Bendy Lapworth

Another day, another lorra locks. We made another early start, getting away at ten past seven. I walked to the first lift bridge which opened readily – they are bascule bridges with hydraulic drive worked by a windlass, similar to the ones on the Upper Peak Forest. The second bridge proved to be a problem, though. Turning the spindle vigorously opened it only a few inches. I paused for a bit, tried again and it opened a bit further.

Several iterations of this finally got the bridge deck raised enough to get the boat through, but it wasn't a comfortable situation. Reminder: must email CRT West Mids about it.

Soon we were at the top of Lapworth and the serious work began. These are narrow locks, of course, and quite easy to work, but almost all of them were against us.

We worked in blocks of six and progress was steady rather than spectacular. The challenge is more for the steerer than the lockwheeler, as even on the straight section of the "thick" there is a bit of a bend between the bottom of one lock and the top of the next and for once the geometry doesn't favour a 70 footer.

There's a longer pound just a few locks down and here we found Anna and Martin on Braidbar 140, One Day. We know them well from the Owners' Group and because they moor in Mercia. I was lockwheeling at the time and stopped for a bit of a chat. Sheila paused beside them to carry on the conversation whilst I got the lock ready.

It was good to catch up, have a good run to Stratford, folks!

On and on we went. An Anglo-Welsh full of novices turned one lock in front of us, one of the few which had been mostly full, and there were towpath walkers and gongoozlers aplenty. We reached Kingswood Junction by half eleven and we've tied on the visitor moorings on the linking arm between the Stratford and the GU. It's very near the railway bridge carrying the Oxford - Birmingham line but the trains, though quite frequent, aren't very noisy.

Tomorrow, we've got around an hour's boating to the top of Hatton and then the slog down it. We'll stop at the top to fill the water tank and hopefully pick up a locking partner, the locks being broad like all of the GU mainline.

Location:Kingswood Jn

Five hours, three counties and two enormous pasties

With a lot of boating to do today, we started early, at five past seven, in fact. The mooring we'd used at Hopwood was not ideal – what appeared to be an access road to some houses was also the access to some depot out of sight from the canal. A very busy depot, wagons went by at roughly hourly intervals as long as we were awake and apparently through the small hours as well. It's a bit of a mystery – they were all unmarked, mostly plain white vehicles, many of them 36 tonners or so. Probably food, then, but what?

Wast Hill tunnel was reached after about 20 minutes cruising and we made good time through it, around 30 minutes for 2500 meters. There were even some boats moored between the north portal and the junction, though it's not an area with a good reputation for safety. The turn off the W&B onto the Stratford is much easier coming from the South; going the other way, the angle is much more acute and can be is a challenge in a long boat.

It's been a bit of a plodding morning. Wast Hill is a rather boring tunnel, almost dead straight and plain brick lining throughout, you just stand there at the helm checking the distance markers as they go by. The summit of the W&B could use dredging and that of the Stratford is a disgrace. It too badly needs a dredge – we were dragging on the bottom for much of the way – and the water is full of detritus, not rubbish chucked in by the locals, for once, just large and small bits of tree.

In addition, the offside is thoroughly overgrown and the bridgeholes full of leaf litter. I had to keep chucking back time and again to keep the prop clear. Just to add to the fun, it was a very chillly morning, overcast and with a cool breeze, and there are long lines of offside moorings at both Earlswood and Waring's Green.

We'd left Worcestershire for the West Midlands whilst in the tunnel and now entered Warwickshire as we passed Earlswood. As time dragged on and on, I started counting the bridges to number 20, site of Wedges bakery which we've visited every time we've passed for the last 20 years or so. It's a well established business – there's been a bakery on the site since 1850 – but over the years it's grown and grown until it's now a destination in its own right, with a coffee shop and deli as well as the bakery.

It was now twenty to twelve, so we bought pasties for lunch. There was a choice of two sizes, smallish and huge. Guess which ones we got...

In fact, we ate so much at lunch, I don't think I'm going to cook tonight, we'll just have the sandwiches we should have had a lunchtime. After lunch, we got going again for 45 minutes or so, finishing at Hockley Heath for the night.

Tomorrow, things start going downhill, 19 locks down the Lapworth flight, indeed, finishing up somewhere near Shrewley ready for working down the Stairway to Heaven on Monday.

Ah, that'll be the Hatton 21 on Bank Holiday Monday, then. Should be fun for some...

Location:Hockley Heath

Soggy soggy soggy

As usual, the mooring below Tardebigge Top was quiet overnight. We made a semi-leisurely start, planning to be at the Anglo-Welsh yard just the far side of Tardebigge tunnel for nine. Sheila's had a bit of a sore ankle after twisting it on one of our excursions to Morrisons, so I offered to steer today, after I'd worked us up the top lock, of course.

However, she felt it wasn't that bad and did her day on the tiller. Tardebigge Top is spectacular, being twice as deep as the other locks and at 14 feet a contender for deepest narrow lock on the connected system. There was originally a manually operated boat lift on the site, but it wasn't a success and was replaced by this cavern of a lock.

(People are often impressed by the standard of Victorian engineering they see on the canals. To an extent this is deserved, but it should always be remembered that the less successful stuff isn't around any more because it fell down, fell in or collapsed, sometimes quite spectacularly.)

We chugged through the tunnel, having stopped briefly to try the water point and deciding it was too slow to be worth it, then round to the AW place. Here they were shuffling boats to service them ready for the next hirers, but cheerfully agreed to sell us some diesel if only we'd hang on for a bit, and please would we back off a shade to let them juggle the boats. Sheila did a slick bit of reversing and then hovered the boat for quite a while.

Finally, we were able to come alongside the two hire boats and get fuelled up. I also asked for a couple of bags of solid fuel which turned out to be Taybrite. Not my favourite form of coal, but beggars can't be choosers at this time of year. In fact, apparently Alvechurch have stopped selling coal for the summer now, so many thanks to Adam for suggesting we stop at AW.

We've run out of kindling, too, and so had AW, so I bought a couple of the compressed log things Ann Street mentioned in a comment the other day. Here we were lucky too. None of the staff could remember how much to charge for them, so the girl on the till asked me if £1.50 each would be ok? Still not the good deal Ann got at Tesco, but better than what I think they usually cost.

Having got sorted, off we went again. And it started raining in earnest, all the way to Hopwood, pretty well.

As I pointed out to Sheila, I did offer to steer...

We hadn't recalled Hopwood, but it's a handy stop. There's a water point and a good length of visitor mooring, plus a pub offering a rotisserie. It's a Marston's, so presumably the same menu we sampled at Compton the other week.

We've been relaxing most of the afternoon, catching up with bits and bobs. Tomorrow, we'll have a longish day, through the depths of Wast Hill tunnel and the badlands of Kings Norton. We're aiming for Hockley Heath on the North Stratford, about five hours away.

Location:Hopwood

Up Tardebigge

We got away at ten to eight today. It had been quite frosty overnight with some on the inside of the Houdinis even, but in compensation it was quite sunny to start with, not that it lasted. With a long flight like Tardebigge, we work in blocks of five locks. Since the bottom lock is number 29, this meant swapping jobs at locks whose numbers ended in a three or an eight.

Although an Alvechurch boat had gone up ahead of us, whilst we were still getting up, indeed, the first two locks were empty, a result of leaking bottom gates. Soon, however, each lock had to be turned before we could use it. Our pattern of working was for the lockwheeler to see Sanity Again into the lock, close the bottom gates and draw one top paddle. Once the boat is rising steadily, the lockwheeler walks on to the next lock, checks for oncoming boats and then turns it.

Meanwhile, the steerer gets off the boat when she's risen far enough to do so without climbing on the roof, opens the other top paddle and the gate in due course. The steerer usually has time to drop both paddles before getting back on board and steering into the next lock. The lockwheeler walks back to close the top gate and then back to the upper lock to repeat the sequence.

There was just enough water in the pounds between locks for us to get along and for the first hour and a half no other traffic was seen. After that, we crossed with a couple of boats, first a privateer then a CRT workboat. The lockwheeler from the latter said that if he'd known we were coming up, he'd have left the gates open for us. This downhill traffic was enough to bring a lot of water down, such that it became quite tricky to get into the lock past the outflow from the by-wash.

Just after Sheila had taken over lockwheeling for the second time, a couple of locks after meeting CRT, she radioed back to say that another lockwheeler had turned the next lock. In fact, that lockwheeler had turned the next three locks, so that I had to sit in the lock below for about 20 minutes waiting for them to work down. Apparently, when Sheila had told them that I was waiting below, the response was "Splendid!".

The lockwheeler actually said to me "Thanks for waiting", to which I'm afraid I replied "I didn't have much choice, did I?" I think it was only then that she realised she might just possibly have been guilty of inconsiderate boating. To add to my irritation, it was now drizzling steadily.

Indeed, the Indy's unusual word today was that guid Scots meteorological term "dreich", entirely appropriately today.

By half twelve, we were tied on the visitor moorings below the top lock. It's continued dreich all afternoon, but is forecast to dry up by the morning, or the morn's morn to continue the Scots flavour...

We're pretty tired but not exhausted. It's a good flight to work, though the long throw windlass makes the top paddles much easier to wind. Tomorrow, on to Alvechurch or a bit beyond.

Location:Tardebigge

Eating well and cheaply

We've had a change of plan about today. The pub was amazingly noisy last night – we think they must have had a party in the teepee in the grounds – and it really put us off the idea of eating there. That and looking at the menu on their website. We are talking £9 - £10 for a starter and £20 for a main course. Fine for a celebration meal, but not for a casual night off cooking.

So instead, we made two more trips to the supermarkets. The first was straight after breakfast. We popped into Morrisons to get a couple of pasties for tomorrow before they all sold out and then went on to Aldi to buy whatever was on our list that they were stocking this week, including some meat.

Back at the boat, we stowed things away, drank a mid-morning coffee and relaxed for a while. Then it was back along the route to Morrisons to try the lunch in the café. It was remarkably good and very cheap. In fact, Sheila's lamb shank, my sos, egg, chips and beans and two bottles of fruit juice cost the same as one starter at the Queen's Head. They were decent but not enormous portions and we felt perfectly well fed. That's something to remember for next time I'm feeling lazy about cooking.

I should mention here a tweak to the route I described yesterday. If you are just heading for Morry's, bear left rather than turning right when you reach the end of the footpath, going round the other side of the Roman Glass unit. This takes you to a much better access to the car park and is a bit shorter.

Feel well fed and exercised, we did nothing very much for the first part of the afternoon, but got going a bit later. Sheila knitted a some more of my Guernsey and I went down the weedhatch. The tiller has been shaking a bit and the boat didn't feel as responsive as usual as we finished yesterday. Sure enough, there was a big bunch of weed wrapped round the shaft between the stern post and the prop, easy enough to drag out.

Whilst there, I dipped the fuel tank. It's just on half full, so we'll stop at Alvechurch to fill up. I also touched in a scrape that had appeared on the upper tunnel band. I think I did it by catching the boat when trying to close a lock gate too soon. It had a bit of metal sticking out from the mitre, drat. Fortunately, it was only the cream 154 colour that had come off, the underlying primer was intact, so a simple job to touch it in.

I've emailed the Saltisford Arm Trust about spending a couple of nights there after we've worked down Hatton. They are always very welcoming – the first night is free then it's £5.50 per night for up to a fortnight. They confirmed that they could take us and that it will be OK to have some post sent to us there and to get an Ocado delivery.

Tomorrow's offering here might be a bit brief, after we've worked 29 locks...

Ever up and onwards

Things went pretty much according to plan today, always a pleasant surprise. We were up and about in good time and had pretty well finished breakfast before eight o'clock when I started the engine. There was enough pottering and getting set up to cruise to keep us busy whilst things warmed up, then Sheila started the wash load and we were off.

It was my turn to lockwheel and I didn't bother riding to the first lock. They were all with us again, though one was turned before we got there. The lockwheeler concerned was most apologetic – it had been one of those marginal decisions anyway, though on balance I reckon it was really our lock. He obviously hadn't come down to the bottom end to check for a boat rising in the lock below, which was in plain view. We had a bit of a chat – they were experienced hirers in that they had a widebeam liveaboard on the K&A and had just hired this boat to do some narrow canals.

At the top, I took over steering whilst Sheila walked on to check out the moorings. There was room on the visitor moorings in front of the Queen's Head, though the edge is in very poor condition. Ironically, there is a good bit of Armco just after the 48 hour section which had three boats on it already. We managed to tie up ok and grabbed a mug of coffee before setting off to find our way to Morrisons.

Dedicated readers from nine years ago will recall that last time I got magnificently lost trying to find the store from here and after re-reading the blog from then, we wanted to check that the right footpath was still there. It is, though things have developed rather around it. To get there, walk down the road past the pub, under the railway and over the stream. Carry on up the hill until, just past the lawnmower suppliers, you come to a footpath sign:




Take this path and follow it straight through the first group of industrial units and alongside the stream until it ends at the second group of units. Turn right along the road and you'll see Morrisons to one side and Aldi to the other. It's around 20 minutes walk all told. We got some supplies including pasties for lunch and trekked back. Well, I say pasties but... there was a special offer on the Cornish ones, £1 each or 2 for £2, and the good citizens of Bromsgrove had been so impressed there was only one left.

Sheila chose to have a steak slice instead – what a good wife she is to me.

There's still stuff we'd like to get and these are 48 hour moorings. Actually, as we were finishing lunch, one of the boats on the Armco set off so we nipped out and moved Sanity Again. We were bumping on the rough stuff and this is much better. Anyway, we plan to stay here tomorrow, get another supplies trip in and maybe even eat at the Queen's Head tomorrow night. It has a rep for being pricey but we shall see.

It's been very mixed weather this afternoon – it started to snow whilst we were moving the boat and there have been a couple of fierce squalls since. In one of these, a hapless Black Prince which had just set off from their base at Stoke Prior got blown sideways into us. I shot out to see what was up and they apologised profusely.

That's two apologies in one day, I must be looking fierce at the moment. Mind you, we were just working it out. Our fourth ever canal holiday was on a Black Prince from that very base at the end of the 70s, when the boats were still painted blue and yellow. We took it for a fortnight and worked up Tardebigge and spent the two weeks exploring the BCN when it was still all dark and mysterious and very dilapidated. Not so much mucking about in boats as boating about in muck.

These young hirers today, they don't know what real boating is... ;)

Location:Queens Head

Working up to Stoke Works

We'd planned a short run today, up the Astwood locks and on to Stoke Works, not likely to take more than 90 minutes or so. Sheila needed to run a wash load to keep on top of the laundry, so we started the engine just after eight and left it running whilst we had breakfast, including coffee. This meant that by a quarter to nine or so, the batteries had well finished the bulk charging stage and no longer presented a load to the alternator and the calorifier was well heated.

Sheila got the washing machine running and we set off. It was a good road, all the locks with us, and we made good time. The weather was cool and cloudy and forecast to turn wet by lunchtime, so we were glad to get ahead. The schools having gone back after the Easter break, there's much less traffic about now, mostly older boaters. The water point at Stoke Works is before the bridge, across from the Boat and Railway pub. Since the tank was now only half full, we stopped there to fill it and drink another coffee.

Once filled up, gratefully so since the water point tap made a high pitched squealing noise most of the time it was running, we popped through the bridge onto the visitor moorings (rings and a hard brick edge) where we've sat out the wet.

It's due to turn frosty tonight, so we've dropped the cratch cover, lit the Squirrel and put a rack full of washing in there to to dry with the bow doors open. We'll lift the troughs containing the petunias into the cratch overnight to save them from the frost.

It's quite urban here now – we've finished with the rural idyll for the time being. This is the site of a major salt works in the old days, though that's all gone, replaced by smaller industrial units.

We've got a similar day planned for tomorrow. There's still washing to be done, it being Monday, so we'll repeat this morning's performance before working up the Stoke locks and tying below Tardebigge bottom. Wednesday will see the long haul up Tardebigge, our last uphill locks for a while. We will have climbed up onto the West Midlands plateau, only to work down off it again via Lapworth and Hatton.

Location:Stoke Works

Heigh ho for Hanbury Hall

Our choice of mooring has proved to be very good indeed. Although the railway line is not far away, the train noise didn't penetrate our sleep at all. Boat traffic has been sporadic – it was much busier yesterday, which is probably to do with the ebb and flow of hire fleets. As so often, the hirers have been well-behaved as regards passing speed; it's the privateers that tend to zoom by, especially one advertising the Droitwich Festival on behalf of the Worcester, Birmingham and Droitwich Canal Society. Although we've moored Sanity Again in our usual thorough manner with bow, stern and spring lines, we fairly banged against the piling as they went by :(.

We spent the morning doing a bit of internal boat cleaning and tidying. It was cool enough first thing to need the Squirrel lit, but it's fairly warmed up now.

This afternoon, we made an expedition to Hanbury Hall, about 15 minutes walk away across the fields. This was indeed a bit of an expedition. The route is easy enough, a couple of obvious field paths then a track from the boundary of the National Trust property to the house. There are, however, a number of substantial stiles and two of the fields are currently occupied by six foot high oil-seed rape plants. I was irresistibly reminded of the verse in that scurrilous song "The Wild West Show" about the three foot high pygmies and the nine foot high elephant grass, but this being a family blog, I won't repeat it here.

Once at the house, we wandered round looking for somewhere to show our NTS membership cards, but eventually just presented ourselves at the front door where the stewards checked us in without further formality. The car park and reception hut are over on the other side of the grounds from where you arrive from the canal if you want to go and get a map of the place.

It's an interesting house and well stewarded. The Vernon family were politically active in the stirring times of the late 17th and early 18th centuries (that is, the Glorious Revolution, Queen Anne and then the accession of George I) and the house was re-modelled internally a couple of times with the changing tastes of the period. It's presently been dressed as an example of Baroque style.

In addition, the grounds are of great interest, including a very formal parterre garden.

Back at the boat and feeling well exercised, we've been sitting out on the bow drinking Alpro coconut milk and watching the world go by. Tomorrow, we'll work up the Astwood flight and tie at the foot of the Stoke Locks.

Location:Hanbury

Up the Junction and round the bend

It's been a very successful day. I don't know if it was worry about the route, but neither of us slept terribly well, which at least meant that we were able to get going in good time. At ten to eight, Sheila backed Sanity Again off the pontoon and swung her bow towards Vines Park. The first swing bridge was straightforward, but, as Jennie had warned us, the second one in use,19, is problematic. These bridges are locked in the open-to-pedestrians position by a bar which slots through a hole in an upstand made from a bit of RSJ. There's a tongue on the end of the bar with a hole in it to take a BWB padlock.

On Bridge 19, the tongue isn't quite long enough so that the bridge has to be held firmly across to enable the padlock hasp to be removed or inserted. I was able to recruit a passer-by to help me open it, but Sheila had to hop off to help close up.

The Barge Lock, broad but not accessible to wide beams any more, also has a swing bridge across it. This one is no problem, not least because only the hasp of the padlock is now left. The difficulty with the lock is the fact that none of the gates will open properly because of silt in the recesses. It makes moving round the lock quite complicated and especially frustrating on a day like today, when the low level of the river means that the two ends could have been opened at once.

No matter, we got through and I re-boarded to view the approaching M5 tunnel/bridge. Hilariously, CRT have put the standard tunnel notices at either end, including the advice to wear life jackets for what's essentially a long bridge hole. With the river so low we had about 5" clearance – there are suspended height gauges at the smaller bridges at each end, so plenty of warning if you are not going to make it. The scale showed 2.1 metres – at that level, if you can get through Harecastle, you can get through this bridge.

Relieved to be past it, we were soon heading up the remaining locks. 4 and 5 are a standard staircase, empty the lower chamber and fill the top one regardless of your direction of travel. I was using the long throw windlass for many of the paddles and certainly needed it for the middle paddles of the staircase.

The top three locks are the originals and have side ponds, all of which were empty today and so of no use to us. Steve the volockie joined us for the top lock and proved to be both helpful and chatty. It was just after ten when we reached the junction with the Worcester and Birmingham (or Booster and Wormingham if you're in the mood for a Spoonerism...) We'd planned to stop there but Sheila had meanwhile clocked that some mooring was shown on the Pearson's just below Astwood Bottom, from whence a path leads to Hanbury Hall, a National Trust property. Steve had confirmed to her that these were good moorings, so we carried on and have tied here.

There was a boat here when we arrived, but they've since set off and we're comfortably on our own in the middle of the Spring countryside. In fact, it's so pleasant, we plan to stop for two nights, so as to be able to appreciate Hanbury Hall tomorrow, when we're rested. The afternoon has been spent putting stuff back on the roof, stowing the anchor, chain and warp, cleaning up the well deck and sawing up some firewood we've collected. (Actually, Sheila does the collecting, she has a sharp eye for odd bits of wood lying about.)

After that, it was warm enough to sit out on the towpath for a while, though a rising and chilly breeze has driven us back indoors now.

Location:Hanbury

Loitering in Droitwich

It has indeed been a day for pottering, though to some effect. After a lazy start, I did a few jobs in the engine room which had been hanging round. A couple of fuel joints had started weeping a touch, so I nipped them up. I topped up the engine start battery and got out the stock container of phosphoric acid. I dilute the 80% concentrate down to 10% to use as descaler in the toilet, much cheaper than buying the pre-diluted stuff from the toilet supplier. (As in £20 for 5 litres of concentrate rather than around £18 for 1 litre of dilute.)

Admittedly, you have to be sensible with the concentrated stuff – I do the dilution in the shower tray, wearing nitrile gloves, of course. But then I wear gloves for pretty well any work in the engine bay, diesel or used oil not being good for your skin either.

Having done this and tidied up, we popped into town for a ream of A4 copier, since we'd run out, and another loaf of bread to keep us going for a few days. It's a classic irony that, having searched about in a bit of a hurry yesterday for either a bakers or a shop selling pies, not finding one and getting bread from Waitrose, we've now found two independent bakers and a specialist pie shop.

Back at the boat we sorted some admin jobs like applying for new bus passes which were waiting for us to have the paper supply. This involved a bit of a wrestle with the printer. Although the ink cartridges were quite new, the black one had stopped working, presumably dried out with lack of use, and no matter how much cleaning we gave it, it wouldn't come back to life.

It's the problem of having a printer that's only used for a few months of the year.

Office work all sorted, we then sallied forth to the Gardeners Arms for lunch. Many thanks for the recommendation, Jennie, it was indeed excellent, especially the pies. There's obviously something about Droitwich and pies.

We had a bit of a recovery sit down in the boat after that, then at two o'clock took a walk up the Junction canal. The Salwarpe is very low and there's 2.1 metres headroom under the M5, so hopefully we should be ok – Sheila's taken the plant pots off the roof as she does for Harecastle which is about that height too.

We'll have a quiet evening, then tally ho for Hanbury Junction tomorrow.

Location:Droitwich

Arriving in Droitwich

Today's weather was indeed rather better than forecast, though still not very special. It was cool, cloudy and damp and drizzled from time to time, but never enough to spoil the boating. This was indeed special along this very pleasant bit of canal. We have to differ from the Pearson's evaluation of the locks as "not too onerous", though. Sheila, whose turn it was to lockwheel, found them hard work. The gates are heavy to swing and the paddles hard to draw. Some of this is about the preservation of the original style of fittings, but some of it must be about the balance of the gates and the maintenance of the paddle racks and slides.

It will be interesting to see how the Junction Canal, which is largely new works, compares. The fly in the ointment of our pleasure was concern about finding a mooring here in Droitwich when we got here. In the event, there was no problem at all. There must be about a dozen visitor pontoon slots in the Netherwich basin and half of them were vacant at just after eleven o'clock after nearly three and a half hours cruising. They are very short pontoons, though, so Sanity Again's stern is sticking well out. We've tied with the bow and centrelines and seem secure enough.

The moorings are themselves behind a locked gate which requires a BWB key to open. It's about ten minutes walk to the town centre and a bit less to the prominent Waitrose. Droitwich is a town of contrasts. The outskirts which you pass in the final half hour's cruising look deadly dull, a conglomeration of uninspired modern housing, "and they're all made out of ticky-tacky and they all look just the same". The centre is a striking preservation of the old salt town, with many of the buildings at strange angles where they've subsided as a result of brine pumping, very reminiscent of the area around Middlewich.

We've had an explore and a shop. The moorings are 48 hours, so we may well stay here tomorrow to have a bit of a potter and relax after the exertions of the last couple of days. We've still got over two weeks in hand on the basis of our cruising plan to Crick. We'll take the opportunity to walk up the Junction and suss out its navigational challenges, especially Bridge 5 under the M42.

Final note: it's now half four and the moorings are starting to fill up.

Location:Droitwich

Down the Severn to Hawford Junction

It's been a better day for the weather than expected – we just hope that I'll be able to write the same thing tomorrow, as the forecast is for rain in the morning and we've got half a dozen locks to do.

Today went generally well and to plan with one minor adjustment. Rising at our usual time, we pulled back onto the water point before breakfast, having failed to fill the tank yesterday as a) the tap was slow and b) there was a big demand for it. This morning, the pressure was much better so that we barely had time to finish eating before we'd filled up.

Sheila steered us through the maze that is the Stourport basins, another situation where experience of Mercia was a great help. I hopped off above the first staircase and filled the top lock. The gate paddle was hard work at that time but the rest of them proved less troublesome. As warned, the transit from the bottom of the upper staircase to the top of the lower one is very tricky in a 70 footer, there's only just room to get round, but Sheila accomplished it with her usual aplomb and a gentle hand on the throttle.

Off we went down the wide, wide river. I rang Lincomb Lock as soon as we were on our way and the lockie had it open and ready for us when we got there – I'd just had time to get a wash load on the go. The Severn locks are all keeper operated and a doddle after the Thames or Trent ones. Although the Pearson's doesn't say so, they are on VHF channel 74; I'd have rigged ours if I'd known.

We'd planned to moor for the rest of the day below Holt Lock, where the Pearson's showed visitor moorings, but these proved to be some rather decrepit pub moorings, very unattractive. So we activated Plan B which was to carry on to Droitwich today. The entrance to Hawford Junction points downstream, but there's loads of room to turn below and, of course, approaching from downstream is better anyway, giving more control.

The first of the Droitwich Barge Canal locks had heavy gates but reasonably easy paddles, as had the second which follows almost immediately. The towpath between vanishes into some bushes on the right but does re-emerge by the lock. Rising up this one, we saw some excellent moorings above, not marked on the guide: they do look very new with good piling and handy rings. Not all the rings in the right place, naturally, but handy even so.

Accordingly, we knocked off for the day and have been tied here all afternoon. It was calm enough to get the whirligig out and get the towels out to dry. After lunch, we took a walk up the towpath to see what tomorrow has in store. This truly is a beautiful bit of canal once you are clear of the A449 road noise, well meriting Pearson's favourite adjective, "bosky".

Back at the boat, now well exercised, we've been sitting around and chatting to passers-by. Boats have come and gone, though this mooring is now pretty well full. We had a particularly long conversation with Simone off a Canal Club boat, Naretha Blue, before they decided to move on down to Worcester.

Tomorrow, another six of these broad locks will take us up to the visitor moorings at Netherwich Basin in Droitwich. There is a Waitrose in Droitwich, hooray!

Location:Hawford

A glorious potter in Stourport

It's been a very good day for pottering-type boating as opposed to navigation. After a lazy start, we sorted out the anchor and the life jackets, then worked down York Street lock and found both the short length of visitor mooring and the service wharf occupied. However, the boat on the service wharf was wanting a pump out but didn't have a card, so needed to wait until Limekiln Chandlers opened at half nine so that they could buy one. Accordingly, they pulled back onto an odd bit of unused wharf and Sheila shoe-horned Sanity Again in in front of him.

The pump out hose was ludicrously short and we ended up pulling forward and overlapping with the boat on the VM. This boat was filling with water and crewed by very friendly folk so a good bit of canal chatting went on between the three boats as all this was going on. Once we'd pumped out, I nipped into Limekiln myself to buy an up to date Pearson's Guide, no problem there, and a replacement pump out card for the one I'd just used. Of these, they were sold out...

Fortunately, Starline Cruisers were now open and our new friends pushed over there to get their pump out – at a better price of £14 rather than £16 for the brief CRT option. The other boats duly moved off and we've pulled forward onto the VM for the night. Whilst all this was going on, an ex-CanalTime boat, City of Durham, came down the lock and onto the pump out. Her steerer, Nick, is a follower of this blog, excellent chap, and he came over and made himself known to us.

It was good to meet you, Nick, it's always nice to have the reassurance that there are people out there reading my witterings!

After coffee, we made an expedition to the Co-op and Post Office. There was a Photo-me booth there, so we've finally been able to get out passport photos for our new bus passes. Back at the boat, it was just nice time for lunch. It's very pleasant indeed here, especially as the sun has returned today. We've washed the roof and one side of the boat, removing the evidence of having been tied under trees for the last three nights, thank you birdies.

The clock on the Clock Warehouse rings out the hours and there's a general feeling of living heritage. The Tontine Hotel has found a new purpose as upmarket apartments. Pearson rightly says that a tontine was an odd Victorian financial gamble whereby a group of friends each contributed to an investment, in this case an hotel, and the last survivor won the lot. He comments that it would make an excellent basis for a thriller.

Clearly hasn't read The Wrong Box by Robert Louis Stevenson, then, nor seen the 1966 film which starred John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers...

Location:Stourport

To the end of the Staffs and Worcs

The weather wasn't quite as bad as had been forecast last night – it only rained on and off rather than all the time. It meant that a waterproof jacket was sufficient rather than the coverall rain suit but wasn't terribly cheerful even so.

Having worked down Wolverley and Wolverley Court locks, we changed our minds about stopping at Sainsbury's to shop. Although Kidder seems to have improved a bit since the bad old days when there were signs on the visitor moorings telling you not to leave your boat unattended, it's still not a comfortable place to hang around. That said, there were a few boats which had clearly stopped overnight at Sainsbury's and a few more at Weavers Wharf. But then, boats stop overnight at Shobnall Fields in Burton and the last Braidbar that stayed there was attacked in the late evening by a gang of youths wielding an iron bar.

We recalled that there's a Lidl beside the towpath in Stourport and, although you can't take a trolley to your boat from it, it's close enough to do more than one trip.

We locked down Kidderminster Lock to the tune of the church carillon and carried on out into the countryside via Caldwell and Falling Sands locks. The final run into Stourport is a bit of a plod, not horrible but not exciting either, especially in a cold drizzle. Sheila did attempt to liven things up by announcing as I was approaching a bridge hole on a blind bend that a boat was coming the other way, only to correct herself immediately, before I'd even got my hand on the throttle.

She later confessed that she'd mistaken a swan's wing briefly glimpsed for a bow flash...

We arrived just before eleven to find plenty of space between Bridges 5a and 5. It's all filled up now, though only just. We had a coffee and a warm beside the relit Squirrel, then ate lunch.

This afternoon, we've had a mooch round the basins, being gongoozlers for once, then made two trips to Lidl. There are a few bits and bobs we couldn't get there so will visit the Co-op tomorrow. The cunning plan is to lock down into the basin and get a pump out first thing, then find a mooring either in the basin, just onto the river or, if all else fails, we'll lock back up backwards and tie on the York Street moorings again.

That will give us a chance to get an up to date guide for the Droitwich from Limekiln chandlers (closed today) and to do the top up shop. I'll also get the anchor out and rig the VHF antenna ready for going down river on Tuesday.

Location:Stourport

Working down to Wolverley

The Kinver moorings did indeed get well filled by the end of the afternoon. As always, we enjoyed our pre-war sos, this time with new potatoes and some steamed Savoy cabbage. For those who haven't come across these excellent bangers, only so far as I know obtainable in Kinver, I should explain that they are not mummified remains from before 1939 but are made to that traditional standard.

During World War II, breadcrumbs were no longer used as the binding in sausages, but were replaced with the rusk which continues to be used to this day. The product available in Kinver is made in the old way with prime shoulder of pork, traditional spices and bound with breadcrumbs. The casings are traditional too. The end result is a sausage that cooks as it should, popping or splitting sometimes but never falling apart and the skin ends up a dark brown shading to black. We usually grill them, being a bit faddy health conscious, but I have fried them in the past with equally good results.

We had a bit of a lazy start this morning, intending to set off at half eight, but the day was so bright and enticing that we were on our way by quarter past. There weren't many locks for me to do, just Whittington and Debdale, but I walked a good chunk of the way too, repaying the service Sheila did me yesterday along today's even bendier section. This paid off at Austcliffe, where I was able to warn Sheila of a privateer heading her way before she'd committed to the bend.

I then walked through Cookley, including the short tunnel, and saw her down Debdale Lock. Debdale is the most tedious lock on this stretch as there's no easy way from one side of the bottom end to the other. The choice is a trek across a bridge, through the side of a field, over a stile and back up some steps or else to go round the top end via a footboard which is presently inclined at around 20º to the horizontal.

I had to hop back on board afterwards but still provided a lookout round the sharp bend which follows soon after.

We got to Wolverley by half ten and found plenty of room above the lock, though it's filled up quite a bit now. The cut is rather narrow here and a couple of boats have clonked us trying to manoeuvre past onto the lock landing. The local hire company is Starline of Stourport and their hirers mostly seem to be novices. It's a bit like the old CanalTime boats used to be, not necessarily a matter of inadequate handover procedures but quite possibly just too much for total novices to grasp.

In the last few days we've had to point out to one boat crew that you should drop paddles and close gates behind you and to another that the lock landing is not the best place to tie up for lunch and go shopping. In both cases the response was "Sorry, we didn't know." It's important to remember that almost all of us were novice hirers once and to be patient, but we do wonder if there's something about Starline that makes them attractive to the first timer.

Tomorrow, through Kidder, stopping to shop, and on to Stourport.

Location:Wolverley

Karrying on to Kinver

After another rather broken night (must do something about my cooking ;)), we slept in a bit and didn't get going until after seven. Thinking it was a pretty straightforward and short run to Kinver, I wasn't too worried, aiming to set off around half eight, which we managed.

It was a very pleasant morning for boating, sunny and with little breeze at first. It was my turn to steer and Sheila rode for a while, then hopped off to do Rocky and Gothersley locks. It being Easter Saturday, we've seen a fair bit of traffic about. Indeed, a boat left Ashwood Marina and led us down all the locks.

This made for slightly slower going, but since we wanted to fit a wash load in, that didn't matter either. In the event, we just had nice time for that. Sheila got it going after Gothersley, then walked on again for the sake of the exercise in the sun and to give me warning of oncoming boats. This is the bendiest section of the southern Staffs and Worcs, dictated by the sandstone outcrops which were almost too much for the 18th century navvies, limited in their technology as they were to shovels, picks and black powder for blasting.

It all makes for entertaining cruising. Last time we came this way, we had quite a problem with depth, especially at the tail of the locks, but CRT have had a big dredging blitz recently and the channel was more than sufficient. Nonetheless, I'd underestimated the time it all took and we didn't get down the fifth lock, Kinver itself, until after half eleven.

Wisely, the visitor moorings here are restricted to 24 hours and there was plenty of room. They are on a bit of a curve, but nothing that can't be accommodated with care and three good fenders.

As soon as we were tied, we walked up into the village to shop for meat, bread and a few other perishables; we'll get a good restocking opportunity when we pass through Kidderminster on Monday, there being a Sainsbury's right by the cut. Kinver is blessed with both a good butcher and a baker, both with a very traditional feel.

We got some of the famous pre-war sausages for tonight and a nice granary loaf from the baker. A quiet time was had after lunch, but we have put in another walk since, collecting kindling and enjoying the weather. Tomorrow, it's going to rain but it really is a short run to Wolverley, our usual stop before tackling the badlands of Kidder. Apart from shopping, we'll boat straight through to Stourport on Monday, hoping that CRT have managed to clear the tree which is reported to be blocking the cut at Bridge 5.

Location:Kinver

Slogging it down to Greensforge

We'd planned to start down The Bratch at eight today, having checked with the lockie yesterday that that's when he opens up, but didn't wake properly (after a poor night, blame the Co-op tortelloni) until seven. However we still made it, just, and had a straightforward trip down that odd flight of three. Mark the lockie is a very pleasant and knowledgable chap, a boater of forty years, so much the same level of experience as ourselves. He was assisted by just one volockie this morning, though there were three volunteers about yesterday

As Sanity Again sank in the bottom lock, I was told to get on and the two lockies closed up behind us. As I did so, Sheila said "I thought you were walking to Bumble Hole?"

"I was," I said, "but the lockie told me to get on the boat and I always do as the lockie tells me." Many moons ago, I anticipated an instruction from a lockie at Foxton, the fabled and dreaded Mick, and after that I've always done as I'm told ;). Well, by lockies, anyway.

So I rode to Bumble Hole lock, just round the corner, worked us down it then hopped on with the intention of riding to Botterham too. Unfortunately I misread the Pearson's Guide and got Sheila to drop me at the wrong bridge, leaving me with about a mile to walk to the staircase. It's a while since I've had that classic lockwheeler's experience of trudging on and on and on, wondering where the h*ll the damn lock has got to.

Once there, at last, I soon had it set up, top lock full (it was already) and bottom lock empty. As we finished, a boat appeared from below so I didn't need to close up. The thing is, the next five locks really are all within walking distance, so I ended up hoofing it for most of the morning. At Hinksford I took over steering and let Sheila finish that one. She then rode for a couple of bridges before hopping off to suss the mooring opportunities at Greensforge.

There turned out to be a long long length of long term moorings, mostly vacant, then one boat length of visitor mooring before the water point, occupied. So we stopped to water and have a mid morning cup of coffee. There was a load of space below the lock and we found a spot reasonably clear of the shade. It's very pleasant here.

This afternoon, we managed to find the Ashwood Nurseries garden centre nearby, another walk along a couple of roads but not too problematic with grass verges most of the way. Just before getting to the garden centre you cross a strange single track iron road bridge over the Ashwood Arm that houses Ashwood marina. It's much larger than you'd think from what you can see from the mainline.

Sheila bought some petunias and a spearmint plant and has now planted up the other troughs and the big blue pot. It's been raining on and off all afternoon, just what the new planting needs.

Meanwhile, I've solved the Pages problem from yesterday by finding the install disc for iWork '09 and putting the old, fully featured version of Pages on the new laptop.

Tomorrow, on through Stourton Junction and Stewponey Lock to Kinver.

Location:Greensforge

Boating on to The Bratch

We had a good meal in the Oddfellows last night, though not a memorable one. It turned out to be a Marstons pub, but one of the better ones of its ilk, with a new menu that included some interesting rotisserie dishes. Sheila had the half chicken in mushroom and garlic sauce and was very pleased with it. I had a rump steak which was OK though "medium rare" was more like "medium". The beer was a bit pricey by our standards but that's about the locale, I guess.

Today we set off in good time and worked steadily down six locks, only being held up by an upcoming boat at Awbridge Lock, boating with its fenders down with the inevitable consequence. You can get away with it for a surprisingly long time but sooner or later there's a lock that's a bit narrower... In addition, the steerer did come across as a bit clueless. Having managed to back out, losing one fender, he tried powering in with the other still down and stuck again, of course, only this time even harder.

As we finally left the lock, at least Sheila was able to recover the first fender before it ended up round our prop.

We hadn't decided whether to work down The Bratch today, but when we got here it was still very cold and dank and threatening to rain, so we've stopped at the top. It means me doing ten locks tomorrow, but I quite enjoy the sequence of the Bratch oddity, then Bumble Hole, then the Botterham staircase.

My main moan today is the discovery that the "upgrade" of Pages on the Mac to version 5.5 is more like a crippling, reducing it to the functionality of this version of Pages on the iPad. In particular, the facility for bookmarking from one page to another via hyperlinks has disappeared, that being something I'd used heavily in the BOG Pub Guide. I'll now have to work out a way of editing the Guide in another app so as to put all those links back.

Aaargh!

Tomorrow, on to Greensforge.

Location:The Bratch

Coven to Compton

It's been possibly the poorest day, weatherwise, since we set out. There was a bit of brightness first thing, but it soon disappeared and most of the time it's been very cool, draughty rather than breezy and occasionally actually damp. Nonetheless, we got some decent boating in, just two hours from Coven to Compton.

For us, it's also a rather dull bit of canal, though the stretch through the Rockin' is at least a challenge for the steerer (Sheila in this case). I had been busy down below starting the washing machine when we got there but had it up and running soon after we entered the narrows proper. This was just as well as, although it was not quite nine o'clock, there was a boat coming the other way as we reached the bridge halfway through.

It proved to be one of the 'Ginger' boats from Stone. We pulled over into the lay-by just after the bridge and I hopped off and held the centreline whilst they slipped past. The steerer told us he'd met two boats so far, ourselves and the other in the stop lock at Autherley, an excellent example of Sod's Law as applied to boating.

Plodding steadily on, we reached Compton just as the wash cycle was finishing and stopped on the 5 day moorings above the lock, bow to bow with a rather tired looking boat, clearly a rugged sort of liveaboard. After a coffee, we set out to walk into the village to get bread for lunch and noted two things. Firstly that the hippy hutch had a large genny prominent in its well deck and secondly, unusually, that there were no boats on the much better visitor moorings between the lock and the road bridge.

Accordingly, having raided the Sainsbury's Local we moved Sanity Again down the lock and remoored. As yesterday, we're on our ownio here, though it's possible that we'll be joined by others in the early evening. On the other hand, we're no longer on the Four Counties, though there's been a bit of traffic past even so. As far as we know, Compton is a reasonably safe mooring but it's always nicer to have a bit of company.

The Squirrel was lit very early today and is now burning up well. Indeed, it's almost too warm as I sit here in the dinette typing this.

We plan to go out for a meal tonight, no special reason, we just feel like it. We plan on trying the Oddfellows pub which is within easy walking distance.

Finally, some more info has been published on CWDF about the fishing contests I mentioned yesterday:

C&RT's reply from Facebook


Hi there, John Ellis from our fisheries team have advised that the whole match length will not be used there will be no competitors pegged between bridge 56 and bridge 64, (Tyrley to Market Drayton town (between bridge 69 and 71 (Adderley area) and between bridge 72 and bridge 81. (Audlem) . If you require further information they can be found here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/.../division-one-national... and the contact details of the match organiser can also be found on there, it may be worth contacting them for further details. Siân L

So according to that link they gave me the sections are:

Section Location
A Bridge 42 to Bridge 44
B Bridge 44 to Bridge 45
C Bridge 46 to Bridge 48
D Bridge 48 to Bridge 50
E Bridge 50 to Bridge 53
F Bridge 53 to Bridge 56
G Bridge 64 to Bridge 66
H Bridge 66 to Bridge 69
J Bridge 71 to Bridge 72
K Bridge 81 to Bridge 84


And here is when each section is being used:

Sun 21 May Open Match on D Sect. Draw, Hippodrome (Wetherspoons) M Drayton TF9 1PS. Contact Brian on 07847628442 or Steve on 07576039169.
Sat 27 May Open Match on J Sect. Draw, Hippodrome (Wetherspoons) M Drayton TF9 1PS. Contact and bookings to Bob Yeomans on 07931555958.
Sun 28 May Open Match on H Sect. Draw, Hippodrome (Wetherspoons) M Drayton TF9 1PS. Contact and bookings to Bob Yeomans on 07931555958.
Sun 11 June Open Match on K Sect, Coole Pilate. Draw at the Overwater Marina CW5 8AY. Contact Paul Harding on 07504346883 (Match limited to 50 pegs).
Sat 24 June Open Match on E & F Sect, Goldstone. Draw at Hippodrome M Drayton TF9 1PS. Details & Bookings to Dave Watkins on 07725556159.
Sat 01 July Open Match on G Sect, Market Drayton. Draw at Hippodrome M Drayton TF9 1PS. Details and Bookings to Dave Watkins on 07725556159.
Sun 09 July Open Match on B & C Sections. Draw at Knighton Social Club, ST20 0QH. Contact and bookings to Terry Nutt on 07970181824.
Sun 16 July Open Match on D Sect, Draw, Draw at Hippodrome M Drayton TF9 1PS. Contact Brian on 07847628442 or Steve on 07576039169.
Sat 22 July Open Match on A & B Sections. Draw at Knighton Social Club, ST20 0QH. Contact and bookings to Terry Nutt on 07970181824.
Sat 05 Aug Canal & River Trust Pairs. C & D Sect, Park Heath. Draw at Castle Hotel, Bletchley TF9 3RZ. Contact, Angling Trust.
Fri 11 Aug Garbolino RAF Teams of 5. A & B Sect, High Offley & Shebdon. Draw at Knighton Social Club ST20 0Q. Contact Ben Jackson on 07979527662.
Sat 12 Aug Individual National. E,F,G Sect, Goldstone & Market Drayton. Draw at Barbers, Market Drayton Livestock Auction, (Sat Nav TF9 3SW).Contact, Angling Trust.
Sun 13 Aug Canal & River Trust Pairs, H & J Sect Adderley. Draw at Castle Hotel, Bletchley TF9 3RZ.
Plus the whole lot on the 19th

Thanks to StephenA on CWDF for finding that out.

Tomorrow, on to The Bratch.

Location:Coven

Winding our way to Coven

It's been another very pleasant day despite the cool weather. As seems to be the pattern at the moment, the morning was sunny and calm at first, so we got going in good time although the trip from Gailey to Coven only takes a couple of hours. It was my turn to steer so Sheila had to do all of the lock and then had the rest of the morning off, apart from sitting in the bow and looking out.

This has to be the best bit of the northern section of the Staffs and Worcs, a typical Brindley summit pound, winding and winding about. It keeps the steerer awake, certainly, especially in a 70 footer. After over an hour of this, I looked across the fields to my right and there was the final stack of the Four Ashes chemical works we'd passed as soon as we left Gailey, still just about half a mile away.

There were just a few boats about, much to Sheila's relief as she felt I was cutting a few corners in my exuberant steering, especially passing the Calf Heath marina at Hatherton Junction. It still wasn't clear to me whether the club house/restaurant there was open for general trade, but since there's no easy visitor mooring there now, it probably doesn't matter.

When we got to the Fox and Hounds visitor moorings there was one boat tied just off the near end and a couple on the VMs themselves. These latter left within the hour so that we were in solitary splendour all day. As I type this a couple of boats have arrived and tied up. Like us, they probably see this as the best overnight mooring before heading past Wolverhampton.

We've had a walk into Coven village to do a bit of shopping, including buying some meat from the butcher there. This afternoon, Sheila found a website describing a garden centre/nursery a short walk away down the towpath. She's still looking for plants for the other two troughs so we took a stroll down there, only to find that it was shut and looking pretty derelict.

Finally, and thinking ahead, a thread on Canal World warns that there are to be a couple of major fishing competitions on the Shroppie, one in August and the other in September. The first one, at least, looks likely to occupy 17 miles of towpath from Shebdon to Coole Pilate. Previous experience of these major comps is that no space will be left for mooring in that distance, not even the lock landings. Since we are vaguely planning to head for Chester via the Shroppie after Crick, this is vital info.

The discussion on CWDF is getting pretty heated, not surprisingly. I don't myself understand the pleasure of catching inedible fish in order to weigh them and throw them back, so I'd better not say much more here, but it does seem a bit daft to take up such a length of the most popular cruising route in the country, at the height of the holiday season. You'd think the anglers themselves wouldn't want a constant procession of boats passing under the circumstances.

Location:Coven

Lock we Gailey, up we go...

Sheila had a cunning plan for today and, like most of hers if not of mine, it worked. We arose betimes and worked up Penkridge lock before breakfast. It was Sheila's turn to steer so I worked the lock and saw her onto the water point above. Having started the tank filling and dumped rubbish and recycling, we ate breakfast complete with coffee.

We were just finishing when a group of lockwheelers appeared asking where the water point was. They were off the Black Prince boat Poppy and we had just finished filling when Poppy was ready to leave the lock.

I walked on to Filance, arriving as a boat left coming down so good news all round. Once up that lock I rode to Otherton, setting the washing machine going as I did so. I should perhaps say something about the amount of washing we do since it apparently exercises the minds of some of my readers.

We have a Zanussi Compact or Studio machine, a little physically smaller than a full sized domestic beast. From the boater's point of view this has a number of advantages. It uses less water, takes up less room and does a smaller load. In practice one load of polycottons will consist of, say, three or four shirts and the corresponding underwear and socks. This is just the amount which can be dried reasonably easily either on the whirligig when the weather is kind or on a mixture of hangers in the engine room for the larger articles and a folding rack in front of the Squirrel for the smalls.

It will also take a double sheet and pillow cases or a quilt cover, or a set of towels. So in practice we can wash three days worth of clothes for the two of us in one load, hence the tendency to wash every other day so as to get through the linens as well. The "Daily" wash setting takes about 90 minutes so can be complete after a typical day's boating for us, allowing an initial half hour for the alternator to do the bulk battery charging and get the water in the calorifier decently hot.

Although the machine is cold fill only, as most are these days, we set it going then add 16 litres or so of hot water via the soap drawer – if you fill it up before starting the cycle, it perversely pumps it all out again.

Elanor tells me that I remind her of a criticism of Ronald Reagan by one of his ex-wives: "If you ask him the time, he'll tell you how the watch was made", so I guess that's enough, or more than enough, about washing on board...

It was a good run although, as we were following one of Justin's Aqua hire boats, every lock of the next four was against us. We've tied below Gailey Lock on the visitor moorings there, well back from the lock which will otherwise bounce you about rather when emptying. I've had to light the Squirrel again as the weather is indeed cool, cloudy and breezy, but at least it will encourage the clothes to dry.

Tomorrow, up that last lock and on to Coven.

Location:Gailey

We're up to Penkridge

The forecast good weather did indeed materialise this morning – it was almost a pity that we didn't have a very long day's boating in prospect. No matter, we set off a bit after eight as usual with three locks between us and Penkridge. Acton Trussell is one of those villages that sounds more romantic that it is in reality. The guides describe how James Brindley is believed to have used the moat of the local manor house as part of the canal and I well recall how excited I felt the first time we approached the place.

Trouble is, what was the manor house is now a hotel and restaurant of smart but unexceptionable appearance, so that the most exciting thing about Acton Trussell nowadays is that it rhymes with Darcey Bussell. (Strange the odd thoughts that pop into your mind whilst steering.) The standout feature of the place today was the long line of largely pleasant anglers on the towpath opposite.

A little further on and it was time to drop Sheila to work Shutt Hill lock, which was a) against us and b) had its top gate standing open. Still, it didn't slow us down, much, and another boat turned up below as we worked up. The lockwheeler kindly closed the gate for us, so that Sheila could hop aboard as we left the lock. It's always good to meet with fellow boaters who observe the minor courtesies.

By Park Gate we'd caught up with the working pair that were ahead of us and who'd passed us on our mooring yesterday afternoon. Presumably they are on their way to Ellesmere Port for the Easter Gathering of working boats, but they'll have to get a wiggle on to do it in time. I'm sure it can be done but they'll have to do the length of the Shroppie in about three days flat.

Sheila has at times walked from Park Gate to Longford, the last lock before Penkridge, but chose to ride this time, remembering that we needed to walk into the village to buy some supplies before lunch. There was loads of room when we got here just before half ten and we've tied in our usual spot opposite the park home site.

It's a pleasant stroll down into the village on a sunny morning. We found most of what we wanted in a nearly deserted Co-op, then remembered that there's now a Sainsbury's Local store further down. It has an ATM and the supplies of cash were getting a bit low so we carried on down there. I nipped into the store for a nice multiseed loaf for today and some peppers that the Co-op didn't have.

Back at the boat there was just time for stowage and a brief sit down before eating lunch. The afternoon has mostly been spent sitting in the well deck reading, doing puzzles and knitting. Sheila tells me that my Guernsey has advanced by a further eight rows as a result (Guernseys grow only slowly, being knitted on fine needles with an equally fine yarn).

Sadly, this hot spell is due to finish today and we will be heading on to Gailey tomorrow in much cooler and cloudier conditions.

Location:Penkridge

Sunny cruise to Deptmore

Tixall Wide must be one of the most pleasant places to moor on the system, especially on a sunny day. It's very quiet, the locals make good use of the towpath and are friendly and there's always something to watch.

Nonetheless, we wanted to get on, so set off at around half eight along the first stretch of the Staffs and Worcs. There's just time to make and drink a cup of decent coffee with the AeroPress before the lock hoves into view. Fruit of the Vine was just on her way up it as we got there but initially there was no sign of anything coming the other way, good news I passed on to Sheila hovering below the lock.

However, just as I was about to close up and turn the lock a boat appeared coming round the corner. I warned Sheila, who now had a bit of a problem as the lock landing is out of action at the moment being repiled, at last, and the cut is very shallow on the offside. The bow promptly became enamoured of the offside, naturally, and it took her some determined reversing to get it unstuck. The steerer of the boat coming down was a bit bemused to see Sanity Again disappearing backwards down the cut.

"I think she's left you!" was his observation to me.

After that, things were pretty much plain sailing on a splendid day. I pottered about doing chores down below – there's just nice time to run a wash load between Tixall Lock and Deptmore – and sitting out on the bow being a lookout. There was a bit of traffic without it being in any way a problem. For my money, this is not the best bit of the S&W but it's still very pleasant on a fine Spring morning.

We've tied in our favourite spot above Deptmore. There's just a bit of noise from the M6 but nothing to compare with the traffic noise in Mercia. The whirligig was deployed though the fresh breeze meant that only light items could be left out. We did try putting up some shirts and a pair of trousers but one of my shirts, in particular, decided it was a spinnaker and filled with wind (like its owner some might say – as long as they don't expect me to buy them a pint). In order to enjoy our lunch in peace we took the larger stuff in.

The afternoon has ambled past in relaxed fashion. We've seen the first ducklings of the year, just a pair of them and a proud mum. The farmer across the way did start spreading muck on the huge field there, but hasn't come too close to the water's edge and is now busy ploughing it in. He's using a five share plough and one of those massive tractors, a major contrast to the way it was done when this canal was built and indeed up until after the Second World War.

Tomorrow, Penkridge.

Location:Deptmore

It Tixall sorts

First off, something I forgot to mention yesterday about Tesco. In the entrance to the store, they had a display of apples and bananas with a sign inviting parents to take one, free, for their child as part of their five a day:




They even provided bags to take the cores and peels afterwards. Well done them.

It has indeed been a better day today, still with a rather cold wind but much sunnier and what wind there was was much gentler. Off we ambled at the usual time, yours truly steering and Sheila set up to do all two locks. It's one of the nicest stretches of the T&M, I reckon, the run from Rugeley to Great Haywood. There are just a few moored boats and there's the interest of the pig farm as you go by, followed by The Taft.

Maid of Oak is still there, though last time we passed she was for sale. You'd need to be either very well off or very dedicated to buy a modern wooden hull, we reckon, it being much harder to get adequately seasoned oak these days.

Arriving at Colwich just after nine, we had the place to ourselves initially, apart from the odd dog walker, but just as we left and Sheila closed up, who should appear in the distance but Ivor and Mel on Lepus. They'd been on the Macc and were not impressed by the depth. "What a ditch!" was Ivor's comment.. Right enough, in a deep draughted working boat like Lepus it must have been hard work.

There aren't many boats tied below Haywood but two of them were Mercia moorers Tootling by Gently and Ay Up Mi Duck. We'd already seen Crafty Foxes earlier, so that's three Mercia boats seen in one day.

I managed the turn onto the Staffs and Worcs in one smooth curve, even missing the bows of the Anglo-Welsh boats immediately through the bridge hole. It is nice when it comes together like that. Lots of room here on Tixall, still, though I'm sure it will fill up later with such a fine weekend in prospect.

We walked back to the Farm Shop for some nice veg and some Pork and Black Pudding sausages for tonight. They aren't selling bedding plants yet, to Sheila's disappointment as we had some very good surfinias from them last year, some of the best we've ever had. Trouble is, there's still a risk of frost so it's really too soon to be planting them out.

Since lunch we've not been totally idle, washing the side of the boat and I did some cleaning and tidying in the engine 'ole and the storage space alongside. After that, feeling full of virtue, we've been sitting out on the bow, Sheila knitting my guernsey and me catching up with my loafing.

Tomorrow, on to Deptmore.

Location:Tixall

Roaming round Rugeley

You can visit a town over and over again and still find something new in it, even one like Rugeley, not the first place to spring to mind when listing noteworthy places in Staffordshire. It's main claim to fame until recently was the power station, by no means the largest in the Trent Valley, but important in its own way as a "cold start" station, that is one that doesn't need input from the National Grid to get fired up.

Only a few years ago it was the site of a mega-million flue gas desulphurisation project, including the construction of a brand new chimney stack, but it's been closed down now as part of the move away from coal firing to cleaner fuels.

Anyhow, as regular readers will recall, we almost always stop there on the way through, mooring at Bridge 66 and visiting the new Tesco and often the Wilko's nearby. Today, though, we had another reason to do so. Many years ago we bought a hair trimmer in Aylesbury and Sheila has cut my hair with it ever since. Recently though, this sturdy device has been succumbing to old age. The combs have started breaking up (and the new set we bought it soon gave up the ghost) and the nice soft grip handle has turned sticky and 'orrible. It's had to be wrapped in cling film for the last couple of outings.

Some online research discovered that Argos were selling a very similar model, also a Remington, for not much more than the last one cost and that Rugeley has a branch of Argos within walking distance of Bridge 66. So, setting off at 8.15 this morning, we found a premium mooring spot right by the bridge and set out to find it. (Leaving the binoculars at home, Jo.)

It took a bit of roaming around, but we finally spotted it tucked away next to one of the town's many car parks. I should comment that the Luftwaffe seem to have done a very piecemeal job on Rugeley so that the modern replacement buildings are shoe horned in around the surviving old shops in a higgledy-piggledy way. A bit of catalogue searching turned up the beast I'd chosen and, as the store was very quiet, we were soon in possession and on our way to Wilko's.

There we bought another of a our favourite boating items, a lidded polythene 30 litre crate for storing surplus clothes under the dinette. Previously, we've used a big sports bag for this, but that's back in the lodge doing a similar task there. The weather's not yet warm enough to wear short sleeves and the drawers aren't large enough to hold both long and short sleeved shirts at the same time.

Back at the boat we off loaded these purchases and grabbed a mug of coffee before raiding Tesco for some bits and bobs. It was now half eleven and Sheila set off steering whilst I stowed the booty. An hour's boating saw us tied on the new rings at Brindley Bank. These are proving very popular these days, so well done IWA Staffs Branch who put them in.

We've had to light the fire again but the sun has now come out and the wind is due to go round to the west by tomorrow, which should make things feel a lot milder than the last couple of days, hooray. Tomorrow, on to Tixall.

Location:Brindley Bank

Locking on and a good deed

This is an experiment in creating the post in Pages on the iPad and then pasting it into the BlogPress editor. We'll see how it goes...

After another prompt start today, on a fine but cool morning scheduled to deteriorate, we headed up to Fradley, me steering and Sheila locking. Bagnall was ready for me well before I got there and things chugged on in similar fashion all morning. Sheila started a wash load between Bagnall and Common.

Willow Wharf farm on the offside, formerly Happy Girlie Hens, seems to be developing apace, as does the nascent boatyard above Common where they are collecting what look Ike Colecraft shells in primer. The locks were largely against us and we started to cross with boats by Junction Lock. It was still fine and calm, so hovering below the locks was no problem.

Middle and Shade House had volockies on duty, though the elderly chap at Middle put up a bit of a black mark by asking if Sanity Again was an ex-Challenger. Sheila managed not to tell him to wash his mouth out as he was being so friendly and helpful, but it was a close run thing.

The guy at Shade House apologised for the lack of a volockie at Woodend – it seems the lack of toilet facilities means one can't be stationed there. Since the volockie scheme, excellent as it is, also doubles as a social services project for the isolated elderly, this is quite understandable.

(I've not been getting many comments on the blog so far this trip, so clearly need to be a touch more controversial ;))

The weather having duly turned cold, cloudy and windy, I added a waterproof jacket and a fleece beanie to the layers I was already wearing and very welcome they were too. In addition, we had a coffee once locking was over for the day.

A bit further on, a dog walker warned me of a boat adrift up ahead. Sheila had just finished hanging out the washing so went out on the bow again and we plodded cautiously on. And on. And on. That dog must have had a good walk. Finally, the drifter showed up, blown across the cut into the offside vegetation. As we approached, pondering how to tackle the recovery, a welcome sight appeared on the towpath in the shape of a chap in hi-vis and blue sweatshirt. CRT were on the case.

His mate was already on the offside trying to board the derelict and discovering why we keep pleading for better veg control. I collected the guy on the towpath and put him aboard the drifter. His mate, a senior figure in a black sweatshirt, worked his way back to the road and headed down the towpath towards us carrying a coil of line. We were able to leave them to it, good deed done for the day.

An uneventful cruise to our preferred mooring just beyond the Handsacre winding hole followed arriving in nice time for lunch. It's now cold enough that I've lit the Squirrel for the first time this trip. We've got a decent stock of fuel, sticks and firelighters still, hopefully enough to see us through to the warmer weather of May.

Tomorrow, we'll stop in Rugeley to shop for a variety of things, then carry on to the VMs at Brindley Bank.

Location:Handsacre

On to Alrewas

I've just lost an entire post thanks to BlogPress not warning me what would happen when I popped into Settings to set up the photo album access, so this is going to be a condensed account of what I wrote.

I forgot to mention yesterday that as we were passing the Mill House pub, we saw one of the black swans formerly of Mercia, swimming about near the offside reed bed. As we watched, he approached a mute swan sitting on her nest, pecked her until she got off and tried to climb up there himself. Mike Coates, who's just arrived on Aphrodite with Julia, says they saw him doing the same today.

Maybe he is a she and is trying to take over the nest.

We got away in good time today, just on eight and had a good run to Alrewas. The river is reasonably low, though the sign at Wychnor winding hole said Proceed with Caution. CRT needs to sort itself out with signs around here, there still several, some quite new, which claim that the rubbish point at Oakamoor is 100 yards from Barton Marina when it's quarter of a mile away.

The only one to get it right, a brand new one, says it's on the right when it's on the left coming from that direction.

This afternoon, We washed the side of the boat, which was very dusty, and hung the framed cross stitch on the saloon wall:





Tomorrow, eight more locks to above Woodend then on to Handsacre.

Location:Alrewas

Orft we jolly well go

It was a hard working weekend getting all the stuff we'll need for the next three months onto the boat and the boat ready to cruise. As it was, a couple of extra trips had to be made, more about those later. Sheila spent quite a bit of time in the lodge, running a final washload and generally cleaning up, whilst I worked on the boat.

The plan is to have the lodge ready to occupy apart from fresh food, so the beds are made up with clean linen, the cupboards are fully stocked with food, wine and beer and so on. Thus, if there's an emergency, one or both of us can leave the boat wherever she is, travel back to the marina and be able to live in the lodge with just a trip to the shop for fresh stuff. Even that wouldn't be essential – there's UHT milk in the cupboard and frozen part-baked rolls in the freezer.

Meanwhile, I hauled everything out of the bow locker so as to put the snow shovel and salt away down below and extract the plant pots for Sheila to fill in due course. Getting the snow shovel out has been well worthwhile. It's one of those win-win strategies. It means that either Sod's law ensures no snow fall, as this year, or we're ready to deal with it if a blizzard arrives...

In the engine room I lifted the boards, checked the oil and water and gave the drive belts a quick looking over. I was a touch concerned that the FuelGuard had some black stuff in it, so drained a bit of fuel out of the bottom. No water was seen and the black bits looked like tank bottom detritus, but just to be on the safe side I gave the tank a double dose of Marine 16. I also sucked some fuel up from the bottom of the tank and found it bright and clean with no sign of water.

Elanor came round with Sally at the end of the afternoon and we had a walk round the marina. El had been working hard too, mowing the lawn and painting in Barley Close.

On the way back, I diverted to the lodge to collect the Garmin and the third radio which had hidden themselves in the cupboard under the TV.

I had a bit of a broken night, ending at half five when I realised I hadn't packed any spare trousers... That mean a quick dash back to the lodge first thing. Nonetheless, we managed to get away at 8.45 on a perfect boating day, fresh, calm and sunny.

It was a steady run to Branston – there are quite a few boats about already and we had to wait for a few minutes at Dallow Lane lock where an RW Davies boat was struggling to get over the bottom cill into the lock. Mind you, he lifted his fenders for the second attempt and found it much easier ;).

We've tied in our usual place on the Burton side of the new bridge works. It's a bit noisy as the building work is fairly pushing along, but hey, we're from Mercia, the sound of heavy plant reversing makes us feel at home ;) ;)

After lunch I checked out the engine hole again. No problems there, the FuelGuard now looks fine with indeed just one or two bits of scale stuck to the filter. I then set to and tidied the engine room itself, the radio cupboard and the cubby hole with the stern greaser in it.

We've had a quick stroll along the towpath for a nosey at the works. The Bridge Inn is under new management but I think we're a bit too cream crackered to try it tonight. Tomorrow, on to Alrewas.

Location:Branston