Team “The Workers” Virtual BCN Challenge 2020 Cruise Log

[Scholar Gypsy]

10 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Time to get some work done before half a days boating. New laptops don't configure themselves

 

 

I'm sure you know this, but this would not be canalworld without some unsolicited advice. I would advise you not to  use the automatic service (Dell support assist) for BIOS updates, do it by hand from their website. I would also advise against using the time machine whilst updating your BIOS.

[Captain Pegg]

22 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Time to get some work done before half a days boating. New laptops don't configure themselves

 

Not much time for that today. We’ve got an appointment to keep. We’ll have to work on the move.
 

Will the virtual volockies help us out again? Who’s going to steer the boat? And will we make it to a Covid-safe morning in time?

 

All will be revealed shortly.
 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[Captain Pegg]

We were woken this morning by someone knocking on the cabin top. It was the postman delivering this month’s Waterways World. Well, not so much this month but that month - June 1973.

 

By some strange quirk of time manipulation we featured in the cover picture taken this very morning.

 

 

Courtesy of @Ray T

Edited May 5, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[Mrs Trackman]

On 30/04/2020 at 22:36, Captain Pegg said:

The last remaining economically independent members of the forum have joined together to form a team. We are of course “The Workers”.  

Joining me are:

 

@Rob-M My trusty First Officer of past BCN Challenges where his main attribute is that he knows how to boat, a crew needs complimentary skills to their Captain. It also happens that his day job is in the virtual world so he gets the gig again.

 

@tree monkey  He’s neither a tree nor a monkey. Or is he, how can we tell in a virtual world? Another Challenge veteran and former winning crew member who comes recommended for his social contributions, which we are looking forward to imbibing after each short day’s cruising.
 

@Dave_P A genuine BCN man. He’s got the inside knowledge. Resident at various places on the BCN over many years now, he’s acclimatised to the altitude and may even understand the locals. Rare skills indeed.

 

We’ve all been hard at work saving the nation from economic meltdown so naturally haven’t had time to even look at the scoresheet. We’ll just make it up as we go along. Dave will know which way the BCN is. Probably.

 

Without time to design our boat we’ve fed all the dimensions of the BCN into a computer programme and it’s currently working out the ideal boat to tackle the BCN. Hopefully it’ll provide us with a design before start time.
 

And admit it folks; no-one knew there even were as many as four members of CWDF that aren’t yet retired.

 

JP

 

And very grateful we are that someone is thoughtfully working so our pensions can continue to be paid. 

[Captain Pegg]

3 minutes ago, Mrs Trackman said:

And very grateful we are that someone is thoughtfully working so our pensions can continue to be paid. 

Quite literally in some cases ?

[Captain Pegg]

Today we’ve had to make an earlier start in order to make our evening appointment.

 

We’ve got enough time in the day to visit Hednesford first thing, before we make tracks toward our day’s destination. The Cannock Extension is a modern canal - in relative terms - consisting of long straight sections connected by precisely laid out bends in the alignment. Naturally though there’s still a bridge on most of the bends. It’d take the fun out of boating if there wasn’t.

 

Although we are out in the countryside on the edge of Cannock Chase we’re also in the coalfield and we pass Conduit Colliery’s basins soon after setting off and passing under Watling Street. It’s full of joey boats waiting to be loaded. The canal terminates at Hednesford wharf which serves the large East Cannock Colliery. In the view below the canal and the terminal basins are visible to the rear of the colliery.

 

Photo credit: Cannock Chase DC (Cannock Heritage Trail)
 

We also need to be early to avoid the ‘Hednesford Bore’. No, not a droning local that patrols the towpath but the effect of so many loaded boats leaving the basin each morning it built up a flow like a tidal wave by lunchtime. Of course we can’t risk that causing us to break the speed limit. Here’s the boats being loaded this morning.

Photo credit: CRT Archive

 

 

We’re back at Rumer Hill Junction now and ready to tackle the next leg. Down the Churchbridge Locks and on to the Hatherton branch.

 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[tree monkey]

Something Rob failed to mention was a rather lovely site that we woke up to this morning,  the BCN is truly a wildlife paradise 

 

Luckily she was nesting on a none BCN boat, interesting use of nesting materials 

 

 

Another of the BCN wild side

A bit of begging

 

Off she goes to fill her gob

 

[tree monkey]

Being a tad on the short side sometimes boating throws a few problems my way but never let it be said I don't pitch in

 

Anyway after a bit of time travel and a fair few miles I was asked to help with the planning

 

 

To be honest this computer stuff was never my strong point, so thought what harm can a break and small tipple do

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by tree monkey

[Rob-M]

This Swan took a bit of waking up...

 

From mykaskin YouTube channel

[Captain Pegg]

The Churchbridge flight of locks starts immediately at the junction with the Cannock Extension.

Photo credit: CRT Archive

 

There are 13 locks in a dead straight line and closely spaced so although we don’t have phantom lock wheelers today progress is quick. Even better news at the bottom there is a pub and we sneaked in at the end of lunchtime opening. Mild all round, naturally. This is the Midlands in the middle of the 20th century.

 

After the main flight we are on the Churchbridge branch (or Hatherton branch as it now seems to be known) which is a link between the Staffs & Worcs and the BCN.

As well as collieries there are also brick and tile works in this area and we pass our second of the day. However as we head towards Hatherton we leave the industry behind and the character of the canal becomes quite different different from this morning. Of course we’re heading away from the BCN for now and we’re yet to get within 12 miles of the centre of Birmingham.

 

The locks are fewer in number and further between so progress is a bit slower but we’re averaging out OK for time and we arrive at Hatherton in good time to make a pre-arranged rendezvous with dignitaries of the Staffs & Worcs Canal Company.

 

 

Photo credit: Britain from Above

When I say ‘we arrived in good time’ what I really meant was 29th September 1939. Sometime in the afternoon.

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[Captain Pegg]

29th September 1939

 

On arrival at Hatherton we waited for the Directors of the Staffs & Worcs Canal Company to arrive onboard their inspection launch Lady Hatherton.

 

We were in possession of an invitation from the Clerk to the Staffs & Worcs Canal Company to follow the launch to Aldersley Junction with the assistance of their horse, although I suspect they hadn’t fully comprehended we were a motor boat.

 

Unable to fully steer with our small rudder without some flow from the propeller but not able to be fully powered due to the company’s fear of damage to the banks we had to compromise and use a combination of horse and engine in order to follow the launch to Aldersley at the requested speed.

 

Although not part of the BCN the Staffs & Worcs deserves a small mention as it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful canals in Britain. It consists of 40 glorious miles. And the 6 miles we needed to travel to get back to the BCN at Aldersley.

 

The journey proceeded smoothly and in less than an hour and a half we stopped at Autherley Junction to pick up our guests for the evening, Mr & Mrs Samuel Lomas.

 

We then proceeded to Aldersley Junction where we stopped in the bottom lock mouth to allow ease of disembarkation from the boat to walk to the venue for our evening entertainment.

 

 

[Capt Ahab]

Sounds like a good evening ahead....

[Captain Pegg]

I have to confess I feel I’m here under false pretences. I had initially arranged to drop in to see Mr Lomas at the Shropshire Union Autherley Junction offices - well the shed at any rate - because it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.

 

Some folk have had a tip off I reckon. Must have been about the boat, it has a bit of a celebrity status around these parts. Someone with access to one of these Automatic Doo-Dah thingies must have told them Vulpes was coming and that the owner will in future be a prominent member and donator to the Canal Society. Only thing is, that’s not me, it’s the bloke I bought the boat off a few years ago. I mean, what’s five years if you can travel in time? Easy mistake to make.

 

Anyhow, we’ve now all got ourselves an invite to the S&W Director’s Suite at Dunstall Park, that’s Wolverhampton racecourse, it’s down near the bottom of the 21. Mr & Mrs Lomas too, even though they’re with the ‘opposition’.

 

For those who don’t know, Mr Lomas is sometimes known as ‘Legend of the Waterways, Samuel Lomas’. He joined the canal company in 1926 and in just under twenty years time he will be awarded the British Empire Medal for “Meritorious Service to the British Waterways Transport Division”. I figure he may help me in my quest to find out something of the canal folk around these parts. He must know them all.

 

The horses on show don’t impress Mr Lomas. Doesn’t reckon they could haul much down the towpath. Not sure he’s that enamoured with the Directors’ fine wines either. He’s sniffing at his suspiciously. Can’t help but think he might have preferred it if I’d taken him to the Hop Pole on the Oxley Moor Road for a pint of mild.

 

I have to say his accent surprises me. Doesn’t sound entirely like he’s native to these parts. It’s hard to tell to be honest. So I ask him where he’s from and he responds “Up north, tuther end of the cut”. 

 

“Ellesmere Port.” I enquire. He shoots me a look. “Middlewich, lad. Mrs Lomas too”.

 

Thinking about the boat I saw yesterday morning I say “You must know all the boatmen up there”.

 

“Not really” says Mr Lomas. “See, I didn’t grow up on the cut. It’s Mrs Lomas you want to be talking to about that. It’s all she knew when she were little.”

[Captain Pegg]

Talking to Mrs Lomas - Alice - was a revelation. I asked about her family and she told me that not only was she from Middlewich but was also from the Littlemore family. Stephen Littlemore was her father and she may have been the girl I saw leading the horse yesterday morning. I passed it off as a distant memory so as not to alarm her. But what a coincidence, who would have thought it?

 

She was born Alice Littlemore in May 1902 in Middlewich. She and Sam married  there in 1922. A few years later he got a job with the Shropshire Union company and they ended up moving down to Wolverhampton where they settled. She told me their eldest two children had already left school and found work but not on the canals. There were better prospects elsewhere despite the depression of recent years.

 

Her family background was all boating - both mother’s and father’s sides - and although she wasn’t sure of the details she knew that her mother’s family were from the Midlands.

 

She recalled what she could and although she couldn’t piece it all together she gave me enough clues to help with my search for the rest of the week.

[cheshire~rose]

 

15 hours ago, Captain Pegg said:

29th September 1939

 

On arrival at Hatherton we waited for the Directors of the Staffs & Worcs Canal Company to arrive onboard their inspection launch Lady Hatherton.

 

We were in possession of an invitation from the Clerk to the Staffs & Worcs Canal Company to follow the launch to Aldersley Junction with the assistance of their horse, although I suspect they hadn’t fully comprehended we were a motor boat.

 

Unable to fully steer with our small rudder without some flow from the propeller but not able to be fully powered due to the company’s fear of damage to the banks we had to compromise and use a combination of horse and engine in order to follow the launch to Aldersley at the requested speed.

 

Although not part of the BCN the Staffs & Worcs deserves a small mention as it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful canals in Britain. It consists of 40 glorious miles. And the 6 miles we needed to travel to get back to the BCN at Aldersley.

 

The journey proceeded smoothly and in less than an hour and a half we stopped at Autherley Junction to pick up our guests for the evening, Mr & Mrs Samuel Lomas.

 

We then proceeded to Aldersley Junction where we stopped in the bottom lock mouth to allow ease of disembarkation from the boat to walk to the venue for our evening entertainment.

 

 

 

In the interests of transparency The Organisers feel it is important to share the communication that took place prior to this:

 

 

[john6767]

nice one!

[Captain Pegg]

The only way is up. Don’t worry we’ve not set the time machine to 1997. We’re down here at a mere 341 ft above sea level and we’ve got to climb to the rarified atmosphere that awaits us the other side of Wolverhampton at a heady 473 ft above sea level.

 

So first thing is the climb up the locks of the Wolverhampton flight. On a normal Challenge that would be done before breakfast - water permitting - but today work has again delayed our start time.

 

We know that boat people bestowed peculiar names on otherwise familiar places and these locks are still often referred to even now as ‘The 21’. As ever the origins of this name have been lost in the mists of time and these days it is but a mystery.

 

A notable feature of the flight is the way railways appear and reappear at various heights above the canal. The history of how these railways came to be laid out as they are is fascinating so I’ll now do my customary thing and derail a canal thread with some railway stuff.

 

On second thoughts maybe not. We don’t like derailments.

 

We reach the top lock to find we’re on an entirely different canal from when we started. We can’t find it on the scoresheet. Must be bonus points on offer for that we concur.

 

Then it’s on to Horseley Fields Junction and a left turn onto the Wyrley & Essington Canal. Remember, we started at the other end of it a couple of days ago. We’re back on core BCN Challenge territory again now. Only this time we haven’t got the seemingly endless lock free miles round to Birchills or Pelsall, Longwood and eventually Rushall. We’ll be heading down the Bentley Canal at Wednesfield Junction and we’re looking forward to it.

 

As we make our way between Horseley Fields and Wednesfield we pass under the box girder railway bridge with the massive skew angle. So skewed in fact that I notice that not one single cross girder spans between both main girders.

 

Immediately beyond this bridge we head back in time to the first decade of the last century and on the offside we see Sutherland Dock, where brothers Charles and Thomas Hendley have their boat building business.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[Rob-M]

I think I was at a different Sutherland Dock when I grabbed this picture of a warship being built in 1942

 

Image from: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Sutherland_Dock

 

[Captain Pegg]

Charles and Thomas Hendley built boats at Sutherland Dock in Heath Town from at least the 1890s. The location of the dock is circled on the map below, showing it in relation to Horseley Fields Junction.

 

Boat building was the family business. Their father was a boatbuilder who learnt the family trade at Brinklow on the Oxford Canal before moving to set up in the Black Country. He lived at various locations south of Wolverhampton, seemingly never that close to the canal despite his trade.

 

Tracing the family origins even further back, William Hendley - Charles and Thomas’ grandfather - apprenticed in Banbury at what I suspect is now Tooley’s boatyard before setting up business in Brinklow. He appears to have come to Banbury to apprentice sometime after 1810 from the Leicestershire/Derbyshire border, probably from Measham. So canal work could well have been in the family even then.

 

Boat building - or perhaps repairs - at Sutherland Dock continued to the middle of the 20th Century with the next generation of the family. Charles and Thomas also had a brother, William, who lived at Mill Lane in Brierley Hill, the road that crosses Delph top lock. He was also a boat builder.

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[Captain Pegg]

As we pass Sutherland Dock old Mr Hendley, that Charles, there were 14 years between the brothers, calls out “What are all these strange boats doing about?”.

 

We explain to him about the Challenge and he scratches his chin and says “Ya know, that explains the fella that came to see uz a while back. Strange little man ‘e were. Small round head like a ball, big round eyes like they’z stuck on his ‘ead and a dead straight mouth that went right across his face from ear to ear.”

 

“Sounds like Zippy from Rainbow on the telly” and as the words came out I realised what a stupid thing I’d said. Zippy doesn’t have any ears.

 

“No, more like muppet” I think Mr Hendley says.

 

“Like what?” I exclaim.

 

“Like muh pet, Charlie, muh little dog”.

 

“For a minute there I thought ...” let’s not go there.

 

“Yeah, ‘e comes in the yard and says he wants huz to build ‘im an ‘Ampton boat.  I tells ‘im they’re all ‘Ampton boats, where duz ‘e think we build ‘em”. No, no, a big long boat, extra wide like all the boats up here, he sez. I tells ‘im we build a few boats that’s a bit bigger than normal but ‘e tells me ‘e wants one of them that’s 80’ x 10’. I told ‘im there’s no such thing hand never will be. Won’t fit nowhere. ‘E insists ‘e has the finest crew on the canals hand that two of them is from Yorkshire so they must be right about these 80’ x 10’ boats in Wolverhampton. I tell ‘im tha’ if we builds it he won’t get more than qwatter of a mile in each direction. So’z I asked him where he wanted to go an’ ‘e said “Birmingham”. I laughed so much I fell in the dock.”

 

“Anyways, I’m not daft like ‘im so a quick bit of ‘rithmetic and I tells ‘im we charge by the square foot. Of course we downt cos all uz boats is 7 foot somefin’ wide.”

 

And as we head on our way a voice calls after us “I hope ya beat that muppet”.

 

 

And just in case you don’t believe this story.

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Captain Pegg

[tree monkey]

What that fine gentleman Mr Pegg fails to mention whilst he is chatting to all his interesting mates, is the down and dirty side of the BCN, I must admit to feeling a little used here, we picked up a blade full at the narrows at somewhere called Horseley Fields narrows, no discussion, no debate he literally threw me in.

Anyway here's the proof

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway I'm off to find a dry towel and a drink

Edited May 6, 2020 by tree monkey

[Captain Pegg]

5 minutes ago, tree monkey said:

What that fine gentleman Mr Pegg fails to mention whilst he is chatting to all his interesting mates, is the down and dirty side of the BCN, I must admit to feeling a little used here, we picked up a blade full at the narrows at somewhere called Horseley Fields narrows, no discussion, no debate he literally threw me in.

Anyway here's the proof

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway I'm off to find a dry towel and a drink

There was a reason we didn’t tell you the boat has no weed hatch before you agreed to join up.

[tree monkey]

And another thing, I've been accused of drinking more than my fair share of the team booze, so Mr Pegg fiddled with that time machine thingy and had me kidnapped by some bloke, who forced me to work a shift humping coal at some old warfe in 1913, 

 

[TheBiscuits]

4 minutes ago, Captain Pegg said:

There was a reason we didn’t tell you the boat has no weed hatch before you agreed to join up.

 

Not the first time he has fallen for that one on a BCN Challenge in 2020. 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 6, 2020 by TheBiscuits
Grammar

[tree monkey]

Just now, TheBiscuits said:

 

Not the first time he fallen for that one on a BCN Challenge in 2020. 

 

Every boat has had a weed hatch though