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.

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.

A day of boating jobs, and then into Otherton

15th & 16th June

Yesterday was a staying put day, as we didn't want to go into Otherton Boat Haven until this afternoon. We made a lazy start on a bright day. The only downside was that the loo has decided to be stroppy about flushing – pushing the air button doesn't always make the flush cycle start, which is a bit alarming.

Last time this happened, I had to replace the switch itself – the air button works by blowing a puff of air down a tube to move a diaphragm in the switch proper, located in the bowels (and I use the word advisedly) of the toilet.

To get at it, you have to dismantle the toilet, which is half a day's job, usually. It's working enough to be bearable for the moment – I really don't fancy starting in on it just before going away.

It being Father's Day, Sheila said that as a treat I could make another fender (we don't take Father's Day terribly seriously on this boat). I actually managed to do it in a morning, making another of the two tone ones, this time with a more solid finish to the top. I've posted a pic of both the recent fenders in the delayed post that will hopefully appear on Wednesday afternoon.

In the afternoon, I took a walk up to Penkridge Lock, and took some photos to use in the aforesaid delayed post.

When I got back I was still full of beans, so we set to and polished the brass that hadn't yet been Incralaced. Sanity is thus looking quite smart for her spell in a proper marina, sorry, Boat Haven.

As we were doing this, Roger and Sue Burchett came by on Nackered Navvy, on their leisurely way to Saul, so we'll see them there.

Today was another bright start. We both made the trek into the village to get a few supplies to keep us going until tomorrow lunchtime. Whilst there, we were accosted b y an elderly guy coming out of the paper shop. Seeing my Waterway Recovery Group fleece, he said that he'd pay for whatever I was planning to buy in the shop if I could tell him exactly where the idea of WRG was conceived, and by whom.

I said London and by Graham Palmer and Harry Arnold, this being the tale told to me by Harry. "No" he said, "Graham Palmer and I were sitting on the balance beam of lock 12 of the Stourbridge 16 when we concocted the idea of the Navvies Notebook, as a way of gathering together all those with an interest in restoring canals."

He then gave us some reminiscences of the Stourbridge confrontation, and of the early days of the Lappal Tunnel restoration plans before going on his way.

Oh, and his name? Stan Thomas. (No, me neither)

[Added 23/12/2008: Harry Arnold has just called in to correct the impression that this story gives. For the sake of historical accuracy, it was the concept of a magazine, Navvies Noteboook, that emerged from the discussion at Stourbridge, to promote the various restoration efforts then going on. WRG itself didn't follow for a few years. It was decided that WRG wouldn't be a subscription based organisation, but that anyone who subscribed to Navvies Notebook, then shortened to Navvies, would be on the list of folks available to help.

I hope this keeps the record straight!]

Back at the boat, I'd been struggling to upload the pics for the delayed post, on an internet connection that claimed to be fast, but in fact was a bit erratic. I finally managed it, and we then took an early lunch.

We worked up the Longford and Penkridge Locks, and started to pump out at the Sanitary Station. At this point, things took a turn for the worse. After doing most of the tank, the pump decided to stop working. At first I thought it was a blockage in the tank, but no, the pump was declining to pump canal water. I tried a quick dismantle, but there were no obvious problems, so we abandoned the attempt and set off again for Otherton. (It later proved to be a bad connection in the waterproof switch.)

There was a good queue for Filance Lock, and things were made more interesting by the fact that the pound below was about a foot down, so that Sanity kept running aground. In fact, when it was my turn to go into the lock, she wouldn't move, and Sheila had to run some water down to get us afloat again.

We chugged along to Otherton, where they'd forgotten we were coming. No problem, there was plenty of room, but it's obviously one of the more laid back operations.

It was only a fiver for an electric card, so I bought one as an alternative to defrosting the freezer. The distance from Sanity's back end to the meter was just too long for the main power cable we carry, but I was able to make up an extension from some plugs and cable I had spare.

Connected it all up, and guess what: the card wouldn't work. Went back to the office, to discover that it had shut half an hour before. Looks like we're defrosting the freezer anyway, as the office doesn't open until we've left to catch our train tomorrow. I'll email them to let them know we'll be claiming a refund.

That's all for now, folks. Hopefully the photo blog will appear on Wednesday, and I'll resume regular blogging when we're under way again on Friday.