Nic

Wednesday 17th March (okay its been a while since I posted the last piece, but now on it again) Today we would be leaving Birmingham and heading onto the Staffs & Worcs. We start off at 10am from our overnight moorings on the Engine Arm and keep on the Wolverhampton level taking the Old Main Line route to Wolverhampton. Its lockless until you get to Wolverhampton locks, winds around a bit but seems quiet as many people probably go the new main line route through? We head underneath the M5 motorway and continue doing so once we passed Spon Lane Junction (where we'd come up the previous day). We pass Titford Branch (which we haven't been along), Gwer Branch (which we have) and on through Tipton to Factory Junction where it merges with the new main line. We reach Wolverhampton visitor moorings shortly before 2pm, and now simply have 21 locks to do. Baring in mind its March, would this be pushing it? It turned out not as we operated a method of getting one crew member to set the lock ahead to minimise wait time and we cracked through them all in 3 hours. The video is on Youtube

Roger, (sorry for the year delay, lol) I used to use a Ricoh camera before, an R6 and then an R8, (my older video's were done that way). The advantage is they come set up, but unlike some camera's (e.g. some Nikon's) there isn't a limit on the number of shots. The only downsides were that the minimum interval is 5 seconds, which in its self isn't bad as if you turn it into 12fps you get 1 hour cruise = 1 minute timelapse, but a shorter interval allows a higher frame rate for the same time compression, and power supply in that they are mostly battery only (that said my R8 has a notch in so you can use a powered false battery type set up and I know someone who created their own using a DC transformer and two batteries (to act as a buffer for the charge). So for my earlier videos I used to just change the battery every 2hours, and used 3 over all (one charged, one charging and one in use). For mounting the camera, I use a suction camera mount and attach to the inside of the window. Using one outside the boat would mean you need some form of waterproofing.

Sorry its been a while following up. Just got back into the vids. Here is a new version of my 16th March cruise using a variable speed throttle to allow me to zoom at over 300mph along the Tame Valley Canal with a new mapping SatNav to ensure I don't go up the wrong branch. As usual click on the image below to be taken to Youtube

You have to book passage by the latest 10am on day of travel - locks open noon-2pm only, so overnight is a must unless you're really, really, really fast LOL. The Ellesmere arm is quite popular a stop off for the night prior - supply stop in the form of a Tesco's at the end of the arm and a walk into town is short for a variety of pubs.

On the 16th March we were cruising through Birmingham, my previous post described our trip along the Tame Valley Canal, and now the diary continues. The cruise along the Tame Valley was very straight forward, and at the junction we turned south towards Pudding Green Junction. Last July we had taken the TVC route and turned north at this junction up to Walsall itself and it had been slow going due to a lot of vegetation growth making the canal shallow, this time I was hoping the southern section was more used – indeed it was and we soon reached Ryder’s Green Locks. There are several decent mooring spots around Birmingham and my “plan” was really to see what time I got to Puddling Lane junction and choose then. On reaching the first lock we found some rubbish inside, not to be unexpected as there is a fairly strong wind so the odd bit will be blown in. I must have snagged on something in the lock as the boat handling felt strange as I went into the pound above. I did try shaking it off with a few blasts in reverse, but it wasn’t helping and as the entrance to the next lock was in a bridge hole it was fairly easy to stop there and clear the weed hatch out. It turned out to be a fair bit of plastic, fishing line, and assorted rubbish. Once cleared we carried on, opened up the lock gate to be welcomed by a blanket of discarded cans and general litter. Its almost as if someone tipped a bin liner full in! I guess its a case of proceeding with caution then. The pound above the second lock was fairly low, as its a short pound could easily be done by someone letting water out “for a laugh” or maybe just a leaky lock below? We went fairly quickly through the rest of this flight of eight locks using the leapfrog locking method of one going ahead to set the next lock whilst another operates the lock we’re in, as there was no other traffic about, exiting the top lock at 16:25. Above the locks the canal junctions onto the Wednesbury Old Canal, and although I did contemplate going up the Ridgeacre branch we carried on to Pudding Green Junction and onto the Main Line (Birmingham Level). Rather than go all the way into the city centre I thought I’d head on up to the Wolverhampton Level as there’s mooring spots there. So at Bromfield Junction we went up the three Spon Lane locks. The entrance to the first had a carpet of rubbish, oh joy was this the litter trap for the Birmingham Level Main Line? It was a scene repeated at all three locks though, maybe they haven’t been used much recently? We left the top lock onto the Wolverhampton Level at 17:30 and decided to head for the Engine Branch moorings. I think some of that rubbish at the locks had become attached, so we just took our time. The Branch isn’t that far away and we reached the top of Smethwick Locks just after 6pm. There is secure mooring spot here, but its secure as in no-access to the surrounding area, but I wasn’t sure if there was accessible mooring at the end of Engine Branch (after all Ocker Hill is supposed to have secure visitor mooring), so we moored whilst I took a walk up the branch. I found there was long term mooring with a footpath gate accessible with a BWB key, so I quickly went back to get the boat as it was starting to get dark. We went up the branch and past all the long-term moored boats to find visitor moorings at the end. Very nice they are too with a “Sanitary station” with washing machines and showers. As usual here’s a nice video version: ^^ clicky ^^

I enjoyed my trip down the Avon in 2008. Its easy to rush through, so hope you enjoy your trip

Tuesday 16th March We had spent the night of 15th moored at Cuckoo Wharf, and can recommend it as a secure site, though off-site amenities are limited – there’s a take-away and a Working Men’s Club for food, though I suppose you could walk to Star City and go to the cinema. We set off just after 9am, initially thinking of reversing the whole way back to Salford Junction, but a boater on the long term moorings at the wharf saw what I intended to do and informed me that you can wind at one of the old wharf bridges below the wharf. I hadn’t even thought of trying as usually many of these have been blocked off. So, thanking him, I set off, turned round and headed back to Salford Junction. Once we got there we turned onto the Tame Valley Canal. We had done TVC in July 2009, but as the camera I was then using for time lapse had bust shortly after we started along the canal, I wanted to try again. On this trip through Birmingham we were aiming to head up through Wolverhampton Locks and onto the Shropshire Union Canal. My planning, as such as it was, mainly consisted of segmenting the whole route to see roughly where I’d need to be after each day’s cruise, tomorrow’s cruise should take us up Wolverhampton Locks so tonight I needed to stay somewhere after coming off the Tame Valley and before them. Okay, bravado license, I’d actually spent a fair bit of time finding out where was good to moor, I just hadn’t chosen specifically where to stop. This was because reality can be different from information on the web, and what at one point may have been a good place for visitor mooring may not now be. It is possible to get from the City Centre out to Aldersley Junction in a day, so I was thinking that I could take a route back towards the centre and check out possible points along the way. Tame Valley Canal starts from under a mass of M6 motorway bridges, with massive pillars lodged in the bed of the canal, which gives you a dilemma “which side” – you can religiously stick to one side or maybe weave and alternate between. Once through we got to Perry Barr bottom lock, the first of 13 on this flight that change the hight of the canal by 103 feet. I say flight, its all the locks on the Tame Valley, the first pair are closed together then there’s a long pound of over a mile before the next lock, so you’d expect the first pair to be named differently. After going through the first two whilst we are still in an industrial part of Birmingham it doesn’t seem to encroach onto the canal ans its a pleasant trip, there are even locals out walking along enjoying the sunshine. Next up we pass under the M6 motorway again, it seems the canal and motorway are entwined as it crosses over the canal a few times until the full flight of locks takes us high enough that it runs parallel with us for a section. The canal now has a towpath on both sides of the canal, or so the map says, I suppose its more accurately to say you can walk along either side but one has a wider path. Perry Lock 3 starts the flight proper and we progress up four locks passing another iron bridge in the towpath showing that at one time there was a wharf there, before saying hello to the M6 as it passes over once more as we continuing on. Perry Barr locks 7 to 13 are all together within about half a mile of canal. We haven’t met any boats on this canal so far and the locks seem to be set against us, so on this section we operate a method of setting the lock ahead, that is opening the paddle to empty whilst we are ascending the lock below. It does involve more walking, but not much as the locks are close, and does speed up progression through the locks. We got through Perry Barr Top Lock, the last on this canal, at 12.40pm so we were doing quiet well. There’s a small supermarket not far from the top lock, so we despatched a crew member to get some supplies whilst we went through the final lock. From here we have a long lock-less stretch, allowing us to have lunch on the go. The canal above the locks starts off in a cutting though land drops down to canal level every so often to give you a glance of life beyond, making this a well hidden canal. This all changes after the junction with the Rushall Canal (which takes the BCN on its most northerly, still navigable, route) as the hills fall away and you can see out across the residential areas of Birmingham. The M5 motorway passes over the canal just before the junction, and under the canal just after as it has its own junctions with the M6. The M6 travels parallel to the canal for a while, and can be seen best when you pass over an aqueduct. Indeed, if you time your passage right you could wave to drivers stuck in one of the frequent traffic jams as you cruise on by . We continued along the canal and then reached Tame Valley Junction by 2.30pm and turned left onto Walsall Canal. Here’s a time lapse video covering the length Tame Valley Canal, compressing over 5 hours canal time into under 10 minutes. <<<< clicky image Follow-up on some posts... No they weren't, good job really. A nice quiet and pleasant canal, or was it because we did it in the morning . Can you moor at Ocker Hill? Both times I've been past they have had wood across the entrance - not very inviting. I've just got myself a Netbook 2nd hand and cheap and unexpectedly won an ebay auction for a 320GB ext HDD (put in a speculative bid for about 2/3rds what they were normally finishing on expecting to be be outbid and won! 250GB's by the same seller went for more an hour later ). So maybe Llangollen will be done in HD? Wonder if I can get one shown at IMAX

Do you think we'll see "canal closed due to volcanic ash" in the news then :lol:

Spending a fortnight there this August, so shall keep an eye out on this thread.

Paul's post seems to explain what I would have said

I do find it strange some people are using the demise to say "it was expected" or typical of shared ownership etc. I haven't got all the facts, and won't until next Saturday, but it doesn't seem that the money was stolen purposely, but decided to use all the money sloshing around in bank accounts on schemes that didn't pay off. Doing this secretly was illegal and immoral, but it is different to directly stealing. I suppose many people thought Ownerships, managing 100+ boats, was a stable company, but it may well be that Allen Mathews never let it out of his own control. It looks like the money's gone, and the company will be wound up, but there will be something coming afterwards as there many owners still wanting to continue shared ownership.

Nice report, and some nice photo's and vids. Not been on the Rochdale, but it does look like a good canal I'll have to try sometime.

The number of photo's for each video depends on the interval used taking the photos and how fast you want the final video to look like, and my latest settings would use approx 8000 photos for a 9 min video, which was around 5 hours actual cruise time. I use 640x480, with each photo about 100-150k, purely because anything bigger has been redundant with Youtube in the past and because of disc space. An average day is around 11,000 photos at 2.5second intervals so each 4GB card covers two full cruising days. I may change this in future, though whether this means slowing the time lapse down by taking photos quicker or increasing resolution to fully use HD, I'm not sure. Just increasing to the next resolution would probably mean an 8GB card's worth a day. My older videos used a Ricoh camera that had a 5second interval, which was turned into a 12.5fps video (which could be 'tween'-ed to PAL 25fps). My Canon can do a lot less (should say more as in more features, but it also does shorter intervals), I chose 2.5sec to keep the disc usage reasonable and because initially I was thinking of doing it straight as 25fps. I converted this to 15fps (to eventually tween into 30fps which Youtube prefers), so newer videos appear slower and smoother. There are many ways to do time lapse (some cameras can be controlled externally, e.g. by laptop), but it depends what you want. I've seen one that use just conventional photos (zooming and panning so each photo is about 2 or so seconds of video time) to quite good effect. Hope you post links when you've done.

We stopped for a very quick lunch - it had being prepared on the move, as we didn't want to delay too long. Catherine-de-Barnes is seen as the last place on the GUC to be able to moor safely on non-secure moorings and advice seems to be to stop overnight before taking a full day to head into Birmingham. It was just after noon, was it too late to attempt, bearing in mind its March, so dusk is 6pm. Well we weren't going into the city centre and had used moorings at Aston Science Park before. Ideally, though, we were heading for Cuckoo Wharf and hope there's space (previous times it's being full, so maybe we'd ask to double moor if needs be). I'd been told at a push there was a secure pontoon at Camp Hill locks, so if we were delayed, that's a back up. So off we set, the weather was sunny, though the strong wind still gave a chill. For a few miles the canal is in a tree lined cutting, so it isn't as urban as you'd expect looking at the canal on a map, though every so often patches of litter, would be urban lilly pads, greet you, and ever wary of getting snared and another trip down the weed hatch I put the boat in neutral and coast through. The canal then gets increasingly industrialised, less of the town houses hidden behind foliage, and more the warehouses and industrial units peering over the canal bank asking you "wot you looking at". All this exposed industrial brickwork is a canvas, no longer blank, but covered in spray paint, by one time youths inking out where they was, though they are probably now settled down somewhere with a family and either a steady job or steady dole cheque. Despite the urban and industrial surroundings, its a fairly quiet canal and a nice trip in the sunshine. We reached Camp Hill locks by 2.30pm, so carried on - still plenty of time. A British Waterways boat had just come out of the lock below when we got into the first, so it meant these locks should all be set for us. Camp Hill locks are on a strange S bend, which I assume means they were rebuilt at some point when the major A roads were modernised. As we entered the last lock a hire boat came though Bordesley junction and then came up to the lock gate. I can only assume they thought we were going up, but at least we could say "Boo" when the lock gate was swung open. So which way now? As we hoped to go along the Tame Valley canal tomorrow, then continuing up the GUC seemed best. Next up was the litter collecting Garrison Locks, which we soon got through, though the strong wind was still present, so holding the boat from the tow path whilst waiting for the next lock did seem best on the exposed parts. It was now after 4pm, but we were almost there. Once through the locks it was the final stretch and although there were moorings at Star City, we opted not to use them (they were completely empty and the small gate-less fence meant it wasn't convenient to access, nor was it completely secure. Round the corner, or round Salford Junction, was Cuckoo Wharf, which we reached just after 5pm. Canal video:

I did notice the CWF sticker in the window as I passed. Hatton Top was a nice place to stop.

Each time I've gone into or from Birmingham taking a southern route , I've always taken the Stratford Canal route, which although longer does mean safe moorings are available a short day's cruise from the city centre. This time I opted to take the Grand Union Canal route in, because we're moving bases so it may be a couple of years before I go down the GUC again. The accepted wisdom is to stop is that Catherine de Barnes as the last real place before the city centre, to moor, save for some designated safe mooring sites. As I had booked in to spend the evening at the Waterman for Mothers Day, it meant that I was setting off from Hatton Top for Day 3, which is an extra 10 miles and 5 locks away, so extended the day somewhat (I didn't really want to do just a short day again). Was I mad in trying to get to Brum from Hatton, or maybe I would only make it as far as the Camp Hill locks pontoon (a "secure" mooring as it has no way on or off to the rest of the world except by boat). It was, after all, only March and not a long summer day of July or August. As this trip was to go through Birmingham and on to the Shropshire Union, I didn't necessarily have to go via the city centre, in deed I preferred to go along the Tame Valley Canal because my camera broke last time I did it and really wanted another go at capturing that route. That at least meant I didn't need to go right into the centre and I could go only as far as Aston Science park, where I've moored previously, or ideally to Cuckoo Wharf near Salford Junction as that would put me straight on the Tame Valley the next morning. Although I've been past Cuckoo Wharf before and it looks like purely long term moorings only, I had read that its okay for overnight visitors. So my plan, was to set off early and play it by ear hoping to reach Cuckoo Wharf before dusk and youths come out from the shadows like a scene from a zombie movie. We got up, had breakfast, and set off at 8am. It was a bright, sunny, but distinctly cool morning. The canal was quiet and the sun was still half asleep and hadn't risen far. We soon reached Shrewley Tunnel which welcomed us with a cool embrace and showered us with several water drips before bidding farewell. If I wasn't fully awake before, I was now. We said hello to some lively ducks and we reached Kingwood Junction at 9.30. Last chance to chicken out and turn up the Stratford ... The canal from here was all new to me, as I'd not done this stretch before. By 10am the wind had picked up and by the time we reached Knowle Locks there was a strong crosswind - not very good for a long boat at slow speed. After dropping off a crew member I backed up a little behind the shelter of the shrubbery until the lock was ready and open, then went ahead straight into the lock. As we were going up the first lock, another boat was coming down the second - perfect timing as it means we should both easily pass each other, if we set off together, and be able to do so with enough speed so that the wind couldn't blow off course. We managed it, though I think I was travelling a little bit faster than I needed. I stayed in the second lock until the third was ready and open, although this way meant more walking for the crew, it did mean I was less affected by the wind. We made it into the top lock by 11am, so about 10 minutes a lock. After clearing detritus that had been accumulated by the wind across the top gate we carried on and an hour later we were approaching Catherine-de-Barnes. Lunch was being prepared so time for to moor for a quick lunch once it was ready, so that we could then continue. Was noon too late to be setting off from Catherine-de-Barnes? Here's the video for the morning's cruise:

That's thanks to a Marine Engineer ex-owner who insisted how they should be fastened (we got some loops welded in the right places for the chains. Tell people theyll be on camera and see what happens

Yes imnogeek, I think Hatton attracts them Sunday 14th March It was Mothers Day, we had spent the night in Warwick and was travelling a short distance today, just 4.5 miles, as we were booked into the Waterman pub for an evening meal. Under 5 miles, sounds like a short day? Well there was the case of doing 23 locks – Cape’s two and Hatton’s twenty-one. We’d also arranged to meet some new owners wanting to find out about the boat. It was a lovely sunny morning with a bright blue sky, but very few boats on the move – still early in the season I guess. There was a cold wind blowing too, so although it was sunny a jumper was needed to keep the chill off. Cape locks were empty when we got to them – does this mean Hatton will be too, or that someone had spent the previous evening moored at the Cape of Good Hope and had set off down before us? the first two locks of the Hatton flight were full, so it looked like maybe someone had gone up in front or not come down. We then met a boat coming down so sailed into lock 28, and the rest may well now be empty? John had telephoned just before we started into the first lock saying he & Brenda had arrived at the Waterman pub and were walking down to meet us, and had now arrived. It was still early and we took our time, and we still flew through as the locks were now empty. We passed another boat in the pound before lock 33, an old canal carrying boat, also out enjoying the weather – two boats in one day makes this our busiest day so far! Of course the downside of going slow is that the wind can seem to effect you more, though this was mostly when we were in the locks, blowing us across, but a quick tug on the centre line brought us back ready to set off through the open gate. Hatton is an interesting place and there often is various walkers and families out. We had help from such a group of kids for lock 39, though they didn’t seem to be going upwards so no help through the next lock, ah well. Lock 43 was full when we got to it, so I guess it must have been at this point the canal carrier coat had passed a boat in front of us (possibly, all purely a guess of course). Passing in short pounds should be a relatively painless process, but sometimes there’s a confidence/ability issue or a level of brinkmanship that may change how you handle the manoeuvre. So when the crew of the on-coming boat close the gates when the boat leaves, what do you do? I suppose one option is staying in the lock entrance until my crew got up to open the gate, but that would have been unfair to the obviously inexperienced hirer, and progressing slowly forward may have been okay, but the cross wind would most likely have blown me into the path of the other boat, so I just went tow-path side and got off with the middle rope. This should have meant they had a straight run into the lock, which somehow they cocked up and came to an abrupt stop as they found out the boat couldn’t go in sideways – still two locks down and they may have it mastered by the end of the lock flight. Once through the top lock we moored up on the spaces after the long-term mooring (or there about, it might have been before the visitor moorings started, but there was plenty of space). Video version:

its not supposed to fade in/out, something wrong there. I put a higher bitrate for Day 2 "Hatton in May weather" and it seemed to help. Description coming up. using commercial tracks often get copyright violations put on them

I had an annual holiday on the Broads as a kid for a few years, then at about 14 went on a canal holiday with a neighbour (two families on a 70') - it was that holiday that I realised I needed glasses, steering the boat I didn't see a BWB butty loosely moored the other side of a bridge hole until I was almost on the bridge.

I only get up early if I'm way behind schedule and need to catch up or got a difficult part (like starting from the top of Hatton flight and wanting to make it into Birmingham going the GUC route in)