Up the cut without a windlass

This morning a couple of boats came past us before we were ready to go; they duly disappeared down the locks. At about 0830 we moved onto the lock landing and waited to see if another boat would come along to join us down the flight. We'd been there no more than a minute when Jan noticed a man with a windlass outside. I asked him if he was with a boat coming up or going down; he explained that he was coming to the aid of a new widebeam, launched yesterday, whose crew had seemingly forgotten to equip themselves with the means to operate locks. I invited Brian (for that was his name) on board for a cup of tea while he waited for the widebeam to come through the tunnel. He had barely had a chance to sit down when the widebeam arrived, so he went off to see his crew and we started down the lock. We lent the widebeam a spare windlass; this was returned to us when they discovered windlasses under some blankets(!)

Here they are, emerging from Stoke Bruerne Bottom Lock.

The boat is called Every Cloud; the owners, Ivan and Sarah are the managers of the new Campbell Wharf Marina, built at the putative start of the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway. Despite having been open for only a month, Sarah says that they are already more than a third full.

Rewinding to the start of the day ... this house opposite last night's mooring in Stoke Bruerne is having some serious landscaping done.

And a photo which didn't make it into yesterday's post: two swans and their cygnets swimming in the sunshine.

Sunshine was in rather short supply today - I lit the fire as we were going along.

We stopped at Galleon Wharf, Old Wolverton, and went to the new Lidl in Stratford Road (next door to Tesco) for supplies. Later, Ally brought our three-year-old grandson, Josiah, to us for a sleepover. He will stay with us as we cruise to Peartree Bridge tomorrow morning. We think it's the first time he will have slept away from home without his mum and dad - he's been absolutely fine so far!

The call of curry was too great

In the morning (Thursday) we set off up the remaining four Braunston locks, sharing with a hire boat. The steerer was experienced, and happy to engage in the efficient art of parallel boating out of, between and into locks.

In Braunston Tunnel an oncoming boat bashed us, not too hard, even though we were hugging the wall. I said "Good morning" to the steerer, but he completely ignored me and kept staring ahead. Er, hello?

At Weedon we passed under the now finished bypass bridge carrying the A45.

Sadly, under the bridge are a bench seat and plaque. Both are inscribed to the memory of Matthew James Elson, civil engineer.

The Derby Telegraph reported that he died in a car crash at Flore on the A45 on his way to work.

Matthew was a cricketer; a new scoreboard at his home ground in Winshill, near Burton-on-Trent, was paid for with donations in his memory.


We had originally intended to stop overnight at Weedon, but decided to carry on in the sunshine to Stoke Bruerne, where we treated ourselves to a good curry at the Spice of Bruerne. Tied up above the locks was Indigo Dream, so I went to say hello. It wasn't Richard and Sue on board, but Graham and Jill of Matilda Rose, who were looking after it for a bit while Graham recovers from a hip operation.

Hire boat converted for steering from a wheelchair

Is it too much to hope that the busiest locks in the country might be the best maintained? The two Hillmorton Top Locks have at least three paddles out of use between them.

Lock 7, up which we came, has only one paddle in use at each end; the parallel Lock 6 has only one bottom paddle working. Perhaps it is a water control measure(!)

When we got to Braunston we decided to go up a couple of locks. In the bottom lock we waited for another boat to join us. This boat, the James something or the something James, had been bought only yesterday. The crew were complete novices, so I did my best to teach them about locking. After we tied up above Lock 2 I lockwheeled the rest of the flight for them and continued their education - I hope!

At the top there was a hire boat waiting to come down, so I stayed to help. It was very quickly apparent that I could be very useful, as the crew consisted of a man in a wheelchair, steering, and his wife working the locks. I stayed with them all the way down the flight, setting the locks in advance.

The photo shows Mark, Caroline and Bella, their dog, on nb Beatrice.

Caroline said that Willow Wren had told them theirs was the only "normal" hire boat converted for wheelchair steering in the area - so that's not counting trip boats etc. From the steering position the wheelchair user has a steering wheel; there is a ramp for access to and from the bank. There is also a tiller, so it looks as if steering can be conventional too.

They were loving their holiday - top marks to Willow Wren.

How high is your aerial?

Another day of unbroken sunshine and suddenly it seems that everyone is out boating. We met lots of moving boats as we travelled from Sutton Stop to Brownsover, many more than yesterday on the Coventry Canal.

The sun's rippling reflection lit the underside of Bridge 53, echoing the balusters (I looked it up) of the cast iron bridge.

We tied up, as I indicated, at Brownsover in front of a boat with a very high aerial.

What's unusual about Atherstone Lock 5?

After breakfast we moved up four more locks to tie up below Lock 5, the most convenient mooring for Atherstone town centre. Jan had her hair cut at Scissor Sisters while I had coffee on board, then we did a bit of top-up shopping in Aldi. Back at the boat we had lunch and saw Chris and Di of Ultreya who had tied up behind us. Then we set off up the remaining five locks of the flight.

The entry to Lock 5 is under Watling Street.

Now, look at this photo. Nothing about the lock is obviously strange ... or is it? We are so used to perspective - where things closer to us seem bigger than things further away - that it doesn't seem odd that the nearer balance beam seems longer than the other one.

But it really is much longer than the further one. If I had taken a photo from the other side (why didn't I?) it might have looked very strange. The short balance beam is the length it is so as to accommodate the skew road bridge. Next time I'll try to remember to photograph it from the other side.

Here's a "towpath alpaca" at Harvey's.

We tied up for the night at Sutton Stop, having ascended the stop lock onto the Oxford Canal.

Oil change overdue

After some four weeks at home we're now back on board Jubilee. On our way to the boat we stayed overnight in Cranfield so we could see Ally, Ben, Josiah and Micah; then drove up an empty A5 yesterday afternoon to Fazeley. Some basic mental arithmetic led me to realise that an engine oil change was a few hours overdue, so I checked I had a new filter and enough oil, and took the boat to Fazeley Mill Marina to empty the Elsan. We stopped opposite our mooring and I did the servicing, during the course of which I discovered that I have somehow accumulated at least four 5 litre cans of old oil.

I change the oil every 250 hours (Isuzu 38hp) - I hope this is often enough.

David took a break from sanding down the cabin side of Kew to wave us off.

We hadn't gone far along the Coventry Canal when we saw Chris and Di on Ultreya. We suggested stopping but they said they were just about to go, so we helped each other up the two Glascote locks. The other side of Amington they were catching us up, but I didn't see them after Alvecote.

We stopped just above Atherstone Lock 10 so I could watch the F1 Grand Prix highlights. I put the aerial up and switched on the TV to check I had a good signal - and found the formation lap under way. I had got the time of the programme wrong; fortunately I had missed nothing of the race proper.

When it was over we went for a short walk as the sun was setting.

Jubilee above Atherstone Lock 10

Help with locks? Me?

Er, yes. Me. I had to have help with a flight of locks today on account of my bad back. Richard responded to our plea and turned up slightly earlier than we were expecting. Still, we made good progress down the Curdworth flight, even stopping for coffee below Lock 7.

I don't know what they're laughing about.

When we got to Fazeley we filled the diesel tank and emptied the Elsan at Fazeley Mill Marina and returned to our mooring. As we had to drive Richard back to Curdworth we decided it would be a good idea to eat at The White Horse. Mary came along too - David had a meeting to go to so couldn't join us.

Mary, Jan, me, Richard

Brades Staircase

I filled yesterday's blog post with photos of our Dudley Tunnel trip and didn't say anything about what else we did, which was to return to central Birmingham.

I thought it would be fun to go down the BCN's only staircase pair, at Brades Locks. Having seen very little traffic since we left Tipton I was surprised to find a boat coming up the staircase. Apparently there was an emergency stoppage affecting Factory Locks, so boats were being diverted via Brades. I hadn't received an e-mail alert from CRT so I guess whatever it was had happened very recently.

The intermediate gate of the staircase wouldn't close easily - there was a coconut in the way. You see a lot of coconuts in the water in areas of high Asian population. Hindus (or is it Sikhs, or both?) use them in their funeral rituals, putting the deceased's ashes in them and floating them off down the canal on the basis that all waterways lead to the Ganges.

After three weeks of boating without needing to visit the weed hatch we caught a bag round the blades on the New Main Line. I pulled in to the bollards at the foot of the Smethwick New Pumping Station to remove it, and caught another one as soon as I pulled away. Grr. I removed that one sitting between the bank and an old toll island ... and caught another large bag round the rudder.

First bag: Sainsbury's

Second bag: Tesco

Third bag: insulation packaging

We tied up at Cambrian Wharf in the one remaining space, and went to bed with the rowdies making a terrific racket at the Flapper and Firkin. Why do they have to SHOUT so much? All was peaceful by 0030 ...

This morning we went to St Luke's, Gas Street for their 0930 service. A gap near Worcester Bar leads directly onto Gas Street; the church is opposite.

The building used to be a gas producing factory.

After church we set off down the Farmer's Bridge and Aston lock flights, staying on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal to Minworth Greaves, descending Minworth Locks on the way.

At Aston Top Lock a curious flying insect perched on the balance beam handle. I don't recognise it, do you?