gatekrash

Seconded. We bought ours direct from the workshop as they're just up the road, so we could go and see them first and they'll do custom flues for all sorts of stuff if you need.

Yeah, we made the pound below Tardebigge top lock by about 4 on Sunday, were settled in with the fire lit about half an hour before the torrential rain started, and had a nice dry and almost sunny run back to the marina on Monday.

Well that was interesting. Coming through by the holiday Inn or premier Inn or whatever it is, the wind blows you 90 degrees across the canal towards the hotel, then just as you correct it an almighty bounce back off the building sends you straight across towards the moored boats. Fortunately the guy off the fudge boat warned us as we passed so we were ready for it. And getting around salvage turn into the white horses was tricky too.

We came across her last year. She gave me a load of abuse for waiting above the next to bottom lock for a boat to come through, I was following the instruction that was stapled to the lock beam that said set 1 lock ahead or wait to avoid having to pass in the pound with a big shelf, this was the same advice the CRT bod had given us the last time. She started shouting that it was a load of rubbish and that they didn't know anything ! Clearly she hasn't mellowed!! We saw you had managed to get tucked away in the corner yesterday, looked like a sheltered spot. We're moving down towards Alvechurch today, assuming we can get the boat off the bank in the gale...

You did well to get down there already. Especially since you've had to go past the Blue Bell and the Boot Inn on the way 👍

Nah. It was me, just before you went past the giraffe. 👍

Severn back on reds again today, so Brum was definitely the right choice !

👍. Yeah, we'll probably be back on Saturday night if you're still hiding somewhere. Short day tomorrow, probably only going down to Coven, then a long run in to Tipton on Friday, off to Mad O'Rourkes for a faggot pie, then back to Brum Saturday. Mighty go via Titford if the weather's Ok. Yep you're right, forgot about that, I'd mentally logged it as being open after the winter stoppage and forgot they'd extended it.

We're at Penkridge on the way back home, probably going back via Tipton and the old main line. Top end of the Severn is on yellows, falling and although there's rain in the forecast it's not looking torrential, so I reckon you'll be ok. If you head down the S&W and it goes back on to reds you can always turn left up through Stourton and through Delph, the Stourbridge is a really nice canal anyway.

Unless you have several ancient tins (circa 1970's) which I found when we were clearing out my mum's house and which she used to use to polish her Victorian brass door step. It's the dogs danglies and probably contains loads of now banned chemicals which actually work. It's still got that smell I remember from my youth. Like a lot of products though I agree that modern brasso does indeed seem to suck.

Definitely not empty today, arrived at lunchtime and it's very busy !

Yesterday, 2024. M42 arm, just past Alvechurch. No space to moor anywhere near the Weighbridge or the Crown, and rain stopped play so we couldn't even get to the Hopwood, so it was wine on the boat instead.

The Body Brook and Salwarpe were fairly well up when we drove up to the boat today, Droitwich canal shut where it joins it and you'd not get through the M5 tunnel at the moment. We're going out and turning left tomorrow heading for Brum direction and not sure where afterwards, forecast for the next few days is ok then going downhill from Monday. Might pass you inbound 👍

And here is the reason he got hung up, from Rich on Roach who was moored below him.... Further info on the boat that sank in Gregory's top lock. He is now tied up below the lock and drying out. He had gutted the boat prior to a refit (so not much damage inside) but is now trying to get the engine working. A local said it had caught up on a sunken motorbike, but then we stopped to buy coal from Rich on fuel boat Roach who had been moored below when it happened. He said it had been overplated and the chine was now much wider than it should have been, so his boat was effectively over 7' wide. Gregory's top is apparently the narrowest lock on the W&B so he got stuck. He went home to sleep till CRT came back in the morning, but as Rich explained, the canal weirs through these locks (ie no bywash) so his boat was functioning as a gate ... till the water came over the stern and into the boat. He looked quite cheerful though down his engine hole!

Photo from earlier whilst they were trying to free it

One of the guys off our marina passed him earlier that afternoon before it happened and says he definitely didn't have his fenders down, he stopped to chat to him for a while. The fb posts from earlier on say they tried to flush out from the top.

Looking at this week's forecast I reckon it'll be back on reds by the end of the week. At least they've finished the dredging on the Droitwich now, so if the Severn is passable you've got a couple of options for the last bit.

Yeah, but at least it's downhill on the way back 😀

Funnily enough whenever we plan the shroppie from our mooring in Droitwich canalplan always sends us via the Severn /S&W. But we always go via Tardebigge / Brum / Wolverhampton, partly cos we like Brum and partly cos we think it's faster that way. In reality I think there's little in it, maybe an hour or 2 at best.

I wouldn't, I'm sure it makes good fire lighting material for your stove 😀

We've got a piece of 3mm twinwall polycarbonate sheet (they sell them in sheets as replacement for greenhouse glass) cut to the size of the wooden frame. We attach it to the hatch with a small rubber sucker which has a string and a toggle attached (like the adjuster toggle on the bottom of a coat), the string is passed through a hole in the middle of the polycarbonate so that the sucker is one side and the toggle the other. To fit it we just pull the string through the toggle to the max length, stick the sucker to the hatch then pull the string through the toggle to tighten the sheet up to the hatch. Simple, and it stops nearly all the condensation. Without it we need a bucket under the thing !

We've used Newburn at home for a few years, works really well on our stove which is fitted into a very large unlined stone chimbley and quite fussy about solid fuel. I've noticed that this year's tonne of Newburn we've bought is different from last year, the briquettes are softer and aren't burning out fully to ash, plus they're needing a lot more depth to get the burn right. I guess there are so many variables when they make this stuff that it's only to be expected that reach batch is slightly different.

It was about 6 or 7 years ago they switched over I think. The new stuff has some advantages, you can light it with a spark, it's a whole lot cleaner, but it doesn't seem to put out as much heat as hexi did. Keep that hexi sealed, the last lot I stored loose in their wax packets in the shed had done the whole sweating thing. Still lit fine though. The rest is in sealed plastic bags and still looks ok.

Not any more, the MoD has banned it and now supply alcohol based 'fire dragon' cookers and fuel as the standard 'tommy cooker'. I'm using up the last of my stock of hexi (I had a crate in the store when they stopped us using it) as it makes brilliant firelighters.

We're a bit 'old fashioned' compared to modern boats, but we like it. The tongue and groove is solid cherry, so it wouldn't have been cheap when the original owners had it built. We use ours for this as well !