Summer Cruising Ends and Developments at Home.

Well, “Chance” is now safely tucked up in bed for the winter but, prior to that,we had some marvellous last moments before packing up and moving off.

One lovely moment was the fabulous sunset we had on the evening we moored at Ansty. This scene was Facebooked and sent viral by many who saw it that night – but this is ‘our’ sunset!

Leaving “Chance” on Thursday, we took the train down to London to make preparations for a future adventure. As we were in the Paddington area at one stage we had, of course, to divert to the basin to see what was going on – and who should we spot! Face book and boaty friends Ray and Diane on nb “Ferndale”. Sadly we each had our plans for the day but we had a little walk together in the same direction for a while and had a good old natter. Small world without doubt.

The basin itself hasn’t changed but we hope that CART get their act together soon and sort out the ‘permanent mooring’ problem. We can live in hope!

At the end of our London day Doug returned to “Chance” and James took the train to Chichester for an overnight stay at home in order to drive the car back for the boat unloading ceremony in a day or two’s time. (He’d just like to say that he cut the hedge, mowed back and front lawns and winter pruned all the roses! – just sayin’). In the meantime on Friday Doug, single-handed, took “Chance” to Braunston where the two of us eventually met up again. We also had the enormous added bonus of the company of friends Alison and Dave on nb “FreeSpirit”. In the evening we all trotted up to The Plough in the village for a lovely meal together. As we’ve said so many time before: the food was great but the company even greater. 

Afterwards, it was a trot back down the hill where we finished off the evening with drinks on board “Chance”. Thanks Alison and Dave for the usual hysteria and for bringing the booze. Bless you both!

While we were ‘weekending’ in Braunston there was the fortuitous appearance of Jule’s Fuels boat heading towards us one morning. Just the job as we’d tried in several places in the last few days to top up the tank ready for the winter heating. Marvellous luck and we were able to buy from a canal trader as well.

After our weekend in Braunston we quickly managed to put “Chance” away and, with the car loaded, we headed north to Manchester just for a couple of days (where else?).

On Friday (7th) we made the journey back home to Selsey. In our summer absence there have been a number of major developments in the village. A devastating fire completely destroyed the Academy just before the start of the new school year (thank goodness no one was hurt) but it’s an opportunity for the village to have a super-duper new building instead of the awful 1960’s “thing”.

Also, during a walk along the sea front to visit some friends, we came across the latest Selsey development ……..

……… the new Lifeboat station. The RNLI have seen fit to replace both our lifeboat and it’s station. The lovely old iconic one, which sits out in the sea at the end of a long gantry, is to be no more. Instead, a spiffing new, state-of-the-art building is nearing completion on terra-firma this time. Massive foundations are being constructed down the beach for the new Sherman class lifeboat to be launched.

The very rusty access gantry to the old station looks rather brutally truncated at the moment, leaving the old lifeboat and it’s station marooned out at sea! We’re sure the RNLI know what they’re doing and believe the old boat to be going somewhere else.

We had to take a few pics for posterity as it may all be gone next time we look! The village feels rather sad to see such a famous building disappear but there’ll be a warm welcome for the new one, and the new boat, without doubt and Selsey’s long history of saving lives at sea will continue as usual.

Talking of old buildings, famous or otherwise, further along the seawall is the old coastguard lookout building – now a holiday home for someone and, right now, shuttered against the inevitable winter storms which will soon start flinging the beach all over the place.

Selsey is full of quirky history and this is a typical example. When the railway line from Chichester closed down (1950’s) a number of railway carriages were bought by people and sited along the seafront as holiday or permanent homes. Some still remain, albeit in slightly modified forms. Two carriages survive inside this building as shown by the windows.

Our walk took us on past the crab processing area where the famous Selsey Crab comes from. We once saw Selsey Crab on a menu in Craster, Northumberland!

After visiting our friends it was a walk back home with a quick detour to see the front of our posh new lifeboat station.

Can’t wait to see it complete with the new boat inside.

Three Days of Autumn Cruising.

While we were staying at Fradley Junction over the weekend we had an unexpected guest. A rather tired racing pigeon took refuge on the rear deck for about an hour on Saturday afternoon. That was, until one of our ‘expected’ guests – Jasper the Border Terrier - trotted to the back of boat and spotted it. At that point the pigeon decided it had enough energy to continue it’s journey!

Jasper, of course, belongs to friends John and Louise on nb “Ploddin Along” who we had arranged to meet on Saturday. The fun with these two lovely people started with coffee, and fantastic home made coffee cake, onboard “Ploddin Along”. This was followed by a glass of wine / beer as the afternoon wore on! In the evening Louise and John came aboard “Chance” for a reciprocal glass or two before we headed up to the ‘Mucky Duck’ for a meal together. The picture says it all really – great fun, lots of laughs and thanks so much both of you for the meet-up and for your lovely company. See you next year – wink, wink!

And this is cute little Jasper who we also had great fun with. Especially Doug who, given a four-legged friend for a few hours, is in his element! There were lots of sticks and balls being thrown resulting in a tired little doggy (and a tired little Doug!)

On Sunday morning, after James successfully risked the threat of rain showers and painted the sanded areas on the roof (that’s another winter preparation job done) we set forth, going forwards this time, through the lock we’d reversed through on Friday!, and turning immediately left onto the Coventry canal. We only had a bit of drizzle to contend with during the day – luckily the roof paint had dried before we left Fradley. Not long after we’d moored up for the night (in one of our favourite spots just before the military firing area at Hopwas!) we were hailed by the sound of American accents from a passing ‘Aqua’ hire boat! Some lovely people, all the way from “south of San Francisco”, told us they enjoy regularly reading our blog. Goodness! – what a chance that you should pass us! Thank you for saying hello and we hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday.

Monday was a very wet day with James steering the boat under the protection of an umbrella for four hours. Luckily the rain stopped as we got to the bottom of the Atherstone flight of 11 locks. At the ‘town’ bridge 44 they’d done a good job of prettifying the area with a good autumnal display of flowers.

We reached the top lock, 80 feet higher than we started, in just less than two hours. Not too bad really!

The weather improved in the afternoon and, at about 5’ish, we moored in one of our middle-of-nowhere locations (just before Hartshill) and enjoyed the afternoon sunshine.

Tuesday was very drear but at least it was dry. We were pleased to see that the very pretty maintenance yard at Hartshill was looking more ‘loved’ than the last time we passed.

There is a very stout and dignified original manager’s house at the far end of the yard but the most interesting building is the arched dock building constructed of blue brick and topped by an elegant clock tower.

If it was on the roadside this marvellous left-over from the past would have been felled for one reason or another but here, on the canal side near Boon’s Wharf, it survives intact.

After we travelled through Nuneaton and passed the start of the Ashby Canal at Marston Junction we arrived at Hawkesbury Junction – known historically as “Sutton Stop” by the old working boat crews.

Our need to get onto the Oxford Canal at this point required a very tight 180 deg turn through the beautiful cast iron bridge built in 1837. “Chance” handles very well and managed the turn with ease (and without bow thrusters!).

Doug had hopped off the boat before the tight turn and nipped across to prepare the stop lock (just a 6 inch rise – and not 6 inches deep as we’d described the last stop lock!) Occasionally a stop lock is required at junctions to cope with the change in water level between two canals.

For the second time on the day’s journey the canal came up with something you don’t get to see on the roads – this amazing view of a pylon taken from the boat as we passed by!

And another middle-of-nowhere mooring on Tuesday evening next to the Crewe to Rugby railway line …….

……. and also at the end of one of the Ansty golf course fairways. We hope we’re far enough away not to be hit by any stray golf balls!

The lovely autumn feel on the canal has been heightened by the marvellous sunny evenings we’ve had on all three days.  How very lucky!

Three Canals in Five Days

It could only have been a matter of minutes after leaving our mooring at Market Drayton on Monday morning when a man in a red top, who had run along the towpath to get to us, hailed us with the question “Are you friends of Paul and CJ?” Well we do happen to be friends with Paul and CJ so we stopped the boat and had a great ‘friends-of-friends’ meeting with two charming guys – Tim and Chris. Thanks so much for spotting us Tim and Chris. It was a great chat (hope we didn’t delay you too much!) and we look forward to a longer meet next time.

Soon after Market Drayton the wide Shropshire Union Canal suddenly narrows into a deep rock cutting at the base of the very picturesque Tyrley lock flight.

After rising 33 feet up the five locks we arrived in the pretty setting at the top lock.

Hot on the heels of the Tyrley locks is the equally narrow “Woodseaves Cutting”. The cutting is so deep that some bridges are approaching 80 feet high and there’s a 2mph speed limit on boats to stop erosion of the bank as this stretch is very prone to landslides. It’s certainly not a place to hang around!

At Knighton we passed the old Cadbury wharf with it’s lovely Art Deco buildings. Cadburys used to blend raw chocolate here which was then returned to Bournville for further processing. The final cargo from these original buildings was carried in 1961 but Cadbury still process in the modern building behind.

We moored for the night on Monday at Lord Talbot’s Wharf, between bridges 26 and 25. In the morning fortune was on our side as John Jackson came along with his coal boat and butty. We only had a third of a bag of coal left and with the evenings getting chillier we decided to hail him down for a couple of bags. After delivering a load opposite he swung across to us ……..

…… and got his boat stuck in the mud on both sides of the canal! A laden working boat is very deep in the water and can easily get grounded.

Interestingly, to save time and effort, before stopping his ‘motie’ (motor boat) he unhitched the butty (no engine) and let it sail on down the canal under it’s own momentum, intending to catch it up later, rehitch and continue his journey. Very clever – there’s always something to learn on the canals!

On Tuesday morning we stopped at Wheaton Aston to fuel up (at 51.9p/litre it was the cheapest we’ve ever paid for fuel in five years!) And it was a good job too as we got 200 litres in! Motoring on we crossed the old Roman road of Watling Street on a superbly elegant aqueduct constructed of cast iron, brick with the most glorious stone pillars.

Not stopping this time, we passed the lovely village of Brewood (pronounced ‘Brood’) which, from the canal, presents the quintessentially English picture. 

At the end of the “Shroppie” is the junction to the Staffs and Worcs Canal and the stop lock. The lock protects the water supplies between the two canals and is only 6 inches deep!

Now on the Staffs and Worcs canal we were soon into another cutting. This one goes by the old boatman’s name of “Pendeford Rockin” and, going on for 1/2 mile, it’s damned narrow in places! These things keep James on his toes which is a good thing really!

Getting tired by now, and then being “ambushed” by an army of young canoeists (who, incidentally, all saluted as we went past!) we chose to moor up for the night in a quiet spot and settle our nerves. (only joking!)

Off again on Wednesday morning and, as we’ve said so many time before, the canals have a surprise round most corners. This one was the very unusual, and rather lovely narrow boat “Elizabeth” which we’ve seen a few times now but it’s always a pleasure.

The old Roman road of Watling Street crossed our path again, over the bridge at the far end of the lock, at Gailey Wharf. The most interesting thing here though is the Round House. Originally a toll clerks office it’s now a canal shop and always worth a visit (even if it’s only an ice cream!)

Soon after Gailey we were deafened by the roar of the M6 which follows the course of the canal for far too long.

Penkridge, and Wednesday nights mooring, came next and we knew we were getting close as we approached the delightful setting of the Cross Keys and bridge 84.

After a quiet night in Penkridge, where the M6 moves far enough away to allow for a good night’s sleep, we were on our way again on Thursday morning with one last encounter with the motorway monster. The day was very slow with about four boats queueing at each lock (much to the surprise of everyone as the previous day was so quiet!). However, we had a lot of fun and ribald banter with each other and, at one lock (can’t remember which), we were so pleased that Pam and Terry on nb “Rooster’s Rest” spotted us ahead of them in the queue and came to say ‘hello’. We met them in Alrewas last year.

After journeying through the perfectly manicured village of Acton Trussell we arrived at the penultimate lock of the day – Tixall Lock is shallow at 4ft 3in and has a pretty little lock cottage to enhance our enjoyment.

The extraordinary Elizabethan gatehouse of Tixall Hall overlooks the wide expanse of canal known as Tixall Wide and it wasn’t long then before we arrived at Great Haywood and our last lock of the day. After that it was a few hundred yards to find a lovely mooring overlooking the Shugborough Hall estate.

Friday’s journey took us from Great Haywood (stopping briefly at Rugely for groceries -as every boater does of course!) and ended in dear old Fradley in the early afternoon. We winded at the junction with the Coventry and backed down through the lock to arrive at our favourite mooring spot as we want to be facing the right way to go down the Coventry canal when we leave on Sunday. We were amazed at how deserted these Fradley moorings were on a Friday.

Well, it’s not often we travel three different canals in such a short time but each one has offered it’s own delights and surprises. How very lucky!