On to All Oaks Wood

Only of course the trees mostly seem to be beeches these days...

A seven o'clock start and round onto the water point on the Oxford to top up the tank. We weren't the first on the move; a smart R D Davis was ahead of us through the stop lock. Sheila managed the tricky turn with her usual panache and then did most of the subsequent steering on a very pleasant morning indeed.

The main fun was at Stretton Stop, the Rose Narrowboats base with a swing footbridge over the narrows. There were sundry hire boats and privateers playing chicken there; we held back against one of the moored boats to let them sort themselves out.

We had a hail from Elly of Parisien Star which was out of the water on blocks, I guess for a survey. Sadly these engaging Aussies are finishing their year on board; one less blog to follow.

We've tied at All Oaks, the mooring for Brinklow. It's busy here and we can expect things to get busier from here on in. We've had to tie on pins off the end of the decent piling, bumping a bit on the dreaded Oxford Canal sloping wash wall despite deploying the tyre fenders.

We've rinsed and microfibred the starboard side and persuaded ourselves that it doesn't need another coat of polish for the time being.

We've also had an email from Susan at Braidbar about the evening arrangements for Crick. Because we'll have Elanor and Sally, aka the Black Hearted Sinner Dog, with us, we're going to host both evenings which will be good fun.

Malcolm, Martin, Graham, Beryl, Peter and Susan: do not worry, Sally likes humans!

Honestly, we'll try and stop her climbing into your laps. At 35kg, she's a bit much for a lap dog.

:)

Incidentally, if you are planning to come and see round Santiago, there's still time to book a viewing slot. Just give Susan a ring on 01625 873471.

Sheila has two good ideas

Another genuine summer's day, though the chilly northerly wind persists. As planned, we made an early start and were at Newbold on the water point not long after half eight, having started a washload as we went. We had to queue for a little while whilst an ex-Ownerships boat topped up, then pulled forward and started watering.

I popped down the road for supplies, and came back to find Sheila chatting to a friend of Colin and Jane of Slow Gin; he moors near them and had driven round to fill some containers. With our tank reasonably full, we set off once more; the fine weather meant that the whirligig could be deployed when we stopped, so Sheila started a second washload, so that she's almost caught up after Crick.

The cut was very busy with a mix of privateers and hirers; bridge holes could be quite interesting. We also passed a long line of moored boats from the Coventry Cruising Club. Just one thing guys; if you're going to moor like that, it would be a big help if you trimmed back some of the low hanging stuff on the offside so's boats can pass each other alongside you.

There was quite a lot of room when we got to the Brinklow moorings at All Oaks Wood and Sheila suggested an early stop – we had planned to go on to near Ansty, but it's very pleasant at All Oaks (especially on a sunny day) and we can make up the time tomorrow with another early start.

So we stopped, whirligig and towpath chairs were deployed and time passed very pleasantly until lunch.

Afterwards Sheila had a second good idea, which was to check if any geocaches had been placed here since the last time we stopped in this neighbourhood. Sure enough, there were and we spent a bit over an hour walking towards Brinklow to find three, two of which had been placed by the aforesaid Colin and Jane. This is highly appropriate as they were the ones to encourage us to start cacheing in the first place.

Pleasantly weary, we made it back to the boat for a cup of tea and a rest before doing this blog (me) and taking in the washing (Sheila).

As I say, we'll make a seriously early start tomorrow and get through Nuneaton, stopping at Boot Wharf for pump out and diesel on the way and tying by Springwood Haven for our rendezvous in the evening.

Another brief post

16th & 17th May

It’s a rather unstable connection here at All Oaks Wood, so another summary post, I’m afraid. Highlights of the last two days:

The night before last we had a minor run at Hartshill in with a bunch of youths throwing stuff like lamp irons in the cut, so thought it prudent to move on to a new (to us) mooring just before Springwood Haven. After a good night’s kip, we decided to stay put for another day, so that Elanor could rendezvous with us with some post and an exchange of books.

This worked out OK yesterday, though Elanor tells us that the track down to Springwood Marina (where Valley Cruisers are based) is quite hard on a low slung car. There’s no longer a car park by Bridge 29.

We got some washing and brass polishing done on a very pleasant day, weatherwise.

After a rather broken night’s sleep, we did one of our flying starts today, setting off at 6 on a bright but cold morning. It was an uneventful but pleasant chug through Nuneaton to Hawkesbury Junction, where we refilled the water tank.

We had to wait for a bit of traffic to come through the turn, after which I’m pleased to say that I got Sanity Again through pretty smoothly, despite a boat tied in front of the Greyhound whilst a toilet cassette was emptied.

Then it was steadily on down the North Oxford. We could have stopped at Ansty, but we’ve pressed on to All Oaks Wood. There’s a mixture of lurkers and those passing through here; we’re only going to stop the one night before going on to Newbold for a couple of days and a trip into Rugby probably. Newbold normally has a decent connection, so I should be able to sort the blog out properly there.

Two days in transit

1st & 2nd June

It's been a couple of days of steady boating along well known waters. After the excitements of recent weeks, it's very pleasant to travel canals we know well, stopping at familiar places, being able to work out a cruising plan without much hassle or frantic thumbing through the guides.

Yesterday, we made a leisurely start: I went to the shop to get a paper, and took a load more recycling to the bins on the way, and then we were off along the North Oxford for All Oaks Wood, just an hour and a half away. The take off from Newbold wasn't quite as flawless as it might have been. As I untied the bow and prepared to push off, I put my foot down one of the gaps between the boat and the bank formed by the odd shaped piling they have there.

I put my lower leg into the water, sat down suddenly, then lay back and waved my legs in the air to show that I wasn't badly hurt. (I'm not sure Sheila was all that reassured – she probably just thought I'd banged my head or had a fit or something.)

Fortunately, since I was wearing shorts, only my trainer and sock got wet, (apart from skin, obviously {sigh}) so I took both off and went around barefoot in my clogs until we were ready to moor at All Oaks.

There are a couple of new marinas along here, both based in old arms of the canal left over from the straightening exercise in the 19th century. Just past the second of these, we came across the final stages of a Coventry Canal Society social – they were taking down a set of gazebos from the towpath, and one of their number was reversing slowly towards us in order to wind in the entrance to the marina.

Signwriting on the side of a couple of the boats indicated that they were based in the Wyken Arm. As we boated along, Sheila and I had a relaxed discussion about just where that was – it's one of those names you know you've heard, but can't quite place.

I said "As it's the Coventry Canal Society, it must be one of the colliery arms on that canal." I should have known better. Checking up later in that ultimate reference book, Jane Cumberlidge's Inland Waterways of Great Britain, I discovered that it's that short arm of the N Oxford not far south of Hawkesbury Junction that you can see from the M6 if you are quick. But it is an old colliery arm, at least.

When we got to All Oaks Wood, we found the moorings quite busy. Sheila was steering, and I was on the bow, playing the game of "Is this next gap sixty feet long?"

There are two high probability outcomes: one is that you decide that it is, and it turns out to be 2 foot short, whereupon the steerer curses you as she has to back out of it without hitting the boats at either end. The other is that you decide it isn't long enough, and then realise a) yes it is and b) it's the last decent one before you run out of good edge to moor against. In this case the steerer curses you again as she tries to make seventeen and a half tons of steel stop dead and then move sideways.

In this case I went for the second option, with the added lagniappe that there was a boat coming the other way, and Sheila had to hover on the offside whilst he went past with a heavy boat in a narrow channel (with all the effects that had on us) and then persuade Sanity to move into the slot without clouting either of our new neighbours.

Fortunately, being a boatwoman of no mean skill, she managed this without seeming effort, and we were soon neatly secured on a slightly overgrown towpath. (OK, I'm brown nosing, but she was really quite restrained in her remarks under the circs.)

We had a quiet afternoon. I finished the fender I started yesterday, Sheila got on with her knitting and we watched a seemingly endless procession of boats going by in both directions. It's been a while since we spent the summer half term week on a main route – usually after Crick we've gone up to Welford or Market Harborough and laid low until the rush is over.

Today the plan was to get right through the conurbations around Coventry and Nuneaton and moor at Hartshill, so we started the getting up process at six, and by 7.15 were on our way.

Stretton Stop, Ansty, Suttons Stop (Hawkesbury), Charity Dock, Bedworth, Marston Junction and Nuneaton were all traversed without too much drama. Since we were out of bread, I made some half baguettes with a cheese and onion bread mix we'd bought the other day. In the end, the mix came out a bit soft, and the results were more like flat bread than subs, but as Sheila said with satisfaction, it gave more area to spread the filling on.

By 12.45 we were tied just off the end of the disabled angler moorings here at Hartshill, and proceeded to make pigs of ourselves with the bread.

To avoid dozing off, we walked down to Dobbies in search of seeds to replant the 'cut and come again' salad box we got at Little Venice. The original plants are looking a bit sad, despite Sheila's tender care. The lollo rosso has gone, the red chard is struggling, and both the rocket and the frizee are shooting, no doubt as a result of the hot dry spells we've had between the monsoons. Only the land cress is really thriving.

Be that as it may, we found some replacement seeds ok, and I got some breakfast supplies of dried fruit and muesli additives at the Julian Graves concession. Sadly, having praised the butcher here in the latest Waterways World, the food shop has closed for the time being, and is due to reopen "in a few weeks" as a Dobbies Farm Shop.

Whether this has anything to do with the fact that Tesco have just bought out Dobbies, I don't know, but I have my suspicions.

Tomorrow we go down Atherstone, and then the rest of the week will be a steady progress to Fradley/Alrewas.

Endnote: just as I was proof editing this, two boats came by, a privateer called Venus, and a hire boat. Venus scraped all down our offside, partly as a result of not slowing down enough in the narrow channel. The hire boat gave a demo of the virtues of not being in a rush, and came nowhere near us.

Lazing for a day, then on to Newbold

8th & 9th April

After the exertions of the previous two days, it was pleasant to make a very lazy start yesterday. It had been another cold night the night before, so we loafed in bed listening to the Eberspacher doing its best for some time.

After breakfast we walked into Brinklow in search of a loaf of bread and a paper. The shop there is a Post Office and newsagents, with a some very basic groceries. We got an Independent all right, but the bread choice was confined to thick sliced white or medium sliced ditto. It's for this eventuality that I've taken to keeping a couple of bake your own bread kits in the cupboard, and when we got back to Sanity I set to and made one up. I made it into four demi baguette type things, and they were just out of the oven for ten minutes or so when it was time for lunch.

Must say, the granary bread, still warm and stuffed with cold meat and caramelized onion hummus, or red Leicester cheese and beetroot chutney, were delicious. It meant that we ate the lot, the equivalent of a two pound loaf between us, so the afternoon was quite peaceful, with not a lot of activity.

I did finally get round to cleaning the bathroom, but the rest of the time was spent reading and surfing the internet at a very slow speed in view of the GPRS connection.

Today we made a more prompt start, with the idea of getting diesel and perhaps a pump out at Terry Yates's yard just before Newbold tunnel. It was another bright, frosty morning, great for boating. As we passed the moored boats by All Oaks Wood, one of the boaters complained to us that it was a fine morning for February. There's no pleasing some folk, and anyway, what's unusual about a frosty morning in April?

We got to Yates's just at 9.30, but it was closed – either he was feeling lazy, or he's stopped doing diesel, or he's out of stock at the moment. The main worry is less the fuel than the state of the toilet tank, but we should be OK until Friday when we can get a pump out at Clifton Cruisers.

Newbold Tunnel was its colourful self – it's pleasing to see that, having spent all that money on fancy lighting, they are at least maintaining it. We filled the water tank and started a washload, then went round to tie on some very empty moorings. Newbold's another of those places where either the moorings are chocker, or deserted. It never feels too lonely, because of the long term moorings beyond the visitor ones. Presumably BW have chased the winter moorers away, and the holiday traffic is not yet brisk enough to fill the spaces.

After lunch I put some snow photos up on the website, then we went for a walk around the nature park they've made out of the local quarry. It still feels very raw, and it will be a few years before it's at its best, but the locals seem to appreciate it as a place for dog walks and the like.

We saw a couple of pair of grebe, and four male tufties pursuing one female, in addition to the usual coots, mallard and swans.

I'm going off to the Inaugural SOW meeting tomorrow, lift courtesy of Richard Carpenter (thanks Richard) then on Friday we'll head off for Hillmorton via Clifton Cruisers.

Moving on South

6th & 7th April

We went to bed the night before last after an evening of huge hailstones bouncing around and splashing into the water. In the morning, there was a fairly complete covering of snow across the landscape. It looked so good, I was dressed and out of the boat at 7.30 taking pictures.

We had breakfast and then set off up the remainder of the Atherstone flight, arriving at the handy mooring between locks 6 and 5 just before 10. By the time I'd walked round to the Co-op Superstore, it was 10 and they'd opened up, it being Sunday.

Sheila meanwhile remained behind on anchor watch, running a wash load. Respective tasks done, we set off again, with me taking my turn at working the locks.

These were all taking a bit longer than usual, as the snow made everything quite slippery. Normally, on narrow locks like these, the lockwheeler will step across the lock at the bottom from an open gate to a closed one, or vice versa, but with snow and ice on the footboards, it was not a good idea. Much time had thus to be spent walking up one side of the lock and down the other.

Nonetheless, we made steady progress, and arrived at Hartshill by 12.15. We'd had mugs of soup on the way to keep the cold out, but were still well ready for our lunch.

After lunch we went to Dobbies. We'd no major items in mind, but managed to spend a bit of cash, even so. The food store had nice crisps (Tyrell's) and a sugar free fruit cake, and we got a replacement plant pot saucer for the bay tree tub from the garden centre itself (the old one having blown away in the gales earlier in the year).

Finally we bought some dried fruit at the Julian Graves concession and headed back to the boat.

Today we had the long haul from Hartshill to All Oaks Wood at Brinklow to do, so Sheila decided to make a really early start, despite the cold morning. Whilst I was making the first thing tea, she got up and started boating, so that we were on our way by 7.30

Although it really was very cold, it was quite pleasant, and Sheila had cocooned herself in warm clothes. I took over just before Nuneaton so that she could get breakfast, and we got to Sutton's Stop by 10.20. We watered there, and then carried on for All Oaks Wood.

Sheila made an excellent job of the tricky turn off the Coventry onto the Oxford, despite the fact that I was chatting to a couple from one of the moored boats as I waited by the stop lock. Usually, of course, if you are observed things go pear shaped, but this time Sanity came round the 180 degree turn under the bridge in one move, no reversing or heavy revving at all.

The couple I was talking to remembered the early days of Braidbar, as they'd been moored at Whaley Bridge at the time, and their boat, like the early Braidbars, was based on a Chappell and Wright hull.

At 12 we had another mug of soup en route, but, as so often going this way, we'd forgotten how far it is from Hawkesbury to Brinklow. It's one of those routes that we know far too well to bother checking the cruising guides, and then we get taken by surprise. As it was, it was gone 1.30 before we'd finished, and we were very glad to get our lunch.

A quiet afternoon followed. We don't actually need to be at Newbold until Wednesday evening, so we'll probably stay here tomorrow, and then go on the next day.