TRIP REPORTS

WINTER ON THE BCN.
January - March 2006

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We'd arrived here the afternoon before, to find there was an unexpected boat in the paint-dock we were expecting to use, so moored on the towpath opposite. First thing in the morning Wendy & I walked to Sandwell & Dudley station where I caught a direct train to London. Wendy looked and asked around for a launderette (as we'd still not found out how to work the boat's washing machine), but with no success. She went to Sainsbury's for breakfast and a bit of shopping, then back to the boat. She made another trip out to the recycling point at Sainsbury's. Ian rang to say he'd traced the owner of the mystery boat and we could move into the shed, so we'd be able to move into the shed in half an hour. Wendy had to ask him to lift the boat's back hatch, as it was too heavy for her. She needed to take the chimney down to get through the entrance to the paint dock. Wendy steered the boat into the dock, with Ian on the bow and his mate Stuart waiting inside the shed. It's a place of odd noises, mainly from the adjoining transport business.

I came back from London on Friday. On Sunday evening, once Tilly had returned from outside and we'd discovered Mandy caving under the kitchen cupboard, we closed the cat-flap in the hope of getting away the next morning in search of water and a pump-out at the facilities point opposite the Black Country Museum.

We had a small problem getting out of the shed as the cruiser Morgan was moored to close to the entrance. One of the other boaters moved her a few feet for us. John's estimate of half-an-hour's boating from Oldbury to the Black Country Museum was wrong by a factor of 100%. Once we'd arrived we were able to take on water in both tanks. But we couldn't get the door open to the pump-out machine. Wendy 'phoned BW office who said that the Dudley Canal Trust had keys, but we found there wasn't anybody in their office. So we went back to BW on the 'phone, but they couldn't send anybody that afternoon. By now our loo-tank warning light was flashing, so we were getting a bit worried. This indicates that our pump-out tank lasts about 40 person-days. We decided to stay overnight, and rang Ian who agreed to postpone the start of painting for 24 hours. We also decided to use the washing machine in the facilities building, but couldn't get it to work.

In pouring rain we 'phoned BW again, from outside as there was no signal in the boat. They said they'd tried in vain to phone us yesterday afternoon (we probably garbled the number), but would send somebody between 10:00 and 10:30 from the team that were working on the stoppage at Smethwick locks. At 10:30 two BW men arrived. It turned out that the pump-out door wasn't, as we had thought, double-locked but merely very stiff. So we were in. I took the precaution of asking them to hang around for a few minutes to be sure the machine was working. It wasn't - the pump ran but there was no suction in the pipe. One of the BW men 'phoned his base and found that thee was no engineer available that day to sort it out.

We gave them coffee and while drinking it they rang round some contacts to find which of the local non-BW pump-out facilities was working and staffed. Ralph (below Factory locks) wasn't answering his 'phone and they thought his machine might be out of order. But he got a positive response from Malthouse Stables (just round the corner from where we were) where he moors his own boat, Misty, which was built by Delph Marine, the same boatbuilder as FC2.

We set off at 11:15 with me at the helm, as I knew where Malthouse Stables is. We needed to wind so as to be the right way round for the pump-out, which we did at Factory Junction, not without difficulty in a strong wind. At Malthouse Stables we moored outboard of the trip-boat Aaron Manby and had to wait a short time until somebody called Darren was free to do the pump-out for us. The charge was £9.80. Ivor Caplan's boat Bilbo Baggins was also moored here. The pump-out complete, Wendy steered back, arriving back at Valencia Wharf at 13:30. She had difficulty turning into the shed in the strong wind and I had to pole the front of the boat round. The cats emerged from their cave, under the kitchen cupboards and I went off to London on Canal Museum business.

During much of this time Ian was painting the coach-lines and handrails and Dave Moore doing the signwriting. Back home in London, I managed to locate via the Internet a launderette within striking distance, and Dave gave Wendy a lift there. She found a convenient bus to come back. I'd hoped to come home on Thursday but was delayed first by not having finished the things I wanted to do at home and then by a filthy head-cold that made me not want to travel, so I didn't get back until afternoon. I tried to get the TV working but found, as I expected, that we need a different aerial for it.

I had to make a couple more trips to London, finally arriving back on the afternoon of Friday 27th. Dave had finished the cabin sides, but our delayed arrival had meant he'd not had time to do things like the locker- & hatch-lids and would have to come back at some future date to do those.

We intended to start at lunch-time to allow time for local ice to melt, but Wendy wanted to ask the local boaters for a quick farewell drink - Robbo and Bridget & Dennis from a travelling forge boat. Bridget used to work at Ellesmere Port museum, Dennis at the Black Country Museum. We had a long natter with them and arranged for Dennis to make us a toasting fork. This meant we didn't actually set off until 15:42 and met quite a lot of thickish, noisy ice at places on the Old Main Line. We reached the foot of Smethwick locks at 17:23, by which time the light was failing, so we decided to stop there, taking the chance that there wouldn't be any traffic and tying up on the lock mooring.

We set off again at 09:33 on what proved a cold run to Sherborne Wharf on the Oozells Street Loop. I talked to them about an oil change - they'd like a day or two's notice of when we want it. We stocked up on water, diesel, gas & coal and had a pump-out. Then we went on through Old Turn Junction onto what used to be the Newhall Branch but many people think is the beginning of the Birmingham & Fazeley. We tied up at Tindall Bridge at 11:28

Wendy noticed that these moorings are designated as 48-hour ones, so had a look round and found that the ones in the basin are 14-day ones, so we decided to move there, which we did at about 16:30, tying up on the side of the basin next to the locks. In the evening I went to the Prince of Wales — still a good real-ale pub where one can get into conversation. The first person I saw in the bar was Roy, from Sherborne Wharf, who opened the conversation with "I haven't seen you since yesterday".

I went back to London on Tuesday morning, returning on Friday afternoon. On Wednesday Ian, John & Elaine visited while taking a boat from Brierley Hill to Napton. We had a small gas leak and Richard out us in touch with somebody called Andy who came & mended it.

On the following Tuesday I again had to go to London, hoping to come back on Thursday afternoon but I went down with a tummy bug & didn't travel back until the Saturday morning. There was ice around all week, quite thick by the end of the week. On Friday push-tug Atlas & a lighter arrived and broke some of the ice. Wendy rang Sherborne Wharf and spoke to Roy, who said that 12:30 on Saturday would be a convenient time for our oil change.

Around 10:00, Atlas and the lighter broke a lot of the ice in the basin in order to set off down Farmer's Bridge locks. Wendy helped work the top lock with the lock-keeper and had a chat with him. He hinted that nobody would be bothered if we overstayed the 14-day limit.

I arrived at about 12:20 and about 20 minutes later we winded and headed for Sherborne Wharf. We met quite a lot of ice between Cambrian Wharf & Old Turn but there was none at all in the Oozells Street Loop. At Sherborne Street Wharf we moored on trip-boat Euphrates' mooring for the oil-change, then winded and went onto the service mooring for a pump-out. We also filled up with water, diesel & coal (they only had 3 bags left). Then we headed back to the same mooring at Cambrian Wharf, where we tied up at 16:04. Later I went to the Prince of Wales for a drink with Roy.

I went back to London on Monday afternoon. On the Friday, with help from BW lengthsman John, Wendy moved Felis Catus III out of the basin because of an angling event, and tied up by Tindall's Bridge. Then she had tea & a chat with John. About half an hour later he reappeared with a friend who'd recognised FC3 as an Orion boat. His own Moonlighter was built there in 2002. I came back on the Saturday.

Once again I was in London from Tuesday afternoon to Friday afternoon. On Saturday I went to the Boat, Caravan & Outdoor Show at the NEC where I managed to buy some rope we needed, but didn't find a suitable TV aerial. After we had eaten out at the Café Rouge in Brindleyplace, I spent the evening splicing up two additional center ropes and a load of fender strings that were better than the ones made from what was available at the boatyard on launch day last April. During the evening somebody cast off the front rope.

13:44 was a considerably later start that we'd hoped, as we thought Tilly was on walkabout - she wasn't, just well-hidden in their cave. We winded at Monument Lane basin in order to enter the Oozells Street Loop at Ladywood junction and be the right way round for a pump-out. We also filled up with water. Then we set off via Old Turn junction to the BCN Old Main Line and the mooring at the foot of Smethwick locks that we'd used a few weeks before.

The cats were miffed when we closed the cat-flap to out-going traffic. We set off at 07:55. Smethwick locks were very mucky, but we had a good run. At Spon Lane junction we crossed paths with Dennis and Bridget on Astra. We tied up at Whimsy Bridge, Oldbury (almost opposite Valencia Wharf) for some shopping — Wendy to Sainsbury's and me to Homebase and the motor store. Then we winded in the mouth of the paint-dock, to the amusement of Bridget, Dennis and Robbo. At Oldbury Locks junction we joined the Titford Canal . At the top of the locks we wanted to go onto the moorings on the Tat Bank Branch alongside Titford Pump-house. There wasn't room to turn, so we had to back with difficulty down the moorings (on a bend) to the one vacant spot at the far end, where we tied up at 17:20

As usual I went back to London mid-day on Tuesday. Wendy used the washing machine, which ran more-or-less properly the first time, but on a second batch it refused to go into the drying phase — so we're going to need help getting it sorted out. She refilled both water tanks. I returned on Thursday afternoon, to give a talk to the BCNS that evening, where I had a good audience despite the very bad weather. By then we were heavily iced in. On Friday, Wendy went into the center of Oldbury for shopping while I did a photographic walkabout. We rang our friend Ben who had been going to crew with us over Sunday & Monday, to cancel the arrangements, as we didn't see any prospect of moving for several days.

I got back from London to the boat at about 14:30 after a slow journey on an all-stations train from Marylebone to Snow Hill, and quite a long wait there for a train that was stopping at Langley Green. We set off at 15:05. We needed to go further up the Titford Canal to wind, so decided we might as well go all the way to Titford Pools as we'd not been there for several years.

We ran very firmly aground trying to get under Wolverhampton Road bridge (the last one before Titford Pools) and had considerable difficulty pulling out in reverse. Eventually we got out of the bridge-hole and backed towards the winding hole beyond Uncle Ben's Bridge, gradually collecting muck on the blade. There was a lot of floating rubbish, including a load of tree loppings. Steering round them in reverse was difficult, and Wendy got onto the bank with the bow rope to help hold the bow in a bit. At that point we picked up a load more on the blade and stalled the engine. Of course, this was at a place where the edge of the cut was too shallow to pull the boat in to the bank, so I went down the weed-hatch while Wendy stayed on the bank, having tied the bow rope to a tree.

A local chap came along walking his dog, and between the three of us we managed to get rid of a long tree-branch that had become bound to the blade by blue polyprop rope. Eventually, after I'd been down the hatch for about two hours, much of the time in the rain, and my fingers were blue with cold, we gave up hope of clearing the blade that evening. There was still a lot of blue polyprop rope down there, including a large knot that was too tight to unravel (especially with freezing fingers) and totally resistant to any cutting implements we had that were small enough to manoeuvre down the weed-hatch. We've got a good hook-type implement for pulling stuff off the prop, which is very effective with soft stuff but doesn't have enough of a cutting edge to deal with rope.

Again with the help of the dog-walker, we pulled the boat back to where it was shallow enough to get into the edge. We delivered all the grot I'd got off the prop so far (a dustbin-bag over half full - excluding the tree branch) to a nearby builder's rubbish skip.

Next morning after breakfast it was Wendy's turn to have a go down the weed-hatch. After about an hour we realised that we weren't going to solve the problem (even with one of us hauling on things with the hook so that the other could reach to cut them) without some help with better cutting equipment, so we rang Sherborne Wharf for help. Fortunately where we were there was good road access, adjacent to what we discovered to be Langley High Street. After a short delay and a couple of 'phone calls for directions, Earle and Mick arrived with some much more impressive cutting gear.

Even with that, it took them about three hours to get the blade clean. Among the rubbish removed over the two days were what must have started off as a decent length of blue polyprop rope, two tree branches (one bound on with the rope and the other jammed between the prop-shaft and the skeg), something that might once have been a pram cover (or perhaps a mock-leather jacket) , a nylon carpet, some strong cable-insulation, quite a bit of computer cable and the usual selection of polythene of various sorts. Finally we were free (but not exactly with one bound!). It was now 13:45.

We didn't fancy motoring in reverse through more rubbish to the winding hole the other side of Uncle Ben's Bridge, so we pulled the boat back on the ropes, and Earle & Mick expertly used the ropes to wind the boat. Then they departed, inviting us to stay in their yard overnight and sort out the bill in the morning. We were heading there anyway to use their facilities.

When we got to Oldbury Locks, some of the pounds were very low, to the extent that in the third lock down we scraped the bottom of the lock and picked up another mammoth bladeful. We coaxed the boat into the next lock, and Wendy went down the weed-hatch while I ran a lot of water down from the top of the flight. After over an hour, having removed most of the grot from the blade, Wendy had to take a break to thaw her hands. I took over down the weed-hatch, finished the job (she'd done most of it) and we were on our way again. The haul this time didn't include any timber or carpet but did include a large silky garment that might have started life as a jump-suit, as well as socks, a soft toy, a broken zip and some tough plastic packaging tape that bound everything together.

We continued to the Old Main Line at Oldbury Locks Junction, then decided to go on for as long as the daylight would last. When we got to the top of Smethwick locks it was clear that the light would have gone before we got down the locks, so we tied up on the lock mooring. There were lots of Canada Geese around, and their by-product. Sherborne Wharf rang us, because we'd not arrived there, so see if we were OK.

We set off again at 9:19 - not a very early start. We'd slept well because of exhaustion from the last couple of days' efforts. It was a cold but dry run down Smethwick Locks and along the Main Line to Ladywood junction where we joined the Oozells Street Loop and tied up at Sherborne Street Wharf at 0:56. We used just about all of their services - pump-out, water, diesel, coal & gas. We were served by Mick, who said that while he'd been down our weed-hatch the previous day he'd wanted to take the rubbish we'd caught and force-feed it to the idiots who'd thrown it in. He was interrupted in serving us by the need to help a couple of chaps who'd just bought an ex-Alvechurch boat, booked a mooring at the wharf and were far from confident of manoeuvring it into its berth as they'd never been on a boat before.

While we were there, John and Grant on the BW work-boat "Aquarius" came round collecting rubbish from the water, and were happy to be given a large sack containing parts two and three of our weed-hatch harvest. We mentioned that we'd now need to moor for a few days at Cambrian wharf, and they said that would be no problem.

Later at Cambrian Wharf we tied up in front of the blue apparently-residential boat that moors by the pub. While we were closing up the back of the boat, we found that boat's tortoiseshell cat exploring our semi-trad area - fortunately not the front of our boat, where our own cats were. I went to the "Prince of Wales" for a recuperative pint while Wendy stayed in the warm and cooked us a lunchtime snack. Time had prevented me from getting to the Sarflundun mini-Gig in Greenwich, but I had to travel to London in the evening as I had several days' work to do at the London Canal Museum for Science Week.