Carrie~Lou is on tour!

[cheshire~rose]

Today saw the start of the official 2011 Carrie~Lou late summer cruise!

 

Dave took the afternoon off work so we could go and play in the traffic on the way to our mooring at Hatherton. I don't know whose stupid idea it was to arrange the V-Festival for this weekend when they knew full well that we needed to get to the boat today and Western Park, the venue for the festival, is just a hop down the A5 from the mooring and most of the traffic attending shares the same motorway exit that we wanted to use. As it happened some carefull tweaks to our normal route bringing us into Calf Heath via the back door kept us off the main routes and the only hold up we experienced was some chaos around Alrewas on the A38 - I am not surprised - I have heard that Ange & Dave have arrived at Alrewas and they can cause chaos wherever they go

 

Once we installed ourselves on board and untied the ropes we relaxed - we were away for 5pm. We toasted the promise of two blissful weeks of cruising we haave ahead of us with a glass of my home made sloe gin.

 

It has only been 2 weeks since we were last aboard and yet already I am noticing how the season is progressing. The Rose Bay Willow Herb that were in full bloom two weeks ago is now the source of endless fluffy little clusters of seeds floating on the surface of the canal giving the mallards a treat to eat. The huge Butterwort leaves now starting to look tatty, with brown shrivelled edges and the Himalayan Balsam has finally got too big for it's own boots and it's stems are leaning precariously weighted down with the last flowers on the tips of their overgrown stalks.

 

Two weeks ago I had big plans to make a blackberry crumble for Ange, Dave and Matt. After only managing to forage 6 blackberries up at Acton Trussel I failed miserably and had to resort to a cunning plan to strecth a small punnet of strawberries around 5 people for dessert! tonight I walked less than 100 yards from where we are tied up at Coven Heath and foraged a large tub of big fat blackberries within a few minutes. Thankfully I have some cream on board so it took me no time to whip up a blackberry fool sundae - I suspect the challenge this holiday will be how many different ways I can serve blackberries!

 

Now then - the Carrie~Lou tour - the plan is we head on down the Staffs & Worcs to Stourport and onto The Severn - We plan to nip into Worcester and take a peek before going up The Droitwich. We plan to head over to Lapworth before turning and heading into Birmingham again and out to Fazeley, Tamworth, Atherstone and then up The Ashby to Shackerstone.

At Shackerstone we will enjo the festival - beer, vintage engines, aircraft, boats - sounds good to us! We will be handing Carrie~Lou over to another forum member who is going to take her back to Hatherton for us when we leave. That is two whole weeks away though and I don't want to be thinking about that yet!

 

This cruise cannot be described as extreme boating - it is quite a leisurely and relaxed route but, weather permitting we will be doing some fettling of the boat along the way as well. She has been sadly neglected over the last couple of years because life got in the way!

 

We actually have a few extra days to play with so we are not on any fixed daily itinary and we can afford to stay over a few hours somewhere interesting or do a small detour if the mood takes us. We are opem to suggestion of anywhere we ought not to miss en-route!

 

We are also hoping to meet up with lots of friends - if our planned route is somewhere close to you then please get in touch and lets meet up. I know there are a few people we are likely to be passing or going close by and will probably message them but if you fancy a cuppa, a beer or a glass of wine, would like to come for a little cruise with us or a mad enought to wish to lock wheel us through Tardebigge then feel free to send a PM and we can arrange something.

 

We already have provisional plans to meet up with two lots of friends we made some time ago via the forum. One couple who have been cruising with us before but when there was ice on the canal. The others are a well loved and much missed family from the forum - The Moles. That is just in the forst 2 days so I wonder if we can make a few more friends along the way this time?

 

For those who do not know - our boat is known as Carrie~Lou but the name on the side is Aquagem - but that's another story! so if you see a cream and green (possibly with areas of primer depending on the weather) semi trad along the route called Aquagem give us a wave and say hello.

I need to go and google recipe ideas for blackberries now

[Charles]

Clafoutis

[cheshire~rose]

Clafoutis

 

What brilliant idea Charles - never thought about using blackberries for a clafoutis! although I am sure we are likely to come across some plums soon!

[cheshire~rose]

Today has been a wonderful day for cruising! It has been good to be on the move and get through a few locks - there seem to have been a lot of locks today but in fact there have only been 18 - it is more a case that they are spaced regularly anong the canal rather than in groups so you work your way through them then ejoy cruising for a while till the next batch. What is good is that we know the fact we are going through all these locks on a saturday means that we are not going to turn round and go back through them tomorrow in readiness for work on Monday. What did seem strange was that only 2 locks were for us. The very first lock of the day was opened for us by a solo boater coming the other way and after that each lock we came across was against us despite regularly meeting boats coming in the opposite direction. What was most odd was that when we reached The Bratch there were 2 boats on their way up so we waited and washed the roof of the boat while they worked their way through. Then it was our turn to work down the locks there was another boat arrived at the bottom waiting to come up and yet when we left the bratch and went the short hop to the next lock we once again found it against us!

 

We have tied up this evening just beyond devils den. The boat was being bombed by I have done some more foraging, have some wonderful greengages and apples! of course there are blackberries too and we could have picked tons of damsons but will get some later in the week when we have eaten the greengages.

 

Tomorrow we plan to get down to Stourport, it will probably not take us too long if we get up early enough and we will explore the town a little, if not tomorrow then we will leave a little later on Monday to allow us to explore before we go down onto the river.

Who has a good recipe for greengages then?

[Odana]

Let us know when you'll be in Brum, and we can swap blackberry recipes over a drink or two...

[cheshire~rose]

Let us know when you'll be in Brum, and we can swap blackberry recipes over a drink or two...

 

Of course! that is an offer we cannot refuse!!!!!!!

[alan_fincher]

Jan,

 

I think it looks like we are ollowing along somewhere behind you ?

 

We came down rom Autherley to Cookley today, (Sunday). (What a cracking canal - I really do think it is my favourite!).

 

I agree about nearly all the locks being against you, even when logic says they should not. We have turned nearly every one we have used today, except or a veryf ew that have actively already had someone in them coming the other way. Defies logic, some of the time!

 

We may break in Kidderminster or much of tomorrow, so unlikely we will catch you up, I think.

 

Have a good trip!

 

( You might know ? - Coming down this way makes me think, "whatever happened to Moley").

[Keeping Up]

Sounds like you're both having a great trip!

 

We had the same problem with locks against us when we came down Hatton last week. The top two locks had water in them; we walked ahead and could see no boats anywhere down at least as far as half-way, and all the locks as far as that point were against us. At half-way bridge we passed 2 boats coming up, and they assured us there was nobody going down ahead of us, yet after the first lock which was (naturally) full we found they were all totally empty. After a while we met another boat, who confirmed there was defintely nobody ahead of us yet the lock behind him was empty when we got to it. At the lock after that we met another boat, he also confirmed we were the only boat going down, and yet again all the locks behind him were empty until the very last one which was full.

 

None of the locks seemed to leak much when we'd filled them, so we were completely baffled. As you say, it definitely defies logic.

 

Alan, Moley is alive and well; we met him for an enjoyable evening at Wolverley on our way through there in July. I can confirm that his home-brew is absolutely first-class.

[Charles]

GREENGAGE SMASH (recipe nicked from BBC!)

 

Ingredients

 

2 large greengages, cut into quarters, plus extra to garnish

 

6 fresh mint leaves, plus extra to garnish

 

2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice

 

10g/½oz plum jam, mixed to a syrup with 2 tsp boiling water

 

35ml/1½fl oz orange-flavoured vodka

 

50ml/2fl oz Riesling wine

 

crushed ice

 

Preparation method

 

Place the greengages and mint leaves into a cocktail shaker and crush lightly (muddle) with a long-handled spoon.

 

Add the lime juice and plum syrup and stir well.

 

Add the vodka, wine and ice and shake well.

 

To serve, half-fill a tumbler with crushed ice, then strain the mixture over the ice.

 

Garnish the glass with the remaining mint sprig and wedge of greengage.

[Ange]

SNIP the only hold up we experienced was some chaos around Alrewas on the A38 - I am not surprised - I have heard that Ange & Dave have arrived at Alrewas and they can cause chaos wherever they go

 

 

Two weeks ago I had big plans to make a blackberry crumble for Ange, Dave and Matt. After only managing to forage 6 blackberries up at Acton Trussel I failed miserably and had to resort to a cunning plan to strecth a small punnet of strawberries around 5 people for dessert!

 

And a damn fine dessert it was too!

 

Sounds like you're having a great time! Our travels seem to have been out of synch with all our friends this year - you're travelling roughly the same route as we did a couple of weeks ago, in reverse. Still, at least we did get a chance to catch up when we passed Calf Heath.

 

Enjoy the rest of your trip

[cheshire~rose]

 

 

( You might know ? - Coming down this way makes me think, "whatever happened to Moley").

 

We can report Moley is alive and well as are Mrs Mole, Bendy Mole and Vikki Mole who all joined us in Stourport Basin for a banter with Michele & Bob (aka Mark) one evening ... erm perhaps that was the one before last??

 

Moley was kind enough to provide us with a 4 ... yes FOUR litre container of his very good home made wine .... like I say - what day is it?

[cheshire~rose]

We had a gorgeous little bimble down The Severn yesterday in beautiful sunshine and spent around 20 minutes thinking about doing some of the fettling required on Carrie~Lou. The thought processes were exhausting so we had another glass of wine!

 

We are moored up at Worcester this morning. Last night we watched two hot air balloons take off from the racecourse right next to us. One was a Virgin balloon (I will pause while I wait for a witty comment in reply to that - I know how my forum friends minds work ) There was a certain irony about watching the balloon take off when we have vouchers for a balloon flight with Virgin and so far 3 of the flights we have booked have all been cancelled due to bad weather. We have another scheduled but not till October so I suspect the chances of good weather then are fairly remote. If that does not fly then it will be April when we get the next chance to go.

 

 

Earlier on our travels down the Staffs and worcs we encountered a lock wheeling party - some guys were painting the locks as part of their community service. There were around 10 of them altogether but I could only see 3 with paintbrushes - the rest were enjoying the sunshine leaning on the balance beam - nice work eh?

 

Also the paddle gear at Falling sands lock had taken a serious knock and the stone it is set in was completely lifted and askew with the gear being wrenched so it was impossible to work. I suspect it had only recently happened on Sunday when we passed - a boat following us down said they were going to report it to BW = I have a photo and will et it on later. There is a sharp turn into that lock and I suspect someone did not make the turn but must have been going at a rate on knotts when they hit the paddle to lift it like that - if the boat that hit it was anything less than a big Woolwich I suspect it will have a nasty scar from the impact too!

[alan_fincher]

Also the paddle gear at Falling sands lock had taken a serious knock and the stone it is set in was completely lifted and askew with the gear being wrenched so it was impossible to work. I suspect it had only recently happened on Sunday when we passed - a boat following us down said they were going to report it to BW = I have a photo and will et it on later. There is a sharp turn into that lock and I suspect someone did not make the turn but must have been going at a rate on knotts when they hit the paddle to lift it like that - if the boat that hit it was anything less than a big Woolwich I suspect it will have a nasty scar from the impact too!

The paddle gear on that side was completely sheathed in black plastic, almost looking shrink wrapped when we passed the following day.

 

I'm sure Jan will report the triumphant ascent by both "Chalice" and "Carrie Lou"/"Aquagem" all the way from Droitwich to the top of Tardebiige today.

 

Although only just over 8 miles, I make the count as being 48 locks, (not including the "Barge Lock" on the Droitwich, which had gates open both ends, and you just "drive" through. Certainly the most we have ever worked in a day!

[cheshire~rose]

Yes indeed we are at the summit having made it here from Droitwich basin today - 48 locks? ok - I counted wrong and thought it was 47 - The thing is we had to just keep going because there was some novice ahead of us who, having gone through the lock and out the other side seemed intent on opening the bottom paddles again to drain the lock!

 

It really would have been rude not to take advantage of it

 

Having left Worcester 2 days ago we entered the bottom lock of The Droitwich and I was just about to close the lock gate behind Carrie~Lou when Dave shouted to alert me to the fact another boat was approaching from upstream. Yes it was Chalice! how amazing - I can also say that Rossini's restaurant in Droitwich does a superb meal, very attentive service and offer boaters 20% off their bill. I would certainly visit there again - the bonus was superb company

 

We are hoping to get up into Birmingham tomorrow to meet up with Odana although I think Smelly & Bagpuss are between here and there. Perhaps a couple of days in Brum to recouperate from today

[Janet S]

I seem to recall that it's much more than 48 locks from Diglis Basin up to the top of Tardebigge...that is a seriously long day, and a lot of locks, so well done you two and I hope that YSL has survived the enounter...!

 

We came down from the top of Tardebigge to the basin and had the most amazing night, with a double rainbow as we arrrived...I can't remember much more due to a bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape and a rather nice meal...it was totally exhausting, but a great night!

 

I rather like my selective memory....

 

Janet x x

[cheshire~rose]

I seem to recall that it's much more than 48 locks from Diglis Basin up to the top of Tardebigge...that is a seriously long day, and a lot of locks, so well done you two and I hope that YSL has survived the enounter...!

 

We came down from the top of Tardebigge to the basin and had the most amazing night, with a double rainbow as we arrrived...I can't remember much more due to a bottle of Chateau Neuf du Pape and a rather nice meal...it was totally exhausting, but a great night!

 

I rather like my selective memory....

 

Janet x x

 

We did not come up through Diglis, we came up through Droitwich and started out from Droitwich basin yesterday. We did not have a bottle of Chateauneuf to celebrate, instead we have Moley's home brew Alan & Kath arrived on board with "a few beers" ........ now where is my Nicholsons .......... I think I need to find a bottle bank as we appear to have more ballast that usual on Carrie~Lou

[alan_fincher]

I think I need to find a bottle bank as we appear to have more ballast that usual on Carrie~Lou

How strange! I estimate Chalice is sitting marginally higher in the water than it was before last evening!

[cheshire~rose]

We have arrived in Brum after a lovely gentle cruise today and plan to hang around until Saturday. It appears Carrie~Lou is a banter venue for this evening when we are hoping Odana will join us. If anyone else is around and wants to meet up let us know (although we might need to find a pub if there are many more as our boat is not quite as good at accomodating large numbers of people as Tawny Owl was at Lapworth

 

We plan to leave Brum on Saturday and head out towards Fazeley. If anyone fancies a spot of lockwheeling then I am sure we can offer them some refreshment when we reach The Dog & Doublet at Bodymoor Heath.

[cheshire~rose]

Ah! it appears that lovely looking Hawkins boat we have been admiring moored in front of us is another forum member

[Janet S]

We'd love to be there! Instead, we're going camping and boating!

 

Have a couple of boat handovers to do this weekend, but will be making sure there's lots of

 

Have fun!

 

Janet x x

[cheshire~rose]

It was lovely to say a brief hello to Smelly as he wandered past our side hatch yesterday evening then Alan, Cath, Dave and myself wandered off to the pub to meet up with Odana & co. It was not long before Strads came through the door and with so many forum members coincidentally in the same place and finding a pub with some decent beer we all agreed that it was indeed a proper full on banter!

 

We retired from the pub to all gaze longingly at Strads Russell Newbery before making our wau back to our own boats for some sleep.

 

This morning the alarm was set and Dave & I were ready with windlasses at 7am to assist Lincoln down farmers bridge flight and after a rather gorgeous egg sandwich that is exactly what we did. In pouring rain! we waved goodbye to Lincoln and it's wonderful crew and closed the bottom gate at 8.45 - just in time to walk back to the top of the flight and start lockwheeling Chalice down the same flight. 10.15 am we had done 26 locks and Carrie~Lou had not moved an inch

 

If anyone feels like having some locking practice tomorrow morning when Carrie~Lou sets off down those locks they will be more than welcome.

 

I have to admit that having had Cath & Alan's company with Chalice always in sight since we came off the Severn it feels quite isolated here in Brum now but it is a lousy wet day and I am quite happy snug on board knowing we do not have to move today.

[alan_fincher]

Cath and I would like to express our thanks to Jan and Dave for the superb assistance down Farmers Bridge in less than the best weather conditions.

 

We reckon 1 hour 6 minutes for the 13 locks, so within a whisker of 5 minutes per lock, (I'm sure the one not-working bottom paddle easily cost us that extra minute!)

 

I must admit it took us considerably longer to do the next 12 than the first 13 had taken, particularly as we spent extra time trying not to leave any more paintwork in the very tight Ashtead tunnel.

 

We did the uphill locks at Camp Hill in fairly unpleasant rain, and are now blasting on towards Knowle.

 

(For the historians amongst you..... Why have most Camp Hill locks got ground paddles (only) at the bottom gates, but at least one is quite different with the paddles on the gates instead )

 

The impromptu banter in Brum was much appreciated by all, I think.

 

Shame we are now very firmly on our way back home, after just under 3 stonking weeks of boating.

[cheshire~rose]

We decided we would aim to set off at around 7am through the Farmers Bridge locks as we had 38 locks to do today and we would be missing the advantage we have had for so many days of following Chalice through with paddles turned in our favour and from time to time the appearance of David who has to be the most enthusiastic lockwheeler we have ever come across!

I was woken at 5.20 am by noisy gulls! (I had not got the heart to wake Dave at that stoopid hour)

In fact it was 07.10am as we got to the lock moorings just a few seconds behind a hire boat who was already entering the top lock

 

A guy on a boat moored at the side did not seem pleased that so many boats were working the locks so early - they were having a charity lockwheeling event but could not start until the man from BW gave them their compuslory H&S briefing. In fact even though there were just the 2 of us and we had to turn every lock we still made it down the 13 in just 10 mins more than it took us to get Chalice through yesterday (a very nice BW man did crack 2 paddles for me though )

 

At lock 12 a man asked if a boat was coming down as I went ahead to crack the last paddle. The next thing I knew he was at the lock having taken a windlass out of his holdall and was keen to assist. The chap was called Barry and he is from West Bromwich. He has spent most of his life on the midlands canals but his experience is of small boats with outboard motors. I was most surprised when at lock 13 he briskly walked ahead and sure enough he was waiting just before the next lock. The hire boat had only just got into the lock and the pound was very low so there was a delay. Dave suggested we turn right down the Digbeth arm and we might, if we had an lock in our favour, pop out ahead of the hire boat at the junction. He told Barry that was our intention and the guy dissapeared up the towpath in a blur to get the next lock ready for us - He is a smashing guy with a head full of facts and figures and a great interest in planes, boats and trains. He advised that, if we were happy for him to do so, he would stay with us to the junction and work us through the loacks - he would then get a train from Aston Station back up into Birmingham where he could find another boat to assist - he has his senior rail card and so the train travel was free for him. If you are fortunate enough to encounter this guy then he likes his tea with milk & 2 sugars

At Salford Junction we said goodbye to him but a few minutes later a fisherman advised us there was a boat just ahead of us so we were still having to turn the locks all the way - they finally pulled over at Curdworth

We have moored up this eveing by Kingsbury Water park. If I get woken up by noisy birds in the morning I will wander round to the hide with my binoculars and enjoy!

We like this mooring and we have so little of our epic voyage left to do I think we may stay here for a day tomorrow. At the rate we are going we are going to get to our destination 5 days early!

[cheshire~rose]

We have been taking it very easy indeed - last night we tied up at Pooley Hall Heritage centre and visited a few old friends in Tamworth yesterday. Today we will see how the restrictions on the Athertone flight will affect us - a lot of very impressive looking working boats at Samuel Barlows last night who are probably heading the same way as us today - she types as "Stanton" just came past us - beautiful!

 

We only want to get to the top of Atherstone today so no rush and if we have to work a few few the locks YSL is at the ready

[Peter R]

Hi Rose

 

Good to see you earlier, albeit 'in passing'. Hope you find a mooring at Shackerstone without too long a walk to the festival - it all looked very busy mooring-wise when we came past yesterday. We're moored at Hawkesbury tonight en route back to base at Crick. We couldn't wait around for the festival as I have to go back to w**k on Monday. But then we were intending to go down the south oxford when we left base, and only changed plans to go up the Ashby because of the water issues on the south oxford!

 

Peter