Golden Boyz

@cheshire~rose The email says boast to be finished by 6pm & entries to be in by 6.30pm? We're about to post ours PLEASE REMEMBER you must arrive at the finish point NO LATER than 6pm today and your completed entries must be sent in no later than 6.30pm today to allow our panel to judge your entries this evening so we can announce the scores tomorrow. It's not 6,30pm yet lol

For todays challenge which is of a culinary nature team Urban Moorings have had a veritable feast cooked up by chef Ronni. We started the day with a full cooked breakfast Lunch was buffet style due to being on the move Then we treated ourselves to afternoon tea ( well it is the last day) And supper was a tasty chicken curry with rice topped with raita & fresh coriander with the most perfect canal view & a cheeky little glass of wine

Fridays Challenge Photo of contents of a typical boat roof ... mast with Irish flag ( it was from one of our Irish team members afterall) Nicholsons guides, centre rope, scooter. gang plank, boat hook, Thermos flask & coffee cup,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Thursday Challenge Here is a photo of Team Urban Moorings time machine thingy Automat Sensucht Please take the time to notice its finer points. It is fuelled by methane from the cassette. Luckily due to the amount of time Ronni is putting the kettle on we are keeping it well supplied. It is completely green & ecologically designed using yeast inside no nasty blue here. All materials are locally sourced & the pump gear it utilises is actually from the Tame Valley Canal. The photo is just taken as Ali is activating it with the flux capacitor so you can see the spark as it activates.

Well I did consider posting my bondage gear prop photo again ... but here we are a veritable feast of rubbish which Lou removed with the aid of a keb

Tuesdays Challenge " You are struck by the unusual lack of wildlife on the stretch of canal you are navigating today. Perhaps you can do something about that? Please create a swan in any way you choose and share a photo of your creation with us on your BCN Blog Thread. Hint: A towel sculpture or some Origami might be an easy way for some of you to complete this task" Challenge in Progress!! 20200505_160422.mp4 Our finished swan sussing out the map at Headquarters Our finished swan getting a breath of fresh air by the canal

Thats quackers!!

Aw thank you I'll let her know @Morgana Le Fey

After cruising the Toll End Communication Canal we popped out on Tame Valley Junction. We were now on a familiar stretch so Ali fiddled again with our time machine & the colours came back to life & we all breathed a sigh of relief. We’d never have been able to submit our cruising log if we got stuck Back in the past as we’d have no internet. We cruised onwards suddenly arriving at Lesley’s home mooring of Ocker Hill. The sun had come out by now & melted all the snow (miraculous ay!) so we couldn’t just cruise past without checking out Lesley’s new posh decking area & BBQ & we were all quite hungry by now. So, we pulled over & tucked into a delicious feast of sausage, burgers, kebabs & salad washed down with a few wines & beers. Good job we have all these light nights now. Lesley regaled us with stories of her family history over the BBQ with a distant relative having been born at Ocker Hill "While at Ocker Hill we briefly transported ourselves back to 1865 to celebrate the birth on the boat of George and Elizabeth Neal of their daughter Harriet Neal. Harriet is the sister-in-law of great-uncle of wife of 3rd cousin 2x removed of Lesley, who is a family history nerd" Fortified we were on our way again. Ali having had one beer too many (well that’s just one beer for Ali) tripped walking through the boat carrying the time machine & yet again set it off. Of course, we were prepared this time as we watched the colours fade away & heard the engine change. On our left sprung up the old Gospel Oak Branch. Photographed by that excellent photographer Andy Tidy!!! Now Sandra recognised this as she’d visited it on one of Andy Tidy’s talks as part of the BCN Explorer cruise. We still had some daylight left so we cruised up & down it before tying up just as daylight fades at Moorcroft Junction. More images of Moorcroft Junction And another And a third for good luck!!

The rest of us invade the BCLM and got stuck in with a range of obscure bits of kit and managed to raise one of the sunken ‘Ampton boats. We’re taking it back to Urban Moorings to the area it used to work, to the boatshed where it might have been docked for repairs, to treasure it for future visitors to learn from. Where it might hear once again, a passing boater shout "Am yo tyin' uo at 'Ampton ternight?" Although getting it there might be a bit of a sod, as our chief navigation officer, Tom, doesn’t seem to realise the damn thing is longer and wider than a traditional narrowboat so after a very democrative votes we’ve told him he gets to carry it up the Wolverhampton 21. We won’t make him carry the full 45 ton load as well… Ali got off excavations and slopping around in the mud by shooting off in pursuit of a nearby geocache out the front of the museum which she’d heard had rather Appropriate & interesting contents. Not disappointed at finding the loot inside including an old bar of soap, razor & shaving brush. Finally, Ronni put the kettle on & all our straying crew members heard the familiar Kettle whistle & came running & we set off again. As we were travelling along Ali dusted off the <<time machine>> thingy. By accident (well so she says but we know she was fiddling) she pressed a few buttons. Suddenly the engine started sounding a bit more “put put put” & the scenery colours gradually drained away so we were left with just black & white scenery & into view came an amazing sight we’d not seen before despite travelling this way many times. The junction leading onto Tipton Green Canal. Well of course we just had to do a sharp turn onto it to explore! As we approached the clock stopped spinning at 1942 and we had to wait a while because the Heather Bell had just finished unloading 350 sacks of flour at T S Townsend and her steerer Daphne March was shafting the boat round to head for Cannock along Tipton Green Canal… Her regular route starts in Worcester: Flour to Tipton Empty to Cannock Slack to Worcester Flour to Tipton Mother and daughter Margaret and Daphne Mother dressed in skirt and hat Daughter in trousers, hair in a turban Gongoozlers gawping at an all-woman crew Last January (1941) she placed an advert in The Times ‘Woman skipper (Oxford Graduate) seeks crew Over 70 applied, mostly women, but not all. She didn’t tell us how many turned out to be any use but it’s interesting to note that on this trip, her mother is her Margaret is the crew. One respondent was the Minister for Transport – not, in turned out because he wanted to take the tiller but because it has given him the idea that perhaps women might work on the canals. The Ministry wanted Daphne to go over the Grand Union to train women (the GU Carrying Company is the only one who share his belief, or are so desperate they don’t care anymore!) but she wants to stay over here in the Black Country. Two of her trainees, Eily Gayford and Molly Traill are picking up that baton. But to get back to Daphne. After unloading flour at Tipton… Empty to Cannock Air in the hold, gunwales lifted, haul the boat over, haul and shaft, shaft and wind, to Tipton Green Junction, lift the paddles, push the gates, Gongoozlers gawping at an all-woman crew from Lockside houses and Rifle Row, front doors opening onto the cut. Moving again to Watery Lane and Toll End Junctions, Walsall Canal, Ocker Hill, John Bagnall’s Leabrook Ironworks dominating a bleak and lonely industrial landscape. Tame Valley Junction… Excerpt from: Wastie H (2017) Heather Bell. Idle Women of the Wartime Waterways, Alarum Theatre 2018

Here is a photo of the Pensnett Canal that we took Once out the other side of the tunnel we lost Sandra again as she managed to charm the museum caretaker to fire up the trip boat & take her through the guided trip part of the tunnel singing along the way. And he insisted she do the legging… Ha!

Team Urban Moorings assembled bright eyed & bushy tailed at Black Delph Junction ready for the 2020 BCN Virtual Challenge. Well they were mostly Bushey tailed except Sandra & Tom where were quite frankly shattered. They’d arrived at Dublin ferry port yesterday to discover all ferries had been cancelled due to coronavirus. Not wanting to let their team mates down they commandeered two pedalos & pedalled their way furiously overnight across the Irish sea. Just making it in time for bacon butties served by Ronni for the crew’s breakfast. They all sat 2m apart along the towpath tucking into them just as the snow started to fall. Not deterred the crew wrapped up warm & started ascending the Delph Flight. Passing a very closed Merry Hill shopping centre (which is a good job or we’d never have got Lesley out of Hobbycraft) we cruised along to Blowers Green & up the three Park Head locks. The snow had gotten much thicker by now & Sandra became somewhat distracted sledging up & down the towpath by the locks on a tea tray! When we arrived at Parkhead we spotted a poster. Seems we’d arrived just too late to join in the celebrations reopening the Dudley Tunnel. It was a few weeks ago at Easter (1972) So, into the tunnel we went – Tench being one of that rare breed, a boat that will fit through the tunnel. But no engines allowed so it was take turns at legging (except for Sandra who was lolling about at the tiller). And a slow old business it was too. As we emerged on the far side near the Black Country Living Museum, the modern Dudley Canal Tunnel Trust on our left faded away, the canal around us became shallow and silted up, and we met Tina Gittings who told us this story: "1963/64 I left school and started going out with this lad who was involved with exploring Dudley Tunnel at the time. He had a canoe which he would take to the tunnel on a Sunday. The very first time I went there, I was in what was supposed to be a one-man rubber dinghy – it was more like a floating doughnut. I sat in that with a tow rope back to the canoe and off we went; it was only a one-man canoe, you see. You can never appreciate the splendour of Cathedral Arch in Dudley Tunnel until you have seen it from water level. When I say water level, my bum was actually below water level in the cold water. " Having just seen it from exactly that angle, we knew just what she meant… Aside from Kate: You can hear Tina telling this story to one of the I Dig Canals project team in this episode of the Alarum Theatre podcasts: https://soundcloud.com/alarum_theatre/i-dig-canals-podcasts-episode-8-love-and-marriage

We have no control over her she's been up to all sorts today!!

We are all togged up in our winter weather gear & @Golden Boyz is mucking about sledging alongside the locks on a tea tray

Fabulous video ?

Team Urban Moorings We have assembled a particularly fine international team and we’ll be taking to the murky waters of the lesser known parts of the BCN in an historic boat. NB Tench, an FMC boat built in 1938. Tench,owned by the inimitable Alex Bennett, was central to ‘Recreating the Journey’, Alarum Theatre’s 2017 tour of ‘Idle Women of the Wartime Waterways’ following the route worked by the wartime trainees. During that tour Alex and Kate joked that they would do the BCN challenge in 2018 with Tench but sadly Alex died suddenly in February 2018, so we’ve adopted Tench as our boat for this year. Alex will be there, at the tiller, polishing the brass and downing several pints!We have Captain Sandra@GoldenBoyz at the tiller. After solo cruising 85% of the system, trading as The Doggie Boat, acquiring the reputation of being the crazy dog lady she had her boat shipped to Ireland & is now starting new adventures. And we thought we’d got rid of her...The rest of the crew are still arguing about who does what and what constitutes a junction. Except Ronni, who has claimed the tea urn for the duration.However, inside sources suggest Urban Moorings are fielding a crack team of strategists: Tom and his wife Kerstin are both German, they have lived in Ireland since 2002. They started hiring in 2007 and have cruised a substantial part of the network, including taking part in the 2013 BCN challenge. Summers now usually find them on the waterways of France in their Wilderness Beaver More on their blog here:https://nbargo.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/summer-in-brittany-day-1/ Ali and Lou who have lived and worked on the canals for 16 years. They run a business making and designing gift wares mostly out of wood. As well as artworks by Lou aka canal artist. They are part of the founding team of Urban Moorings, a CIC company developing moorings on a derelict piece of land on the BCN. Standing by to lockwheel are :Lesley who travelled much of the canal network with her late husband Ray, now moors at Ocker Hill and the only bit of the BCN she hasn’t cruised is up the locks to Titford, so she’s planning to crochet that before the end of the week. And Kate, who is mostly known for pretending to work locks, steer and do generally boaty things in the guise of various characters on stage. So doing it for real could be a nasty shock.Fortunately...Ronni, another key player in the Urban Moorings story,tireless worker for the Roving Canal Traders Association and purveyor of quirky clothing(as Witchcrafter),will be on hand with copious quantities of tea.

Thank you all I have contacted Jan & we're in by the skin of our teeth lol

Can anyone help with how to register please? We have a team together & have scrolled through hundreds of messages saying I need to enter by midday but can't for the life of me find an entry form - failing at the first hurdle!

Oh dear all in position ready to start & turned boat upside down & cant find that darned sealed secret envelope! Anyone know if I can get contents emailed to me & if so by whom? Been so excited about this don't want to be disqualified before the start gate!!!!

Sorry to be so late to the party but nb Golden Boyz here - crew of 3 so far - Sandra, Sally & Alan. First time doing the challenge & really looking forward to it.