Despite a bit of a broken night, we still managed to get going by half six, Sheila steering while I loafed in bed drinking tea and then got up and breakfasted. Thus refreshed, I took over the helm whilst Sheila got her grub, and she finished just in time to work Sanity Again through the stop lock at Autherley, or Cut End as it was known.
All was calm and peaceful around Pendeford, and we only saw a few early fishermen about. Another advantage of the early start was that there was no traffic coming the other way through the Rockin'. We've seen our first ducklings today, a bit later than folk further south.
The weather remained very sunny, but chilly, and the wind slowly strengthened until it was a bit of a nuisance, both for steering the boat and in terms of chill factor on the steerer. After around three and a half hours, we reached Hatherton, by which time the holiday makers had got themselves on their way, and things were getting busy. We'd planned to stop at Long Moll's bridge just north of Hatherton again, but the wind direction would have been from the water treatment plant (aka sewage farm) to the moorings, so we've stopped here at Hatherton instead.
After tying and sorting out, ham and cheese toasties were consumed, breakfast having been a while ago.
At Cut End, there was the usual pile of detritus collected from the bywash, including a large pallet which Sheila chucked into the well deck. She spent the rest of the morning cutting it up, along with the few bits of driftwood we'd acquired recently, so that we are now well supplied with kindling.
We've further improved the shining hour by washing the port side of the boat, so we're feeling quite virtuous. Just as I was about to settle down and write this, the guy from the boat behind pointed out that when our bilge pump ran, a bit of diesel emerged with the water and floated colourfully off down the canal.
Investigation showed that a joint in the leak off pipe was weeping just a tad, and dripping into the stern bilge. I've nipped it up, and run the engine to check that it now seems to be nice and dry.
Tomorrow, on through Gailey to Penkridge, Sheila steering and your correspondent locking.
Showing posts with label Hatherton JUnction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hatherton JUnction. Show all posts
Tuesday, 12 April 2011
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Up the Staffs and Worcs
In the continuing fine weather (who says we never have a summer?), we've come up the final locks onto the summit of the Staffs and Worcs. On the way we passed Otherton Boat Haven, where we left Sanity on one occasion to take a train across to Lincolnshire.
It doesn't look to have changed very much; I commented at the time that it was no more than average, with not particularly welcoming staff, and limited opening hours in the office. One of the more laid back operations, I said; ramshackle would be another word for it, frankly.
We'd been warned that Rodbaston Lock was leaking badly through the top cill, but when we got there, a share boat steered by Alan Sensicle was just coming out of it, and he shouted across to me that they'd had an emergency stoppage yesterday and fixed it. It was indeed no problem today :)
On we merrily chugged; I was lockwheeling and walked the last few up to Gailey, where we found a Fire and Rescue crew practising pumping water out of the cut and then squirting it back in again. The canal was very congested past the mooring above the lock; Viking clearly don't have many boats out yet either.
Then it was a case of the gentle cruise past the chemical works at Four Ashes to the mooring by Long Moll's Bridge that we've used before. It's just a bit before Hatherton Junction, where the pub is still trading, but doesn't seem to have moved on past the advertised Stage 1; the "temporary sign" is still promising all sorts of goodies like a shop and boatyard services, but there's not much sign of them yet.
We took a walk past there this afternoon; if you go on to the next bridge, you can follow a farm track across to the minor road that leads to Long Moll's and so back to the boat.
For the rest, we've been sitting out on the bow, drinking tea, reading and enjoying the sun. Sheila at one point threatened to change into shorts, but we agreed that this would constitute "casting a clout" and there's no sign of hawthorn blossom yet. (I believe in the floral rather than the calendular interpretation of the saying.)
We've also filled in most of our census form on line; I'm just waiting to see if we do indeed end up at Market Drayton on Sunday as I've predicted before submitting it.
It doesn't look to have changed very much; I commented at the time that it was no more than average, with not particularly welcoming staff, and limited opening hours in the office. One of the more laid back operations, I said; ramshackle would be another word for it, frankly.
We'd been warned that Rodbaston Lock was leaking badly through the top cill, but when we got there, a share boat steered by Alan Sensicle was just coming out of it, and he shouted across to me that they'd had an emergency stoppage yesterday and fixed it. It was indeed no problem today :)
On we merrily chugged; I was lockwheeling and walked the last few up to Gailey, where we found a Fire and Rescue crew practising pumping water out of the cut and then squirting it back in again. The canal was very congested past the mooring above the lock; Viking clearly don't have many boats out yet either.
Then it was a case of the gentle cruise past the chemical works at Four Ashes to the mooring by Long Moll's Bridge that we've used before. It's just a bit before Hatherton Junction, where the pub is still trading, but doesn't seem to have moved on past the advertised Stage 1; the "temporary sign" is still promising all sorts of goodies like a shop and boatyard services, but there's not much sign of them yet.
We took a walk past there this afternoon; if you go on to the next bridge, you can follow a farm track across to the minor road that leads to Long Moll's and so back to the boat.
For the rest, we've been sitting out on the bow, drinking tea, reading and enjoying the sun. Sheila at one point threatened to change into shorts, but we agreed that this would constitute "casting a clout" and there's no sign of hawthorn blossom yet. (I believe in the floral rather than the calendular interpretation of the saying.)
We've also filled in most of our census form on line; I'm just waiting to see if we do indeed end up at Market Drayton on Sunday as I've predicted before submitting it.
Labels:
Hatherton JUnction,
Otherton Boat Haven
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Pump outs and caches
23rd & 24th February
The cunning plan yesterday was to make a prompt start so as to get both shopping and a pump out done before boating on. This worked reasonably well, except that the bakers didn't have any bread ready by the time we were there, just after they opened at nine.
It's all baked on the premises, but clearly they don't start in the middle of the night in the way small bakers used to do.
By half nine we were on the service point doing our first self pump out for quite a time. You could tell that we'd had a number of commercial pump outs by the amount of sludge we rinsed out of the bottom of the tank. Fortunately, my mods to the power supply to the pump had made a distinct difference, with a lot more suck going on, but it still took quite a while to get even two good rinses through the tank.
We'll do another one at Nantwich, probably, so that we begin to make an impression on the state of the tank. If you don't keep clearing the sludge out, it eventually begins to set on the bottom, so that you permanently lose capacity. It is just so hard to persuade boatyards that it makes a difference using the proper rinse out line, rather than just pouring water down the pump out connection and sucking it back out again.
By half ten we were away once more, and worked up Filance, Otherton, Rodbaston and Boggs Locks, tying just before lunch between Boggs and Brick Kiln. There was much less traffic about this week, as expected, and there continues to be a Spring like feel to the air, so we are really getting the benefit of our lifestyle at the moment.
After lunch we walked back to Boggs Lock and found the Life in the Slow Lane geocache. Back at the boat, I improved the shining hour by taking advantage of an unexpectedly fast internet connection to do another post on the Building Sanity Again blog, on heating systems. It's already attracted some interesting comments about the merits of the various options, which is very gratifying.
Today we had only a short bit of boating to do, as we'd decided to stop just beyond Gailey, just before Hatherton Junction, in fact, at Long Moll's Bridge. This was because we'd spotted a whole set of caches, mostly on the towpath, around here, using the excellent waymarked Long Moll's Walk.
I worked Sanity up the remaining two locks, and we stopped to top up the water tank and post a letter before ambling on to our mooring. I also took a photo of the Round House at Gailey, as we'd dropped off a Travel Bug called Otto's Lighthouse in the last cache, and its owner had asked for photos of other towers to be added to its web page.
We still got tied up well before lunch, so ran a washload of socks to take advantage of the fact that the engine needed to be left running to finish charging the batteries.
After lunch we duly walked just under five miles, finding all seven caches, about which we felt very pleased with ourselves, especially as the last three were tiny micro caches of the kind which previously have given us much more trouble.
It was interesting to note that several other boaters had been there before us, and we particularly admired No Problem Sue's fancy laminated cards which she leaves in caches she finds.
The rest of the afternoon has passed quite quietly, as might be expected. Tomorrow, we do some serious boating, to Autherley Junction and on to the first set of SUCS moorings on the Shroppie. It'll be good to be back on that canal, one of our favourites -– it must be a year since we were last there.
The cunning plan yesterday was to make a prompt start so as to get both shopping and a pump out done before boating on. This worked reasonably well, except that the bakers didn't have any bread ready by the time we were there, just after they opened at nine.
It's all baked on the premises, but clearly they don't start in the middle of the night in the way small bakers used to do.
By half nine we were on the service point doing our first self pump out for quite a time. You could tell that we'd had a number of commercial pump outs by the amount of sludge we rinsed out of the bottom of the tank. Fortunately, my mods to the power supply to the pump had made a distinct difference, with a lot more suck going on, but it still took quite a while to get even two good rinses through the tank.
We'll do another one at Nantwich, probably, so that we begin to make an impression on the state of the tank. If you don't keep clearing the sludge out, it eventually begins to set on the bottom, so that you permanently lose capacity. It is just so hard to persuade boatyards that it makes a difference using the proper rinse out line, rather than just pouring water down the pump out connection and sucking it back out again.
By half ten we were away once more, and worked up Filance, Otherton, Rodbaston and Boggs Locks, tying just before lunch between Boggs and Brick Kiln. There was much less traffic about this week, as expected, and there continues to be a Spring like feel to the air, so we are really getting the benefit of our lifestyle at the moment.
After lunch we walked back to Boggs Lock and found the Life in the Slow Lane geocache. Back at the boat, I improved the shining hour by taking advantage of an unexpectedly fast internet connection to do another post on the Building Sanity Again blog, on heating systems. It's already attracted some interesting comments about the merits of the various options, which is very gratifying.
Today we had only a short bit of boating to do, as we'd decided to stop just beyond Gailey, just before Hatherton Junction, in fact, at Long Moll's Bridge. This was because we'd spotted a whole set of caches, mostly on the towpath, around here, using the excellent waymarked Long Moll's Walk.
I worked Sanity up the remaining two locks, and we stopped to top up the water tank and post a letter before ambling on to our mooring. I also took a photo of the Round House at Gailey, as we'd dropped off a Travel Bug called Otto's Lighthouse in the last cache, and its owner had asked for photos of other towers to be added to its web page.
We still got tied up well before lunch, so ran a washload of socks to take advantage of the fact that the engine needed to be left running to finish charging the batteries.
After lunch we duly walked just under five miles, finding all seven caches, about which we felt very pleased with ourselves, especially as the last three were tiny micro caches of the kind which previously have given us much more trouble.
It was interesting to note that several other boaters had been there before us, and we particularly admired No Problem Sue's fancy laminated cards which she leaves in caches she finds.
The rest of the afternoon has passed quite quietly, as might be expected. Tomorrow, we do some serious boating, to Autherley Junction and on to the first set of SUCS moorings on the Shroppie. It'll be good to be back on that canal, one of our favourites -– it must be a year since we were last there.
Labels:
Gailey,
Hatherton JUnction
Friday, 20 June 2008
Back on board and on our way to the Severn
17th to 20th June
The trip to Lincoln went very well, thank you for asking. As with the last time we travelled went there by train, the journey, although involving two changes, went smoothly, with all the trains on time, clean, tidy and not overcrowded.
I know it's not always like that; the last stage of the return trip was from Birmingham New Street to Penkridge on a service going to Liverpool Lime Street. As we waited to depart, the station announcer informed those waiting for the Aberystwyth service that today their train was starting from Wolverhampton, and so they should take our train to that station. The carriages promptly filled up, of course, with people heading for Shrewsbury and points west.
On arrival at Wolverhampton, they were told that in fact the mid Wales service was now starting from Shrewsbury, and that they'd have to change again there. Even the conductor on our train thought it a bit much.
On arrival at Penkridge, we did some essential shopping at the Co-op, and then slogged it out to the yard. It's not a huge walk, and we only made one wrong turning, which we were pretty pleased about. I should explain that we'd been given a lift into Penkridge on Tuesday by a very kind man from the boat next to us, so we had to find our way back on the basis of our memory of the map and of what we'd seen through the car windows.
As I say, it worked out very well: almost too well, as I'd hoped to use the experience as part of the evidence for buying a handheld GPS. Hey ho.
We got back just too late to go into the office and claim our fiver back for the non-functional electricity card, of course, so Otherton is better off by that amount. On balance, the Boat Haven was no more than OK – they were perfectly polite and did what we asked, i.e. kept the boat safe while we were away, but there wasn't much of a welcoming atmosphere, either from the yard staff or the other moorers, with the exception of this guy of Rivendell, the shared ownership boat, who gave us a lift.
The big effort last night was cleaning the fridge freezer before turning it back on. Sheila heroically washed the whole thing, boiling kettles of water to do so, as of course there was no hot in the calorifier, and I didn't want to use amp hours running the Eberspacher. We finally got it back together and restarted. I'm pleased to say that the batteries coped well with the extra load overnight as it froze down again.
Today we got an early start at eight, working up the five locks to Gailey with a fair bit of traffic about already. By 10.20 we'd got to Bridge 76, just before Hatherton Junction. This is a pleasant country mooring, and has the advantage that we can make another early get away tomorrow and get through the bandit country around Autherley and Aldersley junctions in good time. The aim is to be at Compton in time to do some more shopping for lunch – obviously we only bought immediately necessary stuff yesterday, with over a mile to carry it in addition to our overnight things, so at Compton we'll be able to get back to normal catering.
Another advantage here is a waymarked walk along the towpath and back round some minor roads. The waymarks are little interpretation boards – well done to BW for a good bit of added value the canal side scene.
Sadly, it's not possible to walk up the remains of the Hatherton Arm. When restored as part of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal, it will make for a really useful connection across the Northern part of the BCN to Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry that we know so well. It would be a good PR boost for the L&HCT if it was possible to explore the line at this end in the way that you can at the other.
My thanks to all who have made encouraging noises about the pictures I posted last time. I'll try and put some more up in due course, though it does depend on quality of connection. Blogger is real pain to upload photos to if the connection is at all iffy – I don't know what other blogging services such as WordPress are like for that.
I've got some photos of Daniel on his first birthday, and some I took while we walking today, so I may well put them up by uploading them to my main website and then cross linking them to the blog, once we get a good connection again – it's very slow and erratic here.
The trip to Lincoln went very well, thank you for asking. As with the last time we travelled went there by train, the journey, although involving two changes, went smoothly, with all the trains on time, clean, tidy and not overcrowded.
I know it's not always like that; the last stage of the return trip was from Birmingham New Street to Penkridge on a service going to Liverpool Lime Street. As we waited to depart, the station announcer informed those waiting for the Aberystwyth service that today their train was starting from Wolverhampton, and so they should take our train to that station. The carriages promptly filled up, of course, with people heading for Shrewsbury and points west.
On arrival at Wolverhampton, they were told that in fact the mid Wales service was now starting from Shrewsbury, and that they'd have to change again there. Even the conductor on our train thought it a bit much.
On arrival at Penkridge, we did some essential shopping at the Co-op, and then slogged it out to the yard. It's not a huge walk, and we only made one wrong turning, which we were pretty pleased about. I should explain that we'd been given a lift into Penkridge on Tuesday by a very kind man from the boat next to us, so we had to find our way back on the basis of our memory of the map and of what we'd seen through the car windows.
As I say, it worked out very well: almost too well, as I'd hoped to use the experience as part of the evidence for buying a handheld GPS. Hey ho.
We got back just too late to go into the office and claim our fiver back for the non-functional electricity card, of course, so Otherton is better off by that amount. On balance, the Boat Haven was no more than OK – they were perfectly polite and did what we asked, i.e. kept the boat safe while we were away, but there wasn't much of a welcoming atmosphere, either from the yard staff or the other moorers, with the exception of this guy of Rivendell, the shared ownership boat, who gave us a lift.
The big effort last night was cleaning the fridge freezer before turning it back on. Sheila heroically washed the whole thing, boiling kettles of water to do so, as of course there was no hot in the calorifier, and I didn't want to use amp hours running the Eberspacher. We finally got it back together and restarted. I'm pleased to say that the batteries coped well with the extra load overnight as it froze down again.
Today we got an early start at eight, working up the five locks to Gailey with a fair bit of traffic about already. By 10.20 we'd got to Bridge 76, just before Hatherton Junction. This is a pleasant country mooring, and has the advantage that we can make another early get away tomorrow and get through the bandit country around Autherley and Aldersley junctions in good time. The aim is to be at Compton in time to do some more shopping for lunch – obviously we only bought immediately necessary stuff yesterday, with over a mile to carry it in addition to our overnight things, so at Compton we'll be able to get back to normal catering.
Another advantage here is a waymarked walk along the towpath and back round some minor roads. The waymarks are little interpretation boards – well done to BW for a good bit of added value the canal side scene.
Sadly, it's not possible to walk up the remains of the Hatherton Arm. When restored as part of the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal, it will make for a really useful connection across the Northern part of the BCN to Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry that we know so well. It would be a good PR boost for the L&HCT if it was possible to explore the line at this end in the way that you can at the other.
My thanks to all who have made encouraging noises about the pictures I posted last time. I'll try and put some more up in due course, though it does depend on quality of connection. Blogger is real pain to upload photos to if the connection is at all iffy – I don't know what other blogging services such as WordPress are like for that.
I've got some photos of Daniel on his first birthday, and some I took while we walking today, so I may well put them up by uploading them to my main website and then cross linking them to the blog, once we get a good connection again – it's very slow and erratic here.
Labels:
Hatherton JUnction,
Otherton Boat Haven
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