Weed slows progress on the Birmingham Canal

We set off at 0930 from near Hatherton Junction and stopped for Morrisons just after the narrows of Pendeford Rockin. We were due to meet fellow BCFer Richard at Aldersley Junction; he walked up just as we tied up there for lunch on Jubilee. And then it was off up the Wolverhampton 21. Kew went first, so all the locks had to be turned for us. With five of us altogether, though, we kept up fairly well. No water was wasted down bywashes; nearly every pound was low.

Some of the balance beams were quite rotten; I expect some are due for replacement soon. The gates themselves didn't seem to leak much. This is Lock 7; soon the lock number will be even less legible.

At the top we decided, with Kew, to go on to the moorings by the Black Country Living Museum and the northern portal of Dudley Tunnel. This is where the condition of the canal threw a spanner in the works. Or, rather, a whole lot of weed.

With Kew out of sight ahead we were going slower and slower. The water was beautifully clear, but that could mean only one thing. Weed. This is usually fine if it's just growing at the bottom of the cut, but here there was a lot of blanket weed floating on the surface. Jubilee's base plate projects an inch or two forward of the stem post. This prevents weed trapped against the bow from slipping under the boat; instead it forms a great clump which doesn't improve the hydrodynamics much. Every so often I remove it by means of a long timber batten, but as soon as I was removing it it was collecting again.

The weed also wrapped itself round the prop quite readily. The second time we stopped to clear it I discovered a thick bramble trapped on the skeg against the rudder post. This, of course, was a good collector of weed; it was sticking to the thorns. I had to resort to the steak knife to cut this away.

By the time we got to the BCLM it was 1930 and getting rather gloomy. David and Mary joined us for a meal on board Jubilee - Jan had cooked a delicious chicken stew.

Budgerigar comes for an unexpected ride

Just below Lime Kiln Lock on the Staffs and Worcs Jan was most surprised when a budgerigar flew down from the trees and landed on a solar panel in front of her.

Budgie stayed for the ride up the lock and showed no sign of wanting to fly away, even when we got close in order to take photos.

Just as we were wondering what to do with it a cruiser arrived to go down the lock. As I started cycling on to the next lock I mentioned to the crew of the boat what had happened, expecting them to be slightly interested but no more. I was as surprised as Jan had been when Budgie turned up to learn that Sue on the cruiser was not only very interested, but was known as the "bird lady", having an aviary at home with as many as 500 birds at one time. Sue looked at the bird and diagnosed that he had probably run out of seed and was therefore hungry and weak. Being a domesticated bird he did not know how to forage for food in the wild. She picked him up and took him back to her boat (Lapwing) to care for him.

What are the chances of a) a budgerigar hitching a lift on your boat - in the middle of nowhere - and b) the very next person you meet being a bird expert? Astonishing!

Earlier we had tied up below Rodbaston Lock, within earshot of the M6, to have lunch. We are travelling for a few days with NB Kew.

We passed Tycho at Hatherton Junction. It was interesting to see some fibreglass "blue tops" - as on Kew - incorporated in the boat. But what is the curious fender extension thingy at the bow? Does it do push tug operations somewhere?

Stafford Riverway Link

Today was the last day of the Boaters' Christian Fellowship (extended) weekend at The Taft, near Rugeley. We had a final time of worship in the morning, during which a dragonfly came into the marquee and couldn't find its way out again. John P. managed to capture it in his hands, but when he took it outside to release it it paused long enough on his finger for me to take a photo.

After saying our good byes (to our fellow BCFers, not the dragonfly) we set off up to Great Haywood where we filled and emptied the usual tanks. I bought an air filter from the Anglo Welsh base and popped it in. It's the first air filter change I have done in three and a half years of ownership - am I a very bad boy? Before putting it in I cleaned the inside of the housing. Thje first couple of damp paper towels took off a huge amount of black dust; only by the third one did it all come clean. As I clipped the lid back on I did wonder whether I should have lightly smeared the inside of the housing with oil. Would this be a good idea to trap dust particles?

I called into Great Haywood Marina to see about a new float switch. They had one, but it was £27 which seemed a bit pricey. I left it hoping to find a cheaper one later.

We reversed back to the junction and turned onto the Staffs and Worcs, passing Kew at Tixall Wide. We would meet up with them at Penkridge later.

On the way we passed this interesting signpost at Baswich, just outside Stafford. There's a bit of a home-made look about the writing, although the signpost itself looks the job.

The fingerposts pointing to Great Haywood and Wolverhampton are as expected, but normal to them are pointers to River Canal Rescue in one direction and Stafford opposite. I think the Stafford Riverway Link has been in the waterways press, but I can't remember many details, such as a timescale for completion. I think the idea is to make part of the River Sow navigable and connect it to the Staffs and Worcs by a lock, but I might be wrong. So why the sign to RCR? Well, their headquarters are on the other side of the canal here.

This evening the four of us (David, Mary, Jan and I) walked the few paces from where we'd tied up to the Boat pub for a meal. The food was good, but it took a very long time to arrive (as in an hour plus). We were offered drinks/coffees/puddings on the house by way of compensation.

More tea, vicar?

All right, it's lunch, not tea, but there's never any shortage of food at a BCF Barbecue, especially when it's at The Taft. And you won't be surprised to learn that there are a few retired vicars and other church ministers in the Boaters' Christian Fellowship. I can think of at least three who were at this year's barbecue weekend.

Before lunch Martin (one of the retired vicars) led a service of communion in the marquee. I'm sure God was laughing with us (and Edwin) when Martin drew attention to Edwin in his Sunday best suit.

Later, David B. presented Peter and Julie, our hosts for the weekend, with a teapot. It was actually one of their teapots, but filled with cash donations from all of us who had enjoyed their hospitality. And we all had.

As the weather was so good, David L. took to his canoe for a paddle on the canal.

Then he went for a dip in the neighbouring River Trent. He reported the current as being too strong to swim against (we had noticed a couple of days ago how much water was in the river).

Tomorrow we'll leave The Taft and head for the Black Country Boating Festival. We've left it too late to book a mooring, so we'll have to hope we can tie up beyond all the booked boats somewhere - and get wristbands for the evenings. We have now planned our schedule for the rest of our six month jaunt; it sees us return to the south midlands for some work to be done on the boat and to be near our winter mooring. Neither the work nor the mooring has been finalised yet.

BCF 20th anniversary BBQ

Sitting in the Stanley Arms, Anderton, seven weeks ago I planned our cruising to get us here at The Taft near Great Haywood for this weekend. Rather amazingly, considering all the lock closures and tunnel incidents which happened just after we'd passed by, we have managed to keep to the schedule. I had originally thought our cruising days would be of about four hours each, but we usually extended these to five hours to give us more "days off".

The Boaters' Christian Fellowship was formed 20 years ago this November following a letter published in Waterways World magazine. The letter was written by Alan and Hazel Dilnot, who have been the joint chairmen of the BCF since its formation.

Margaret Tetlow, who has done the catering for our AGMs for many years, had baked a cake for us.

Alan and Hazel performed the ceremonial cutting.

We had perfect weather for the barbecue which preceded the cake; we got together for a group photo afterwards.

Then Jan organised a splendid evening of entertainment in the marquee with many members contributing songs, anecdotes, readings, magic tricks etc. We're very grateful to our hosts, Peter and Julie, in whose garden this all happens.

Unconventional propulsion - this man digs it

We didn't have far to go today, just two or three miles north west along the Trent and Mersey from Rugeley. The Taft is the home of Boaters Christian Fellowship members Peter and Julie; we arrived there at noon ready for the weekend festivities. For many years Peter and Julie have hosted a barbecue for their BCF friends; this year marks the 20th anniversary of the BCF.

People have been arriving in various forms of transport: boat, naturally; caravan; motorhome; car. One member moored his boat up the canal and came to The Taft by rowing boat.

Vic has an interesting paddle - you could say that he really digs the canals (ouch!)

Kingfisher on a boat, but which?

Travelling to Rugeley yesterday I spotted a kingfisher repeatedly flying in front and then landing. The last time I saw it it was perched on a boat.

I can't quite make out the name of the boat. It was just south east of Taft Bridge 69 on the Trent and Mersey. From another photo I took I can see an RN badge so, presumably, it has a Russell Newbery engine.

Just before it landed on the boat I had seen it on the box from which eggs are sold under the bridge.

If I hadn't been steering at the time I might have got a steadier shot!

We left the boat on a 48 hour mooring at Rugeley and went by train to visit Ally and Ben, staying overnight. I helped Ben with boarding the loft today. Now we're back on board.

Three dirty jobs in two days

We set off from Westport Lake at about 0900 and enjoyed the deep waters of this part of the Trent and Mersey, reaching 4 mph at times. At Etruria we turned onto the Caldon Canal to use the services, watering up and emptying the Elsan. The Elsan point was nice and clean, but the flush took ages to refill. Rinsing out the cassette was a slow job as, instead of a tap to press or turn there was a plastic pipe attached to a cistern with a pull flush. This also took a very long time to refill, so the spare cassette hasn't had as good a rinse as usual.

We made good progress to Stone, despite a slow start down the Stoke Locks behind a newbie steerer on a hire boat. At least her companion knew what to do so it could have been worse.

Once tied up on the 24 hour mooring above Star Lock I changed the oil and fuel filters. I was interested to see the crud which had collected on top of the primary fuel filter, which was obviously doing its job.

The secondary, spin-on, filter is difficult to inspect. I suspect that it had picked up hardly anything, and that I could have reused the fuel I poured out of it. Oh well. It's worth a few centilitres of diesel (and a new filter or two) for peace of mind.

That's two dirty(ish) jobs (I managed to get an oil stain on my T-shirt). Yesterday I carried out the revolting task of cleaning out the shower sump in an effort to find out why the float switch sometimes didn't work. When I'd finished cleaning out the gruesome gunk I discovered that the switch itself was intermittent. I had hoped it was the yukky mess that was stopping it working properly, now it was evident that it wasn't. I need a new float switch. I can get one for about £9 on Amazon, but delivery will be a problem. The alternative is spending about £30 in a chandlery. Hmm.

To end today's post here's a piccy of a fine-looking house just above Newcastle Road Lock in Stone.

Oh - nearly forgot - we met up with Adrian and Chris (Essence) and John and Jane (Ichthus) for a delicious curry at the Crown of India in Stone this evening.