A bit further than we meant to

I forgot to mention our excellent evening with Peter and Mel the other night. We had a merry time yet again – one of these days we'll actually get round to teaching them Mah Jong, which had been the goal of this summer's cruising. No matter, the chance will come some day.

With no particular target in mind today, we didn't get going until seven, but then chugged merrily on through the metropolis of Rugeley, for once not stopping at bridge 66 to shop. There were a lot of boats tied between the aqueduct and bridge 67, the first shopping bridge, and plenty at 66, of course, but then very few after that until we got to the Ash Tree Boat Club.

I managed the turn under the bridge onto the Spode House straight without touching or reversing and we didn't meet another boat through all the narrows, an advantage of setting off in good time.

The Handsacre moorings were pretty busy, so it was just as well that we'd already decided to make for the towpath above Woodend. Kings Bromley is OK, but very overhung by trees, meaning that you have to spend time cleaning bird poo off the boat if you stop there. The only thing was, when we got to Woodend, there was a piling and dredging gang working right where we'd planned to tie. It's good that there will be more room to stop there in future, but no use to us today.

So, down the lock we went and on to Shade House. I had a problem at the big turn where the T&M changes direction from SE to NE – there was a boat tied immediately after the bend and another emerged round it just as I'd got Sanity Again lined up to sweep through. I had to go astern to lose way and avoid him and ended up berrying in the offside trees. You often see a boat tied there, despite the fact that to any real boater it's obviously an idiot place to stop for exactly the reason we had today.

As we approached Shade House it began to look like we'd have to work down to the moorings below Junction Lock, but we found a nice 70' space and popped into it. The towpath is wide enough to put chairs out under the trees here, which made for a cool afternoon.

We've walked down the flight to dump recycling and buy ice creams. We're just six and a half hours boating from Mercia now and tomorrow looks like the least windy day for a while, so we've decided to finish this trip in one burst. We should get to Mercia in the early afternoon, all being well.

Pottering at Fradley

As planned, we've been staying put here at Fradley today. Sheila ran a washload, it being Monday, which also meant giving the engine a decent run and getting a goodly amount of charge into the batteries. I try to charge them to a tail current of at least 2% of their capacity, 8 amps or less, every day. It's good too to get them really well charged as often as possible, that is down to a tail current of 2 amps or less, but it takes a long time to get those last few ergs into the bank.

As we're not doing any long days at the moment, it's not going to happen any time soon. On the other hand, we're now seeing a decent amount of sun, so the solar panel carries on adding charge through the day.

While Sheila was looking after the laundry, I turned out the desk drawer which was full of various kinds of cable. It was the most amazing collection of stuff that's accumulated over the last 14 years of living aboard. Some of it looks like it belongs in a museum of IT and there are a lot of charging cables, many for phones we don't have any more.

Then there were the USB cables of various kinds and miscellaneous other stuff, audio, video, FireWire, iPod related and so on. I've sorted out the ones that are likely to be used routinely and bundled the rest up in a set of poly bags and stowed them away under the side berth.

As usual, the problem is you don't dare throw any of them in case you find yourself holding a piece of kit that needs a cable you've just dumped. OK, so maybe not some of the mains cables, those can be offloaded at a recycling tip in due course.

After lunch, we washed and dried the starboard side of the boat. We found a bruise in the cabin paintwork which looks, I fear, as though another boat has clipped it with a bow rubbing strake. There was a bit of bare metal starting to rust, so I've plopped a bit of RustKonverter on it. It will need touching in before we polish that side.

Having done all this work, we treated ourselves to an ice cream at the cafe and then took a leg stretch up to Shade House lock. The actual Shade House is not for sale for once – last time they were asking £750,000 for it, probably a fair reflection of the size of the accommodation, the area of accompanying land and the pleasant location.

It's just a shame about HS2 being routed across the back somewhere nearby...

Handily to Handsacre

Alrewas to Handsacre is a longish day by our standards and we knew that, it being a Saturday in July, Fradley would get pretty frantic later in the day. Accordingly, we set off not long after seven having eaten breakfast but not had a coffee. It was Sheila’s turn to steer and mine to lock, so I walked through the village (now totally chock-a-block with boats) to Bagnall Lock. A boat had come past the other way as were setting off and sure enough the lock was empty and open and there was a space on the towpath above.

All I had to do was hang around until Sheila arrived in Sanity Again having crept past all the other boats. We made good time to Common Lock, crossing with Crafty Foxes out of Mercia on the way. In theory this meant that Common should be with us, but we could see that there was at least some water in there as it was draining through the mitre of the bottom gates. Sheila dropped me on the lock landing and I found that the top gate was leaking so badly through one of the upper boards that the lock had half filled.

It’s a pretty shallow lock, of course, so it didn't take long to drain it down again and on we went, your correspondent walking from there on to the top of Fradley. Here, things were rather busier, starting with an odd sort of bloke in a very small splitter GRP cruiser who emerged single handed from Keepers as I got to Hunts. This last was completely empty and Sanity Again was not far away, though now creeping past the boats on the long term moorings below the lock, so I didn't try to turn it and he had to wait for us to work up.

He didn't seem to mind, though seemed very vague about where he was or where the next lock was. I did my best to explain, whereupon he said he was on his way to Leicester “through Nottingham”. He knew that he had to turn right when he got to the Trent, though, so I said, yes, that’s right. It was only later that it occurred to me that if he turns right immediately on joining the Trent, that is, below Derwent Mouth lock, he’ll find himself going upstream back to Shardlow, but I expect someone will sort him out when he gets there.

Meantime, we carried on up the locks, waiting for just a little below Junction for a minor traffic jam to sort itself, and were soon rising in Shade House. As soon as we were clear of that, I nipped below and got a wash load running – I’m sure regular readers will be relieved to hear that…

There wasn't a lot to do apart from making coffee once we were above Woodend. I spent a bit of the time pondering what a loss it will be when the classic mixed English wood that gives the lock its name has been raped by HS2. It’s not an important or specially significant wood, as far as I know, just a typical mixture of oak and ash with a bit of beech and holly, providing accommodation for a broad assortment of native animals and insects.

Mind you, just as I thought these very words, I realised I was staring at a huge bank of rhododendrons…

We got to Handsacre just after eleven and had no trouble finding a towpath mooring a bit beyond the winding hole. Things have filled up now, though there’s still space opposite the pub. We’ve been taking it easy this afternoon, apart from when we were taking a stroll. Lots and lots of boats have gone by, mostly well behaved, though one seniors booze cruise tested the quality of our moorings quite ferociously. No hire boats have been seen today – it’s probably turn round day for most of them.

Tomorrow, a later start as we want to do a bit of shopping in Rugeley and the supermarkets won’t open until ten.

Location:Handsacre

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

Damp day to Alrewas and many meetings

It was wet all morning, not a heavy rain, but a fine drizzle which could have been quite penetrating. We put our waterproof overalls on and just got on with it. It wasn't cold nor very breezy most of the time, so conditions were by no means impossible. It did mean that the cut was much quieter than yesterday, making Sheila's task of steering easier.

We got to Woodend in an hour or so and found a boat just leaving. I worked us down and we plodded on to Shade House. Most of the Fradley Locks were against us, but we found a steady procession of boats coming up for the second half of the flight, which helped a lot. They were a complete mixture of hire boats and privateers, part of the September traffic of those not tied to the school holidays.

It was just on eleven when we got to the top of Bagnall, where there was just one 70' space, nicely above the road bridge. As we tied, we realised that the boat already there behind us was Black Pearl. Geoff used to moor alongside us when we were on Grebe pontoon in Mercia and he popped out as we were getting sorted and had a natter with us.

Just after lunch, we saw some more old friends when Adam and Adrian came past on Briar Rose – we knew from Adam's blog that they were on their way. They stopped alongside for a bit to catch up on Braidbar gossip.

Later in the afternoon, we took a walk into the village, going along the towpath to the Wharf Bridge to see who was about. Sure enough, there was Rubyjack with "Dangerous" Dave and his dog Ruby. We had a bit of a rabbit with them too. Dave's an on and off moorer in Mercia as he likes to prowl round the system, presently heading for Llangollen, he said.

We stocked up with meat from Coates the Butcher and were pleased to get back to the boat.The rain has stopped, mostly, but we are glad to have the Squirrel on again, keeping us warm and dry in this distinctly autumnal weather.

On to Handsacre

We'd had breakfast by seven and set off shortly after, Sheila steering and your correspondent walking ahead. Bob Drummond was keeping himself fit by assisting at Bagnall, an easy lock to work compared to his usual beat at Stenson. With his help we were soon through and away towards Fradley.

The motor of a pair was working down Common when we got there, so we stopped on the lock landing to let them get the butty down too. However, the lockwheeler waved us in, giving Sheila an "interesting" task as the landing is very close to the mouth of the lock. I said we'd been expecting them to bring the butty down, but the lockwheeler said "I'm not strong enough to be shouted at this morning". It's a shame that so few people on the cut understand the problems of working a pair, it being much easier to long line the butty down with the motor than to bow haul it through the lock.

We worked up Hunts on our own but found a volocky on duty at Keepers, it now being about half eight. Crossing with another boat at Junction, we saw that things were getting busy, but didn't get held up particularly. More volockies were arriving as we got to Shade House, after which we had a good run to Woodend.

This one was against us and no boat in sight, but no sooner had I drawn a paddle to turn it than a boat appeared coming round the corner in the distance. I quickly wound the paddle down, told Sheila what was happening via the radio and drew the top paddles to refill and open the lock. It was a family party heading for the Coventry and then the Birmingham and Fazeley, Mum, Dad and two boys. Mum told me that they hoped to get past Drayton Manor without the boys noticing.

Good luck with that one...

As we came up the lock, another boat arrived at the top and one at the bottom, so things really were warming up. We'd not decided between Kings Bromley and Handsacre for our overnight mooring but since the weather was still dry and we were well ahead for time, I decided to carry on to Handsacre.

It promptly started raining, but not sufficiently to cause me to change my mind. Indeed, it slowed and stopped after a bit. Unfortunately, all the best mooring spots at Handsacre were taken when we got here, one of the boats being Mercia stalwarts Mick and Cathy on Crafty Foxes. We've ended up on the bend under the trees, but it's only for one night, so tolerable.

It rained seriously over lunch but has stopped again and may even be warming up a bit. Tomorrow, we'll have a short day, into Rugeley, stop at Bridge 67 to visit Aldi and then on to Brindley Bank for the night. On Saturday, we'll carry on to Tixall Wide. Mercia has produced some leaflets about the stolen boat and plans a walk the towpath campaign on Saturday. We've asked to have the leaflet emailed to us so that we can do our bit with the weekend crowd of moorers at Tixall.

 

On to Alrewas

It's been a routine but very pleasant sort of day. We set off just before eight with the familiar run to Alrewas in prospect. The weather was much better than yesterday, though still with a chilly wind, and I didn't need to wrap up anything like as much for my stint on the back.

By the time we got to Woodend, we'd had coffee and Sheila had started a wash load. We passed some old acquaintances from our WRG days, the Bakers on Enbee, and they followed us down the locks as far as the junction. The locks were against us until we got to Middle, where a volockie had set it for us. We then had this excellent service at every lock through Fradley. In contrast to some complaints that have been aired on CanalWorld, they were courteous and considerate and took particular care to ensure that, as the steerer, I was happy with what they were doing.

There was quite a bit of traffic about, especially Canaltimes, but nothing to cause inconvenience. We've tied just above Bagnall lock, as usual when going in this direction, but there would have been room on the controlled moorings if we'd wanted to stop there.

After lunch and a rest, we walked the towpath to the river lock. The boards all say "Proceed with caution" though the river level is well down in the green. There's a fair flow on, mind, so not much different from when we came up three and a half weeks ago.

We took a path across the fields into the centre of the village, emerging onto Dark Lane. I don't honestly think that it saved much time, if any, but made a pleasant change when we weren't in a hurry anyway. We popped into the Coöp for some bits and pieces and ambled back to the boat for a cup of tea.

Tomorrow, we'll go on to Branston, then to Willington on Thursday. At the moment, the plan is to tie in the village for the night so as to sample the produce of the new chip shop, then go into the marina on Friday morning.

Back at Alrewas

It's a very familiar route back to Alrewas but still one that passes through some very pleasant rural canal, especially the section from Kings Bromley to Woodend. It takes us around three and a half hours, give or take 15 minutes, so we set off a bit before half seven, the idea being to arrive between half ten and eleven.

As last time, we made very good time for much of it. There were comparatively few moored boats and the locks, when we got to them, were largely with us. Then everything slowed down after we got past the junction at Fradley – I guess the reason why it happens that way is that we follow the same logic from Handsacre every time and that means that we get halfway through Fradley before we start meeting and following those who started off a bit later.

Anyway, a single hander set off from the Fradley visitor moorings as we were working down Junction Lock. We waited above Keeper's for a boat to come up, then again above Hunts for the same reason. Sheila walked on to Common and, lo and behold, there was a boat waiting to work up after the single hander had gone down. The crew of this last told Sheila that there was plenty of room at Alrewas, so we weren't too bothered at the delays. It was another fine morning, albeit with a bit of a chilly breeze, just enough to keep life on the tiller interesting for me.

There were no boats tied above the bypass bridge at all, so we've stopped on the Fradley end of that stretch of piling, as far from the road noise as possible, getting here at a quarter to eleven. A couple of others have arrived since, though there's probably room for at least one more, certainly if the guy in front of us shuffles up a bit instead of tying in the middle of the available space. :(

After lunch and a rest, we walked down into the village, going the long way round to see who else was about. Fizzical Attraction is tied below; on the way back we gave a knock on the roof, but Yvonne and Roger must have been out.

All our shopping got done in the butchers, where we bumped into Chris off Eleventh Heaven, visiting by car.

Once I've posted this, Sheila is going to cut, or rather, mow my hair, after which I'll get a shower to get rid of all the little bits. We're planning to stay tomorrow, then carry on to Branston on Sunday.

Heading for Handsacre

We've had a largely straightforward run back to Handsacre in yet more pleasant weather. We estimated three to three and a half hours from Rebel's Field, so left pretty promptly at seven. It was Sheila's turn to steer; as it happens, our day by day rule means that we're doing the opposite shifts to the ones we did on the way down, which makes for a nice bit of variety.

I walked the towpath to Bagnall Lock, which was empty, as indeed were the remaining seven of today's budget. It took Sanity Again a while to arrive, sliding quietly past all the moored boats, which were in a continuous line from the river lock to the winding hole. Here some boater with more desperation than sense had tied his yoghurt pot splitter GRP cruiser on the towpath just at one end of the hole. It's a good job we weren't planning to turn there this trip.

Heigh ho, on we went, onwards and upwards through Common (Moor), Hunts, Keepers and Junction where there was a short pause. Junction has always had a problem with mis-hung lower gates, just as Bagnall does, causing them to swing open when the lock is empty. In both cases, the latest fix is to have lengths of scaff pole fixed to the downstream side of the balance beams in such a way that they can be deployed to prop the gate shut. There's a pair of hooks on each beam to put the pole in when it's not needed.

In the case of the towpath side beam at Junction, this pole had somehow been jammed against the bridge abutment with the gate open, in such a way that it could not easily be moved and was jamming the gate. I fiddled and faddled with it whilst Sheila steered the boat into the lock. In the end, I had to ask her to help, so she stopped the engine and passed the centreline to me to secure round a bollard before climbing out.

Between us we then managed to jiggle the gate and pole until they came free and we could carry on. From there on, things just got better. Middle, Shade House and Woodend went by and we set out on the long pound that runs from there to Colwich. I took the opportunity to get the breakfast washing up done, then ensconced myself in the bow on a folding chair, radio in hand to give warning of approaching boats, not that there were that many at that stage.

We arrived at Handsacre at half ten, so pretty good guessing timewise, allowing for the lost ten miutes or so at Junction. There were a few boats here already, so we went as far as the rings in the piling near the bridge. Others have since filled in all the gaps, proving yet again the wisdom of the start early, stop early policy. Tomorrow, on the other hand, we don't want to be too previous as it's only about ninety minutes from here to the shopping mooring in Rugeley. We plan to get away between eight and half past, a positively leisurely start. After shopping and stuff, we'll go on to Brindley Bank, probably.

Locking up

Another day went to plan today. We got away around 7.15, Sheila locking and yours truly steering. Sheila coped with all eight locks without too much trouble, though I'd have taken over if necessary, naturally. She got a washload running between Shade House and Woodend and we had an excellent run along one of the Trent and Mersey's best rural sections.

Alrewas had been packed solid, so it was quite surprising to see Fradley downright deserted, with just three boats on the Visitor Moorings between Keepers and Junction Locks. Similarly, the handy stretch of towpath moorings just beyond Kings Bromley marina had one boat on it, though that's always less popular in the summer. It's a lurking spot for continuous cruisers, really, there being no facilities like pubs or shops anywhere nearby, and in the summer the overhanging trees encourage birds to sit above your boat and engage in a bit of modern art all over your roof.

Well, the modern art looks a lot like what the birds produce as far as I'm concerned. ;)

We've tied just beyond the winding hole in Handsacre, one of three boats here and with another two on the official VMs opposite the Crown. One of our co-moorers is Dave on Anon..., but he's not advertising any chocolate today to Sheila's disappointment. The washing is drying and we've been largely loafing in the sun after our exercise this morning.

Checking the batteries immediately after we stopped showed that the forwardmost one was a bit too warm, between 40 and 45ºC. The others were progressively cooler until the sternmost block was between 30 and 35º. The steel rack on which they sit was at a similar tempreature, so it's not internal heating of the cells, it's the ambient temperature running too high for comfort. That first block is close to both the skin tank and the engine coolant header tank.

When we get to Braidbar in September I'll have to have a conversation with Peter about better ventilation there, as running at those temperatures will be shortening the battery life. We could probably manage without the first battery, in fact. The electrics are so efficient these days, and we don't do much winter cruising now, that 460 Ah is more than we need. 345 Ah would be plenty, I reckon.

Tomorrow, we'll make a later start so as to get to the Rugeley shopping mooring at around ten. A visit to Tesco is indicated, then carrying on to our usual spot at Bridge 69, aka the Pig Farm.

Hang on, it's going to be the hottest day of the year so far...

Finally, the photo of Sanity Again in Alrewas:

(c) Sheila Napier

 

 

Another good day's boating

We seem to be developing a special style of boating for this trip, a combination of our usual methods adapted to the current situation. Once again we had first thing tea at six, got up pretty promptly and were getting going by seven, actually letting go (no pins were involved) at ten past.

Off we went up the familiar route, Sheila steering and myself locking and walking much of it. Bagnall, Common, Hunts and Keepers were all ascended without meeting another boat, but we crossed with one at Junction before Sheila swung Sanity Again round the corner onto the Coventry with aplomb and skilled use of the tiller in a steady crosswind. It was just on nine o'clock.

I got the washing machine going then took over for the run to Huddlesford where I had just a little trouble with the wind funnelling down the side of the railway embankment. I then handed over for a break, during which time Sheila spotted the first cygnets of the year.

I took her back after Whittington for the final stretch to Hopwas. Boats now started appearing coming the other way, so care had to be taken at those tricky blind bridges along this stretch of what is technically the Birmingham and Fazeley. It got quite cool in the breeze so we were glad to get into the shelter of the woods which used to be a firing range. We'd not seen many of the local lurkers so far and were not surprised to find the colony tied just before the Hopwas Visitor Moorings.

It was nicely lunchtime by now. The batteries were still taking 9 amps, so I had a quick check that all was well below. None of them were getting hot, so it looks as if they are still doing a lot of catching up.

We've had to light the fire again this afternoon; where is this improving weather we were promised? At least it means that the washing is drying nicely on the rack in front of the Squirrel.

Frantic Fradley

We got here yesterday after a very pleasant run from Whittington. We've stopped on the Coventry at the very start of the visitor moorings, the 14 day section, as we want to stay here until Wednesday. The weather continues to be flaming June, very like last year, and Fradley was chock-a-block with gongoozlers and ice cream scoffers.

Elanor and Sally turned up around four o'clock; Sal was ecstatic to see us which is always rewarding. Elanor had brought a bag full of stuff for us, drugs, parcels and letters and stayed for a thorough natter. She and I took Sal for a stroll along the towpath a bit later.

Sally's technique for keeping cool is to wade into the cut from time to time and slurp some up. She likes having the water just up to her undercarriage and is careful not to shake it off when she gets out.

This morning we had a lazy start, but made up for it by walking to a new Co-op whereof we had been told by a passing walker yesterday. It's in Fradley Park, the new development to the SW of the canal. We walked back to Bridge 90, fifteen minutes from the moorings, then crossed the canal and followed the road to where it joins the main road which has crossed the canal by the new bridge.

Turning left, we followed our noses along the road, then a pedestrian and cycle way until we found a new parade of shops including a chippy, a pharmacy and the aforementioned Co-op. It's another ten minutes walk from the canal, so a total of 25 minutes from the moorings, about the same as the walk to Alrewas, in fact.

The Co-op is about the same size as Alrewas, too, so not much gain, though if you moored at Bridge 90 it would be well worthwhile.

This afternoon we took an amble round the Fradley Pool. It feels very pleasant and is clearly full of wildlife, though there's rather less variety of birds than Mercia. It still made a very good excuse for a walk.

Turned out wet again

We had a bit of a lie-in this morning and didn't surface until seven. So Sheila got dressed and started boating whilst I went through the morning routine. I took over on the tiller in time to let her break her fast before we got to Woodend at half eight.

There's a fair amount of traffic about but we had a good run down Shade House and Middle locks and turned into the Coventry in one smooth move. We stopped on the water point and started the washing machine. Both points were in use, so the flow was slow, but it gave us time to have a coffee and dump the rubbish and recycling.

Setting off again we found ourselves boating through a light but persistent rain which became slowly heavier. By the time we got to Streethay it was really quite unpleasant and nearing midday to boot. I had it in my head that we were heading for at least Huddlesford, so was appropriately huddled over the tiller and grimly boating on.

Fortunately, Sheila had other ideas and proposed that we stop just beyond Streethay, near the entrance to the new marina on the nice Armco. This meant that by noon we were all sorted out and able to have lunch accompanied by mugs of soup.

We've dropped the cratch and lit the Squirrel whilst the rain rained and the wind blew with far more energy than we like. The forecast is if anything worse for tomorrow, so we're going to stay put. This is where all the stocking up comes into it's own; we've sufficient supplies to go a few days without shopping.

A short move and a damp finish

Despite the main drawback of mooring on the T&M at Fradley, that is ageing bikers roaring up and down the access road to the Swan that runs alongside the VMs all evening (sorry, Nev, but you know what I mean), we had a really good night’s sleep. This is a classic example of Sod’s Law as we didn’t need to be away early today.

The forecast was unchanged, for light rain anytime from seven o’clock on and heavy rain from 10, so we decided to drop down to Alrewas today and then carry on to Mercia in much better conditions tomorrow. We couldn’t leave too early as it’s not much more than an hour from Fradley to Alrewas and we didn’t want to get there too soon.

At ten to eight we made a start and had a pleasant plod down Keeper’s, Hunt’s and Common Lock. Graham and Jan off Huff ‘n Puff, who moor below Hunt’s, stopped for a natter; as always it was very nice to catch up.

As we got near Alrewas the rain started; we worked down Bagnall and Sheila went scouting on ahead for a mooring, finding one just through Hangman’s Bridge. By now it was fair tipping it down so we were very glad to get tied.

I went to the village for a paper whilst still all togged up in wet weather gear, and we’ve been lurking indoors ever since. Sheila is working on the wish list for the lodge and I’ve been fiddling about with stuff for the Braidbar Owners’ Group and the like.

Tomorrow we’ll have another relaxed start, seeing as we know there’s a mooring for us at the other end. We may stop off at Shobnall Fields in Burton for lunch.

This morning I had a really nice email of appreciation from Keith, one of my dedicated blog followers who happens to be blind. He finds even the audio version of the captcha anti-spam word verification difficult to use, so I’ve turned it off for the time being. I discover that you can set comment moderation to apply only to posts more than say 7 days old, so I’ve set that up instead, since most of the spam hits posts at random, going well back in time usually.

We’ll see how it goes.

A bit dopey but still boating on

It was another early start this morning; we were quite bleary eyed as a result of a poor night’s sleep. No idea why, just one of those things, I guess. Anyhoo, we set out at half seven, aiming to get to Rugeley by around half eight, shop a bit and then be at the bank when it opened at nine.

This worked brilliantly; having stocked up with bread, paper and cucumber, we were at the door of the Nationwide at three minutes past the hour. Pity it’s Wednesday today. Like a lot of banks, Nationwide doesn’t open until half nine on a Wednesday. Staff training, you know.

/floor

Back to the boat we went, unloaded, checked out email and stuff and I popped back for half nine. To be fair, the staff training must be pretty good; courteous greeting, straight to a teller and I was out of there by 9.33.

One change is coming to Rugeley; a huge 24 hour Tesco is almost complete just on the other side of the canal from Morrisons.

Sheila was all ready to start cruising when I got back and off we went again, round the bit that really really benefits from having a look out. Apart from Armitage Tunnel, where the crew gets off and walks through first to stop boats trying to come through the narrow tunnel in the other direction, there are a succession of bridges and pinch points where forewarning of an approaching boat makes all the difference.

As always, Sheila managed the various manoeuvres required with aplomb, despite having been reading half the night. Her temper began to fray just a bit towards the end of her stint, near Kings Bromley. A small boat was pottering along in a very slow tickover ahead of us, keeping pace with the lady of the crew and two scatty spaniels walking the towpath.

For one thing, this woman was initially encouraging the dogs to jump in the water in front of Sanity Again, until Sheila was constrained to sound our klaxon. The thought of running a dog down is just horrible and a boat owner really should know better.

We’ve no problem with people taking their time along the cut, it’s what boating is all about, but it’s only considerate to look behind from time to time and wave through a boat that can’t go as slowly as yourself.

Fortunately they turned off into Kings Bromley marina.

I had part one of lunch (a Morrisons pasty) just before this, and then took over the helm for Sheila to do the same. She returned to steer down the locks whilst I waved a windlass about. We crossed with other boats at almost all of them, so the work was well shared.

There was a volunteer locky on at Junction Lock, a helpful chap even if he did leave a top paddle up whilst emptying the lock for the boat in front of us. (Whoops, been there, done that, haven’t we all? It’s so easy when you’re chatting and explaining something to get out of the routine.)

We’ve got a mooring below Junction for the night, towards the lower end where the mobile signals are useable. It’s meant that I’ve been able to donate the proceeds of the charity auction to the Anthony Nolan Trust, which is better off by over £1100 as a result.

We had planned to go all the way to Mercia tomorrow, but the forecast isn’t very good for the middle of the day; we may content ourselves with a run to Alrewas, getting there around 10 as the rain sets in, and then carry on to Mercia in the finer weather on Friday.

Drizzly yet busy through Fradley

Despite what certain hounds have blogged, yesterday was a well worthwhile exercise; Elanor’s garden looks a load better for it. I’m all in favour of having wild areas (we did ourselves in our next to last house, which had a largish lump of Anglesey attached), but not in a pocket handkerchief job like Elanor’s.

We weren't even all that stiff this morning, though we did oversleep, not waking until seven. After a hasty start, we moved onto the water point at half past. I nipped into the village for bread and a paper and we were on our way again just after eight, boating in a thin drizzle.

Most of the locks were against us, so it was a slowish run to Fradley; after a while we could see another boat just ahead, though we never caught up enough to identify it. Fradley was pretty busy, though not a patch on how it used to be on a Friday in the days when there were both OwnerShips and Swan Line fleets turning round.

We started to meet boats coming the other way by the time we got to Shade House, and Woodend was frankly a bit chaotic, with several boats waiting to come down and an exOwnerShips crowding in from below. He made the mistake of bringing his bow up into the bridge hole below the bottom gates and had to reverse out, of course, as there was a boat descending.

I was glad it was Sheila’s turn to steer; she’s much more phlegmatic than I, though even she became a bit acerbic about the guy who let go his bow line just as she was managing to squeeze Sanity Again between him and a boat coming the other way. The bow swung out, of course, and hit us a resounding bang.

Heigh ho, no damage was done and no one hurt – after the event you can laugh at these things…

/floor

We’ve been able to moor just beyond Kings Bromley marina as usual; it’s just a bit gloomy here as the trees are in full leaf and shading out what little sunlight is struggling through the cloud cover. We’ve had a quiet afternoon; tomorrow, on through Rugeley to the pig farm mooring probably.

Turned out damp

After a rather broken night, we made a lazy start this morning. It's been damp all day, occasionally actually raining but more often just moist to the touch. I walked into Fradley village after breakfast to get a paper; it's about the same distance as going into Alrewas, especially as the shop and PO is at the further end of the village from the access to the Coventry Canal towpath, but it made a change from slogging back down the T&M.

Back at the boat we did some constructive loafing until lunchtime. Following a suggestion in a comment by Andy yesterday I gave coal boat Callisto a ring, as a result of which I've literally just taken delivery of 3 bags of Stoveglow from him, pausing typing this post to do so. Sheer good luck; he'd normally be 6 days further on, but the lack of supply of manufactured fuel meant that he had to wait at Sutton's Stop to get a load.

Many thanks Andy! The smokeless manufacturers run down production at the end of March, going from working 24/7 to an 8 hour day, and they've been caught out by the extended winter this year.

The afternoon has passed gently by with the aid of an episode of Blakes 7 and some photography. (The damp has meant that I couldn't finish off my paintwork, of course.)

First off, a rather scruffy goose who came to the side hatch to see if there was any chance of bread:

Sorry, mate, nothing doing.

I also took a shot of the smart new staging on the opposite side of the canal, where the old short finger moorings used to be:

Spot the design fault

As I understand it, these are to be let out as more long term moorings. There are a couple of boats on there already, but I don't know if they are officially there or just taking advantage. Similarly, it's not clear whether the pontoon is finished. I hope not – the location of the mooring rings projecting from the edge would wreak havoc with the blacking as you came alongside.

Hopefully, there's a fender to be fitted along the edge yet.

Venison casserole tonight, then tomorrow we'll head off up to Kings Bromley for the weekend.

On to Fradley

We had a very jolly time in the George and Dragon yesterday, and I was glad I'd had the foresight to post early. Not that I was legless, you understand, but it was good to be able to subside into the easy chair and know that I didn't have any skilled tasks to do until today.

The plan this morning was to move onto the waterpoint at around nine and fill the tank whilst I nipped into the village for stuff. This worked well, and by half nine or so we were on our way up the locks, followed by ex-OwnerShips Crompton.

Although not as sunny as the weekend, the weather was pleasant enough and has indeed improved again as the day's worn on. We got to Fradley just after eleven and found no difficulty in mooring. The visitor moorings here aren't hugely busy, in fact, though there's been a fair bit of coming and going.

Sheila had started a washload as we went along and we had to leave the engine on for a bit after we'd arrived to finish it off. I used the time to mask off and touch in the damaged coach line, having got the main blue area done before I went to the pub yesterday. There's just a bit more to do where I couldn't mask both the upright and horizontal lines at the same time.

Once that was done we made an expedition to the service area and disposed of rubbish and recycling. Walking round to Junction Lock revealed that the shop wasn't open today and doesn't appear to sell coal any more. The service area looks pretty bare in fact.

We've got one bagsworth of coal in the box, and although we're not using it very fast now, it's a bit of a concern as to whether it will last until we get to Great Haywood, the next likely source. Viv Scragg on Monarch and Grimsby used to deliver around here, but an enquiry on CWDF elicited the info that she's sold Monarch and Grimsby is being modified at the moment, so is no longer trading.

Apparently Mike Askin on Victoria trades around here now, but isn't about at the moment.

Heigh ho, I'm sure we'll cope, especially as things are definitely warming up. We plan to stay here for two days, then move on to the towpath near Kings Bromley for the weekend.

Oh look, it's Fradley!

Thinking about it last night, we reckoned that arriving at Fradley between half ten and half eleven would maximise our chances of getting a mooring, and that it would take us around 90 minutes to get there. Accordingly, we decided to set out at nine this morning.

This all worked out, but only just. As we got ready to go, a small convoy of two Anglo Welsh boats came past, and I was just about to let go of the stern line after they'd gone when Sheila pointed out another boat approaching in the distance. I decided to let this one go by as well – I hate jumping out in front of another boat, even if it's quite a way away.

In the event, by the time we got to Woodend, there were five boats waiting to go down, so we had to hang about a bit. Sheila, whose day it was to lockwheel, found herself getting plenty of exercise assisting the other boats before it was our turn.

No matter, it was a glorious day, sunny and calm if a bit chilly, so we weren't too bothered. As may be imagined, we had a bit of a procession down the Fradley locks as well, though the Anglo Welsh flotilla and the privateer, Everso, turned onto the Coventry when they got to the junction.

A Shakespeare hire boat came out of Junction Lock as we approached and left it open for us; it proved to be crewed by a couple we'd met during the Braidbar Open Day.

It was now a bit after eleven, and there was just one 70 foot space on the moorings into which we popped. A few boats left after we'd arrived, so there continued to be spaces until after lunch, though they've all filled up now.

Having eaten, I walked down to Alrewas, partly to get some exercise and partly to get a paper (this is especially important on a Saturday because of the giant general knowledge crossword). I took the chance to look at the river (well down in the green) and the state of the moorings. There was a lot of space, especially above Bagnall and on the 14 day mooring between Kent's and Gallows bridges, so we should be OK tomorrow. We'll set out at about half nine, to allow any hire boats that have stopped for the night to get away.

Elanor will be meeting up with us, hopefully with our mega Ocado order. We'll stay there until Thursday (I have a blood test on Tuesday and Sheila has an appointment on Wednesday), then head on to Mercia; there's an end of season party on Friday night in the marina that we'd like to get to.

/wahaha

A Quiet Friday at Fradley?

In the days when Fradley Junction was a major OwnerShips base, the Friday scene was so chaotic in the summer that we christened it "Freaky Fradley Friday". There would be a double bank of the shared ownership craft along the towpath above Junction Lock, making navigation up and down to and from  Middle Lock quite fraught. In addition, there would be boats coming up Junction, and out of the Coventry, and turning into the Coventry, and wanting to go straight on towards Rugeley, and wanting to go downhill to Alrewas, and lots of them would be comparatively inexperienced, and it all would get very entertaining if you weren't trying to go somewhere yourself.

Today, it's much quieter. There were a fair few boats about this morning, mostly up and down the T&M, but this afternoon has been positively dozy, and that's not just the effects of the Coates's pasties we had for lunch.

/blur

We ourselves had an active sort of start to the day; I walked into Alrewas to get some more meat and the aforesaid pasties – oh, and a paper – whilst Sheila did some cleaning in the boat. Since then, we've been pottering. I caught up with email correspondence and sorted the latest edition of the Braidbar Owners' Group Pub Guide, and Sheila's been finishing off the washload she did yesterday.

The weather has been occasionally showery, especially in the middle of the day, but just now has turned really nice, as though we may well see the forecast mini heat wave materialise over the weekend.

The moorings have gradually filled up, and there are various gongoozlers ambling about.

All in all, an idyllic scene.