Water (Eaton) under the bridge

Woe is me! For I have not been keeping up to date with this here blog. And the further I get behind, the more difficult it is to remember what I did and when and where. And I just get out of the habit of doing it, which makes it even harder when I return to it. But enough excuses - that's water under the bridge. Here are some photos and words.

First, back to the middle of June.  Only last month, but it feels like half a year ago.  Here is a group of members of the Boaters' Christian Fellowship.. We had gathered at Water Eaton on the Grand Union Canal in south Milton Keynes in preparation for a few days of supporting the nearby churches in their work with local people.
 

This was to be a Covid-curtailed "dry run" for next year, when the idea would be for there to be much more publicity and greater involvement with the local community. Similar events in past years have seen schools invited for tours of boats, free short boat trips for members of the public, cream teas and so on. This year all our meetings were outside and socially distanced.

We were, however, able to offer boat trips for families or "bubbles"; I went as crew to help move the boat being used for this from Marsworth Junction to Water Eaton.  Here is a different John steering Beacon down Soulbury Three Locks.
 

The weather at the start of the week was perfect: warm with wall-to-wall sunshine.

Some of the eight BCF boats put up banners and bunting.

Eric steered Beacon for some of the boat trips.

Fuel boats Bletchley and Bideford passed through.

It was great to see our friends Steve and Sue who came for a cup of tea on board Jubilee one afternoon. I have known Steve all my life. Literally. His mother and my mother were in the same maternity ward; Steve and I were born two days apart.

I will try to be a good boy and compress five or six weeks into a few days, continuing tomorrow. We are currently at Marston Junction on the Coventry Canal heading north.

Cold outside, cold in the tunnel, cold at the pub

As we moved onto the water point at Etruria this morning NB Olinda had just finished and was winding by Brindley's statue.

Olinda is diesel-electric, but I didn't get a chance to ask about the specifics of how that is done. Norman and Linda are fellow BCF members; they were off down the Stoke locks while we turned right to go north towards Middlewich. Norman designed the boat himself, taking inspiration from the Orient Express. He uses the wheel steering on wide waters such as rivers.

It rained as we passed Westport Lake but it had eased off by the time we reached Harecastle Tunnel. We had about 30 minutes to wait for two southbound boats, then we were the first of four boats going north.

The tunnel keeper said it would be cold in there.  I found it hard to believe it could be any colder that the conditions we were experiencing - we had sleet at one point - but he was right.  As soon as we emerged Jan took the helm and I went inside to revitalise the fire, which I had had to damp down before entering the tunnel.
 

After one lock at Kidsgrove we stopped for lunch and the very convenient new Lidl.

By one of the subsequent locks was what looked like a roasting tray fixed to a post.  What for?  Feeding birds?  Bathing birds?  Anyone know?
 

Many of the locks on this section are paired, but some of the "extra" locks are unusable, to say the least.

We tied up at Rode Heath, just past the Broughton Arms. After tea on board we met up with (BCF) friends Martin and Buff for a drink in at the pub. Despite overhead electric bar heaters I got cold sitting outside - the steel stools didn't help.  I did have an exceptionally tasty pint of Hobgoblin, though.

Tomorrow we'll see how near to Middlewich we can get, given that Jan has a Zoom meeting at 1500.

Leek lagoon, Hazlehurst Aqueduct, strange sentry box in the woods

Would you believe it? The instant I untied to reverse to the winding hole it started hailing. Then snowing. And, finally, just raining. What did I do? Carried on, of course.

I like Leek Tunnel.  Short and straight, with plenty of headroom.  I don't even have to remove the chimney (usually a problem because the stove is on the wrong side of the boat).
 

As it was still raining, and as it was coffee time, we tied up in the lagoon the other side of the tunnel. Less famous than Tixall Wide, but just as beautiful.

Carrying on, we crossed Hazlehurst Aqueduct ...

... and passed under the same aqueduct an hour later.

We tied up nose to nose with Ichthus and had a socially distanced cup of tea with fellow BCF members John and Jane. They showed us the trophy they have just won as editors of our club magazine, The BCF Word. The AWCC judged it to be the best club magazine for 2020 - well done John and Jane, and thank you for all your hard work. Here I should provide a photo of the trophy, but I omitted to take one. Sorry!

Instead, here's a view from our mooring.  There's a line of white houses on the top of a hill which stood out against a dark sky just before the rain came.

We walked back to the Hollybush at Denford for a meal with another BCF friend, Babs, who lives in Cheddleton. On the way I snapped this very small building with a door with a digital lock. Odd.

The food was good but we all got rather cold having to sit outside. (Roll on the end of these pandemic restrictions.) You can see how cold it was getting by the mist that formed on the water.

Tomorrow: Froghall. And will we squeeze through the tunnel? Probably not.

How many volunteers does it take to empty an Elsan tank?

One thing we've been doing at the Black Country Boating Festival is running the boat race game. This is primarily intended for children, but when a pair of PCSOs walked past it was too good a photo-opportunity to miss. The idea of the game is to use a straw to blow a boat along a miniature canal, and get it to the other end before your opponent.

This was yesterday, when the weather was again very obliging, encouraging the crowds once more.

In the afternoon Jan and I were brought to the main marquee on some pretext … and we found ourselves being presented by the Mayor of Dudley with a trophy for "Volunteer of the Year"! This was completely unexpected. Indeed, there were plenty of other volunteers equally - or more - deserving of the award, so I accepted on behalf of the team.

We'll have to come back next year, if only to return the cup. (But we have already booked in as this is one of the best festivals on the calendar.)

As usual there are few photos of me actually doing anything as I'm usually the one behind the camera. So this is the dismantling of the marquee on Sunday evening by some of the other volunteers.

It was good to get it down and packed away in the dry; last night it rained. Today we continued with the break down. One part of this was to empty and rinse out the Elsan disposal container. This attracted a surprising number of volunteers simply looking on.

What is the attraction of poo? There were even more observers who didn't make it into the photo.

Lock landing perfect for pitching your tent?

Coming down Batchworth Lock I saw a man apparently hacksawing off his chimney. I wonder why he was doing that.

At Uxbridge Lock a canoeist had pitched camp on the lock landing. At the previous lock the lock landing was occupied by anglers.

Shortly after this I saw a motorcyclist come down onto the towpath. He saw me with a camera … and hesitated. He waited until I was out of sight, then rode along the towpath in the same direction as we were going.

He obviously knew he shouldn't have been doing it as he tried to move his helmet to shield his face. When he realised that he couldn't see where he was going he let me get a clear (-ish) shot.

We were intending to get to Cowley Lock, another mile further on, but Jan spotted a BCF sticker in the window of a boat at Hillingdon Canal Club, saw a man there and somehow guessed who it was. A called-out greeting confirmed her suspicion … and we ended up tying alongside and sharing their barbecue. It was good to meet Stuart and Deborah of The Lady Leah.

After the food we joined them in the club room for a drink and chat. Behind the bar was Peter, an IWA stalwart with whom I have worked in previous IWA festivals marking out traders' pitches.

At lunchtime today I thought I'd better check out the booking situation for central London moorings - and discovered that they were all booked up for when we were intending to be there. We will now rethink our plans, and may stay here for another day.

Farewell Lin

We drove down to Trowbridge in Wiltshire yesterday for the funeral of another BCF member, Lin Atwill. The cemetery chapel was packed - the volume of the singing was tremendous. At the end of the service some of us were invited to lay a rose on Lin's coffin; Jan laid one on behalf of the BCF. After the committal we joined a service of thanksgiving for Lin's life in Holy Trinity Church in the centre of Trowbridge. This was another celebration, an acknowledgement that Lin and we believe that she is now with Jesus.

The funeral was attended by most members of the Canal Ministries team, which Lin was part of. (Canal Ministries is more overtly evangelistic than the BCF, although all members of Canal Ministries are also members of the BCF.) During the service there was an opportunity for anybody who wished to give their own tribute to do so. Peter, Lin's husband, spoke movingly of one of Lin's last acts: giving a £10 note to a needy person in the street. Above all, though, Lin's faith and trust in Jesus shone through.

On a much more mundane level we walked around the town afterwards, spotting some unusual buildings. The Blind House is said to be where the drunks of the area were incarcerated until they had sobered up.

And the strikingly perforated Handle House was built for the drying of teazles used in the woollen cloth industry.

We stayed overnight with our good friends Andy and Sue, enjoyed breakfast with them in their "office" (the local Wetherspoon's), did some more looking round charity shops and drove back to Thrupp.

A final narrowboat journey

Today we joined with more than a hundred people celebrating the life of a founder member of the Boaters' Christian Fellowship. David Clark produced the BCF Word magazine for several years, was on the committee and played the keyboard at worship gatherings. He and his wife, Anne, travelled extensively on Thrupp'ny Peace, their narrowboat named after the Oxfordshire village where they lived. David died earlier this month.

David's wish to be cremated in a colourful narrowboat coffin was granted; his ashes will be scattered in his garden and in the canal.

Some aspects of his life were represented on a "wake cake": playing the keyboard, film making and his dog are obvious, but we don't know what the baked bean tins are all about.

We counted 19 BCF members, including Anne, at the thanksgiving service, all but two of whom came to the wake. This was held in David's local, the Boat Inn.

We returned to the boat in Yarnton, where the church service was, and boated back to Thrupp. I cycled back to retrieve the car ready for our trip to Wiltshire tomorrow for another BCF funeral. We were surprised to see two more pairs of Jules Fuel boats. As we need diesel we hovered by the boats and tried phoning the number, but spoke only to an answerphone.

After tying up I found the crews just about to start eating in the Boat Inn ... but they were on holiday and wouldn't have served me even if they had had supplies. They did say that the pair I had seen yesterday were going to come up the Oxford Canal from the Thames in a few days' time, so we should coincide at some point.

Crick cracked

Last night I was too tired to blog, so here's a double dose. I will keep it short, though.

Today the rain clouds threatened, but didn't really produce much more than two or three very short showers. Nothing to deter the crowds.

Yesterday the Boaters' Christian Fellowship held a service in the Entertainment Marquee, otherwise known as the beer tent. Mark Chester, the head of the Waterways Chaplains, gave the talk: a cautionary tale about Little Jimmy.

About 60 people came to the service.

The BCF stand was busy most of the time, with people enquiring about us and entering our "find the duck" competition. With plenty of BCF members willing to run the stand in one hour shifts the task was not too onerous. Many stands had just two people for the whole extended weekend - I'm thinking of, for example, Paul and Christine of Waterway Routes and Mark and Catherine of the Cut Glass Gallery - they must be completely shattered.

On my way back from taking stuff to the boat I saw Kathryn steering Sculptor back towards Stoke Bruerne.

Puncture count: five so far

We spent much of the day helping to set up the BCF stand in the marquee at the Crick Boat Show, ready for the main influx of visitors tomorrow, Sunday and Monday. Robert helped me put up the banners and bunting, while Elaine, Sandra, Margaret and Jan sorted out the table and other stuff.

One of the show staff came up with a step ladder - it would have been almost impossible without it.

The people who are usually opposite us, Caldwell Windows, were miffed that they have been moved to the next position.

Somehow the BCF leaflets small display stand was missing, so I went back to the boat and spent 2.5 hours making one.

Not terribly elegant, but it will have to do.

I bumped into Andrew Denny and chatted to him briefly; later, Indigo Dream came past with Richard steering. He stopped for a quick chat; we invited him to join us for tea but he couldn't get close enough to the bank near where we were so he went on. After tea Catherine and Mark joined us for drinks. They run the Stained Glass Gallery stand in the craft marquee.

Oh - there's something else to report. I mended four punctures today. All in the rear wheel. One was from last night, but I picked up the other three from the towpath today. I hope all the other towpath cyclists appreciate my clearing all the thorns for them.

A passage through Dudley Tunnel

Ever since fellow BCFer Tim organised a trip through Dudley Tunnel I had been looking forward to it.

51 members of the Boaters' Christian Fellowship and guests - and one guide dog - boarded the Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust's boat Richard ...

... donning hard hats as instructed.

We had gathered at the Trust's new visitor centre opposite the Black Country Living Museum and been transported by coach to the Parkhead end of the tunnel. After some brief health&safety instructions we were off, heading for the southern portal. It was this profile gauge which prevented us from entering on Jubilee a couple of years ago, but now here we were going in to the last major canal tunnel on my "list".

The trip boat had excellent lighting: a powerful forward-facing tunnel light and strips of LEDs along the central top plank steel beam.

I was surprised and pleased to see that I was able to take reasonable photos using just the trip boat's light (we were asked not to use flash, not that I would have done).

Most of the tunnel is brick lined, but there are some sections which were blasted through solid rock and some which have been relined in precast concrete segments. Our guide and steerer kept up an interesting running commentary the whole way through, despite the PA system being rather temperamental.

Towards the Tipton end of the tunnel there were interesting-looking side tunnels and caverns, some of which we were to return to.

The extra tunnels and caverns got quite confusing as there are so many of them, some with video and light shows.

We emerged into Castle Mills Basin where we encountered another trip boat before winding.

At least four tunnels radiate from this basin; this is the unnavigable Wren's Nest Tunnel.

I believe the tunnel on the right here is the tunnel we came out of after the long passage from Parkhead; we were to enter the one on the left ...

... which took us to what I believe is the Singing Cavern. This has been lit for effect, but I would have preferred to see it au naturel.

Some of the time we were now reversing out of dead-end caverns/tunnels, adding to my confusion. This hole above us was not a construction or ventilation shaft. I think our guide told us it was where digging out the limestone broke through to the surface.

Did we go through here? I can't remember.

Some of our party got the opportunity to have a go at legging.

I would normally have leapt at the chance, but I had done it on a previous short trip into this tunnel some years ago so I let others do it.

Then we were in Shirts Mill Basin, the other large opening. Neither this nor Castle Mill Basin is accessible from the outside world.

In the centre is Lord Ward's Tunnel; the two bricked up portions either side were loading bays.

Another intriguing tunnel entrance - I don't know which.

We entered Lord Ward's Tunnel ...

... and emerged back at the Dudley Canal and Tunnel Trust's visitor centre.

As part of the trip we enjoyed a buffet laid on for us in the visitor centre.

I acknowledge there is a lot I haven't said, and I apologise for any errors, but the Trust has lots of information on its website. Possibly the most useful page is here.

A very good trip, well worth doing. Thanks again, Tim.