29/05/08
Hm...
It looks as if I have been neglecting my journal. It is well nigh a month since I last wrote. I have been suffering from Writers’ Block and have been so busy. “What with?” you say ungrammatically and with derision, “Some of us have to earn our money and the exam season is upon us and the amount of courework to do or to mark and send off is too much to express in words of more or less than four letters.”
I do sympathise you all but the continuous cruiser also has his burdens. Frexample: who among you has done five hundred and sixty six locks since the twentieth of February? Who has looked after a twenty five year old Sherpa van engine while it chugs along for four hundred and thirty eight hours and forty eight minutes? Who has removed debris from around the propeller on no fewer than three occasions? Only three! That’s good. I thought that the canals and rivers were messier than that.
Enough of that. What have we done of note since I last wrote? If I recall correctly we were half way up the Oxford Canal at Aynho when I last wrote. We are now a few miles up the Staffs and Worcester a bit north of Kidderminster. In between times we have been up the Grand Union from Napton Junction to Kingswood Junction. That meant that we did the famous Hatton Flight of twenty one locks in the most beautiful weather. The ancient (even older than I) Triumph Sports bike with the oil bath chain case and three speed Sturmey Archer saved lots of time on this. You pedal up the hill to the next lock while the one with Theodora and Margaret in fills. Then open the paddles to set the lock and coast down the hill to let Theodora and Margaret out of the lock that they are in. By this time the lock that you have just set should be empty so you belt up the hill again to open the gates before they get there. Good fun and does wonders to the waistline. Hot, though.
From Kingswood Junction we went south down the South Stratford. The South Stratford is seriously beautiful. We did a bit of tourist stuff and called in at Mary Arden’s but she wasn’t in. Her house is lovely, though, and there were not too many crowds. We hung around a bit and Margaret continued with the painting of Theodora who is now looking a lot better without the all over dark red that she had before. I will see if I can upload a few staged shots of her in various stages of being painted.
We joined the Avon at Stratford and stayed there for a few days. We went to see the Merchant of Venice at the Courtyard Theatre. It was done by the Royal Shakespeare Company but the big theatre is being given a huge facelift so it was staged across the road. (Yes, an even bigger facelift than the one for the woman who does that horrid quiz show where she is so nasty to people. You know who I mean. Yes you do.) We will take Theodora down there again when the new theatre is finished and see Stratford when the area around the canal basin is less of a building site.
So that we did the whole of the Avon, we went upstream to the limit of navigation, only a mile or two and more painting was done. Going down the Upper Avon to Evesham we noted that there are more mobile home parks on the banks of the Avon than any other waterway that we have yet visited. I don’t think that the Warwickshire planning officers have boats. The other notable thing about the Avon is the tendency to have unmarked weirs. These can be invisible when you approach them form upstream. We were happily cruising down towards the lock at Evesham and knew that there is a weir there. I could see the arrow indicating the direct for the lock and was looking for the weir but I could not tell where is was until I saw a swan standing in the middle of the river. Scary to think that some people don’t use maps!
Much of the Avon is very beautiful and we bowled along merrily all the way to Tewkesbury where it finds the Severn. We spent a few day in Tewkesbury where we met some fiends who had rides in the boat. Linda and Mike had good weather for an afternoon’s jaunt. Anne and Steve had wall to wall rain for their day and a half’s jaunt. They all said that they enjoyed in and thank you very much but they might have been being polite. We have polite friends. We enjoyed it very much. It was good to see them.
We plugged along up the Severn and gave the engine lots of hard work. It was between Worcester and Stourport that we happened across a narrow boat a right angles to the flow of the river. This is not a usual occurrence in a river and he was stationary: stern on the bank and bow in the middle of a reasonably fast flowing stream. The chap on the bow waved us past but I am nosey and slowed down to investigate this strange thing. Having interrogated the skipper I discovered that he had broken down and, as is sensible, had let go the anchor and called the hire company. The company man was down the engine hole sorting things out when we arrived but the boat was a positive hazard to navigation. Now I imagine that having let go the anchor the boat would have come to rest in line with the flow of the river. How they had managed to get the stern to the bank I know not. However, this was done and the stern was firmly moored to a couple of trees. What was exercising the chaps on board was the fact that the force of the water on the boat was such that they could not weigh the anchor. Two chaps leaning over the side of the boat had insufficient strength to pull the boat upstream so that they could break the anchor out of the mud. I found this entirely unsurprising. I offered to tow their bow upstream with Theodora so that they could weigh the anchor. This was accomplished with some hard work from Theodora's BMC 1.5. I was truly proud of the old diesel. Once they had the anchor up we let go the tow rope and their bow drifted downstream until they were much more sensibly alongside. It was all highly entertaining.
After that there was no further excitement and we arrived safely in Stourport. I must say that it is rather nice to be back on canals after a lot of river work. Particularly, it is nice to be back on narrow canals.
Just remembered: Ann Robinson.
Traa
Nick
No chuffing trains
08/06/08
We have experienced another superfluity of sublimities since I last wrote. We have traversed the whole of the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal from Stourport to Great Haywood, a little of the Trent and Mersey from Great Haywood to Etruria and the Caldon Canal about one and a half times from Etruria to Froghall and half way back.
Might I suggest that those who have yet to experience the delights of canalling hire a boat from Anglo Welsh at Great \Haywood and set of South along the Staffs and Worcester. This canal is most delightful. There are 43 locks and it is 46 miles long and for much of the route it could have been landscaped by Capability Brown. It owes something to the fact that the owners of Tixall Hall of which only the gatehouse survives wanted something special from their view of the canal and insisted that it be a couple of hundred yards wide so that it looks for all the world like an ornamental lake. It also owes some of its beauty to the red sandstone through which much of the southern part is cut. It is all set about with ferny grots and mossy brakes and even has a stable cut into the rock at one of the locks. It also boasts one or two hexagonal canal offices. Oh yes, and I nearly forgot the circular weirs. Most pleasing.
I fear that there are no tales of drama and derring do for this episode of Theodora’s Adventures. All the mechanical systems are working. I had to do a bit of plumbing when we started losing cooling water but that was soon fixed. We lost the witches hat which keeps rain out of the stove to a rather low branch of an oak tree. We did some minor modifications to the shape of the chimney trying to pass beneath the arch of bridge number 18 of the Caldon Canal. Apart from that boating has passed without incident. I nearly forgot to add that we had another polythene bag around the propeller.
As you have noticed, it is June, therefore summer. This means that boats are out it force. On some days we have met as many as five of them in a single day. On one occasion we had to stop a wait for another boat to go up the lock in front of us. On another occasion we had to wait for a boat to come down the lock that we wanted to use. This made the crowds on the Churnet steam railway seem rather daunting. We had to share the carriage on the down train with some other people but we managed to get a compartment to ourselves on the down train. I have to say that I was slightly dischuffed to observe that our train did not chuff. It went “brum” because it was drawn by a large diesel-electric locomotive. It was good fun, though because the scenery and the weather we both beautiful and we stopped at Consall forge and had a lovely walk up through the woods. On occasions I believe that we were dragged over the rails at speeds up to forty miles per hour. This worried us. We have not experienced speeds of one tenth as much for some time and the contrast was great.
Here are some figures that I find quite surprising: we have covered 801.4 miles and operated 640 locks since we left Sproxton in February and we still think that canalling is the best thing ever.
We hope to visit Cheddleton Flint Mill tomorrow. We are moored up outside it but they seem to be quite coy about opening times. We will have a walk around the outside anyway.
Good night
Nick and Margaret
One extreme to the other.
21st June 2008 Summer Solstice!
It occurs to me that after the first bit of description in one of the very early exciting episodes, I never got back to describing the rest of Theodora. So here goes: the forward open space has been described and now the inside bits. The first space that you get to after you pass through the doors from the hold is the saloon. The saloon has a log burner, a settee which will convert to a double bed for guests, an easy chair, a book case, a locker with hanging space for ball gowns and tail coats and a bit of space for wood to stoke the log burner. This the sitting space for the times when we don’t want to sit out in the hold. Today, for instance when, despite the date it is rather chilly and very wet. The saloon is 14 feet by 6’8” or thereabouts.
After the saloon you come to the galley with five full sized cupboards, a fridge and full sized gas cooker and a single drainer sink. There is not really enough space for two to work in the galley unless they are very friendly. We get on fine.
The bathroom comes next. It is narrower than the other two rooms because there is a corridor down the side of it. It contains a small handwash basin, the lavatory and a bath which is four feet long. There is a shower over the bath. Over the bath there is an extending clothes line for drying stuff in wet weather. This is helped by a small radiator which is heated either by the engine waste heat or by the central heating boiler.
Aft of the bathroom is the bedroom. By having a sliding section to the bedboard we have managed to fit in a king sized double bed. There is a central heating radiator as well.
After that you go up the steps past the hanging space for coats and wet weather gear. This space is heated by a multiplicity of hot water pipes from the engine and the boiler so we don’t have difficulty drying stuff out.
Outside at the stern is the steering position but under that is the engine, eight large lead acid batteries and the central heating boiler.
With that lot to live in we feel quite well off. It is amazing how little space we find that we really need compared with the amount that we have at home. I can only suppose that it is the fact that the boat is in a different place every day and we spend so much time outside that makes us feel that we have lots of space. We do feel ourselves very lucky to be able to do this.
It seems an age since we at Cheddleton Mill. We did not get to go round the inside of the mill because it was closed but we had a good look around outside. Very lovely it was too: warm red brick and damp ferny bits around the mill wheels.
We completed the trip down the Caldon and made a stop to buy some pottery at a factory shop close beside the canal. We couldn’t leave the Potteries without buying some pottery. Some of the canal is a bit dismal down there but they are making great strides in smartening it up with vast improvements to the towpath. It’s nice to see that plenty of people are using the towpath for commuting on foot or bike.
Back on to the Trent and Mersey heading north. The long haul through Harecastle Tunnel was achieved without incident. Its 2,897yards is something to be endured rather than enjoyed. You need lots of concentration to avoid hitting the sides. The first few tunnels that I did were rather exciting but they become a bit samey. Dark, possibly wet and always rather noisy with the echo of the engine. Harecastle is extremely noisy at the south end. There is a huge fan which pulls air through from the north.
We had to wait for the last of the oncoming convoy to emerge. I called to one of the people sitting in the bows of a hire boat: “How was your tunnel experience?”
“Awesome!”, and he was gone.
You enter, having been given the necessary instructions by the tunnel keeper. We were the last boat in the convoy and the doors behind us swung closed with a clang.
“It’ll be very noisy!”, was the last thing that the tunnel keeper had said to us. It was. Once the doors had shut the extractor fans came on and started drawing air from the other end of the tunnel. We could hardly hear each other shout so we stopped trying and just steered the boat and were patient. As we moved down the tunnel the noise got less and the lights of the boat ahead got closer. I decided that I was speeding and slowed down a bit.
Some time later we emerged into the bright orange water that is a feature of the north end of Harecastle. The groundwater which seeps into the tunnel pick up iron and stains the canal water for the next few miles a rich rusty colour. Even the weeds on the lock sides look rusty.
The Red Bull flight passed without particular incident except that we met Chris Williams working and old working boat down the locks all by himself. We helped him for a bit and then he went on ahead as we were held up by other boats. He was taking his working boat to the Middlewich Canal and Folk Festival. We would be passing through and meeting Andrew and Jilly who were coming for the weekend.
The gathering of historic boats at Middlewich was most colourful and we duly admired them and the bright paint and the polished brasswork and the sound of there antique engines but we did not stay for the folk singing. We had a boat lift to catch.
Last time we passed Anderton in a narrow boat it was with Andrew before he could properly appreciate it. I imagine he said “Goo!” as appropriate but nothing memorable. The boat lift at that time was in a sad state, rusting away and derelict. Since then, great things have been achieved and we took Theodora and all her contents and crew down the fifty feet of the lift to the River Weaver where we zoomed up and down for a bit and moored up below the lift to wait for A & J’s friends to meet us in the morning.
They duly met us with two and a bit children. The oldest was six and interested in all things. We rose vertically fifty feet safe back on to the Trent and Mersey again. The lift bounces a bit but it seems that it has done this ever since the restoration and is accepted as a normal part of the ride. I will add a picture or two of the lift to the photo album when I get around to it.
We carried on north through a couple of short and picturesquely winding tunnels. The children enjoyed this and, I have to confess, so did I. I suppose that it is the length of the Harecastle that makes it a bit tedious.
24/06/08
It looks as if this episode has just become two rolled into one so if you have read this far then, thank you.
Suffice it to say that we have passed through Manchester on the Bridgewater Canal. That’s the canal that started it all. Lock free for miles so we made fairly rapid but relaxed progress. After the Bridgewater we came to the Leeds and Liverpool which is where we are now. The L&L was a rude awakening from the Bridgewater. It goes in for locks. Lots of them and big and not easy to work. We started the Wigan flight at 0915 and finished, all 21 locks and about two miles, 215 feet higher than at 0915, at 1730. We were tired. We read that there are some that do that whole flight in 150 minutes which, I suppose, is possible if you have two boats going up together and consequently more hands. On this occasion there was just us. One on the boat and one working the lock. We took it in turns to do one or the other. At half past five we were tired.
Now we are on the summit level, just east of Foulridge Tunnel and the view is superb. We have had a really nice day in the sun working up the seven locks of the Barrowford flight with a little narrowboat tied alongside. Very companionable and very easy. We spent half an hour in a lock while the gallant chaps from British Waterways tried to lift a piece of dry stone wall out from behind the lower gate. They were using Theodora’s stern as a working platform and were trying to lift it with a couple of kebs. They did not manage it because the stone was too big and kept falling off the kebs. They said that they would lower the level of the water in that pound and go into the lock in chest waders to get it out in the morning when there were not many boats about.
“And what is a keb?”, did I hear you say? Its a tool with a long handle. In this case the handles were about 7 feet and 10 feet long. The business end looks like a garden fork with the tines bent at about 85 degrees to the shaft. Lock keepers use them for dragging weeds and rubbish out of locks.
Now you know.
Have fun.
Nick
An Aside recounting a Wildlife Experience
25/06/08
Grave and grievous are the vicissitudes with which fortune makes us acquainted. The particular vicissitude was associated with the need to reduce the vibration of the alternator. This required about three quarters of an hour working down what is called the engine hole. The engine hole in Theodora is, you may recall, at the stern and is accessed by lifting the boards upon which one stands to steer or be sociable with the steerer.
Crouching down and slaving away trying to insert fiddly little spacers donated kindly by a canal side car repairers. I worked away in innocence of the insult that was about to be inflicted upon me.
I was made rudely aware of the insult by what can only be referred to as being goosed. Not quite literally goosed because the perpetrator was a swan. A large male swan. A large male swan who objected to my presence in his territory. This happened once and I was not going to let it happen again. It is amazing how the constant threat of being pecked in the hindquarters destroys your concentration. I called Margaret to defend my honour and give me the confidence to finish the job. This she did by brandishing the mop in the swan’s face when it tried to repeat the insult. She observed that the cob was not interested until extra effort required that I raised my hinder parts above the gunwale. I was a little miffed that she did not treat the incident with the seriousness that it meritted.
I have gone off swans.
Bye bye
Nick
A thousand miles
10/07/08
Throughout a life which has been quiet, contented and largely uneventful, I have learned that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. We have now covered over a thousand miles on this tour and the quantity of boating that we have experienced has not proven to be too much of a good thing. In fact we really don’t want it to stop. We have all that we need in the space of 60’ x 7’ and we see new things and new scenes every day. We keep in contact with friends by email and do not feel at all neglected. The wonders of technology mean that as I type this I am listening to a live performance of Mahler’s symphony of a thousand and Theodora is keeping the rain off.
We are experiencing and interesting waterway at the moment. If the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal was the country lane of the canal system then the canal where we are at the moment, the Aire and Calder Navigation is very much the M1. It is wide and deep and bordered by large and rusty piles which prevents the wash from the occasional 200 Tonne barge from breaking down the banks. It is rather fun to see that the waterways are used for more than leisure and chastening to think that they all might have looked like this if water transport had remained the most economical form of transport. What a loss, if all of the small waterways had been widened to commercial specifications.
Now that is all too serious for the moment and I must tell you of another wildlife experience that I forgot to tell you about. It happened on Monday 28th April that we have moored close to Shillingford bridge on the Thames. It was still early enough in the year for it to be important that I took any opportunities offered to go ahunting for wood for the log burner. We were moored on the edge of a wood so I thought that it would be easy enough to find a fallen branch or two to keep us going. I usually find that about ten minutes will see enough wood cut up and split to provide heat for an evening. I try to keep the wood store full so that we have dry fuel to burn. We bought three bags of coal as we left the Wey in April and we have not yet opened any of them. As you can imagine, British Waterways is always happy for you to clear up some of the dead wood for them. In this case I was doing a favour for the Environment Agency which is the body which looks after the Thames.
As I wandered about in the wood margins I stepped into a patch of sunlight and a disturbed the edge of a large heap of dry twigs. To my lasting delight I saw a lithe, four foot, olive green shape slither away into the shadows. I had disturbed a grass snake which had been basking in the morning sun! I had never thought to see such a thing. What a privilege!
Here are some details for those who enjoy such things:
Total miles since leaving our moorings at Raynesway: 1,042.7
Total locks: 790
If you really want all the details email me and I will send you a copy of the trip spreadsheet. What a sad person!
16th July 2008
We zoomed up the canal type motorway for a bit, aiming driectly for the cooling towers of Thorpe Marsh Power Station. An arrow straight section of the new Juction Canal was this so Thorpe Marsh Power Station featured in our view of the world for quite some time. The rain rained hard and the rain rained heavily and the waterproof clothing became wet but we still kept going until it all got too much and was nearly lunchtime. We decided that a long lunch at some moorings close to Kirkhouse Green lift bridge would be a Good Thing. It was, and by the time the leisurely lunch was finished the rain had eased from torrential to heavy and after a protracted cup of coffee the rain had eased to light so we carried on.
At a curiously unnamed junction the New Junction Canal joins the Don Navigation and off we went upstream at a fine pace. The Don seemed to have been curiously unchanged by the heavy rain and the current was slow so we made good progress. Doncaster was reached. You get a fine view of the parish church from the river but on this occasion we didn’t stop and I had a drippy time working the lock whose controls are close to the railway bridge. Railway bridges are very drippy when it is raining hard. It was raining hard so the railway bridge was very drippy.
The Don, I have to report, is an excellent river. Not only is it very kind and unprone to fast currents in a rainy season, but much of it is very attractive. We saw some H U G E barges carrying sand from a quarry above Sprotborough down to a building site just upstream from Doncaster. It was good to see some lorries taken off the roads.
The lock is this part of the world are very big indeed. They were upgraded in the 80’s to the European 700Tonne standard so poor old Theodora looks rather lost in them. There is a traffic light system to show you what to do. Red means that the lock is being operated for another craft so moor up and wait for a bit. Green means “Come on in.” so it is accompanied by the fact that the gates are open in a welcoming sort of way. Green and red together means hang on for just a bit the lock is being got ready for you. Amber means “Tough. Moor up and work it yourself. The lock keeper has gone home.”
When we arrived at Sprotborough Lock the light was Red. “Good,” we said to each other, “The lock keeper is there and we will be let through in a while.” The light remained red and we waited for ten minutes. The light remained red and we waited for another ten minutes. The light remained red and we said to each other: “The lock keeper has gone home and left the wrong light switched on.”
It was Margaret’s turn to work this lock so she went ashore and tried to work the lock. It wouldn’t. She then noticed the back view of the lock keeper who was busy with, I am sure, Important British Waterways Business. Margaret shouted, but Margaret’s shout is not a very loud shout. It can be a very cross shout on occasions but that is no good if the shout is not loud enough to be heard.
Then it was my turn. I was a teacher. Teachers have cast iron voices and loud shouts. I thought that I would whistle, though, because a whistle seemed more appropriate. I stuck my fingers in my mouth and blew. A rather indistinct sizzling sound resulted so I shouted a loud shout. The lock keeper stopped doing his Important British Waterways Business and worked he lock for us. He also told us where the visitor moorings were to be found.
Sprotborough was a very nice mooring with the weir just the other side of the embankment. A crowd gathered on the opposite bank and boarded the ex-Clyde ferry, Wyre Lady and went off to have a bit of a do on the river. It all sounded very jolly but we were tired and pleased to remain aboard Theodora.
The following day found us continuing up the Don, negotiating to locks which were generally unmanned. When they are unmanned the locks are operated from control panels which allow you to signal the control gear which works to hydraulic system to open and shut paddles and gates. It has to be safe so it works sooooooooo sloooooooooooowly and sometimes not very well. We sometimes spent half on hour in the locks before the lock decided that the water levels were right and the gates would open. On one occasion it decided that the water level was correct before it really was. That stalled the motors and the whole cycle had to restart. In the end we decided that a more peaceful and economical time would be had if we turned off the engine for the locking experience.
Everything changed at Rotherham. Didn’t I tell you that we where headed for Sheffield and that Rotherham is on the way? Sorry. Anyway, the Rotherham lock is the first of the old locks on the way up and it was a real pleasure to see old stones and wild flowers growing out of the crevices between them. One of the remarkable things about the locks from Rotherham to Sheffield is the lack of lubrication. The paddle gear is dry and the bearing surfaces coated with a thin layer of red rust. The gear squealed in protest at our instance that it drew the paddles at the time when we wanted then drawn. We insisted but it got its own back by making us very tired. I soon learned to carry a can of oil with me. After this it was much more cooperative. A good example of enlightened self interest, I feel.
The Tinsley flight of eleven locks was hard work, though. Some of the gates are rather close to bridges so they have short balance beams. Twice I had to rig a three or four fold purchase using a mooring rope, or we would not have been able to carry on. I am thinking that it would not be a bad idea to carry a couple of two sheave pulley blocks and some extra rope so that I can rig up a proper tackle (please pronounce that “taykle” you land lubbers. Aaarh, Jim Lad!). As it was I had to use the hand rails and the lock side bollards as sheaves and they are not very efficient. One of the very real pleasures of this canalling business is overcoming problems.
The Tinsley flight became prettier as we limbed up towards Sheffield until, we could call the top locks nothing less than delightful. Still hard work though.
From the top lock to Sheffield is about two and a half miles. It was good to see that many of the old works are still being used for steel stockholding. Non of it is being transported by water, though. You can see steel bar in all sizes and sections from cylindrical bars a foot across to small T sections and everything in between. Many of the old buildings are being restored but some are falling inot decay which is rather sad.
The arrival at Sheffield Basin, Victoria Quay was a complete surprise. What a place! It must be Sheffield’s best kept secret. You chug along under a rather dark railway bridge, and then under an equally dark concrete bridge. There are half a dozen boats moored along each side of the canal and there is a swig bridge ahead. You notice that the towpaths are nicely surfaced and that the walls are well pointed and that there is an air something of holiday about the place. Some of the beautiful people of Sheffield have found Victoria Quays but not many, so it is not crowded. There are some modern offices in converted warehouses and new buildings which reflect the style of warehouses. There is the Straddle, a warehouse which stands across the basin allowing five entrances into the basin behind. There are the Arches above which the Hilton looms in all it expensive and superficial glory. In front of the Arches there is a wide space paved with York stone and then the quayside. I was pleased to see a dozen or so long term moorings with the usual scatter of live aboards. I like to see live aboards in a marina because it gives a feeling of community to what can be a very sterile environment.
Margaret opened the swing bridge using the cunningly concealed winding square, with the usual Sheffield Canal scream of rusty bearings. We slowly motored across the basin towards the Straddle , noting that your time limit is nine days. There were two or three good moorings on the side opposite the Arches and we moored up on a fine Sunday evening.
Margaret noted that the evening was fine. A fine evening means a chance to paint. Theodora’s roof now has no blue undercoat visible. The main painting is now complete. Sign writing will follow and then we will no longer chug around the canals incognito. I polished the brightwork, accompanied by the occasional scream from the swing bridge. I fear that rain means that the brightwork soon becomes spottywork. I have just started the third tin of Brasso for the trip. In Bath we found tins of Brasso a litre in volume so we invested in one of those and now decant it into a more sensibly sized tin.
The following day was a day for doing some tourist things. Margaret needed a garden fix. She has been limited to two boxes on the roof for the past four months. So we went to see the Botanical Gardens and very nice and newly restored to their original Victorian splendour they are too. A bus ride got us there in short order, and a cup of coffee revived the spirits at the café at the top of the garden. Once we had had a good look around we caught the bus back to the bus station in the cetre of town. Now here is a remarkable thing: the bus station was called “An interchange centre” or something equally unmemorable. The same title was given to the bus station in Rotherham. Is this a Yorkshire thing?
A visit to the Winter Gardens and further refreshment before a good long session learning more than I knew before about John Ruskin at the museum completed our adventures.
Back to the boat, we prepared for William’s and friends’ visit. They duly arrived not at all late and we had a meal on the boat and a mile and a half’s jaunt up the canal. I took the opportunity to use the oil can on the swing bridge so for the next couple of weeks the bridge will open without complaint.
We phoned the lock keeper only eighteen of the prescribed twenty four hours before we wanted to depart on Tuesday morning. There was some indrawing of breath and he explained that he had a wide boat going up and two narrow boats going down so I was prepared for a refusal. “Be at Tinsley Top Lock by half past eight and I will have it set for you,” he said. So we were and he helped us to lock down and it was a great deal easier than going up without help.
So it was back up the motorway like canals and the Aire through Ferrybridge and up to Leeds which is where we are now, moored up in the very post Clarence Basin opposite the Royal Armouries which we visited this afternoon.
It is now 18th July and quite a sunny evening!
Traa
Nick
PS
At Tinsley top lock I chatted to a man and his ten year old daughter. It was rather chastening when he guessed that I was a teacher and his daughter guessed that I was a Science teacher. Does it really show that much?
Nearly a Month
04/08/08
Dear me, nearly a month since I last inflicted a load of deathless prose one your unsuspecting computers. During that time, examinations have been nearly forgotten in the balmy days of Summer. The middle of August is approaching, though, and results will be coming out a bit after that. Please let me know how you did if you are one of those who is taking exams.
The beginning of August and the world is in holiday mood but not, it appears, on the inland waterways. We still have the same uninterrupted peace but in higher temperatures, lower wind speeds and (slightly!) fewer raindrops. Where have all the boats gone? They are at their moorings and still paying a license fee to British Waterways to help with the upkeep of the canals. All these absentee boaters are good chaps, say I. Without them there would be less maintenance and more of the locks would be like those on the way to Sheffield.
I think that I will give you and account of the Royal Armouries experience. It is housed in a magnificent building whose focal point is a huge stairwell many feet from top to bottom and a similar number from bottom to top. The decoration here is pale emulsion, if I recall correctly. Not very interesting of itself but it served as a background to an amazing geometrical display of bayonets and other stabbing type instruments. I will not go into great detail because I am sure that if you really want to know the many and various ways in which human beings put one another to death you will want to visit it yourselves. As a celebration of butchery I rather suspect that it is unequalled and the quality of the display work was very impressive.
One of the aspects which both Margaret and I found particularly impressive was the display of royal armour. The stuff is made of iron and much is over 400 years old and there is not a speck of rust on it, and by its appearance I would think that there has never been a speck of rust on it. This means that it has been cared for conscientiously by armourers for the whole of that time, through wars, depressions changing fashions and developing technology. When it was made flight was restricted to bats, birds, falling autumn leaves, arrows from longbows, quarrels from crossbows and lumps of stuff from various siege engines. Quite a lot of stuff really. Computers were people who sat in offices doing hard sums for very little money.
There were displays of the props made for the Lord of the Rings and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Now that was impressive! Pretend butchery this time.
In my last and very short email I gave you a URL for the Google Map of our trip. I said that I would keep it updated and in this I did not intend to lie. However I was overenthusiastic with video messages to No. 1 son and with looking at aerial photographs of the canals (As if the real thing were not enough.) and I have run out of free megabytes. This means that I have put the Google Map project on hold until the next free lot comes out on the 11th. After that I will economise on trivial data and see if I can update and keep updated the map of our progress.
Here a summary of where we have been to between Leeds and now: West along the Leeds and Liverpool stopping for another fun time at Skipton and arriving at Wigan. South (ish) along the Leigh Branch and then the Bridgewater Canal to Lymm where we had a party celebrating Margaret's sister, Evelyn’s, recent marriage. Back up the Bridgewater to Timperley to put daughter Kate on the public transport system to return to Aberdeen. I saw an advertisement for an exibition about the Lindow Man at the Manchester Museum so we took a ride on the tram to the city centre.
The plan then was to carry on north and join the Rochdale Canal to do a different route across the Pennines. Unfortunately the Rochdale was closed because some nasty and uncaring person had dropped horrid chemicals into the cut and killed 15,000 fish and lots of plants. Plan ‘b’ to do the Huddersfield Narrow Canal had to be put on hold because we could not get through the Standedge Tunnel for another fortnight. We went on up to Manchester anyway.
What a place is the Castlefield junction complex! It has been wonderfully restored with lots of basins to look at and nicely renovated old buildings. I could not miss the Manchester Museum of Industry and thoroughly enjoyed seeing steam engines working under real steam!
About turn and chug south again, past Lymm and on to the Trent and Mersey Canal. The plan is to use the time which they clean up the Rochdale or have space for us at Standedge, by visiting Chester using the Middlewich Branch and the Shropshire Union. And there you have it in a rather large nutshell.
Are we enjoying it all? Yes we are. Who could not, when the days are spent admiring the countryside or living industrial archaeology and every evening has a new prom to listen to?
No signal this evening so this will have to go later.
Bye for now.
Nick
Theodora, Destroyer of Worlds.
31/08/08
It seems a short lifetime ago since we were prevented from going up the Rochdale and the Huddersfield Narrow Canals. We have been doing some serious canalling since I last wrote.
The rain has rained and much water has passed under Theodora’s bottom plate (She does not have a keel.) since I last wrote. We stopped at Chester overnight under that shadow of the city walls. It was a very pleasant spot close to the shops and Cathedral. We had a mostly quiet night until about 0300 when three of the more high spirited of the local lads decided that it would be fun to entertain the boat astern of us by jumping and off its roof. This they did and added to the festivities by throwing their boathook into the cut. “Hah!” thought I, “The assistance of the Peelers is required.”, and I duly picked up the mobile. By the time I had got through to the local police station the chaps had decided that they would go and entertain the local population of Chester away from the canal so the police were saved a call out. I settled down to resume the night’s sleep only to hear the repeated casting and reeling in of a fishing line. This was an inventive, but unsuccessful, way of retrieving the boathook so I advised the alternative method of using Theodora to ferry me across the cut and get it. This was achieved without the use of engines and we stood around on the towpath and drank tea and chatted for a little while. The rest of the night was quiet, peaceful and as it should be.
The visit to Ellesmere Port at the far northern end of the Shropshire Union Canal was well worth the trouble and why? Well there is the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port and we spent a long time there, there were loads of historic boats to see and methods of boat building to learn about. Lots of engines to amuse and entertain, too.
The only way to get from Ellesmere Port on the canals is to retrace your steps down the Shropshire Union. This we did, turning left at the Middlewich Branch and right down the Trent and Mersey to Hardings Wood Junction. This takes you on to the Macclesfield Canal. Up the Macclesfield and on to the Peak Forest Canal, down to Dukinfield Junction, then turn right on to the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. I have a book, The Shell Guide to the Inland Waterways, which says, and I quote: “...”. Bother! I can’t quote it because I cannot find the quote in the book but it said something to the effect that it was in such a state that it could never be made navigable again. Given the will it could and it was and it was open to navigation again in 2001 and it is very beautiful. You don’t go very far on it in a day, though, because there are heaps of locks and views of the moors and nice walks to do. We did a there and back, turning at Aspley Basin where the Huddersfield Broad Canal starts. We decided not to do the HBC because the locks are a bit short for Theodora and it means slotting the boat in diagonally and removing the bow and stern fenders. We cycled down it to have a look, though and I did not have to say “Ting!” once. Margaret had made me fit a bell.
I fear that Theodora caused significant damage to the assets of the HNC. We were approaching lock 3W and I jumped off with the centre line. Once Theodora was going very ,very slowly I dropped a clove hitch over a convenient bollard and walked on towards the lock. An alarmed “NICK!” from Margaret indicated an occurrence of note so I looked back to see that the bollard had been dragged into the canal complete with attached coping stones. About two yards of them. Oh dear! We tried to haul it out of the cut. Too heavy under water so much too heavy out of it. We asked for the assistance of a passer by. Same result. Would we have to cut the rope. Not on your life. It’s expensive stuff and we didn’t want to shorten the centre line by eight feet. Margaret suggested that I go for another paddle but I declined this noting that there was lots of water coming dow the canal so wasting a bit of it would not matter. The pound was short so I opened paddles top and bottom of lock 2W and lowered the level by about two feet. I could then see the bollard and was able to untie the rope. The pound soon filled up again and we were off. I phone British Waterways to confess the damage and expected to see some orange netting to warn people not to fall down the hole. On our way back nothing had been done so I suppose that in this region the BW people believe that the public should look where it is going. A very sensible philosophy say I.
We had a good day with Evelyn and Simon, Margaret’s sister and brother-in-law. They met us in Uppermill on the way back and helped us down about ten locks. It looks as if we have converted them to the delights of canalling as they are now planning to hire a boat in France. It won’t be as good as the English Canals though.
Right ho: so far you are blissfully unaware of the general routine of canalling so over the next day or so I will give you a blow by blow account of all that we do so you will know how we manage to live our lives happily in an area of 60’ x 7’.
Bye bye.
Await the next thrilling instalment.
Nick
PS
I nearly forgot. We are now on the Rochdale Canal, another very recent restoration. We have moored up for a couple of days a little to the north of Littleborough in a small basin called Windy Bank Wharf. This is a lovely spot with good views of the moors and the basin is just big enough to hold two narrowboats. We walked down to church this morning at Littleborough which is about half a mile away. All very charming.
N
25/9/8
The next Thrilling Instalment
I wonder if I am suffering from writers’ block. This might be very short or very boring or both, but at least if it is very short if won’t be very boring for long.
Right. What have we been doing? We have been canalling. That’s what. Margaret has found a few days on which the weather has been good enough to do the painting and that means that she has done a bit of painting. Not much but then not much was needed. It is now finished and Theodora looks resplendent complete with all the sign writing done. Everyone can now see that she is called Theodora and that she has her home berth in Thurmaston.
One effect of Margaret’s having finished the painting is that the weather has dramatically improved. Having had the wettest July and August in recorded history we are now having a rather beautiful September. Cooler, of course, but not wet. What a treat!
Since I last wrote the canalling has gone well as always. We did the run down the Rochdale Canal all the way to Sowerby Bridge thence down the Calder and Hebble until Salterhebble where the locks are too short for Theodora but we went down those anyway. What we had to do was go down backwards so that the bow fitted into the V formed by the sill. We took the fenders off but that still reduced her length only to 60 feet and the Calder and Hebble locks are 57’6” but by going down backwards and inserting the stern into the corner by the bottom gates we jut managed. What fun! and we eventually arrived in Brighouse where we turned around and came all the way back again.
Back to Sowerby bridge and up the deepest lock in England (nearly 20’) and up loads of locks on the Rochdale again. The interesting thing is that the graph of locks and miles shows the locks catching up with the miles. At the moment there is more than one lock per mile or at least there was until today when we had a bit of a rest south of Littleborough where there was a gap of about five miles between locks. I have to confess that it was rather nice and relaxing to just stand on the boat rather than having to leap out and do energetic things with heavy gates and stiff paddles.
That’s it really.
We are bound for Manchester again and thence to Llangollen now that the autumn has come and the crowds have gone.
I said it would be short. And it was.
Traa
Nick
Clippety Clop
6/10/8
Warning: This email may be a lile difficult to read because he letter “T” is unreliable.
I suddenly feel tha he Grand Tour is coming owards is conclusion. We only have one more month or hereabouts.
I will tell you the meaning of he tile later but will ry to deal with what has happened in chronological order. The Rochdale was competed in good order with no vandalism perperated (spot the missing letter) and no mechanical faults. We met up with another boat going down the notorious locks where BW keeps a fatherly eye on all the boats that pass through because the gentle folks of Rochdale are not always as friendly as they might be. After a few locks the other boa had a mechanical problem so we towed them while the engineer owner repaired the cable which selects forward and reverse. I was most impressed that he could effect any sort of repair and he was impressed that we were wiling to tow them through what is acknowledged to be bandit country. I tried breasting up (tying the boats together alongside each other) but this was no good. On not one of the locks would the bottom gates open sufficiently for two narrowboats to pass through together. So I towed him on a short line and we made steady progress until he finished the repair. After that the progress was much more rapid and we got down to Ducie Street Basin in central Manchester in good time.
A few minutes after we moored up one of he chaps from the other boat presented us with a bottle of wine for helping them out. It was most welcome and good to drink.
We turned left at the junction on to the Ashton Canal and moored up for the night. It was all very pleasant. We fed and went to bed early and slept the sleep of the righteous until 0312 when there was a crash as someone jumped aboard on to the stern and a rattle as he pushed the cabin slide (hatch) back. “Is anybody there?”, came the shout. As you can imagine I was not impressed. I scrambled out of bed and looked up at a pale face peering down at me. “Do you mind?” I said crossly, “We were asleep!” At that moment Holly decided to give a loud bark. This might have made a difference. “Oh, sorry,” said the face, “I didn’t know.” “Could you leave us in peace?” I said, “And close the hatch after you, please.” “What, all the way?” “Yes, please. Good night.” And we were left in peace. It was not until the morning that Margaret discovered that someone had burned through one of the mooring lines which is now about 4 feet shorter than hitherto. What I say is that it is good to have a dog that barks.
We filled up with diesel at Portland Basin and as we left the bunkering station a horse passed shortly followed by the narrowboat that he was drawing. What fun, but I thought that it would slow us down. Not a bit of it! It went quite as fast as we wanted to. In fact for most of the time it was out of sight around the next bend. We overtook it when it stopped for lunch and it overtook us when we stopped for the evening just south of Rose Hill cutting (which used to be a tunnel). We followed it on foot to Marple locks and watched it go up four or five locks. What a treat! I nearly forgot to tell you. The horse’s name was Buddy and the boat’s was Maria and they got all the way to Bugsworth that evening which took us until the following day.
The next day saw us up the sixteen Marple locks in the rain and moored up pointing towards Whaley Bridge on the Upper Peak Forest.
There have been many times on this trip when I have thought that we were at a high point and the trip up the Upper Peak Forest was one of them. The canal goes along the side of a valley with a railway line on the other side. The trains looked like models from that distance. It seemed that at last the weather was improving as the autumn began to colour the trees. The mist in the morning and the bright sun on the dew was a delight. Whaley Bridge is a pleasant town with old industrial connections. They have made a walk of the old tramway route which is good but they could do a little more with the canal basin which boasts a rather spectacular transshipment warehouse which is sadly underused. We stayed overnight at Whaley Bridge and treated ourselves to fish and chips from a rather delightful shop very close to the basin. They gave me the very useful information that there was a plumber’s merchant close to the basin so, having bought the fish and chips I went there and ordered twelve metres of plastic pipe some fittings and a radiator. The fish and chips were good but are now things of distant memory. The radiator graces the bulkhead in the saloon and distributes waste engine heat to make Theodora even more cosy than hitherto.
One night at Whaley Bridge was followed by a night and a day at Bugsworth. Bugsworth Basin should be visited by everyone interested in the canals. It has been lovingly restored and is now one of the biggest basins on the waterways. Lots of information boards and a lovely walk up the route of the old tramway which used to bring limestone and building stone from the quarries to the canal.
Today is Saturday, 18/10.
I seem to have not got to the computer for a while. We are now at Llangollen. I can quite see why it is the most popular canal and why we left it until now to visit. It gets very crowded in the summer and it is very narrow. Over several sections boats cannot pass but the scenery is beautiful and the destination everything that you could want from a Victorian holiday destination. This afternoon the weather was bright and sunny, the trees were resplendent in autumn colours and the ruins of the castle on the top of the hill were spectacular and well worth the slog up to see them. I felt quite tired when we go up to the top. Nearly forgot to say that the Llangollen is the canal with the famous Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. What fun to boat 120’ above a river with only an inch of cast iron between the water on which you float and the fresh air under it.
I am not inspired to write further at the moment so that is it.
Enjoy the autumn.
Nick and Margaret.
PS: For those of you who are interested in such things we have now done 1681 miles and 1501 locks since February and have enjoyed all of them!
An Unrecorded Disappointment
27/10/08
One of the highlights of the trip as recounted in my last was the transit of the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. One of the reasons that I had particularly looked forward to this is related to Theodora’s cooling system. She is raw water cooled with a wet exhaust which for the present discussion means that a squirt of water shoots out of the exhaust pipe every couple of seconds. This means that the exhaust pipe is water cooled and can be made of rubber rather than the insulated steel on more modern canal boats. Enough of the technicalities and on to why I found it so disappointing. You will recall that this aqueduct consists of a series of cast iron troughs bolted together and balanced on the top of stone piers. The water level is close to the top of the trough and I had looked forward with eager anticipation to the squirts of water going over the edge of the trough and providing the grazing cattle 120’ below with a shower which moved in a straight line. No such luck. The side of the trough was too high. Thomas Telford is a spoil sport. So there!
The disappointment is duly recorded.
Travelling down the Llangollen is much quicker than up because it is used for transporting water from the Dee to the Hurleston Reservoir which feeds some big cities. We soon arrived at Frankton Junction and turned right on to the Montgomery canal. The restoration of the Montgomery is not yet complete but we were able to do rather more of it than we did on our silver wedding trip a few years ago. We stopped at the current limit of navigation at Maesbury and went on a bike ride down to he Vyrnwy aqueduct. The bike ride was very nice and the weather was lovely but for reasons that are lost on me seven stiles have been installed across the towpath and lifting the all steel made in Nottingham bicycles was hard work for pensioners. Grit and determination prevailed and we achieved our destination and, more importantly, the return. The following day we went on a lovely walk around Maesbury and visited St Winifred’s well. All very nice.
We left in a gale in the afternoon. We really are on the way home now. But not too quick. I will not spoil the suspense by telling you the route.
This evening finds us on the Shropshire Union at the bottom of Audlem locks. On the way hear we visited the Hack Green nuclear bunker and had an interesting, if somewhat chilling insight into the effects of nuclear war. Those of you of my generation will recall the tension of the 60’s and 70’s when nuclear war seemed all too likely.
That’s all for this evening. No internet signal in these parts so this will have to go later.
28/10/08
We are getting the weather that the meteorological office promised: rain followed by sleet followed by snow. So we have moored up and are waiting until things improve a bit. We will need to move on because the morning was spent working up the fifteen Audlem locks. This meant that the engine was on tickover for much of he time and battery did not get charged very much. We could start the engine and run it out of gear for an hour or two but this is very noisy and wasteful so we will move on when we can.
I am sure that you will be asking how we entertain ourselves when we are not moving. The answer at the moment is that I am writing that which you are presently reading and Margaret is doing the washing. The log burner is keeping us cosy by burning logs and producing caloric fluid in quantity complete with a little smoke for scenic effect. One thing that impresses me about this particular log burner is that you can put it out by closing down all of the draught. You then get left with the unburned fuel which you can light again when you feel cold.
The route home will be, as long as there are no unexpected stoppages, south along the Shropshire union canal to Autherley Junction, then further south along the Staffs and Worcester to Stourport on Severn, then even further south on the River Severn (assuming that it is not in flood then) to Diglis. After that we start moving north east along the Worcester and Birmingham Canal to King’s Norton, south east along the North Stratford to Kingswood Junction, east along the Grand Union to Norton Junction and then N up the Grand Union, Leicester Arm to the Soar and then home! We should not get back to Raynesway before the 20th because that makes the mooring fees correct.
1945hr
We set off after the snow turned to light rain which then sopped and we had a lovely run up the Adderley locks. It was quite busy, it being half term and we me lots of cheerful families not in the least bothered by the cold and wet. One eleven year old was making snow or, rather, slush balls to throw at the boat (not Theodora) with his bare hands! The country around here is very attractive and looked very good under a covering of snow thin enough to show some of the grass.
We stopped boating at about 1730 and read and listened to the radio for a while until it was time to have a full English breakfast minus the cornflakes and toast for dinner. Isn’t life good?
At the moment I am listening to a Schubert concert on Radio 3 and Margaret is practising painting in readiness for another set of roses and the odd castle.
Still no internet signal this evening so this will have to wait even longer. I suppose we are still a bit in the wild west over here.
30/10/08
At last. It seems that the internet is working and I can send this before it gets any longer...
Traa for now.
Nick
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