Wawickshire Ring - a video diary

[Nic]

I never seem to have time to keep a diary afloat, often trying to do it afterwards. Well now I'm trying a photo record

 

Day 1 The Upper Oxford Canal - Napton to Hawkesbury

 

8 hours cruising time condensed to 6min30sec of time lapse.

Featuring

- sunny start

- narrowboats that let you pass

- locks and lock gate jumping crew

- rain storms and dark overcast skies.

 

Watch out for the boat on the wrong side when we set off at Rugby - had to do some quick manoeuvres to get round, not crash into moored boats, not use excessive speed and then still get through the bridge!

[Nic]

I shall add to this thread, each day as I've finished it.

 

The diary is as such

 

Sat 11th May (oxford canal) - Napton J - Hawkesbury J x

Sun 12th May (Cov canal) - Hawkesbury J - Fazeley J

Mon 13th May (B&F Canal) Fazeley J - Birmingham Broad Street

Tue 14th May (W&B + S-on-A ) Birmingham - Hockley Heath (short day as spent the morning in B'ham)

Wed 1th May (GU main line) Hockley Heath - Warwick

Thur 16th May (GUC) Warwick - Calcutt Boats

[Nic]

Day 2 : Sun 13th May Coventry Canal

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2vVnrjo_r0s

 

Started off at Hawkesbury Junction hoping to get a few hours in before the rain, but didn't last long. So on with the Mac's and onwards through the rain showers. This makes "jumping lock gates in a single bound" a bit more tricky. The rain stopped by late afternoon with only drizzle appearing every so often.

[Gillie]

Great link Nic..

started off with your video's and somehow ended up a couple of hours later with time lapse video's of Guinea Pigs??!!...

with lots of other things in between...

ahhh..the interweb is a lovely time waster!!

 

The time lapse is great...canals on speed!..

the bridges look really hairy coming towards you so fast..and what was that boat at Rugby doing??...

[Nic]

The time lapse is great...canals on speed!..

the bridges look really hairy coming towards you so fast..and what was that boat at Rugby doing??...

Coming through too fast, and staying on the wrong side!! I had to steer round them and into a space between moored boats and then out and round the bend and through the bridge. Sooner they get a driving license requirement for the canals the better

 

Yes Youtube has some weird stuff. Just uploading Day3 "the Birmingham & Fazeley" canal which had to be done in a single day to allow me to get to safe moorings (so as I passed under the M6 at 4pm, I only had 24 more locks to do ...)

Edited June 29, 2007 by Nic

[Nic]

Warwickshire Ring Day 3 : Fazeley - Birmingham

 

Day 3: 14th May 2007

 

We set off from Fazeley just after 8am, since it was to be a long day (once we past Curdworth there are few safe moorings) as we were going for the centre of Birmingham. There’s a time lapse video diary below.

The morning was overcast but the rain had stopped, so we made good time to Curdworth. We had to wait for a couple of boats coming down, but mostly the locks were with us - sign of a good omen so on we went…

 

After stopping for lunch we went through Minworth locks in warm sunshine, oh a nice day to be boating. We reached the M6 “Spaghetti Junction” (Salford Junction on the canal) just after 4pm, so almost there. Only 3 miles of canals to go … oh and 24 locks! We went up the Ashton 11 locks in just under 2 hours to get out at 6.05pm. Now we had a choice, there were some moorings round here that we’ve used previously, but going into Birmingham was a preference as we could then go out for the evening. So on we went towards the Farmers Br. 13.

 

Unfortunately our prop got snared by something!!! Oh great, a really unwanted delay. So off with the hatch cover and down I go. Up to the armpit in cold water and a failing light I find a blanket which luckily comes off fairly easily. Then on we go through the locks. 13, 12, 11, 10 - not a sole in sight and the locks are empty (mostly, just the odd one full?). The sun is setting and the end is insight - no night cruising for us, hurrah! 9, 8, 7, 6, … and on though the top lock. Now off to find a mooring space. One on the corner but we pass and then see all the other spots have private mooring signs for trip boats etc. Okay, time to go back and reverse parallel park into the space - what you’ve seen cars do it all the time, so why not a narrowboat??

 

video version: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=qi1rrcwMaxo

[Nic]

Day 4: 15th May 2007 Leaving Birmingham

 

 

Since we were in Birmingham city centre we decided to have a wonder around the shops, so actually didn't set off until midday. We're doing the Warwickshire Ring in a week, and seemed to be ahead of schedule, so why not. Off we chugged down the W&B. The canal was quiet and we soon reached Edgebaston Tunnel and it wasn't until we reached the University Campus that we met another boat.

It was a bright day - had the rain gone for good? We could only wait. We soon reached King's Norton and left the W&B behind - hello Stratford. A nice day to be out cruising - no other boats so having the canal to ourselves was great. I donned my coat for the Brandwood Tunnel, since not having been through before wasn't sure if it was dry or not. A light shower later spoiled the sunny day, but it was only a brief spell.

We encountered a Heron shortly before the M42, and it decided to join us for a game of tag, waiting until the boat was level with it before flyuing off the bank only to land several yards later to once again wait for us. This lasted 10 minutes, which is quite long since usually its only for a couple of minutes.

The route we were taking meant there was no locks to do, just a swing bridge to slow us down. At 5pm, just before Hockley Heath we passed a boat yard so took on some diesel, although we passed at first we simply reversed in after the boat there reversed back to their mooring spot. Onwards then to our mooring for the night.

 

video version:

Edited July 8, 2007 by Nic

[Nic]

Day 5 : 16th May Grand Union Canal

 

Video :

 

Written account to follow...

[Nic]

(forgot to post earlier)

 

Warwickshire Ring Day 5 (16th May 2007) Grand Union Canal

The final section of my cruise around the Warwickshire Ring has been uploaded, for your perusal.

 

This involved going through the wide locks all the way down to Calcutt, to where the boat is based for this year. We did the initial ones alone, including taking a family of ducks through, before we met other boats to share with - since sharing is much easier. We did some in a synchronised movement, not strapped together but both boats were entering and leaving locks side-by-side.