Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE YEARS BETWEEN BOATS

KENT GREEN & THE LEICESTER RING

August 1986

Part 4 : Hoo Mill to Kent Green

We made a slow late start at 07:19 but then above Weston lock we discovered that the alternator belt was broken. We fitted the spare, but had difficulty getting it tight enough, so rang Frank from Weston. At Weston village we had breakfast. Frank came & fitted the new alternator belt properly & did a few other adjustments. We set off again, pursued by Frank, who'd left his glasses on board. The boat was much pleasanter to handle now Frank had got the gear cable adjusted properly.

Before Stone locks we made a pub stop at The Star, an old favourite of ours. Later we did some excellent interweaving with southbound boats at Meaford and Trentham. Before Hem Heath at 17:50 we decided to moor early in a "des.res." area with plenty of trees, ducks, and other boats ….. and a rat! The timing of meals went haywire today.

Etruria locks and BW maintenance yard

07:04 brought another slow start, with us still enjoying the boat's improved handling. At Etruria BW yard we took on water despite the remarkable dim-wittedness of Anglo-Welsh hire-boat Chester which had used the water-point for its overnight mooring. Fortunately there's a good winding-hole opposite "put there for the Queen" we were told (?). There was a long queue for the tunnel - the first time we've properly seen its closed doors. After the tunnel the weather was better than forecast, so we decided to enjoy some of the Macclesfield Canal beyond the base.

We passed on to the Macclesfield Canal in lovely scenery and comfortable weather. We had one short shower which was interesting as we steered right along the edge of it with one side of the boat in the rain and the other dry. At Congleton we winded and came back to an old favourite mooring at Biddulph Valley railway wharf. We moored there at 16:25 because it's very nice, if a bit further from base than we'd really have liked. We all walked. An intended early night was scuppered by Wendy's suggestion of Scrabble. Ian won.

A slow start at 06:57 after a stationary outdoor breakfast. This must have been our nicest dining-room yet. We had a beautiful cruise back to base in some of the best weather we'd had all holiday. Back at Kent Green we had a friendly chat with Frank & Jack. Twitt seems no more sensible than he was last year - and no older.

We felt that this fleet of boats was getting rather tired. We wondered whether the business was getting a bit too much for Frank. We thought we might change to a different fleet the next year, despite our fond memories of this one and our liking for Frank & Jack. In fact we did. See the story of our next summer's cruise here.

We understand that Frank retired fairly soon after this trip, and the fleet, under the name Heritage Boats was soon back up to standard in new ownership. It was later taken over by Sherborne Wharf, the successors in Birmingham to Brummagem Boats, with whom we were to have our next few summer cruises.