Looking forward to Leicester?

By iangbell, Posted on July 21, 2017

How often can you say that you’re looking forward to Leicester? When you love your narrowboat and the English canal network you can. The Leicester Ring is a favourite of ours because it includes Foxton locks, the Trent and Soar Rivers, tunnels, narrow locks and wide locks. Leicester isn’t the best part, but if you’re doing the ring, you have to go through Leicester. And if you have to go through Leicester, by water is probably the best way.

We left our marina berth in Scholar Green this morning. Of course it started raining almost immediately. It’s a tradition now. We go off on our main summer boat trip and the weather changes to wet. It doesn’t really bother us, unless it’s really heavy. Normal English soft rain is fine. Just so long as we get some dry days…

We headed south, towards the Trent and Mersey and the Harecastle Tunnel. We rounded the last bend before the northern portal, fully expecting to see the usual queue of boats. The Harecastle is only wide enough for 1 narrowboat at a time, and there is no tow path. Boats gather at the tunnel entrances and are then sent through in groups by the Canal and River Trust (CRT) Tunnel keepers. But this time, there were no boats waiting. I immediately assumed that this was because we had just missed being able to join a group of boats heading south. But I was rapidly proved wrong. The Tunnel Keeper waved us into the tunnel. Following a quick test of horn and headlamp we ventured into the tunnel.

The Harecastle is narrow and the roof gets very low in the middle due to mining subsidence, the same subsidence that closed the parallel tunnel that allowed for two way operation. With a tunnel like this, it can be very easy to begin oscillating from side to side, eventually banging into the tunnel wall. The cause is actually, not enough speed. With higher revs, you get better, more immediate steering response. The boat is easier to control as a result. At slower speeds, steering response is sluggish, causing you to over correct, and zig-zag.

It takes around 40 minutes to get through the tunnel and we managed it without touching the sides. And it was still raining on the other side.

Now the goal was to get through Stoke before mooring for the night. Stoke on Trent is a great place to visit for shopping, or the cinema or for restaurants. There’s even a Cultural Quarter. It’s just not the prettiest place for an overnight canal mooring.

This meant getting through the locks in the Stoke flight. These 5 locks are some of the deepest and the last two seem deliberately embedded in other transport infrastructure. One is so close to a railway bridge that it makes the bottom gates hard to open and close. And the bottom lock takes you down into a concrete cutting under one of the A500 junctions. For some reason the canal is hidden away along here. Most drivers on the A500 have no idea the canal is there. It does mean, us boaters can feel smug when a narrowboat at 3.5mph is faster than the cars and trucks!

After the Stoke flight, the canal winds its way through a landscape that used to be full of heavy industry, but is now populated by huge warehouse distribution centres and the Stoke City football ground.

After one more lock at Trentham we moored for the night in the countryside near to the Wedgewood factory.

And it was still raining.

It Finally Rained

By iangbell, Posted on August 9, 2016

It finally rained on us today. Of course, it had to be when we got to the Booth Lane Locks. When I passed this way in June, that was the day that I got completely soaked at exactly the same location. Today’s rain was much less dramatic, but still wet.

We are slowly making our way back to Scholar Green. We left the Aqueduct Moorings this morning, aiming for the well known landmark of the Kings Lock Fish and Chip shop for lunch. This is (surprisingly) next to King’s Lock, the first lock heading south on the T&M from its junction with the Middlewich Branch.

Looking back from King's Lock — Looking back from King’s Lock

The weather brightened temporarily over lunch time. As we departed Middlewich, it looked enticingly sunny in front, but ominously cloudy behind. And those clouds eventually caught up with us at the Booth Lane Locks.

And now I feel the need for a rant. There is a new housing development near to the Booth Lane Locks. Their marketing makes significant use of images of the locks and the proximity of the canal, which is fair enough. But why call it Albion Lock? Really? Albion Lock only exists in some marketing person’s mind. It’s made up. They are trying to make an association with canalside living, trying to suggest some connection to the waterway. When in reality, they got the name wrong and the canal is the other side of a bust main road. Hardly canalside living. Rant over.

A bit of a slog

By iangbell, Posted on June 12, 2016

I knew that today was going to be a bit of a slog. But that wasn’t truly going to start until later. We were moored, last night, somewhere near Paddy’s Wood, just short of Wheelock. This is another very familiar part of the canal network. That’s why I know there is another one of those random personal landmarks on the way into Wheelock. It’s the spot where another boater told us that you could moor overnight and watch badgers. The kids were massively interested in badgers, having seen the ones that visit my mum and dad’s back garden. So we moored at the spot. It was obvious. You could see several sets by the characteristic spray of sandy soil from the entrances. We watched. We didn’t see anything! The badger sets are still there. Still very clear to see. But I don’t think they will be there for long. You see, the field behind is yet another place where they are building more new houses.

The dog and I pulled in at Wheelock to offload some rubbish and admire this souped up old Ford that was parked there. I would have got her some more treats, but the pet food superstore just next to the canal doesn’t open on Sundays.

Having just passed the last possible place to moor in Wheelock, that was the point when I noticed the dark, ominous clouds. Too late.

Just round the corner is the bottom of the Wheelock flight. This is the start of the Cheshire Locks, also known as Heartbreak Hill. Most of the locks between here and Hardings Wood Junction are double locks. These pairs of locks helped to improve throughput through this heavily locked length. The slog would have begun immediately, but it started raining. So we sheltered for a while under a road bridge waiting for it to stop. It didn’t stop, but it wasn’t proper rain, not like yesterday, so we carried on.

Cheshire Locks - doubles — Cheshire Locks – doubles

The bottom few pounds (spaces between locks) were very low. It was actually quite difficult to get into and out of the locks. At the bottom of one lock, I couldn’t even get Heron all the way into the bank. The situation improved as we ascended through Malkins Bank, a community that only exists because of the canal.

The canal then crosses an open field and under a solitary, lonely bridge. It is painted white, well usually, it looks like it needs a repaint right now. This is one of my canal landmarks that you can spot when screaming past on the M6. It’s easier to spot if you are heading north. If you are heading south, you can just glimpse the next pair of locks.

The canal then passes Hassall Green. By lock 57, there used to be a rather nice cafe. We’ve had everything from meals to ice creams from there. It is no more. It’s been converted to a house, and looks to have been on the market for most of this year. Sounds like they were asking too much money for it. Or perhaps it’s all the worries about the EU Referendum?

Hassall Green was also the location for the Romping Donkey. It was only a short walk from the canal and did a mean Sunday carvery. Apparently it had been closed for a few years, then they were doing some renovations and managed to demolish part of the listed structure. Now it seems it’s in limbo. Viewed from the canal, it looks like quite a bit of it has gone. I wouldn’t be too hopeful about it re-opening.

The Pierpoint Locks appear to be in splendid isolation, despite being only a short distance away from the M6. This pair of single locks were the last two for the day. We had only done 12 locks. But they are all deep and most of them were set against us. Climbing the ladders out of these deep locks is hard work, especially in the rain. Only 12 locks, but still a bit of a slog.

The only problem with where we are moored now is these intimidating cows. They are freaking Sam out, standing there staring at her intently.

Wet Wet Wet

By iangbell, Posted on May 18, 2016

Before anyone gets concerned that I am about to come out as a massive fan of a Scottish rock band who formed in the early 80’s and who are still going today, don’t worry. My passion for a band who are often, incorrectly, referred to as an 80’s Scottish heavy metal band is well known, this is a comment on the weather.

Wet Wet Wet - weather — Wet Wet Wet – weather

The view this morning was a stark contrast to yesterday. When you are on a 2 week boating holiday, you put up with rain and carry on. Another big plus point for a longer style of trip is that you don’t have to. And whilst I have no problem with sitting still and just “being”, I can’t do that for an entire day. The rain did not prevent me from working. First on the boat and then on business stuff.

The kitchen got a complete spring clean.That is apart from the tiles, who knew that grease spatter from frying would be able to adhere so completely to glazed ceramic. There must be some engineering use for such an effective adhesive.

Next I fitted a retractable washing line in the bow, getting ready for having

to wash clothes. And that is not a chore you usually have to do when holiday boating. I fixed up a new clock/barometer in the saloon (translation for non boater: lounge) and re-fixed the one in the bedroom. Then I re-acquainted myself with this piece of vacuuming tech.

The rest of the day was filled with email, accounts and starting a business website.

And then the dog went stir crazy and forced me to take her out. She immediately tried to go and be friendly with some cows. Unfortunately for her, the hedge between them and the towpath really was as impenetrable as it looked. Unfortunately for me, a dog who enters an impenetrable hedge attached to an extending lead, can really do a great job of getting completely stuck.

Here’s hoping for better weather tomorrow, because I need a post box.

Collisions, Prog and Canal Retail Therapy

By iangbell, Posted on May 17, 2016

Today’s post should really be about how, for the first time in 5 years, I managed to enter Midland Chandlers at Braunston and not spend over £100. But I need to rant a little first.

<rant> I avoided playing the Mr Grumpy card at the end of yesterday’s post, on the basis that you should always give yourself time to calm down before reacting. Well, apparently, that doesn’t always work. Just as I was beginning to write, I was side-swiped by a passing boat whose steerer was more concerned with asking another helmsman the way to Braunston. It’s hard to do, but not unknown for people to get lost on the canals and he was obviously one of those people who had. He was obviously stressed, and he froze, like a rabbit in the headlights. Well, he came to his senses when the bow of his boat hit the side of Heron. Did I mention that he also hadn’t realised it was good manners to slow down when passing moored boats. Of course, if he had a good grasp of physics he would have realised that, as Heron couldn’t move sideways, most of the momentum of his 15 ton vessel moving at 4 mph would have transferred back to his boat, but in almost the reverse direction. Meaning, if he had just let it, his boat would have neatly swung away from Heron, allowing him to carry on down the canal and giving him plenty of time for the profuse apologies I’m sure he was planning to offer. Well, perhaps he was ashamed that his lack of action led to the collision, but now he was all-action. He pushed the tiller hard over to swing the bows of his boat away from Heron (which we’ve already established, it was already doing on it’s own). And he opened up the throttle, with his boat still in forward gear, to speed that process up. Those of you who know boats will know what happened next. Bows swing away, stern swings towards and hits Heron in almost the same spot his bows did, with extra force due to his exuberant use of the throttle.

Instead of giving him a seriously disapproving look, which is my usual tactic, this time I felt some comment, or even friendly advice about physics and boats was in order. I think conveyed all I needed to when I said “Really?” in a mildly irritated tone, just loud enough so he could actually here me. Did he thank me? Did he apologise? No, but he did shout a heartfelt “Oops” whilst shrugging his shoulders. </rant>

Another bright and clear spring morning today, the view from the window as I ate breakfast, was more classic rolling English countryside, blue skies and sunshine. And there you have one of the great attractions of owning a narrowboat.

You can change the view whenever you want. And you can choose the neighbours too if you really want to.

I started to experiment with a digital SLR today, with the idea of adding some higher quality pictures to these posts and to create a gallery for the site. I took some really rather good shots today, especially of the boat, but you will have to take my word for now, because they are stuck on the camera. It needs, either, an old-style mini USB cable, or something that can read Compact Flash cards. Both the laptops I have with me are too new for Compact Flash and I can clearly remember thinking “I haven’t got anything that uses this cable now” as I removed it from the bag of assorted useful cables I usually bring with me. For all the wonderful advantages of living on a boat, you just can’t order something on Amazon and get it next day.

Having satisfied my photography ambitions, I eventually got started towards Braunston. Every time I come north on the Oxford and join this stretch of the Grand Union heading towards Braunston, I feel like I’ve turned off a B-road and joined a major A-road. It’s wider, deeper, straighter and faster. The same revs that gets you to 3mph on the South Oxford, now delivers a screaming 3.8 mph. By the way, I reserve the motorways in this analogy for rivers like the Thames and Severn.

As I approach Braunston,

Pink Floyd graffiti (Credit: Halfie on nb Jubilee)

there’s one prog rock landmark I always look out for. On the buttress of a demolished railway bridge, someone wrote in large capital letters “PINK FLOYD”. This is reputed to have appeared over 40 years ago. Whilst faded, the graffiti is still there, unlike the band it was created for. Of course, that picture is on the other camera. But another narrowboat blogger – Halfie on nb Jubilee has a picture on his blog. As I am renowned for my passion for Marillion – I will really have to find a way to work that into these posts somehow. All that springs to mind today is that “Happiness is the Road”

Approaching Braunston from this side, you can’t tell that there are probably more than 500 boats moored here. Braunston has long been a centre for everything related to the canals. But this time, apart from a short stop at Braunston Turn, I will be turning away from Braunston to head north on the Oxford. Why a short stop at the junction? Well, Midland Chandlers have cunningly positioned one of their outlets right there. I am unable to pass by without indulging in a little retail therapy, and today is no exception. In the past we have bought mattresses, a fridge, electrical parts and fire extinguishers, to name just a few. Today, I managed to curb my urges and I just bought some very necessary screws and bolts. Although I did find myself gazing longingly at the alternator to battery charge management system I have been considering getting, whilst thinking “That’s not as expensive as I thought”. Thoughts and desires around boat related technology will be the subject of a future article.

After lingering long enough to be t-boned by another boat trying to turn the wrong way at the junction (yes there is a wrong way to turn at Braunston Turn), I carried on up the North Oxford for a short while. This is a good section to moor on, with several paths as well as the towpath for walking the dog. There was just enough time for a 3 miler with Sam, and then, just as I predicted to the lady at Midland Chandlers, it started raining as soon as I wanted to relax on the bow of the boat.