Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE FELIS CATUS II YEARS

FETCHING HOME THE NEW BOAT : Delph to London

Autumn, 1990

FELIS CATUS II was completed by the boatbuilders, Delph Marine, at Brierley Hill on the Stourbridge Cut in October 1990.

AUTUMN HALF-TERM CRUISE

Wendy & I got up at 04:00 to finish leaving the flat in a fit state for the cats, Pat (our cat-sitter) and any burglars, and packing a few last-minute things. The hired van & driver (an ex-pupil if ours) arrived at 07:00 for loading with all the gear we were taking up to the boat. As I'd predicted, the load took about an hour. We had a good drive up to the Black Country, much of it in fog.

We arrived at the boatyard in a downpour and unloaded the van into the workshop as the boat interior was still being worked on. We went and did the provisioning at Amblecote Safeway's, which we followed with a good lunch at the Talbot Arms (Free House) close to the boatyard. Then we worked alongside boatyard staff on the last details of fitting out. We finally loaded the gear on board after dark, which went much quicker then expected, as Alf and Ant, (the boatbuilders) gave a lot of help.

Wendy shopped in Brierley Hill (good place for it) for various fitments while I fitted them and Ant was doing the last of his fitting-out.

We started cruising at 14:52 on the hand-over run with Alf, Ant & their colleague Paul, almost before we realised it. We paused at the top of Delph locks for the hand-over. I wrote the final cheque, Alf adjusted the length of the tiller bar & we said farewell to Alf & co. We were very pleased with the boat's handling: My discussions with Alf about length of the swim etc. seemed to have paid off. Alf et al were absolutely certain they'd taken all their stuff of the boat, so we weren't very surprised when we found their radio, file and glue. We reached Park Head and moored at 17:44, just as it was getting dark, by the Dry Dock pub, Windmill End, where we had a quick beer before dinner.

It was a cold morning, so we decided it was time to christen the stove. We started boating at 06:43 and were into Netherton tunnel before daylight. I cooked breakfast in the tunnel and we ate it on emerging. At Dudley Port junction we passed on to the B.C.N. Main Line and ran straight to Cambrian Wharf to take on water. This tank is huge! On a Sunday morning, one needs an Equity card to go down Farmers' Bridge locks. Youthful gongoozlers turned into hufflers. Before Aston junction it came on to rain, so we stopped for lunch. Afterwards we had a bad road down Aston locks. At Salford junction we followed the Birmingham & Fazeley as far as Berwood Common bridge, where we moored at 17:45. The mooring looked pleasant as we approached, but was quite noisy with a factory on one side & a drive-in Kentucky Fried Chicken place on the other.

Daylight came late that morning, so we didn't set off until 07:59. Before Minworth bottom lock we ran into the first serious teething problem with the boat. We stopped because the engine boiled. We saw no obvious cause, so rang Delph. Ant thought it might be an airlock and told us how to deal with it, but it wasn't that. He came, found a cracked crank-shaft pulley, and said angry things about somebody called Shackleton who claimed to have reconditioned the engine. Meanwhile Wendy explored the Hypermarket & Texas Homecare, but still didn't find the fire-irons we needed. Ant failed to find a supplier with a spare pulley in stock, but Wendy found an engineer (John Else) in the village, who came to have a look in the evening and said he had a replacement and would fit it next morning. We had an excellent dinner in the Boat Inn (Ansell's on hand pump and good food, including for veggies) by Dicken's Bridge.

We were away at 10:32 after had John fitted the new pulley (full of reverse whistle and general misgivings, but friendly). We were beginning to worry about the smallness of the loo tank, and we needed to buy more coal. There were lots of leaky locks in the Curdworth flight. We kept on meeting boats coming the other way and then finding the next lock half-empty already. I made lunch on the move. At Fazeley junction we turned south on the Coventry Canal. We'd forgotten what slow fillers the Glascote locks are - and all the traffic was going one way. At Narrowcraft, Amington, we were just in time for a pump-out despite delays by shallows & anglers. There was a helpful coal-yard next to the boatyard, who delivered to the boat after their usual hours. We went on to moor at Polesworth (bridge 52) at 18:00 at a very shallow mooring, where we were soon washed ashore by passing boats, but were well-placed for the town centre. We 'phoned our friend Ian (a former colleague who had been a partner in our previous boat) to fix a rendezvous for the next day.

We had breakfast before a 07:23 start and a good road up the first six of the Atherstone flight. We arrived at our usual mooring by the King's Head, As Ian reached the pub car park, having met our friend Ceres on the train and been given a lift from the station by Ceres' mother, Margaret. They all came for coffee on board before Ceres & Margaret went on their way, then Ian & I shopped. Ian presented the boat with a Scrabble set. I also found some fire-irons and some temporary curtains (drying-up cloths and safety pins). As we continued, some rain after Atherstone top lock didn't last long. We were porpoising someone for quite a long time (as in "There's a porpoise just behind us and he's treading on my tail"). At Hawkesbury junction we passed on to the Oxford Canal . We tied up at Ansty at 18:15 on what was then the visitor moorings before the bridge, with poor bank & bottom. The moorings the other side (which have since become the official visitor moorings) looked better. I went to the pub to 'phone more friends, Arthur & Norma Howes, for a rendezvous tomorrow. (Arthur was my predecessor in my present job.)

It was a misty start to the day, then sunny with a colourful sky. We set off at 07:46 and stopped at Clifton wharf for diesel at a good price. We were much slowed by moored craft and anglers, so we arrived at Braunston too late to go to Midland Chandlers before our rendezvous with Arthur & Norma. At Braunston Stop we took on water and Arthur & Norma arrived with their grandchildren. Braunston locks closed at 14:30 (water shortage) so we took our guests for a run towards Napton, winding at Shuckburgh winding hole just as a pair came round a bend. No harm done. Back at Braunston Stop at 17:47, we borrowed Jasper's home mooring as all the visitor moorings were taken.

We did some shopping before breakfast. Braunston general store was back to its old self. We started boating at 08:09, passing on to the Grand Junction Canal. Above lock 1 we saw Jasper, whose mooring we'd used overnight. In Braunston tunnel we were overtaken by an unconverted Josher (?) with a leaking bottom, desperate to get to a dry dock. It was slow running along the summit and down Buckby locks. Whilton Marina doesn't do pump-out, so went on and found one at Concoform, Weedon. There were very many moored boats on the long pound to Blisworth. We tied up at Blisworth, (bridge 50) at 17:19,

We made a slow start at 07:43 but found no great queue for Stoke Bruerne locks. We locked down with Tigerlily on a bad road with all the bottom gates open. At the penultimate lock we met an embarrassed man from the pair ahead of us coming back to close them all! It was sunny from here on and we had an uninterrupted run to Willowbridge Marine where we stopped for various chandlery. Our overnight mooring was just above Soulbury locks at 17:41. It rained in the night.

At 06:52 we made an early start in desperate need of a pump-out. We stopped at Wyvern shipping, Linslade but there was no sign of life there until some hirers arrived at 10:00. The yard doesn't open on Sundays out-of-season, but obliged us with a pump-out. We continued to Leighton Buzzard wharf where we were stopped by a broken connection in oil-line to the oil gauge. We left boat in the care of Brian on Horace (whom we'd met before) with keys in the hope that either Wyvern or Ant would fix the problem during the week.

SECOND LEG

Wyvern repaired the oil line on the Friday. We came up from London early on Saturday and did some shopping. Brian had found our mooring pins a bit on the short side for the very soft ground there. At 09:38 we set off, winded immediately pas Leighton Buzzard bridge and went back to Wyvern Shipping to settle their bill. Then we came back to Leighton Buzzard wharf for more shopping, including a Porta-Potti. We finally set of properly at 12:34, on our own to Slapton, then in company with a boat from Harefield. We found it's not good to hold the boat the on centre rope too close to the bottom of a lock when emptying the latter. We stopped for the night at the Ship Stores, Marsworth at 17:02 and I went to the Red Lion : as good as ever (same landlord).

We set off at 08:39 with a bad road up most of the locks & were further delayed by slow novices coming the other way. We made a slow potter along the summit through colonies of anglers. We stopped for lunch below Northchurch top lock then had a comfortable run down to Berka and a great welcome from our old friends the Fosters (at Bridgewater Boats) who gave us an evening meal.

THIRD LEG

Wendy arrived in the morning to shop. and I joined later, having worked in the morning. We set off at 14:23 and reached our intended mooring above Fishery lock at 17:21. Ian joined in the evening.

We set off at 07:49 and stopped at Apsley BW Yard to deal with elsan & water. We stopped again before King's Langley lock and bought coal at a local shop. Our evening mooring was just before Stocker's lock at 15:57.

Setting out at 08:25, we met a lot of traffic below Denham lock: it looked as though there was some sort of gathering last night (In retrospect, perhaps Roger & Fran at the lock cottage had given a party.). Boats were shunting in all directions. As a result there was a long queue for Uxbridge Town lock. We stopped at Dolphin bridge, Uxbridge and went to the General Elliot to meet David Allison-Beer and Rosie Limming, then went on to our new home mooring at Highline, Cowley Peachey , where we tied up at 15:21.