed our toilet and put the rudder firmly back in its cups – the work of five minutes – what a relief!

It’s also a significant anniversary for us – we started writing a cruising blog on the 1^st June last year – there’s been a lot of water under the counter since then, and what a way to finish our first blogging year!

Doing the BCN Marathon Challenge has been a thrilling experience. We’d heartily recommend it to all boaters out there. It has introduced us to some wonderful canals, well worth cruising. If you don’t feel you can risk it in your own boat then come and crew for us, because we’ll surely be doing it again next time.

BCN Marathon Challenge (6) – Sunday 8am – 10am

Rushall Top Lock (8.10am) to Rushall Junction (10am)

We arrived at Rushall top lock at the end of a 3-boat convoy made up of nb Mawddach and nb Saltaire, who we’ve met on Friday and Saturday. We though we were in for a long wait, but Mawddach was mooring up – I don’t think they’re taking part in the challenge. Then Saltaire moored up at the water point leaving us the full and open top lock. What a bit of luck!

There’s a good range of services at Rushall Top Lock, as well as friendly boaters from the resident boat club.

We let the dogs off for a rummage at the top two locks – apart from parking for the boat club it’s very remote here and they enjoyed sniffing around in the still cool morning air. The paired bottom lock gates are so well-balanced that even the slightest breeze will shut them. A ground crew of two is useful here, though Richard managed very well by straddling the gates and legging them open while I hastened to get the boat’s nose in to stop them from slamming shut.

There’s a long gap of over a mile between Lock 2 and 3 – a perfect opportunity to enjoy the scenery. It’s richly wooded here, with the tangy smell of wild garlic. There were a lot of herons on the approach to top lock, and they gave way to flights of swallows all the way down. There was even the delicate cup of a swallows nest under Birmingham Road Bridge – fantastic.

This is a very scenic lock flight – as lovely as you could hope for.

We passed nb Black Beauty in the long pound, giving us the hope that the rest of the locks were set our way. And so they were, apart from one which was deliberately turned in front of us by an overenthusiastic narrowboat (also on the challenge). 😦

We kept the dogs on board through locks 3 and 4 – they’re too close to the road. It’s then safe for them to rummage round the next two but do watch out at the lock above Bell Bridge – it looks as if it’s gated from the road but the path just skirts round the gate. We bundles Blue back on board – Lou was already there! There looked be top dog-walking on the left after Bell Bridge though. We let them off for a rummage at the last few locks and they had a great time – we picked them up at the bottom, though with some difficulty – the lock moorings were in sore need of dredging.

There’s a short and delightfully green run down to the junction where we turned on to our next canal – the Thame Valley. It was our least favourite bit of the BCN last year. I wonder what we’ll make of it today.

But of course we were to hit something in a bridge hole ….

BCN Marathon Challenge (5) – Sunday 5am – 8am

Pelsall Junction (5.05am) to Rushall Top Lock

When the alarm went off at 5am it was fully light and the mist was rising off the water like steam off a witch’s cauldron. The mooring had been quiet and trouble-free.

Richard leapt up and got us underway, stopping for a brief chat with a boater who was towing his broken down boat towards a boatyard. I got up on deck at 5.30am, having done the decent thing and showered first! Fulbourne had obviously caught up with us during the night and were moored nearby – I wonder when they arrived, there was no sign of them when we went to bed at 11.30pm.

Despite our fast getaway, we weren’t early enough to beat working boats Malus and Atlas, who must have started out from Sneyd Green in the wee small hours to get to the junction by 5am. We followed them for a while, taking advantage of their slow pace to give the dogs an early morning run down the towpath. Blue and Lou were surprisingly  cheerful given that they’d normally laze around in bed until 10.30am at home.

But it was a joyful morning with clear blue skies and the mist burning off quickly to give the promise of another fine day. It was chilly at first, but I’m gradually divesting the layers as the sun gently climbs towards its zenith. This may be the nicest time to cruise on a hot day, though I do love the treacle thickness of the twilight water.

We eventually walked forward and had a word, then overtook the working pair outside the giant Tesco at Brownhills, where enterprising locals had managed to foist a whole line of linked trolleys into the water – enterprising! There were good moorings here though.

Shortly after came the turn onto the next canal at Catshill Junsction. We were now on the Daw End Canal and very interesting it is too. We passed nb. Time Well Spent, who was moored up but obviously on the BCN Challenge as they had a very smart painted board advertising the fact. Their sign matched their boat’s livery and was decorated with traditional canal roses. Let that be our inspiration for next time.

We also passed nb Golden Eagle, ng Griffin and tug Joanna, who we’d last seen at Spon Lane Locks – it feels like an eternity ago, but it was only yesterday!

The canal’s tremendous here – light industry on the offside and dramatic views over the towpath – sometimes over the red rooftops then suddenly over the awesome drop into the local quarry which mines the vivid red stone/clay. We found out later that this VAST hole in the ground (we never saw the bottom, even from the boat roof) is attached to a brick-making works, probably Ibstock. We enjoyed the surreal sight of a positively medieval castle wall of brick pallets – if you’ve ever had trouble imagining what a million bricks might look like then come here and see them for yourself.

Daw End Marina was a welcome sign of boating life and the 48-hour moorings just beyond looked good. Definitely a good place to moor as the towpath side otherwise can be very shallow. It’s one of those dilemmas – why should BW dredge out the sides of a canal that’s barely used; on the other hand, if it’s difficult to moor because the edge is shallow then how can we encourage more boaters to come here?

There are some wicked skew bridges here with blind turns into and out of them – watch out for Latham’s Bridge, literally, keep a lookout and go slow, it’s quite a turn!

The canal’s reminiscent of the Kennet and Avon in places – lined with reeds and surrounded by verdant fields. It certainly matches the K & A for narrowness in places with thick reedbanks either side. Who’d have thought that part of the BCN could have anything in common with it’s rural cousin in the South.

Just past Daw End Bridge we caught up with Saltaire and had an incoming boat – Shropshire Lass who we last saw on thOld Main Line yesterday.

This is a very nice bit of canal!

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Pelsall Junction (5.05am) to Rushall Top Lock

When the alarm went off at 5am it was fully light and the mist was rising off the water like team off a witch’s cauldron. The mooring had been quiet and trouble-free.

Richard leapt up and got us underway, stopping for a brief chat with a boater who was towing his broken down boat towards a boatyard. I got up on deck at 5.30am, having done the decent thing and showered first! Fulbourne had obviously caught up with us during the night and were moored nearby – I wonder when they arrived, there was no sign of them when we went to bed at 11.30pm.

Despite our fast getaway, we weren’t early enough to beat working boats Malus and Atlas, who must have started out from Senyd Green in the wee small hours to get to the junction by 5am. We followed them for a while, taking advantage of their slow pace to give the dogs an early morning run down the towpath. Blue and Lou were surprisingly joyful given that they’d normally laze around in bed until 10.30am at home.

But it was a joyful morning with clear blue skies and the mist burning off quickly to give the promise of another fine day. It was chilly at first, but I’m gradually divesting the layers as the sun gently climbs towards its zenith. This may be the nicest time to cruise on a hot day, though I do love the treacle thickness of the twilight water.

We eventually overtook the working pair outside the giant Tesco at Brownhills, where enterprising locals had managed to foist a whole line of linked trolley into the water – eneterprising! There were good moorings here though.

Shortly after came the turn onto the next canal at Catshill Junsction. We were now on the Daw End Branch and very nice it is too. We passed nb. Time Well Spent, who was moored up but obviously on the BCN Challenge as they had a very smart painted board advertising the fact. Their sign matched their boat’s livery and was decorated with traditional canal roses. Let that be our inspiration for next time.

We also passed nb Golden Eagle, ng Griffin and tug Joanna, who we’d last seen at Spon Lane Locks – it feels like an eternity ago, but it was only yesterday!

The canal’s tremendous here – light industry on the offside and dramatice views over the towpath – sometimes over the red rooftops then suddenly over the awesome drop into the local quarry which mines the vivid red stone/clay here. We found out later that this VAST hole int eh ground (we never saw the bottom, even from the boat roof) is attached to a brick-making works, probably Ibstoick. We enjoyed the surreal sight of a positively medieval wall of brick pallets – if you’ve ever had trouble imagingin what a million bricks might look like then come here and see them for yourself.

Daw End Marina was a welcome sign of boating life and the 48-hour moorings just beyond looked good. Definitely a good place to moor as the towpath side can be very shallow. It’s one of those dilemmas – why should BW dredge out the sides of a canal that’s barely used; on the other hand, if it’s difficult to moor because the edge is shallow then how can we encourage more boaters to come here?

There are some wicked skew bridges here with blind turns into and out of them – watch out for

The canal’s reminiscent of the Kennet and Avon in places – lined with reeds and surrounded by verdant fields. It certainly matches the K & A for narrowness in places with thick reedbanks either side.

BCN Marathon Challenge (4) – Saturday 8pm – 11pm

Sneyd Junction Bridge (8.10pm) to Pelsall Junction (via a trip up and down the Cannock Extension Canal)

Finish time 11pm

As we left Sneyd Junction Bridge, the sun rapidly sank below the horizon and the cold wind set about us. How quickly we went from T-shirts to winter fleeces – I guess it’s not quite midsummer yet.

It was a lovely evening though and we always enjoy twilight cruising, though rarely this late in the day.

The first stretch is light industrial but it soon gives way to a new housing development, still being built,  I guess on some old industrial sites. It must be because of local conditions, but the ground had been built up so that the houses were metres above the canal with no hope of access to the water. We thought this was a shame – it would be good for people here  to able to enjoy the waterway as so many other residents do.

We met three narrowboats going the other way – nb Tawny Owl looked like an ex-hire boat. Which led us to musing whether you could actually hire a boat to do the BCN Challenge? Do hire companies allow it? The next boat was nb Kersher followed later by a boat with no name. We might have asked him the name but we were too busy warning him about some stone-throwing tots that we’d just passed (between Forest footbridge and Coalpool bridge. They weren’t very expert and only managed a minor hit which clanged onto the side of the boat – just annoying really when the kids were probably less than 10 years old. Don’t be put off by this, we have seen worse on more mainstream canals.

There were loads of genial fishermen along this stretch – both on the towpath side and in back gardens. One had a tent set up in his garden with the intention of staying out the whole night. He’ll have a shock if Fulbourne, Atlas and Malus decide to come charging down later on!

After that we had the canal to ourselves, and very nice it was too. Tranquil and lovely, the suburbs soon gave way to countryside, proper countryside with open fields and cattle.

Because we’ve done so few locks today, it’s easy to forget how high the canal is. The vistas alternated between leafy green woodlands and sweeping panoramas into the valley below – stunning. As the night drew in, it became truly magical with the last of the sun’s glow in the west, the brilliant half-moon in the east and a crystal blue sky above. The yellow gorse glowed in the moonlight like a lantern to guide our weary travels.

Richard took the dogs for a last walk, but unfortunately there were fireworks in a town nearby (probably several miles away). Blue got spooked and had to come back on board at the next bridge – he’s refused to leave the boat since, just in case.

It was nigh on full dark by the time we reached the winding holes at the top of the Cannock Extension but it was well worth the trip. The canal is so straight and surrounded by the lush and beautiful countryside of Wyrley Common. Perfect rummaging for dogs but Blue wasn’t having any of it, but Lou came for a rummage with me. Those cunning people at the BCN Society had set a question about Pelsall Road Bridge. I’d assumed it was on the main canal, but it’s actually a short walk up from the winding holes on the branch.

With that mission accomplished, we set back for the junction with the fading glow of the sun still visible in the West. Although it’s not far, it was pitch black when we arrived at the end of the arm. It was shallow on the main canal so we tucked into the towpath on the arm itself. It’s exceptionally quiet here – Pelsall Junction has the reputation of being the best mooring spot just about anywhere on the BCN. We’ll let you know tomorrow, well in a few hours time if we actually keep to our schedule and start cruising at 5am!

Photos to follow when we get home.

BCN Marathon Challenge (3) – Saturday 5pm – 8pm

Horseley Fields Junction (5pm) to Sneyd Junction Bridge

No photos with this one – the connection’s just too slow and we’re saving our energy for steering! We’ll post them on a photoblog tomorrow.

This was our first proper foray onto the Wyrley and Essington and we found plenty of interest. There are some lovely places along the canal and, once again, the locals were friendly and interested. No wonder, most were amazed at the amount of boat traffic that had passed today – we were the fifth in line on a waterway where they can go months without seeing a boat.

There were some tricky bridges to negotiate – Rookery Bridge is narrow on a sharp blind bend – Richard reckoned there would have been collisions aplenty when the canal was in its heyday. No worries for us though. The next was Church Bridge, which fishermen had warned us was shallow. They said that the four boats in front of us had all got stuck there. We cruised through without any hassle and guessed that it was four deep drafted working boats.

As it happens, the shallow bit was beyond the bridge where there seem to be some major works going on, possibly to do with the gas main. The towpath is totally blocked off and the working pontoon extended well into the canal. According to another local fisherman, the whole canal has been closed for a while.

This was confirmed when we ran into Fulbourne, who was plodding along gamely (though when we saw her she’d stopped to clear weeds from the prop). They courteously let us pass, though we did send a while brested up and chatting.

They had indeed got grounded, along with nb Malus and nb Atlas – the working pair who followed us out from Hawne Basin. They’d apparently been towed free by a little narrowboat (didn’t catch the name) but had been having a slow time of it since.

I must mention Elaine, one of Fulbourne’s long-standing crew members. She looked fabulous in traditional dress with matching blouse, full skirts and bonnet.

There are several marked 48-hour moorings here which didn’t look too bad at all. They were convenient for pubs, which always fits our bill!

It being such a lovely evening, there were a lot of people on the towpath. Now, my suspicious mind made criminals of them all but that’s grossly unfair. One man walking with his kids was shocked to hear what a bad reputation the canal has – he says you’ll never have trouble here. His youngest, who must have been five or six, seriously informed us that he’d caught the biggest fish ever in his little net – ‘abut as big as the boat’ was his estimate!

We did see two lads carrying a mattress along the towpath with the clear intention of chucking in the water. We took photos and shouted at them to take it to the tip. We were heartened when other walkers shouted at them as well. Of course, they’ll just walk down to a more deserted part of the path and in it will go – b”$$%^&.

A little further on we caught our first foreign body round the prop – a fleece hood, which, for such a small garment, was surprisingly effective at stopping the prop. It’s always clothing on the BCN – why?

The canal wanders gently through the suburbs – there’s lush growth all around and the canal’s wide enough not to feel oppressive as it passes by neat gardens and even one end-of-garden mooring for nb. Alice. The only menace here was the clouds of smoke emanating from the various barbecues that everyone had on the go. Just up from Perry Hall Bridge I got a bit concerned by a gang of very tiny kids holding what seemed to be water balloons. I kept my eye on them and got even more concerned when they were joined by two older kids on bikes. The vision of being chased down the towpath being pelted with balloons filled my imagination. But the big kids were just fascinated by the boat, asking lots of questions and seemingly genuinely interested in the answers. The litte kids just looked slight bemused, in the way of 5-year olds.

Later on we were passed by a modern working boat, not part of the challenge, who gesticulated wildly for me to get in to the side. I snuck in, and promptly ran aground a metre from the bank. Ah well, there’s something quite relaxing about being aground, you know you’re stuck and there’s nothing to be done until the passing boat shunts some water your way. As they went past I had a surge of sympathy from them. The first in line was a dredger with it’s front end running under the water; it was towing a tug which was towing an empty full-length butty. The tug apparently has a 4’ 6” draught – uh, good luck with that then….

All around Bentley Wharf footbridge, suburbia gives way to countryside; there may well be a nature reserve of some sort here. By now it was 7.15pm and on a normal day we’d have moored here without hesitation, for the dogs if nothing else.

A little way past the footbridge the noise of the traffic suddenly intruded and there was the M6, running next to the canal before marching over our heads at the next bridge.

The whole of the Curley Wyrely has been a revelation so far – it really is a great canal. But there was more to come at Sneyd Junction Bridge. It’s a sharp right turn at the junction and I caught a glimpse of some residential moorings beyond the bridge. Unfortunately I fluffed the turn but my excuse was that I had a tyre wrapped round the prop!  Not a big one, probably from a mountain bike or similar but I’ve never know the prop stop faster. From previous accounts, it’s not the BCN Challenge unless you pick up a tyre; I think that should be worth a few bonus points!

We got through the bridge to find a very friendly community of boaters. The working pair, Malus and Atlas, together with their ‘towing’ buddy had stopped here for supper. One of the residents kindly let us brest up to her boat, so we took advantage and got rid of the two binfuls of weed at the rubbish point, ate our supper and chatted (they’re very doggie people here – average dog-population of 3 per boat!).

We moved on, with some reluctance, at 8.10pm with a few more hours ahead of us. Though we did move on optimistically, with the hope that if the rest of the Wyrley and Essington were as good then we’d be in for a fine night’s cruise.

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Horseley Fields Junction (5pm) to Sneyd Junction Bridge

This was our first proper foray onto the Wyrley and Essington and we found plenty of interest. There are some lovely places along the canal and, once again, the locals were friendly and interested. No wonder, most were amazed at the amount of boat traffic that had passed today – we were the fifth in line on a waterway where they can go months without seeing a boat.

There were some tricky bridges to negotiate – Rookery Bridge is narrow on a sharp blind bend – Richard reckoned there would have been collisions aplenty when the canal was in its heyday. No worries for us though. The next was Church Bridge, which fishermen had warned us was shallow. They said that the four boats in front of us had all got stuck there. We cruised through without any hassle and guessed that it was four deep drafted working boats.

As it happens, the shallow bit was beyond the bridge where there seem to be some major works going on, possibly to do with the gas main. The towpath is totally blocked off and the working pontoon extended well into the canal. According to another local fisherman, the whole canal has been closed for a while.

This was confirmed when we ran into Fulbourne, who was plodding along gamely (though when we saw her she’d stopped to clear weeds from the prop). They courteously let us pass, though we did send a while brested up and chatting.

They had indeed got grounded, along with nb Malus and nb Atlas – the working pair who followed us out from Hawne Basin. They’d apparently been towed free by a little narrowboat (didn’t catch the name) but had been having a slow time of it since.

I must mention Elaine, one of Fulbourne’s long-standing crew members. She looked fabulous in traditional dress with matching blouse, full skirts and bonnet.

There are several marked 48-hour moorings here which didn’t look too bad at all. They were convenient for pubs, which always fits our bill!

It being such a lovely evening, there were a lot of people on the towpath. Now, my suspicious mind made criminals of them all but that’s grossly unfair. One man walking with his kids was shocked to hear what a bad reputation the canal has – he says you’ll never have trouble here. His youngest, who must have been five or six, seriously informed us that he’d caught the biggest fish in his little net – ‘abut as big as the boat’ was the verdict!

We did see two lads carrying a mattress along the towpath with the clear intention of chucking in the water. We took photos and shouted at them to take it to the tip. We were heartened when other walkers shouted at them as well. Of course, they’ll just walk down to a more deserted part of the path and in it will go – buggers.

A little further on we caught our first foreign body round the prop – a fleece hood, which, for such a small garment, was surprisingly effective at stopping the prop. It’s always clothing on the BCN – why?

The canal wanders gently through the suburbs – there’s lush growth all around and the canal’s wide enough not to feel oppressive as it passes by neat gardens and even one end-of-garden mooring for nb. Alice. The only menace here was the clouds of smoke emanating from the various barbecues that everyone had on the go. Just up from Perry Hall Bridge I got a bit concerned by a gang of very tiny kids holding what seemed to be water balloons. I kept my eye on them and got even more concerned when they were joined by two older kids on bikes. The vision of being chased down the towpath being pelted with balloons filled my imagination. But the big kids were just fascinated by the boat, asking lots of questions and seemingly genuinely interested in the answers.

Later on we were passed by a modern working boat, not part of the challenge, who gesticulated wildly for me to get out of the way. I snuck into the side and promptly ran aground a meter from the bank. Ah well, there’s something quite relaxing about being aground, you know you’re stuck and there’s nothing to be done until the passing boat shunts some water your way. As they went past I had a surge of sympathy from them. The first in line was a dredger with it’s front end running under the water; it was towing a tug which was towing an empty full-length butty. The tug apparently has a 4’ 6” draught – uh, good luck with that then.

All around Bentley Wharf footbridge, suburbia gives way to countryside; there may well be a nature reserve of some sort here. By now it was 7.15pm and on a normal day we’d have moored here without hesitation, for the dogs if nothing else.

A little way past the footbridge the noise of the traffic suddenly intruded and there was the M6, running next to the canal before marching over our heads at the next bridge.

The whole of the Curley Wyrely has been a revelation so far – it really is a great canal. But there was more to come at Sneyd Junction Bridge. It’s a sharp right turn at the junction and I caught a glimpse of some residential moorings beyond the bridge. Unfortunately I fluffed the turn but my excuse was that I had a tyre wrapped round the prop J Not a big one, probably from a mountain bike or similar but I’ve never know the prop stop faster. From previous accounts, it’s not the BCN Challenge unless you pick up a tyre; I think that should be worth a few bonus points!

We got through the bridge to find a very friendly community of boaters. The working pair, Malus and Atlas, together with their ‘towing’ buddy had stopped here for supper. One of the residents kindly let us brest up to her boat, so we took advantage and got rid of the two binfuls of weed at the rubbish point, ate our supper and chatted (they’re very doggie people here – average dog-population of 3 per boat!).

We moved on, with some reluctance, at 8.10pm with a few more hours ahead of us. Though we did move on optimistically, with the hope that if the rest of the Wyrley and Essington were as good then we’d be in for a fine night’s cruise.

BCN Marathon Challenge (2) – Saturday 12.45pm – 5pm

Dudley Port Bridge (12.45pm-ish) to Wednesbury Oak Loop

Shropshire Lass

Just after Dudley Port Bridge we passed nb Shropshire Lass before we decided to take turn down to the Dudley Tunnel portal for a quick look (though we had no intentions of accruing a million BCN challenge points by legging Indigo Dream through :-).

We weren’t disappointed vy our trip down the arm – there’s good mooring here – probably the most highly recommended mooring on the BCN. It looks secure and companionable, with the full range of BW services. The Black Country museum looked fascinating and we’ll come back to visit, probably another year, though we need few excuses to visit the BCN.

We winded just by the museum and headed back towards the Main Line and the Wolverhampton Levels. We passed trip boat Aaron Man by, though I doubt if they were doing the challenge – their passengers looked far too relaxed!

Dudley Tunnel North Portal

The stretch by Owen  Street Bridge was very tidy indeed – neat housing, immaculate towpath and an abundance of mooring rings. There were a few private offside moorings and we tried to get the low-down from some local boaters as to whether it would be safe to moor on the towpath side (which looked very inviting). I don’t think they understood the question – they just told us to go to the museum moorings – never mind.

Nearby is also a life-size statue of William Perry – I’m not sure who he was but his stance suggested he was a boxer of bare-knuckle fighter. We’ll have to look him up later.

We headed left at Factory Junction. I had a bit of whimsy here as I wondered how many ‘factory bridges’ there are around here – there are two at this junction! We got yet another nice surprise here. We’d turned on the fearsome Wolverhampton Levels – fabled bandit country. But this first bit, at least, is as rural an urban canal as you

Woleverhampton Level

could ever hope for – full of greenery and wildlife and what looked to be top dog rummaging on the towpath side. The stretch around Coseley Tunnel is particularly scenic and I’d happily give mooring a go here.

We met nb Trundles along here – also on the challenge. I was very envious of one of the crew’s BCN Challenge T-shirts. We must get more organised with decorating the boat and ourselves next time.

nb Trundles

We turned right onto Wednesbury Oak Loop at Deepfields Junction and we were stunned by how lovely it is. Neat housing on the offside and what looked to be miles of open countryside on the towpath side. Here’s another candidate for an experimental mooring. The local seem very friendly and the kids here are showing an interest in boating, allbeit on an old piece of foam insulation steered with a toy spade last used for building sandcastles! I’d highly recommend a trip right up to the winding hole past Highfields Road Bridge (which is marked ‘limit of navigation’ on our Nicholson’s. It’s the limit because, in

Brave Lad …..

theory, you can only wind at the end during office hours.

We carried on regardless as there’s extra points to be had by answering a questions

Well you can wind 60′ outside the workshops but the sign is sensible

at the far end of the navigation. Ah, what we gained in points I think we may have lost in time. The canal’s wonderfully clear here but that may be what’s caused a huge overgrowth of weed. The pernicious stuff was just at prop height and wound it’s way round, resistant to the cutting edge of 1400 revs. We crawled along, clearing weed from the prop every 10 minutes or so. At least it was weed – I know that we’re not even halfway through the challenge but we haven’t had to remove any unnatural debris from the prop as yet. Mind you, getting Richard to fish out a long length of hosepipe from the front of the boat probably saved us some unwinding!

Our bucket over flows …

The reward for the tedium of unwinding weed from the prop was the signs of old industry being cleared away, possibly for new housing, and the BW yard at the end. It’s obviously a working yard with huge new lock gates piled on top of each other, no doubt waiting for next year’s winter maintenance programme. Some of our favourite flights – Caen Hill and Tardbigge are in for some new gates by the looks of it.

New Gates

We spent 20 minutes looking for the answer to the BCN questions before ringing for advice. Predictably the answer involved the pub on the road (which we couldn’t reach through the locked yard). In the meantime, Blue and Lou rolled in the cool grass and enjoyed the change of scenery.

Lou having a break

We winded the boat without any drama – it’s wide and deep at the end of the navigation, though our weed-wound prop was less than efficient. So, don’t let lack of winding holes put you off coming to the far limit of the navigation. But I’m not sure what to say about the weed. I’m a firm believer in the ‘use it or lose’ it principle, but ploughing through that weed was tedious. I’ve got a vague recollection of reading about it – I think that the weed is either a migrant from abroad or from domestic ponds and is creating a BIG problem on navigable waterways. I’m not sure what the solution is, but that’s one advantage of the turbid waters of Spon Lane – nothing grows in it!

Blue having a break

We met nb Whitchurch on the way back, she was toiling her way up the loop, dragging weed out of her propeller as she went. We stored our weed on deck, they chucked it back in. That felt counter-intuitive, but unlike plastic bags, there’s an infinite supply of weed so chucking a propful back probably won’t make a difference. Later on we passed nb Api Wanderings who we’d met earlier at Spon Lane. They were less than happy having tried to get up the prohibited Ridgeacre Arm and been forced to reverse out. We’d met one of the organisers by chance last night and he’d warned us that BW had asked boaters not to go there – the message obviously didn’t get to

nb Whitchurch

everyone.

Deepfields Junction (4.10pm) to Horsley Fields Junction

 

I handed the tiller to Richard for the next bit as I’d got a bit spit roasted on the helm and needed a fresh application of suntan lotion. I’d love to say that the red bits will turn brown but I’m afraid not – it’ll be freckles followed by wrinkles, such is the boater’s life!

The rest of the Wolverhampton Level passed by quietly. It’s lined with old industry, ‘fascinating cranes (Richard’s words) and pleasant green stretches with well-maintained towpaths. It felt very safe and we were sad, again, that people are put off by its reputation. Mind you, we didn’t enter into the city itself. Having passed under Walsall Street Bridge – the most westerly point of our BCN meanderings, we

Fascinating Cranes

bypassed the locks and turned instead onto the Wyrley and Essington Canal – aka ‘the Curley Wurley.

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Dudley Port Bridge (12.45pm-ish) to Wednesbury Oak Loop

Just after Dudley Port Bridge we passed nb Shropshire Lass before we decided to take turn down to the Dudley Tunnel portal for a quick look (though we had no intentions of accruing a million BCN challenge points by legging Indigo Dream through J).

We weren’t disappointed – there’s good mooring here – probably the most highly recommended mooring on the BCN. It looks secure and companionable, with the full range of BW services. The Black Country museum looked fascinating and we’ll come back to visit, probably another year, though we need few excuses to visit the BCN.

winded just by the museum and headed back towards the Main Line and the Wolverhampton Levels. We passed trip boat Aaron Man by, though I doubt if they were doing the challenge – their passengers looked far too relaxed!

The stretch by Owen Street Bridge was very tidy indeed – neat housing, immaculate towpath and an abundance of mooring rings. There were a few private offside moorings and we tried to get the low-down from some local boaters as to whether it would be safe to moor on the towpath side (which looked very inviting). I don’t think they understood the question – they just told us to go to the museum moorings – never mind.

Nearby is also a life-size statue of William Perry – I’m not sure who he was but his stance suggested he was a boxer of bare-knuckle fighter. We’ll have to look him up later.

We headed left at Factory Junction. I had a bit of whimsy here as I wondered how many ‘factory bridges’ there are around here – there are two at this junction! We got yet another nice surprise here. We’d turned on the fearsome Wolverhampton Levels – fabled bandit country. But this first bit, at least, is as rural an urban canal as you could ever hope for – full of greenery and wildlife and what looked to be top dog rummaging on the towpath side. The stretch around Coseley Tunnel is particularly scenic and I’d happily give mooring a go here.

We met nb Trundles along here – also on the challenge. I was very envious of one of the crew’s BCN Challenge T-shirts. We must get more organised with decorating the boat and ourselves next time.

We turned right onto Wednesbury Oak Loop at Deepfields Junction and we were stunned by how lovely it is. Neat housing on the offside and what looked to be miles of open countryside on the towpath side. Here’s another candidate for an experimental mooring. I’d highly recommend a trip right up to the winding hole past Highfields Road Bridge (which is marked ‘limit of navigation’ on our Nicholson’s. It’s the limit because, in theory, you can only wind at the end during office hours.

We carried on regardless as there’s extra points to be had by answering a questions at the far end of the navigation. Ah, what we gained in points I think we may have lost in time. The canal’s wonderfully clear here but that may be what’s caused a huge overgrowth of weed. The pernicious stuff was just at prop height and wound it’s way round, resistant to the cutting edge of 1400 revs. We crawled along, clearing weed from the prop every 10 minutes or so. At least it was weed – I know that we’re not even halfway through the challenge but we haven’t had to remove any unnatural debris from the prop as yet. Mind you, getting Richard to fish out a long length of hosepipe from the front of the boat probably saved us some unwinding!

The reward for the tedium of unwinding weed from the prop was the signs of old industry being cleared away, possibly for new housing, and the BW yard at the end. It’s obviously a working yard with huge new lock gates piled on top of each other, no doubt waiting for next year’s winter maintenance programme. Some of our favourite flights – Caen Hill and Tardbigge are in for some new gates by the looks of it. We spent 20 minutes looking for the answer to the BCN questions before ringing for advice. Predictably the answer involved the pub on the road (which we couldn’t reach through the locked yard). In the meantime, Blue and Lou rolled in the cool grass and enjoyed the change of scenery.

We winded the boat without any drama – it’s wide and deep at the end of the navigation, though our weed-wound prop was less than efficient. So, don’t let lack of winding holes put you off coming to the far limit of the navigation. But I’m not sure what to say about the weed. I’m a firm believer in the ‘use it or lose’ it principle, but ploughing through that weed was tedious. I’ve got a vague recollection of reading about it – I think that the weed is either a migrant from abroad or from domestic ponds and is creating a BIG problem on navigable waterways. I’m not sure what the solution is, but that’s one advantage of the turbid waters of Spon Lane – nothing grows in it!

We met nb Whitchurch on the way back, she was toiling her way up the loop, dragging weed out of her propeller as she went. We stored our weed on deck, they chucked it back in. That felt counter-intuitive, but unlike plastic bags, there’s an infinite supply of weed so chucking a propful back probably won’t make a difference. Later on we passed nb Api Wanderings who we’d met earlier at Spon Lane. They were less than happy having tried to get up the prohibited Ridgeacre Arm and been forced to reverse out. We’d met one of the organisers by chance last night and he’d warned us that BW had asked boaters not to go there – the message obviously didn’t get to everyone.

Deepfields Junction (4.10pm) to Horsley Fields Junction

I handed the tiller to Richard for the next bit as I’d got a bit spit roasted on the helm and needed a fresh application of suntan lotion. I’d love to say that the red bits will turn brown but I’m afraid not – it’ll be freckles followed by wrinkles, such is the boater’s life!

The rest of the Wolverhampton Level passed by quietly. It’s lined with old industry, ‘fascinating cranes (Richard’s words) and pleasant green stretches with well-maintained towpaths. It felt very safe and we were sad, again, that people are put off by its reputation. Mind you, we didn’t enter into the city itself. Having passed under Walsall Street Bridge – the most westerly point of our BCN meanderings, we bypassed the locks and turned instead onto the Wyrley and Essington Canal – aka ‘the Curley Wurley.

BCN Marathon Challenge (1) – Saturday 9am – 12.45pm

Hawne Basin (9am)  to Windmill End Junction

Hawne Basin

We had an extremely quiet night on the moorings just outside Hawne Basin. We like it here – there’s great dog-walking, there’s giant B & Q on the top of the hill opposite and there’s the wonderful people who moor in the basin. We talked to more people in an hour here than we did in 6 months in Packet Boat Marina – ho hum!

We came to Hawne Basin for the BCN Challenge points – you could come for the interest, the good company, the walks, and the panoramic views.

By 8.55am we were ready to set off, engine running, pins out – but we virtuously held Indigo Dream in place until the dot of 9am and then we were off. We’d also resisted opening the sealed envelope until 9am and were dismayed to find that the first of the quiz questions was “what is the name of the statue at Burton Bridge?”. Now we saw the name hung on a laminated card around the statue’s neck – what was it?

It was a salutary reminder that we’d need to pay attention on this trip!

Our departure would surely merit a bit of Norse saga – “Bright the sun and high our hearts as Indigo Dream cleaved the clear water……” –

Good dog walking in there!

it’s that sort of day. Blue skies, brilliant sunshine with a refreshing edgy breeze to keep us awake!

We passed along, marvelling at the rich embankment where we walked the dogs last night – all lush grass, thorny thickets of gorse and the broom’s bright yellow blossom – a real harbinger of summer when the seed pods will dry up in the heat and explode as you walk past.

This gave way to the castle fortifications of the old tube-making works that line the bank just before the Gosty Hill Tunnel. Like many an old castle wall, they’ve been the bulwark of industry against agriculture for many a year, but it’s mother nature that wins every time as the Buddleia gradually creeps over all.

Stewarts and Lloyds, Steel tube Pioneers 1903 – 1967

I always mourn the passing of our manufacturing industry. This plant was owned by Stewarts and Lloyds – a famous firm which pioneered the art of tube-making and apparently manufactured the first seamless tube. It closed in 1967, but Richard has met people who used to work for them and who still speak highly of the company. All gone now……..

But it’s impossible to be melancholy in the Gosty Hill Tunnel. There seem to be several spellings – ‘Gosty’ in the guide books; ‘Gorsty’ on the BW sign; but it’ll always be ‘Ghosty’ to me, with it’s low roof and large portrait of Dracula on the centre arch where the roof sinks down. There was an added frisson today as the old music of an accordion drifted down the tunnel – it was from the working boats behind who we knew were also doing the challenge today.

Past Gosty Hill Tunnel watch out for the low headroom on the bridges – Richard wasn’t watching his head, he was watching his shoulders!

Site of last night’s Girlie Party

I must mention Totnal Footbridge where a gang of local girlies were having a picnic last night. Not the obvious location, but if the main provisions in your basket are cans of strongbow then maybe it doesn’t matter where you are!

There’s a real ‘top of the world’ feeling to this canal, even though you’re surrounded by suburban houses and light industry – Worcestershire falls away at your feet, bringing the far Malverns almost within reach. It’s a quality that you only get at the summits of contour canals, perched delicately on high hillsides.

Garbage is, sadly, a feature here, though no more so than through the Hanwell flight on the Grand Union. I thought it was a bit chilly for skinny dipping, but the life-size and very pink inflatable doll with the impossibly large breasts floating in the canal seemed to disagree 🙂

Hmmmmm

There’s also a bit of graffiti around – I wondered whether youth could be persuaded to use facebook to inform us that “C was bummed by Y” in future…..

We got to the Delightful Windmill End Junction in good time – it is lovely here. We got a good view of the old pumping station up on the hill , still keeping watch despite its roofless dereliction. It kept the local mines dry for years but it was turned off during a strike, the shafts filled with water an it never could empty them again. It’s eerie to think of the silent and water filled shafts that must run beneath our feet here.

Blue was expecting his usual walk at the Bumblehole and came up on deck ready to leap off. But we’re on a mission so onwards we went – never mind Blue, we’re bound to find some locks later.

Is this cornwall?

Windmill End Junction (9.50am)  to Dudley Port Junction

It’s only a short hop from Windmill End Junction to the vastness of the Netherton Tunnel. The Gosty Hill Tunnel has something of the otherworldly feel of a cathedral; the Netherton rejects such fancies – it’s a businesslike piece of work – big because that’s more efficient; wide because it makes sense to have two towpaths. There are several large ventilation shafts (wet!) but several more have been lost – there are apparently warning signs on the hill above.

Dudley Port Junction (10.30am) to Bromford Junction

The New Main Line

This is the main line – probably the finest ‘highway’ of its day and still looking good even now. Every now and then the magnificent broad canal is cut in half by some mean and curious ‘narrows’; they’re reminiscent of old lock chambers but they are, in fact, old gauging points where tolls were levied on the various cargoes that flowed this way. It’s an incongruous feature – the canal’s so wide you could imagine big commercial barges here, but the architecture, bridges, tolls and locks ensure that it’s narrowboats only.

We met nb. Saltaire here – we’d passed them yesterday going the other way – that’s

nb Saltaire

the beauty of the BCN challenge – it forces you to take all these interesting twists and turns. We also passed a fuel boat ‘Awaytoservice’. I’m not sure whether they were on the challenge – Richard asked them “will we see you at Walsall Town”, to which they said “yes, please” in a desperate for business sort of way. I don’t doubt we’ll be ready for a bit of diesel by the time we get there!

Bromford Junction (11.10am) to Oldbury Junction

The Spon Lane locks are characterised by tarry black waters full of ancient petrochemicals, their smell and the mercifully unidentifiable garbage coated in black gunk. It marks the transition from the new main line to the old line with its now meaningless meanderings that once led to each and every factory along the canal.

We will need their services tomorrow!

As we went up the first lock, nb. Waterways Routes passed along the main line beneath us.

The dogs hopped off for a rummage but it’s so hot that they soon got back on board – Lou looked like she regretted getting off the boat at all. Let’s hope we find somewhere interesting for them to run around in the cool of the evening.

We shot up the locks – the bottom two were set our way and we met nb. Api

What sise were those trousers?

Wanderer here. They were a cheerful crew – they’d come down from Titford and warned us that it was slow going – shallow and be-garbaged (they’d picked up a pair of trousers in their prop – size unspecified!). At top lock we crossed over with nb. Joanna, who’d also come down from Titford.

Another Titford Survicor

It was an awkward turn back on ourselves to head towards Oldbury Junction  – Richard tugged me round with the ropes and managed to lose both the front and centre as she swung out (at least he had the sense to let go!). This is one way of finding out whether your mooring ropes are long enough to snag your prop – the answer’s ‘no’ by the way 🙂

We travelled for ages beneath the M5 – it’s a much longer stretch than I remembered and quite creepy in places under the dark Anchor Bridge with it’s strangely squashed down arch and low roof. I was musing on many things when I quite suddenly noticed the signpost for Titford and did a hasty turn into the junction. I needn’t have bothered – there was a boat moored at the bottom lock who informed us that people were turning at ‘Uncle Ben’s Bridge’, well before the end of the navigation. He himself had unfortunately broken down, but a tug and butty were just working up the lock flight in front of us. They’d apparently taken 20 minutes to get through the first lock. We decided to abandon our trip to Titford and headed back to the old main line.

Oldbury Junction to Dudley Port Bridge

We soon cleared the M5 and were back into the brilliant sunshine. This next bit is great – although it’s the old main line, the canal is deep

View down onto the New Main Line

and improbably wide in places. We passed the Chemical Arm and the cheery coffee shop nearby. We’ve had a great welcome here, even from the fishermen, who must be despairing at the sight of so many boats. We passed nb. Solatium here with its crew of 6 precariously perched along its rather short tug decks.

We passed Brades Hall Junction at 12.10pm but instead of turning back down to the new main line (as we did last year) we carried on. We’re glad we did as it ‘squared the circle’ for us as we passed over the Tividale Aqueduct which crossed the cut leading to the Netherton Tunnel!

Past the aqueduct the canal broadens through a very tidy new housing development between Kiers Bridge and Dudley Port Bridge with fine moorings and even a small (but empty) marina. It’s lovely – a real hidden gem. We’re hoping to find many more during our meanderings…..

More Photos:

Fascinating bit of canal under the M5

nb. Solatium

View down onto Netherton Tunnel

Old Main Line east of Netherton

Old Main Line just past Kiers Bridge

The Odyssey 2009: Day 21 and 22

Lapworth Top Lock to Hawne Basin

Moving off from Lapworth Top Lock

Well, we’re in Birmingham and all ready for tomorrow’s BCN Marathon Challenge. If you’ve nothing better to do we’re going to try for a ‘real time’ blog tomorrow with updates every 6 hours or so – connections permitting. We’ve been told that there are 40 boats taking part – how fantastic.

But that’s tomorrow’s excitement – here are a few highlights from the last couple of days.

Thursday 28th May

We got to the boat after a tedious drive up from London. We’re back to last year’s routine of stopping at the Junction 10 (Cherwell Valley) services on the M40 – Costa coffee and the best dog walking of any motorway services anywhere (room for off-lead rummaging and an accessible stream for them to have a splosh!).

Could be a picture from a holiday brochure - the richly wooded Stratford Canal

It was gone 2pm by the time we got to Indigo Dream. She’d been fine on the moorings though she was completely alone. When we left her she was surrounded by moored boats – where have they all gone??

Note: Liftbridge 26 is well fenced and gated from the road so it’s good place for dogs to rummage with the shore crew.

We had an uneventful cruise up, passing lots of moored hire boats enjoying the last of the glorious weather before their mad dash back to their respective hire bases at the weekend. There was relatively little movement on the water though – just enough boats to be sociable but not so many as to make it a slog.

On the subject of boats, we met an old friend in the shape of nb Fulbourne, with whom we’ve shared a couple of trips down to the Royal Docks. The last time we cruised with them we were breaking through the ice, it couldn’t have been more different today. Sadly, though, they were definitely missing the sheer volume of water available on the vast tidal Thames – we caught with them when they’d managed to get grounded in mid-channel just beyond Bridge 14. A lot of

Busy moorings at Lady Lane Wharf - there's a public water point here

shoving and tugging by Fulbourne’s doughty crew plus extra manpower from a hire boat coming down tugged her over enough for us to get past, attach a tow rope and pull her off the obstruction.

Fulbourne’s an old working boat with a 3ft draught (unloaded!). The restoration of commercial traffic is a fine idea but this incident gave us an idea of just how much dredging would be needed to enable that to happen.

We did a rough calculation that Indigo dream’s draft at the heavy end (engine and toilet tank) is around 1ft 9 inches – perfect for the canals but when I look back there wasn’t actually a lot to hold us steady on the tidal Thames 🙂

We stopped for the night just after the Shirley Drawbridge (Bridge 8) by the aptly named ‘Drawbridge’ pub. It’s a good place to moor – there were useful mooring rings and it proved to be quiet and secure. The pub itself is very popular

Shallow canal:deep boat - Fulbourne aground mid-channel

and we, or rather, Blue and Lou, made lots of new friends there – the locals were very congenial. The food’s plain pub grub but exceptionally cheap so we’d certainly recommend a stop here. The only unfriendly local was a nasty little dog who was barking viciously at all and sundry and topped off the performance by biting Richard as he passed on the way to the bar – hole in trousers, hole in leg! You’ll be glad to know that it’s not serious, but we did have a word with the owners (who were very reasonable about it) about the advisability of a muzzle or possible a course of training. We hate it when people tell us off about our dogs (we never agree with them!) but there were a lot of children in the pub garden and it could have been a very nasty incident.

Fulbourne caught up with us here and got grounded again coming through the channel to the liftbridge. The sight of a long line of children from the pub towing her through is one I’ll never forget! We will publish photos later when we get over a minor technical hitch with one camera.

Bosom buddies - this train gave us a beep, so he should, it looks as if he's going to run right over us!

Friday 29th May

We had a surprisingly quiet night on the moorings considered how close it is to the pub, but we had no bother at all. So I have to conclude that what makes a safe mooring isn’t the absence of youth but their attitude.

We carried on into Birmingham today, enjoying the neat back gardens of Kings Norton and the robust industry of the Worcester and Birmingham. I really like the stretch up to Birmingham – it’s dynamic and interesting, and even picturesque in places; it’s also the top spot for waving at trains (and getting the drivers to wave back and beep their horns).

I know that Bourneville is not a good place to moor, but what about up by the university – it’s such a nice stretch, even though it is so close to the railway line. I’ve asked myself this all the way through Birmingham – surely BW, the council and the police could band together to create and enhance the moorings along these stretches and make them more attractive to boaters. We’re absolutely sure that there can’t be vandals along each and every inch of the Worcester and Birmingham between Kings Norton and Gas Street.

Invasive Rhododendron on the embankment - pretty though!

It’s such a shame that Bourneville has such an unsavoury reputation – Mr Cadbury would surely turn in his grave if he knew that his great social experiment had ended in a stretch of canal where it’s unsafe to leave a boat unattended.

There’s useful mooring with bollards just before Bridge 80 with access to a huge retail park including a handy Homebase and Sainsbury’s. We stocked up with food  for the marathon and set off happy.

We took the fast route through Birmingham on Telford’s magnificent main line. If you haven’t done this before then do come – it’s a truly remarkable waterway, a real testament to the industry that made the canals live.

Today’s revelation was the Dudley No 2 Canal down to Hawne Basin – what a great waterway. We cruised, and loved, the Dudley No 2 canal last year, but we hadn’t done this branch. We stopped off at the Bumblehole for dogs to have a

The picturesque Windmill End Junction

rummage (top rummaging here) before turning down the branch. The scenery around the turn is as pretty as any you could name. The canal then catches up with its industrial heritage and become surrounded by businesses; not that you’d notice. The canal’s perched high on the side of the hill and what you mostly see is rooftops and glimpses of the Malvern Hills in the far distance – brilliant.

The Gosty Hill tunnel is fascinating – at either end, the tunnel feels like a vaulted cathedral, high and narrow, with that echoing emptiness that encourages whispers and contemplation. But in the centre there’s an abrupt change – the tunnel roof sinks and suddenly you’re in the catacombs with barely a few inches above your head and it’s so so cold – marvellous!

We reached Hawne Basin towards late evening and found the inhabitants to be exceptionally friendly. We filled with water, and though we could have moored in the basin itself, opted to moor on the towpath just outside, having been assured that we’d be perfectly safe here. That meant that we had access to some top dog-walking – over the footbridge and up the hill, where the dogs rummaged in the undergrowth to their hearts content.

After all this activity we’re all up for an early night – big day tomorrow!

Note on the guide to moorings

I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to update our ‘guide to moorings’ and the ‘2009 index’ pages – I’m having trouble importing tables from Word – it’s never been a problem before so I assume it’s just a glitch. Normal service will hopefully be resumed soon…..

Note on Photos

We use the blog as a sort of camera album but one camera has lost charge so our photos are a bit out of synch. We will add photos when we get back home.

Still impressive - I wonder what it was like when the works were still open

Photoblog:

Gas Street Basin looks good

Buzzing Brindley Place

The sign tells a story - I wish all canalside industries, alive and dead, would identify themselves like this.

Dudley No 2 Canal: You'd never believe that this was part of the 'Black' Country...

A thriving flock of goslings and their watchful parents

Zoom in to see a portrait of Dracula in Gosty Hill Tunnel....

Says it all really.....

Dog Blog: Weekend Adventures

Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th May

I’m afraid that there won’t be a boating blog until the last weekend in May. Indigo Dream is safely moored up at the top of the Lapworth flight, where she’s resting before the epic BCN Marathon Challenge. Owner of nb. Nanshe, who lives and moors close to the top lock has kindly let us know that she’s looking fine there. The BW patrol officer has also come up trumps as we arranged with him to overstay the 14 day moorings by a few days. We’re off to the rugby in Scotland next weekend (alas not by boat) so we have to leave her unattended for a few weeks.

Having sorted out the mooring, we decided not to go boating this weekend; instead we headed west to do a whistle stop tour of various friends and relatives in Wales. Blue and Lou came with us and had a few adventures along the way. This blog will give you a snapshot of each, especially the big one, where Blue got to meet his long lost brother.

Lou taking off on Swansea Beach

Adventure number 1: The pekingese, the cat and the greyhounds

Lots of greyhounds on today's blog!

The first stop on our Welsh tour was my mum’s house in deepest West Wales. Regular readers with a good memory will recall that my mum has a tiny pekingese called Sybil. When my mum told a doyenne of the local greyhound rescue society that our two were on the way, the doyenne warned her not to let them in the house. Despite the fact that Blue, Lou and Sybil get on perfectly well, the doyenne predicted that Sybil wouldn’t survive our visit! All very dramatic, but Blue and Lou can actually tell the difference between small dogs and cats; the former being perfectly safe in their presence – as evidenced by the fact that Sybil terrorised our two hulking great hounds all afternoon, stole their food, hijacked their water bowl and generally put them in their place.

How we laughed at the doyenne’s concerns – ‘Blue and Lou are perfectly safe with little dogs’ we exclaimed, ‘they’re no good with cats though’. If only my mum had remembered to tell

Greyhound gathering

us that she had a feral cat residing in her greenhouse! On one of their circuits of the garden, Blue spotted the cat in the greenhouse and cornered her there; much commotion ensued, during which the cat escaped, biting and clawing Blue’s face in the process; Lou caught the cat then let it go quickly when she also got swiped by a set of razor claws. The cat scarpered – being wild we can only hope it’s ok. In the meantime, Blue got thoroughly sluiced down and inspected – nothing too bad but several deep puncture wounds from the cat’s bite. A quick phonecall to Richard’s sister (the vet) confirmed that cat bites are exceptionally noxious and that he’d need to start antibiotics immediately. What a stroke of luck, I had a supply of dog antibiotics with me as part of the dog first aid supplies that I carry everywhere. To our relief he’s looking fine – apparently cat bites can get seriously infected within a few short hours.

Note: the cat stayed away for 2 days then returned – he was unhurt and has since moved from the greenhouse into the house, much to the annoyance of Sybil the pekingese 🙂

As I have to take Blue back to his usual vet for a wound check tomorrow I now have to set the ‘vet counter’ back to zero after a record-breaking 11 weeks!!!

The dogs were a little stressed after all that – they enjoyed the cat chase but thoroughly hated the paw police inspection that followed! But there was some consolation. My mum does lots of charity work and collects all sorts of unwanted goods to either sell or recycle for good causes. Among her hoard were a large number of lovely fleece blankets so Blue and Lou have new heaps of luxurious bedding!

Adventure number 2: The French Room

Blue taking off

Flying dogs....

We decided to stay Saturday night down in Swansea – although it was around 8pm when we got there, there was plenty of light – it goes dark around 25 minutes later in West Wales than it does in Surrey. We’d booked a room in what proved to be a truly unique guest house – The Mirador SA2 0QX. When I rang to check whether they took dogs I was told that ‘Room 7’ would be perfect as it has a rooftop terrace where the dogs could pop out to stretch their legs and enjoy a bit of fresh air. When we got there, Room 7 was lavishly decorated in a french style, and apparently each room has a different theme based on the countries they’ve visited in their extensive travels. It was the most hospitable of guest houses – a great mix of easy informality and meticulous attention to detail. The dogs did enjoy the terrace though the room itself was rather small (but with a large ensuite). I think we’d have preferred no terrace and a little more room inside (the weather was foul) – the Egyptian suite, which apparently takes over the whole of the top floor, sounded more our style!

So obedient.....

We finished the day by letting the dogs run off their stress on Swansea beach (opposite the university), only a mile away from the guest house. There’s a fantastic sandy beach here which has largely been ignored in favour of its more famous cousins on the Gower peninsula. But dogs are barred from the Gower beaches over the summer whereas they could run to their heart’s content here. It was amazingly windy – Richard threw a light ball for them to chase and the wind bowled it out of their reach. They had a wonderful time anyway. I’m sad that we don’t live nearer to the coast – I think the dogs would appreciate a run in the surf every day.

After a busy day we dropped the exhausted dogs off in the hotel room (on their sheepskins, with their favourite dog food in their own proper bowls); we carried more supplies for them than we did for ourselves! We headed off to find food in St Helen’s Road – a street full of restaurants nearby. It didn’t inspire at first – the street had that particular drabness that belongs to off-season seaside towns on rainy days. But there were some very fine eateries here and we had a great Italian meal in Topo Gigio (01792 467888) .

In the morning, the wonderfully relaxed owners allowed Blue and Lou into the breakfast room (there was no-one else there) and cooked them a sausage each without us even having to ask (though we had ordered them a sausage sandwich already). Blue and Lou were impeccably behaved and lay flat out on the floor while the hotel owner’s delightful daughter made a big fuss of them and fed them their sausages. There’s another greyhound convert….. and obviously we hope that we can reinforce that by staying again in this delightfully eccentric hotel.

Adventure number 3: Blue’s Brother

Mickey and Blue - brothers reunited

On Sunday morning we headed off into the Welsh wilderness to meet Blue’s brother, Mickey. Mickey lives in the most wonderful location, surrounded by an abundance of fresh air and a profound silence broken only by the swish of the wind and a red kite’s wings. Sara and Alan, Mickey’s owners, offer Bed and Breakfast here and I can’t image a more easeful place to spend some time.

Alan and Sara greeted us with Mickey on the lead, and were soon joined by their other two greyhounds Sam and Cass. Lou did her usual barking for the first few minutes; Blue greeted Mickey briefly then ignored everyone and wandered off for a sniff around. Lou calmed down quickly and we let them all off the lead (in their enclosed yard/garden) and all five greyhounds got on famously. Lou, Cass and Mickey had a mad greyhound run around; Lou was very taken by Mickey – I think she mistook him for Blue! Blue ignored everyone and carried on sniffing around. Sam is 14 and getting a little frail, but he still wanted to be part of the action and tottered around happily on his corns, enjoying the fun.

Blue and Mickey having a good rummage

Being greyhounds, it didn’t take long to wear the dogs out and we all went inside. I think we were all a bit amazed at how well the greyhounds got on. We ended up in a not-very-large sitting room which was soon amicably and peacefully filled with five dogs and four humans. The dogs settled down immediately and we got down to some serious greyhound chat. We talked for over an hour and had to force ourselves away – Alan and Sara have been greyhound lovers for longer than us and we could have listened to their doggie tales all day long.

I have to say that their greyhounds were gorgeous – poor old Sam is a bit doddery but he’s very loveable; Cass was very affectionate and Mickey is just the cuddliest hound ever. His face is so similar to Blue’s and his little mannerisms are identical.  Cass and Mickey kept coming up for cuddles in turn and I was happy to oblige. Blue and Lou just lay flat out on the floor – they are easy company!

Although the dogs quickly formed a new and happy pack, we’ve had to concede that Blue and Mickey have no idea that they’re brothers! We’d wondered whether they’d recognise the family scent or something, but they didn’t show any preference for each other’s company – the five of them just bundled together and had a great time.

I’ll let the photoblog tell the story but we just had the best time here. Thank you, Sara and Alan, for letting us visit and for your hospitality – it was such a special experience for us. And thank you, Mickey, for letting us give you a big fuss…..

Of course, now that I’ve seen how easily five greyhounds CAN get on, three doesn’t seem such a big stretch……:-)

Adventure number 4: the labrador and the greyhounds

Our last adventure was a visit to my cousin’s house at the foot of the mountains that we’d just been exploring. It was so good to see the family – they kindly made lunch for us and we frittered away another hour chatting about boats, dogs and houses. It was here that we discovered a fundamental truth about our greyhounds – they’re on their best behaviour when they’re knackered! We’d expected a commotion when they met my cousin’s slightly bonkers (aren’t they all) labrador but all was quiet. They just saw my cousin’s nice soft rugs on the floor and threw themselves down for a good sleep.

So, we’ve spent the weekend wandering around Wales, scrounging cups of tea from all and sundry. Two days wasn’t really long enough – the drive home on Sunday was a bit exhausting. It was all worth it though – it was my birthday and I gained so many treasured memories – what more can a girl (ha ha!) ask for!

Photoblog:

They’re all dog photos today – and not the half of what we took either…….

Our boys......

Wassat??

Lou chasing Mickey

Mickey chasing Lou

9-year old Cass enjoying a mad greyhound moment

Mickey in a characteristic Blue pose......

Cass, Mickey and Lou having a good time

Room for another one of Mickey showing a bit of pace

Blue at the beach (1)

Blue at the beach (2)

Blue at the beach (3)

Lou at the beach (1)

Chasing the pack (that's me in the red coat!)

The definition of joy....

Lou airborne....

Enjoying the surf...

Blue is so graceful..

Wending our weary way.....

The Odyssey 2009: Day 20

Sunday 10th May Tom o’ the Woods to Lapworth Top Lock

It's nice to see that the canal has a wide range of users!

On Saturday night, Richard was in bed by 9pm which may have been a mistake given that we’d just eaten a huge dinner at the Tom o’ the Woods pub. I managed to stay awake until 10pm and simply had the best night’s sleep – it was so nice I didn’t want it to end so I had a luxurious lie-in while Richard sorted the dogs out and moved the boat to the waterpoint (past the bridge) to fill up and give the boat a wash. It was nigh on 10am before I emerged, feeling refreshed and ready for the day. Which is more than I can say for the dogs – they were still tired after yesterday’s labours and they had another lock flight to explore…..

We had such a lazy start – Richard chatted to people on the towpath as he washed the boat. The side that’s washed looks great – the other side looks decidedly dusty. I was surprised – I didn’t think we were picking up soot and ash from boat chimneys any more and I thought that we’d had enough rain to keep the towpaths from kicking up dust. All academic – I’m sure we’ll soon have the opportunity to clean both sides!

Looking back towards the Grand Union....

Richard took the helm for the first stretch and did a neat turn into the cut that leads to the Stratford Canal. There was a friendly residential boater moored just inside the bridge – I wonder how much he flinches when he sees boats heading towards him on the turn?! Richard asked him about that as he went past and as far as he could hear it sounds like most boats that get it wrong have a good bounce of the bridge first which means that they tend to miss him …

It was a lovely day – the biting wind which has plagued us for several weekends disappeared and I finally  got to warm my bones in the sun. I even relinquished my usual fleece jacket and wore my african sun hat for the first time his year – Hurrah! I’m very fond of my sun hat – I bought it many years ago while we were on honeymoon in Zimbabwe (we went to watch a total eclipse – awesome) and the hat reminds me of that wonderful country and the special time that we had there.

It was the perfect day to climb the Lapworth flight. This is only the second time we’ve done this flight but it’s on my list of  favourites. For one thing, it has nice narrow locks in the most lovely setting – the views are gently scenic and the

...and looking forward to the Stratford Canal

flight is surrounded by a mix of open fields, drifts of hawthorn hedgerow and verges full of old meadow flowers. There’s a spot just below top lock which last year was purple with foxgloves and which now had a mix of bluebells, red campion, yellow buttercups and a delicate lacework of cow parsley. It was like an old country tapestry with colours expertly woven by the passing seasons.

The Lapworth locks have been much improved in the last year. When we passed through in Summer, the bottom gates were as perforated as paper doilies. But most have been replaced with no-nonsense new timber gates – I wonder how long these will last before they reach the advanced leakiness of their predecessors?

It’s an interesting flight because the first few locks raise the canal in a gentle curve that follows the hill’s contours. It leads you into a false sense of security – the pounds are long enough for convenience but short enough to make it easy for lock-wheelers. But then there’s a sudden change and the flight becomes more businesslike – suddenly lining up like

The gentle start of the Lapworth flight (this must be the third or fourth lock up)

soldiers and marching straight up the incline. The pounds become shorter and sod’s law says that if you’re going to meet another boat it’ll be here. We met three! There was a bit of jiggling to be done – unless you have bow thrusters then a few crew members on the towpath with a front or centre rope are helpful just to give the boats a tug into position. We managed the crossing without collision but not without a few choice mutterings from me about the chances of meeting three boats in short pounds when we’d barely seen another boat for the entire weekend!

The dogs had a good rummage at the locks – bottom lock was thoroughly investigated then Lou came back on board for a rest. Blue got confused, took a wrong turn and got even more confused as he tried to follow the boat and found himself on a dead end on the wrong side of the canal. He just couldn’t work it out so Richard had to cycle round to fetch him. After that adventure Blue came back on board as well. And so it went,

You'll always meet a boat in a short pound! Luckily N-gage was a short boat......

I’d normally let Blue off at the bottom and see him at the top, but today he cadged a lift every few locks and had a rest (as did Lou but that’s how she normally is!). So Blue’s not turning into a super-active labrador after all – phew! (no offence F & F!)

From Lock 10 onwards we had a group of willing helpers in the form of an extended family walking up the flight. One couple lives at the bottom of the flight and were very knowledgeable about the locks. The rest were visiting relatives, including two children who did a great job of pushing the lock gates (under close supervision of course). They walked up as far as lock 4, where we encountered the first bit of ignorance of the day when a boat coming down turned the next lock right in front of us (and it wasn’t a hirer either!). It’s only a minor irritation but we did see them looking down at us before quite deliberately turning the paddles to fill lock. So different to the hire boat coming down that decided that the lock was probably ours, emptied it and opened the gates for us. Ah well, it gave me time to hog the lock moorings, leaving them to negotiate the shallows in the turn (which I’d have had to do otherwise) so all’s well that ends well.

The Lapworth gets down (or should that be up) to business!

I didn’t keep detailed notes on this flight – it was enough just to stand back and be infused with its beauty.

As we approached the last couple of locks, Richard found out that there was a rare direct train from Lapworth to Leamington Spa just after 2pm. We hastened to the top lock and quickly tied up just past the lock moorings so that Richard could be on his way. He cycled off to the station and made it to his train with minutes to spare thanks to some excellent directions from a local man who knew a shortcut via a bridlepath. As ever, Richard marvelled that a trip that had taken us 2 days in the boat took just 16 minutes by train!

In the meantime I bobbled around the boat, packing up and generally getting rid of accumulated fluff. I kept dogs on board – there’s a busy road just beyond the hedge that bounds the towpath and there were a couple of Blue-sized escape routes which would have taken him straight onto the tarmac. They weren’t bothered – they were so tired they just curled up the sheepskins (they have a new extra-fluffy one onboard). I was very tempted to join them!

BIG help.....

Note: There’s what looks like a rubbish point at the top lock but we now know from the comment below that it is just used by the lock keeper to get rid of daily flotsam from the flight.

Richard got back in no time but this time we ate a proper lunch on board. Big mistake, Richard started pottering around and did some more painting (long story involving a leaky paint tin and the need to use up the dregs). Of course, once you start pottering it’s difficult to know where to stop and it was with some reluctance that I dragged him away.

We drove back via Warwick where Richard had spotted some uniquely interesting buildings on his way up. The town looked fascinating but I was anxious to get back as I had an unusually early start looming on Monday morning. I felt very guilty for dragging Richard away – we must find time for an exploration next weekend.

Photoblog:

A mix of scenery for the canal lovers and a particularly fine crop of cute dog photos.

Handsome boy.....

Happy girl......

Ah ha, Lou's not on board so I'll hog the sofa for a bit.....

Next Lock: Posing for the camera....

A fine tapestry of flowers

Spiky! Gorse and Hawthorn on the approach to Lapworth Top lock

Typically rustic scene near the top of the Lapworth flight

A memento of the old lock gate - now adorning the lock cottage garden...

19th century 'hole in the wall'???

Top gate paddle gear

Lush......

One of my favourite spots towards the top of the Lapworth (and not just because long pounds make for easy passing!)

On our way home after a busy weekend....

Lou having a mad greyhound moment.....

Wait for us......

Contentment roll 1: It’s my 7th birthday and I’m having a nice time – how about a roll….

Contentment roll 2: That's the first bit done....

Contentment roll 3: Almost over......

Contentment roll 4: Phew - I'm exhausted now...... (The term 'contentment roll' comes from a very useful book called "how to speak dog" which has a 'dictionary' of doggie body language)