Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE YEARS BETWEEN BOATS

THE BIRMINGHAM / MANCHESTER RING

August 1990

This was the last hire-boat trip of our years between boats. At the time of this cruise, Felis Catus II was actually being built at Delph Marine on the Stourbridge Cut. Wendy wasn't able to join us for the first few days as she was at home nursing a sick cat who wasn't yet ready to be handed over to our cat-sitter. We had hired nb Bourne II from what had been Brummagem Boats but had been taken over by Alvechurch.

My photographic record of this trip seems rather patchy - perhaps some whole films went missing at some stage.

Ian and I travelled up from London by train, left our luggage at the boatyard on the Oozells Street loop of the BCN and went shopping in Tesco at Fiveways. It was very hot weather: we later discovered it was a record day with the temperature touching 100°F. We set off from Sherborne Street wharf at 14:48, passed through Ladywood and Old Turn junctions and set off down Farmer's Bridge locks.

By the second lock, some thing was obviously wrong, and we tied up below the lock and discovered that an engine cooling hose had come adrift which meant that the cooling water was going into the bilge rather than round the engine. This had also submerged the bilge-pump and shorted it out. A 'phone call to the boatyard brought out two engineers on nb Ballad (which Wendy & I had hired earlier in the year) to put it right.

When we were mobile again we continued through Aston and Salford junctions, suffering considerably from the heat. At 19:49 we moored past Erdington Hall bridge, at the only pleasant mooring we'd seen for some miles.

It was still sunny but not so oppressively hot. We started at 07: 57 and had breakfast on the move because the Curdworth tunnel pound was too shallow to moor in. We passed through a rally in Bodymoor Heath, went on to Fazeley junction and turned towards Fradley, also having lunch on the move. At Fradley junction we stopped to take on water, then turned north on the Trent & Mersey, travelling slowly behind some Club Line first-timers. Conditions were much better than the previous day, bright and sunny but not overpoweringly hot. We stopped for the night at 19:23 above Woodend lock.

We started at 08:38 in a strong wind which continued for most of the day, making life difficult in shallows. We stopped for breakfast at Handsacre, between bridges 58 & 59, but took lunch on the move before passing Haywood junction. Below Weston lock we paused to give the josher Roach (which was in old BW livery but appeared privately owned) a snatch off some shallows. Fighting the wind was quite hard work and it was quite cold by late afternoon. We moored for the night below Stone bottom lock at 18:24. We heard rumours that the Caldon was impassable for all but shallow cruisers because of water shortage.

We shopped before an 11:46 start. Stone was still as good a shopping stop as we'd found it in 1976. We took on water & disposed of rubbish part-way up Stone locks then stopped above the top lock for lunch at The Rising Sun (a Bass house) & 'phoned Wendy to arrange rendezvous for that evening.

Before Meaford locks the cooling hose came off again. Ian, after quite a trek to find a 'phone box, rang Dave at the boatyard, who decided it would be quickest to get an engineer from Stone to replace it. As things turned out it would probably have been quicker for Dave to have come himself! I found a shorter route to the 'phone box Ian had used earlier and rang Wendy again to switch the evening's rendezvous to Barlaston, where we arrived at 19:12, after a slow run up Meaford locks in heavy traffic. Wendy joined us from the nearby railway station soon afterwards.

We made a start at 07:48 and stopped for breakfast before Sideway, then had about a three-hour run before eating lunch while waiting to go into Harecastle tunnel. We had planned to go up the Caldon, but the rumours of water shortages seemed to be confirmed.. At Harding's Wood, Kidsgrove, we passed onto the Hall Green Branch which led us to the Macclesfield Canal, which we found no shallower than usual. We stopped for the night at 18:14 at the former Biddulph Valley Railway coal wharf, a favourite mooring of ours, where we were joined by a couple of Andersen hire-boats crewed by some French families. We had a barbecue.

Wednesday's start was at 08:08 and just under an hour later we stopped past bridge 61 for breakfast. That morning we met a lot of traffic in Bosley locks. We took on water above the top lock (sharing the water-point with a pleasant boat) and found the summit very shallow. Our overnight mooring was before Higher Poynton at 18:43.

We resumed our journey at 07:44 and had a breakfast stop at High Lane, past bridge 8. At Marple junction we turned onto the Upper Peak Forest Canal, which was also very shallow. We met quite a bit of traffic coming the other way, then winded and moored at Whaley Bridge basin, walked up the hill and found quite an ordinary pub lunch. We tried to shop, but facilities were pretty poor. There was a convenient launderette, but we didn't use it (to our regret the next day).

We wanted to go to Bugsworth Basin but the stop planks were in under the motorway bridge, so we moored there (with nb Roach again) and walked round the Basins - very impressive. Restoration work was coming on well but there was still a heck of a lot to be done! Setting off again, we found it a bit tricky reversing to the junction. We moored for the night at New Mills at 18:07.

The morning was spent shopping and going to an extremely long-range launderette which, by the time I'd walked there, felt as thought it was several thousand feet above canal level. New Mills proved quite a good shopping centre. Then we went across the cut to Hodgson's boatyard for a pump-out (expensive at £9, and there was no water point). Ian & Wendy went for a pub lunch (at the third pub they tried!) before fetching the washing back.

In the afternoon we set off to Marple junction, where we bought a couple of BW anti-vandal keys, which we knew we were going to need on the Ashton Canal. We enjoyed Marple locks, as always, having good run down them with a slight pause to retrieve my windlass with the magnet. At 19:11 we moored by bridge 4 at Hyde, a very pleasant mooring in parkland reclaimed from dereliction. It came complete with a helpful and pleasantly chatty Park Ranger. There was plenty of depth there.

Starting at 07:04, we saw what appeared to be a boatyard being built just past our mooring, but at present its water point wasn't very accessible accessible and its moorings a rough bank with trees, so we didn't stop. At Dukinfield junction we passed onto the Ashton Canal, and at Fairfield junction we took on water and had breakfast. As we set off again we had the first rain of the trip. We had to flush out of lock 9 because of rubbish behind the gates. Otherwise the Ashton was in good condition.

At Ducie Street junction we joined the Rochdale Canal and tied up at Dale Street wharf for a lunch stop. We found that one's Rochdale Canal licence now had to be bought at the lock-keeper's house half-way down the flight (the one with no tow-path access either side). The locks are in much better condition than we'd found them in 1984. There was plenty of water weiring over the gates at both ends on most locks. Manchester lived down to its reputation for weather, bringing us the first (admittedly minor) showers of the cruise. But there were no signs of the rumoured Manchester vandals. At Castlefield junction we joined the Bridgewater Canal and went on to an overnight mooring past Bollington wharf at 19:36.

We managed an earlier start at 06:44 and stopped at Stockton Heath for breakfast. We found the going not so quick on the Bridgewater as the previous day because of a lot of anglers & moorings. Wendy walked a long way to find newspapers. Then we continued and took on water at London Bridge, which was where Wendy had walked to earlier!

Before Preston Brook junction we met our old friends Ray & Hazel Dunford coming the other way in their new boat Ellington, which we'd not seen before, and moored up to chat with them, look at the boat etc. Then we decided to go and find a pub together and breasted up with Ellington as a pushmipullyu to go to Chester Road bridge on the Preston Brook Branch for a pub lunch with Ray & Hazel at the Red Lion where they were obviously well-known. Ray told us the timing to catch the tunnel.

Through the tunnel we found a lot of congestion with boats queuing for Dutton stop lock. We made slow running even after this behind an Egerton Line hire-boat who didn't want us to pass. At 19:44 we stopped at Marbury Country Park, a pleasant open mooring just past the woods, and had another barbecue.

We made an early start at 05:32 because Wendy couldn't sleep. We noticed that Orchard Marina at bridge 182 (near Broken Cross) advertised showers & launderette. At Middlewich junction we took on water before locking up through Wardle lock and joining the Middlewich Branch of the Shroppie. Our breakfast stop was past bridge 31. While we were there a passing boat pulled out one of our mooring spikes. While I was trying to retrieve it, the rope on our Sea-Searcher magnet broke & I had to remember how to do an eye splice. A bit later we found quite a queue for Minshull lock, partly because of boats coming out of the marina there.

We joined the Shroppie Main Line at Barbridge junction, found ourselves too late for lunch at the Barbridge Inn, so lunched on board after minor shopping at the P.O. Stores. At Nantwich we joined the Birmingham & Liverpool Junction section of the Shroppie and had to queue again for Hack Green locks, which we shared with a cruiser. Moorings above Hack Green looked better than where we ended up at 19:55 , by the aqueduct before Audlem locks.

Our start was delayed by heavy rain. Wendy made a frumenty while we were waiting. It is a hot porridge made with muesli, fruit, honey and whisk(e)y, normally a dish for winter boating. We set off at 07:51 and found a lot of traffic at Audlem & Adderley locks, interlocking well, except (as usual) at Audlem wharf. During the morning Wendy had chatted with a nice man from nb Challenger with two Welsh collies, and at Audlem wharf with a boater from nb Jubonnie with two spaniels, one of them rescued. Part 2 of breakfast was toast etc. while working up Adderley. At Market Drayton we stopped for shopping & a pub lunch. The shopping there was still quite good, despite the big supermarket we remembered having been turned into a freezer centre.

We went back to the boat to find a passing boat had pulled out and lost one of our mooring spikes (and one from a neighbouring boat). We failed to find it with the Sea-Searcher but did "win" an extra windlass. While we were fishing like this, Dave Dent & Ann Tilman went past on Albatross. I was going to stay on their boat at the "National" at Gloucester in a few weeks' time. They said they'd come up the Stourbridge Cut and had seen our new boat being worked on. We had a slow run up Tyrley locks with a lot of passing traffic not getting the timing right. At 19:39 we moored for the night in open country past Shebdon wharf

It rained overnight, but was dry & windy by morning. We started at 07:48, took on water at Norbury junction (where the boatyard shop had small jars of jam, some of them alcoholic) and made a breakfast stop before bridge 37. The weather made some attempts at showers. At the legendary Turner's Garage in Wheaton Aston we stopped (in heavy rain) to fill up with diesel @ 75p/gal. Wheaton Aston shopping is very limited; a baker's (which would probably have been better earlier in the morning), a garden shop, a closed draper's and some wedding-present shops. We went on to join the Staffs & Worcs at Autherley junction and moor for the night at 16:42 just before Aldersley junction. Our dinner was enlivened by (a) some bullocks taking a stroll on the towpath and (b) some extremely energetic canoeists.

We worked out that we hadn't enough time to go back to base via the Stourbridge Cut and see how Felis Catus II was coming on, so had a slow and laborious start to the day because we needed to have breakfast before tackling Wolverhampton locks. We set off at 08:10. All the traffic was going uphill. . We were behind a Dartline boat with a pleasant boat very close behind us. There was a water point above lock 5 or 6, and small shops accessible from the towpath around lock 5. From Wolverhampton top lock and Factory junction (very weedy to that point) we stuck to the New Main Line and ran through to Cambrian wharf, where we watered, then "cleaned ship" & had a good gossip with other boaters (Sadie Dean on Straw Bear from March, another boat also from the Middle Level and Horace from the Witham with Brian & Carol) all heading for the "National". Sadie, Brian and Carol were to become good friends of ours in the future. We had a beer at The Longboat.

DAY'S RUN 15.4 miles, 24 locks in 6 hrs 59 min

We only had a few yards to go to get the boat back to its base on the Oozells Street Loop by the due time of 09:00