TRIP REPORTS

SOUTHWARDS FROM BIRMINGHAM,
March & April 2006

(Part 1 : Cambrian Wharf to Braunston.)

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While I was in London, I was contacted by a chap called Aidan who'd recognized the boat from the Internet and offered to help work us down the locks.

As Mike arrived back from London at 13:55 (hobbling on a walking stick because of a gouty knee), Wendy & Aidan were reversing the boat out of the basin to the water point. We filled up with water. Another boat was waiting to go down the locks. As he was single-handed he offered to let us go first, but we chose to take on water instead, and Aidan helped him down the first few locks. Down Farmer's Bridge & Aston locks Aidan was working very quickly and energetically down the locks. He told us that he does this for exercise as it's more fun than going to a gym. He's also researching local history and is extremely knowledgeable about it. He was happy to accept a cup of tea from time to time, but nothing stronger.

Picking up crew below Aston bottom lock we also picked up a bladeful. Aidan started bow-hauling us, but I managed to throw off quite a bit of the grot by reversing the engine a number of times, so we were able to limp onto the Cuckoo Wharf residential moorings on the off side, where we tied up at 18:10. On this last stretch we passed the single-hander who'd been ahead of us and he decided to join us at Cuckoo Wharf. Aidan couldn't stay for a drink as he was due to meet some friends in a local pub. But the single-hander accepted an invitation to come aboard for a drink. He turned out to be called Patrick, and to work for Atkins on consultancy for BW, including on the Prescott Locks project, for which he said he found Mike's Bow Back Rivers map most useful. Patrick's visit gave us the perfect excuse to leave the horrors of the weed-hatch until morning.

Before the start Wendy went down the weed-hatch and got a harvest of rope, plastic, twine and a studded but unidentifiable garment. My knee was still pretty painful, so I wasn't ready to start right away, but that didn't make much difference as Tilly was on walkabout. So Wendy passed the time in looking for a newsagent and instead finding a Texaco shop (no Guardian, but she did get milk & de-ionised water, both of which we needed) and giving the washing machine a run.

At 13:35 Tilly came back and we were off. Wendy worked Minworth locks because of my knee. Coming out of the top lock we picked up a bladeful (clothes, wire & plastic). Coming out of the bottom lock we picked up another bladeful, but not enough to stop us, so we limped on to The Boat, Minworth where we tied up at 16:05. We moored by the pub with hopes of eating there, but they weren't doing food that evening for staffing reasons. We each visited it for a drink. The people were pleasant but I wasn't very impressed with the choice of beer.

Another day started with Wendy going down the weed-hatch - not as bad as previous visits - reeds bound on with plastic & twine. But there were no feline delays this time, although Mandy was cross because we'd shut the cat-flap when we went to bed. My knee was still a slow starter.

We set off at 11:18. During the day the loo vacuum pump played up, but cleared itself later. Near Curdworth tunnel, Wendy spotted a bank of snowdrops. Wendy worked the locks again because of Mike's knee. We stopped to take on water below Curdworth top lock. We had a good road down the locks to start with, but later felt we must be catching up with somebody. It got very cold. The open swing bridge at Curdworth bottom lock had a trough of crocuses on it, and there were other plants around the "Welcome" sign on the lock-shoulder. At Fazeley Junction we join Coventry Canal, and tied up above Glascote locks at 18:15. This wasn't as far as we'd hoped to go, but we'd had a slow run and were cold & tired. During the day Wendy noticed rather more short stretches with mooring rings than previously.

This time we got the routine for the cats right - we closed the cat-flap as soon as they were both in, having refrained from feeding them until that point. We set off at 10:09 and reached the foot of Atherstone locks at 12:47. We were following a fairly slow Canaltime boat up the locks, and by the time we reached the top we'd been caught up by another boat. We did cross a couple of boats in the flight. The original target for tonight was Marston Junction, but we ran out of daylight a little before it. It was very windy when we were mooring, so we were glad to be on piling hooks rather than pins.

The same approach as the previous day worked for the cats and we were away at 09:55. My knee was now getting a lot better. At Hawkesbury junction, as we joined the Oxford Canal we stopped momentarily to use the rubbish disposal. We finished the day at Brownsover Wharf at 15:50. This was the day's target, so that Wendy could shop next day while I was due to be back in London. I made some 'phone calls and discovered that I didn't need to be at the Museum first thing, so could travel next morning rather than that evening.

I was going down with a cold, so decided not to travel to London. Wendy did a long and tedious shop, then felt hungry & thirsty, so our start was further delayed. We set off at 14:01 and stopped at Braunston Turn at 17:45 because we wanted to go to Midland Chandlers in the morning. The cats had a good night's hunting and brought home a trophy.