Mike Stevens' UK Inland Waterways Pages

TRIP REPORTS : THE FELIS CATUS II YEARS

THE RUN TO BIRMINGHAM

July & August 1996

Our next aim was to move the boat from Uxbridge to Birmingham in time to join their phase of the IWA Golden Jubilee celebrations, the BCN Marathon Challenge, Anglesey Basin Barbecue, a BCN Explorer Cruise and the "National". We pick up the story with the boat at its home mooring at Hillingdon Canal Club in Uxbridge

Wendy came up with the cats by taxi late in the day to do the shopping.

Ian & I came in the morning by tube. We set off at 10:19, sharing locks with nb General Lee, on her way to her people's home waters in Nottingham after they'd spent about 3 years restoring her from a semi-derelict state. They were surprised to find that bollards/rings aren't universal and borrowed our lump hammer. Wendy suggested they buy one at B&Q in Hemel. but we later learned that they bought one from nb Stokie. At one point Wendy saw water running off the top of our battery box, caused by our engine-room air intake coinciding in locks with General Lee's engine cooling water outlet.

We stopped for the night at Hunton Bridge village at 18:32. As usual, there was not very good depth for mooring here. Before supper. I walked down to have a look at a working boat moored a bit further along, and had a chat with the owner. The boat was Stokie, from the K&A, a 5-year old working boat of modern design with all mod cons. We were to get to know her and her people quite well later in the cruise.

We started at 06:39, picked up a partner at Winkwell boatyard and locked with them to Berka. We hadn't really planned to stop at Mike & Lindy's, (Bridgewater Boats) but did so anyway as we needed some shopping. We filled up with diesel while we were there. We were very please to hear that Reuben has got his MA and a University Classics Prize. We've always wondered whether his love of Classics stems from all those stories from Classical literature that Wendy told him when he was a toddler.

We set off after lunch behind the hire-boat Growltiger with a drunken party of girlies from Brides magazine, navigating very slowly and chaotically & locking with another boat, whose crew were soon as tight as the first lot. On the summit we saw somebody fall off the top of one of the boats while trying to dance. At the Grand Junction Arms, Bulbourne, we stopped at 18:10. Having taken four hours over normally a two-and-a half-hour journey, we decided that if the bibulous brides stopped at Bulbourne we'd go on, and if not then we'd stop. While Ian & I went to the Grand Junction Arms (quite good under the current management, although not as good as in Ken's time), Wendy walked down the locks to be sure that Growltiger was going down. One of their crew in a wedding dress was weaving drunkenly down the towpath, apparently for a photo-call.

We set off at 06:19 and passed Growltiger moored above Startopsend lock with the off-side towpath littered with champagne flutes. From Ivinghoe we locked with another Bridgewater hire-boat Mr Mistopheles with an efficient crew. We used the facilities at Leighton Buzzard sani station and shopped at Tesco there. We hoped for a pump-out at Wyvern Shipping, Linslade, but they don't open on Sundays, even at that time of year, so we continued to Willowbridge Marina who did oblige us. Diesel would have been quite a bit cheaper here. We moored for the night at the Black Horse, Linford at 18:33 because Wendy wanted to re-visit Caligula's woods, (read that story, which dates back to the days of our original boat, here) but a really fierce down-pour put her off the idea.

We started at 06:30 and found ourselves boating in mostly dry weather, apart from a shower at Cosgrove. There were a lot of boats going both ways at Stoke Bruerne locks. We locked with Wyvern's Activity (the one designed to carry 6 mountain bikes, although she didn't have them on board for this trip) and, for the first couple of locks, a Wilderness Beaver who was slipping out part-way up the flight. We stooped at the top of the flight and I went to the museum shop and The Boat and the cats had a wander. We has a slow run past Gayton junction, and Buckby locks were as infuriatingly slow as ever. Before the top Wendy walked ahead to check and found that all the visitor moorings at the top were taken, so we moored at 19:00 one pound down. Ian & I went to the New Inn before dinner. The cats enjoyed the hedge here & Orinthia caught a mouse.

We were up at 03:30 with the boat leaning at a considerable angle. The water had dropped and we had settled on a ledge, too firmly for us to be able to pole off (the cats were fascinated with our efforts) until I ran a lot of water through the top lock. Other boats nearby were OK: we'd just been unlucky to find a local ledge about a third the length of the boat. By 06:30 we were beginning to lean again, so Wendy loosened the mooring ropes, but the boat kept drifting in again. Shortly after 07:00 a BW woman let down more water from the lock.

We started off at 08:08 and had a good run to Braunston, meeting only 2 boats in the tunnel. We crossed Mike & Marion West on Cromdale at the bottom lock, heading for a rally at Market Harborough. We went through Braunston Turn and Napton Junction and joined the Warwick & Napton Canal section of the G.U. Rain started around here and set in for some time. We found a good partner for Stockton & Bascote locks. Because we'd lost a lot of sleep last night we thought of stopping at the Blue Lias, but decided to clear Bascote because of its time restrictions (it closed at 16:30). We moored below Bascote at 16:00.

The cats had good hunting overnight and were usefully dozy during the day. We started boating at 07:07, took on water at Fosse, and passed a new shopping complex between Leamington and Warwick. The landmark is a new pub called the Tiller Pin. At Kate Boats, Warwick, we stopped for a pump-out. They gave us a map of the way to Sainsbury's in Warwick, but said there is now a better one in the new complex. We set off again, and our gear cable died in Cape top lock. We stopped above Cape top lock and rang Kate Boats to come with a new one, which they did (with unfortunate repercussions later in the cruise). While this was going on, Wendy went to Sainsbury's. She returned by cab and the driver kindly drove right down the towpath to the boat. We didn't get to the pub!

Once we were under way, we had a slow run up Hatton (2 hours 31 mins), went through the Kingswood Arm and moored at The Boot, Lapworth, at 19:25, reaching our planned stopping-place despite the lost time at Cape. We decided it was easier to barbecue than to clean ourselves up for the pub! Son of Hibachi, our elderly barbecue, really was on its last legs and getting quite hard to use. The cats had good hunting again.

It was hard to get ourselves started this morning, so we didn't start boating until 08:03. Almost immediately we met Pete and Jane Marshall (the Day Star Theatre Group) on Angry Bull in the locks. They have plenty of bookings on their way to Windmill End. At Hockley Heath I left to go home for IWA purposes. Wendy & Ian continued towards Birmingham. It was very shallow still. Wendy spotted oil seeping from the oil gauge. They reached King's Norton junction, joined the Worcester & Birmingham Canal and turned towards Birmingham, where they looked to moored at Cambrian Wharf. There were no moorings free on the side that allowed use of the kitchen window as the cat-door, so they winded to moor by the Indoor Arena at 15:54.

At 10:30 they took the boat to Sherborne Wharf on the Oozells Street Loop. Their fitter (Richard) cured the oil-seepage, but not the problems we were still having with the engine stop button. He didn't want to explore it too deeply in case it needed a new part and would immobilise us over the weekend. They planned to go back there on Monday. Ian shopped while Wendy used the s-l-o-w launderette at the boatyard, then they went back to the same mooring as the night before, tying up at 16:35.

I got back in the evening. We'd been grumbling about the lights being a bit dim and now it seemed to be a genuine electrical fault. I diagnosed a faulty relay, probably caused by the drenching from the water than came in from another boat earlier in the cruise, which is preventing any charge getting into the cabin battery. I wandered past Gas Street Basin to see who was there. Rupert & Alison Smedley had not yet arrived on Ben, but I did meet Gary, Alison, Clive and Maria on Pamela. Then I went for a pint at the Prince of Wales, a pleasant traditional pub. What used to be the Longboat had become the Flapper & Firkin and was probably just as plastic as it used to be.