Boat Blog: The Odyssey 2014 – Day 22

Sunday 3rd August

Droitwich to Stourport (but being posted from the west end of the Huddersfield Narrow)

Oh dear, I can’t find my notes from the day – never mind!

This is the most perfect spot for greyhound rummaging – Richard, Ty and Ollie are off in the wilderness to the right of the photo – the path is so overgrown that the next pick-up point is Bridge 3 🙂

I do recall that we had a quiet night in Droitwich and that the towpath moorings at Vines Park are very civilised! I can’t remember what time we set off, I think it was very early by indigo Dream standards i.e.before 10am! I do recall that it was a very fine day!

It didn’t seem to take long to leave Droitwich town. We were soon back in the countryside, and what wonderful countryside it was – stunning views and deserted towpaths just perfect for rummaging. There was a particularly greyhound-perfect stretch leading from Mildenham Mill lock to Bridge 3 (apparently one of the few surviving Brindley originals) – Richard, Ty and Ollie had a good rummage there. It was a good walk for the hounds before we reached the relentless river.

Hawford bottom lock, which leads on to the mighty Severn, feels as if it should have a lock-keeper, but it’s straightforward enough. There is a traffic light which indicated the state of the river, and the lock itself is a standard manual lock – it’s just a bit awkward to see whether there’s any traffic coming up from the river. We waited for two boats to come up – a tad awkwardly, as a small launch was moored on one lock landing, making it difficult for two boats to wait for the double lock and for upcoming boats to exit the lock neatly.

We locked down with a hire boat and had a moment of confusion when we exited the lock – we hadn’t realised that there wasn’t a “lock cut”  as such – we mistakenly turned left then did a huge swing upstream when we realised we were on the main channel – oops!

The Severn was magnificent – deep and enticing – we opened the throttle and headed upstream. In my memory, the Severn upstream of Worcester is relentless with moorings few and far between, but on this trip I notice at least four pub restaurants offering moorings – we’ll have to explore them another time! We did wonder later whether we should turn back and stay the night at one of the pubs and travel home on the Monday. We got behind no fewer than four slow boats and were wondering how rude it would be to overtake then given that the river locks only take two boats at a time. We decided to be polite and hang back – this was a HUGE mistake as we got badly caught up in Stourport. The slow boats ahead joined a queue waiting to get off the river and we were behind them! Two hours later (I said they were slow) we finally got into the bottom staircase lock. I had a slight sense of humour failure while waiting – we’d been ahead of plan all day and were up for an early finish and drive home, but now it was getting late – sigh! Hence I was a tad louder than I intended when a hire boat came upriver and blithely approached the lock into Stourport – “OI, there’s a queue” I yelled nastily – they looked contrite and moved back into position!

Bridge 3 – a Brindley original!

There are two deep staircases into Stourport – the second being at an awkward angle to the first – with a 60′ boat there just isn’t enough room to get the angle right between them…unless you have Richard giving the centre rope a little tug to bring the front around just those few essential inches – smooth work.

There were LOTS of gongoozlers at Stourport – a whole family “helped” us through by opening and closing gates – the kids were transfixed!

It takes a lot of time to get into Stourport Basin and I was keen to get through and up York Street lock to the towpath moorings beyond. But we had a most lovely surprise – as we were moving through the basin we spotted Andrew and Frances from nb Doris Katia – we’d assumed that they were already in London with the St Pancras Cruising Club – as it happens, they were just setting off! We had a great catch-up – we’ve shared far too many Thames tideway adventures with them not to really! I felt a pang of nostalgia – we had some great experiences on SPCC convoys. But after two years in London, it was definitely time for use to get out onto the rest of the system.

Ty and Ollie got a bit bored on the river so they cuddled up in a rare gesture of solidarity – too cute 🙂

We said a reluctant goodbye to them and set off up the lock – here we had yet more gongoozlers as the cafe garden is right on the lockside. Some admired my sun hat – I never know whether they’re being ironic because it is rather unique. But this time, someone wanted to know where they could buy one – ah, mine came from Zimbabwe, many years ago – it’s a wonderful place to visit but maybe a little too far just to buy a hat!

We met nb Muskrat above the lock – fellow BCN CHallengers and THE boat to beat before the length bonus rules were introduced. SO much for my theory that we didn’t know any boaters this far West 🙂

The moorings just up from the lock were only 48-hours and rather full, so we pressed on past the Rising Sun pub, where Richard’s car was parked. There were a few potential 14-day towpath moorings. but the canal is a bit narrow there and, in the absence of other moored boats, we weren’t sure whether to stay or go. We had a chat with a passing community police officer – I’m always reassured by their presence. This one was a genial young man who was helpful and reassuring – it seems that there are very few towpath crimes hereabouts.

In the end, we decided to move out to the Bird in Hand pub – we’ve moored here before – there is particularly fine greyhound-walking over Mitton Chapel Bridge. I have poignant memories of walking Blue and Lou through the haunted old graveyard there – not a place to be taking scaredy Ty! At the Bird in Hand we had a choice of a 14-day mooring on the towpath a little way back, or a 5-day mooring right outside the pub. We chose the latter, though this caused us some pain the following weekend….

It was gone 5pm by the time we moored up, so we decided to eat in the pub; but that plan didn’t work, they were between lunch and dinner servings –  we had intended to wait for the chef to come back on duty, but we realised that it would just take too long. We headed off, we’d find somewhere to eat on the way, and, despite my grumpiness at the how late it was, we had a good drive home after a £9.99 special at a Harvester, Ollie had ice cream…

Photoblog:

This lock and cottage is immaculately groomed – all the more unexpected after the wilderness of the canal from Droitwich…

The locks give great views over the surrounding countryside….

I thought that the rope swing hanging from this tree looked a little sinister…

This lock and cottage feel so isolated, but it has good road access. The approach to the lock landings is a little awkward above and below, but there’s no denying that it’s a lovely spot….

Approaching Hawford bottom lock – gateway to the Severn…

There are more mooring (and drinking) opportunities on this stretch of the Severn than I remember – this is one of four or five pubs/restaurants – another time…

Bridges are few and far between on the Severn…

Off the river at last!

There’s always a lot to see at Stourport…

 

 

Boat Blog: The Odyssey 2014 – Day 21

Dunhampstead to Droitwich

Rewind to Friday 1st August

Joyo! Wyn’s a natural on the helm 😉

We were so excited today as we both managed to escape early from work and had planned to get to the Fir Tree in time for supper with cousin Denise and husband Wyn. Denise reckons there is normal time and Surrey time, so, when we say “we’re leaving at 2pm” that’s 5pm in Surrey time! The Surrey clock was running fast today and we did manage to leave at 3.30pm but we bitterly regretted not getting away earlier. By the time we got onto the motorway, our segment of the M25 (6 o’clock to 10 o’clock) was gridlocked with a 2-hour delay. We diverted cross-country on the basis that we would at least keep moving, but that seemed to take equally long as we threaded our way through the narrow high streets of Surrey’s scenic villages. All very lovely, but after 2 hours I was starting to think that London has gravity, like a planet, and that we were never going to achieve escape velocity!

To cut a long journey short, we arrived at the pub some 4.5 hours after leaving home. Luckily Denise and Wyn had booked a table based on Surrey time!

We unpacked the car and had some welcome help with the hounds – nb Henry H was moored right next to us so Ty and Ollie went to stay with their houndie pals Rosie and Bertie; Sarah and Andy walked and fed them so we could get to the pub. It was a lovely arrangement – Ty and Ollie really appreciated the company while we were out and Ty is always a bit braver in a big pack.

We had a fine dinner with Denise and Wyn, the food at the pub probably deserved more appreciation, but we were so tired we could barely hold a fork! Luckily Denise and Wyn had arranged to stay over at The Vernon, in Hanbury, a short taxi ride away (we were all very thirsty after a hot day). We arranged to meet in the morning – fortunately they could stay for a bit of cruising so we’d have more time to talk when we were a bit more awake!

Hello, Fulbourne – great to see you again 🙂

We reclaimed our hounds – Henry H is really a 2-hound boat for overnighting – especially when you have four hounds on board who’d want to sleep in the snug front cabin nest with Sarah and Andy!

Rewind to Saturday 2nd August

We had a lazy morning – partly prompted by the heavy rain that had moved in overnight. I got up when I heard the clink of Rosie and Bertie’s collar tags on the towpath – I quickly got dressed and caught up with them a little way down the towpath. This was in a gap between showers, so the four hounds had a lovely walk together. Bertie greeted Ty with a sweet little hop and a skip; Rosie is Ty’s half-sister and they walked shoulder to shoulder – Ty seemed much more confident with his (younger) sis looking after him. Ollie is Ollie – such a phlegmatic character!

As we got back from our walk, the rain started in earnest – time for a coffee and a slow breakfast. Denise and Wyn had planned to have a lie-in, so we weren’t expecting them before late morning. That was fine by us! Henry H moved on mid-morning, they were heading South to Worcester – never mind, I’m sure that Ollie and Ty will meet up with their pack-mates soon.

Denise and Wyn arrived around 11am, just as the rain stopped and the sun started to make a show. To start with, Richard and Wyn did the first car shuffle to Droitwich, while Denise and I caught up on family/South Wales gossip. When the men came back, we left them to the helm and carried on – great! Although the day was largely dry and sunny, we had the odd vicious thunderstorm/heavy shower  to contend with – another excuse for the men to be manly in their waterproofs and for me and Denise to carry on chatting indoors!

New territory – entering the Droitwich Canal (or the junction canal to be precise)..

I’d just been telling them how we were seeing fewer boaty friends this side of the country (we barely moved along the Grand Union for chatting!) when we passed by nb Fulbourne with hardy crew member Elaine, who always wears beautifully crafted traditional bonnets when on board. We stopped briefly for a chat – it was lovely to see Fulbourne, we’ve shared many an adventure but we haven’t seen her for over a year.

Soon after we turned onto the Junction Canal towards Droitwich. It’s a lovely bit of water, though I confess that it’s even better past Droitwich. We pulled into Droitwich Marina shortly after the entrance to the canal – the red light on the loo was blinking – time for a pump out! We also remembered to to replace the empty gas cylinder so that we’d have a full spare on board – not that we use that much gas, but you can rely on a cylinder to run out at the most inconvenient moment (halfway through one of our charity cruises in Birmingham a month ago, while making lunch – of course!).

As we moored at the service point, an almighty thunderstorm broke overhead – it passed quickly, but the thunder really upset Ty. When it was dry, we took a little walk around the marina to prove to him that the sky wasn’t falling. Unfortunately this strategy worked a bit too well – he calmed down but didn’t want to get back onto the boat! We eventually persuaded him but he was not a happy boater.

We had wanted to fill with water at the marina, but the arrangement of the water taps on the service pontoon seemed a bit off. One tap was not drinking water, the drinking water tap had the pump-out rinse hose attached to it – the person on duty said it was fine to use the tap to fill the water tank provided we used our own clean hose; a third water tap was unlabelled. Hmmm, we decided we could manage on the water that we had!

Otherwise, we were very impressed by the marina and took a moorings brochure. What impressed me was that the basin was very roomy with plenty of manoeuvering space – unlike Limehouse, which has some tight turning circles – especially following the Olympic development.

Wyn taking great care of Indigo Dream at every lock….

With the boat in good shape, we set off towards Droitwich – the canal was lovely and there was just enough room for us to get through the culvert that takes the canal under the M5. We were grateful to the boat that had just come through though, who advised us to take the bikes off the roof – the headroom was tight. I guess it wouldn’t take much fresh water to make the passage unnavigable.

We soon arrived at Droitwich town – characterised by it’s many swing bridges – it took a while to get to the central mooring area! Of course, the navigation now becomes the Droitwich barge canal, with wide locks. It’s quite confusing as the first narrow stretch is apparently known as the junction canal and It took me a while to understand how there could be two locks with the same number on the one canal – except it’s two canals. It’s a juxtaposition worthy of the original canal builders 🙂

One of the town locks is peculiar in that it has a weir that runs off to the right – there is a sign warning boaters to stay well to the left and to be aware of heavy flows. But there are no lock landings or even a bollard to hold your boat on the left hand side – very strange. With a lot of barely used bollards sprouting like mushrooms at other lock-sides, you’d think they could spare one for  mooring opposite a weir. Never mind, there wasn’t enough flow to bother us today so it wasn’t a problem.

Once you get through the various locks and bridges, there is pleasant mooring available on the towpath side adjacent to Vines Park. We took a towpath mooring, not realising that a little further on there is a secure basin with a mixture of permanent and 48-visitor moorings. It would have been a little quieter there for Ty, who was a bit spooked by the sheer numbers of passers by, though everyone was amiable and we had a quiet night on the moorings.

Wyn’s car was already in Droitwich, and he generously agreed to help with the next car shuffle – collect Richard’s car from Dunhampstead, take both cars to Stourport (our planned destination) then come back to Droitwich. We were immensely grateful, we hadn’t realised quite how far away Stourport was by road and they saved us hours of to-ing and fro-ing.

We said a reluctant goodbye to them late afternoon – they had a long drive back to South Wales ahead of them. In the meantime, we had a quiet evening on board – I was too tired to explore Droitwich (which is a shame as it sounds like a fascinating town). Instead, Richard went to explore the ready-meals at the local Waitrose (5 minutes walk from the boat) and we settled in with the DVD (more Game of Thrones – still gripping though some of the violence is inexplicable)….

Photoblog:

Surprisingly deep locks on this section – it must have been a real labour of love to restore this canal – so glad they did!

Narrow locks – narrow canal!

Ty supervising at the locks – it’s better than being on the boat, but only if there aren’t too many strange people around – not a problem here 🙂

They really mean it…..

Just enough room for us – we work on a rough air draft of 2.1m

Room for the boat but not for the crew – duck!

Broad locks and swingbridges – now we’re in Droitwich 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Boat Blog: The Odyssey 2014 Day 20

Rewind to Sunday 27th July (posted from Congleton)

Stoke Pound (Tardebigge Bottom Lock) to Dunhampstead Bridge

Wonderful views..

Thanks to my cold, I had a rotten night’s sleep. However, I had a treat in the morning, Richard cycled off to get the car (parked at Alvechurch) and I got into bed for a few hours with Ollie. In fact I had some extra time – Richard had trouble navigating over the tunnels! My lie-in was refreshing and so, by late morning, I was somewhere near a fit state for cruising.

Our plans to go along the Droitwich had now changed to a vague ambition to get to Worcester. As I got comfy on the helm, a winged seed from an nearby sycamore tree drifted down to my land on my lap before the wind picked it up for the next stage of its own odyssey. That’s about as focussed as our plans are at the moment – blown by the wind of chance – hard to believe that we were ever focused enough to come third in the BCN Challenge!

But the wind of chance blowing us towards Worcester was particularly sweet. Cousin Denise and husband Wyn, both experienced Indigo Dreamers, were coming up to the Cotswolds for a mini-break on Thursday 31st. She got in touch to find out whether the boat was in the Cotswolds – result! We move down to Worcester, they’d book an extra night at a local B & B and we’d have a catch-up cruise together next Saturday.

Several boats went past us in the morning but after the early rush to tackle the Tardebigge, we had the canal largely to ourselves. Despite the mighty fall down the Tardebigge, there were still a LOT of locks between us and Worcester. We didn’t get into the same routine as yesterday, but we still did well, first down the Stoke flight then the Astwood locks. We passed the narrow entrance to the Droitwich and carried on south.

Where does that path go to….?

But by the time we got to Hanbury Wharf it was gone 2pm, with several hours cruising and the long drive home in front of us. I got a bit daunted and looked with longing at the visitor moorings at Dunhampstead. We cruised past, undecided, and were thinking of looking for moorings at Tibberton, when we came to a winding hole and decided to turn back. By now, the cold that had beset me overnight had settled into my ears, so I was feeling very peculiar. We hastened back to Dunhampstead. On the way down, I’d seen the sign for the visitor moorings but there didn’t seem to be a restriction. When we moored up, we walked the moorings and found that they were only 48 hour – b$%%^&. But I was done for, the moorings were empty and we decided to moor there anyway and contact CRT for an extension on Monday.

Richard once again got on his bike and cycled back to Stoke Pound for the car. I packed the boat ready for a quick getaway and had another welcome snooze.

This weekend was the hottest cruising weekend of the year for us (we’ve lounged at home during the previous hot weekends) so it had to be the time that our fridge broke down. We removed the controller unit, which we suspect is the problem, for return to the manufacturers, Shoreline. Luckily we didn’t have much food that needed refrigeration, but we did miss cold drinks and ice!

Although I was desperate to get home, we set ourselves up for the drive by having a proper long, cold drink at the Fir Tree Inn. We’d have eaten there too, but they don’t serve food on Sunday afternoon/evening. Still, our drinks refreshed us enough and I drove us home in reasonable time.

Today’s Trivia

You’ll see below a photograph of a blue brick embossed with the name “Joseph Hamblet” dated 1894. I though I’d find out whether they were original and they are – 120 year old bricks looking brand new! Joseph Hamblet founded the Piercy brickworks in West Bromwich where they were renowned for making blue bricks. There’s a fascinating article in the Black Country Bugle which gives more on his history. The blue bricks were very strong – apparently they were crush tested by the Institutiion of Civil Engineers in 1886 – they reported that “Hamblet’s bricks proved the superior, requiring, on average, a force of over 16,000 lbs / sq. in. to completely crush them.”. Now in modern money that is 110 N/mm², most really good blue engineering bricks nowadays struggle to achieve 75 N/mm². Hardly surprising that they became the building material of choice for major infrastructure projects – like canals!

Photoblog:

Love these embossed bricks – they can tell us so much about the history of the canal…

I had less luck finding out about P W Bennitt – presumable another local brickmaker…

Windmill – never noticed that before….

Witty!

It’s a long fall to the Severn, then another long fall to sea level…

Such a pretty lock cottage – the garden was immaculate…

Rural idyll…

The entrance to the Droitwich canal – looks enticing – but not today… 🙂

More wit 😀

Pretty as a picture…

Wonder what’s lurking under this towpath??

This is exactly as I remember it from our trip here in nb Dragonfly

And so it was in September 2005, when Indigo Dream was named 🙂

 

Boat Blog: The Odyssey 2014 Day 19

Rewind to Saturday 26th July (but being posted on 3rd September in Great Heywood)

Alvechurch Marina to Stoke Pound (Tardebigge Bottom Lock)

Looking back to Alvechurch Marina – it was a friendly place to stop 🙂

We couldn’t travel to the boat on Friday night as we needed to arrive when the marina gates and office were open. This gave us a relaxed start to the weekend, without our usual tussle with the Friday traffic.

We also took our time on Saturday morning and didn’t get to Alverchurch until lunchtime. Indigo Dream had been fine on the mooring and the people in the office were very helpful – especially when they allowed Ty into the shop while we were paying and gave him lots of fuss. Ty would happily have stayed with them all weekend rather than go on the boat! Our current hounds are very different to our previous Indigo Dreamers – Ollie is not interested in being on deck (just as well – it was far too hot!) and Ty just cowers on his “safe” bed. After recent episodes where Ty has panicked and tried to jump off while we’re cruising (only succeeding once and we managed to catch him quickly) we’ve started him on conventional anti-anxiety medicines again. These help to keep his panic down but he’s still miserable on board and I now have to keep the deck door shut while locking so he can’t run up and do himself a mischief trying to escape 😦

We had a few chores to do before setting out, the most important of which were getting the boat open and ventilated, putting the fan on for the hounds and filling our fresh water bottles. The air in the boat felt baked and it was great to get moving and allow some fresh air to circulate; fresh, but not cool – it was a yet another scorching afternoon, despite the promise of a cool spell in the weather forecast.

We set off from Alvechurch at 2pm – hmm, a late start considering we had the Tardebigge flight ahead of us! Tardebigge is an “all or nothing” flight – once you’ve started, the locks are so close together you really have to soldier on right to the bottom, all of 36 locks away!

The view from the top of Tardebigge – you have to take a deep breath here – once you start you’ve got to finish 🙂

But first we had the charming stretch from Alvechurch to the top of the flight. I had completely forgotten how lovely the Worcester and Birmingham Canal is. The canal meandered between opulent hedgerows, replete with wild flowers and heavy with the scent of meadowsweet. There was other wildlife in the form of abundant flies equipped with a fearsome array of biting equipment. How we welcomed the cool of the Shortwood tunnel. I tried to be positive about drips falling from the tunnel roof, but they were shockingly cold on my overheated skin!

There were fewer flies on the other side of the tunnel, but the countryside was still a riot of colour and textures. We had the water to ourselves – no-one is mad enough to start down the flight that late in the day, and I guess the boats coming up had done their cruising in the cool of the morning.

We enjoyed the shaded wooded cutting beyond the tunnel, but we were soon at the top of the flight. We too a deep breath and set off. We were soon into a good locking rhythm – the locks are conveniently close together so Richard could get a lock open, I’d drive in, shut the back gates and open a paddle while he was cycling down to prepare the next. Then he’d cycle back to let me out and finish off behind me. Nonetheless, it was hot work and, despite a floppy sun hat, I started to loathe the relentless sun. By the time we’d done 10 locks I was hot beyond modesty – I rolled my top up as I used to when I was teenager and exposed some midriff. I’ll admit, it was a style too young for my weight but it meant I could enjoy the damp cool of the lock chambers as Indigo Dream descended. Ty and Ollie just sniggered – they were on their favourite beds, shaded from the sun and with a cooling breeze from the tower fan which I’d carefully angled to best effect.

We’ve only been Tardebigge once before, and I’d forgotten just how deep the locks are. But there was a innate rightness and ease to working a narrowboat through narrow locks.

Not only are there a LOT of locks, but they’re deep as well!

I don’t know whether the photos will capture the sheer beauty of this flight. The scenery is chocolate-box perfect – but as I thought that, I wondered how many people would understand the allusion. How long is it since we had boxes of chocolates or fancy biscuits with padded silk lined lids with pictures of lavish landscape (or kittens in baskets)? Ok, picture postcard perfect then, oh no, who sends postcards these days? Ok, I give up, it is just a very beautiful flight with new and more lovely landscapes at each lock.

We met a few boats coming up – one was lockwheeling, just like us, but they were working a little too far forward, so we had a tedious wait for them to catch up with the lock that they’d turned in front of us – bah! The others were hire boats and a bit tentative when crossing in the short pounds. It’s hard to explain to an oncoming boat that if they don’t actually vacate the lock they’re in then I can’t actually get past them 😛

Nonetheless, we flew down the flight, and were mooring up in Stoke Pound by 6pm. The “proper” visitor moorings were full, but we found a bit of towpath beyond the bridge which was still an easy walk from the pub. Having stopped so early, we had time to take the hounds for a little bimble before we showered, changed and set off for the pub.

The Queen’s Head was jam-packed – it’s obviously THE place to go on a hot evening. We were lucky enough to get a table in the garden with the hounds. Ty is not too bad in the pub, but then one of the waitresses decided that the only way to get rid of some decorative balloons in the pub’s huge garden teepee (don’t ask) was by bursting them with the fingernails – gross. Ty and Ollie weren’t the only dogs frightened by the noise – surely they could have left the balloons alone until the morning!

Hurrah!

We were sitting at a table for four, and were soon joined by another couple who were looking for a seat. We were happy to share and soon got chatting about dogs – they have a rescue collie. Although we didn’t get their names, we had a very convivial evening with them. The pub food was pretty good, if a little pricey, and the service was a bit slow – I think because of the sheer numbers of diners they had in. I had a glass of cider – after a hot afternoon’s locking, nothing else would quench my thirst. It was risky, because of all the trouble I’ve had with my ears (seeing a specialist in August!), I hadn’t had a drink for several months – I have to confess it was marvellous!

We rolled back to the boat by 10pm and we were all very ready for our respective beds. But in the wee small hours I woke up with a raging sore throat and stuffy nose – a summer cold – WHAT! How on earth could a virus possibly survive today’s baking. I spent the rest of the night on the sofa, where I could prop myself upright – Ollie hound was delighted – he soon hopped up and took up my place on the bed next to Richard – heartless hound!

Photoblog:

A lot of the lock mooring coping bricks were date/organisation stamped – I like this feature – like the dating of the locks on the Grand Union…

A view up the flight – well. part of the flight…

And more locks ahead….

This is such a pretty flight – so nice to be back here after so many years…

 

 

 

 

Boat Blog: The Odyssey 2014 – Day 18

Rewind to Saturday 5th July (but post being published in Penkridge)

Central Birmingham – Alvechurch

I’ve not had a good week – I’ve been in bed for most of the week with a severe ear infection and really wasn’t well enough to cruise. Nevertheless, Indigo Dream needed to move, we’d had our 14 days in Central Birmingham….

We have finally made a decision about which route to take out of town – Indigo Dream has been into/out of Birmingham via every route apart from the drop down the Tardebigge flight. However, we have been down the flight, on our last cruise on share boat nb Dragonfly in September 2005. It was a memorable trip – it had been a brutally hot day and after a hard day’s locking some refreshment was needed at the nearby pub (I forget the pub’s name). On the walk back, the cider behind our eyes made a crystalline perfection of the inky deep dusk sky – thus, full of goodwill, Indigo Dream was named 🙂

So this cruise was to be a Richard solo cruise to Alvechurch -a quick trip up on the train and then a boating afternoon and a trip back from Alvechurch station before it shut for track renewal work.

Not being a man of many words this is all he wrote……!

We had left the boat just outside the normal visitor mooring stretch so I was really pleased to see that she was safe though with one pin pulled out. Yet again we discover that your boat won’t get destroyed in Birmingham.

Whilst getting the boat ready I marvelled at the runners coming past looking on their last legs then as they went past a volunteer steward under the bridge she gave them a little clap and some encouragement and every one got an extra spring in their step. Birmingham was busy, runners at one end, loads of boats in the middle and even a goose convoy. It is marvellous to see a city centre waterway so well used, the trip boats were all running and all looked pretty full.

I will let photos describe the rest of the trip apart from mooring up, now that was a problem. All the moorings in Alvechurch have become 48 hour moorings, yes I know the reasoning behind it but 5 or 7 day would allow people how cruise and work to find somewhere to moor. It was late on a Sunday so I popped the boat into Alvechurch Marina, just as well as we were not to cruise the next 2 weekends.

 

Pin pulled out, just as well we used 4!

 

water not looking very clever, film of some hydrocarbon or other?

Goose convoy

And another view

Edgbaston looking good

and to think this was just a huge hole only 3 years ago

Stag party in two boats, presumably the groom in the dress? Told him that he should get his legs waxed.